The Gold Rush 8/10

A lone prospector (Charlie Chapman) takes part in a gold rush. He ends up meeting up with a fugitive and another prospector in a cabin after bad weather. He comes along a gold rush town, where he decides to give up looking for gold and ends up falling in love with a girl, who he thinks loves him. The other prospector from the cabin, suffering from amnesia looks for him because he needs him to find his claim.

The gold rush had unneeded narration over the film. The acting itself told the story. It was a funny story of greed and love. One of my favorite scenes is when he is so hungry he cooks and eats his shoe. For the scene the shoe was made of licorice, so Charlie could eat it. Hilarious classic comedy.

In Bruges 7/10

It was fooking brilliant(pardon the language). Two hit men take a visit to Bruges (in Belgium) after a miss-hap, therefore getting them into bother with their boss. The cinematography was wonderful the film really captured the beauty of Bruges. Colin Farell and Brendan Gleeson were hilarious they worked well with each other. Beautiful scenery, guns, gangsters, hit men, a dwarf and a load of swearing. Live by the gun die by the gun and keep to your principles i think are the underlying themes.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno 7/10

Best 'friends' Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) stay in a flat together, they have a mountain of unpaid bills and have low earning jobs. They're heat, electricity and water supply get cut off and they are in desperate need for money to keep their house. Zack comes up with an idea, after a night at their school reunion, to make a Internet porno. 

A typical filthy, disgusting, dirty, bad mouthed, naked teen movie. This film is undoubtedly the funniest film in the cinema i have seen this year. The plot is complete nonsense but the simplicity and humour of the film, made it a must watch comedy. The whole cast made my belly hurt with laughter. 

CHOKE 5/10

Sex addict Victor, goes from one recovery group to the next to help him recover from his addiction. He eats at upper-class restaurants to scam money off of rich people by choking and allows himself to be saved by a person who will feel responsible for him and end up sending checks to support him. The money is used to care for his ''mother'' who has Alzheimer disease. He tries to find out the truth from his "mother," about his unstable childhood. This was a very vulgar film, but it has some stupid and funny dialogue.  I have not seen a film like this, in the sense it was different, regarding the subject of the film. The story was a bit all over the place and a bit drab, they tried to spice it up now and again, by adding nudity. There was a confusing part about the second coming of Jesus, which i think they could of left out, it didn't really bring anything to the story except blasphemy against Jesus.  The main character Sam Rockwell had a sort of, doesn't give a shit personality which added to how insecure and emotionally wrecked he was, i enjoyed his performance. 

Pride and Glory 5/10

A film of truth, honour, loyalty and family. A police drama. A powerhouse of actors Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight and Noah Emmerich. I know what your thinking, this sort of film has been made countless times before. Well your right. Nothing new under the sun. Extremely dark film, litterly. It is a depressing film. Some parts of the film were slightly emotional. It was a very safe movie, a money spinner, nothing that you've not seen before.  

I don't know why this picture is so big.

Erin Brockovich 6.5/10

This is a feelgood film celebrating what an assertive woman can do in difficult circumstances.

Erin Brockovich appeals to women more than men. It's a chic flick. It's a typical David and Goliath film. It's a good film but most chickflicks don't appeal to me, for the audience it is aimed at 4/5  would seem about right. The downside of the film would be the relationship between Erin and the biker guy next door, it seemed to me it was forced in this story.  

King of Comedy 7/10

Fame seeker Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), pushes hard to get on the TV programme, 'The king of comedy.' Rupert with his friend pushes the barrier and ends up kidnapping the host of the show. After Holding the host at "gun point" Rupert manages to get a slot on the show and is surprisingly impressive. He is then put in jail for the kidnapping. He comes out and he is given his own comedy show. This film is crazy, it "freaked me out" as one of my class mates put it. It shocks me what a man or woman would do just to get on television. The film at the time would be out of the ordinary back when it was made, but now a day's, it's normal. The amount of nutters that get on the TV these days, through programmes like Big Brother is crazy. If it keeps going the way its going we won't be able to trust the t.v. Even though i thought that Rupert was crazy, in the end i was hoping he would get on the TV. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro they always work well together. In my opinion one of the top films Scorsese has made.  

Donnie Darko 6/10

Donnie Darko is a phsycological film about a teenage boy, who sleep walks. During his walks he follows a man size bunny, who tells him to do certain things. He seeks out the meaning of his end of the world visions. Donnie Darko as we discussed in class is aimed at a teenage audience. Teenagers enjoy the film more than an older audience. For me the film was really dark and at first confusing, the film was different. Donnie Darko is the film that is open to the viewers on interpretation. The film has a vague sense of salvation in the story. 

Quantum of Solace 6/10

Quantum of Solace picks up where it left off, the film gripped me at the 1st scene, fast cars, guns, and beautiful scenery. I was impressed with the action sequences throughout the whole movie.  Daniel Craig was good as he was in Casino Royale. Visually intriguing but, pointless, disappointing. The story let me down. In that film, i think they've covered every country in the planet. The story got way layed into some different story and ????..... It was quite confusing, that i needed to go see it for a second time. Casino Royale raised the bar too high and Quantum of Solace took the pole down. The bad guy wasn't that BAD looking, just irritating. The opening theme song was to me disappointing as well. There was no build up of romance just a 1 night stand that came out of the blue, which Bond is good at. If your a James Bond fan i hope i have not upset you.

American Beauty...look closer 7/10

American beauty is about a 47 year old loser (Lester), going through a mid-life crisis. His daughter hates him. His status - seeking wife hates him. He decides to make a few changes in his life. The freer he gets, The happier he gets. Lester soon learns that the ultimate freedom, comes at the ultimate price. 

The film was at times quite harsh, for example, the opening scene when Lester is masturbating in the shower, showing us how sexually frustrated he is, that is one of many issues this film brings up. This black comedy delves into the American Life of a middle-class family and gives you an unpleasant view of it. Kevin Spacey (Lester) gave an awsome performance, his sarcastic tones throughout the movie are hilarious. Must watch.

Today, our class took part in a mock presidential debate, us (DFTV 1) supporting PRESIDENT OBAMA, (aha I'm PHSYCIC). I was extremely nervous, but after my 3 minute, foreign policy,  speech was finished my confidence soared high like an eagle. Everyone excelled from our group in the debate, well the one's that took it seriously anyway, just kidding. Speeches were top class.

Screenwriting- We each brought 3 premises, for short films to the table, Richard was impressed (i think). I was encouraged by Richard, he individually took us aside and talked a little about our ideas and how to devlop them.  Each week i get more and more inspired. Before this class, i didn't write much because usually i rejected my ideas. Now every idea that pops into my head i write it down.

Content Origination- We watched two episodes of 'Still Game'. It's good Scottish humor, it appeals to large audience in my opinion, there might be some communication restriction but not much. 

27.10.08

 In the screenwriting class today we learned, music can trigger of an idea with lyrics or without lyrics, I thought  of certain scenes.  

23.10.08

In the morning we discussed the meaning of 'rosebud' from the film Citizen Kane. We reached a conclusion that it represented his childhood. We also disscussed each of our favourite films, I picked,' The Passion of the Christ.' This is because i think the film gave a good potrayal of Jesus' last 12 hours. When i watched it in the cinema, i was attached, it made me tearful sometimes especially at the whippings scene. Having a christian up bringing, this film really connected with me.

In the afternoon we watched, 'broadcast news'(1988). It was interesting to see how that it potrayed american news as all about how good the reporters looked and how fake they all were.

The film was funny at parts but over all i didn't enjoy the movie because..... 

Tuesday, 21st october, 2008

Technical Fundamentals, It was the first time i met Ray Tallan. Nice guy but doesn't stand for nonsense was my first impression of him. We learned about the tripod today, how to assemble and dissemble(i enjoyed that part). I believe i am a practical learner. We learned about the tripod components.  We also had an introduction to the Sony DSR570. I felt that Ray was spitting out way to much information about the camera, but i suppose he will go over them in detail as the term goes on.  

Wedensday, 22nd October, 2008

Today, I watched Citizen Kane, I enjoyed it but I wouldn't say it was the best movie I have ever watched, I think it was too long and there were some scenes that shouldn't of been there in my opinion. The film was about a group of publishers trying to find out the meaning of the last words of Charles Foster Kane the millionaire newspaper tycoon: 'rosebud.' Rosebud is a sense of home as a child, area of safety. I am unclear but i have researched the word and that's what I've came up with.