The Godfather

The Godfather is well renowned film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film has many components that make it a good film. For example, the fascinating dialect in the movie, one of my favorite lines is from the Godfather: “What have I ever done to make you treat me so

disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that wounded your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.” The Godfather’s appearance was also intriguing, especially after his eyes were edited, so that they would
appear dark throughout the entire film. By contrasting his eyes this made the Godfather appear to be tough and unpredictable. Furthermore, there is the unforgettable soundtrack that occurred throughout this movie. The scorn was also significant, the instruments would play right before a death scene or during a death scene. For instance, when one of the most dramatic death scenes occurred, it happened during a church baptism. As the church organ increased in sound (prior to the death sense) this added an uneasy emotional feeling within to the audience. This scene was also interesting for the reason that baptism symbolizes a new birth of life, and the irony of having so many people die at the same time. Another scene that supports new life was when Vito Corleone was actively playing with his grandson, then dies of an unexpected heart attack. This symbolizes how the old generation is dying and the new generation is emerging. Of course we have to recognize the irony in this scene as well, how that Vito Corleone dies from an unexpected heart attack, but lives after being shot multiple times. 
The Godfather was based on Italian heritage, this was interesting for I am half Italian and my father’s side of the family is full Italian. Some characteristic that are true with the film’s
interpretation of Italian culture is family. Italian families for the most part are very close; I remember before my grandmother died, every Sunday we would have a family dinner. Family stayed true in the film, for instance, when Michael Corleone chewed his brother for siding with someone else besides the family. We can even look at the larger picture, how that the entire movie functioned as a family business. Another scene that demonstrates the importance
of family was when Michael Corleone was very forward in asking Kay to marry him, so they could start a family. Food is critical in Italians families, it’s part of our culture. I remember during family functions the women spending long hours preparing large quantities of food: pasta, spaghetti, bread, salad, fruit, and wine! Wine is also part of Italian culture, growing up my grandmother would mix wine in my father’s water. In the film every time an adult was drinking a beverage it was always wine. The women were also constantly in the kitchen cooking. Italian culture it is a norm to have large families, boys were also usually viewed as being higher than women. My father had three other siblings; my grandmother had 11 other siblings. I have been told that in older Italian culture men were looked at as being more important than women. The Corleone was also a huge family. In the Godfather, there were many occurrences of women being treated poorly, like when Kay asked about the family business and Michael yelled at her, or when Carlo beat his wife with his belt. Being Catholic is so prevalent in Italian culture, when I visited Italy Catholic Churches seem to exist on every block. In the film, there were many connections to being Catholic; during Vito funeral people would perform the Catholic hand signal.

           In conclusion, I enjoyed the film it reminded me of my heritage; nevertheless, the film was telling the unforgettable American story: fleeing from hardship, and obtaining a successful career in American. This is actually very similar to what happened to my grandfather; he left Italy after the WW2, and started a successful career in American as a barber.

WALL-E

After watching WALL-E for the second time I was reminded how incredible the movie is. On the surface this movie is warning us the consequence of not being responsible and taking care of the environment. Earth had been unoccupied with humans for some 700 hundred years; throughout that time humans had become more dependent on technology. What was ironic about this concept, with an increase in technology, it seems like a solution would have been created to eliminate the garbage. It was also interesting how the ship removed itself of garbage, basically they had large robots crunch the garbage into small square blocks, then the blocks would be released into space, so isn't this counterintuitive polluting space? Another concept that intrigued me was how the ships computer had a manual turn off. Maybe the forefathers (previous captains) had taken precautions if ever a robot take over was to occur. The filming techniques and soundtrack were so essential for the success this movie had. If you truly consider how the entire first half of the movie basically functioned as a silent film, you realize just how important these methods were. I enjoyed how the camera exposed the audience to the entire sense not just continuously focusing on a certain character. The soundtrack/score in this movie continually enhanced the film. For instance, when the Captain was fighting the ship’s computer, the soundtrack work by making that scene seem more dramatic. This film consistently used humor, making the movie amusing to watch. I believe this is a hard task to accomplish in a G-rated film, for your humor has to be appropriate. One sense I thought was particularly funny was when Wall-e was spying on Eve in shopping center, when he accidentally bumped into some shopping carts, that responded by running him over. Some themes that existed in this movie were love, humanity, and technology. Love was consistently shown by Wall-e, who sacrificed his own life countless times to save Eves. It was interested how this movie used robots to demonstrate that love. Humanity can be best explained through the captain’s actions, having a desire to return to earth, where humanity originally started. Another scene that correlates humanity was when the spaceship was being tilted to the side, and all the new born babies were being tossed to the side, this scene two adults took the initiative and sacrificed their lives to assure the safety of the children. This film showed that if technology is not controlled it will eventually lead humans to become lethargy. Technology provided humans food, entertainment, it even lugged them around, this caused humans to become obese and complete reliant on their technology. When the captain was given a book, he was oblivious on how a book functions. However, when the Captain and the crew took control over the technology they benefited because of it; henceforth, they were able to use the robots to build houses, drill water, basically recreated civilization.

The Social Network

I enjoyed this film; I thought it was well written and screened. The cast did a prodigious job portraying their characters; I imagine this would be a difficult task, since your characters are still alive therefore you’re open to much criticism. I enjoyed how the film correspondingly had two different events simultaneously occurring, the story of Mark Zuckerberg life, and Mark Zuckerberg in court fighting two lawsuits. The effect this filming technique had: it enhanced the audience understanding of the lawsuits, and instantaneously made the film more entertaining, consider how boring it would have been if the entire second half of the movie was solely about Mark Zuckerberg in court. It was interesting how Arimie Hammer had been casted to play two characters, the Winklevoss twins. When watching the film the effects like slightly altering their voices, made me completely obscure to the fact the same actor was portraying both characters. I imagine David Fincher (The Director) purpose behind this, was he desired to accurately depict the story, and what better way than to have one person play twins. Some other cast members that intrigued me was Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) and Marylin Delpy (Rashida Jones). During the opening since of the movie, Mark Zuckerberg indulges into a verbal fight with his girlfriend Erica Albright, the conversation ends with her saying, that he will never have a girlfriend because he is an assh*ol, not a nerd. The final scene of the movie ends with Marylin Delpy saying something to the effect that he’s trying too hard to be a jerk. If you consider how through the course of events Mark Zuckerberg personality reluctantly stayed the same, selfish and inconsiderate. Personally I thought Mark Zuckerberg forsaking his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) was completely wrong. Not only was Saverin held to role of chief financial officer, he also supported the Facebook project financially. I imagine he could have been beneficial to Mark Zuckerberg in the future. Now neglecting the Winklevoss twins I can kind of understand, he never developed a relationship with them, beyond co-workers. However, if I had been in his shoes, I imagine the best course of action would have been not to continue lying about the project, rather to end the commitment, and then continue the development of Facebook. In seems like Mark Zuckerberg would have had a better chance in court, at that time $65 million had to someone hurt Zuckerberg. Though you could justify that Zuckerberg intentionally prolonged their exceptions, for he understood timing is everything, if he had to compete with another social media website he might not have been as successful. Though it’s definitely something to consider, would you abandon your best friend, and the trust of others, for money?  

            It’s interesting how Facebook has revolutionized our world, now it’s possible to stay in touch with friends regardless of location. Mark Zuckerberg a somewhat socially inapt person, created the most successful form of social network, worth over 28 billion.

            I would recommend this movie, based on a numerical scale 1-10, 10 extremely good, 1 worst movie ever, I would give this movie a solid 8. The Social Network has an intense theme that is portrayed by talented actors, and is all made possible through well scripted filming techniques.

Children of Men

18 years of infertility has caused civilization to collapse. The only functional government that still existed was the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom had been raging war with refugees who violate the government’s immigration laws. Theo Faron (Clive Owen) a normal working civilian was kidnapped by the Fishes, an underground band of rebels. Theo agrees to aid them after he is persuaded by a large sum of money. The group needed transit papers for a young refugee named Kee Miriam (Clare-Hope Ashitey); Theo was able to obtain these papers from his cousin, who works as a government minister. Though Theo was reluctant he agreed to escort Kee to the coast, along with Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore) his former wife, a member of the organization, Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a leader of the Fishes rebellion, and Miriam (Pam Ferris) a trusted friend of Kee. Unfortunately they were unable to reach their destination after being ambushed by an armed group. Kee reveals to Theo that she is pregnant, and pleads Theo to stay until the baby is save. Theo realizes that the ambushed was staged by Luke who desires to use the baby as a political tool to aid the revolution. Immediately Theo alerts Kee and Miriam the untold plan Luke has secretly orchestrated. Theo, Miriam, and Kee escape by stealing one of their cars, then driving to Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine) house, a friend of Theo.  From this scene on it’s a journey to located the human project; there is limited information on what the human project actually is, although we can assume it’s an organization of people who are striving to preserve the human race.

It was interesting how society without order, results in complete agony chaos. That humankind has the tenuous to separate into individual groups rather than be united. I believe the reason for this is clearly explained in the film, humans instinctively want to survive and will undergo any circumstance that will allow them to accomplish this. In Children of Men, war was accepted as a normal part of life. Infertility had devastated society; people saw life to hold no true value. The film did a remarkable job showing that humanity can be restored from a baby being born. Throughout the film Kee was hesitant in publicizing her baby, for the free of the unknown. However, when people saw her baby optimism was regenerated in their lives. One of my favorite scenes of the film was when Theo is reunited with Kee, by alluring to the sound of her baby crying in the midst of an ongoing battle. Then everyone in the building starts gravitating towards the sound of her baby, and both sides stop shooting. It’s significant why the fighting stop I believe it’s because the absent of hope had been restored in each person.

I relished the final scene of Children of Men. When Theo and Kee are in the rowboat relieved that they had made it, then Theo express to Kee that he has been fatally shot. This twist in the plot intensifies the film. Kee reacts to the condition by changing her baby's name to Dylan, Theo’s son’s name. Theo dies in happiness knowing that his life has benefited civilization. Immediately when Theo dies a ship emerges from the fog named tomorrow. This was a great way to end the film, for you can infer that Kee and her baby safely made it to the human project. It was also interesting how her baby was a girl, I believe this was done intentionally because a woman bares children and having a girl baby symbolizes growth.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was a unique modern love story. In this film two individuals with opposite personalities fall in love. Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) a man, who enjoys consistency in life, is reunited with his girlfriend Clementine, (Kate Winslet) an outgoing individual who enjoys taking risk. They don't realize it now, but two years ago they were former lovers, until their memories of one another were eternally erased. Clementine was the first to consent to erasing Joel from her memory. Joel was devastated by the news and decided that he to would undergo the procedure. Most of the movie is taken place inside of Joel’s mind. During the procedure Joel realizes that he still has feelings for Clementine, he tries to keep his memories of Clementine from deteriorating. Though his attempts only slow down the erasing of Clementine from his memory. When a patient would give their consent, they would undergo a series of procedures. The first step, the individual would remove all physical objects from their house that had correlation with the memory they were trying to get rid of. At the comfort of their own house, they would take a pill causing them to fall into a deep sleep. The doctor who performed the operation would place the patient under a device; this would allow the doctor to focus on erasing a certain portion of their memory. This film evoked the idea it was possible to erase bad memories. On the surface this sounds ideal, a fresh start. However, you are sacrificing your good memories when you chose to eliminate the bad memories. I would be against the removal of memories. Your mind would have no reconciliation of previous mistake you made; this would only cause your subconscious mind to repeat the past.

            The cast did a superb job portraying their characters. It was interesting how the director starred Jim Carrey in this movie. Usually Jim Carrey is casted in movies for his silliness, however this movie he undertook a serious acting role. By doing this I believe the audience is drawn more to his character. Kate Winslet protracted a sillier character (Clementine) though her acting wasn’t over the top, making the film to overdramatic. The character’s costumes were also carefully selected to represent their personalities. Joel often wore sweatshirts and beanies throughout the film. This is symbolic with his character for sweatshirts, and beanies stereotypically represent a person who is laid back. Having Jim Carrey hair just above his eyes made Joel look like a kindhearted individual. Clementine expressed her outgoing personality through her bright clothing; an orange sweatshirt, blue shirt, a pink jacket are a few examples of Clementine's clothing. It was brilliant how the film correlated Clementine’s hair color with the emotional presents Joel was experiencing when his memories were being erased. The first time Clementine hair is blue, that scene of the movie Joel is reliving falling in love with Clementine. The color blue symbolizes: trust, loyalty and confidence. When Joel was resisting the memory of Clementine from being erased from his brain, Clementine hair was red. Red is often associated with determination, desire, and love. The final scene of the movie where Joel accepts the reality of Clementine being erased from his memory, Clementine hair is dyed green. The color green means life, nature, and harmony. Hope is created in this scene from Clementine's last words, meet me in Montauk.

Animal Farm

Animal Farm

I particularly enjoyed reading George Orewell novel, Animal Farm. Animal Farm is a story that deals with morals that humans have struggled with since thee begin of time, and will keep struggling with until the end of time, power. The novel was not limited in telling a story, it illustrated how a society upheld by a dictator will result in corruptness. Throughout history dictators have lied to people, to promote their self-interest, forcing individuals to adhere to their every command. Napoleon was the leader on Animal Farm, who took advantage of the society’s lack of knowledge, which allowed him to execute his own will. Napoleon starved the society and forced the animals to work longer more intense hours, while he reaped all the benefits. This is why I believe Animal Farm is warning us against dictatorship.

I enjoyed how the novel used animals to tell the story. It allows the author to take an intense subject and simplify the story without diminishing the stories meaning. It also allows the reader to focus more on the content of the story, than indulging into the personal lives of the characters. Some of the characters in Animal farm were: Boxer who was depicted as a horse, Squealer (pig), and Snowball (pig). I found these characters interesting because they all at one point or another promoted Napoleon. Boxer was the strongest, hardest working animal on the farm, though his strength and lack of knowledge was often taken advantage of by Napoleon. Boxer’s dedication and loyalty to Napoleon was often expressed through his two motto: “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right.” By constantly referencing these remarks he unintentionally promoted Napoleon. Squealer obviously was Napoleon propaganda; he constantly distorted the truth to promote Napoleon political leadership. When Boxer was taken to the glue factory, some animals recognized this for the print on the trailer clearly stated glue factor. The animals started to question Napoleon's decisions. Though Squealer was able to manipulate the animals, by assuring them Boxer had been taken to the hospital, and the print on the side of the trailer was a simple explanation, the humans had recently bought the trailer and forgot to change the sign. Snowball was a very intelligent pig, who lead the revolution to over through Jones. However, Napoleon exceeded Snowball in power by physically using dogs to chases Snowball off the farm. In his absence, he was blamed for all misfortunes that had occurred on the farm. For instance, Snowball originally had an intelligent idea to build a windmill; the windmill would provide the animals warmth in the winter, and allow the animals to work shorter hours. Napoleon diminished the idea of building a windmill; he clearly stated it would be a waste of time. After Snowball passing Napoleon changed his views and actually encouraged the idea. He lied to the animals and said: he had supported the idea from the beginning, and Snowball actually stole the windmill blueprints from him. The windmill was finally built, and the animals celebrated in their accomplishment. Not long after, a storm passed over the farm and desolated the windmill. Snowball was blamed by Napoleon for blowing up the windmill. Napoleon also used the animal fear and hatred toward Snowball to reconstruct history to promote himself.

Moulin Rouge

       Moulin Rouge, the movie was about an entrepreneur named Christian, who was minding his own business when suddenly unexpectedly three men broke in through the roof of his apartment. They introduced themselves as: Audrey, Toulouse-Lautrec and the unconscious argentinean, instantaneously they became friends. They invited Christian to a famous nightclub named the Moulin Rouge. Christian was very intrigued by the whole production, especially when Satine (the star of the show) preformed. Christian had a gorgeous voice; his colleagues believed he had potential, so Toulouse-Lautrec introduced Christian to Satine, disusing him as a wealthy business man named Duke. Of course, the Duke bombarded in on Christian and Satine at an affectionate moment, of mutual love. Instantaneously Christian’s friends walk in, and basically saved the day; they inferred that Christian was a script writer of a theater production in which they insist that Satine will be the star, and all they need is financial support, the Duke was apprehensive at first then agrees. Fortunately, they were able to fool the Duke, though only for a short time. Now they’re obligated to create an actual play. Christian and Satine fall more in love with one another over the course of time; though they faced many challenges along the way, for Satine has to constantly fake her love towards the Duke. Obviously the Duke has a heart for Satine, so there’s a constant battle between Christian and the Duke, sometimes it’s expressed verbally, other times it’s just hinted at. Though Duke holds the keys to the play production, in some cases this makes Christian inferior toward the Duke. However, I was not really fond of this movie, for the movie consistently used short film cuts, which made me, feel like I was watching a music video instead of a movie. I don’t know if they were trying to make the audience fell nauseous, especially when the camera zoomed in on the character’s faces. The acting seemed way to over dramatic, making parts of the movie very corny. Some scenes seemed unnecessary or stupid. Like the virgin scene, where the Duke finds out that Satine loves Christian, because Satine did not show up to dinner, he believes she is with Christian. This infuriates the Duke, who is financially supporting the play production, so he finds Harold Zidler the boss of the play's cast and expresses his anger towards what is happening. Harold Zidler lies to the Duke and states Satine not showing up because he makes her feel like a virgin, this is why Satine is actually with a Pope repenting of her sins. Then everyone starts to sing about how Duke makes Satine feel like a virgin, it’s weird, heads up there were jelly boobies in this scene, personally it made me feel like I was watching a child's movie with adult innuendos. The setting was also very basic, taking place in one spot and one spot only the nightclub. However, I did enjoy the final scene of the movie where Duke was trying to have Christian killed, and Christian was trying to save his last chance of love, all taking place in the final scene of Harold Zidler theater production. In conclusion, if this movie was rated on a scale between, 1 to 10, 10 being the best. I would score it a 3.