Ferris Buller's Day Off

                Great comedy movie for the 1980’s while Ferris acts sick just so that he can skip school and getting his parents to fall for the act be finding ways to sound sick and make his hands feel cold and clammy.  As he is putting on the full act his sister stands back tapping her foot knowing he is acting and then Ferris winks at her to really get her going. After the parents leave for work you see Ferris working on his piano with computer hook up to make various sound of coughing and other bodily functions which indicate how sick he sounds.

                As the movie goes you get the feeling that the principle Ed and his sister are about the only two people that believe Ferris is playing a trick to skip school. All the students and facility as well as the police department are wishing his to get better.

                Ed receives a phone call from Slone’s supposed father and he thinks Ferris is who he is talking to so he begins to make up bad things about the dead grandmother and all of a sudden line two rings and it is Ferris wanting to talk to Ed. Now Ed is back peddling and freaking out that he said so many bad things about the grandmother that he is doing all he can to make it up to the father. Ferris makes the timing of calling in as the stunt goes on making the timing of getting people in deep enough that they don’t think about the recovery they just get done what need to be done.      

Ed decides that he needs to catch Ferris and heads over to his house and at the same time the sister feels like catching him as well.   They both seek up on each other in the kitchen hallway and being totally surprised that it isn’t Ferris she kicks Ed multiple times and lays him out on the floor while she runs upstairs screaming. She calls the police who don’t take her seriously and how protective she is about her body that she than taps the house speaker and tells the intruder that she called the police and she has her dad’s gun as well as has a severe case of herpes.  Timing on how she feels about her body to informing the man in the kitchen to help scare them off.

                Let’s not forget the humility of Ed having to ride the bus back to school with  the kids in the condition he looks and the only seat open is next to a girl with 3” thick glasses and she smiles at him like he is her crush. Then the girl offers him a gummy bear that has been in her pocket all day. Can we end on a better note of how weird that was and how the note book says save Ferris.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Find a place to start with the comical Ideology. Starting with the chain gang located down in the southern states. Showing that a majority of the prisoners were black and all the guards were white plus later during the movie the KKK displaying a dance and the burning of the cross plus looking to hang a black boy. This all symbolized white power in the south and the continued push of segregation. Additional you had the current Governor calling the local white people “white Crackers” indicating a lower class of white compared to him.

                Next you hear voices of church goers that are heading down to the river to be cleansed of all their sins and be reunited with the lord. The showing of how strong religion was and the importance of going to church every Sunday which was a staple of a community during the early years.

                Next was the showing of how beauty of ladies could bring men to their knees as three lovely maidens were singing sweet tunes like mermaids while washing clothes down by the river and they just happen to be getting themselves wet to make their clothes stick to their body, considered to be today wet t-shirt contest. This portrayed the sex when they thought the ladies turned Pete into a “Horney Toad”.

                Loved the comedy of this movie and the acting of George Clooney on trying to change his life and get back to his family. All the ideology was very apparent to me, but with the comedy many have been missed.

Pulp Fiction

EC-  Were does one start? Let try the local dinner and have a somewhat normal conversation that eventually ends up being crazy acts of possible violence and robbery of that very dinner. The movie takes you through the entire movie as it leaves one scene for another and moves back with flashbacks to help fill in the blanks as your mind decides to catch up. You finally end up back at the dinner and the robbery to make the movie complete and thus know as framing which gives closure to the entire movie.

                The lighting in this movie goes from overhead lighting to backlighting to color light to daylight and the scene when Vincent and Jewels were riding the elevator, you see the camera frame out to fit both of them in the picture and the overhead light shinning off the back of the elevator placing the focus on them and the conversation they are having at that time. This conversation seems to be important to Vincent as he was asked to escort Marcellus’s wife out to dinner.

                Drama kicks in when you see the low angle close up Mea overdosing and Vincent has to fix the situation.  He rushes her over to his dealer and they have to pull out the whole adrenalin shot and who will give it and how to do it.

                The Camera angle, filter and motion all happens in the taxi cab scene when you have a clear picture of Butch, not the cab lady. You have the up lighting from the dash of the cab to highlight each charter with the dark background and them the motion of the cab moving and the scene in the background of the city heading away.  Pleanty of action and violence for those who enjoy it. The music is a great added feature as well.

Reservoir Dogs

 -  Movie was made in 1992 and each charter had a different and weird color name and that viewers don’t figure that out till later in the movie. The flash backs would bring the viewer up to date on how they all somewhat knew each other.  Story telling with great background music led the viewer from the start of the movie through the lineup of charters and how they all met.

                The most noticeable thing about the movie was the camera and facing each charter as they had morning breakfast and the camera would slide around the table as each charter said something. This made it clear that the director wanted you to hear each conversation with the understanding you were there in the restaurant with the group. You would also notice the different camera shots and angles not forgetting the lighting as they were inside, outside and in building with high window.

                Another key feature was how each charter talked and the use of profanity which is made to seem common in gangs and gang type organizations. Each actor had a different ability and qualification on getting the job completed. The focus was on the big “Joe” played by Lawrence Tierney which with the camera angles were low and usually zoomed out with long shots and made the viewers feel like he was in charge.  Drama filled the air when you see them driving down the road and Mr. Orange was wounded and you caught yourself thinking “What Happened”. Meeting at the warehouse and the drama continued as they were all waiting to find out what happened. The audience had a mind boggling event when Mr. Black caused pain and suffering to the police officer, but the audience never actually seen any of the actions. Things your mind can do when left to the immigration.

The Usual Suspects

– Was made in 1995 and brought in the true scene of story telling by one of the charters in this particular movie. At the start of the movie the story was being told through the charter Roger (Verbal) Kent. How the events of them meeting and what they ended up doing through-out the movie. 
                The most noticeable thing about the movie was the camera angle of facing each charter as they had conversations in the jail house. You would also notice the different camera shots and angles not forgetting the lighting as they were inside, outside and in building with high windows.

                Another key feature was how each charter talked and the use of profanity which is made to seem common in gangs and gang type organizations. The different jargon each used towards one another which also showed that each one was from another state or country. The hidden never seen charter of “Kiser Sosa” as I spelled it seemed to be the finger behind most events with in the movie. Everyone was scared of him and yet no one ever seen him, but his high importance to the movie and his ability to kill anyone at any time was quite scary when the name was mentioned.

 You will find that acting as well defined the gangsters and the ability of Roger (Kevin Spacey) to not only narrate the movie, play his charter (Verbal) and to top it off is the famous “Kiser Sosa”. This made him quite valuable to the movie and the entire plot.

Incredibles

   Movement on film by showing the family running towards you in the middle of the screen and seeing the motion threw the streaking of the sides with blurred area. Another movement is seeing mom talking to dash in the car and you watch the trees and the buildings work their way through the background showing the effect of movement. This makes setting up the scene important and using the frame by frame makes it seem like movement in a three-dimensional stage. Another good movement shot is when they are panning the horizontal coastline going from right to left. Distance used to portray motion when they capture a picture of the plane flying towards the island and zooming out of the aircraft to give you the feeling of motion.  Seeing the waterfall and showing movement by sliding the camera on a horizontal movement and giving you the illusion of water falling down. Watching that film more for the content than the action made for seeing the work that goes into making motion on screen with animation.

Snow White

Snow White was made in 1937 and this movie helped launch Disney towards the success they have today. As the movie starts the main focus was on the queen as being in the spot light and self indulge. The elements of Mise en scene were relevant throughout the movie. When the Queen was looking into the mirror, this pushed your focus to the middle of the screen and on the queen. After the queen had instructed that Snow white be killed, you find the man lingering in on the distant hillside where the lighting made his seem as the bad guy with no face.   Throughout this movie you have multiple instances of these dominant features. Additionally you have lighting and scene changes from light happy times with singing to dark gloomy scary music with eyes staring at you and the trees seeming to reach out and grab you. Angles of the film and lighting were covered when the dwarfs were marching home and the shadows were 5 times the normal height.  Mystery was not seeing snow white bite the apple as well as not seeing the queen after she fell off the cliff. Knowing that evil was off the screen was indicated when the condors were looking over the cliff and their eyes were focused on the evil queen. This movie was a great representation of Mise en scene and animation.

Wizard of Oz

             Wizard of OZ – A musical made in 1939. This was a good movie of its time, but has also become a classic that is played every year and children enjoy watching even with the corky lines. The music would match up to the action on the screen through-out the entire movie where happy times matched with joyful music and when the neighbor or the wicked witch gave us the scary music.    

                The musical made it feel as if you were in a dream once the house was lifted into the tornado and landed in a colorful peaceful world. While Dorothy was unconscious the 3D motion of time as her faced moved around the screen which put you in a sense of dream land. As the little people came out of the flowers you noticed they had some unusual facial expressions. The voices were dubbed over with high pitched kid’s voices. Casting for these movies involved a large cast of people who could act and sing.

                The ability of the actors and writers to lead the lines into the upcoming musical line such as, when Dorothy was alone at the farm and then starting singing “somewhere over the rainbow” and when they were all in the woods “If I only had a heart, Brain, courage”.  Strong points for movie musicals.

                Many early blunders such as the string holding up the scare crow and the tail of the lion were visible to those who were watching closely. The backdrops were easily noticed and where they started and finished. Then you had the exotic bird walking around in the scary woods as well as one entering the woods.

                Overall this is a classic musical movie for children of all ages and with the corky lines that have survived the test of time and are still around today, “A horse of a different color”, “don’t mind the man behind the curtain”.  The multiple ways that “The wicked witch is dead” was said to define each word differently and by each character made this an eventful watch.    

"Citizen Kane"

      I recently got to review the movie “Citizen Kane”. This is not a movie I wouldn’t normally watch based on the title and era, but after seeing it for the first time it would still not be a movie I would watch.

     Being the time frame of the movie 1941 it had some interesting features. The fading in and out of scenes from one time era to another. Many of the lighting contrasts made the appearance of who was in charge or being forceful in the situation. The type and tone of music in-conjuction with the scene got more intense and the fluctuation of the music and the tone helped bring out the importance of that scene.  The scene as Kane was talking to his first wife and the scene flashed forward changing with different clothes, hair and the aging process, but the same dialog.   

      The flashbacks made it seem like a movie with in a movie. How their current time is relevant to the past and why it got to that point. Kane as a young boy and his mother seemed so distant when she let him go to boarding school. How this impacted the young Kane in his adult years. He went from being a child with a family to a child in a school with no family. The news broadcasts reports and how the times were and how Kane was a part of the era. The film started out like a haunted movie with showing a fence with a castle in the background and making it seem light gloom and doom bringing the audience into the movie.  The movie also ended just as it had started.