Do The Right Thing

Do The Right Thing was amazing. It was by far my favorite movie that we have watched so far in class. The most interesting scene to me was the climax of the story where the people of the neighborhood riot and destroy Sal's Pizzeria. It is where all the racial tension finally explodes between the characters. I thought that the DJ starting such a commotion was bothersome but I thought that Sal way overreacted. Even though it was both their faults, I did not think that either of them deserved the punishment that they received, Sal's Pizzeria being destroyed or DJ being killed by the cop. I also liked the way that each audience member is able to analyze why Mookie threw the garbage can through the window. I thought that he did it to start the riot because he was so fed up with everything and could not hold his composure anymore but lots of people have different views. That was my favorite scene because it is the culmination of all the anger and the small fights. I loved this movie and pretty much every scene within it but the riot scene was by far my favorite.

The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers is a political movie about the struggle of the Algerian people for independence from France. I read a review from the New York Movie Review done by Peter Rainer. He did a good job reviewing the movie but I thought that he spent too much time summarizing it than actually giving his thoughts about it. Something that I agreed with that he said was that effect of the casting of true Algerian people was breathtaking. I did not agree with how much he raved about the movie. To me, it was a enjoyable movie but if I was to read this review before watching it, I would have been extremely dissapointed by the movie because he talks it up to be so amazing. I think that he missed the more ovbious parts about the movie that can be discussed such as the subtitles and the way that both the Algerians and the French were portrayed so evenly. I think he should have discussed the subtiles because it was hard for me to focus on the scenes and characters when I was trying to read the subtitles first. It just seemed to me that the subtitles detract from the audience’s ability to fully enjoy the scenes and I think he should have discussed something about that in his review. I also think he should have gave his opinions about how the story was told from both sides. I thought it was so great that they did that because it allows the audience to choose their own side if they wish to instead of having it chosen for them. All in all, there were things about the review and about the movie I liked and disliked but ultimately, I enjoyed the movie and his views he presented about it.

Chinatown

I thought that the movie Chinatown directed by Roman Polanski was really good. I did not expect to enjoy it very much just because I have not been such a fan of the genre but this improved my view towards it. I thought that it was very interesting how Gittes was assigned to investigate a case by an imposter of Mrs. Mulwray. That was an unexpected plot twist pretty early on in the movie and I enjoyed having information that important found out towards the start of the film. I also really enjoy mysterious movies and Jake Gittes being a detective made this movie mysterious. It was strange that the main character had his nose covered for the majority of the movie because he was an important actor and to have part of his face covered was something that was very different but I didn't mind. It was interesting how Gittes may have been a bad person to the other character in the story for all of the bad things that he had done but he was viewed to the audience in a different way in the movie. This is because he was the main character who we followed all throughout the story and the person the audience sympathized with so it put us on his side and really made me want to see him succeed. I thought that the movie was very interesting and improved my view of films of this genre.