At the turn of the 21^st century computer animation films were hitting the spot of the American audience. A few hits were Toy Story (the trailblazer), Bug’s Life, and The Incredibles. Along with these well known Disney and Pixar stories came Finding Nemo in 2003. Directed by Andrew Stanton, who also makes an auditoria “appearance” by voicing as Crush the surfer sea turtle, the film approached America and blew it away with one-liners and a wonderful plot. One of the key elements I chose to investigate further was the direction. Andrew Stanton does a wonderful job on creating the story and presenting it in such a way that it has the most impact. In the film, Andrew Stanton reveals characters through out the story and each has a slightly different quirk that leads us to embrace their “stereotype”. One of the ways that Stanton reveals the certain stereotypes is through their voice. Crush for instance is the surfer type because he slurs his words and has a laid back effect as does the typical surfer from California that has long blonde hair. This is also true with many of the other characters including Marlin (Nemo’s fatha). Marlin in this case is the worrisome father because he lost ALL of his children except for Nemo, he also happened to lose his wife at the beginning of the story. Anyway, Marlin’s voice has a slight croak to it and is usually very quite, or very loud. Not to mention 90% of the time he is talking about how Nemo can’t and that it is too dangerous to do anything.

On the other hand Andrew Stanton also happens to be the story writing and bundles Finding Nemo with many literary elements such as symbols, characterization, and conflicts/resolution. Many of the symbols lie within trying and failing, one of the most prominent symbols is the “lucky” fin that Nemo has to deal with. This is a symbol for all disabilities across the world and the literary element shows that you can do whatever you want and no one can tell you otherwise. Marlin constantly brings Nemo down by limiting what he can do and say the simple word “can’t”. What Andrew Stanton is trying to do is recreate the thought of “you can’t do anything” and change into “you can do anything”. This is commonly told to children across America, that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it. Andrew Stanton’s deep psychological symbol and constant conflict/resolution leads the mature and immature audience to realize that we can all do everything no matter what others say. I believe this is an important message and Stanton did a wonderful job in depicting Nemo as the little hero.

Obviously Andrew Stanton played a very large role in the creation of this movie considering he was a voice, the director, and the story writer. Many of his other works include the movies I mentioned above. Andrew Stanton will probably continue to go with the style of many conflicts with one large resolution to show that anything is possible -- “to infinity and beyond”.

Singin' In the Rain

In 1951 one of the greatest movies of all time according to critics hit the theatres. One of the first of its kind this film was able to captivate the audience and keep them wanting for more… possibly an encore? Singin’ In The Rain was a musical about movies turned musicals. Set in the 1920s, specifically 1927 the technology of the “talkie” just dawned on American society. Said to be a flop it was the exact opposite and the Jazz Singer was a hit. In Singin’ In The Rain the main character Don Lockwood played by Gene Kelly plays an important role in turning Monumental pictures into a multimedia “talkie” Corporation. Personally I think this is probably one of the greatest movies and easily at the top of my favorite movies list. For the most part this goes the same for most critics although they say it’s the best “musical” not movie… oh well. Gene Kelley, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds are a star cast that can dance and sing, AND do both at the same time. It’s amazing to watch them clash so exuberantly across the screen while saying “Good Morning” to each other in song and dance. The sheer effect of this movie on society could accredit to its greatness. Whenever it rains, most people think of singing. Whenever it’s a boring job, you gotta make ‘em laugh. Although the conflicts between Lina Lamont (Jean Hagan) and Don Lockwood are difficult and sometimes hair wrenching, in the end Lina is taken down from her acting career and replaced rightfully by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). Singin’ In The Rain has won many awards, almost too many to count. Not only does it capture the appraise of the great Roger Ebert but it has also been acclaimed for an Oscar for Best Original Musical Score, and in 1989 the Library of Congress deemed Singin' in the Rain "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Not only does it have a lasting effect upon society but to the 3 dimensional earth as well considering it will never be destroyed. Although I’m a decently credible source, these awards and distinctions are great examples that this movie deserves to be on the top 100 list of all films. It sits among the ranks of Citizen Kane and The Lord of The Rings. Obviously Singin’ In The Rain isn’t as intellectually pleasing or allowing one to escape into a new world (Middle Earth), the cast and director Stanley Donen do a wonderful job to represent what Hollywood can do with great music and great dancers. If you liked movies such as Rent, or have at one time in your life seen Julie Andrews sing about the sound of music then you should definitely see this movie if you already haven’t (I’m assuming you have). Gene Kelly is an amazing director and dancer was right when making the decision to make a plot around songs, and then introduce that to the hungry audience that wanted more music in their lives. It’s a great movie as dawned by me and many other great actors, dancers, critics, and the Library of Congress. Go rent it.

As an avid moviegoer to action films that have the potential to keep me on the edge of my seat I went to Eastern Promises the opening night. Having never taken Art of Film I usually look down upon the opinions of critics that think they have the right to tell me what I should think about a movie… but, I had to read the “great” works of Roger Ebert. Unfortunately, I’ll have to admit he wasn’t full of crap when writing his review for the Chicago Tribune. In part it wasn’t that bad because I agree with the man, but I still think his writing style is quite cynical—then again that is his job.

The review ended up praising the work of director Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises as opposed to his later work in A History of Violence that also included Viggo Mortensen. “’Eastern Promises’ had its world premiere Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival and opens today in major North American markets; I have studied its trailer, and it doesn't give away a hint of its central business.” Roger Ebert specifically commented on how it was an unexpected turn that no one would have known via the trailer or the first hour of the movie. I’d definitely have to agree with this considering I had no idea that Viggo Mortensen would reveal himself later in the movie to something that would greatly change the plot and how I thought of his character Nikolai.

Apart from highlighting the director’s work, Mr. Ebert also stresses the importance of Viggo Mortensen’s role as a Russian. “No, Mortensen is not Russian, but don't even think about the problem of an accent; he digs so deeply into the role you may not recognize him at first.” I agree with this fully. I went into the movie theatre half expecting to see glimpses of a farm boy with a gun (History of Violence) and a sword wielding King entitled Aragorn Son of Arathorn (LOTR). None of these characters came up once during the movie. From his near nude scene to being an undertaker I didn’t see the slightest glimpse of humbleness. Overall, Viggo’s character reveals itself (do to the twist) to be a kind, courageous, and loving being.

“The actors and the characters merge and form a reality above and apart from the story, and the result is a film that takes us beyond crime and London and the Russian mafia and into the mystifying realms of human nature.” For the first review that I have probably ever read, this guy is pretty good. The “realms of human nature” of which he speaks are the type of things that keep me thinking after a movie. Greed, instinctive survival tactics, love, and jealousy are a few of the naturally occurring themes that resolve themselves in Eastern Promises. This is the type of stuff that gets you to think considering it applies to most of us… just not in the sense of Russian mafias in the heart of London

At the end of the movie I noticed that nobody moved, including myself. I stayed in my seat waiting for the film to sink in so I could start analyzing and picking it apart. It didn’t happen for about 45 seconds until finally I said “that was pretty damn good”. I highly recommend if you’re into the plot twisting action films.

Video Analysis

The first thing I noticed about the trailer for The Departed was that Scorsese used slow motion in some scenes to show that there was also a serious and sympathetic side to the movie. On the contrary Scorsese also used quick cuts between some of the scenes to portray a sense of suspense and action.

Another thing that I noticed that Martin Scorsese used to capture the audience into seeing his film was the close-ups of each individual important character including Nicholson, Damon, Decaprio, Wahlberg, and Baldwin showing that there is a wide variety of characters and an even wider variety of interesting stories linked to each one.

Video

My Favorite Movie

My favorite movie would have to be The Departed. For the IMDB link click here.

In this movie the protagonist is a mumbo jumbo of characters spanning from the talented Jack Nicholson, Leo, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg. The film takes places place during the 21st century in Boston, Matt Damon's home town. Jack Nicholson is a crime lord and infiltrates the Boston PD with his well inserted scapal: Matt Damon. On the other hand, Leonardo Decaprio wants to become a police officer but doesn't cut it for an investigator: coincidentally enough he is placed as an undercover agent to shadow the infamous gangster that is Jack Nicholson. Overall the plot has many conflicts for each protagonist that all eventually resolve themselves at the end of the movie.

I like this movie beacause of all the conflicts and the suspense, not to mention some pretty cool fight scenes and gun battles. The cinematography also kept me entranced towards the movie screen with the story and camera angles switching between each character. This wide variety of stories allowed me to pick a favorite and wait for that paticular story to come up. All in all I like the movie enough to buy the DVD and watch it twice since its release.

Critics from USAToday had wonderful things to say about The Departed. "The film's score and editing brilliantly heighten the film's energy, keeping the audience somewhat off-kilter and unsure where things are headed." Exactly what I was talking about! I believe this is a recurring theme in most of Scorsese's films which is why they are so good. Obviously the suspense in The Departed kept both the critics and the rest of nation on the edge of their seat.

Meh

Meh