Elf

I remember one time when I was younger, my family was talking about who our favorite actors were and I immediately said Will Ferrell. I did get laughed at unfortunately, but in my defense I was like 8 years old and Elf was the funniest movie ever. It didn't matter how many times my sisters and I would watch it, I'd laugh at all the same jokes. Even to this day I kind of want to try syrup on spaghetti because I feel like Buddy was onto something with that.

Will Ferrell nailed the acting for this movie. I think he relied more on method acting (Stanislavski Method) by using a more improvisational approach and being natural throughout the film. There are goofy scenes that are so far out there, Ferrell had to look internally and try to convey a message that the words itself couldn't tell. He had some funny lines, but I think his actions and honing in on the character is what makes this movie fun to watch even today.

Elf is one of those movies where you love it until you hate it. I'm glad that I only watch Elf around Christmas time, or I'd be sick of it by now. It was released in 2003, so I've been watching this movie since I was 2. I'll sometimes see things on social media about people dressing up as Buddy and doing some of his signature moves (like the splits up the escalator or hoping through the crosswalk) and it makes me giggle every time.

Jaws

I watched Jaws for the first time over the summer at the McHenry Drive-In Theatre. I realized then that the film was one of the best of all time. Spielberg’s usage of the animatronics, John Williams’ score, and the camera angles helped make this the first blockbuster. 

Bruce, the mechanical shark, brought a real sense of terror. However, the frequent malfunctions prompted Spielberg to rely more on suspense-building techniques than constant shark appearances, which helped add to the overall terror of the movie in my opinion. 

John Williams' iconic score is just as famous as the movie. The “duh-duh” looping theme is synonymous with impending danger, enhancing the suspense. Williams' contribution to the film's overall tension is undeniable. The score helped me feel uneasy every time I heard it play, and I still play it in my head whenever I’m swimming out on a lake.

Camera angles are crucial in showing the terror lurking beneath the ocean's surface. Spielberg's use of the underwater point of vie heightens the suspense and fear. The low-angle shots amplify the sense of vulnerability, allowing the audience to feel the looming threat. I would always picture myself as the shark during these shots, and it had an added effect on the movie.

Even though I hadn’t seen “Jaws" until this summer, I realized the fear of the unknown lurking beneath the water will ALWAYS be scary.

Moonlight Review

After watching Moonlight again for this class, I had a few key takeaways that helped to my overall understanding and appreciation of the film. I think Chiron's identity is ultimately shaped by those around him. When he was younger, he had the nickname of "Little" which imply that he's small, weak, and unimportant. Juan tries to get through to Chiron by helping him out, and Juan wants Chiron to stick up for himself and create his own identity. Chiron is able to eventually understand who he is and become comfortable with his own identity, and that's where we see his nickname switch to "Black". I think his encounter with Kevin helped open his eyes for this moment. 

The colors of blue and black that are seen throughout the movie represent sadness and gloominess. I think the black could be seen with race, and Chiron's nickname is "Black". I think black could represent firmness and strength, and we saw Chiron's strength to keep going through the trauma and bullying while growing up but not refusing to back down. 

I think the chaptered structure of the film supports Chiron's journey as a character. The chapter layout helped to show the key moments from his life while still being able to show everything that happened. We got to see the full transformation of his character. I think if it was done differently, the audience would be missing out on certain aspects of his life. On the other hand, since it was mainly the key moments of his life, part of me wished I could know more about what was happening to Chiron throughout his whole life. 

Swiss Army Man

Swiss Army Man was talked about highly when it first came out. Some people loved it upon release, but our in-class viewing was my first experience watching the film. I admit, part of this is my fault because I don’t watch a ton of movies. However, I just couldn’t stop picturing Manny as Harry Potter. That’s not to take away great lead performances from both Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano, it was just funny to picture the wizard fighting a bear in the forest with a campfire and farts. 

The humor in the film was funny, until it wasn’t. I laughed at the first instance or so of every joke, but I didn’t have to see the camera cut back to Manny’s “compass” again and again. The film bounced from a psychological drama to a buddy co
medy and back to a serious tone in a matter of minutes, and the whiplash effect made me dislike the film at times.

As a class after the movie concluded, we talked about if the film was a dream. I think the majority of the events on-screen are in Hank’s head, mostly because when we see that he wasn’t that far away from civilization to begin with. With that being said, there were themes throughout the movie that helped tie together all the crazy events happening. I didn't love the ending, but since the movie was all over the place, I'm not sure how else you'd end it. 

Short Film

When the short film project was announced, I was in the process of going through multiple job interviews a week, trying to figure out my post-grad plans. It was a bit stressful, but I brought my internal feelings to class with the idea of someone preparing for a job interview as the basis of our group’s story.

I’m glad we were a bit different in our approach by not doing a horror/murder/mystery film, especially with the added risk of Sam’s idea of trying to make the entire film in one shot. His other idea of having no script seemed dumb at first but after a few takes, I knew it was the right idea. He seriously looked and sounded at times while talking to himself on the walk nearly identical to how I was looking and feeling during my job interviews. 

The biggest realization I had from the project was the added preparation needed for every aspect of filming, especially from Robbie while filming. We had to make sure he wouldn’t trip, get the necessary shots in-frame, and also move around enough so it didn’t feel like a monotonous shot. Before we started filming, I looked back over chapter 5 in Moving Pictures because I wanted to make sure our cinematography was good enough to keep people intrigued throughout the short film. From making sure the lighting worked out, to using different angles despite it being one shot, we tried to bring it all together to create a fun film.

I don’t know if I’ll help contribute to another movie outside of this class, but watching a short film go from an idea in my head caused by stress to a seamless three-minute video was a cool experience.

Thanksgiving Films

I’m currently writing this in a food coma after my third plate, but that’s how you properly celebrate Thanksgiving. My family doesn’t watch a lot of football, but we were scrolling through the TV trying to find a movie to help us relax and digest our turkey. All of the Hallmark-esque channels were playing Christmas-themed movies, and I’m not going to complain. I love the comedies, the dramas, and pretty much everything in-between when it comes to Christmas movies.

However, for as much as my family and I love Christmas, we also love Thanksgiving. We were trying to find a timely movie to celebrate the appropriate holiday, but there were no Thanksgiving-themed movies on. Then again, there aren’t that many movies that revolve around the holiday. Some may take place during the season or reference a Thanksgiving meal, but not in the same way that Christmas movies are produced. 

Outside of Fantastic Mr. Fox or A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, the closest option my family would watch would be Free Birds, just because my cousins would want to watch cartoons. Yes, there is a pilgrim-themed horror movie out right now, but that’s not my style at all. I know the options are limited and I know it’s because Thanksgiving has always been overlooked (department stores will have their trees out in October if they can get away with it), but I just wish more people in Hollywood took time to appreciate an important holiday in American history.

Inside Out 2

I just recently saw the teaser trailer for Inside Out 2, and I can’t wait for this sequel to be released. I always forget how much I love the original because it tells such a unique but relatable story. The personification of different emotions in a young girl’s head made me cry throughout the story (not a surprise at all), but it also made me laugh out loud. The writing was perfect and I instantly connected with Riley.

I feel like this movie is a great example of the narrative structure that was discussed in chapter 4 of Moving Pictures because you have your protagonist (which I think is Riley because the audience is rooting for her, but between the emotions I think Joy was the protagonist because she was trying to make the most out of a bad situation) and then you have a bunch of obstacles (the other emotions making things worse, the core memories getting messed up, etc). Throughout the entire movie, I loved seeing the obstacles because the protagonist was able to figure her way through them.

Now, the teaser trailer shows the audience that Riley is about to go through puberty. I immediately thought back to all of the new emotions I had to experience during puberty, and how hard it was to adjust to life with my new feelings. Anxiety was the only one that was introduced in the trailer, but I can't relate to this as much. Luckily I never really experienced anxiety growing up, but hopefully some of the other emotions are more relatable for me or maybe we'll be able to see the different mood swings (I'd like to say my mood swings went away after puberty but unfortunately I still have like 100 a day).

At the end, the title card flips through various emotions, old and new, and has a question mark next to each of them. I think the question mark is anxiety’s fault, as she’ll be second-guessing everything. I think Disney will be able to tell a funny story of not being able to understand these new emotions during puberty and not knowing how control them. With that being said, I don't think young kids should be exposed to the idea of anxiety and other emotions like that too early because it might confuse them before they should worry about it. Either way, I'm excited to go watch it, and now I want to rewatch the first movie!