The Godfather

I really enjoyed the Godfather first of all because it’s one of my favorite movies of all time, but I truly think that the first and maybe even the second time you watch it, it’s really hard to understand because there are so many different elements to the movie.

One of the biggest themes of the movies is the theme of loyalty. You can see this in almost all of the characters. Don Corleone feels as though this is one of the biggest attributes to the family; they are all loyal to the family. As the movie progresses you see some of the members of the family begin to go against the family thus tearing the family apart. The main character Michael tries his best to be loyal to his family, but at the beginning doesn’t want anything to do with the actual family business. Because of a lack in loyalty his father is shot and this makes Michael feel the nee to join the family because he needs to protect them and he knows that his brother Sonny is by no means the best man to take over the family business.

This situation can also be considered Michael’s coming of age. He finally grows into what his family wants him to be. He first is a good citizen of the USA, he fought in the war and was not involved in any illegal activity, but after he grows into his position he, by the definition of his family, has come of age.

The second biggest theme of the movie The Godfather is that of “Chasing the American Dream”. Don Corleone first comes to America after his family is killed (we learned this from the opening scenes of The Godfather: Part II) and is in pursuit of what we like to call The American Dream; the freedom to do what you want, practice the religion you want, run the business you want, do what you want. Constantly throughout the film there are characters explaining how much they love America and that all they did was come over here to be able to be a part of it.

Perhaps the biggest theme of the movie The Godfather is that of family. The whole movie the Corleone’s band together to stick together as a family, and family isn’t always your immediate family. The whole mob family of the Corleone’s tries to stick together to the best of their ability even when people begin to betray them. When tragedy happens, it also brings them closer together; it brings Michael into the family business, but sadly tragedy also brings more tragedy. When Sonny tries to defend his sister after she is brutally beaten by her husband, another mob family kills him.

Ultimately, I feel as though The Godfather was a good movie to wrap up the year. It intertwined all the themes we talked about this year into one movie as well as undoubtedly captured our attention.

Social Network

Originally I wasn't excited to watch The Social Network but after just beginning to watch it I found myself being really interested in the context of the movie. I also found that I could really closely relate to the book "Brave New World." A lot of the themes were the same for example the theme of identity was apparent all throughout the movie. The main character Mark Zuckerberg constantly struggled with his identity. He saw himself completely different than other people saw him. For example, he felt like he was a good guy majority of the time where as other people saw his as an asshole. He was someone that would screw them over as soon as possible; he even screwed his best friend over in the process. It was interesting to watch Marls friend groups as well as his personality change throughout the movie. At first he starts off with his close group of friends but after his girlfriend breaks up with him he freaks out and posts something really insulting about her in the internet. That same night they create an app that rates girls on who’s hotter by putting friends up next to each other and so on. After a few week he meets these brothers call the Winklevoss brothers who heard about his genius website and ask him to help create a dating app for the frats and sororities of Harvard. He then very shortly screws them over and begins working on his own app The Facebook. He begins working on the instead of the dating app and the Winklevoss’s get angry and try to sue him but can’t seem to find the evidence to convict him. While working on The Facebook the Napster finds out and offers to help which then makes Mark screw over his own friends just to get this company up and running. So by the end of the movie Mark has no friends and millions of dollars. In court he settles with his best friend as well as the Winklevoss twins but still goes on to become a multimillionaire. This brought us the question in class, “Would you screw your friends over for a million bucks”? The immediate response you usually hear is no but in reality if someone was in the position they most like would. Our world is driven by money and making money so in reality almost anyone would screw their friends over for a million dollars. Hell, some people would even screw over their parents and families for a million dollars. I couldn’t help but hear, “I can just pay them back”. Is that right? Should we be saying things like that? It makes me wonder how messed up our society really is.

Wall-E

When we first started Wall-E I never took into account all the deeper meanings behind it. If you really think about it, it’s would very well be one of the best put together films of the year. It’s animation, comedy, silent film, romance, and action all piled together in one film. It’s crazy to think that something that is just a children’s movie could very well have the most thought put into it than any other movie of this time.

Other than the techniques and style of the movie, I just all around love this movie because it’s one of those movies that just makes you happy and makes you smile while you’re watching it. I really enjoyed how it was almost like a coming of age film for both Wall-E and the human race. Wall-E is essentially the last robot on earth and he just goes about his job piling up trash and stack it. Then, one day something lands on the earth and it is this sleek and shiny new robot that is there on a mission. Her name is Eve. At the beginning Eve and Wall-E don’t get along well. In fact, when Eve first discovers that Wall-E is following her, she tries to kill him with her gun. Soon they become friends and Wall-E is forced out of his comfort zone, but shortly the two fall in love and Wall-E dedicates himself to helping her cause; find proof of life on the ground and help the human race.

In a way I feel like the humans are coming of age as well. You meet the humans towards the middle of the movie and they are stuck in a routine. They travel everywhere in their chairs, drink their meals from cups and in reality are brainwashed to do what ever the computers and systems of the ships tell them to do. When Wall-E accidentally knocks one of them out of their chairs they are almost instantly conscious of their surroundings again. The woman soon realizes all the wrong of the system she has been put into and soon enough majorities of the people begin to realize it. Soon enough, the captain realizes that they actually can go home and tries to over take the ship from its autopilot, but the ship has no problem putting up a fight. Once the humans land on Earth they have gone through a complete change. They were essentially mindless robots but now they are cognizant and are willing to take control of their lives and try to rebuild their society.

I love how the director put in different scenes of sentiment as well as comedy it gave us all a nice break during the serious parts and after all it is a children’s movie so it needed a little comedy. Overall, I really enjoyed the film as well as being able to see the deeper meaning behind it instead of just thinking it’s a children’s movie.

Children of Men Review

At the beginning of Children of Men by Alfonso Curon we see this dystopic future where people are no longer able to conceive children. We are unaware if it either the men or the women who are infertile. The main character Theo lives in England the only area still somewhat functioning after the infertility crisis but they are barely surviving. They aren’t letting anyone else into the country no foreigners are allowed and anyone captured is immediately taken to an immigration camp. Soon after the film starts Theo takes a trip to see his friend Jasper who lives in a secluded and hidden area with his wife. We see Jasper as this funny kind of carefree guy who doesn’t seem to be hindered by the failing country. We also get a little glimpse into Theo’s past he was married and had a child but as of right now he had neither.

A few days after he leaves Jasper’s he gets kidnapped by his ex-wife Julian and a groups of extremists they need hos help transporting this girl by the name of Key. He has no idea why but on the way to the safe house the car is ambushed by people and Julian and a few cops are killed in the battle and everyone in the car is now named a fugitive. When they finally reach the safe house Key finally reveals to Theo why she is so important. She is pregnant. They are trying to get her to the human project. She is the “Key” to humanity because she is the first pregnant woman that they have seen in a really long time.

After a night at the safe house he finds that this group that is trying to get her to The Human Project are behind Julian’s death and they just want to use the baby to their own advantage. He immediately takes key and the midwife away. He takes it upon himself to get her safely there. He takes the both of him to his friend Jasper who agrees to help them. When the house is being ambushed he gives Theo direct instructions on how to get out of the country and gives them a car and helps them leave. Shortly after they leave Jasper is killed.

Theo takes the two to meet a border patrol cop and he gladly takes them to the Sexhill immigration camp, they have to sneak inside but on the bus there Key’s water creaks and the midwife gives her life to protect Key and her baby. Once they get in a nice lady brings them to a room where Key gives birth to a girl. The next day the cop comes back when he sees them on the news with a reward for turning them in and tries to take them but thankfully the lady saves them. Once they get outside the building it is hell on earth, fighting everywhere. The immigrants are rebelling and the military is doing its best to get them to remain calm. When Key is captured by the same group from the beginning of the film Theo runs after to save her at this point the baby is crying and everyone stops when they hear this as many have not heard it in year. Everyone including the soldiers stops to see the baby and they have this aura about them as though this is the change of things. This is the new beginning. Theo successfully get Key out but right before The Human Project boat comes to take her away he bleeds out and dies after he successfully completes his job.

Key was the key to humanity and Theo felt the need to save her, especially if it meant a new beginning for the people of the human race.

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind Review

To be completely honest Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind by Michael Gondry made absolutely no sense to me, at first. It all seemed like a jumbled mess and I couldn’t figure out what Gondry was trying to get across to us as viewers. Little did I know, this he was doing on purpose. He wanted us to be a little confused and in fact scrambling to find the answers because that’s how his characters in the movie felt.  The main character Joel finds himself with the random need to get on a train to Montauk and he can’t seem to find out why. On this train he meets a girl named Clementine she is a little quirky but Joel finds himself interested in her as she takes him on a little adventure throughout the day. As this day goes on little things start happen that make no sense to us as the viewer. After that point it shows a bunch of memories that Clem and Joel share together. On Valentine’s Day he shows up at Clem’s job to bring her some things and she has no idea who he is. Joel is very perplexed by this and he doesn’t understand how someone he knows so well has no idea who he is. 

He soon finds out that she had every memory of Joel erased from her mind. He is so extremely hurt by this she is also already seeing another person. He is devastated and he decides to have her erased from his mind because he feels as though it is the better alternative than feeling the way that he does. As he goes through the procedure he finds himself remembering not only the bad things about Clem but the good as well. About half way throughout the procedure he finds himself wanting to no finish the procedure and begins resisting but finds himself being unable to resist because he has no way of moving or talking. All he can do is open his eyes is not enough to get them to stop the procedure. When the people computing the test see that they put him back to sleep and make sure they are targeting the right part of his brain. Since he wants to avoid his memories from being erased he brings Clem in his mind to other memories do that he goes off the map and it’s harder for the personnel to erase those memories. He finds this harder than he thought and finds himself at his first memory of Clem. It was not meeting her on a train it was on a beach and they sneak into a house and because he is really scared he is going to get caught he runs away. But before he leaves he remembers Clem and goes back to say goodbye to her and she tells him to meet her at Montauk.

 After he wakes up we see the same scene we saw at the very beginning of the movie. It brings the movie completely around and the scene we see at the beginning is actually not the first time they meet but the second. It was an unusual technique but the film at the end finally made sense.

Animal Farm Review

When I first started reading Animal Farm by George Orwell I was honestly extremely bored and I didn't really know what was going on. As the book went on I noticed this intense power struggle between the characters. I knew at the beginning that they had over thrown their so called "government" but I saw what seemed to be the new "government", also known as the pigs, slowly start to gain control. At first the pigs seemed harmless but the began to take on new demons as the book continued. I think that the pigs began to feel satisfaction of being in power. For me, I think that power creates greed and that with even the smallest taste of this that people can let it get them and then slowly begin to become corrupted.

At the very beginning of the book I saw that the pigs did want the best for the other animals they had the best intentions. They all began planning things together such as the animal farm commandments. These so called "rules" included things like all animals are equal and four legs good, two legs bad. With these rules it showed that all animals were in agreement. They all began working together on the farm in order to better the farm. They were successfully self sufficient in their endeavors at the beginning, but Napoleon began contact with other farms behind the other animals backs. When they found out they were quite weary of Napoleon because he began to do these things but Squeeler was always there to sweet talk them into believing some piece of crap story to keep them doing their jobs. Squeeler was the best speaker of all and he was very good at persuading or making the animals believe what he said.

Once Napoleon began contact with other farms he began negotiating trade deal that in all reality did benefit their farm. These were only the beginning steps to his tyranny. He began to think of himself and the pigs as higher than that of the other animals. They even began acting more like humans, they designated an office inside as their "headquarters", began sleeping in beds, and to the horrors of the other animals began even walking on two legs. The relationship they established with other farms became more prominent as well as the fact that they used a scapegoat for everything that they did wrong in the eyes of the people. They blamed everything on a pig that ran away because he felt threatened by his fellow animals. His name was Snowball. When the windmill that they all built together was destroyed they blamed it on Snowball, the pigs needed to out fear into that of the other animals because they needed the other animals to need a leader in order for them to succeed in their climb to power.

Once the pigs were able to assume the highest power they could achieve they began to moderate the commandments when the other animals were working, not paying attention, or were sleeping. They changed little things so that the animals would think they were originally written in there. For example, the fact that no animals could sleep in a bed with sheets, so the pigs would just strip the beds of sheets and sleep on bare beds. Another example would be that of the fact that all animals were somewhat equal, but some animals were more equal than others. Those more equal animals were the pigs. When they invited their friends from the neighboring farms over for a game of poker you couldn't notice the difference between them any longer. The pigs were just as bad, just as greedy, and just as corrupt as the government that they had originally overthrown. Therefore all the animals were back to square on. The theme of this whole book is that power really corrupts people and once you get a taste of power you only want more. It is a never ending thirst.

Moulin Rouge Review

Overall I really liked Moulin Rouge even though it was very quirky and funny it had an underlying more serious theme to it. The theme was that the greatest gift of all is to love and be loved in return. Overall the the mood as well as the tone is very tragic even though it is comedic a lot of the time. The way Baz Luhrmann portrayed that into the movie was something I am not usually used to. They used comedy to get serious a point across which made me want to pay more attention to the movie because sometimes when things are too serious I just get overwhelmed and then I lose interest.

The different filming techniques that Luhrmann used in the film were used extremely strategically. At the beginning of the film you see a curtain and a stage and as the movie begins the camera pans into the screen and makes its way through the city. This has a very inviting feel to it and it makes you feel as though you are part of the story. In other parts of the story you see the camera pan out and see things that are extremely unproportionate to the story. For example, the gun hitting the Eiffel Tower and the hats flying up in the air out of Moulin Rouge. This gives the viewers a nice little break in the intense story line and makes Moulin Rouge feel like a fictional place.

Another great cinematic technique Luhrmann uses is the use of semi-recent music in a time before any of that music was created. The time period used was the 1800's but most of the music used was music from the late 1900's. It gives the movie a timeless feel as though the Moulin Rouge is a place that is so amazing it's out of its time zone. I also think it symbolizes that love stands throughout time and that the different music represents that timeless feel.