Summary: Discusses the Australian film, The Castle. Explores how Australia is depicted in the film. Provides a plot summary.…
Due to unfortunate circumstances, I will be lecturing you solely from Gary Ross' Seabiscuit with Randy Newman composing the soundtrack. For a brief overview, the movie starts with a wealthy man, Charles Howard, losing his son and looking for some way to grieve. He begins to race horses and meets Tom Smith, an old-time horse trainer. Together, they spot the unconventional Seabiscuit who Smith sees potential that no one else does. Smith convinces Howard to buy the horse and they find Red Pollard to ride the horse. All of the key parts of this movie are unconventional: Red is too big to be a jockey, Seabiscuit is too small to be a prized horse and Smith is well past his time but somehow they make it work. Seabiscuit gains popularity in a time where Americans needed to be distracted from the Depression Era. The movie continues by Howard wanting Seabiscuit to go up against the "greatest" horse, War Admiral. War Admiral's owner wants no part to do with it. Eventually, they agree to race but not before Pollard seriously injures himself. Seabiscuit is ridden by the greatest jockey of all time and beats the War Admiral. In the next race, Seabiscuit also injures himself. The rest of the movie is Seabiscuit and Red recovering together and later winning the last race shown in…
Grave of the Fireflies is based off of Japanese history. This film is a 1988 Japanese animated drama film. It is based on parts of the 1967 short story, Grave of the Fireflies. Set the city of Kobe, Japan, the film tells the story of two siblings and their desperate struggle to survive the final months of WWII. The film is commonly described as an anti-war film, but this translation has been…
The Maltese Falcon is the classic hardboiled private-eyed movie that is a great example of prototypical film noir. The main character Sam Spade is undeniably a tough and smart guy whose actions are provoked by a stunning femme fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy. While everyone in the story eagers to find a priceless artifact, the black statuette of a Maltese Falcon, and is driven by their greed, Spade acts as he is to fulfill his own personal code of honor often ignoring the law. He knows how to handle the police, and he is good at revealing thieves and liars, yet inflicts pain upon himself and his loved one in the process. The belief that love can conquer…
The Hmong cultural group is always targeted as the racial discrimination especially by the white people of the America. The same concept is shown in the film Gran Torino where the white American Walt who is actually an overt racism personality makes fun of the people that are belonging to other race and his main focus is always his neighborhood Hmong family. The family shown in the film that belong to Hmong culture are shown as very scared one and that are not even independent and beside the rude behavior of Walt they ask for his intervention in their every decision. The cultural group of Hmong race in the film revolves around certain…
One of the most powerful movie elements to how the audience perceives a scene of the film is often looked over. Close to all pivotal movie scenes contain the little background music, also known as underscore. This powerful audio element effects the way audiences feel and react to a scene. The underscore that is present in The Book Thief greatly impacted the tone, mood, and suspense of certain scenes. Three of these scenes that were greatly impacted by underscore were when the Nazi party came to check basements for air raid shelters, when Liesel writes her life story in the basement, and when Liesel walks up Himmel Street after the bomb hits.…
Stunning scenes of landscapes, trees, and clouds fill the scenes of The Revenant. Snow fills the open-void of the wilderness and sunlight bleeds through the spaces between the tall, dark trees. The camera mainly focuses on Hugh Glass as he attempts to take his revenge upon John Fitzgerald, who murdered Hugh’s son. The camera pans smoothly during calm shots of vistas and nature, while the camera rapidly shakes during the intense attacks of the Native Americans. Rivers flow smoothly, and in some shots, Hugh’s fearful, beaten face fills the frame as he struggles to evade the threats of Native Americans. The contrasting nature of the scenes in The Revenant is effective in immersing the viewers in the environment, portraying a message of conservation, and developing a captivating, simplistic storyline.…
The main female and male characters in “The Maltese Falcon” each have their own set of goals they want to achieve and the only way they can be achieved is with the help of private detective Sam Spade. The men in the novels utilize stereotypical masculine techniques such as intimidation, violence and bribery while women use not as aggressive techniques. The women achieve their goals by using stereotypical female techniques by using their innocence as well as their sexuality to seduce Spade into helping them. The men and the women in the novel put to use traditional gender specific means of leverage to get what they want.…
The Maltese Falcon (1941) is one of the most popular and best classic detective mysteries ever made. (http://www.films)…
A major theme that I would like to focus on in the movie Scarface is criminality. This film is littered with criminals and is the basis of the whole movie. Three techniques that I believe identify the theme are costumes, lighting, and acting style.…
Film Noir is most often seen as a man’s world- the hard boiled detective is the ultimate…
Sister James and Sister Aloysius play a very important role in John Patrick Shanley’s movie Doubt, which is about the mistrust that takes place in a school directed by the church on priest Flynn command. There, sister Aloysius is the principal, so she is in charge of the student’s rights and responsibilities. On the other hand Sister James is a history teacher. Both characters are important for their way of handling the doubt.…
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett is a thrilling movie full of twists and turns and deceits. Each character wants the Maltese falcon for the rewards it will bring. Almost everyone is a villain in some way or another.…
"The Maltese Falcon." The Big Read. National Endowment for the Arts, 2010. Web. 16 July 2010. .…
Sam Hilton is a working man who devotes his love and honesty towards Lena. For many years, Sam has worked a “good job so [Lena and him] could get married” (1). Having waited and worked hard, this shows that Sam is a loyal man who stays devoted to his love, Lena. If it Sam was not as devoted as he is, he would definitely have not waited fifteen years to marry a woman. In addition to working for a great amount of years, Sam displays on-going love to Lena writing “a cramped homely letter four times a week” (2). By this, Sam clearly shows how he has a desire to maintain his relationship with Lena. His admirable commitment clearly reaches to Lena and she too, stays loyal to her long distant relationship. By the end of the passage, Sam’s conscious compassion soon concludes him overlooking a negative issue. Although his character is overpowering with honesty and devotion, Sam soon seems to be a bystander when facing his soon to be wife’s kleptomaniac behavior.…