The Godfather

The Godfather is a movie every person on earth should see. It’s cinematic gold! I love the concept behind it, the filming style, the actors, and the themes. Everything just flows so well together. Just looking at Michael, there are many things that can be seen with him. He is a normal boy in the family who doesn’t want to participate in anything, but someway gets roped into the life he tried so hard to stay away from. Essentially though, Michael has the brains, bronze, and communication skills to run the family business. It’s seen a lot when he wittily comes up with solutions to problems instead of becoming hot headed like Sonny, who only thinks violence is the answer.  

Sonny comes off as a brother who is very passionate about the family, but maybe too passionate. He doesn’t understand the limits or what the Godfather actually stands for. He just thinks it’s a business he will be heading and it’s all about bringing in lots of revenue. What Sonny doesn’t understand is the Godfather is all about family, respect, and connections one can make with others.

The Godfather (their father) understands that Michael would be the best choice for the family business, but he respects the fact that Michael didn’t in the beginning want to be part of the family business. He would never force anyone to do anything that they don’t like, but he is willing to give the chance to anyone who proves worthy.

The opening scene is amazing! The lighting and the way that certain people are shaded while others are illuminated. It showed that The Godfather is a strict, loyal, but fair man with the things he offers to people. Similarly in the scene with the horse and later on the horse head in the bed, it shows that when he owns someone a favor, or is helping a friend out, he makes sure it happens. He will follow through with the things he promises.

Michael and Kay are essential to the movie and plot because we associate Kay with things that are normal and not part of the family. So when Michael breaks up with her it’s known that he is removing himself from the “normal” world and becoming part of the family. Later though when he marries her it’s seen as an act to keep part of his old, normal life amongst the bad and terror in his new life. Kay kinda of keeps the reality and fanatsy together in a sense. She is the bridge between the two worlds Michael is and wants to live.

The best part in the Godfather, though, is the scene where the director wakes up with his horses head severed and placed under his covers. It really captures what The Godfather is all about. His ability to make things happen, his loyalty to the ones he considers family, and no one can mess with the Corleone family.

The Social Network

I had already seen the social network before, and I was glad we watched it in class because I think the movie is really good. One thing I really like about it is the main character is in college, so it's relatable because we're about to go to college. He was one of the guys who became a billionaire from an idea he got in college. It's weird to think that someone I know could do this in the next couple of years. Everyone hopes they will be that person, but my generation is extremely lazy, so it we want to do something kind of like this then that person has to be really determined and hard working.

         Another thing I liked about it was the humor. It's not laugh out loud humor that makes you fall off your chair, but it's all ironic humor. Personally, that's my favorite type of humor, so it was good. He dry humor from the main character was good for his character because it made it seem like he didn't really care about anything but in all actuality, he cared a lot, but he chose not to express it. He was very sarcastic, which I am, and even though he takes things too far sometimes it really adds to the humor of the whole situation.

         I also liked how all of the sets were messy. Nothing was really organized which was weird since it's a billion dollar company. They really portrayed how young he was because where he lived, and everything was all over the place and disorganized. And when he moved to LA it was basically a shit show. They would party, drink, do drugs, have girls over, and run an extremely successful company. I don't diner stand how they didn't have any structure, but still did really well.

The Social Network really hits how money and friendship go hand in hand. It shows that majority of people would throw their friends under the bus to have just a tiny bit of fame and fortune. At the same time I don’t think people realize that their friends aren’t necessarily their friends within a business setting. People make business decisions to better their company and improve their profit, not make decisions in order to make friends.  

In a way it changed my how I thought Facebook was suppose to be used. He built the company and website to connect college students from around the states. Then it was a way for people to meet and “get together” in different ways. Where as kids our age use it as a way to show all their friends what they are up to.

Wall-E

Wall-E is one of the most entertaining disney cartoons. It is super simple, yet very intriguing because although the noises Wall-E makes are few they really get through what he is feeling and what he is experiencing. I love Wall-E because it’s a childs movie but hold the focus of many adults. One thing I love especially about Wall-E is how the role of sexes are reversed. For example EVE is a the female robot but seen as the robot that is strong and protects Wall-E she has the job and the authority in the relationship, whereas Wall-E is seen as helpless and for lack of better words a damsel in distress. I think that it’s such a small concept that is overlooked, yet its very important to see the gender roles switched in a modern day film.

Wall-E in some ways is a coming of age movie. He is this little robot all alone and he has to grow up and become an adult in order to save the people of planet earth. He has a daily routine like many young children do, but the minute he gets put into the real world he realizes he has to grow up in order to be the robot society and EVE need him to be.

I love the scene where Wall-E and EVE are dancing out in space. The “filming” down in that seen is so dynamic yet elegant at the same time. It’s a great scene especially because as we go from looking at EVE and Wall-E outside being harmless and dancing, inside they are seen as rogue robots thats are causing an uprise and lots of trouble within the society on the ship.

It’s a cool comparison how they use the computer as controller of the ship, and it’s sort of the same as 2001: A Space Odyssey. In that the computer has a program it is suppose to follow and the minute that one person or something makes it seem as if the program isn’t going to be followed through with it overrides all other controls to itself. Same thing happens in Wall-E with the captain and computer.

I love the fact that we got to watch an animated movie because it is such a big part of the movie corporation. Many people associate animated movies with just childrens movies, and it’s true that Wall-E is a childrens movie, but it also has a lot of concepts that only adults or more mature audiences would understand. Animated movies present real problems in a friendly way. Instead of showing hard hitting rough graphics of a real world issue, it brings it up in a simple yet creative way.

Children of Men Reflection

(My computer wasn't formatting my paragraphs right and I tried to fix it but it wouldn't change so sorry about the weird format this is in)

Everything about this movie I absolutely loved. To start off, the plot. A world where women aren’t able to get pregnant sounds bad, but when you think about it more, its just terrible! In class we discussed this and how it shows the end of the human race. The thought of that is just terrifying. Living in a world where there’s no new life in the world is such a strange concept. I’m not a big fan of kids, but living in a world like that I think I would miss kids and newness quality they have. Hearing the story from Miriam about how she was experiencing the first signs of infertility throughout all of the hospitals and all of the miscarriages the women were having was so intriguing. But, I had a feeling something was going to happen to her when Theo said she was there for the end of it and she was going to be there for the beginning because they kept killing off characters you would think would live, but no.

Another thing I enjoyed was how they killed characters left and right. Some of the characters you would think would live till the end, died. There aren’t many movie like this one where they do that and I think its a nice change of pace. It bothered me when Theo died in the end, but in a way it would have been weird if he didn’t die.

The scene that stuck out to me the most was when Kee, Theo, and the baby were walking through all of the soldiers and they all stopped fighting, made a path, and stood there in awe. The battle they were suppose to be fighting wasn’t important because they were all seeing something that was almost foreign to them. New life. What really surprised me the most was the second they heard a ruckus, they completely shut down their feelings and any emotion they had, turned to the building, and started shooting their weapons like nothing had happened. There had not been a baby in over eighteen years and they were looking at something that was barely a day old. Yet, they continued what they were trained for and started fighting.

This movie was a really intense one, that made you feel what the actors were feeling, but the thing I liked most about this movie was a lot of it was about hope. Theo was helping Kee, a complete stranger, because she was pregnant, and in a way I think he helped her because he was hoping she could save the planet. They were also going through all of the dangers throughout the entire movie, getting arrested, going to the immigrant place, almost dying multiple times to try and find something that might not even exist. The Human Project. Their whole journey was completely and utterly based on hope. There was no guarantee that The Human Project was real, or even any signs. They were relying solely on hope that it wasn’t a myth, and that they could find it so Kee could get there and they would help her with her child and what to do with it.      

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Reflection

The part I enjoyed most about this movie was how it was a modern love story. The reality of their relationship compared to movies like Nicolas Sparks movies or romantic comedies is a lot more realistic and practical. They started out with the initial attraction towards each other, got into a relationship, started fighting, broke up, realized they love each other, and even after they got their memories erased, they still wanted to be together. Thats what (realistic) true love is. Being able to push through the problems, work it out, and handle each other is what love is like now because in the world we live in today thats what you have to do. There are no fairy tales. There’s no princess who falls in love with the prince and they end up together because they have a magical kiss in the end. There’s real people, who develop feelings for another person, and if they’re lucky the feelings are reciprocated. Like in Moulin Rouge “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.”

Something that I thought was unnecessary was how Clementine’s hair was so outrageously colored. I understand that they were trying to make her different, but I felt like that was too over the edge. Her personality is strong enough, and so outspoken that they don’t need to make her physically appear different. She could have been an average looking woman and still come across the same way. Personality isn’t about the way you look, its about how you act. So, even in a movie, how a character appears does matter, the way she dressed and acted was so apparent and it demonstrated who her character was, so her colorful hair was unnecessary.

The movie at one point had me thinking “wtf” because it got kind of trippy. The scenes going back and forth in time really confused me; however, I understood the scenes and what was happening by the end. The way they showed him going through time when his memory was being erased was really interesting. I really liked how he would tell Clementine they needed to leave in the middle of a memory because he wanted to remember everything. My favorite line of the whole movie is when he’s laying on the ice with her and he tells her he doesn’t want to forget that particular memory. It really stood out to me because they had already gone through so many memories, and out of all of them thats the one he truly wants to remember. I think it shows how after we make a decision, in the middle of our mistakes is when we genuinely know we have messed up. Its funny how he tries to maintain his memories by going to his childhood memories to keep Clementine. When he acts like a child under the table, but looks like a fully grown man, was great because he was so caught up in his memory he was acting so childish and she was so confused and just wanted him to get out from under the table.

Animal Farm Reflection

Animal Farm was an interesting book, I enjoyed the idea and the plot of it, but something I didn’t like was how all of the animals believed everything Napolean told them. Even at the most ridiculous times when he would tell them outrageous things, they would end up agreeing with him. I can understand he was their leader and had authority over the farm, but there were times when he was truly in the wrong, but the animals figured out a way so it made sense of why he did what he did. When he would change the ten commandments so he wasn’t breaking any of the laws was just plain obnoxious. Throughout the entire book the animals would chant, “four legs good, two legs bad” and the second they saw all the pigs walking on their hind legs they changed their saying to, “four legs bad, two legs good” because Napolean was now walking on two legs, yet, all of the animals walked on four legs.

Napolean is a very clever character, in which he can manipulate almost anyone to do or believe what he says. I hate his character so much, I almost love him at the same time. To be able to mold the minds of so many to think just about anything you say is right is some real talent. His life is so easy because if he ever makes a mistake he has to develop a reason for why it wasn’t his fault, blame something or someone, and he’s in the clear. For example, when Snowball becomes a threat to Napolean because he challenges him for control of the farm and the popularity from the other animals, he obviously has to get rid of him.

Propaganda was heavily influenced by Squealer because he was Napolean’s right hand man. Because Squealer was so helpful with convincing the other animals what Napolean wanted he represents propaganda and how it can manipulate everything in one’s life. For example, one newspaper could show you a picture of something that makes you believe one thing. While another newspaper could show you the same picture but cropped differently, and you might believe the complete opposite from what you thought from the first newspaper just because of what they wanted you to see.

Something I thought was weird was how none of the animals ever questioned Napolean. There were times where he was obviously in the wrong and no one ever called him out. In reality, someone would have said something seemed weird or they noticed something was up. Even if one of the animals did say something, Napolean probably would have gotten rid of them, but there wasn’t an animal to say something seems slightly off. If one of the animals, like Boxer, would have said something I think they would have been able to revolt against Napolean and take the farm over, again, and possibly make it a better place for the to live. They might not ever live in the perfect place, but things might have run smoother, and better overall if someone who wasn’t power hungry was leading the farm.

Moulin Rouge Reflection

I first saw Moulin Rouge, I believe, around the time it was released and I thought it was great because of all the singing, dancing, and lavish costumes. Because I liked it so much I watched it every so often and its one of those movies that gets better every time you see it. Now, analyzing it in class, I love it so much more.

I can better understand the symbolism from the windmill. It show Satine’s life. In the beginning she’s full of life, and ambitious to become a real actress. She’s energetic and ready to do whatever Harold Zidler tells her to do. During all of this the windmill is vibrant, colorful, and spins fairly fast, but as the movie goes on it starts to dim and slow down to the point where its completely stopped and appears black and white in a color movie. When this is happening, Satine starts thinking for herself and doesn’t want to be the woman Zidler has transformed her into. Also, she starts dying and when she does die, thats when the windmill shuts down symbolising Satine is no longer living.

The entire movie is foreshadowed through the play. All of the conflicts, characters, and plot are played out by the people going through the struggles of the movie. I think its pretty clever and funny because the characters are so wrapped up in love they don’t see what’s right in front of them. For example, how the Duke believes all the lies Christian and Satine tell him why the need to spend so much time together. Its understandable for them to have to spend some time with each other because they are the writer and lead actress, but the Duke should have known something was up when they were spending every night “rehearsing” together.

One of the final scenes in the movie when all the actors and performers are behind the curtain devastated by Satine’s death and the camera moves to show the crowd on the other side of the curtain giving them a standing ovation and cheering for them, I believe captures what the whole movie is about. It shows that behind all of the glitz, glamour, lights, makeup, and costumes theres so much suffering that no one knows about or was even aware of. Satine didn’t even know she was dying until the night before she died, and Christian, I believe, knew she was sick but had no idea of the severity of it. He wanted to plan the rest of his life with her, but she died before they could even get out of the Moulin Rouge, and I think thats why this movie is so tragically wonderful. They didn’t end up together, but they learned to love and they were loved in return.