Movie review: Unforgiven

I believe that the most important scene, is when Will and the kid are sitting under the tree waiting for their money. Will and the kid are talking about killing a person. Throughout the scene Will starts to change back to his original self. first, the kid takes a drink from the kids bottle. When Will finds out that Ned is dead, he completes the transition. He turns back into his mean self again. He ends up going into the saloon, and killing all of those people. He turned back to what he most drastically didn't want to turn back into.
During this movie, they use camera angles alot. The most common angle they use is a high shot, to look down on the characters. The characters are usually in a very bad situation, and the camera angle enhances it. He uses the low angles at the same time, to make Eastwood and his gang look even bigger.
I think that the biggest theme in this movie, is what is right, and what is wrong. The sheriff, Little Bill, tried to protect his town, but he beats the law breakers. What he's trying to do is right, but how he's doing it is wrong. Another example is in Will. Will wants to get money to help his kids grow up better, but in order to do that, he has to get more money. And to do that, he has to kill two people. Again, what he is trying to do is right, but how he's trying to do it wrong.
I'm going to compare this movie to Stage Coach. SC is a slower movie, it has alot of characters nad has alot of loopholes in the plot (ex, why the banker was arrested). Unforgiven, only has a couple of main characters, it goes alot faster, and has alot more action scenes than in Stage Coach. Since there is less characters in Stage Coach, you get to know the characters more indepth. This makes you relate to them more. Since i'm a huge action person, I love the excess of action scenes in Unforgiven compared to SC.
When i watched StageCoach, i was turned off by westerns, but Unforgiven has given me a new outlook on the movie. I more willing to watch westerns now.

Behind thee scenes: Seven Samurai

All the sets in Seven Samurai were from previous villages, or were build from scratch. By using good camera angles, and transitions, the photographers were able to make the scenes look like they are connected together. An example of this, is when one of the samurai set off a false alarm. The other samurai run from left to right. How they shot it, it seemed like it was all done in one take. During the scenes that the samurai were helplessly outnumbered, it was night. Due to this dark lighting, it seemed alot more gloomy for the farmer's/the samurai. The photographers also showed the opposite of this. When the samurai actually had a chance, the lighting was alot brighter, and seemed more hopeful. The screenplay was made by Akira Kurosawa, and Shinobu Hashimoto. I think they did a great job with the screenplay. It had alot of theatrical elements to it. Even though it was a great screenplay, i think that the best job was done with music.

The music to Seven Samurai was all an origional soundtrack. The composer of the music is Fumio Hayasaka. When he wanted to make the music lighter, he used strings and a little brass. When Hayasaka wanted the music to seem alot more dark, he used brass. This made it seem more tense, and you get drawn into it more. The entire movie is basically around one theme. They just use different instruments during those scenes to create different affects. By using only one theme, the audience didnt focus on the music as much, but still used the music to get the feeling of the scene.

StageCoach

I think that the most important scene in stagecoach, was near the end, when The Kid fought the plumber boys. It showed the most insight into the characters. The sheriff realized that he was actually a good person, and let him go even though he knew he was going to fight the plumber boys. Then he let him go again, in front of the ladies house. The Kid had a chance ti run away after he killed the PB, but he decided to keep his promise. I think that this really shows that, even though he's an outlaw, he cares about what is right and what isn't.

When the Kid was fighting with the Plumber Boys, the lighting is dark, to make the scene seem gloomier. Also, they used a wide lens to make The Kid seem bigger than the PB. This effect is alot like the one used in 7 samurai. They use dark lighting to make the scene seem alot more helpless. Also, in Seven Samurai, they have the samurai standing over the farmers and the bandits, to make them seem alot more powerful and all knowing.

Overall i don't like westerns. They are sexist predictable and the action sucks. I'll stick to my kung-fu action movies.

Citizen Kane

Music and sound can be used to control feeling during a scene. If the makers wanted the scene to sound happy, they make the song upbeat. It the wanted to make the scene feel sad, they play it slow, kind of like a durge. I am going to use two examples of how this is used in Citizen Kane. When Kane bought out the editors of the newspaper, they played "Kane's march" happy and upbeat with a marching band, with show girls. When Kane lost the election. They played that sound slower and more depressing and quieter. Sound can be important also. To make Kane seem stronger, they made his have a booming voice on top of everyone else. If he needed to seem weak, they make him sound quiet and sheepish.

Movie Critic: Meals on Wheels

If you just that this is another one of Jackie Chan's movies, you'd be wrong. Compared to "Heart of Dragon", 1985, this movie is off the charts.
The opening camera angles give the movie alot of flavor; but it seems to loose that until the ending of the movie. Thomas (Jackie Chan) and his friend David (Yuen Biao) live together. They run a restaurant from their car; thus the title, meals on wheels. David's father is in a mental institution. While visiting them, they run into a gorgeuos woman, whos mother is dating David's dad. They later find out, unfortinately for them, that she is a thief. When some men try to attack her, they are forced to try to hide her in their car. On a side story in the movie, Hung (Sammo Hung) is a private that is looking for a woman. He was hired to do so by a decently dressed man. I am not going to say any more because i will give away the movie and you will not want to se the movie.

The plot of this story is believable. If you like action scenes, then you will like this movie. Chan and Biao make a good martial arts duo. The light of the scenes are pretty straight forward, and the scene changes are a tiny bit jumpy. If you want to see a movie just to enjoy it and laugh, then this is a good movie for you to watch. If you care alot about the cinematics of the movie, wait to see this movie. I advise all people to see atleast one Jackie Chan Movie. This would be a good choice. Since this movie is directed by one of the characters, the camera's have a greater insight of the characters.

This is Jake L's. Over and out