"Doctors... Lawyers... never get past 60 thousand rupees. He's won 10 million."

Slumdog Millionaire

2009; UK; 120 min.

Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan

Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Vikas Swarup

Music: various artists

Cast:

Jamal Malik - Dev Patel

Prem Kumar - Anil Kapoor

Sergeant Srinivas - Saurabh Shukla

Director - Rajendranath Zutshi

Vision Mixer - Jeneva Talwar

Latika - Freida Pinto

Police Inspector - Irrfan Khan

Youngest Salim - Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail

Youngest Jamal - Ayush Mahesh Khedekar

I had heard amazing things about "Slumdog Millionaire." I think that whenever you go into a film with high expectations, it's hard to come out of the film absolutely loving it (case and point, "Casablanca"...). I really did enjoy "Slumdog Millionaire," but I didn't think that it was the best film I've ever seen in my life. I went to go see the film with two other film students, and we had a lot of fun talking about it afterwards and thinking about it from a film perspective. "Slumdog Millionaire" is the non-linear story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) and his rise from the slums. Eventually, Jamal ends up on his country's version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and that's where the story begins. He is being questioned by the police and is being tortured because no one can believe that Jamal could have achieved what he did on the show without cheating. As the audience is taken through the show, we learn how Jamal knows the answers to all of the questions. We flashback to his traumatic childhood and the rest of his life. I cannot comprehend people who have called this a feel-good film. As one of my friends said after watching it, "This makes me feel horrible about myself." And it does. Jamal's childhood is absolutely brutal and upsetting. The story does have a sort of decent resolution for Jamal. The film ends with the credits and a Bollywood-style music video, which I thought was inappropriate at the time. I did enjoy the little video though. 

I definitely overlooked the costumes and sets while I was watching this film. Everything looked so real that I just disregarded it (I don't know if that makes sense...). It's hard to imagine all of the work that went into those aspects of the film. Everything looked absolutely effortless and smooth. The scenery and costumes were so perfect for the film. The cinematography was great. The film was filled with canted angles. It was actually ridiculous how many there were. Considering the fact that canted angles are supposed to show characters in distress, the shots were apropos to the plot. The soundtrack to the film was pretty good. I was a little taken aback when "Paper Planes," by M.I.A., started playing in the background. My fellow filmers and I all started laughing in confusion. The lyrics of the song did somewhat apply to the events in the film. It was just shocking to see such a commercial, mainstream song about drugs being played while two little boys were begging and riding on trains.

I really did enjoy this film a lot. When you step back and consider all of the factors that went into this film in particular, it's amazing how smooth this film looks. I love the plot about the game show and the structure of the film. In psychology, we learned about something called group polarization. (I know this doesn't directly relate to my blog but I had to post it.) Group polarization is when your opinions are further enhanced when discussing an issue and sharing like opinions with a group of people. I think that what happened while writing this post was a bit of blog polarization. While at the beginning of this film I was somewhat enthusiastic about "Slumdog Millionaire," now I'm sort of like, "Wow! This was actually amazing!" The idea of blog polarization is my contribution to the blogging world, I guess... So on that note, I would definitely recommend "Slumdog Millionaire," but be warned, this is not a feel good film (unless you're the sadistic type and enjoy seeing people being blinded and beaten...)!

iRate: 4.5/5 answers (Oh, blog polarization!)

Trailer: Click here!

"Do not speak to me of rules. This is war! This is not a game of cricket!"

The Bridge on the River Kwai

1957; UK; 151 min.

Director: David Lean

Screenplay: Pierre Boulle, Michael Wilson, Carl Foreman

Music: Malcolm Arnold

Cast:

Cmdr. Shears - William Holden

Maj. Warden - Jack Hawkins

Col. Nicholson - Alec Guinness

Col. Saito - Sessue Hayakawa

Maj. Clipton - James Donald

Lt. Joyce - Geoffrey Horne

Col. Green - Andre Morell

Capt. Reeves - Peter Williams

Maj. Hughes - John Boxer

Pvt. Grogan - Percy Herbert

iRate: .5/5 bridges

Trailer: Click here (if you dare)!

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

21 

2008; USA; 123 min.

Director: Robert Luketic

Screenplay: Peter Steinfeld, Allan Loeb, Ben Mezrich

Music: David Sardy

Cast:

Ben Campbell - Jim Sturgess

Prof. Micky Rosa - Kevin Spacey

Jill Taylor - Kate Bosworth

Choi - Aaron Yoo

Kianna - Liza Lapira

Jimmy Fisher - Jacob Pitts

Cole Williams - Laurence Fishburne

Terry - Jack McGee

Miles Connoly - Josh Gad

"21" is the true story of five students from MIT who count cards playing blackjack. When Prof. Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) encounters Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) in his math class, he quickly realizes that Ben is extremely smart. Ben is a hardworking student who wants to go to Harvard Med upon graduation from MIT. The only problem is that he doesn't have the money to afford the $300,000 tuition. His only chance for affording Harvard Med is a prestigious scholarship. Even though Ben has an extremely impressive academic record (1530 on his SATs, 4.0 GPA from MIT, 44 on his MCATs...), so do the other applicants for the scholarship. Ben needs something that will "jump off of the page" and "dazzle" the interviewer. There's nothing in Ben's life that really stands out, so when Professor Micky Rosa offers Ben the chance to join his underground blackjack team, Ben jumps at the chance. The team teaches Ben how to count cards - he catches on quickly enough to be designated as their team's captain. On the weekends, Ben and the team go to Vegas with Micky to play the system and make hundreds of thousands of dollars. The plot gets quite interesting when it seems like someone in the casino is beginning to catch onto Ben and the team.

I was extremely impressed with the camerawork in the film. I thought that some of it was reminiscent of Gus Van Sant's. The shots were precise and the high speed chases were filmed beautifully. The film actually reminded me a lot of "Good Will Hunting" - it's probably because it deals with MIT and Boston, though. I absolutely loved this film! I think it's a great story and the cast is wonderful. This had to definitely be one of my favorites! I would highly recommend this film to anyone - it's a truly fun film to watch!

iRate: 5/5 chips

Trailer: Click here!

"If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates? If so, I hope they last for centuries."

Chungking Express

1994; Hong Kong; 98 min.

Director: Kar Wai Wong

Screenplay: Kar Wai Wong

Music: Faye Wong, The Mamas and the Papas, Dennis Brown, Dinah Washington, Michael Galasso

Cast:

Woman in blonde wig - Brigitte Lin

Cop 663 - Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Faye - Faye Wong

He Zhiwu, Cop 223 - Takeshi Kaneshiro

Air Hostess - Valerie Chow

Manager of 'Midnight Express' - Chen Jinquan

Richard - Lee-na Kwan

Man - Zhiming Huang

The 2nd May - Liang Zhen

Man - Songshen Zuo

"Chungking Express" is an absolutely beautiful and amazing film. "Chungking Express" is the story of two cops and their romantic lives rolled into one. First, we encounter the woman in the blonde wig (Brigitte Lin) and her relationship with Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro). In a fast-paced segment of drug dealing, high speed chases, and shootings, the audience begins to wonder what exactly the woman in the blonde wig does. just as the audience starts to question that mystery, we are shifted over to another cop romance (cromance?) involving Faye (Faye Wong) and Cop 663 (Tony Leung Chiu Wai). The rest of the film follows the romance between Faye and Cop 663, leaving the audience to wonder what happened to the first part of the story, and what its significance is to the film.  

I love some of the ideas that were brought up in the film. A good film is one that makes you think, and this film definitely did. One idea that I liked was how you can pass by so many people every day without knowing what an impact they could possibly have on your life. I think that idea is just so profound and probably quite true. It's amazing to think of all of the people's paths that you cross and when you may or may not meet them again. On a daily basis, you could have bumped into the person you're going to marry or brushed past your future best friend. I think that by calling the cops in the film by numbers, the director is achieving the same effect. Those cops could be anyone. The numbers add to the anonymity of the characters. Another idea that I liked in the film was the concept of expiration dates. Cop 663 brings this idea up relating to pineapple and his ex-girlfriend, May. I love when Cop 663 talks about if love has an expiration date. In contrast to this idea of expiration dates, there's an idea expressed in this film that time moves on. Your choice is either to move with it and progress or live in the past. But also, is time a constant cycle? While the audience switches stories, we're still dealing with two cops. In the end, (SPOILER ALERT) Faye becomes a flight attendant, just like May was. Aside from the similar professions, a common theme of romance links the two stories together. I think that many elements of this film are very romantic, and even scenes that are fairly graphic are tastefully filmed.

Both the music and the cinematography in this film add to the plot to truly make it amazing. I love the song, "California Dreamin'," and had that leitmotif stuck in my head for the time after I watched the film. The cinematography in this film is absolutely outstanding. I love all of the camera effects that Wong uses. His camerawork is truly innovative and unlike anything that I have seen before. Wong uses many canted angles often, which are usually used by directors as a method to show conflict, as well as many other techniques. Below are some frames that I found particularly amazing:

One method that the director uses is a blurred shot or freeze frame. These help to add to the idea that time goes by even if you are caught up in your own world.

This scene is one of the ones that is shot in a very sophisticated, tasteful manner. For example, this scene uses symbols instead of bluntly showing you what happens between the two.

The director uses reflections many times to show characters in the film. The reflections add another dimension to the character and help the audience to literally see them from another perspective.

I think that it's necessary to go back and re-watch this film. I have a feeling that you could understand more of the plot if you do so. Some of the plot is still somewhat confusing for me - I plan on re-watching "Chungking Express." I may have never come across this film in my career as a film viewer, but I'm glad that I did - this film exceeded my expectations. I would highly recommend this film - it's amazing!

iRate: 5/5 airplanes

Trailer: Click here!

"Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?"

Good Will Hunting
1997; USA; 126 min.

Director: Gus Van Sant
Screenplay: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
Music: various artists

Cast:
Sean Maguire - Robin Williams
Will Hunting - Matt Damon
Chuckie Sullivan - Ben Affleck
Professor Gerald Lambeau - Stellan Skarsgard
Skylar - Minnie Driver

I was pleasantly surprised with our second student choice film, "Good Will Hunting." The plot was really smart and the screenplay itself was quite interesting. The plot begins as the viewer meets Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a janitor at MIT who hangs around drinking and smoking with a group of his buddies, including Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck). One night, they meet Skylar (Minnie Driver) at a bar. At the bar, which happens to be populated with MIT students, another guy (an MIT student) is trying to pick up Skylar. Chuckie is also trying to do so, but the MIT student is showing off with his intellect. Will comes along and completely calls the MIT student out on his fake knowledge (he has simply regurgitated a textbook), impressing Skylar. Will catches the interest of Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) when he solves an impossible math problem on the board. Will's journey continues as he works with the Professor, as he is taught by Maguire (Robin Williams), a psychologist, and as he falls in love with Skylar.

One interesting thing about the film is that the ending is not exactly 100% clear. As blogger Film Lover (http://tributetofilm.blogspot.com/) commented (in an amazing throwback to AP English 11-3), there were many "dramatic possibilites" to the ending of the film. A big shout-out is in order for blogger 7thpeerwatcher (http://7thpeerwatcher.blogspot.com/) for nominating the film. I would definitely recommend this film, and I'll probably end up watching it again!

iRate: 4.5/5 apples
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02M3NRtkAA

"Strength Through Unity, Unity Through Faith!"

V For Vendetta

2005; USA; 132 min.

Director: James McTeigue

Screenplay: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, David Lloyd

Music: Dario Marianelli

Cast:
Evey Hammond - Natalie Portman

V - Hugo Weaving

Inspector Finch - Stephen Rea

Gordon Deitrich - Stephen Fry

Adam Sutler - John Hurt

Creedy - Tim Pigott-Smith

"Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot... But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes and I know, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them... but you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it... ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love... And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man... A man that made me remember the Fifth of November. A man that I will never forget."

"V For Vendetta" is a simply amazing film! The acting was fabulous, the writing was great, and the plot was quite intriguing! I had never seen Natalie Portman in a movie before - she did an amazing job of creating the character of Evey Hammond. V (Hugo Weaving) was another character who was beautifully developed. When watching the movie, V's charismatic personality captivated the audience, yet at the same time, the audience has to question V's intentions. Is V a "freedom fighter" or just a villain with vendetta (hence, the title)? At first, during the film, I felt afraid and uncomfortable when the scenes in the film dealt with V, as did Evey. Then, as the film progressed, I began to really like V and his ideas. The writing in the film is outstanding! The quote above ("Remember, Remember...") was such a catchy tagline for the film. Another part of the writing that I loved was V's "V" vignette:

"Voila! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no more veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

To be able to write an excerpt such as the one above is amazing. I can't even fathom trying to write something as coherent and creative as that passage! The plot of the film was one that I found extremely interesting. While the same totalitarian concept has been discussed in other works (such as George Orwell's 1984), I still found the topic to be fresh and new. The whole concept of government deception is something that I took away with me from the film. Are we being tricked by leaders like the Chancellor tricked the society in the movie? Another interesting concept that the movie brought up was, "Can violence be used for good?" such as V supposedly used it for when dealing with Evey's fear. Despite what V believes, I think that violence is violence and cannot be used for good.

While watching the film, I came across a couple of interesting production elements. I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into the film, or if my thinking is too abstract, but I've listed what I noticed below:

1. Repetition of the "V" shape
- government packaging boxes (spiral, "V" shape)
- fireworks
- elevator button
- v-neck shirt (worn by Evey)
- way the flags are crossed (in the senior center)
- corner angle of the desk at the BTN Office
- hands of a clock
- v-neck dress
- v-neck hoodie
- Roman numeral "V" on the room, signifying the number five

2. Foreshadowing

- Evey under the bed as a child forshadows Evey under the bed as an adult

3. EVEy?

- One of my thoughts is that Evey is possibly a symbol of Eve, as in Adam and Eve. In a way, Evey and V are the only ones who are aware. They're the only ones who are aware of the government and they way in which it deceives people. Could this truly be an allusion to Adam and Eve?

4. Evey's Connection to V

- Evey's name has the letter "v" in it, which I believe represents how connected V is to Evey. V is literally a part of Evey. At the end, his thinking becomes a part of how Evey thinks, which I believe is what prompts Evey (SPOILER ALERT) to follow through with V's plan to blow up Parliament.

The film was great overall. There are still some aspects of the plot that are a bit foggy, so I'd like to watch the film again. This film is definitely one that you could watch over and over again. Here's a big shout-out to blogger Banama (http://moofahsah.blogspot.com) for the awesome film suggestion! I would definitely recommend this to anyone, and I plan on viewing it again very soon!

iRate: 4.8/5 Guy Fawkes masks

Trailer: http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/trailer.html

"You're a good-looking boy: you've got big, broad shoulders. But he's a man. And it takes more than big, broad shoulders to make a man."

High Noon

1952; USA; 85 min.

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Screenplay: Carl Foreman, John W. Cunningham

Music: Dimitri Tiomkin, Ned Washington, Tex Ritter, William Cool White, William Steffe, Julia Ward Howe

Cast:

Marshal Will Kane - Gary Cooper

Mayor Jonas Henderson - Thomas Mitchell

Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell - Lloyd Bridges

Helen Ramirez - Katy Jurado

Amy Fowler Kane - Grace Kelly

Frank Miller - Ian MacDonald

When I typically think of Westerns, I think of a saloon, a shoot-out, tumbleweed, and cowboys. "High Noon" did provide the saloon, shooting, and sheriffs, but also proved that Westerns are more than this preconceived image. "High Noon" is the story of Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper), who has just married Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), a Quaker woman. When Marshal Kane finds out than Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is returning to town, he forgoes his honeymoon to protect his town. Kane was once responsible for Miller's arrest, and Miller has a personal vendetta against Kane. As the film elapses in real time ("reel time in real time"), the audience learns of Kane's past relationship with Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado), as well as Amy's past. Finally, when the clock strikes high noon, Kane and Frank Miller face off. The rest of the plot unfold and finally concludes with a shocking ending. I really loved the romantic aspect of the film (obviously). What I found interesting about the film was the political element of it. I hadn't even thought of the fact that it was an influential movie through a political lens. It was only when the class discussed the film that I realized this. While this film did deliver some elements of a stereotypical, quintessential western, it definitely opened my mind to my prior dismissal of westerns. 

iRate: 3.5/5 guns

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2041381145/