"Farris Bueller's Day Off"

This film has many monologs where the actor talks to the camera giving advice to the viewers on how to skip school and on how to skate through high school by doing the bare minimum and have a good time. In "Farris Bueller’s day off" he is breaking through the fourth wall by inviting the audience in to his adventure. He is constantly instructing us on what he is doing in a very analytical way; however the other actors pay no attention to him when he has his insightful monologs.  It is little over the top with glamorizing deceit by manipulating every one he is around but very comical. The casting in this film was very well done I really couldn’t have seen a better actor for the part of Farris than Mathew Broderick. Also I thought it was perfect to see Charlie Sheen’s bit part in the police station for drugs, also another well casted part. I would summarize this as an obvious comedy for teens making fun of parents and teachers.

Hughes, J.  (1986). Ferris Bueller’s Day off. USA. Paramount Pictures

"Princess Bride"

                "Princess Bride" was an intellectual film with action, comedy, and drama. The action sequences are very classical with the lack of intensity and gore of modern films.  The largest aspect of this film was the story which is unparallel even today. This adds more to the content of the story with in a story being told to a young boy. The torture scenes were alittle barbaric but nothing in compareson to movies today. The scene didn’t show any blood just insinuated extreme pain from a torture device and a sinister torturer, some bloodshed is in the final scene between Inigo Montoya and his father’s killer.  With a title like Princess Bride you know this will be a drama between two lovers but this movie really covers all genera’s.  Comedy with the witty one-liners and guest appearances form actors like Billy Crystal for comic relief, action with all the sword play and conflicts between lovers, And a vengeance between a boy and his father’s murder. Two stories are being told one the princess and her lover, secondly the grandfather and grandson reading a book teaching him life lessons through the story. The dialog was very impressive in this film showing the skills of the actors to make it a comedy but not come across to ridicule.

Reiner, R (1987). Princess Bride. USA.Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

“O Brother, Where Art Thou”

The film “O Brother, Where Art Thou”, directed by Joel Coen and written by Ethan Coen, was based on the epic poem “The Odyssey”.  Many similarities to the poem are found throughout the film, such as the name of the governor in “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” and the king in “The Odyssey” is the same, Menalaius.  Also, you will notice similar scenes, for example the scene where the convicts in the film meet three tempting ladies washing clothes in the river, singing and luring the men to a trap similar to the one set by the sirens in “The Odyssey”.  However, the main similarities are found within the role of the main character in both stories; both were taken from their wives and both undertake an incredible journey to get back to her.  Both main characters in “The Odyssey” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou” were required to be disguised to keep from being discovered, and both had to deal with suitors pursuing their wives, causing even more problems for the characters.  The Coen brothers used an interesting approach to this film by setting it in the 1930’s whereas the poem dates back to approximately the 8^th century BC.

• Walsh, D. (n.d.). Whither the Coen Brothers?. World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved December 12, 2011, from http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/feb2001/obro-f10.shtml

• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - IMDb. (n.d.). The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved December 12, 2011, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/

Fagles, R. (1997). The Odyssey. New York: Penguin Books.

The Usual Suspects

 In my opinion, the movie “The Usual Suspects” is one of the best Mystery/Heist films of all time. This movie consists of a group of five criminals who are brought together because of a crime they were suspected to be involved in.  After that, this movie unfolds into an incredible mystery.  I can’t count how many times I have seen this movie and I still find it very enjoyable because of the different directions that the plot takes and the questions it creates. The director, Bryan Singer, and writer, Christopher McQuarrie, debated on whom to cast as Keyser Soze for a very long time. This was an unusual use of story and direction.  For example, on one hand you’re following the story that seemed to be secondary;  that of the five criminals committing crimes and whether or not they get away.  On the other hand, you’re following the main plot of who is Keyser Soze, which is a question that you don’t even realize that you want to know the answer to when you first start this film.  It is a question that the director creates in your mind when you are about a quarter of the way into the film, and it is only answered in the last three minutes of the film. The director’s use of story and direction make this film an incredible mystery/crime/drama film that will stand the test of time.

Internet Movie Database [IMDB]. (2011). The Usual Suspects (1995). Retrieved from IMDB website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114814/

Pulp Fiction

Pulp fiction was a very interesting film that I really enjoyed.  It seemed to be portrayed in the typical Tarantino fashion, including his signature unorthodox timeline that he so often uses in his films.  I noticed that in the movie the first scene is in the coffee shop with the two robbers, and ends with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta leaving the coffee shop.  However, this is not the entire time line of the movie.   In an earlier scene a boxer named Butch, played by Bruce Willis, has to go to his apartment to retrieve his father’s watch.  Butch, after finding his watch, runs into Vincent Vega, played by John Travolta, using the bathroom and is surprised to find him waiting for him.  In the course of his search, Butch finds a silenced machine gun that he uses to kill Vincent; however Vincent is still alive in the final scene, showing Tarantino's manipulation of the time line.

IMDB. (2011b). Pulp Fiction (1994). Retrieved from IMDB website: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/

THE INCREDIBLES

After watching “The Incredibles”, I determined that it had a classical paradigm narrative structure.  The film starts in the past, when the heroes were young and celebrated, from an omniscient point of view.  After a series of unfortunate events they have to go in to hiding and deal with normal life, acting as normal people, which sets the scene for the inevitable conflict to arise when they are discovered.  The protagonist, Mr. Incredible, wants to be “super” again.  As he attempts to do this, the suspense builds, centering around whether he will be caught by his wife and who is behind the whole ordeal.  There is a climactic buildup until the inevitable downfall of the antagonist in the final scene.  This is a great movie for the family action genre. The references to other films in this one also kept the adult audiences’ attention.  James Bond films seem to be the most referenced film in spy movies, but other films such as “Entrapment” and “Mission Impossible” are also referenced in this entertaining family movie.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball’s was very entertaining film for both children and adults. Originally it was a book written by Judi Barrett that was published in 1978. The director had to update some of the dialogue to incorporate jokes that are entertaining to adults by referring to people events and situations found humorous in 2010. This made it popular to adults who were more perceptive of the humor while still being appropriate for children. This seems to be a common occurrence in the children’s cartoon produced in the last 10 years. Also the illustrations in the film are more comparable to screen shots with the manipulation of angles and depth. In movies like “Snow White” most of the illustrations were at medium angle with movement left, right, up, and down. However in “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” the viewer would see more dimensional illustrations showing more depth to the world. There were many long shots in the film showing the main character running down the street in a hurry shot from far above. Shots like this show the evolution of cartooning and are especially noticeable when comparing it to and older classic like “Snow White”.