The General

Here's another silent film for ya. now before you decide you want to hop on over to Cracked.com and read the"Top Ten Animals That Look Like John Belushi", but i promise you this is a good one. 

The General is set during the first year of the Civil War. A young train confederate train engineer is desperate to gain the acceptance of his girlfriends family but to no avail her father refuses to acknowledge him. One day a band of Union spies attempt steal a train with the engineers girlfriend onboard. with little time to waste  the young engineer sets out on a wild adventure beyond what the engineer could ever imagine. 

It's hard for me to to dive down deep into a film like this when it really is as straight forward as you can get in a film. it's the basic damsel in distress story, with a hero setting out to save her.  Buster Keaton plays a delightfully dim wired but kind hearted hero . All in all the action is quite clever. I always find it so surprising that a train chase sequence could be as exciting as they portray it. where the film really shines is in the action and i honestly find it hard to talk about this film because the film is entirely action. there are two major sequences n the film and both of them take up about two thirds of the film. this doesn't mean the film is bad but that it's very very simple. 

Aaaaaaaaaand yeah that's all i have to really say about this film. it's really fun and quite entertaining, but if you wanted an in depth analysis of this film there isn't much to analyze. i highly suggest it for the sake of viewing it but don't expect something on the level of Schindlers List because it's not that kind of movie.

The Graduate

I'm going to write this one as i watch the movie because frankly I have quite a lot to say about it. The Graduate is one of the most fascinating films to come out of the 60's. With all it's theme's of uncertainty and pointless rebellion and it's beautiful sound track by Simon and Garfunkel,  The Graduate is one of the first comedies to portray the bleak uncertainty of adulthood through the eyes of a graduate. it's a truly compelling and over all wonderful black comedy. Here's how it goes. 

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Our story begins with, you guessed it; a Graduate. Benjamin Braddock is returning home from college after recently finishing his schooling. But it's not the joyous occasion you'd expect it to be. As he returns home he discovers a great emptiness in his life, the uncertainty of where he's gong deeply confuses him and pretty much turns him into a social recluse. On the night of his welcome home party Benjamin comes is asked by his neighbor Mrs. Robinson , to take her home. what he realizes is that her intentions are not exactly innocent. She attempts to seduce Benjamin and as he struggles with resisting he eventually gives in. Now under the brightly colorful veil of suburban life. Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson continue to have an affair that should never be. and still Benjamin finds the the fulfillment of it only brief. eventually Mrs. Robinson's Husband tries to set Benjamin up with their daughter and what starts out as a simple date turns into a bizarre and taboo love triangle that leads Benjamin down an even darker path of uncertainty. Is he willing to upset everything and ruin the pristine nuclear atmosphere in order to be with The robinson/s daughter? Or will he continue down the path of uncertainty that has consumed him?

So what exactly do I love about this movie? Well, for one think i absolutely appreciate it's lack of BS. this movie doesn't try to star coat anything or give us a white washed outlook on the characters. from the get go, you'll find Benjamin very frustrating and sad. you'll see Mrs. Robinson as Manipulative and selfish. you'll see her husband as a dim wit, You'll see benjamin's parent's as idealistically blind suburbanites, and you'll see Mrs. Robinson's daughter as being too naive for her own good. What these characters do when they are put together rid create  very odd view of American society in the 1960's. but what it also does is it creates a unique genre; the anti romantic comedy. Benjamin while in his world of uncertainty becomes infatuated with Mrs. Robinson, and when she becomes old news he moves on to her daughter and after that? Oh, I'll get to that in a minute. What we get from this movie is a group of characters that have made or are in th process of making bad decisions. the ultimate e of which is BEn and Mrs. RObinson both of whom are lost in the world either suffering from their past, or fearful of heir future.  

Visually the films is quite strait foreword. there's nothing special to it until you get to the musical segments of the number. The entire film is scored by Simon and Garfunkel; and the sound of Silence takes this film and just gives it that down note that really grounds the entire film. it just makes the world seem bleak and even though we know we're watching a comedy, and to some extent a parody of our modern culture, we get the idea that this isn't all the happiness it appears to be. The way in which this music adds itself to the the visuals is simple. during these segments especially the three times the sound of silence is used. we are shown Benjamin's outlook on everything. we see  via certain angles that he is completely lost in the world and that Mrs. Robinson seems to be something that brings him relief from what appears to be nothing but white noise.  Like a drug however, no matter how much he goes to her that high is all but brief and he once again feel strapped in the world around him. 

Let me get to what I love most about this picture; the ending. what the ending brings to the table is one of the more fascinating punctuations to a film ever made. at a certain point in the film Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson's affair is revealed. he daughter refuses to speak to Ben and she runs off to Berkley College. Ben finally finding what he believes to be certainty in his life runs off to marry her, with no plan, or any rational  idea of whether or not she'll mary him. when he finally finds her he learns she is engaged to a medical student. On the day of her wedding, he crashes said wedding causing a riot which leads to him and her escaping on a bus, laughing as they go. But here is where the magic really happens. Normally it would be here that the film ends as our lovers go off into the sunset, but the camera keeps rolling. what we see now is the two gradually coming off of their high once again. The Sound of Silence plays as we see the realization come across their faces. They have just made a mistake. the two of them know little to nothing about each other, they have just alienated themselves from both of their families, and now here they are on a bus heading towards an uncertain future that the two of them cannot escape from. They're stuck with each other now and they have to deal with the consequences.  Thats what Truly makes this film wonderful. where a normal film would who you a sappy and false story about two kids caught up in a whacky situation that results in them defying their parents and following what they love, shows that there actually consequences to our selfish actions. and in reality these characters are selfish. they both act out of their own self indulgence with little thought of how they affect the people around them, and that's a pretty great ending to a very honest film. 

Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard, is one of those movies that is more so fascinating in what it's trying to convey than it's actual story. it was the first film to ever portray it's own industry in a fundamentally negative light. this unfortunately makes the film very much a downer, and the fact that it's presented in a Film Noir style. But that doesn't make the film bad; Fight Club proved that  even Cynicism can be entertaining. Lets get right into it here's the story.  

The story deals with the events that lead up to the murder of Joe Gills, a down on his luck screen writer.  six months earlier, while attempting to hide from repossessors, he stumbles upon the dilapidated mansion of the silent film starlet, Norma Desmond. Washed up and with little to no fan base, Norma has become a delusional recluse certain that she will have another picture to perform in soon. seeing the potential of Gill she urges him to live with her and finish a screen play she is convinced will put her back on top. what follows is a series of strange and and dream like observations of the dark side to Hollywood. as Joe falls deeper into Norma's Web Norma herself seems to fall into a darker insanity that  is willing to consume Joe in order to contain itself. 

What keeps you interested in this very strange and dark picture. Is the dream like atmosphere it makes. never once do you feel as if you're based in reality. Thats not to say that anything supernatural happens but that it's over all view of the world is a little bit of balanced, not unlike Norma Desmond. It's strange for me to say that while i don't find anything unlikeable about the characters, i can't help but find any that I identified with. by far one of the best decisions for this film was to base it in the Noir style. which even though having been founded long before this, was and is still a useful story style.  

The themes presented in this film are wildly interesting. the observation of what happens to an actress once she's fallen from popularity is not a new one at all. but the way they show the utter devastation it has on her, and how the industry bares no remotes in it's part in her insanity. the over all cynicism while uncomfortable, does feel justified. 

another element that this films brings to the table, is the relationship between the two leads. It's definitely one of the more uncomfortable relationships in cinematic history. but what really makes it just sad is Norma and Joe's udder desperation for each other and yet that knowledge that deep down they loath each other. Norma craves to keep Joe with her despite the fact he's only interested in selling  screen play. she despises his constant need to get away and even goes so far as to attempt suicide in order to keep him. Joe on the other hand feels trapped to her. He knows that she is the only thing keeping him a float, but at the same time he's completely aware that she is crippling his abilities to move foreword. Together they make a bad combination that is doomed for disaster. 

That's Sunset Boulevard. Iknow my review was brief. but really I don't have much to say about this film. it's a pretty strait foreword. definitely not one of my favorites but for you? it might be something worth checking out. 

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey is not you're typical film. Most of the great films are cinematic, narrative, or visual  masterpieces; 2001 is all of these but it's something else entirely. It's a work of art. It's a film that is visually, narratively, and philosophically striking in every frame of its being. It's such a well crafted work of art that I personally believe the film should be put on display next to paintings in the Museum of Modern Art. Many films have attempted to capture the grand ideas created in 2001, but no one has truly ever been enable to capture the sheer mastery of the director known as Stanley Kubrick.

If Coppola is the Shakespeare of film, then Kubrick is the Da Vinci. Kubrick was a man who didnt see films as a series of scenes making up a narrative, he saw it as a single function entity that needed to be meticulously pieced together in Order to form a more perfect image. Kubrick's history as a still photography heavily influenced his directing style. A style so unique that it was actually named after him. When you hear someone say a film was Kubrickian that's where it's from. His use of the entire frame to tell the story visually is something that's oddly enough wholly his own. Lines being drawn to a specific point. The whole sot being in focus his use of only classical music instead of original accompaniment. All these elements make Kubrick one of the greatest and most unique filmmakers of all time.

Our story begins in well the beginning. It's prehistoric earth and we are with a tribe of apes who are constantly cold, hungry, bullied and worst of all, are low on the food chain. One day the apes awaken to find a massive black monolith looming over them. At first afraid, we soon realize the monolith is changing them, making them smarter. Soon the apes begin to use discarded bones as tools, and the hunting weapons, and then ultimately instruments of war. This "gift granted to them by the monolith allows the apes to become the dominant species of the earth and to further evolve into the human race. Millions of years later the human race has advanced into the space age. Commercial space flight is common place, he'll even Hilton has taken advantage of of the space industry with a floating hotel. But not all is well, as scientists have recently uncovered a second monolith buried under the moon's soil. They conclude it is extraterrestrial by natur and was purposefully buried. The scientist figure out that a third Monilith orbits Jupiter. And so a crew of explorers are sent out to investigate the monolith with the help of a super computer named HAL 9000. But as the explorers approach Jupiter they start to notice strange behavior in HAL as he begins gain sentience. Now the explorers ar eloped in a battle between man and machine as HAL schemes to murder the crew, and their hip draws ever closer to the ultimate answer to where we came from and where we are going.

Before I get to in death about this film I'd like to mention something. I actually know some people hate this film and consider it a tedious bit of pretentious garbage. Some of these people happen to be dear friends of mine. To those who feel that way I'll simply say you're all crazy and totally wrong. 2001: A Space Odyssey isn't just one of the greatest artistic pieces of our time, it is also one of the great philosophical studies of our time.  Just take moment to soak in what this film has to offer lookat the shots look at the attention to detail done in order to bring the film to life, my God just look at all the effort and passion that went into this thing. The second Perth of the film is pretty much all visuals, with very little dialogue but what we get are visual wonders that dazzl the mind if looked at correctly. The establishment of a perfect space culture is so well done in this film that people from NASA have gone so far as to say that Kubrick pretty much accurately portrayed how commercial space stations and aircrafts would have to function in order to provide comfort. Velcrow floors and artificial gravity ar just a few of the things that Kubrick nailed perfectly.

Once again this film is a philosophical masterpiece. The concepts brought up in this film are so thought provoking. In order to explore the themes of this film it's important to understand how this film is actually meant to be viewed. The film is actually separated into four smaller segments that are all connected by a single theme; the life span of humanity. In the first segment we are shown the apes which have been given the "gift" of intelligence by the unseen extraterrestrial force. What I love are the religious parallels done here. The extraterrestrial force seems more God like and divine than you'd see in a typical sci-fi adventure. They're never seen and yet their presence is always heavy. When we first see the monolith it appears to sprout from the ground like a tree. Perhaps a the "tree of knowledge"? Hmm. What ultimatley happens is the apes are now able to become self sustai ing but also far more greedy and willing to kill. Thus the apes invent war, which bares the question; was knowledge a curse on the human race? 

In the second segment we don't get a lot of development, but what we do get it is a lot of atmosphere. What has to be remembered is that this was what the year 2001 was projected to be like from the perspective of the sixties, if the space program had continued as it did during the Cold War. What we see is the end result of our gift of knowledge, which begins with a nuclear missile satellite. The idea of our fit being used to it's fullest is clarified en the astronauts excavate the moon to find the second monolith. Which directs th, to the third. This calls to mind the idea that the extraterrestrials were waiting for us to reach a level of intellect in which we would be able to reach the second monolith, and ultimately go out after the third one. 

the third segment deals with HAL 9000. in this segment we find the humanity bound for Jupiter in search of the third monolith. On the way all of humanities technology gains sentience in the form of HAL and attempts to eradicate them. This is humanities final test before the come face to face with the extraterrestrial force ( God) as I like to view it. If the extra terrestrial is o represent God then Hal himself represents the devil, and Technologie's use represents sin. Humanity, while being advancing them selves, have used technology for violence and self indulgence. This sin is embodied by the devil played here by HAL. Humanity must over come their sins in order to move on to the next plane and so in a final battle with the devil, The explorers are able to defeat HAL. Another thing to note is that visually Hal resembles the monolith, making him the true third monolith and thus the third test humanity must pass.

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The fourth and final segment is one of the more confusing and thought provoking points in the film. Having reached they're destination. Only one explorer survives. This man comes face to face with monolith and is granted access to the deepest reaches of space. The explorer sees worlds and anomalies never before witnessed by man, gaining fasts amounts of knowledge along the way. Eventually he is placed into physical manifestation of a place ve familiar to him and very peaceful. You will notice the use of steril white and the Victorian style decorations contrasting heavily with the high tech motif of the film. This is the explorers heaven the place where he will live I peace free of sin. But the monolith has more in store for the man. As the explorer's life nears an end. The monolith appears once more before him. Having comp,eted their long long journey. The monolith grants one last gift to humanity; the gift of evolution. And with that we see the end of humanity and the birth of a new race a species only known as the star child. Fully capable of living within the vacuum of space and living bond the need of technology. 

And that's 2001. People who don't like it tend to doping out the long drawn out seems. And lack of dialogue. But if people take the time to view the piece as a whole like you would a work of Art you'd find a single perfect experience. This is a classic among classics, something that shoud be sold in a leatherbound case to further exemplify its importance. It's such an amazing film and worth your time. Please, please for the lve of I'd see this movie.