Touch of Evil

The movie Touch of Evil was about corruption in the Mexican safety and protection department. Mike and Susan Vargas had just gotten married and were in Mexico when they witnessed a murder. Vargas offers to over see the investigation while his wife gets transported to a hotel a while a way. In the end there is a murder that one of the police men try to from Vargases wife for and Vargas gets the cop to admit it on tape.

This movie was slightly hard for me to follow and i did not enjoy it as much as the other Film Noir movies we watched. I don't think each character was developed enough for me to be able to tell them apart once they were all together. The scenes were somewhat chaotic for me to distinguish. However, the final scene with Vargas. and Quinlan did pull the whole movie together. The intense dialogue pulled the theme of the entire movie together.

The use of low camera angles accented Orson Wells. Showing him at this angle made him look bigger then life and in this movie he played a character that pretty much could not be touched. No matter what he did, how corrupt nothing would effect him. In addition this most of the movie was filmed rather dark The most important scenes were filmed at night, and the most important characters often had shadows cast on their faces. At first i found this really annoying however i realized it only enhanced the feel of the movie. The background of the whole movie was dark , police corruption is not an easy or light topic, and keeping the feel of the movie dark played on my emotions and i think it was a good choice and a successful decision

The major difference i noticed while watching Monsoon Wedding in comparison to Casablanca was the language. Obviously there were subtitles but what i noticed is that sometimes they were not needed. Sometimes the subtitles were up while the characters were speaking english. Also, sometimes the character would start off a sentence speaking in indian and end it in English. I feel as if this was slightly sloppy, and i cannot say the same of Casablanca. Casablanca was very clean and precise. The actors costumes were clean, pressed and perfect, their hair was perfectly in place. The set was pristine and obvious that there was thought into it. Another thing i noticed about Monsoon wedding that was not the case for Casablanca were the camera angles. In Monsoon wedding, sometimes the camera views were awkward and cut off faces or parts of bodies or were off center

Monsoon wedding was a movie about a girl who had a wedding arranged for her by her father however she was still involved with her ex boyfriend. Eventually she meets her new husband to be and seems to be falling for him but wants to be honest with him so decides to tell him about her ex. He is angry at first but finally takes her back and they get married. Meanwhile the wedding planner and the servant end up falling in love and getting married too.

I liked the usage of traditional Indian color in this movie. I also liked that although it was a completely different different culture with different morals, values, expectations, and social norms however i could still relate to the character and her feelings for her ex. In addition to the feelings she had for her ex, the one relative snuck around with the one guy relative too. That is also something that remains constant in all cultures and makes it easy for viewers to understand.

Daughters of the dust was a movie about a family in Africa who wanted to move north.

I could not say that i enjoyed this movie. I thought the narrative was somewhat confusing along with the timing of everything. I could not tell how long the family was on the island, it seemed as if it had been a long time however they were wearing the same clothes the whole movie so it also seemed to me like it could have been a shorter amount of time. I didnt think the dialogue was clear enough for me to understand who was saying what to who.

Casablanca was a movie about a man named Rick who owned a cafe in Europe at first it seems to be about world war II and the nazi's trying to contain a freedom fighter, however there was a deeper story to it. Victor goes to Ricks cafe with his wife who happens to be Ricks first love. At first he is very bitter towards lisa however after much explanation she explains what really happened back in Paris. Rick forgives her and they plan to run off together but in the end he goes through with this whole plan that sends llsa and victor off with the letters of transit.

This movie was enjoyable to watch because it was entertaining and as soon as I found out llsa and Rick had history I was rooting for them to work it out when they finally did I was happy and it seemed like it was going to end perfectly. However when Rick goes through with his own plan i was disappointed at first however you realize it was the nobel thing to do and that it took alot of love in his heart for llsa and he wanted her to be happy. Although Rick as a character wasnt the most warm person it was still easy for me to easily like him as well.

Bonnie and Clyde was an entertaining movie about a man who picks up a woman and they lead a life of robbing banks. His brother and sister in law, and a random mechanic join them on the way. They move across the nation together stealing money from banks and cars from people. At the end they find refuge in CW Moss's fathers house, where his father is upset at him for bringing these criminals to his home. The father has a meeting with the sheriff and plans the murder of Bonnie and Clyde ending the movie.

This movie was entertaining and fun despite the heavy content. I found it almost comical how much they didn't really seem to know what they were doing but always got away with the bank robberies. The dynamics between the characters were funny and easy for me to relate to. Just about everyone has that one person they cant stand, the one thats just there, and the one you love.

The Godfather

In the Godfather, the opening scene starts at his daughters wedding. The Godfather is approached with a favor by Jonny who ask's for aid of his drug trafficing from the Don's connections. This offer was ignored and in turn the Don is shot and barely recovers. Eventually the Don's son Michael is the one who has to take over the family business. He prepares for this position and once he does he is the head of the family and the new Don who gets revenge on all the people who killed his family.

In the last clip you see all the murder clips being flashed. You see Al Pachino in the church, stepping into the role of family man and protector, then you see all these murder scenes and that was him stepping into the dichotomy of on the one hand who he wanted to be and on the other hand who he becomes. There is a contrast being displayed through the display of the two different clips showing the two sides of this man showing him murdering his rivals ruthlessly.There is nothing noble about the angles choosen to show this man murdering these people. It is just barbaric. The constant dark lighting on the whole film is a reflection of the dark path that he has chosen. The straight on shots of the camera shows the straight on selfishness given free reign. The murders in daylight shows the honestness of his brutality.