Pan's Labyrinth

For my journal 3 assignment, I knew that I either had to watch a film that was foreign or made before 1960. So I chose to watch Pan's Labyrinth, created by writer and director Guillermo Del Toro. I loved this movie. It was much better than I expected and I'm very happy that I watched such an impressive film.
The number one thing that stuck out to me while watching Pan's Labyrinth was the beautiful cinematography, which the film won an academy award for. I could not stop thinking about the excellent effects and undeniably amazing camera shots. The lead cinematographer was Guillermo Navarro. Navarro won 9 out of 11 nominations for this film, including an Oscar. According to Cameraguild.com, Navarro began taking still pictures as a hobby during his teen years and later got a job as a still photographer on movie sets and then moved on to make his own documentaries and discover his cinematographic talent. Pan's Labyrinth showed his true gift for the art of film making, but he also worked on movies like Stuart Little, Hellboy, and Night at the Museum.
In an interview I found on moviemaker.com, Navarro was asked how the different environments and looks were created, and Navarro responded saying, "It was a total collaboration. We had wonderful costumes by Lala Huete and settings created by production designer Eugenio Cabellero. There is a strong influence of Goya's paintings in our use of light and darkness-there are dark interior scenes with single sources of light modeling faces. As the story progressed, we created bridges between the worlds of fantasy and reality. The different colors and camera movement in the real and fantasy worlds begin to blend."

Another thing that I loved about Pan's Labyrinth was the soundtrack. With original music by Javier Navarrete, I felt like I was being led through this fairy tale like film by the beautiful sounds. From lullabies to frantic and heart-pumping scores, you couldn't help but notice. During certain scenes where the main character, Ofelia, is discovering an entire underworld below the home that she has been forced to come to due to her mothers new husband, we are given a beautiful violin accompanied by a smooth piano and a voice of Ofelia reading us the story's from the book she has been given by the imaginative creatures that dwell within the labyrinth. Without the music leading us through the seemingly untouched forests and dark questionable temples, I don't think the film would have been such a hit.

I am so happy that I chose this film to watch, I had no idea that this film had so much beauty to it and could keep me so glued to the screen. I wasn't even botherd by the subtitles or the parts of the movie about war (which I don't normally like). It was a imaginative piece of art and I wish more film crews would put as much work into their films as the makers of Pan's Labyrinth obviously did.

Stagecoach!

I don't think old western's are my thing. Stagecoach was everything a western should be, but for me it still wasn't enough. Like all westerns it was predictable, which isn't something that usually bothers me, but a little spicing up wouldn't have hurt. I found the characters and acting annoying. many of them only having one side to them. I didn't catch much character development and I didn't feel like we really got to know any of them. It would begin to have a emotional attatchment, but then a dumb line from Curly or a horse chase would interrupt. I mean don't get me wrong, the big chase seen was probably the best part of the movie, but I guess I'm just not for all of the fluff that surrounded all of the good parts.
Overall I'd give it a C+. Not unbearable, but one viewing is definitely enough.

Citizen Kane!

I had mixed feelings about Citizen Kane. I really liked the cinematography portion of the film, and I thought that Orson Welles did a good job of coming up with ways to make shots and camera movements work. But the whole plot wasn't really for me. I thought that the "Rosebud" mystery was pretty exciting, but politics and opera don't exactly whip me into a frenzy. The acting from Kane was excellent and I loved the passion that he brought to the screen, but there were a few moments when I didn't view Susan as genuine. Overall it was alright. Again, the cinematography was interesting to watch, but with a different story, I think it could have been much better.
But I should also add that I missed a day, and watching it all split up probably didn't work to the movies advantage/potential.

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released on June 11, 1982. The film won many awards, including 4 Oscars, and I can see exactly why.
The enchanting and loving story about a boy befriending an alien is truely one that warms the heart. It begins with the mysterious landing of a UFO visiting earth, which all of the sudden becomes disturbed by a human encounter. All of the aliens are forced to get back on the spacecraft and travel back to their home planet, but they forget something. One of their own. Not knowing what to do, the alien finds his way into a ball shed of a random backyard, but the backyard he wanders into doesn't turn out to be quite so random. It is the home of Elliot Thomas. Elliot is a pretty normal boy growing up with the battles of a single mother and two siblings, but the discovery of the alien, that he eventually names E.T., turns his world upside down.

The performances of all characters (including E.T.) are great. Even though Henry Thomas, who plays Elliot, is so young, he carried the entire film. His ability to pull off the curiosity of a young boy, but also the maturity of an adult was impressive. I read somewhere that Henry Thomas used the day his dog died to help him express sadness during the audition for the part, which in turn made Steven Spielberg himself cry, resulting in Spielberg to hire him on the spot.
The movie called for a somewhat psychological and very physical connection between the character of Elliot and E.T., meaning that Elliot had to act and react the same as an alien. This sounds like a difficult task but Henry Thomas makes you forget that he is even acting. It seems almost real and gives a very humorous flavor to the film. The film also includes another young actor which many would not recognize, but almost all have heard of. Drew Barrymore plays the role of Gerty, Elliot's younger sister. She also gives an enchanting performance that really makes you feel attached to the family and gives you the hope for a happy ending.

Not only did E.T. The Extra Terrestrial have a great plot and great actors, the cinematography was a delight as well. Now that I have taken the basics about Art Of Film, I found myself really noticing the aspects of good filmmaking. Steven Spielberg uses many different types of camera angles, Extreme long shots showing the cityscape, medium long shots showing distance between characters, and close-ups to focus on the emotions of the characters. There was one part that I keep thinking of that I thought showed a lot of artistic cinematography. It was when Elliot finally sees E.T. for the first time and his scream is stretched out between 4 or 5 of the same shot from different angles at a very quick pace. I thought this made it really interesting and gave you a little bit of a rush and alertness since the shots were coming at you so quickly with a scream to back it up.

Well, I obviously have a strong love for this movie and I would recommend it to anyone because it can really connect with everyone on some sort of level. Thanks!

My Interest in film began in middle school. My friends and I loved watching and going to movies all the time. I remember being the first in line to see Mean Girls at 4:00 the day it came out to see it at the theater (it was a school day so the midnight showing wasn't a possibility). But not only did my friends and I love watching movies, we also loved making movies. We made dozens of videos of fake commercials, fake news broadcasts, and fake T.V. shows. We used my friends huge video camera that recorded directly onto a tape and you had to support the entire thing with your shoulder. It was so fun! We liked to give everything our own twist, often mocking the real commercials and shows that were on T.V. at the time. One being an episode of MTV cribs that took place in a linen closet. I can't wait to make the movie at the end of the semester and see how my film making skills have changed!