"Dreamcatcher"-A Clear Enigma

Rob Vaux, a writer and editor for a small games company, analyzes the film, Dreamcatcher, for flipsidemovies.com. Considering that this film is based on a Stephen King novel and is directed by Lawrence Kasdan, Vaux discusses this film from more of an auteur approach. He describes how this film puts together all of the horrific, traumatizing elements King has ever illustrated throughout his past work. In the beginning of the film we are introduced to a group of boys who are linked together throughout their lives through a psychic bond. In the early scenes of the film, as Vaux explains, we are able to develop a better understanding of the relationships between the men through a "mental warehouse" representing one characters' mind that the director illustrates before the audience. Soon, as Vaux describes, like all King's other works, a threat that haunts the characters reveals itself as an alien invasion. Vaux explains that the director begins to lose focus as the movie develops; however, keeping in mind that this is based on the work of Stephen King, we continue to devote our undivided attention to the film with assurance that these "ridiculous" alien scenes and monsters destroying civilization will eventually come to a clean ending. As we continue to watch the film, we realize that many of King's common themes such as friendship and trust are illustrated throughout the film. While some of the ideas portrayed in the film may seem bizarre, the cinematography is "breathtaking" as Vaux describes. He says that the aliens in this film are actually scary to the point where we develop unusual thoughts in our head that cause us to actually fear aliens after watching the movie. Vaux does not give the ending of the film away, but he explains that all of the "...holy fools, stupid bad guys, over-the-top special effects..." become crystal clear in the end. This film, as Vaux describes, is definitely one of Stephen King's pieces of work.

HERO-Getting by on Looks Alone

Carla Meyer, a chronicle movie writer, wrote an article for the San Francisco Chronicle titled, "The martial-arts movie 'Hero' kicks butt, but it's also beautiful. In director Zhang Yimou's latest, an ambitious royal epic, color is king." Meyer explains how this film is very different from other martial arts films that we are used to through its use of vibrant colors. The colors illustrated throughout the film tell a story in themselves. For example, the crimson color of the calligraphy instructor's robe and the headmistress' robe matches the ink of the calligraphy, which is shown in sensual scenes of the film. The crimson color illustrates the connection between the characters throughout the film. There exists a hot, sexual relationship between them; however, the fire that burns among them soon begins to die out.

Meyer also talks about the technical parts of the film. She explains how the director never goes overboard with the visual effects. Rather than including a computer generated form of an army of soldiers in the fight scene towards the end of the film, the director places an army composed of real people to give the scene a realistic effect.

Finally, Meyer describes the unnecessary bloodshed scenes in the film. At some points of the film, there are people fighting and killing each other for no apparent reason, or at least ones that the audience finds hard to follow. However, Meyer mentions that these points of the film work in a more ideological perspective, proposing a new idea of heroism, "...one in which dying for a lost cause is just as noble as killing for a winning one" (Meyer 1). Perhaps becoming a hero does not necessarily involve winning for a cause, but rather fighting for something that will be clear in the end.

Three Kings- You Learn to Love it

Michael Frakes is a writer who has written many film reviews on movies such as American Psycho, and Three Kings. He wrote an essay based on the Three Kings for The Tech newspaper which is also found on-line at www-tech.mit.edu. Frakes explains how Russell designed his film in such a way that would force the audience to question themselves about the United States' involvement in the Persian Gulf. The film, as Frakes describes, works on a deeper level. Russell allows us to think about and understand that our involvement in the Gulf War was unnecessary. As a result of our views on this film, the protagonists seem to be the innocent Iraqi refugees who have lost their homes and families due to this pointless war. Frankes explains that this film "is great in its stylistic use of the camera and editing." Some of the scenes shown in this movie illustrate things that we have never seen before. Frakes uses the example of the scene where the camera takes us inside a person's body to show us how badly a bullet can destroy an organ. Camera shots such as these greatly impact the audiences views towards ballistic violence. Unlike many other films, Three Kings illustrates both sides of the issues when a country is at war. In this film, we are able to recognize the hardships that the civilians have to go through as well as the mental struggle that American soldiers encounter while not even knowing their mere purpose of existence in a foreign country.

I <3 Huckabees

David O. Russell is an American film director and screenwriter. He has written, produced, and directed many films such as Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, and I Heart Huckabees. I Heart Huckabees, a comedy released in 2004, stars many famous actors including Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman. After seeing the same stranger three times in one day, Albert feels that these encounters are more than just a coincidence, so he hires a husband-and-wife team of existentialist detectives to help solve this strange situation that keeps Albert wondering all of the time. The couple insist on spying on his everyday life in order to help him with his issue. The couple share their views on life and the nature of the universie while working to solve Albert's situation. Although this film is a comedy, it also includes a serious tone. There are various messages about life that are communicated to the audience, which always keep all of our minds occupied throughout our daily lives.

The History Behind Braveheart

The movie, Braveheart, is based off of the legends about the life of William Wallace-a Scottish national hero. The link I provided is found on the MyGenealogy website, which provides a lot of historic information on past wars around the world. The article regarding the history of Braveheart is titled, The History Behind Braveheart. During the early 1300's the Scottish struggled to fight for their independence from the English. The film surrounds the story of William Wallace, a Scottish hero who decided to fight for the freedom of his country against the English. He slowly gathered a large group of followers to defeat the English rule. As illustrated in the movie, Wallace and his followers defeated the English army at Stirling on September 11, 1297. Unfortunately, on July 22, 1298, King Edward II led a large English army against Wallace at the battle of Falkirk. Wallace was captured and taken to London where he was executed on August 23, 1305. Although Wallace was not able to free his country from English rule, he inspired others to carry on the struggle for freedom. Following the death of Wallace, Robert Bruce, a Scottish fugitive, was inspired to fight for the freedom of his country, and was crowned king of Scotland. On June 24, 1314, Bruce led and army of 40,000 troops to fight against the English army of 60,000 troops led by King Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn. As the English launched a mass attack against the Scottish, Bruce had prepared camouflaged pits in the ground that allowed his troops to slain the English as they fought to attack. The English were defeated and lost about 10,000 men. This battle marked the Scottish independence from the English.

Crash and the self-indulgence of white America

Robert Jensen, a journalism professor at the University of Texas, and Robert Wosnitzer, an associate producer of the documentary, The Price of Pleasure, wrote an article on the movie, Crash, which ideologically analyzes the film. The article is called, Crash and the self-indulgence of white America, and is found on the NTHPOSITION website, which includes various articles, poetry, etc. regarding politics in the United States. This article focuses on the main messages that are communicated to the audience in Crash. The writers of this article explain that Crash communicates the idea that every ethnic group in America is prejudiced through the various events that take place in the lives of the difference characters in the film; however, the writers argue that this film, "...is, in fact, a setback in the crucial project of forcing white America to come to terms with the reality of race and racism..." They explain that the main message of this film is white supremacist because it takes us away from the reality of white supremacy in America. According to Jensen and Wosnitzer, the director of Crash either intentionally or unintentionally focuses the audiences attention away from the idea of white dominance in America. Rather than blaming the white folk for the racist system that has always existed in this country, this film directs us to the idea that all ethnic backgrounds are responsible for the racial prejudices that take place. The writers mention that the racist system that exists in our country was created by white people to protect their power. By acting in a racist manner towards other groups, they are able to maintain their dominance and their power continues to grow. Jensen and Wosnitzer explain that white people leave this movie feeling better about themselves because the message communicated to the audience is the exact opposite of the truth. While everyone may expect to see a movie confronting the truth about a white-dominant society, they watch a film that shows how everyone is responsible for the racist system in America. Jensen and Woznitzer explain that if the director of this film was not going to communicate the truth that exists in our society, he should not have made the film at all.

A Formal-Aesthetic Approach to Film

This article discusses both the idea of formalism and aestheticism in film. First, the writer gives a definition of both approaches and then describes how they combine to create one approach to film studies: formal-aesthetic. The writer explains how these two different approaches are similar through the way they both concentrate on a film's "internal elements" rather than viewing it from a cultural or political context.

The writer explains formalism by mentioning the same ideas that we have discussed in class, "Formalist analysis concentrates on matters of structure and style (thematic development, narrative structure, shot composition, recurring motifs) and ways in which a film organizes those elements in patterns that give meaning to the whole." So if a director wanted to communicate a character's superiority over another, he would demonstrate this idea through a certain camera angle that structures the scene in a way where one character will appear larger than the other. The director may also place the superior character near certain elements in the scene that will signify his dominance.

"Braveheart" and Homophobia

The movie, Braveheart, is based on the Scottish struggle against English rule in the 13th century. Braveheart was written, directed, and produced by Mel Gibson. Sid Ray, both an author and editor of various medieval books, wrote an article for Pace University called, “Hunks, History, and Homophobia: Masculinity Politics in Braveheart and Edward II.” Ray illustrates how Gibson twisted the history regarding the life of Edward II to make him seem as though he were an insignificant homosexual male. Indeed, it is true that Edward II was a homosexual, but he was definitely not as insignificant as Gibson portrays him to be in Braveheart. Ray presents us with the facts as he explains the real qualities of Edward II. Rather than being a careless, young homosexual fool as Gibson makes him seem to be, Edward II was a strong warrior who led thousands of troops in England. He was a very strong, tall, masculine man; however he lacked all of these physical and mental qualities in Braveheart. Ray believes that Gibson failed to portray the real characteristics of Edward II, because he (Gibson) wanted to stress upon Edward’s homosexual qualities so that he seemed to be unimportant and effeminate. Gibson’s character, Wallace, contrasted greatly with Edward II in the film. Wallace seemed to be more masculine because of his physical and mental strength to go into battle. Not only that, but Gibson, as Ray explains, portrays many of the characters’ masculine qualities through the words that they use. For example, at one point of the film, as Ray mentions, Wallace says that Scots make spears “twice as long as a man” to defeat the English. Next, Hamish, Wallace’s friend, says, “Some men are longer than others.” Ray explains that, “This word play emphasizes that winning involves active sexual agency.” As Ray demonstrates, Gibson illustrates the inferiority of gay men by using such words that imply the idea that heterosexual men are more masculine than homosexual men due to the phallic signification included in various scenes such as the one described above. Overall, what Ray wants his readers to notice is that Gibson includes his own homophobic views in his film, which portray homosexuals as being weak and insignificant.

Don't become tempted to CLICK

Click is about a workaholic architect who does not have any time for his family due to the large amount of work his boss assigns him. Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) gets the answer to his prayers when he is handed a magical remote that allows him to control any aspect of his life. Unfortunately, Michael takes advantage of this situation and decides to fast forward through minor details of his life. Soon, the remote develops a memory of its own for which parts of Michael’s life to fast forward through. Most of these moments include time with his family, which is what many people fail to realize are the most important and meaningful times in one’s life.
The themes illustrated throughout this film include love, stress, control, power, temptation, fear, fantasy, family, etc. One of the main themes presented is definitely the idea of temptation. If anyone encountered a remote with these types of powers, they would definitely be tempted to use it towards their own life. The producers, Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe, make this idea clear throughout their interview that I included in this blog. They discuss how they came up with the idea for this movie, and although it is clearly a fantasy, the themes involved present some very important ideas concerning love and family. As the remote begins to fast forward through days, months, and even years of Michael’s life, he begins to fear the power that the remote holds. This fear eventually leads him to realize that the answer to his prayers has caused him to miss out on the most important moments of his life. Although the events portrayed in this film are far from realistic, the message that it communicates regarding the value of family and life is very significant.

Fight Club

I am considering writing my paper on the movie, Fight Club. This movie challenges our common ways of thinking and allows us to notice the more important things in life. Edward Norton plays a depressed businessman who doesn't like his job and tries to organize his life through a series of events. He slowly starts to feel alienated from the world and does whatever he can to relate to other people and try to pull his life back together. Soon, Norton becomes friends with Tyler Durden, an average citizen who sells soap for a living and doesn't put any value on materialistic items. Tyler introduces Norton to a physical alternative for relieving the stress that he has been keeping inside for so long. Soon, more men join the two friends in their informal meetings to fight. "Fight Club" becomes a secret underground club where various men who are sworn to secret meet to let our their internal anger as they learn more about the values of life.

The website that I have included is a basic summary of what the film is about. It is a short video that allows individuals to realize that life is not just about money and valued possessions. After watching it, you may wonder a little bit more about the purpose of life.