Study Like a Boss
Many have called Citizen Kane the greatest cinematic achievement of all time. It is indeed a true masterpiece of acting, screen writing, and directing. Orson Welles, its young genius director, lead actor, and a co-writer, used the best talents and techniques of the day (Bordwell 103) to tell the story of a newspaper giant, Charles … Read more
Martin, a veteran of the French and Indian War, thinks of himself as a battle-weary peacenik (his eldest son joins the army against his wishes), but if he believes in liberating the colonies from the tyranny of King George III, he believes even more fervently in smiting the holy bejesus out of the soldiers who … Read more
The 1974 adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel the Great Gatsby is directed by Jack Clayton and screenwriten by Francis Ford Coppola, with Robert and Mia Farrow as leads. The two actors give excellent performances, and certainly portray the beautiful people they are made out to be in the book. One scene in particular that … Read more
The first part of the film describes how Babette settles into this small town. But the main story builds twelve years after her arrival. Babette receives notification from France that she has won the lottery, ten thousand francs. With her winnings she resolves to help two sisters, Martina and Phillipa, and the congregation celebrate the … Read more
The days of blackface minstrel troupes may seem like ancient history to most Americans, but Spike Lee wants to refresh our memory. Spike Lee is onto something when he looks to the days of blackface minstrel troupes to help us understand race in today’s America. With Bamboozled, Hollywood’s most reliable provocateur is saying we haven’t … Read more
Directed by Scott Hicks, the drama Shine is a formalist masterpiece. Writing the piece as a fiction film gave the author license to alter the events in the story of David Helfgott, a real musician who had a nervous breakdown on his way to magnificence. Geoffrey Rush’s portrayal gave life and believability to David, and … Read more
A gem that has several very visible flaws; yet, with these flaws, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” shines as the best from the Disney factory yet. For, at first, the company name and movie title didn’t quite appear to sit well together. You don’t marry the king of novel Gothic gloom (Mr. Victor Hugo) with … Read more
Many young people today are learning about their world through electronic means radio, television, video movies, computer games, virtual reality games and the Internet. In particular the visual environment of the electronic media is greatly attracting the print media in all its forms. How many children read comic books these days? Most would rather watch … Read more
The American Dream is an often mentioned and well-known term used to describe the ideology of the United States of America. Despite the common usage of the term it is not always completely understood and so requires, at least, a brief introduction and definition. P Mueller in his writing Star Trek and the American Dream … Read more
The film ‘The Battle of the Somme’ was a documentary made by the British government. It was released during to the World War I to give an insight of what was happening on the battlefields in France. It was purposely designed to raise the spirits within Britain and reassure those concerned about there loved ones … Read more
Director and actor Spike Lee presents his “truth” about race relations in his movie Do the Right Thing. The film exhibits the spectacle of black discrimination and racial altercations. Through serious, angry, and loud sounds, Lee stays true to the ethnicity of his characters, all of which reflect their own individualism. Lee uses insulting diction … Read more
Apocalypse Now is a film about madness. In this film, Willard, played by Charlie Sheen, is sent through madness, reminiscent of Dantes’ journey through hell. His mission is to kill Kurtz, whos gone insane according to military intelligence. Kurtz has gone on his own, starting his own society in Cambodia, where his troops and the … Read more
Alice Futral Land stars in many hit films that are priceless to watch. Land’s best film of the year was Dynasty. She was born in Los Angeles, where she still lives today. Her dream of becoming actor came true in 1909 at the age of 25. The first film she was in made her a … Read more
The movie stares Barbara Streisand as Rose Morgan a lonely, single, low self esteemed woman who lives with her domineering mother Hannah Morgan played by Lauren Becall in New York. Jeff Bridges who plays Gregory Larkin a math instructor at Columbia University is a man in search of the perfect woman who is not interested … Read more
Henry, the King of England, married Eleanor for her land; their first son died, after him, John was Henry’s favorite, Richard was Eleanors favorite, but turned out to be homosexual, Geoffrey plotted against all of them with the King of France who was Richard’s “friend;” Henry had an affair with Rosalyn, and Eleanor, with Richard … Read more
The film “The people bomb” was a compilation of stories and videos collected from diverse cultures and geographical locations focusing on dramatic increases in human population over short spans of time. This population explosion was having a direct, negative impact on the environment and society of the locations discussed. As a result, involved governments began … Read more
Danny Devito, the mastermind behind Throw Momma From The Train, might be more slightly of his rocket than Death To Smoochy villain, Rainbow Randolph Smiley (Robin Williams). However that could be just what the doctor ordered. Barney fans steer clear of this dark demented comedy. Death To Smoochy is like nothing ever before put on … Read more
Braham Stoker’s Dracula exhibits a noticeable tie to other monster stories, in that the creature is hindered by language, and often defeated by it. In Beowulf, the monster Grendel is unable to speak, and is excluded from the community. Shakespeare’s Caliban of The Tempest was taught speech, and used it to curse. In Shelly’s Frankenstein, … Read more
In that paper, I will try to compare two films which are A Birth of a Nation directed by D. W. Griffith and The Bicycle Thieves directed by De Sica. After giving the story of the films, I will try to explain their technical features and their similarities. A Birth of a Nation by D. … Read more
As writers and producers saw the amazing popularity and success of the movie Scream many other copy cat versions were made. Movies such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend all followed the same teen slasher format. Nothing is being left up to the movie viewer’s imagination anymore. Everything for the … Read more
Films of this era are criticized for lacking substance and making up for this deficit with explosions and special effects. Books command a bit more respect from the general public. Many believe that devising a script is a juvenile form of writing, a shrub to the oak of a novel. Upon reading both the novel … Read more
Whenever there is a Bond film, there is always a Bond girl. She is as indispensable as the gadgets, the car, the chase and the villain set on overtaking the earth. They have always been in the centre of controversy; they have always been branded as beautiful women (often with sexually overt names) who need … Read more
Shawshank Redemption and Murder in the First are two eminently engaging films about corrupt prisons and issues such as brutality occurring within the walls. \”The Shawshank Redemption\” is a compelling film about two imprisoned convicted murderers. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), is innocent, however. Convicted of killing his wife and her lover (a crime for which … Read more
“Spring Silkworms” reflected the life in a village where for hundreds of years the pattern of everyday life seemed to have remained largely unbroken. It also inspires a lot of social qualities. The feelings that the story mourned over are very universal and common in people during that time. All the family in the village … Read more
John Grisham’s “The Rainmaker” is the sixth novel to film adaptation and is by far one of the more accomplished. Directed by Francis Ford Copolla, this intriguing courtroom drama reveals the ordeals of a young lawyer and associate entering the realm of unscrupulous money hungry company’s scams. “They were totally unqualified to try the case … Read more
The film “Titanic” is riddled with moral dilemmas. In one of the scenes, the owner of Star Line, the shipping company that owned the now-sinking Unsinkable, joins a lowered life-boat. The tortured expression on his face demonstrates that even he experiences more than unease at his own conduct. Prior to the disaster, he instructs the … Read more
The stories of Suyuan and Jing-Mei Woo reveal some of Amy Tan’s main themes in the novel. One important theme is that we must get to know and understand our parents in order to fully understand ourselves. June spends the first half of her life believing that she is a disappointment to her mother and … Read more
Pornography is very widely controversial no matter were you go. Only in the past couple of years has porn been more accepted. To understand what all the controversy is about you have to recognize the many landmark court cases over the difference between obscenity and pornography. But first I would like to define each. Obscenity, … Read more
The film, Dead Man Walking was made in 1995, and was adopted from Sister Helen Prejean’s 1993 autobiographical book, which has the same title. It examines one of the most highly debated controversial issues of our time – capital punishment. Since the protagonist of a film is regarded as the “good guy,” I would apply … Read more
In the novel, The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, it tells of four Chinese women drawn together in San Francisco to play mah jong, and tell stories of the past. These four women and their families all lived in Chinatown and belong to the First Chinese Baptist Church. They were not necessarily religious, but … Read more
In the movie Gattaca the main character Anton was discriminated against because of his gene makeup. Anton never even had a chance in the society in Gattaca because the potential employees of companies were not tested on their skills or knowledge but on their physical and mental possibilities. The same society also used derogatory terms … Read more
Throughout the film “Apocalypse Now ” by F. F. Coppola, there is a parallel between the Indian wars and the Vietnamese war. We can compare the Vietnamese with the Indians and the American soldiers with the cowboys. In the beginning, it is the triumph of the Cowboys, that is to say, the triumph of US … Read more
In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley tries to convey the belief that every invention or improvement for the betterment of mankind is only an instrument for his ultimate destruction. We are, he said, on the horns of an ethical dilemma and to find the middle way will require all out intelligence and all out good … Read more
The movie, The Insider, is about Jeffrey Wigand, a former tobacco executive of one of the largest tobacco companies in America. He is fired from his job, and is soon contacted by Lowell Bergman, the producer of 60 minutes. Bergman, played by Al Pacino, asks Wigand, played by Russell Crowe, to make sense of some … Read more
“A Mid summer Night’s Dream” is another entry into Shakespeare’s recent rebirth on film. Michael Hoffman’s film dose not stay true to the text, but he must take liberties to allow for this classic story to be entertaining to today’s audience. In this essay I will discuss the differences between the text vision and the … Read more
War is an ever-present entity in the world of cinema. The films Braveheart and Full Metal Jacket show strikingly similar, yet different aspects of war. Braveheart is an epic tale of love lost and how the circumstances surrounding that loss contributed in sparking one man’s emotions, eventually leading to a bloody rebellion and his country’s … Read more
Films are often blamed as an influencing factor in violent crimes, most notably murder. People think that films have influenced a number of killers in high profile cases such as the Jamie Bulger murder, which was linked to Childs Play 3 by the press. Another was when a 14-year-old Texan boy decapitated a girl in … Read more