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.