Films

Monday, November 19, 2012

Casablanca

1Casablanca is a film created in 1942 and directed by Michael Curtiz. With this films complex love story and modern era, this film easily made AFI’s Top 100 Films of All Time ranking 3rd. This film was nominated for a bunch of awards including best actor for Humphrey Bogart, best supporting actor for Claude Rains, best black and white cinematography and best score/editing.  What makes this film the phenomenon it is today is because it travels through a lot of different themes such as: lost love, honor, self-sacrifice in war, and romance within a chaotic world. Casablanca was based on a play called Everybody Comes to Ricks. The two main characters are Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman will forever be remembered for their iconic roles in his film forever. Along with their iconic roles, some of their infamous quotes will be remembered by movie goers everywhere for the test of time.

2. http://classicfilm.about.com/od/epicswarmovies/fr/CasablancaRevue.htm
This article discusses the story of Casablanca and how it came to be what it is today. in the 1940's when this film was made, it was considered to be a big budget film for its time period. The screen writers made up the end of the story line during the production which in fact the last line of the film was not in the actual film until 3 weeks after shooting the end of it entirely.

3. This article relates to class because it shows that this film even for the lack of time and how thought out this film was going to be, it is still well noted as one of the best films ever. And for the lack of the screen writers for not knowing the plot for a while really helped the audience be even more suspenseful towards the last minuets of the film. This article also really explains that even the actors emotions were real because they didn't know the end of the film for a long time too.

4. When I watched this film for the first time in high school, I was honestly bored to tears and really confused as to what was going on. But watching it for the second time and with your powerpoint explaining what was happening in the beginning really made the movie clear to me. This movie is a true love story that will make anyone understand how deep a love for a person can go. This film wasn't one of my favorites this semester but the storyline was very personal and I believe everyone should have the experience to watch this because it is truly a well recognized movie from our history that is a classic.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Citizen Kane

1. Citizen Kane was written, directed and stared by Orson Welles. Welles was only in his 20's while taking on this much work. Today if a young man like that wanted so much control no one would even allow someone to do this production. It was released in 1941and was a complete failure and was almost not released. After more and more audiences saw this production, the film was an artwork and was up for nine Oscar nominations. Out of the nine nominations, Citizen Kane won two of them: best writing, and best original screen play. The character of Charles Kane closely resembles William Randolph Hurst, and throughout the film you find that they are quite alike each other in many aspects. This film has a bunch of new techniques brought to the cinema that will be used for centuries to come and will be remembered forever.

2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/24/citizen-kane-screening-hearst-castle
This article talks about how William Randolph Hurst's family after 71 years of Citizen Kane being on film, they are finally going to show it in the well known Hurst castle. This castle is now a tourist attraction and will be showing this film to others. This article discusses that WRH tried his hardest to destroy this film and remove it from his fan's life, so he did not put a movie review in his own newspaper so even his readers will avoid it at all cost because of the horrible depiction they gave him during the film.

3. This article relates to the film because it shows how much WRH did not like this film that was practically about himself! Also it show how much of an innovative and memorable movie Citizen Kane is to show it in the Hurst Castle after 71 years of resentment from the main man himself. It shows that this film will be remembered forever and that the architectural aspects of the film are respected after all these years.

4. I have seen Citizen Kane in high school a couple of years ago and to be honest, it put me straight to sleep! But now watching it for a second time I appreciated it and enjoyed it a lot more than the first time. This film was an artistic mystery that showed that all he missed in the end was his childhood and innocence that he never had chance to receive. The story was amazing and the awesome effects like lighting, filming, and sound made this movie the masterpiece it is today. These techniques will be used and remembered forever. Even though Orson Welles never made another film, this film shows his artistic ability to perform multiple tasks at a young age and completed them perfectly and now as successful as this movie is, it will go down in history forever. And we will all remember the famous line..."Rosebud..."!