Across the Universe

JoJo: 'Music's the only thing that makes sense anymore, man. Play it loud enough, it keeps the demons away'

Across the Universe (Julie Taymor, 2007) is a film that uses the lyrics of the BEATLES songs to tell a story of the effects of the Vietnam war and the efforts of the protesters during this time. I wanted to include this film in my reviews as it is an example of where film has come with the use of special effects to make a film visually appealing far from reality, it is more an artwork then a film.

The film uses the reality of the horrors of the time and presents them in an extreme way with a clever use of special effects and graphics. It takes the mickey out of war and suggests the bureaucracy are the disturbers of the peace.

The new take on the Beatles songs is amazing with a more contemporary rock edge. I love how the lyrics have been carefully thought out to fit into the plot. The song 'Hey Jude' is used when Jude and Max reunite with Max singing 'Judy Judy Judy Judy', it fits in so well. Not to mention the amazing vocals of the actors particularly Dana Fuchs as Sadie.



Special effects are used to portray the unstable mind of a drug effected individual, with crazy, blurred and coluorful graphics.

A favorite metaphor of mine used in the film is the use of strawberries to represent the bombs in the war field.
Also in the opening scene where war images and newspaper reports are splashed across the rolling waves. The metaphor of larger then life people carrying the statue of liberty, walking over palm trees suggesting the size and destruction of the people in the war.


The underlying message though is as the Beatles sang "All you need is Love" and peace. Love is shown in a very metaphorical way through beautiful imagery.





MAIN CAST:
Evan Rachel Wood - Lucy
Jim Sturgess - Jude
Joe Anderson - Max Carrigan
Dana Fuchs - Sadie
Martin Luther - Jo-Jo (as Martin Luther McCoy)
T.V. Carpio - Prudence

Elegy

David Kepesh: 'I think it was Betty Davis who said old age is not for sissies. But it was Tolstoy who said the biggest surprise in a man's life is old age. Old age sneaks up on you, and the next thing you know you're asking yourself, I'm asking myself, why can't an old man act his real age? How is it possible for me to still be involved in the carnal aspects of the human comedy? Because, in my head, nothing has changed'

Elegy, directed by Isabel Coixet (2009) follows character David Kepesh (Kingsley) in his struggle to commit to love untill it is too late. He begins a love affair with his student Consuela Castillo yet he is too afraid to commit to her and refusing to visit her family is the last straw for Consuela. However their love lingures on trough the next couple of years and it is David that Consuela goes to for help after the discovery of her breast cancer.


There are a few strange moments in the film that I can not enplane such as when Davids best friends is dying (Dennis Hopper) and gives him a big kiss. Perhaps this is due to David being the most important person in his life the one person who knows all his secrets.

I know that the film is a 'mournful poem' as the title suggests however I felt that it was too drawn out and had many unexplained moments. I found myself getting tired of seeing Kingsley's face as he was on screen for the majority of the film. Though his performance was exceptional I started to pick out the acting in his voice due to being on screen for so long, which frustrated me. Acting by David's son Kenny (Peter Sarsgaard) was terrible and took away from what could have been a nice side plot of relationships between father and son.


One scene that I though was quite beautiful was when the couple are walking along the beech during a winters day. I think this scene really explains what love is. The film brings up many issues and one in particular is the controversial love between people of different ages and nationalities. As this scene shows, though a cold winters day they can still see the beauty in the beach. It should not matter how old you are or where your from if your in love thats fantastic.

However I could not sympathize with David as he was set up to be too much of a dirty old man, having seduced his students in the past, accepting his friends affair and also continuing his own affair (Patricia Clarkson).


One MAJOR COSTUME FLAW in the film was the use of thin lined tailored jackets. The major NO NO in costuming is not to use thin stripes as they static on camera. It was highly noticeable in a fair amount of scenes, though the style of jacket was appropriate. Cotuming was quite minimal and literal which was ok as it did not take away from the characters did not add any unnecessary symbolism.

Cast:
Penelope Cruz
Ben Kingsley
Dennis Hopper
Patricia Clarkson
Peter Sarsgaard

Three Kings

Troy Barlow: 'Hey, I don't know if I can do this. I got a family. If I'm gonna shit in a bag for the rest of my life because I got shot after the war was over, that would pretty fucking stupid wouldn't it, Major?


Three Kings (David Rssell, 1999), is a comedy war film with a hint of western genre, set in the aftermath of the Gulf War. It is a film where the audience want the 'baddies' to succeed, it is strange that no matter how much we personally would never steal or conduct acts of violence, yet we find entertainment in watching it and back up the bad guys.


As with Bonnie and Clyde who basically were two people doing the wrong thing and are glorified for their actions. Maybe it is a good thing as although we sympathize with their characters we are not so disheartened when they eventually are killed and their is a lesson to be learned, that you will be punished for your wrong doings.

Clooney, Wahlberg and Cube steal a map to lead them to the treasure and find themselves caught up in the war.

Though a comedy there is an underlying message against war. Russel heightens the reality in the film with use of slow motion as bullets enter actors as with Bonnie and Clyde which was the first film to show such violence so graphically after the censorship rules were loosened. Lets just say that violence in film has come along way to those earlier works, with directors having a lot more leniency with violence such as rape and murder being shown in almost too much detail, audiences today have become desensitized to the brutality of violence. I believe cinema has had a major influence on the violence of the world.

CAST:
George Clooney
Mark Wahlberg
Ice Cube
Spike Jonze
Nora Dunn
Jamie Kennedy
Mykelti Williamson
Cliff Curtis
Said Taghmaoui
Judy Greer
Liz Stauber
Holt McCallany

Director: David O. Russell

State Of Play

”When people read this story, they should have newsprint on their hands,”- McAdams’ (State of Play)

State of Play, directed by Kevin Macdonald begins with a fast paced action filled killing spree one after the other however it fails to excite the audience as much for the remainder of the film.

Honestly this is not my kind of film however Russel Crows who plays journalist Cal McAffrey, gives an impeccable performance allowing for the plot to be forgiven. He is a very believable character, though i wish i could say the same for Ben Affleck who plays Rep. Stephen Collins.



The characters seem a little stereotypical to me, yes they need to be recognizable, though I am still yet to see a film that stretches the stereotypes I think it could be really interesting for further depth put into the costuming of characters in film making today.


CAST:
Russell Crowe Cal McAffrey
Harry J. Lennix Donald Bell
Robin Wright Anne Collins
Rachel McAdams Della Frye
Jeff Daniels
Jason Bateman Dominic Foy
Helen Mirren Cameron Lynne
Ben Affleck Stephen Collins
Taylor Wane DOMINATRIX
Wendy Makkena Greer Thornton
Katy Mixon Ronda Silver
Robert Benedict Milt
Maria Thayer Sonia Baker
Robin Wright


CREW
Tim Bevan
Producer
Kevin MacDonald
Director
Peter Morgan
Writer
Paul Abbott
Executive Producer
Eric Fellner
Producer

Rain

'You are your child's keeper
until she's mature enough to keep herself' ~ Laura Ramirez


Rain, by Cristine Jeffs, is a coming of age film that deals with issues of family breakdowns and sexual awakening. Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki plays Janey, her performance is what makes the film remotely good, during the scene of the death of her brother the desperation in her voice and body language is incredible, the audience knows what she is thinking just in her facial expressions.


Another brilliant and impressive actor is one who plays Jim, Aaron Murphy, he is so young yet his performance is remarkable. The two youngest in the film deffinatly out show the older actors and actresses. Even though the long pauses between conversation is probably a director trying to be arty, it makes it seem as though the actors have forgotten their lines and I lost interest in the dialogue.


There are a number of interesting shots in the film however they dont seem to merge or match together very well. They almost seem to be there for the sake of having some inbteresting shots and show off some artistic style. The shot of mother Kate (Sarah Peirse) walking through the shallow waters to the shore from the boat has a really interesing angle and great view, however it seems as though she is walking along the water for such a long time and for what reason?? They even used this image on the front cover of the DVD... they must have just really liked it theres no otheer reason for it to go on for so long. The next scene just doesn't go on from that, like when she is washing lemons in the sink, it becomes a slow motion moment of her hands brushing over the lemons??

The characters were not set up very well for example i dont think we got a grasp as to the kind of person Ed was and then all of a sudden he was kissing Janey after having slept with her mother, it just doesnt seem realistic. I think most of the attention was spent on the two youngest Janey and Jim as their characters and acting is actually quite good however if only they cared to focus a bit more attention on the otheer characters and less attention on the way the story was shot it might have worked.

Natural Born Killers

Mickey: "The media is like the weather, only it's man-made weather"

Natural Born Killers by Oliver stone, is a twisted love story in a horror film genre. It is shot using many animations and images to show the devil of the two lovers as they go on a killing rampage. It shows horrific murderous scenes in a humorous way, almost taking the mickey out of social problems and scenarios, such as domestic violence and rape, as in the scene at Mallery's house with her fathers violence and inappropriate sexual advances on his daughter. These very heavy issues are shown as a comical studio shot TV series with candid laughter at very inappropriate moments. We have all experienced the annoyance of candid laughter that always seems to occur during moments that we do not find remotely entertaining.

The story seems to have been inspired by the Arthur Penn film 'Bonnie and Clyde', which follows two lovers on a saga of killing and steeling and ultimately leads to their death.

The images splashed on the screen at random such as in the car window enforce the unstable minds of the two murderers, drawing the audience into the psychotic mind set of a murderer and drug addicts. It is at times quite silly and becomes more unbelievable as the story goes on or as Mickey and Mallery become more brainwashed in their addiction to killing. The prisoners escaping prison with a whole TV crew and the fact that the TV crew members become murderers themselves is a little unrealistic, however this works for the film giving the message that the media are the devils and influences our minds and are essentially killing us. Stone comments on the stupidity of the human race and society.

As reviewer John J. Puccio says
"He utilizes overkill to criticize overkill. Then he has the gall to suggest that love can overcome everything". (published Jun 11, 2008, http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/natural-born-killers/6001).

Stone was not concerned with capturing the reality of the life of a murderer rather the psychology behind their intentions and reasonings. The film encompasses quite an extensive and famous cast which does justice to it such as Woody Harrelson who plays Mickey Knox who actually does come from a violent background, with his father having been in jail etc, he is likable in a disturbing way. Juliette Lewis plays Mallery Knox, their chemistry on screen is believable. Even though their love moments happen during shooting riots and scenes of death the audience can identify with the love and their devotion to each other, we want them to escape and be together.


Stone asks us to enjoy the violence and draw out our own psychotic minds. Stone captures the crazyness with use of a crazy mixture of techniques such as coloured filters; out-of-focus lenses; MTV editing; grainy, handheld, home-movie sequences; camera shots from every angle; mixed black-and-white and colour photography; animated cartoons; fast and slow motion; multiple flashbacks; laugh tracks; voice-overs and film-overs to name a few... It is a mix of every film technique and has elements of other films in cinema history such as film noir.

Bonnie and Clyde

'This here's Miss Bonnie Parker. I'm Clyde Barrow. We rob banks'

Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1966) is one of the first films of the French New Wave which became known as the New Hollywood era of the 60s and 70s. It incorporates genres of gangster, comedy, love, sex and violence. Censorship was loosened during this era allowing for more graphic details of sex and violence on screen.




Bonnie and Clyde broke many conventions and started the trend of filmmakers being more open with sex and violence. The film was released in 1966 however it was critically shamed and re-released in 1968, and led to the winning of many academy awards.

The film is based in the true story of Bonnie and Clyde who were two bank robbers of the united States during the Great Depression. The graphic detail of the violent scenes with blood and gun shots is counteracted with scenes of humor and laughter so as to not fully horrify the audience. The realism of the riot scenes is further portrayed with use of on location sets. This also allows us to engage with the characters as they are real people who have got themselves into a situation they can not get out of and we feel upset when they eventually are killed. When they are finally shot their last moment of looking at each other makes the audience feel sorry for the characters who really did want the saga to end, we want them to escape. the use of slow motion here dramatizes the event.

I really enjoyed the costuming in the film. Although set in the 1920's you can see the 1960's feel coming through in the costuming which is really visually pleasing. Attention to detail is not really an issue if you want to be pedantic ie the clothing always looks brand new and are never broken down to seem old and worn (Bucks overalls as he works in a gas station need to be more dirty). Continuity of Bonnie's hair is pretty bad, however they are shot in quite windy and high movement scenes it would be hard to keep her hair the same.

Bonnie and Clyde is full of action and violence that is balanced nicely with romance and comedy. It is a fun yet serious film that has influenced other films of the New Hollywood era and into contemporary film such as Oliver Stones 'Natural born Killers'.