Assignment 10 - Raiders of the Lost Arc

This thrilling tale will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc, a classic Spielberg movie, follows the life of the adventurer/archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) on his quest for the Arc of the Covenant.  Dr. Jones travels to Cairo in search of this covenant with the help of the feisty Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and "the best digger in Cairo" Sallah (John Rhys-Davies).  Indie searches the desert trying to find the arc before the french nazi archaeologist Dr. Rene Belloq captures it for his own personal use.  Indie learns the importance of all things sacred and realizes the most important things in life are not the material things.

This action adventure movie is very gripping and is a portrayal of cinematography at it's finest.  Spielberg creates another masterpiece to live on forever with Indiana Jones.  

Harrison Ford and Karen Allen have undeniable chemistry and fit both parts perfectly.  Their choppy romance is interspersed into the movie brilliantly with their romantic tension filling ever shot.  Marion Ravenwood becomes an icon in history as the woman who caught Indiana Jones.

Sallah, Indiana's good friend, plays the loveable oaf-like character with pristine, John Rhys-Davies is magical on screen.  

The historical elements of this movie would inspire anyone to dig deeper and learn more about this fascinating subject.  Also the idea of present day (at the time) issues coming in contact with ancient ideas and stories make the movie very interesting.  Each scene delves further into the plot and keeps the audience wondering what will happen next. The suspense mixed with the classic Spielberg stunts and effects really make this movie enjoyable.  

The amount of iconic images (the rolling bolder, Indiana's hat, etc.) throughout this movie are countless.  Indiana is sure to live on forever.

Assignment 9 - Stand By Me

After seeing Stand By Me viewers will come away with mixed feelings. 

Stand By Me tells the story of four young teenage boys about to start Jr. High School. It follows the boys lives in their last remaining days of summer as they go out to find the dead body of a boy close to their age who was killed by a train.  Each boy is dealing with different trials in their life and yet they are all still able to come together as friends.  Gordie LaChance (Wil Wheaton) is dealing with the recent death of his brother, Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) is constantly reminded that he comes from a bad family and will never amount to anything, Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldmen) is taunted by civilians about his insane father and Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell) is just trying to make it through the summer.  

The bond between these boys on screen can only reflect the real life bond they must have felt for each other.   The young actors display wide varieties of emotions that some more mature and experienced actors have yet to master.  Through each child we are able to see clearly the tribulations that can haunt young adults.  Every deep emotion is interspersed beautifully by playful childish antics throughout the film which parallels the real life maturing and growing process.

The film also includes a young Keifer Sutherland in one of his earliest roles.  He plays the villian, Ace Merrill, a troubled young man trying to make a name for himself.  He is followed by Eyeball Chambers (Chris's older brother and fellow trouble maker) and Billy and Charlie (other members of their teenage gang).  This rival gang of older and meaner boys decides to go looking for this dead body as well and understand that in order to get to it first, they may have to cheat.

What starts out as innocent fun and a search for fame, turns into an emotional roller coaster as the young boys deal with their own demons on the way to seeing the body.

This movie, although enjoyable, poses some interesting questions about whether or not one should be excited to see the dead body of another human being.  As the boys come closer to their destination, their true character comes out and they realize the reality of what finding this body means.  

Upon finding the body at the climax of the film, they are met with the rival gang and have to prove their courage in the face of danger.  Each boy meets head on with danger and show that they are all older than they may appear.  The creepy undertone to this movie gives it a unique feeling that most other childhood movies lack.  It also poses interesting and thought provoking questions throughout and is overall a highly enjoyable film.

Assignment 8 - Finding Nemo Critical Review

After watching the adorable Finding Nemo, it is clear that Pixar movies have established themselves as the hierarchy of the animated film genre.

The movie tells the story of Nemo, and baby clown fish, and his father, Marlin, a worry some father who over-protects and represses Nemo.  When Nemo is kidnapped by a scuba diver, Marlin must come to his rescue. While on his journey he meets the hilarious and forgetful Dory, as well as some other interesting sea creatures including a sea turtle, a shark and a giant blue whale. While in captivity Nemo meets his fellow fish tank mates and develops a close bond.

While watching this movie, everyone in the audience is enthralled in a sweet tale that might just bring you to tears.  

From the beginning of the movie, when the tragic death of Marlin's wife Coral occurs, the audience is thrown into the emotional peril of the life of a fish. One cannot help but fall in love with the sweet and sincere Nemo as he struggles to gain freedom from his loving, but overbearing father.  Nemo easily makes friends with his fish tank room mates and learns about the importance of having someone who loves and cares about you.  He also learns from an erratic and sensitive fish, Gil, the importance of working together and helping those who care about you. Nemo grows emotionally and learns of his real love for his father while trying to escape from the evil scuba diving dentist.

While on his journey to save Nemo, Marlin slowly learns to bond with Dory.  While at first Marlin is irritated with Dory and her whimsical ways, Marlin understands the importance of having someone there for you to count on and comes to rely on Dory through and through.  

The incredibly creative story line of this movie never falters and the audience is able to attach a personal relationship with each character being presented.  The animation is also amazing because the look and feel of the underwater world created is a huge success.

Ellen Degeneres gives and absolutely stellar performance as Dory and is beautifully complimented by the equally good Albert Brooks as Marlin.  Every actor in this film magically captured the spirit of the underwater creatures and really make this film come to life.

This story is not only a physical journey from one end of the ocean to another, but an emotional journey of a father and of a son.  

Assignment 7 - Iron Man Critical Review

Iron man is an enjoyable action movie.

Iron man tells the story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), owner of a multimillion dollar weapons company that is used to annihilate the world.  Tony loves his company that his father built and enjoys reaping the benefits in daily life, however when Tony is thrust into the lives of the people being affected by these weapons of mass destruction he realizes the damage that his company has caused to civilians. Upon returning home, Tony turns a new leaf and decides to change the direction of the company, however this is easier said that done seeing as how the board of directors and his best friend/business partner,  Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is not very keen on the idea of losing millions of dollars. In order to save the fate of the world, Tony finds a very creative way to end the destruction.

Throughout the film, the cast does and amazing job and keeps the audience laughing and entertained. Robert Downey Jr. gives a hilarious performance as Tony Stark and really fits the part well.  Also, Gwyneth Paltrow really 'wows' the viewers with her casual elegance in the film. Hopefully in the future one will see more work from Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow because their chemistry is undeniable.  The real life analogies of the middle eastern war and life in the U.S. are interspersed throughout the movie very nicely as well and really give the film a deeper meaning.  Although the film is highly entertaining, the plot line doesn't seem completely plausible and can at times 'lose' the viewer due to difficult technical terminology.  It's definitely a movie worth seeing twice, or three times, or more.  Overall the movie is somewhat predictable, but very enjoyable and entertaining.  

Vacation Assignment - New Film Review

Over the Spring Break I was able to see the movie Knowing, starring Nicholas Cage.

This movie was a predictable tale about a man (Cage) who discovers a secret number code in a time capsule and discovers that it holds the secret to the ending of the world.

Nicholas Cage gave a memorable performance as  John Koestler, recently widowed father to Caleb Koestler. When Caleb's grade school class decides to open a time capsule buried in the ground for 50 years, Caleb's gets ahold of a piece of paper containing a sequence of numbers.  While examining this piece of paper, John discovers that each number sequence relates to a time, date, longitude, latitude and amount of people who died in a tragic accident over the last 50 years. Meanwhile, Caleb is being visited nightly by strange alien voices and creepy whispers from an unknown source in the beyond.  John decides to seek out the help from the daughter of the girl who wrote the numbers 50 years ago, Diana. They soon discover that as the numbers on the paper run out, so does their time left on earth.

This movie is relatively suspenseful and has a strange twist at the end, although I have to admit, it was a little hard to concentrate on the overall theme because you were too busy trying to understand what the purpose of the alien whisper people is.  The effects are nice, but the plot lacks density. The acting was as good as anyone can expect Nicholas Cage's acting to be, but as he ages, his film rolls become redundant.  Rose Byrne gives a good performance and is able to keep the plot moving forward. However, the real stars of this film were Chandler Canterbury (Caleb) and Lara Robinson (Abby, Diana's daughter). Although very young, these small actors give a spectacular performance and really keep you involved in the film.   Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of these talented young stars in films to come.  While the plot has some major gaps (ie. how exactly is it that no one was able to predict the ending of the world sooner than two days in advance??) the movie on the whole is entertaining and worth seeing, at least once.

Assignment 6 - Napoleon Dynamite (critical review)

Jared Hess' first full length film, Napoleon Dynamite, is bound to be a cult film classic.  

This film tells the story of an awkward high school student, Napoleon Dynamite, who is left to spend a week alone with his technology obsessed brother Kip and his time warped uncle Rico when Napoleon's grandmother is injured while on vacation.  The story also introduces child star, Tina Majorino as Deb, an awkward, yet sweet, peer of Napoleon and Efren Ramirez as Pedro, Napoleon's one and only friend. This movie goes through Napoleon's high school trials and tribulations with a comical flare and an ingenious spin on this young man's life.

Throughout the film, the acting is consistent, however, the challenge provided for the actors to 'be the part' is not a hard one to live up to.  Each actor seems to feel at home with the character they are playing and each adds their own unique style to their various roles. The film is filled with hilarious moments that are interspersed with friendly music and awkward moments.  Something that many will notice about this film, however, is that there is very little plot or story line in this movie.  Despite this trivial component, the film seems to move smoothly along and provides the viewer an entertaining few hours.  I believe that this movie is a novelty and is very excellent when viewing it the first time, however, after seeing it several times, the ingenuity wears off and the movie becomes somewhat dull.  

Overall, this film is bound to be a classic, and will live on for a long time.

Assignment 5 - The Matrix (critical review)

My overall opinion of The Matrix is that it is a good, predictable sci-fi film about what life would be like if people had no free will or freedom.

The Matrix tells the story of a man named Neo who spends his time hacking computer programs.  He knew that he was different from most people, and when a strange message comes across his computer this feeling is confirmed. Soon he meets Trinity and Morpheous who tell him that life is not what it seems and help him find the answer to the Matrix. In the process, Neo learns that he could be the answer to saving the free world and that it is up to him to stop the evil agents of The Matrix.

This film has many biblical and political references which are interspersed with the futuristic technology that gives this film an interesting twist.  Keanu Reeves does a good job of playing a stiff and somewhat confused agent for good, but in the end, his performance isn't really believable.  The story challenges the idea that people are given their own right to chose what they like and don't like, or what they want or don't want.  The film does succeed on a philosophical level but doesn't exactly seem very realistic.  The plot is thoroughly developed and the supporting cast outshines Reeves ten fold.  Many interesting questions are posed throughout this film and most of them are answered with expected results.

Overall the film is somewhat confusing and has definitely been told before.  However the acting is relatively good and the effects and theme is very strong throughout the movie. Definitely worth seeing!