Psycho review (1960)

Psycho Review (1960)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock “Psycho” is a film that shows his true talent and passion of making movies by showing high level of suspense throughout the story. The film has a major plot twist at the mid point of the film that is important as it turns the story in a new direction. The story starts off with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) stealing $40,000 and running away only to spend the night in a Motel where the story changes and suddenly becomes about Norman (Anthony Perkins) dealing with his mother issues. 

(Figure 1: Psycho Poster)

The film stands tall with it's hidden Freud psychology meanings like Norman's relationship with his mother that's causes him to become insane. Norman's bond with his mother is very strong after his father's death that he couldn't bare to see her with any other man this pushes him to the brink of insanity when she meets someone else, which causes Norman to become jealous. Another point of it's brilliance is the symbolic settings by having the mother house up high and the motel down below where Norman works. This gives off the idea that the mother is the authority while Norman is the obedient child that obeys the commands of his Mother.

 

(Figure 2: the symbolic settings)  

 



The iconic murder scenes was done brilliantly as it shows little information which can build tension that makes the audience question everything about the film. The soundtrack helps complement the scene as the screech of the violin makes it sound like a warning for what is to come. The iconic scene is a brilliant way of switching the story from a chase scene to a murder plot. "The death of the heroine is followed by Norman's meticulous mopping-up of the death scene. Hitchcock is insidiously substituting protagonists. Marion is dead, but now (not consciously but in a deeper place) we identify with Norman--not because we could stab someone, but because, if we did, we would be consumed by fear and guilt, as he is." (Roger Ebert's Psycho review).

 

(Figure 3: Murder scene)

 

 

Images:

 

Figure 1: Psycho Poster 

https://johneaves.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/psycho-theatrical-release-poster-1960.jpg

Figure 2: the symbolic settings

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/psycho/images/a/a1/Psycho_2_house_and_motel.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120921121115

 

Figure 3: Murder scene

http://www.jasonbovberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Psycho4.jpg

 

Bibliography

 

Roger Ebert Psycho film review:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-psycho-1960 

 

 

Rope Review (1948)

Rope Review (1948)

Rope, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is a film that tells the story of two young men who committed the act of murder for the perfect crime and decided to dump the body of their "inferior" friend in a old chest just before the party they are hosting, which contains people who the victim knows and ultimately ended with the criminals found out by their former teacher.

 (Fig 1: Movie poster)


The film uses its camera in a particular style by having it film long scenes and moved around so they can get the right angles. They obviously planned where the camera will go and made sure everyone and thing was in place. The use of this technique can be problematic and difficult to achieve but they succeeded as it doesn't break the illusion on the film. "In an ordinary movie, closer shots indicate more intensity, longer shots are more objective. Camera movement helps establish mood. Close-ups punch home dramatic moments. Cutaways, or “reaction shots,” make it clear who is reacting, and when." (Roger Ebert: 1984) The actors obviously took time to rehearse their lines as it's shot like a play. Notably the background changes from dusk to dark throughout the duration of the film, which creates the illusion.

(fig 2: Brandon (right) and Phillip (left) hiding the body in the old cabinet)

The main characters, Brandon and Phillip, both have different ideals and opinions after the murder of their "inferior" classmate. Brandon is the cocky, slick and arrogant type while Phillip is the reasonable, nervous and concerned type that cares deeply about his friend and the consequences of his actions, which makes him more relatable.

(Figure 3: The set with the cast)

Overall this movie shows a great deal of effort and direction, the characters are entertaining to watch and the story is done brilliantly. Alfred Hitchcock knows how to create suspense in his movies, he knows that the information is one of the key points in creating a film, if you give the audience information on characters or the plot then the audience can connect with the film and then you can focus on building the suspense. He manages to do this by showing us the murder and hiding the body before the party that way the audience can feel the tension when they are near the body.






(Figure 1: http://s13.postimg.org/6wkayaoyf/4711553402_54147ff668_b.jpg)
(Figure 2: http://criticsloft.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Rope-pic-1.jpg)
(Figure 3: http://69.89.31.131/~myfilmvi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/arop.jpg)

Roger Ebert: 1984 available from:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rope-1948

Suspiria Review (1977)

Suspiria review (1977)
 

 

(Fig 1: movie poster, Suspiria)

 

Created in 1977, Dario Argento mainly focus in his background setting designs by using such beautiful, bold and vibrant colours and unusual choice in shapes for the structure of the building. The story and actors seem to take itself too seriously but the visuals makes it questioned could this be a spoof film? The story is about a young girl who attends to a privet school where they teach ballet and throughout her journey she'll unleash the truth behind the school. it has a good idea but follows though in a cartoon fashion. 

 

(Fig 2: inside the ballet studio)

The settings and background is done gorgeously by having bright bold red smother the building itself and throughout the film bright colourful lights will hit the background or the character’s faces, which is effective as the audience gets to see their emotions or when something mysterious happens. The sound track is the high point of this film by having the iconic sound play very loudly at the beginning before the movie starts and then the film plays it again when trouble is around however the film struggles to find a point where it sounds too quiet for the audience to hear the character's talking or too loud where the iconic song is played. The death scenes that are shown may look obviously fake and therefore can ruin the realistic way the film is portraying.  

 

(Fig 3: gorgeous settings in Suspiria)

 

 

(http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1020662-suspiria/)
(Fig 1: http://doublefeatureshow.com/images/covers/suspiria.jpg)
(Fig 2: http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/hdcaptures/suspiria04.jpg)
(Fig 3: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl09TBzsTkVlfOhl8v1lvPYO2AD7J-UEmAzHMxFhcGRXmGMZgoFsqt2j_Ds3X5XF5tQHF_asM8QduSWYF519XvGV6PK3TYVQeyz_r8nVwtPJMzgJh-qxAwfeNyVHm1_vYIDVhA5L6KRhsB/s1600/Suspiria+-+10.png)

Repulsion review. (1965)

Repulsion review.

 

The story starts off in England where a beautiful women named Carol, who shares the apartment with her older sister and her husband. Carol works as a manicurist at a beauty salon where she spends most of her time daydreaming and stays silent. She ends up meeting a young man called Colin, who begins to obsess over her really quickly, which makes her feels uncomfortable. At that point Carol’s older sister and her husband leave on a trip to Italy, which means that Carol is left alone in the apartment where she now seclude herself from everyone else. She slowly becomes insane, seeing things that are not there and constantly have nightmares. Colin worries about her and barrages though the front door only to make her panic and killing the young man. She improves about what to do with the body so she tosses the corps in the bath filled with water and at that point the landlord also broke in the apartment to take his rent from Carol. Because she is young and beautiful the landlord offers her to keep the money in exchange for the use of her body. She refuses and kills him then hides his body under the sofa. She stays indoors continuously having nightmares and seeing visions until her sister and husband arrives back home from their holiday. They arrive only to see their apartment destroyed and continued to look for Carol but only to find a dead corps in the bath. The older sister panicked at the horrific sight and screamed, which caused everyone in the other apartments to arrive to see the commotion. They all witness everything and tried to call the police until she is found however the older sister found Carol under her bed passed out. The husband picks her up and takes her out of the building.

The film does brilliantly making you feel agitated and uneasy by having scenes dragged out full of suspense. The film does make you ask yourself questions like “Is the scene where she is being used for sexual purpose against her will a dream or reality?” or “Why is all of this happening in the first place?” which can draw you into the film, however it can lead to the bad points of the general movie where nothing is answered and their for the audience might be frustrated but it seems as this film answered your questions but in a subtle way by not directly telling you them. The film is also in black and white which is used effectively as the shadows are darker and it can be difficult to see the visuals and there for it drags the audience’s eyes closer to the screen by forcing you to pay attention. Some scenes are done brilliantly by having the sound quite down and it takes its time by creating suspension and questioning what is happening.  The camera angles have been used effectively though out this movie by having it pan slowly to reveal something or nothing or shown close up of their character’s face, which shows a great deal of their emotions. Lastly the film main settings is in the apartment where we see it goes though changes by having the rooms bigger or smaller, cracks appear of the walls which makes it look like her world is crumbling apart and that the arms appearing out the wall can symbolize the men that are trying to use her for their sexual purpose.

The bad points of the film is hard to analyze. Almost everything in this movie is perfect, however that been said Carol could have been interesting but instead she was dull and dreary at the very beginning. There is a tiny change between what she was like at the beginning and when she was kissed by Colin but it could have been used effectively if she had a different personality. For example: she could have been a happily, talkative, out-going young women but then after Colin’s kiss it could have brought back the nightmares of when she was young, which ultimately unlocks her deep parts of her subconscious memories. That can cause her pain and a complete change in her personality where everyone will notice and send her off to the apartment thinking she is unwell. In the movie she is the same then as she was at the beginning however if it wasn’t for the scenario or the visuals of the story no one would be able to tell what’s going on and completely agree with Colin with his reactions whatever her actions are.

 

Overall this movie gets a 9.2/10. It’s a fantastic movie, worth watching and leaves you thinking at the end. I question would the film be better if it was in colour and the more I think about it I think the answer should be NO! The black and white makes it feel darker and harder to see than every than any other horror genre movies. It deserves to be recognized as a great a suspenseful film. The story, settings are done really well and the no audio or soundtracks that’s been used throughout the scenes are used effectively. Characters could have been interesting however with all of the great points it feels as though that this issue can be ignored or it’s unnoticeable however they did make Carol look helpless by making her look like an "angel" by having shinny white (blonde) hair with white clothes which can symbolize purity and because it's a loose clothing it can show how weak and helpless she is and it makes the audience want to protect her. It’s actually worth watching and interesting to hear many other’s opinions on this movie.

Black Narcissus review (1947)

 Black Narcissus review (1947)

 

May God have mercy on your soul…

 

The story starts off with a group of Nuns that was going to change an old buildings on the edge of the cliff into a new church where they plan to teach can children what to believe in. There they meet Mr. Dean, a dashingly handsome, cocky man who knows what there is to know about this exotic location and he helps guide the nuns into understanding their ways. During that time one of the sisters was ill and becomes completely obsessed with Mr. Dean, which caused her to become jealous and insane that she discarded her vowels and tries to kill one of the sisters which ultimately was her undoing…  

 

The film is brilliantly when it comes down to original ideas and story. I haven’t seen a movie quite like this and I doubt many have either. The settings is lovely and the view is beautiful to look at. The pacing is done brilliantly, which allows uneasy tension to present itself from the audience slowly as the movie progress. The film also gains an extra points for brilliant camera techniques. Like high angle, bird’s eyes view and long shots to establish the layout of the locations.    

 

Even though that this is a great film it hurts to admit that it does suffers a few major problems. Thanks to the nuns only wearing the white robe it becomes difficult to tell which one is which, you only have their faces to see and even then it’s quite difficult to tell the nuns apart and it is important to understand the characters. There is also the problem of too much fade to black which can feel more like the scene gave up on itself, which is a shame. It feels as though that the movie is saying “Hello, here is the story… oh five minutes are up, on to something else” or that a feeling that the ending credits will pop up and you are there sitting thinking “is… is that it? Oh nope still going.” It’s a filming technique that would work effectively if it happens a few times but they use it more times than the Star Wars prequels using wipes to change locations. Also the sound is hard to hear especially when the characters yell at each other. When you listen to the film it sounds ok but then you get this sudden burst of noise from the characters that you can’t hear what they was yelling about.

 

Overall this movie gets 6.9/10. It a good movie but far from being perfect. The characters are indeed a problem. Not that there is anything wrong with them or their acting, it’s just that it can be difficult to tell the nuns apart. The soundtrack doesn’t standout for me and that there is a few sexual points that is presented on screen in a hidden message, which does help the build-up in the story as well as the change of the characters and what they have to go though. Sister Ruth is the one that under goes a transformation and you can clearly see that as she removes her pure white robes for the sexy bold red dress which can mean that she is possessed by the devil and his power of lust. The settings as I’ve mentioned before are lovely and beautiful, especially the iconic bell area. I would personally recommend something else as I doubt this film would appeal to everyone however it is worth noting that you’ll won’t find another film quite like this one and it deserves to be viewed.

 

Edward Scissorhands review

Edward Scissorhands review

A man full of child-like wonder.

The movie starts off with an elderly women telling her grand-daughter a bedtime story about when her mother found a mysterious man called Edward with scissors for hands and in pity and takes him into her house to look after him. There Edward finds new objects and discovers people that would greet him with open arms. The man with scissors for hands enjoys a barbecue with the neighbours. Talking, learning, listening until it was all over and he fell asleep on a water bed, which happened to belong to the daughter, Kim, who returns home early than the family expected and enters her bedroom where Edward was sleeping. She screamed to alarm the family that there was an intruder in the house only to be explained that it was a kind and gentle man that lived inside the dark castle nearby. The next morning Edward discovered a talent that he can cut bushes to make them look like animals and objects. Everyone was impressed and later asked him to cut the dogs fur which made the pet look fashionable, at that point one of them asked to cut their hair. He agrees and done just that which caused everyone to have one done from him too. Edward became a celebrity with everyone generating a fad of his style of haircuts. Days later and Kim and her boyfriend asks him to break into a house, there he was caught and taken to jail only to be freed and taken home. Christmas is coming and everyone was getting ready with decorations, even Edward was preparing for the holiday by cutting a giant ice block when he accentually cut Kim's hand. He jealous boyfriend got angry and continues to push and threaten Edward. As a response to control his anger he goes off on a rampage, cutting and stabbing anything in his way causing a fuss. The furious boyfriend decided to hunt down Edward only to follow him to the dark castle where the battle goes underway. Kim join them and gets smacked, which caused Edward to get even angrier that he stabbed the boyfriend and decides to hide in the castle where he will bother no one and so the story ends with Kim being an old women that was telling the story.

 

The film mainly focus on Edward discovering new things and that is what gives it is charm, it’s almost like watching a child that’s learning new things. The audience would know what to do with these things or situations because it’s what we do in our everyday lives but seeing Edward learning these new things really makes you think on how you do stuff. The film does brilliantly on talking about disability by having Edward (Looking like a grown man) undergo difficulties in the most simplest of tasks by having scissors as hands, which makes the audience feels a strong sense of pity for him. We want to help him but we can’t plus would they want us help them? Everyone has this great sense of pride so it is difficult to tell if they want us to help them or not. Like picking up a glass for them to drink, putting on clothes etc however this movie also tells us how to help them. For example: when Edward was picking up a glass he was struggling to succeed so the father gave him a straw so it was possible for Edward to drink. He gave the right amount of help not too much that it makes Edward feel like a child but not too little so you’ll have to deal with watching him suffer. The actors are amazingly talented in portraying the characters like Johnny Depp as Edward. Despite only having a few lines he has to focus on expressing his facial expressions, which can be difficult as he has to act like everything is new and not to get over excited otherwise people will get hurt.

The story, pacing and the main character are perfect to a point that it’s difficult to find any bad points without being nit-picking (Like where did Edward get the giant ice cubes when he is meant to be hiding from  everyone at the end of the movie?) There is some points that looks “fake”. For example: The cutting the hair moments, it obvious that all he is doing to fiddling with the hair while bits of fluff is spraying everywhere but that’s what gives it its charm and excitement.  The main flaw is that there is less screen time between Edward and Kim but because of that it gives off this Disney feeling that we all just have to except.

Overall this film gets a 9.2/10. A fantastic film that you cannot live without and highly recommended. It’s both whimsical yet dark, joyful yet sad, beautiful yet ugly, basically a perfect balance between light and dark. The film does brilliantly with everything it does, majestic settings, beautiful soundtrack and romantic story. This film has it all and I doubt that anyone would dislike this marvellous film.  Edward brings back what we all forgotten… the joys of life and child-like wonder.  

La belle et la bète (beauty and the beast) review

La belle et la bète (beauty and the beast) review (1946)

A tale of love brought to life.

The story starts off with Belle's (Bell) father going off on a trip only to find a mysterious castle, there stands a beast in human clothing that appears and states that the father will be killed unless if he hands over one of his daughters instead. The father travels back home telling the story to his family, which made Belle to abandon the house and travel back to the castle only to be greeted in a high-class manor. After a few days dining with the beast she begs him that she could leave and he agrees but she must come back within a week. She disappears back to her home and bonds with her family yet again only to explain that the beast is kind and gentle. The family did trust her and over heard her talking the golden key that unlocks the secret room. She returns only to find out that her human lover, Adelaide, infiltrates a secret room only to die and transformed into a beast where the original beast transformed back into a prince. Belle and the prince float away living happily ever after. 

 

It's hard to say the good and bad points about the original "beauty and the beast" without talking about Disney's "beauty and the beast". So I'll cut to the chase Disney's version is a far better adaptation, with bright colours, charming songs and voice over and the beast made more like an actual monster and not a guy in a furry costume.  

 

I enjoy the silliness, which sadly back in the day it was meant to be taken seriously, which is probably bad as the film itself didn't want to turn out that way. The visuals and settings are a delight to enjoy by having the statues move as they are played by actors and it also gives off the feeling of illusion. The lighting of the candles gives this mysterious castle the shine and style that it obviously wanted and the actors that plays as statues gives a brilliant performance by not saying any dialog but instead act like mimes where they act though body movement or shifty eyes.

The bad points is that the subtitles don't always show up on screen so it feels like you are missing important parts of the film, the main issue in the film is the beast character, he always seems to call upon a specific time yet hardly follows though them himself. For example during the film he  announced that he would kill Belle's father in 15 minutes... also he talks about dining with Belle at 7 o'clock and rarely shows up on time. Even seven days for Belle to see her family? Why not less? Why is he being specific? it actually become really noticeable and hard to avoid no matter how much the film is enjoyable.  

Overall this movie gets 6/10. Back in the day it could have been taken seriously however it's so over the top with it's acting that it probably won't show off this fear that the Beast character is meant to have. The story is all over the place and continuously tells us it's not a romantic film yet has romantic scenes. Suddenly Belle likes him and then doesn't and wants to be friends and later when the Beast is revealed to be a prince she states she'll love him in time, which isn't a problem in films but give the guy a bone here! he has tried and done so much for Belle the romance doesn't work and it's all one side despite the beast having many abilities.

Alien review

Alien review

In space no one can watch this.

The story starts off in space with a cargo vessel receiving a distress signal. The crew decided to see if they can help them out. They landed on an unknown planet, there they find a ship, inside they find a room with thousands of mysterious eggs, one of the crew members gets caught by the alien that hatched inside where it wraps around his face. The crew brought him on board trying everything they can to remove it but nothing they did succeeded. Later they find out that the hatched creature died and released the crew member's face. They decided to talk about it while happily eating around the table where suddenly an alien burst out of his stomach and escapes. One by one the crew members were hunt down and killed until a women, Ripley, decides to stop the alien by activating a self-distrust sequence on the ship. She managed to survive by hopping into an escape pod and float away only to notice that the alien was aboard on the ship. Ripley quickly comes up with a plan to get rid of the alien once and for all. She quickly straps herself onto a seat and releases the door which sucked out the alien, ending the story.

The film does brilliantly by having the story quick and simple to understand but sadly not unique however that's not what makes this film interesting. It's the characters that treats each other like family that makes this film interesting. The characters are by no means interesting on their own but as one it feels like you are watching a strong bond between them, which you can consider that its own character. Interestingly they did change the idea of women in movies by having Ripley pass the bechdel test (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test) by having Ripley able to talk to another female without talking about guys she likes and has a few decent tough scenes, even though that during the end of the film where you see Ripley in her underwear you can call it fan-service but I see it as the character is finally able to relax from what has been happened. Even IF people consider it fan-service for the men, I personally don't see it and that could because she is not to my liking.

The bad points is that the jump scares are way too predictable and done way too much almost you know what’s going to happen. For example: when the captain was climbing down the air vent you knew that the alien was going to be in the same spot he was heading and even the cat runs really fast scenes where you think it might be an alien and it turns out it’s the cat, which for some reason you can easily predict which one is which.

Overall this movie gets an 8/10. Really good and easy to understand and despite being cliché and obvious. It’s mainly about the characters and that is what makes this film brilliant, you end up caring for their survival but that’s because they show ordinary scenes together (dinner, lunch, chatting) which makes them feel more alive. The background and sound effects are amazing and joyful to watch, which made the scenes look more appealing.

2001: Space Odyssey review (1968)

2001: Space Odyssey review (1968)

Jump into Stanley Kubrick’s mind.

The story starts off four million years ago with group of apes awoke in the African desert to find a mysterious black bar in front of them, they panic and slowly adjust to its existence by touching and feeling it. Later one of the apes discovered that a bone can be used as a weapon and uses this advantage to take over lands and killing prey for food. Fast-forward into the future a group of astronauts finds the same mysterious black bar, called the monolith, buried under the moon’s surface. The spacemen decided to take a picture in front of it when the black bar sends a high pitched signal to tell them to come to Jupiter. Eighteen months later a new set of astronauts with an artificial intelligence robot named Hal 9000 under ago a mission to Jupiter. David and Frank are running the spaceship while the rest of the crew are in cryogenic hibernation. The crew had some doubts about this mission however Hal aims to continue to make this a success as he believes it is incapable of error. One by one Hal controls the ship in order to kill the crew members until it was just one left, David. The main character ends up shutting down Hal and continues the mission alone in a space pod, where he finally comes face to face with the Monolith and under goes a weirdly bright and colourful visuals where he wakes up in a pure white clean room where he continues sees his older self though different timelines of his life to a point off his death where he witness the black bar again and becomes reborn outside the Earth’s atmosphere…

The good points about this magnificent film is that the soundtrack and audio really stands out with its iconic music and unforgettable audio that mixes up perfectly with the visuals, for example if the camera would shooting outside the spaceship and pod the audio cuts out completely giving u the feeling of space not just the visuals. The original ideas and settings are entertaining to watch, even though that there is a lot of slow movements in this movie but it works really well for its tone however the film does it a bit too much that it could end up boring. The best part about this movie is that the ending just leaves you to question everything. What happened? What was the black bar? Why was it made? Who made it? Why is David now a child floating in space? What was the reason to show us David in different part of his older life? It’s like the ending of “Inception” it just leaves it to your imagination to find out for yourself.

The negative points is that the movie is slow but doesn't give out much information of the characters during that long period of time, for example: the three men that was in the cryogenic hibernation has very little screen time therefore we can’t feel upset or pain for those who was killed by Hal. This movie focus too much on its pacing than actual characters. Hal and David are the only ones we know about and therefore we would care for David’s safety or Hal’s success.

Overall this movie is an 8/10. Entertaining and worth watching even if it’s just for the music or visuals, good use of camera angles and deigns. This movie could have been improved if they took out some pointless long duration shoots, e.g. the long spaceship that flies by, at first I couldn't tell when it was going to end so I was left seeing the same shot over and over. That aside it was still an entertaining and a great film.

“Matched Kubrick's photographic eye to a story about watching, transformed him into a director of the epic, and made one giant leap in sci-fi cinema that's never been matched.”-Brian Gibson.

(http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1000085-2001_a_space_odyssey/?search=2001)

“Only a few films are transcendent, and work upon our minds and imaginations like music or prayer or a vast belittling landscape. Most movies are about characters with a goal in mind, who obtain it after difficulties either comic or dramatic. “2001: A Space Odyssey'' is not about a goal but about a quest, a need.”-Roger Ebert

(http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968)

“Kubrick also presents the viewer with a lot of food for thought about what it means to be human, and where the human race is going. Yes, the ending is weird and hard to comprehend - but that's the nature of the future. Kubrick and Clarke have started the task of envisioning it, now it's up to the audience to continue.”-Simon Booth

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/reviews)

King Kong review (1933)

King Kong Review (1933)

A story about King Kong, The eighth wonder of the world.

This well-known story starts off with a filming crew setting sail to shoot a movie. The crew managed to find a mysterious island that contains a tribe that worships this giant gorilla “King Kong”. They took a hold of a female, Ann, which was on board with the crew and used her as a sacrifice for the almighty Kong. The King shows up and takes her away. At that point the crew sets off to find Ann and comes across many untold creatures that should have been long gone. The heroic crew member, John, finds the captive girl and saves her from the monstrous beast. The director was hyped about the opportunity that was in the palm off his hands and couldn’t help but capture and show off King Kong to the rest of the world so he could be rich and famous. During the show the photographers was using too much flash on their cameras, which naturally caused King Kong to go berserk and wreak havoc around the city to try and find his beloved. The battle was underway and planes and fire trucks was on the track to find and bring down King Kong. They succeeded with the final words “It wasn’t the planes that killed him. Tis beauty that killed the beast”.

The movie and the way it showed its visuals was very interesting and unique. They used stop-motion for all of the monster scenes and they combined it with the actors on the set by over lapping them by having the monsters in the background, despite how cheesy and tacky it looks today, I will give them credit that they doing something that looks impossible and they obviously show a great deal of determination and care for this movie. The music is this movie’s high point not only having the tone of the music match what was presented on the screen but also timing too, for example: when the chief of the tribe walks slowly down stairs to meet the film crew you can hear the drum beat timed perfectly with each step making him more fearful and it works as people in the tribe fears him and steps aside for him.

 

The only bad points is mainly the romance scenes in the movie, John just pops out of the blue saying to Ann that he loves her for some reason, which is a little rushed even by movie standards, which is chuckle worthy. However without that awkward love moment we wouldn’t have the motivation to rescue her. Another failed point of this movie is Ann herself, she doesn’t have her own identity and mainly exist to be saved or a reward for the hero. Other than being attractive and blonde she doesn’t have any appealing character traits however given the time it’s understandable why however the screaming is unbearable.

In this movie there is a lot of racism stereotypes and sexism remarks, which is interesting seeing how much that not only movies has evolved but humanity did too. The sexism remarks is  interesting since they have a lot of “women can’t do anything because they are women” moments, looking into it and considering it “normal” for those times It's almost similar to the “Batman can do anything because he is Batman” meme today; sooner or later we all will grow out it and look back only to see how silly and arrogant it was.  Women can do anything just as much as a men and Batman can’t do everything just because he's Batman.

 

Overall this movie is a 7/10. There is a lot of problems that could have been fixed however the effort of making the movie was clearly on the screen and It’s nice to have sound despite how muffled it was. This movie suffers the same problem as “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” it takes itself too seriously that it seems cheesy for our point of view however this movie is a great deal of fun despite it was meant to be a horror film.

Which King Kong is better the 1933 or 2005? Nostalgia critic's review- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DMDrczrSLc)

 

"It's unrivaled in its sheer cinematic quality, and one of a kind."-Felix Vasquez Jr (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1011615-king_kong/)

 

"First, the 1933 version of KING KONG, is for me, the greatest fantasy film ever made. Sure, there are fantasy films with far better special effects (THE MATRIX, JURASSIC PARK) better acting (the acting here is of the period!) but KING KONG is a film of tremendous excitement". - Glenn Andreiev.  (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024216/reviews)

 

 

Metropolis review

Metropolis review (1927)

A fiction world brought to life!

This is undoubtedly an interesting movie with a clear understanding of the three act structure, character tropes and gorgeous soundtrack that plays through the beginning to the end.

The story starts off in a futuristic utopian city where a set of people was divvied into two different class. The wealthy city planners who works above the surface of their city and the working class are the people who do manual labor underground to power up the city. One of those wealthy class Freder spots a beautiful women with a group of children. She ended up disappearing where the young man tries to find her only to discover the realistic horror of the underground life which causes the city above to functioning. He went to plead with his father, the creator of the city, to let them go however he refused. As a response he took over one of the worker's life and continued to experience the hardship and learns of Maria, the beautiful women he saw before, and ends up joining them for their quest for freedom. During the meantime the creator of the utopian city visits an old friend the inventor who created a robot which he plans bring the creator's wife back from the dead. The creator had a different idea, he asked to capture Maria and use her as a tool for the robot and cause her to sin so that her encouraging words would be discarded. The inventor agrees and does just that. After a while of ordering Maria-robot to sin the lower class becomes angry and that an attack to the city above is the only way to solve it, only to realise that they forgot their children and the city below starts to flood. Freder saves Maria and together end up bringing the children up to safety and putting a stop to the inventor's plans. The father saw the horrific battle and understands that what he done wrong and aims to correct that.

The story clearly escalate from a lovely romance story into end of the world movie. This movie obviously wants to be recognised to look visually appealing and unforgettable by taking the next leap forward from the other previous films by having unique design and style of the buildings. A great deal of care and love went into making this film and you can obviously tell that by watching the actors try to do their best to portray emotions and body movements into their characters however at some points it's almost too funny and that you can't take this movie too seriously in which they wanted you to.

Maria is probably the worst point in this movie as she just turns everything from all seriousness to goofy and cheesy in a mater of seconds however with that being said she isn't completely bad as during the ending where the Maria-robot is taking over the city's surface she does her best to separate the two different characters so it's easier for the audience to figure out which one is which by looking at her body language and facial expressions but sadly goofy is still goofy no matter how much they try to sugar-coat it.

 

Overall this movie gets a 7.6/10. It was very well paced compare to the "Das cabinet des Dr Caligari" movie and we do get to see the main protagonist undergoes few obstacles and changes that makes him an identifiable character. This movie was clever to show every character's point of view and ideals so the audience can understand why they are doing what they are doing. Sadly the iconic robot was only seen around eight minutes and the movie could of been a little more interesting if the robot had more scenes resulting in an ending between the robot and a Freder. The soundtrack, visuals and story are all fun and enjoyable to experience and highly recommended even if you are not the general target audience.

"Devoted film- and music-lovers alike will enjoy the latest reconstruction (images and sound) of Fritz Lang's truly marvelous tale of mediation over violence." - S. James Wegg
(http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013775-metropolis/)

"The newly restored footage enhances sci-fi's first masterpiece, making this essential viewing for any movie lover." - Kim Newman
(http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=136955)

“Metropolis” does what many great films do, creating a time, place and characters so striking that they become part of our arsenal of images for imagining the world. The ideas of “Metropolis” have been so often absorbed into popular culture that its horrific future city is almost a given" - Roger Ebert
(http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-metropolis-1927)