My Movie Ratings

I rated the movies we watched this semester from my favorite (at number 1) to my least favorite (at number 12):


1. Moonrise Kingdom - I just love looking at anything directed by Wes Anderson, it's like entering a candy shop for your eyes.  Plus I love the cast of actors he always uses and this movie was on my top ten list at the beginning of the class.

2. O Brother, Where Art Thou? - The Coens' take on the Odyssey is really interesting and I love the layers of cultural references embedded into the film, each time I watch it I find one that I've never picked up on before.

3. Blancanieves - I thought this film was just gorgeous.  Plus I liked this darker take on the Snow White story.

4. The Vanishing - I thought the bad guy in this film was so interesting and so creepy and I thought including his process of getting to the kidnapping and murder was very interesting.

5. Sherlock Jr. - I liked the physical humor of this film and was really impressed by the effectiveness of the stunts.  I also liked the subtle political message of the film.

6. My Own Private Idaho - I thought this film was really unique and incorporated many elements I had not seen in film before.

7. Wendy & Lucy - I didn't mind the slow pace of the film and I appreciated the way the director approached trying to make a political movie without shoving the message down your throat.

8. Freaks - I thought this movie was interesting and I liked that it stared actual "freaks", but I thought the message got mixed up and wasn't clear.

9. Awara - This movie was good and I enjoyed the musical numbers and Indian culture but it was way too long.

10. Killer of Sheep - I appreciate what this movie is doing and the realism of it, but it's just not that enjoyable to watch so I wouldn't say that I loved it.  I am however glad that I saw it.

11. Detour - I didn't dislike this film, it's just not that memorable to me.

12. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - I'm just not much of a cowboy movie person so this film didn't resonate that much with me.

An Introduction to Carmencita

The scene opens with a medium close up shots focused on an energetic little girl dancing in a white dress. Her face is shrouded by a veil and she wears an unfinished sleeve on her arm. In the foreground we see a woman sitting below the girl looking up at her.

Then the scene cuts to a close up shot of the woman sitting in the chair. She gives the girl an annoyed look as she pins the girl’s dress. We recognize the woman as Carmen’s mother from the beginning of the film. 

Next the camera cuts to an extreme close up of the girl as she lifts her veil to reveal her exuberant face. We understand that the girl is the daughter of Carmen and Antonio Villalta. The presence of Grandma hints that she is now the girl’s primary caretaker. 

The next cut takes us to a bizarre close up of a chicken, and introduces us to Pepe who is the girl’s best friend. Pepe later plays an important role in the story when the stepmother uses him to teach Carmencita a lesson. 

The chicken is followed by a cut to a close up used to show the emotion on grandma’s face as she yells out in pain and pricks her finger. These extreme emotional close ups are used frequently throughout the movie as it is a silent film and can not rely on dialogue to help create this emotion. 

Finally we cut to a close up of the little girl, she looks at her grandma with a tender expression as sucks the blood from her grandma’s pricked finger. This scene introduces us to the character of Carmencita and shows us that she is an energetic and caring little girl with a lot of spirit. It also serves to show the close bond between Carmencita and her grandmother.

Visual Analyzation of Moonrise Kingdom

In this scene the focus is on Sam and Suzy dancing on a beach. The 2 characters stand in the center of the shot framed by the 2 land masses in the background. Their bodies occupy the space of the water so that only their heads appear to be above the water. Even though Sam and Suzy are in their underwear they are still represented by their signature colors, Suzy is wearing pink underwear with a touch of white in her bra and Sam is wearing his dark green beige colored Khaki scout shirt on top of his underwear.  

Although the 2 characters are the focus there are several items in the foreground closer to the camera. These items include Suzy’s shoes, binoculars and record player. They are placed directly in between Sam and Suzy occupying the exact center of the shot. The blue cover of the record player sits in the middle bringing in a pop of color and directing your attention towards the collection of items. On either side of the dancing characters sits an item near the edge of the frame. Beside Sam sits Suzy’s yellow suitcase and beside Suzy sits Sam’s khaki scout lamp. The coloring of these items matches more closely the color of the background so they fade away from the eye and are not as noticeable, but also help to frame the characters. They also help to represent the 2 characters. Suzy’s yellow suitcase is inappropriate for camping showing her naievity. Sam’s lantern is a little too practical for a child to bring and shows his lack of parental care throughout his childhood.

A Non Traditional Chick Flick

Wendy and Lucy is not the type of movie you think of right away when talking about chick flicks. It is a movie with serious political undertones about a woman, who is essentially homeless, travelling to Alaska on her own. When I think of a chick flick I usually think of a storyline that involves the main character (who is a female) trying to win over some guy, talking to her friends about said guy, crying over the guy, and finally earning the love of this oh so special man. The genre tends to be a little on the shallow end and the plots are largely driven by obtaining love. However movies of the chick flick genre also have a focus on friendship and are usually highly emotional.

In Wendy and Lucy, Wendy has no gal pals to gab with and she definitely has no love interest, instead she has a dog. I think that Wendy and Lucy fits the chick flick genre because the main character is a woman and the movie focuses on her friendship with her dog. Although the characters themselves don’t get overemotional the movie does cover topics that pull at the heartstrings such as homelessness, loosing a friend, being on one’s own, and chasing goals. Where Wendy and Lucy strays from the traditional chick flick is in its lack of a romantic storyline. This is very refreshing, because it shows a more realistic portrayal of a woman. According to most chick flicks women make all their decisions based on men, 80% of their conversations are about men, and the majority of their emotions are caused by men. This is simply not true. That is why it is great to see a movie that focuses on a woman’s trials, goals, friendships, and independence as separate entities unattached to her love life.

Comedy in O Brother Where Art Thou

The use of comedy in O Brother Where Art Thou is a large part of what makes the movie so successful. The camera, the script and the actors all help create the sort of scholarly slapstick comedy that is the movie’s signature. The scene where the congregation comes through the forest and Delmar and Pete get saved could be a very serious scene examining religion and its effects on he human spirit, and while it does dabble in those topics it does so with a comedic flare that adds to the entertainment of the scene.

The scene opens with Everett walking up to the camp where Pete and Delmar are sitting around a fire eating. Everett and Pete discuss how they are going to get to the treasure. There are a series of close up shots on Pete and Everett as they discuss transportation to the treasure, interrupted by close ups of Delmar as he offers Everett a gopher, saying “gopher Everett?”. Pete realizes that Everett has stolen from his cousin and as he realizes this the camera zooms into an even closer up shot of Pete who has narrowed his eyes to a slit in a look of hatred. The exaggeration of Pete’s expression combined with the dramatic zoom in on his face creates a comedic aura instead of one of drama. Once again Delmar offers the gopher to Everett. Music is brought in and the sound interrupts Pete and Everett’s argument. Faintly behind the close up of Pete and Everett you can see white robed figures. The camera then has movement for the first time in the scene and there is a tracking shot around the 3 men showing that they are surrounded by these people in white. Once again, Everett is offered some gopher by Delmar. 

The camera then cuts to the three men walking among the crowd and the music becomes much louder. The camera then zooms out to a bird’s eye view and we get a sense of how big the crowd is and we see that they are all getting baptized. Just as Everett starts talking about how silly the whole thing is the camera cuts to Delmar slopping exaggeratedly through the water towards the priest. Delmar then says he’s a new man and heaven everlasting is his reward and Everett responds with “we’ve got bigger fish to fry”. The scene ends with Pete shoving his hat to Everett and slopping through the water off screen on his way to be baptized as well.

New Images in My Own Private Idaho

I thought that from the beginning My Own Private Idaho created many new images. The opening scene was enticing and intrigued me to want to watch more of the film. It opens on a young man standing next to a road in the middle of nowhere. There are no other people and besides the road and a fence there are no signs of other people for miles. The image gives a very solitary feel and raises several questions about who the young man is, how he got there and what he’s doing there. 

Then the young man, who we later find out is the main character Mike, starts speaking, first just counting while he looks at his pocket watch and takes steps. Then he moves to the middle of the road and speaks about roads. The fact that he can stand in the middle of the road without any concern speaks to the remoteness of his location. The inserted shots of the landscape that break up the scene also show this vast remoteness. Mike’s monologue starts with “I always know where I am by the way the road looks.” Which seems like a silly statement given that there appears to be no landmarks of any kind on this particular road and it appears to be the same for miles in either direction. He goes on to describe the road as someone’s face, and this is referenced later in the film when Mike and Scott return to this road. 

The scene ends with Mike collapsing right in the middle of the road in a narcoleptic fit. He then has a dream sequence involving a woman (we assume is his mother) gently speaking words of comfort and running her hands through Mike’s hair. I thought that this was a very different but effective way to introduce a character and a film. I think it gives the viewer a good amount of information about Mike, his loneliness, his desire to be with his mother, and his vagabond ways. The unusual setting, odd monologue and short dream sequence all help to show the viewer who Mike is and it’s all done in a combination that I haven’t seen before.

Genre Analysis of The Vanishing

I would not consider The Vanishing to be a horror movie. To me the key element to a horror movie is a strong use of suspense. I do not argue that Raymond’s actions in The Vanishing are horrifying, I just believe that to truly be a horror movie there has to be a sense of suspense throughout the story. If the only qualification of the horror genre is that the subject matter of the film must be horrifying then any war movie or documentary on genocide would qualify as a horror movie. Like The Vanishing, these movies are missing the edge of your seat tension that marks most horror films. 

The scene where Saskia is drugged and abducted, for example exhibits little to no suspense. Prior to this scene the viewer has already been introduced to the fact that Saskia has indeed been abducted, we have seen Raymond practice his methods of abduction, and we know the time and location of the abduction. So by the time the film actually shows Saskia’s abduction the viewer already knows the who, what, when, where, and how. As a consequence there is very little, if any, surprise in the abduction scene. It is very hard to build suspense without the idea that something unexpected is about to happen and since the viewer already knows how the kidnapping scene is going to play out, there is no building of suspense. 

The setting for the abduction doesn’t help. It’s a very public place with children playing in the sun and people pumping gas. Nothing about it creates suspense. The scene also lacks traditional musical cues of suspense, there is no building musical theme to clue the viewer into what is about to happen. In fact there is no use of music at all, just the diegetic sounds of tiles clinking in a box and the distant sound of children playing, neither of which adds any tension to the scene.