All The President's Men

“All The President’s Men” movie was very interesting in the fact that it shed light to me on what the “Watergate” scandal was all about and the interesting facts about what Bob and Carl find when trying to dig up information for their story. This movie is definitely unique and impressive style. The movie creates a world of intrigue and mystery that is Washington.

I liked that much of the film is shot in partial darkness to emphasize the mysterious nature of the circumstances and events happening in Washington around the time of the Watergate scandal. This fits the type that they were generating and used this darkness to show mystery and darkness in movies usually ties into more serious themed movies. The darkened style was also used to partially disguise the face of Deep Throat. Since no one knew the true identity of the man, it was fit to keep the face of Hal Holbrook partially disguised as well. Deep Throat was one of the main reasons that the story was so filled with intrigue and mystery.

The actors in this film were ok also, but nothing too great. I thought that Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford played their characters very well, considering that Dustin Hoffman is one of my favorite actors of all time. However, being two journalists isn’t quite the movie that intrigues me the most. But overall their performance was good, just my opinion that didn’t make it phenomenal.

Now on analyzing the movie as a whole I have found that it definitely was a political statement film about moral or social statement. This was about an improper movement in the White House about a political matter. With these two statements placed together, this movie was a thriller that makes the list, and always will, of best movies of all time.

I finally can say that this movie deals with social problems as a whole, how corrupt our government and politicians can be. I think that this movie is interesting due to the fact this is based on a true story. That the story line is to some point real and realistic. The movie is essentially a piece of history that no one will forget.

In conclusion, the “All The President’s Men” was a great thriller movie that was based on a true story. Not only did the movie have good cinematography, great plot, good character, and realistic, but ultimately I thought it gave me insight to a political scandal that I didn’t have much knowledge about. 

The Cider House Rules

Prior to me watching “The Cider House Rules” movie, I had a negative thinking of the movie and that I was sick of watching old time movies. How wrong I was. I found this movie to be very good and interesting with a great theme, good plot, great characters, beautiful settings, and a great overall social problem film.

The plot of the movie was about an orphan who decides to leave the orphanage and leave his abortionist leader Dr. Larch. The young man goes and works on an apple orchard and helps change lives of the workers. The plot was very interesting and the overall plot of the movie had astounding effect on how I view things in life. First, it was very interesting to hear about Homer and his life within an orphanage. I found it very interesting to hear about never going to the ocean and never even watching more than one movie. Also I found that the overall interesting plot of both an abortionist and Homer going to live with African American’s was, at the time of the plot of the movie, very mindboggling.

This movie had about the best location scenery and use of colors that I have ever seen. While watching this movie, I kept wondering what a great life it would be to live in those beautiful areas of Maine. It not only had colors but the lighting was very light and not dark and the use of the costumes really put you in the 1950’s.

Although there weren’t lots of high tech special visual effects, I think that the cinematography in the movie was great. Throughout the movie, the angles of the camera really showed the beauty of not only the country side of Maine but also the beauty of huge orphanage house and it’s setting in the woods.

I thought that Tobey Maguire played the role of Homer very well. He was at what I would think of a very good character. The ability to have respect in the movie from the other actors was great. I think that he really made the movie enjoyable.

When analyzing the movie, I would say that “The Cider House Rules” movie was a social, moral, or philosophical statement. It really kept you thinking about morals, such as Dr. Larch breaking the law and completing abortions and also Dr. Larch wanting to lie about Homer’s credentials as a doctor. It also showed us the social statement because of Homer living with the African American’s in the “slum” cider house. It also showed how two different races can come together and not be enemies. This movie really went against numerous values and morals that people had back then.

The Cider House Rules also went against cultural values. This movie showed a doctor as a liar. It also went against values of women having abortions and that the doctor was committing crimes on completing them. It also showed what we would think would be against our culture and that is when Homer went and lived in the cider house. It was also against values when it was found that Mr. Rose slept with his daughter and her later killing Mr. Rose. This movie was full of things that are against cultural values and values as a whole.

After watching this movie, I can say that I would really enjoy in owning this movie. It was great in numerous ways to include the great scenery, great characters, good cinematography, and also a great plot and theme. Not only is this movie against some of the morals and values. However, this movie is truly one  of my favorite movie’s and will enjoy it in the future.

The Graduate

In the movie “The Graduate” is truly a classic Oscar winning movie. With this movie being from 1967 it really shows that good actors will create a movie that lives and is considered a great movie for decades later. With this said, I found that the music within the movie, the scenery, and the great acting from the actors makes a great movie.

The plot of the movie “The Graduate” is based on graduate who comes back and has an affair with his father’s business partner’s wife. However years later he falls in love with his affair’s daughter. I could understand a movie these days about a plot like this, but in 1967 it is hard to imagine what people would have thought.

In terms of the cinematography the thing I remember most about "The Graduate" as far as cinematography is the incredible use of zooms. Zooms are horribly done most of the time, but they really worked for the story, and were expertly planned out in this movie within numerous times. A great example of this is in the beginning of the film, there is a scene where Benjamin drives Mrs. Robinson home after his graduation party. She invites him onto her porch for a drink and asks him to sit down. The porch is made of all glass, so the outside environment is completely visible. Large trees, plants, bushes and other foliage surround the porch, making it appear as if this porch is in the jungle.

In terms of the actors in the movie, I believe that the main actor Dustin Hoffman, who I extremely like, portrayed his character flawless. To play a character with these types of morals during 1960 and to do it faultless is a very hard thing to imagine. This movie changed

During the movie, I found that there were times that there was no sound and it appears that this was done for a good reason. I also found that some of the music was very appropriate and sometimes somewhat romantic music. I think that music only adds to movies. I liked the music of Simon and Garfunkel and was very appropriate.

All in all, this was a great 1960’s movie that really changed movies and themes about movies. These types of movies were considered very Risqué back in the 1960 and were a gamble to complete. However, it was very successful due to the great acting and cinematography. I think that it is very important to note that the movie was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant".

The Dark Knight

The movie “The Dark Knight” is a type of movie that I normally wouldn’t watch since I wasn’t a batman fan when I was younger.  After Heath Ledger passed away, there was a ton of hype over the acting within this movie and I can say that it was very impressing. Also, after watching the movie I can say that I truly liked this movie due to special effects, good settings with great film elements, and also great plot. However, at 2.5 hours this was an extremely long movie but kept me intrigued on every moment within the movie.

 Within the movie, the script was fantastic. The story moved forward at all times, the dialog was crisp, at times profound and always in character relative to the scenario. The way all the key characters are used in vital ways in the plot, all interconnecting in a very naturally feeling way, never force and this was something to see. The director did a great job in word usage only with the great backgrounds and settings. Also the music at times kept you at the edge of our seat with the music and helping to heighten the dramatic effect of dialogue. At some points within the movie, there was silence that instilled a great sense of what was going to happen next.

Speaking of cinematography, it was very good. Visually speaking, the camera did as much work in The Dark Knight communicating elements to the audience as the dialog did. It was never over the top or gimmicky either. Each shot felt purposefully selected to aide in communication the underlying emotion and experiences of the characters on screen… while at the same time giving us a sense of vastness to the scope of the shots. I could just sit and watch this movie on mute again and I’d probably still like it just as much. I liked that the director used dark colors but with great functionality.

The great plot of movie kept me very interested. From the Joker robbing a bank in Gothem City to all about the hero rising again after his fall, this movie keeps you interested. The acting of this movie was great, even though I feel that there was more hype due to Heather Ledger’s death but scene’ s like  when the Joker leaning out the window of a stolen police car and laughing into the wind, the city’s colored lights gleaming behind him like jewels. He’s just a clown in black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece.

As you can see, I believed that this movie was one of the better acting movies in the near past. Along with the great sound effects, great scenes and settings, and also a great plot, I found that this was a great movie. However, we will see how the rest of the series of Batman movies will hold up against this great movie.

Amelie

The movie Amelia is a very majestic movie that wants you to go and explore Paris after watching the movie. The movie is very good if you know the French language, which I don’t know, but the minimal phrases along with colorful scenes and non-verbal language, it is easy to understand the plot of the movie. Throughout the movie, the author’s use great use of settings, colors, and point of view. I can appreciate the film’s wonderful visual style and those amazing opening scenes with a young Amelie growing up the way she did thanks to the strange and particular set of circumstances around her.

The colorful sets along with setting in Amelie went to the extremes. The colors from bright yellows, oranges, greens to colorful stores and house paints, show the extremes of colors used within. This movie shows the importance of colors within to set them apart from others. The plot of the movie wasn’t interesting to me; however the use of location shooting of the film was very interesting. The beauty of those areas shot was intriguing to me. I like that the author’s used bright lights throughout the movie to show the extremes of the colors within. I think that if the author’s had used dark lights and colors, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

I noticed that in this movie, shot mostly on location, and also had some animation within the movie. When Amelia looked into the sky and saw the clouds, which appeared to be a bunny, that animation with built into the scene that was shot on scene. The animated cloud looked and appeared real. I liked at the end of the movie when they used fast motion while traveling in the city. I think that this allowed for a good ending to the movie. I also noticed that throughout the movie they used special lighting effects to show the greatness of bright colors with less lighting on drab looking colors. However, my eyes kept looking at other objects other than focal point due to the overwhelming back round colors.

I noticed that the author’s tried focusing and compressed images on the most important or significant parts within the movie, such as the suicidal fish jumping from his bowl. I also noticed that the author used camera tilting within the movie. In lots of the scenes, the camera is above the heads of the actors and not at the same level. I also noted that the movie didn’t use lots of dark light or reflections. This was good since this movie is more upbeat that drab dark scary movies.

All in all, I believe that the movie graphics and ability to use different techniques of shooting the film along with colors made this movie exciting. The scenes within are beautiful with wonderful colors. This made the movie enjoyable, because the plot wasn’t exciting to me.

Memento

The movie Memento is truly a murder mystery in a head spinning adventure. This movie is so complicated that it is possibly necessary to watch this movie more than once.  Memento, not only had an interesting plot, but also interesting visual design, cinematography, and interesting transitions. Not only is this movie interesting, but it is also very mind blowing on how the authors were able to confuse the watchers of the movie as the main character was with his memory issues.

Within the movie, it was extremely hard for me to understand the sequence of events due to the author’s using different film stocks. They use black and white, rough grain stock, and also smooth-grain film stock for different ways to show the plot of the movie. First, the authors used the smooth-grain film stock to shows the rough chronological order of the movie. The author used rough-grain stock runs the chronological order. They also use a different grain stock when Leonard has flashbacks when he thinks of his Sammy Jankens. I believe that due to the confusing script within the movie, the film stock helps in defining the different script order and is used as a great transition to those.

Throughout Memento, the author uses low light scenarios with minimal lighting. This is especially true when they do scenes at the hotel room. There is always shadowing on Leonard’s face and long shadows from objects within these scenes. The movie appears to be shot on locations versus on a set. This is due to  the high number of different areas within the movie and also because some of the movie was shot outside. However, I could see the set with Leonard meeting up with Natalie at her residence and also Leonard’s hotel room, could have been a set.

I believe that the movie is in a subjective point of view. I think that due to the viewer’s ability to become more involved within the movie and the camera’s ability to force us to see what exactly Leonard is seeing also the subjective point of view to occur. The movie shows Leonard’s and the viewer’s intimately involved and feels the intensity with the visual experience. This movie kept the viewer extremely involved and deeply focused within the movie.

Lastly, Memento was a type of movie that I have never seen before. At the end of the movie, instead of finalizing everything for the viewer, left the viewer with numerous questions about what really happened. For me, it didn’t finalize it very well. For this reason, I went and watched the movie a second time to see the things I missed. This allowed me to understand the movie better. Ultimately, this is a movie that I liked very much and would recommend it to others.   

The King's Speech

Prior to me watching The King’s Speech, I was immediate negative about watching this movie. However, throughout the movie it kept me interested and very involved. By the end of the movie, I found that this was one of my favorite movies. Not only was it a true story, but it was inspirational to me that someone with a disability was able to overcome this and become a leader to his country. I will explain to you what the plot of the movie is about, what symbols I found interesting, characterization, and why I truly loved this patriotic movie.

First, the title of the movie was significant with the plot of the movie. It was for the King to do the most important speech of his life, to go to war. The plot plays into this movie with great importance and also shows the importance of trying hard to overcome disabilities.

Next, I found lots of symbols within the movie. The best symbol was the uniform that the King wore right after being King. They didn’t state at that point he was King, but with the elegant uniform along with the numerous medals and honors he had, you could tell that he was a distinguished highly important person. Next, I really liked in the movie when Lionel kept things at a first name basis instead of Berdie’s title. Lastly, I feel that when Berdie looked at the wall of the great King’s, from the past, it symbolized that Berdie was something great, even though he didn’t think so at that point. Those pictures symbolized the King as even something greater than words within the script could describe.

 Next, the characterization through appearance was well distinguished. When Berdie was first to become King and was in his uniform, that took my breath away. The uniform was elegant, nicely decorated, and showed his true highly important role within his country. Now I believe that Lionel was a foil to the King. He was opposite of the King and that he didn’t live the life like Berdie. However, this difference wasn’t huge.

Lastly, I found this an intriguing movie because Berdie wanted to be a great King for his country. He took pride in the people on the wall, the pictures of previous King’s. I also found this movie great because of the credibility of the movie. The movie also was very interesting especially since the movie was based on a true story and the plot was real. I like movie’s that are realistic and interesting, along with a good plot. I also believe that this was a good movie even though the plot was very simple. I believe that the authors of the movie did a great denouement. When the movie was about done, after the speech, I found it very patriotic that the King along with his family went out on the balcony and waved to their people, which was very patriotic.

Although this movie was based on a story from well before my time, I find that even in the olden days that people with disabilities could thrive. It also shows if we ask for help, have trust in others, have trust in ourselves, and hard work, that we can overcome big hurdles in life.