Unforgiven

So this is the first western movie iv'e ever watched and i can honestly say i'm pretty impressed. What i was most impressed with was todays part of the movie when we saw actual gunfights. This movie sticks to reality instead of adding in hollywood fluff to appease viewers. Seeing the Schofield Kid's reaction to killing one of the cowboys was surprisingly touching, you don't expect to see a sensitive side of this character because he supposedly killed 5 guys. This is when the reality sets in, that killing a man has an affect on you, one that you cannot explain until you do it yourself. Unforgiven shows us that killing a man is a traumatizing experience and that the west wasn't all fun and games back then The harsh exterior of the kid is taken off when he breaks down after killing the cowboy, and i have a feeling he won't be doing anymore killing in the rest of the movie.

Movie Cover, id say its pretty symbolic of what the movie is all about

The Seventh Seal

Honestly, it is had for me to fully immerse myself in this movie. The whole being in another language thing puts us watchers at a disadvantage. I feel like i am so concentrated on looking at subtitles that you miss a lot of visual elements of the film such as the actors facial expressions and the "Mise-en-scène". Another thing that is hard to concentrate on is the tone of voice that is used when saying lines. Tone of voice can tell us so much about a statement: is it a serious statement? is it sarcastic? is it harsh? 


Although there are some unfortunate things that get in the way of fully enjoying this film, the story line is truly amazing. The scenes are so simplistic but say so much as in when the man on the horse asked the dead guy for directions or when the main character first meets death. And the idea of playing chess with death is quite bizarre but that makes it all the more interesting.


I have faith in Mr. Bennett that this movie will gain speed and become more and more interesting as time goes on but for now i'm just sitting back and trying my best to balance watching the subtitles and the scenes.

Lets start a quote debate

everybody is going to have a different opinion on what is the most important quote in Runaway Train. So lets talk about in right here, thats what these things are for right? 


okay my favorite quote is hands down...


Sara: You're an animal! 
Manny: No, worse! Human. Human! 


it shows so much about how manny views human nature and how we are a disgusting race in his eyes. He seems to have lost all hope in humanity and truly believes that we are the scum of the earth. Its a pretty moving statement in my opinion.


okay guys so whats your favorite?

Runaway Train

I honestly think i found a movie to add to my lists of favorites. And i'm not just saying that to win some brownie points, i really do believe that its a great film. The plot left me on the edge of my seat literally (since seeing the bottom of the screen is difficult for a midget like myself) and figuratively. One aspect of the movie i want to expand on is how complex of a character manny is. This convict is more than a savage, as some perceive him, he is very smart and powerful in his own ways. The things he says i always very deep and thought provoking, he makes very intense statements about humanity such as that we are all scum and that we are all alone. Putting a character as strong as manny in a movie is risky, but id say it payed off. You may be questioning how good of a person manny is right before the end of the movie, wondering whether or not he will stop the train and save the others or not stop it and kill everyone. But with quick thinking, he not only saved buck and sara, he also freed himself of any struggles and gave ranken what he truly deserved. The final minutes of the film show just how complex of a character manny is and it leaves us with the message that criminals are not all savages, and all people don't act as human beings.

Just some analysis

When you watch a movie, for the first time, you really are looking at it just at the surface, or at least that is how i feel. I try to absorb myself in the plot, and in this case, the mystery, instead of really wondering why every detail is put in a film. I tried to break this habit while watching Citizen Kane. The first thing I noticed was the No Trespassing sign we see in the first scene. This sign on the chain link fence is the first image we get in this film. It gives you an immediate feeling of alienation and loneliness. The entire first scene, where the camera is panning up over the cain link fence and giving us a glimpse at the deserted xanadu gives us a good idea that this film will end in tragedy or some kind of morbid event. 
So much can be absorbed about this film just from the first scene which has no dialouge. Although there is no dialogue, Welles gives us so much information and really sets the tone for the movie just from camera angles and lighting.


Another thing ive learned in this class is how little the picture quality matters. This movie is not in color and it is most definitely not in high definition or 3D or imax or anything similar to that. But as soon as you immerse yourself in a film, you forget about picture quality and really concentrate on content. Movies these days always have a gimmick, whether it be Avatar with its remarkable special effects or every movie coming out in 3d. These movies lack content, they concentrate less on the story and more on how cool they can make some guy getting his head chopped off by an alien helicopter. In my opinion, content is exponentially more important than effects.

Citizen Kane

The movie is growing on me as we get more and more into it. The main theme that i see in this movie is the loss of innocence due to power. As Mr. Kane becomes more and more powerful, he becomes less interested in the well being of others, as seen by his refusal to step down from running for governor. He is willing to tarnish the name of his wife and his family and his new found "love" just to win the election. Power is affecting Mr. Kane negatively, and is alienating him from all of those who have supported him in his life. It is going to be interesting to see how all of this relates back to the big mystery of why his dying words are rosebud.

Comical Dehuminization

In my opinnion, one of the more important parts of the movie that we have observed and analyzed was the scene where the men go visit the french women. The women were practically selling themselves for a few loaves of bread. This, for lack of a better term, protitution shows us how desperate people were during the war for food. This scene was very comedic on the surface but it also has a hidden deeper meaning. This scene does give us a break from the morbid trench and battle scenes by adding some comic relief along with showing some examples of dehiminzation.