MYST Post #6: The Way Way Back

Directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, starring Steve Carell (Trent), Toni Collette (Pam), Liam James (Duncan), AnnaSophia Robb (Susanna), and Sam Rockwell (Owen). A shy 14-year-old kid, Duncan, goes on a summer vacation with his mom, overbearing boyfriend Trent and his daughter. Duncan finds a small girls bike and rides it out of town to escape and runs into Water Wizz, the local water park. Duncan meets Owen and becomes friends, eventually getting a job at the park. Owen becomes the father figure in Duncan s life when he discovers Trent is cheating on his mom. When its time to leave, Duncan escapes and finds one last way to get to Water Wizz to say goodbye.


I found the movie to be an interesting script and different than what I have seen before and covers some controversial topics such as verbal abuse and cheating on partner. The movie had small hints of humor with witty banter between characters and jokes over the misfortune of others. I thought the actors did an amazing job playing their characters and they really led the performance, considering the script was weak.


The scene I liked the most was the opening scene in the car. I liked the use of the camera shooting the conversation between Duncan and Trent. The camera shot the image of Trent in the reflection of the rear view mirror, showing only his eyes, forcing Carell to show his emotion only in his eyes. The camera shot Duncan in the back of the car facing backwards with the road moving past him. It was interesting how they had the characters having a conversation without making eye contact. It showed the disrespect the characters had for one another.


I give the movie a 3/5.

MYST Post #5: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Directed by Peter Jackman, the movie follows the thirteen dwarfs continuing their quest to find Erebor and reclaim it from Smaug. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the second movie in a three part series of the prequel to The Lord of the Rings series. The movie starred; Ian Mckellen as Gandolf, Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage as Thorin, and Luke Evans as Bard. Throughout the movie, Bilbo shows the ring he found in the goblin tunnels in the fist movie, and the ring becomes a big part of helping Bilbo survive and save his friends throughout their journey.

I went into the movie with only the review from the brother that it was good, and came out agreeing. I thought the movie was well shot and the musical score was matched perfectly. I barely noticed the music was playing but instead felt the anxiety build when the dragon began chasing the dwarfs, just as the music built up. I thought all the actors did a good job playing their roles and the CGI was believable.

My favorite part of the movie was the way the cinematographer contrasted the use of the ring. I liked how you got to see both sides of the perspective. For Bilbo's view, the image was blurry. discolored, and seemed to be in tunnel vision. For what the others in the movie would see when Bilbo put on the ring was nothing. The camera would move around showing nobody but played over would be the sound of Bilbo walking and breathing so you knew you were following him but he was invisible. I enjoyed getting both the perspectives.

I would give this movie a 4/5, and would recommend seeing it.

Formal Film Study: Western Films

For my Formal Film Study, I watched three Western movies. I watched Rio Lobo, True Grit (1969), and Unforgiven.

Rio Lobo was one of the last movies directed by Howard Hawks, made in 1970. The movie starred John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jennifer o'Neil, and Jack Elam. The movie opens on Union soldiers, during the Civil War, sending a train with the payroll through town. Confederates hijack the train on its way back and steal the gold. Col. McNally (John Wayne) hears of the Confederates hijack, and chases after them but is tricked and captured by the Confederate troop. McNally is forced to lead the Confederates out of Union territory but instead, leads them straight to a Union camp. McNally jumps Capt. Cordona (Jorge Rivero) and Sgt.Phillips (Christopher Mitchum) and questions them on the rat from his unit, but they give up no information. After the end of the war, McNally meets up with Cordona and Phillips and once again asks about the rat. Cordona and Phillips didnt know the rat's names but gave the best descriptions they could to McNally. McNally says if they ever cross paths with them traitors again to contact his friend in Blackthorne, Texas. Later, McNally is contacted by his friend that Cordona was looking for him and arrives in town, but before meeting up with Cordona, he runs into a young lady named Shasta Delaney who needed help catching the murderer of her friend. A posse from Rio Lobo shows up and tries to kidnap Shasta, causing a shootout that kills Whitey, Shastas murderer and one of McNally's traitors. Shasta reports of trouble in Rio Lobo where Phillips reported seeing the other traitor. McNally, Cordona and Shasta all travel to Rio Lobo and find that the town is corrupt and Phillips is in jail. They enlist help from Phillips father and try to save Phillips, but during their trip, McNally finds out that the leader, Ketcham, is the man he was looking for and captures him, planning on using him in a trade for Phillips back but runs into trouble when Ketcham's men capture Cordona. The movie ends in a shootout between McNally and Ketchams men, with McNally as victor.

 True Grit was directed by Henry Hathaway in 1969, starring John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glenn Campbell. The movie follows Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) and La Boeuf (Glenn Campbell), accompanied by young Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), as they track down Chaney, the killer of Mattie's father. Mattie hired Cogburn to track down Chaney and bring him back to Fort Smith to be hung for his crime, but La Boeuf wants to bring Chaney down to Texas to be killed for a crime he committed there. They decide to team up anyways and begin their trek to find Chaney who they believe is riding with Lucky Ned Pepper, a old enemy of Cogburn's. The three of them follow Pepper's trail for days, but due to one miss step going down a hill for water, Mattie finds herself face-to-face with Chaney. She threatens Chaney to come with her to Fort Smith, but Chaney refuses and Mattie shoots him doing minimal damage, but starts a shootout between Cogburn and La Boeuf and Pepper's gang. Mattie ends up being captured by Pepper forcing Cogburn to devise a plan to infiltrate Peppers camp. Cogburn attacks Pepper while La Boeuf saves Mattie but Chaney hits La Boeuf over the head with a rock, later killing him. Mattie finally shoots Chaney dead, ending the long journey, but is bit by a snake and becomes very ill. Cogburn saves her life and weeks later, visits Mattie to collect his reward money for helping catch Chaney. Mattie promises Cogburn a burial place next to her family, and the movie ends with Cogburn riding away into a valley.

Unforgiven was directed by Clint Eastwood in 1992, starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris. Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett), a young boastful man, visits Will Munny (Clint Eastwood), a pig farmer, seeking a partner for a job of killing two cowboys who cut up the face of a young prostitute. Will used to be a cold blood killer but sworn off killing and drinking after his wife died, leaving him with two children. Will declined at first but changes his mind setting out after the kid, picking up his old partner, Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman), on the way. The towns Sheriff, Little Bill (Gene Hackman), hears of the group of prostitutes reward for $1000 to whomever kills the two cowboys that cut up one of their own, he makes a strict ban of all strangers and fire arms in his town. Will, Ned and the Kid show up in town at night in search for the cowboy's location, but Will runs into Little Bill in the saloon and is beat up and is kicked out of the saloon. The three take shelter in a barn just out of town and nurse Will back to health. Three days later they ambush a group of cowboys killing one of the wanted men. Ned decides he can't follow through with their journey and turns home but is captured by Little Bill's men and is killed. Will and the Kid go on and find the other man hiding out in a cabin. The Kid sneaks up on him while he's in the outhouse and shoots him three times. Returning back to town to receive their reward money, they hear news that Ned was killed, setting off Will's violent past and Will heads into town to kill the Sheriff. Will walks into the saloon and kills Bill and his deputies. The movie ends with Will giving his final threat and riding out of town.

The overall theme in all three movies is the strong antihero character in each movie. In Rio Bravo, McNally is doing good by returning the land that was stolen from the people by the corrupt sheriff, but is doing that by hunting him down and killing him. In True Grit, Cogburn is helping young Mattie track down Chaney so he can be punished for his crime, but he is doing it for the money and ends up killing many innocent men along the way. In Unforgiven, Will is getting revenge on the two cowboys for what they did to the young girl, but takes a violent twist in the end, killing everyone in the saloon for what they did to his friend. In each movie, the main character is ultimately doing what is right but getting there by killing a lot of men. They sacrificed their morals to help out the minority.

Another overall theme is the portrayal of a corrupt government. In Rio Bravo, the sheriff was going around, taking everyone's land from under them and not giving them any compensation. In True Grit, the sheriff's department wouldn't convict or try Chaney for his crime, and made up excuses when Mattie asked for help. In Unforgiven, Little Bill is a violent character who beats up any stranger without asking their business, and does nothing to go after the men who cut up the young girl. In all three movies, the government is inactive and uncaring, causing the people to go around them and fix their problems themselves. This also created the underdog story. Usually the group of good guys was outnumber by the bad guys, but in the end, they prevailed and won what they were fighting for.    

1975 Movie Project: The Deviant Man

The public saw him as a good, Christian man, but they were fooled. His family thought of him as the hard working father, but they were wrong. Matt was a returning Vietnam veteran and ran into money problems. He was recruited by a mob boss for his skills with lethal weapons for an unusual job. Matt was hired to kill those who disagreed with the boss. Its started off as just a job with a paycheck, but became an addiction for Matt. His wife Kim noticed a difference in his personality, and decided to follow him one night. She witnessed her husband stab a man in an alley and was horrified by the sight. She confronted him the next day and Matt was finally caught in his double life. In the end, he loses everything; his wife, his family, and his innocent image.

           Columbia Pictures presents “The Deviant Man”, a gangster film. Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Jack Nicholson and the mob boss, Robert De Niro as Matt and Jane Fonda as his wife Kim.

De Niro was chosen for lead for his performance in Taxi Driver and his ability to play a strong lead role. Nicholson was chosen for his versatility in roles he's played.
The Deviant Man is rated R for violence.
The movie expresses the '70s film elements of the antihero and blurred idea of good and evil. The movie shows Matt as a hero because he is trying his best to support his family in a difficult time but he's also killing people. During the movie, the script plays with the idea that Matt's job is actually a good thing because he is making money for his family but in the end, the movie proves that what he was doing was wrong and therefore Matt lost everything.
I chose to write this movie because gangster films were popular at this time because, like always, violence is popular and sells.

MYST Post #4: The Eagle

The Eagle follows a young centurion named Marcus Aquila (played by Channing Tatum) as he tries to restore his father's reputation. Accompanied by his British slave Esca (Jamie Bell), Marcus travels through the mountains of Scotland searching for the lost Ninth Legion and the prized golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth, which was lost twenty years earlier. The Eagle was in Marcus’ father’s possession when it was lost in a unannounced war, therefore his father was considered a disgrace to Rome. After several days of wandering through the mountains, and meeting multiple groups of warriors, Marcus and Esca finally found the Eagle and fled in a hurry to escape from the Seal People, but Marcus gets hurt. Marcus frees Esca from slavery to save himself, but Esca returned with returns with the legionnaires who deserted the army 20 years ago just as the Seal People caught up to them. The two groups fight in a large scale battle with many casualties,ending with the Eagle rightfully in the Ninth Legions possession. Marcus returns to Rome, returning the Eagle to the ruler, winning praise from his country and clearing his fathers name.

I thought Kevin MacDonald did a great job directing the movie. The movie was mainly shot outdoors in fields and mountains, so almost every scene started with a wide shot camera angle to give the viewer an idea of where they were. What I liked about the movie was the fact that the 180-degree rule was broken. I liked the idea of seeing everything that was happening in the fight scene from all angles. I also liked how they played with the violence. Instead of showing the men stab through one another and have blood flying everywhere, they were more controlled by doing wide shots during the war scenes which showed the violence but made it easier to watch.

My favorite scene from the movie was when Marcus meets Esca for the first time when Esca is being forced to fight a gladiator. Esca refuses to fight for his life and Marcus is intrigued by him. As the gladiator is about to kill Esca, from the stands Marcus shouts  to spare his life. The women and peasants follow his lead and begin to chant with him, followed by the entire crowd. I liked the use of the camera in this scene the most. When Esca was punched and thrown down, the camera fell with him. It was a cool aspect of filming that I had not seen before and enjoyed it. My least favorite part of the movie was the ending when Esca and Marcus are walking away and the say the classic Hollywood line, “What do you want to do now?” “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” The movie was believable in being in the time period but those last lines broke all credibility for me.

1930's Movie Post: Scandal

Scandal is a gangster crime film starring Clark Gable, Bette Davis and Basil Rathbone. Clark plays a detective who investigates the case of a criminal, played by Basil, who robbed a bank. The criminal, as the audience finds out, is an old childhood friend of the detective but their paths separated as they grew older. The movie follows the two perspectives of both the detective and the criminal as they chase one another. In the end, Basil is killed in a shoot out with Clark when he was cornered on his attempt to rob another bank.
We decided to produce the film under Warner Brothers because they were known for their gangster film during the time period. We shot in three strip Technicolor because during this time, a lot of the movies that were coming out were in black and white because it was cheaper, but we wanted to stand out from the other movies that were coming out.
Our film follows the Hayes Code by never showing violence, just implying it. In the last scene where Basil is killed, it shows them standing there in the darkness facing one another and then a graveyard with a head stone saying the criminals name. We went around the code by not showing the shots being fired but that he died by showing his headstone.
If I could change anything about the film, I would change the lead character from Clark Gable to Edward G. Robinson. Robinson played the gangster in Little Caesar in 1931 which was produced by Warner Brothers as well. Clark Gable was a actor for MGM in the '30s, so we had to trade one of the Warner actors in order to get Gable in our one movie. I would have made Robinson the detective because he is under Warner and has played the bad guy in another gangster movie so he knows how the criminal thinks which makes the chase scenes more intense.

MYST Post #3: John Tucker Must Die

John Tucker Must Die is a comedy romance that takes place in high school and follows a group of four girls who devise a plan to break the heart of John Tucker, the hottest guy in school. Carrie, Heather and Beth found out that they were all dating John at the same time and decide to use Kate, a not so popular nobody in school, to get back at him. They planned to have John Tucker fall in love with Kate and then at his birthday party, expose him for who he is and break his heart so he would know what it felt like. Kate was hesitant at first but was forced to go along by Carrie, Heather and Beth. Kate joins the cheer leading team to get John’s attention and lures him in by acting exactly how the girls tell her to. John falls into the trap and Kate and John begin going on a series of dates. Kate begins to fall for John but is snapped out of it when Beth shows her a video of John bragging to his friends that he was going to “score” with Kate and the plan is set back in motion. Now dedicated to bring John down, the group sets up multiple embarrassing moments that back fire, ultimately making John more popular. Katie feels bad and decides to tell the truth to John at his party and everything works out. John is not mad and they remain friends.

       My favorite scene from the movie is when the group gives John estrogen pills in his Gatorade, trying to embarrass him and undermine his confidence. John becomes all soft and emotional at his basketball game and therefore doesn't play as well. The team loses the game and blames it on John, causing his friends to turn on him. The scene is hilarious and is a turning point in the movie because it is one of the first attempts at cracking John that the girls try, and it’s one of their only attempts that works in their favor. The scene is based on the dialogue because that is where the viewer sees the change in John’s attitude.

       The movie lacks technique/style and cinematography majorly. The film has no true plot line that it follows and the underlying message seems to be put out straight forward, yet everyone in the movie are hypocrites. The movie was definitely not made for the visual aspect, but instead for the comedy factor.

       I would give this movie a 3/5 because it is a classic comedy that makes me laugh every time I watch it, no matter how many times I see it.  However, it has no real cinematic aspect to it. The movie has classic lines that are still being said seven years later.