Review of Speilberg's Minority Report

Whoa, awesome movie. The suspense and intensity of this film is what got me so deeply interested in the story. Speilberg creates a strange and intimidating future that blurs the line between justice and power and creates a compelling thriller that definitely gets the blood pumping. The cold colors in the city and the warm colors in the rural scenes set a tone that compliments the attitude of the characters therein. The tracking shots of Cruise give sequences a sense of urgency and the pace of the editing seems to correlate well with the rate of the audiences heart beats. I love the special effects in the movie, from the precrime office to the future highways and even the spider bots that make that bathtub scene one of the most tense sequences in a sci-fi movie from 2002. The dutch angles employed by Speilberg are used in twisted scenes, where the emotions of the characters are unraveling or something unsettling is happening. This film does a magnificent job at influencing mood using lighting and color, framing, and music. Compared to other sci-fi movies or thrillers, this is easily among my favorites.

Review of Zemeckis's Forrest Gump

I thoroughly enjoy this film. It is a journey full of inspiring messages, intense realities, and charming laughs. Tom Hanks plays a beautiful character who takes life as it comes and I crack up and cry every time I watch this movie.
The mise-en-scene of this film is wonderfully creative and spans across country towns in Alabama, to the jungles of Vietnam, to Ping-Pong tournaments in China, to protests on Washington. Wherever Forrest's life story goes, the flashbacks go with him and give a window into his bizarre, adventurous and beautiful life. There are so many memorable quotes from this movie, one of my favorites being: "If I'd a known that was the last time I was gonna talk to Bubba, I would of thought of something better to say". The colors were always appropriate to the mood of the scene and complimented the shot in a way that grabs the eye. The scenes from Forrest's childhood in Alabama are earth tones and pastels, everything looks calmer and more faded. As time progresses into the revolutionary 60s, the colors become vibrant, like at the march at Washington when Jenny becomes a flower child. One of the most beautiful scenes was when Forrest was telling Jenny of all the most beautiful sights he had seen throughout his journey, as she lay dying of cancer in bed. Cuts jump to Forrest in Vietnam looking up at the starry night sky, or the sunset on the bayou, and the slow pans throughout this sequence coupled with the soundtrack and Forrest's voice always touch me. This is an incredible drama or comedy but more importantly an incredible story to learn from and laugh and cry with.

Review of Welles's Citizen Kane

This film blew me away. The artistry in every shot and transition kept my eyes glued to the screen the entire time. I loved the use of flashbacks and flash forwards and the way they transitioned between not only different shots, but different years of Kane's life.

Welles's direction is the reason this film is a masterpiece. His use of deep focus was stunning and always seemed to frame the subject of the dialogue or what the characters in the scene were thinking about. Like in the beginning when Kane's mom is giving over custody of Charle's while he plays outside in the snow. As his parents discussed the poor boy's future, he played in the distance, ignorant of what pains were to come, framed by the window like a nostalgic photograph of better times. Or the scene near the ending where he passes by his mirror and an infinite line of reflections follow him. This happens right after Kane's wife leaves him because of his narcissism and selfishness, making the mirror a powerful symbol that frames the subject of Kane's thoughts - himself, because he is reflecting on his own actions and what he has become. He did such an incredible job at framing his shots and subsequently influencing the tone of the scene and mood of the audience. When Welles wanted to give power or focus to an image or character, he usually had them higher up in the shot, making us as the audience feel below it. For example, at Kane's political rally, the use of dutch angles from below the podium looking up gives Kane an intimidating presence. Also when around his wife, he was usually standing while she sat, or above her. Even when she left him, he violently destroys her room while the camera looks up at his menacing character. Xanadu was always shown high on a mountain, looming over the scene.
The misce-en-scene was bizarre and captivating. I loved the magnificent and dark Xanadu castle, with its grandiose statues and decorations. The jungle scene was also very beautifully done, and I was amazed by the matte paintings that Welles used for backgrounds throughout the film. The lighting was the coolest lighting I've seen in a film. It was so bold and alluring and set the mood so perfectly. The shadows gave a stark sense of tension and the lighting helped with an overall sense of mystery throughout. No scene went without attention-grabbing lighting. Even in the beginning scene where the news reporters are discussing how they'll find out more about "rose bud", the light from the projector casts a hazy glow around the man in the front, and a desk light glows on the main reporter's face, while beams come in through distant windows high up, creating a mysterious and stunning exchange where it could have easily been a scene lit by fluorescent ceiling bulbs.
Compared to other films, this movie stands out to me as not having a particular classification. It's a drama, it's suspenseful, mysterious, it's romantic and has comedy and action. Overall it is an epic, full of triumph and defeat, made up of symbolism and moral lessons that was presented in an incredibly skillful way.

Review of Hitchcock's North By Northwest

Considered one of the greatest films, North By Northwest twisted my attention in all sorts of directions. I liked it. It was hard to follow at first...probably because I couldn't quite hear what Roger was saying where I was watching it...but as I picked up on the plot, I had a chance to take in the incredible cinematography, direction, and mise-en-scene that this movie has in abundance.
Hitchcock's cinematic direction is excellent at leading the audiences attention, and holding them in suspense. Hitchcock very carefully frames shots with the mise-en-scene surrounding the characters and pans out the suspense by using long cuts from Rogers body (usually a medium shot) showing his expression, to what he is looking at, and back and forth. The lighting throughout the film wasn't anything too dramatic but certainly helped establish the mood of the scenes. The most beautiful use of lighting in the film was in the nail-biting house scene when Roger is trying to help his love escape. It was set during night, with only lamps on in the house, producing harsh shadows on the wall and contours of Roger's body, greatly dramatizing the sequence. Or even the scene in the train ride when Roger and Eve are kissing and the light is glowing off of them. The mise-en-scene was very elaborate and spanned across many different sets. The compact spaces of the train, the dusty abandoned crossroads, treacherous Mount Rushmore, and all the airports and glamorous hotels in which Roger fled for his life, amongst others. The surroundings helped frame certain shots like when Roger was in the hallways of the train compartments or when he was amongst the pines in the forest with Eve. The editing gave the film a slow pace but included everything that Hitchcock wanted, and it is said that Hitchcock insisted they did not take out 20 minutes of the film to make it under 2 hours. Though it could get tough to stay focused on one shot for too long, it gave the movie nice suspense. 
As far as costuming goes, North by Northwest was a wonderful display of color and 60s style that was quite aesthetically pleasing. Roger's grey suit influenced men's style of that era and has been copied in other thrillers since. Compared to other espionage romance thrillers, this is easily a classic that set many precedents for movies since including the James Bond franchise. Definitely should check it out

Review of Whedon's Avengers: Age of Ultron

Going into these types of movies (big budget superhero action flicks), you have to kind of know what to expect. I wasn't blown away by the movie, and it didn't affect my conscious or give me any lessons I could take away from it, but I can't say I didn't enjoy watching it. Being a fan of superheros when I was younger helped me to play along with the film, look past its cheesiness or its shallow plot, and find satisfaction in the awesome fantasy battles and special effects used to bring the character's special abilities to life. The direction of Whedon was nothing new. Long range pans to establish the shot, tons of quick jump cuts during action sequences, and tracking shots of the superheroes fighting were common place. No shots really stood out to me. The editing was just fine during the calmer portions of the story but was really jumpy and dizzying during most of the action sequences. There was definitely a lot to take in. I liked the lighting a lot, even though it was mostly all digital, especially in eccentric scenes like Thor's golden, Dutch-angle-ridden dream (which sadly I don't have a screenshot of), and the grim battle with Ultron in the Vibranium freighter. The mise-en-scene was exciting, from the coast of Africa to the tundra of Russia, there were always cool settings that were utilized well by the characters and their powers. But nothing was too out of the ordinary.

Compared to other superhero action movies, this was not one of my favorites. There has been a trend recently with Marvel movies, to fit in as much action as possible and not take themselves seriously enough by poking fun at the universe and making it sort of cheesy.

Review of Zwick's The Seige

This film was an enjoyable political thriller. I was intrigued with it and it kept my attention because of its smooth tempo and quick script. The film had some interesting scenes with some beautifully done shots. The direction of the film found the camera placed in typical angles with common place slow pans in dramatic establishing shots, jump cuts and medium range shots during dialogue and action sequences and slow zooms when things got suspenseful.
What made the scenes so aesthetically pleasing was the lighting and colors of the film. The scene in the beginning when Hubbard first meets "Elise" in the warehouse has a cold but soft tone and there is a beautiful hazy glow on the setting from the flood lights behind them. The apartment firefight scene had a lot of warm and earth-tone colors with stark lighting coming in from the holes in the sheets covering the windows. The foggy wreckage of the movie theater had dramatic, and cold lighting, with bright neon colors coming from police lights and signs in time square. The mise-en-scene throughout the movie had its ups and downs. Some shots' settings and how they were set up were pretty typical and bland like the office scenes or any time a character was using technology of some sort. Any time Hubbard came into the scene they closed in on him or had him framed with the rule of thirds which became noticeable. The editing was well done and smooth. Some shots were in slow motion, or some shots would stay for a long while on a character if they were intensely staring at someone or if they were thinking, which built tension very well.
This film is definitely one that comes to mind when I think of these types of suspense/action movies. This was a solid political thriller but didn't stand out to me as anything unique, still an exciting watch.

Review of Curtiz's Casablanca

Casablanca was a mysterious trip to a dream-like criminal underground - every shot shroud in impending danger and romantic shadows. I loved it. The classic feel and sultry mood of the desert cantina and the markets surrounding it engrossed me in an exotic plot of scandal and love. Curtiz's direction was wonderfully done and distinctly moody. All of the shots kept the mysterious feeling going throughout the story. No shots seemed to cry for attention and they all helped lead the audience's eye to where it needed to be. Great slow pans, zooms and framing throughout.
The editing at the beginning of the film utilized cross fading and over-laid shots while it set up the history of the war and the desert country we were diving into. Other than that, there was very traditional jump cuts and fade-outs and fade-ins with an easy going tempo, holding the audience on a character close up as they were deep in thought or cutting between two figures while they exchanged dialogue. The lighting was spectacular and very powerful in certain scenes. It again helped to really drive in the feeling of mystery and passion that kept me in suspense for the whole of the movie. I especially loved the shadows in the scene where Rick has his flashback after the bar is closed or when he was getting money out of the safe and his shadow was cast on the wall. There was also the searchlight/spotlight that always was grazing over the bar at night that seemed to have an omniscient and foreboding presence. All of the lighting techniques created intense scenery that was stunning throughout. As for the misce-en-scene, it couldn't have been more fitting. I loved the sets used. Rick's cantina was exciting and and smooth, it had a sensual yet tough atmosphere and was decorated beautifully. The Blue Parrot was also a very interesting few scenes with a well done atmosphere that made you feel like a Moroccan local.
Compared to other suspenseful dramas, this is one of my favorites. Its elements of romance and espionage and the lurking dangers that faced Rick throughout the film had me mesmerized the entire time.