MYST POST #3: Oz the Great and Powerful

I really don't know what possessed me to see this movie, but I'm glad I did.  It'd been forever since the last time I actually went to the theatre and saw a movie and there's still a special feeling when you actually go.  I managed to score a cheap deal for IMAX tickets and with the whole magical world of Oz theme going it really made for a cool visual experience.  I've always been kind of familiar with Oz but I'm not really sure if this was supposed to be a rendition of the Wizard of Oz, or a separate thing?  Who really knows these days when it comes to Disney productions...

Oz holds it's own in the box office, and I believe it's currently the #1 movie out there, but as we discussed in class, these first few months of the year don't really offer much to work with.  It's hard to picture James Franco and Mila Kunis playing such out of character roles, but after a while it seems to come together and I really don't think anyone could've played Oz the way Franco did.  I hadn't heard much of Sam Raimi since the Spiderman movies and frankly, he'd seemed to have fallen off the map for me, I didn't even bother to see Spiderman 3.  I think it's interesting though that he tried to work Franco away from his character in Spiderman and into Oz.  That being said, there's aspects of it that you can tell transferred over, and there's this running motif of greed and hunger for power that works away in the background of Franco's character.

I think where Disney really invested a lot of time, and where it really paid the dividends was in cinematography and editing.  I honestly haven't seen a movie start off in black and white and turn to color and it really reminded me of the technicolor and wide-screen developments of the late 50s we've been studying.  It adds a nice touch to parallel reality and the old world as how it changes to color when we reach Oz.  This movie is full of dutch angles and really experiments with how far we can push the camera because it is part animated but part reality, unlike other films, it's just really out there and it challenges the viewers to follow along.  Granted, it is a 3D production, and it's obvious they're do as much crazy stuff as they can to get people to come watch, but hey, I'm not complaining.

In regards to the thing that stood out to me most was just the stylistic choices of Raimi.  I chose to link the waterfall scene because I think it epitomizes the movie into a short 50 seconds.  The feel of Oz is this super trippy mystical wonderland, like what we have always associated with it in our minds, and as much as we try and focus on the plot, it's so easy to get caught up in this long continuous editing of vast sweeping long shots that showcase how wild Oz really can be.

IMDb gave Oz the Great and Powerful a 6.9, but I'd have to disagree with this.  In my opinion, Oz deserves an 8.5 or maybe even higher.  I generally don't dip my toes into these types of films but I have to say I'm really impressed.  Mila and Franco really pulled the acting along and made up for where the animated characters could not... not to mention the amazing graphics and unique editing/play on color, I'd say this movie definitely deserves a view and a trip to the theatre, the IMAX really does make a difference.

MYST POST #2: Skyfall

In honor of spring break and the end of 3rd quarter, I figured I'd catch up on a ton of movies I was too lazy to see when they came out.  That being said, I was pretty excited to see Skyfall, and maybe that was due to my love of the Bond series or maybe just the fact that there was a ton of hype surrounding this film.  I read somewhere that this was one of the best Bond movies of all time, and while it was damn good, I'd have to politely disagree.

I guess going into this movie I didn't really know what to expect, and as I clicked the purchase button on my On Demand, I wondered if maybe I should see Argo or Zero Dark Thirty instead.  Daniel Craig is what?  45 years old now, and it seems like the series is aging once again, and who knows what direction the series is going in, but fear not, Skyfall got a 7.8 on IMDb and I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment.

The thing about Skyfall is that it represents exactly what I was mentioning above with this sort of aging performance of Bond.  Judi Dench was fantastic in her final "hoorah" as M, and that's what saves the film from being an extremely dull repeat Bond.  Director Sam Mendes does a decent job keeping the audience on it's heels but at times we know exactly what's going to happen next.  Oh of course, he's going to escape, oh he wanted us to capture him - I don't know, it just seemed like your cliche bad guy tricks good guy.  I know I'm gonna contradict myself here, but at times Skyfall showed moments of greatness.  The whole concept of this cyber warfare was insane, it was almost mixing in this sci-fi aspect, and the beautiful old DB5 Aston Martin was a delicate touch that kept me on the edge of my seat at least.

The thing that intrigued me most about Skyfall was this opening credit montage.  I've always been captivated by these montages, it's like the Bond trademark but this one was especially unique.  It flows seemingly from the moment he falls down the waterfall into this ultra-saturated, almost cartoon-like figures walking around as if they're characters in the movie.  It's just the weirdest thing I've ever seen but I loved every second of it.

Skyfall excelled in the field of cinematography and editing, you could really tell it was a high budget film.  There's long, sweeping overhead - birds eye view shots that really show you the vast geography or amazing sets they were able to develop.  Like any other Bond movie, the special effects are ridiculous, the final 20 minutes of the film had to have been perfect on the first shot as they literally ripped the mansion in half and we see the helicopter and vast destruction of it all.  It just fit the whole over the top style of these type of films perfectly.

Skyfall was interesting enough for me to say it was worth the $5 rental but there's still parts missing in the bigger picture.  I can't quiet put my finger on it but it just seems like the series is coming to a close and that's just an inevitable part of the puzzle.  That being said, the special effects and overall plot line was fairly intriguing and I'd definitely recommend Skyfall to anyone looking for a good 2+ hours spent.   I'd give the film an overall 8.0.

1935 Film - Romeo & Juliet

1. Synopsis of your story: In creating this movie we wanted to take the classic Romeo & Juliet tale and give it a twist according to the times of the 30s.  Aware of the situation with the Great Depression, as well as strong dislike from the banks/social class struggle, we wanted to make our film a commentary on that.  Romeo is the son of a failing movie theatre owner, and unlike his father, represents the post-depression era and wants to move on with his life.  His father on the other hand, resents all wealth, especially bank owners, as they refused to give him money to repair his theatre and give him a chance to draw in customers.  Juliet is a young, wealthy girl who is very much indifferent about the whole situation and that leads to why she is able to fall in love with Romeo.  As a character foil, her father resents the poor, and thinks that movies are just a waste of time, only scum waste their time at the theatre, and refuses to give a loan to Romeo's dad.  The story proceeds to pit love against society and in the end is ultimately neither pro- or anti- bank rather just a tale of forbidden love.

2. Genre: We wanted to produce a Romantic-Drama, to pit society against love and see what it could bring in the box office.  We wanted to see how a big budget Romantic-Drama would fair.

3. Studio: We chose MGM as our studio, and we chose it for the simple reason that we wanted this to be a big-budget, highly anticipated film.  We needed a star powered crew for Romeo & Juliet as the 2 protagonists are the main focus, and no other studio gives us that opportunity like MGM does.

4. Cast and Crew: For this production, we chose all MGM affiliated personas, we didn't wan to overextend our reach and potentially have to trade up or buy the rights to any other person.  Our director is Victor Flemming, he's one of the best around at the time, and he knows how to handle big budget films.  Only a year before Romeo & Juliet, he directed Treasure Island, and as Eric said earlier, knows how to handle adapted screenplay and classic films.  In regards to actors, we casted Jeanette MacDonald as Juliet and Robert Montgomery as Romeo.  Both these performers have been in a number of big films and are just pleasing to look at on screen.
5. Hays Code & Technology: Obviously the original version of Romeo & Juliet has some scenes of extreme violence and sexuality, but in keeping politically correct with the time period, we have chosen to keep it clean and abide by the Hays Code, we will not show any scenes of the two lovers sleeping together and will avoid scenes of violence, by mentioning them through dialogue as if they're happening in parallel time. Instead of having both characters commit suicide, we will have them live happily ever after and while this does take a way from the shock factor of the film, it will help us give across a better moral message.  As a technological advancement, we've decided to use technicolor but only at the point where Romeo & Juliet make their first eye contact, to act as symbolism of the freedom love gives our characters.  We thought it'd make for a very interesting and unique touch.
6. Disagreements. For the most part, all 3 of us really liked the plot line and didn't disagree at all, but the big thing that bothered me was that I would've rather made it an indie film.  I wanted to use someone like United Artists and really make a glaring commentary on the situation between wealthy and poor as well as corruption and banks.  Also I thought it'd be interesting to attack the Hays Code and make a film more like the original, driven by sex, anger, violence.  Sure we wouldn't have gotten the vote from those big investors, but oh well.

Formal Film Study: Spike Lee

Whether he's sitting court side at the Knicks game, or just walking around town, Spike Lee is always grabbing the attention of the paparazzi.  That being said, Mr. Lee has quietly become an American icon, especially in African-American communities and having very little knowledge about Spike Lee films, I felt like this would be a good chance for me to explore a dip my toes into a new side of film.  

Here are some trailers:

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Jungle Fever (1991)

Crookyln (1994)

The thing I got out of these three movies, and probably the thing that will stick with me forever when looking at Spike Lee films is the presence of the civil rights theme.  I really don't think I could see Spike directing anything without the hidden race struggle.  That's not to say Spike is a bad director, in fact he's quite the opposite, as I really enjoyed all three films, but his films give us an interesting perspective into a society I frankly did not know all that much about.  The sad thing about it is that there's still a wide disparity when it comes to black v. white films, sure we have African American actors but the industry is still heavily dominated by white films.  I'm not exactly sure what I'm getting at here, but regardless, Spike Lee definitely goes after this struggle in his films.

From a cinematic/visual literacy perspective, Spike Lee doesn't do anything out too far from the norm, but he likes to use the birds eye angle a lot.  I've figured out that this ties in especially well with the settings he chooses.  His films are mostly set in downtown Brooklyn, and by utilizing the birds eye view shot type, he's able to capture the close knit neighborhoods that are Brooklyn.  Another thing I noticed (this isn't necessarily some artistic thing but...) was that Spike likes to use shots in which we are placed in the perspective of birds eye view but then we see a character walk over some picture. The thing that ties his films in the best is his sound mixing.  Especially in "Do The Right Thing" music plays a big part, even with a character Radio Raheem, who basically carries a radio around blasting songs.  But it's not just good sound mixing, it's Spike Lee actually picking when he wants it to be sort of like a comparsion between all the different perspectives.  The opening scene for all 3 movies have songs which if you listen to the lyrics are very powerful, talking about how Elvis was a bad man, or the failures of Wall Street, it's all very subtle things that make a big difference.

As I alluded to a earlier, Spike Lee's films are known for their commentary on society and what the African American means in the greater picture that is America.  If I had the chance I would've watched Malcolm X, but I couldn't get my hands on a copy.  If we look at the historical context, Blacks were making a lot of head way in the 80s/90s and I think Spike wanted to show that there's still a lot more that needs to be accomplished.  I thought the idea behind "Jungle Fever" was really interesting because I know that even by today's standards interracial marriages are still seen as weird.  And Who Knows?  As a white person I don't know the first thing about what it means to be black and I think that's part of what Spike is trying to say.  In all three of these films there's the struggle between White Italians, Latinos, and African Americans.  It just so happens that these are the three biggest populations in the boroughs of Brooklyn so in reality Spike is doing much more than a commentary on blacks.  Then at times he seems to say that it's not just the whites that are halting the ways of progress it's the blacks too.  I think Jungle Fever pales this especially well when it's both the blacks and whites that can't seem to accept this forbidden love.

In the end, I'm still really confused when it comes to Spike Lee and I really don't know what he stands for.  Spike ends "Do The Right Thing" with two quotes on violence one from MLK Jr. and one from Malcolm X almost asking the viewer to choose his own opinions, leaving me ever more puzzled.  I've only grazed the top of what seems to be a complex person, but one thing that I do know is that every film Mr. Lee makes is going to have some underlying critique on society and in that sense he's a very unique director.

Demographics of Brooklyn: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050619_BROOKLYN_GRAPHIC/index.html

SIDE NOTE: This is my favorite scene out of all three movies I've seen of Spike Lee - it's simple, yet unlike anything I've ever seen before, with an eye-level, medium shot through it's entirety.