Security theater

Every year there is always a film that has high expectations and fails to live up to the hype. However, this review is not over one of those depressing movies. This particular film was not supposed to make it this big. Many, when they heard of the corrupts of this movie, believed that is was dumb, made no sense and should not of been produced. This movie is known as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. When reading the title one can understand what the critics were saying. What kind of film writer…

The film industry is one of the biggest industries in the United States. It rakes in a huge amount of money each year, in 2014 alone it made around 564 billion dollars. Even though the industry as a whole is very large, some films are considered commercial flops. One reason that this may be is that there was not enough advertising for the film. A few other factors may be release date, star power, critical reviews and word of mouth, its connection to existing franchises or books, and the film’s…

Foreign films don’t always have political messages, but when they do they portray the reality of the situation. In the film “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” is based on the reality that many families in Brazil were going through in the 90’s, when the military took control over the government and anyone who would speak up was considered a communist. Through one family the film maker did a great job at showing how the government overtake caused a huge impact on thousands of families and many…

Schlondorff’s The Legend of Rita used different movie techniques such as camera angles and scene settings, lighting/character placement to help portray what he wants, aspects of the rugged world happening in the time period through costumes/makeup and props, and the people who defected and fought to change the regime. Mise-en-scene aka “placing on stage”, in filmmaking moves our attention to the space of the shot itself. If a really long take is needed, planning is required to make sure that…

THE TIME OF ROMANTICIZED CRIMINALS In his film Chicago, Rob Marshall pulls the audience back to the roaring ‘20’s when jazz is hot and vaudeville is all anyone. We follow the story of Roxie Hart as she goes from stardom hopeful, to a criminal, to an American Sweetheart. Marshall utilizes theatrical lighting, intriguing symbolism, masterful techniques and a beautiful, exciting musical score and choreography to enthrall his audience. It is a musical so there are very many theatrical elements to…

Avengers: Age of Ultron Superheroes have drawn the attention of young mind for countless generations and the recent superhero movie “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, was no exception. However, before it entered theaters, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” was well advertised by posters like this one. Potter’s movie poster is aimed at intriguing any passerby and persuading him to attend the movie. The poster uses a few simple lighting and color techniques to catch the eye of the viewer as well as reveal the…

Entertainment in the 20th century took a revolutionary turn once the motion picture was created. Suddenly, getting the family together and trekking down to the town theater became a typical weekend activity. As a result, post-WWII films, typically in the style of film noir, became extremely popular. These film noirs based their plots around the anxieties of the 1940s time period; its translation into French literally means, “black film”. Other genres became popular as film grew and expanded, but…

Why our local Mr. Movies Closed From Blockbuster chain stores to idiosyncratic local ones, hundreds of video stores have been closing nationwide. This began over seven years ago; about the time I was wondering how this could happen. During the past four years, it has become clear to me why they are closing; The digital age of internet and video production. Netflix, symbolized by its little red envelopes and more recently its streaming service, had prevailed over the little blue boxes that…

The significance of a film is greatly attributed to the atmosphere constructed for the camera. Mise en scene describes the visuality of cinema and encompasses the important elements that determine the consumption of the narrative. It is a factor that becomes ingrained in the filmmaking process and is motivated in creating an effective thematic pattern. Alfred Hitchcock is an acclaimed director known for the continuities of production style in his works. His 1958 film Vertigo utilises the…

Blockbuster Syndrome and the Jaws Introduction The Hollywood at the moment is dominated by large media corporations. The way things work in this scenario is that movie makers most of the times are responsible to their stakeholders. These stakeholders want movies to make profit out of their “investments. The growing obsession of the industry with massive scale productions and profits is called Blockbuster syndrome. During the 80’s and 90’s specially, this phenomena was catching up with the movie…