Metropolis

If you want to have a mind blowing experiance, take acid and watching Metropolis. This movie was crazy for its time. and I don't mean that it is the stupidest movie ever, I mean it was hughe for its time. Everything is on another scale. The set where huge, the score was huge, the action was huge, even the acting is huge (but thats because its silent, and well everything you do has to be huge).

Take the sets, they spent so much money on these sets, and I don;t need a book or someone to tell me this, I just know. You comapre it to any other picture of its time and you will notice that they dont even have sets this extreme. Metropolis, really opened the scope of what could and could not be filmed. I enjoyed this film because it pulls you in from every direction, trying to make you think and entertain you at the same time, which is a hard thing to do back then and even for todays audiences.

The cabinet of Dr. Caligari

This picture actually scared me. I don't like scary movies never cared for them, just didn't like the way they made me feel. I'm pretty sure if I was a kid when this picture came out, I would of not been able to sleep for weeks.

The use of story and light worked, and played with peoples emotions. You knew you shouldnt look, yet you couldn't turn away, you wanted to know what would happen next. it is clear that this is a expressionistic picture, every was very abstratic, like you where looking at a picture up on the wall, but it was of centre. The sets, where even on a angle. Which I think was the directors way of messing with you. You can tell this is a German picture because even the happy momments of the picture sound scary, with the music having that jarring sound to it. Again, this effecting the way you watch the picture, if the music was easy to listen to, you would come away from this picture with a different feeling. You can really tell the director put a lot of emotion behind this picture, and expressed as much of him self as he could.

Birth of a Nation

First things fist, coming form gentration Y, it is a real effort to sit down and enjoy silent pictures. Yes they have music placed in it, and even sound fx, but the over acting and American history lession is boring to me. I know since there is no actual sound the actors had to convery there emotions broad, so they ausience can get a clear picture of what is going on. But the music even seems like it only has two scourse. the woman on the train tracks danger scourse and the yay i saved the woman on the train tracks scourse. In regards to the filming of it, you can see the steps the director is taking with this picture, particular of its time, and the new exciting leaps that are being done with the camera. It's a popular movie because of the directors work with the camera and the way its been cut together. Cutting form one story to another, and not following one character. Even having the story take place over a particualr set in time, really adds to the realisim of this peace.

Hangover part 2

Okay, I never went to the cinema and saw 'Hangover'. But I so wish I had, because being in the theatre while people watched this would have been so much fun. Now I got a second chance at life, part 2 has rolled around, and thank you lord, because this movie was funny, entertaining, visually dirty and beautiful at the same time, the acting was exellent, and the only saw point, was that it was pretty much the same movie as 'Hangover'. But that you can't complain about, like apart from having a wild night and losing your mate and trying to find him the next day with out having a clue to the night past. What else could you do with that. the actors work really well together, and there script was funny, with old gags from the first one in there, if it works dont change it.

Water for Elephants

If it wasnt for COM123 forcing me to go see this picture, I would have never went and watched it. It is a Robert Pattinson picture, and well I never have seen twighlight and never will, Always hated those pictures. So I figured I wouldnt watch it. However, as I watched I noticed, the visuals of the picture, and thought they where well done, beautifully directed picture, which the director and director of photography really worked well to make this picture look its age and work visually across the board. When it came to the acting, Reese Witherspoon has no real range, so I didnt even bother there, good to look. But it was CHristopher Waltz, that does a fine job being the owner and the ring leader, you can turn that character one way or another, but he brought life and realistic features to the character.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Strangers Tide

Having another Pirate film is alwasy a good thing and having our favourite pirate back is even a better thing. Thats right Captain Jack Sparrow is back, and he had said good by to his old frineds, and brought some new ones along for a ride.

In entertainment value, pirates 4 did a fine job, in a funny value it was funny. However in a character driven movie, and story value, then it drops into the red. Pirates 4 felt forced in the story, trying to put to much information in and introducing to many new characters, and leaving out the back story or information on particular characters. This movie was clearly made for the money and not the audience enjoyment. If they make 5 and 6, lets hope they work out the kinks and not leave johhny Depp stuck in the mud.

Source Code

Okay I got my ticket, bought my Maltesers, drink, and sat down in my small unconfutable seat. Thankfully the movie only went for a solid 86mins. The story to me could have opened up, and not just three sets. For a film that was trying to have a realistic feel with a sci-fi kinda feel to it, I felt the train design didn’t work. Unless they are actual trains in the U.S. While I will give the film credit in keeping you in the dark and as the character works out the situation you as an audience member are brought along as well. Watching the movie and looking back at it, I did find the directors approach interesting, when telling his story, as he places key parts of the story through out the film, giving away the ending, but with sutle hints, short clips and story break down. But I felt the pause in time at the end, didn’t ad much suspense on what was going to happen next. It wasn’t until the final scene with the text message that I felt the story kicked in, on what is going to happen next. The acting was fine, and it was entertaining, but I felt it should of opened up a lot more, instead of confined.