Black Hawk Down

So far this was the most enjoyable movie we had to watch outside of class. I appreciate war films but they usually lose my interest when there is an extended fight scene. I liked the lighting differences between the day and night fighting. The action scenes were engaging and the editing created suspense. I almost wish the fight scene could have been broken up, but I realize the length reflects the length of the fight endured by the soldiers. Over all a cool piece of cinema.

Chinatown--Robert Towne's Screenplay

Robert Towne wrote the original screenplay for “Chinatown.” He was from Los Angeles and studied philosophy at Pomona College (Writers Guild of America).

Information about Robert Towne can be found on the Writers Guild of America website. There are snippets of interviews from different sources (mainly from AFI) that explain some of his writing process for “Chinatown.” Here are a few pieces from those interviews that I thought would be interesting for others in class to see:

“Originally, I had Evelyn [Mulwray] kill her father, and I had the detective try and stop her...But it (the end) was bittersweet in the sense that one person, at lease, wasn’t tainted—the child”

Towne goes on to say, “So I thought, I don’t want to do a crime movie about the kind of things that don’t anger me…The destruction of the land and that community was something that I thought was really hideous. It was doubly significant because it was the way Los Angeles was formed, really.”

“It seems like it took me forever to write—at least 10 months…[A]ll screenplays that are highly structured are difficult…Always the hardest part of any story is to figure out the point of entry where your story begins.”

Here is a link to an actual page of the screenplay:

http://www.wga.org/uploadedImages/news_and_events/101_screenplay/chinatown.jpg

Here is the link to the interview snippets:

http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1907

Chinatown

I enjoyed the movie overall.  The mystery and plot was well thought out and kept you entertained at most points.  I just think that it was a bit too slow and too long for my taste. If the movie could be shortened up a bit, I don't think I would have any other complaint.

13 Assassins

This was not my type of movie. I usually don't like to watch violence or like films with subtitles. Action flicks are not appealing to me. Although I can appreciate the choreography of the action/fighting scenes. Also some of the characters were considerably interesting. Viewing a film depicting another culture is always interesting and educational.

chinatown

First off let me say that I love Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.  Both are incredible actors.  They both leave lasting impression on me.  Jack Nicholson is relaxed and witty.  Faye Dunaway is just beautiful and mysterious and confident in herself. The movie shows storytelling at is best.  It has mystery and romance as well has suspense and that is what I love about it.  I think the setting was great because it captured the mystery and sophistication of that time.

Shane

Although I do agree with some of my classmates that the little boy was annoying at times, I enjoyed the movie "Shane". I think the backdrop is beautiful throughout the film and I think the colors were very crisp and pleasing to the eyes.

Midnight Cowboy

I will first say that this class has forced me to watch movies that I would have never watched on my own. They have all been pretty descent and I can appreciate them all for what they are. Midnight Cowboy was certainly bizarre in many ways, but overall was pretty good. I enjoyed seeing Jon Voight as a young man. Before seeing this movie, I don't recall ever seeing him in anything before his hair became white.