Massachusetts Film Website

After reading about MAFilm.org, I decided to check out the website. To my liking, there is multiple hidden aspects of the industry on display. Such aspects are the Massachusetts cap for films, what Hollywood is actually spending its money on, and a list of all the movies made in our beloved state. This is a site I am adding to my favorites, and will revisit on a constant basis. I really enjoy hearing about new elements and websites I can check out regarding my major, future, and what I love. I especially enjoy this when its free, as the MAFilm.org website currently is. Its amazing to me to be able to click on crew members, and a list of every type of professional position is listed, with real people looking to be hired. Anyone could literally get a permit to film on the website, and then hire anyone they'd like, and most of them live in the area! Amazing website, thanks to COMM229 for presenting this to me.

Movies That Are Better Than Their Books

The Godfather to start, because there's no question on this one. Second, I'd say its a close tie between American Pyscho, one of the most underrated films of all time, and Fight Club. Both are superb, must-see movies, and much better than their books. American Pyscho mentally dances in circles around the novel its based on. Die Hard was based on a book called Nothing Lasts Forever, which I read growing up. Die Hard is different in tons of ways, but almost every change was necessary and had a positive outcome. No Country For Old Men, once again, great book but even better cinematography and the acting is amazing.

I personally believe, however some may argue, that all three Lord of the Rings movies were better than their novels. I read the first two and skimmed through book three, but the movies gave me a closer connection to the material and characters. Silence of the Lambs? The book could not compare to Anthony Hopkin's appearance or voice, but the overall experience was very close and hard to compare. The Jaws book was unreadable in my opinion, just something about it was too boring for me. So, the film was clearly better. In addition, The Shawshank Redemption is considered the best movie of all time on IMDB.com, but I haven't read the book to compare. The last book I can remember reading that was also a better movie is Jurassic Park. Much better character versions and the musical score/computer graphics at the time were uncomparable.

Researching Topics

As a fellow Communications Major, I've had to research thousands of different topics and material in my day. The internet is an open forum, with most of its contents free and easy to find/use. I believe most educational surroundings will involve the use of computers in the near future, as its already starting to shift gears currently. Online research is far more effective and rewarding that spending an entire day at the library. Chapter 10 in the Media Student's Book explains the importance of research. I would not be aware of half the information I know of without the use of online research. To this day, I will turn the computer on just to search about one question I have without hesitation. Its easy, free, and one of the best ways to stimulate the mind.

Getting Used to Blogging

Well its been about 3 weeks now that I've been reading, typing, and thinking about blogs in general. The idea of my own page was strange at first, but its starting to become comfortable to me in many different aspects. I'm reading how other students post blogs and what materials they choose to talk about, and its very interesting to me.

However, I still don't know how to add pictures to my posts, and its something I've been trying to figure out for a bit. If anyone could give me a brief rundown on how to do this procedure I'd appreciate it. My page looks nice, but I'd like to add some color to it.

Also, I'm thinking blogging is the new facebook/myspace for the generation below us. I wasn't totally understanding of the blog, and might still sound stupid when talking about it. My over-analyzing mind is thinking that we will sound outdated and useless to our kids, similar to how some parents still can't use a computer or cell phone. Wierd thought, but its probably going to be true in most cases. This could also be a good reason why I'm studying Communications Media...hmm....

The Hangover, Push, and Representation

The very popular The Hangover came out a few weeks ago and I was lucky enough to see it in theaters. Most of my colleagues and peers agree that its aunique and hilarious perspective of the day after parties. Many have had to piece together the previous day after a long, expensive binge, of sorts. Regardless, I believe this is the funniest movie of the year although I had higher expectations of it. The characters are ridiculous but very enjoyable to watch in the various situations thrown at them throughout the film. This movie does show some stereotyping in my opinion, although somewhat mild and not offensive. The only African American male in the film that I can remember is a drug dealer and the only Chinese male is involved in a mob and has a ridiculous accent. The representation of the main three characters are diverse, with one being a quiet nerdy-type guy, one being overweight and stupid, and one being good-looking and successful.

Push recently came to DVD and was a big disappointment to me. Dakota Fanning was ok as the lead actress, and Chris Evans was pretty good as the lead male actor. The movie had great music but lacked character development and plot continuance. The several different 'special' people were interesting at times but confusingly unexplained. The movie should have been twenty minutes longer with more details as to the Bleeders, Pushers, and over ten different types of mutants that had a very large role in the movie. The bounty hunters weren't scary enough or involved in the movie anywhere near enough. The movie didn't have stereotyping in my opinion but had a burden of representation. The separate groups of characters each had their own vibe and mood to them, representing a certain feel to their characters and the inpact of them in each scene.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

I haven't had a chance to blog about This Film Is Not Yet Rated until today, so here goes...

What I did enjoy about the film was the confidence Kirby Dick had in his material and accusations. He definately was as direct as possible, even speaking with the MPAA members on the phone. The most interesting part was the private investigators being a middle-aged woman and her daughter. I found this to be almost the opposite of what I had imagined, but that the duo could do more damage this way. Not many people would look at them and envision P.I.'s, so kudos for that. I've written paragraphs and paragraphs of information on the MPAA over the past couple weeks, but its all been so new to me. The grading system seemed congruent and sturdy until I realized its full of parents who hide their identity and have many flaws in their line of work. There should be a second ratings board, that a company can choose to rate their movies, or both ratings boards compare and contrast what they believe to be important. If one company wants a PG-13 movie rated R, then they should both come up with a solid solution with pros and cons to finalize a decision.

Star Wars Legacy

Due to the large and ever-growing fan base of the Star Wars universe, I felt compelled to find out just how good the 6 movies really were. With the viewing of the Arnold Schwarzenneger version of Star Wars fresh in my mind from the Star Wars fan contest, the movies seem to have created a different world for fans to constantly dream about. I first typed each of the movies into rottentomatoes.com, and then to IMDB.com. The results were interesting...

Star Wars IV A New Hope: (IMDB) 8.8 our of 10, considered the 12th best movie of all time. (RottenTomatoes) 95% out of 100.

Star Wars V The Empire Strikes Back: (IMDB) also has an 8.8 rating and is considered the 10th best movie of all time. (RottenTomatoes) 97%

Star Wars VI The Return of the Jedi: (IMDB) 8.3 rating, considered the 113th best film of all time. (RottenTomatoes) 75%

Star Wars I The Phantom Menace: (IMDB) 6.4 out of ten, not in the top 250. (RottenTomatoes) 63%

Star Wars II Attack of the Clones: (IMDB) in my opinion an underrated 6.8 out of 10, not in the top 250. (RottenTomatoes) 67%

Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith: (IMDB) 7.9 rating, not in the top 250. (RottenTomatoes) 79%.

Therefore, The Empire Strikes back slightly is the greatest Star Wars movie of all time as voted by millions, and the orignal from 1977 is a close second.

Red Vs. Blue

The Red Vs. Blue animation is genius. I watched some of the episodes when they came out a few years ago, but haven't caught up with the new ones or refreshed my memory lately. However, I had a chance to catch up AND earn points for my class, so I couldnt pass on the opportunity. Red Vs. Blue Season One is hilarious and very inventive, but my favorite has to be season 2. I watched the first episode of season 1 today and still laughed at all the awkward humor. There are a total of 5 seasons that I'm aware of, and I've watched up through season 4. The voice acting is a lot better than one would imagine, and the humor is priceless and fresh. The lack of facial expressions and goofy movement with the character's oblivious humor is exciting. I enjoyed watching the first episode again, and might buy the DVD series if I get a good job.

Transformers: Revenge of Mindless Movies

Although I did enjoy the movie Transformers, there was zero plot involved. Nothing really happened except Shia LeDouche fighting sky-scraper-sized robots in different parts of the world. Every scene had either sexual innuendo, half-naked Megan Fox (this part is OK), Shia's mother on crack, or machine's destroying each other and the environment around them. Great summer movie. If only more words were said, and maybe an unexpecting plot twist, I would rank this film high up there. My overall opinion of the film is that it's entertaining and has a great flow to it, but lacks story and character development. The constuctobot wasn't used as well as it should have been, but the robotic conversations were an interesting change from the first film. Seeing Megatron, the Fallen, and Starscream talk to each other was awesome in my opinion, and it really added a different angle for the future of the franchise. Overal: 7.0 out of 10.

borg

The Borg has the right to withhold points for comments like "Cool!" or posts of one sentence in length. Do not taunt the Borg.

After this quote from Professor Ingvoldstad, I decided to research just what exactly a borg is. This, I figured, would help me better understand why my teacher refers to himself as, indeed, a borg. According to Wikipedia.org, a borg is "a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek franchise. Aside from being the main threat in Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg also play major roles in The Next Generation and Voyager television series, primarily as an invasion threat to the United Federation of Planets and the means of return to the Alpha Quadrant for isolated Federation starship Voyager, respectively." I now fully understand why Professor Ingvoldstad is a borg. "resistance is futile"

Outfoxed

The movie starts out with great, memorable scenes regarding the complexity and longevity of corruption in our government’s system. The overall length of this feature was one hour and fifteen minutes. The main premise of the beginning is pointing out the separate aspects of FOX News, and the strange behaviors of its hosts. The different clips selected show various anchormen and women yelling at their guests for their honest opinions and cutting off their microphones. The reason for this was because the guests were being open and honest about certain topics that FOX News felt ‘inappropriate’. When in reality, they were just helping to cover up mysteries and inconsistencies in multiple controversial events. The overall documentary was put together very well and changed my perspective of the media forever.
The director of this piece was Robert Greenwald, who “has been nominated for three Primetime Emmys” (IMDB), but unfortunately hasn’t won. He really seems to have a certain attack to the scenes with his directing style where the interviewer seems extremely serious and the dramatic elements are escalated. His talent was shown various times throughout this piece and his style matched the subject matter perfectly in my opinion. The main producer was also Robert Greenwald, but he had four co-producers. They were Laurel Busby, Jim Gilliam, Kathryn McArdle, and Devin Smith. Researching Greenwald’s former projects, I’ve realized they’re almost all directly critical on a particular topic. A certain example is Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, which obviously exposes secrets from that organization, similar to the way he exposes FOX News in this documentary.

Out of the thousands of movies I have seen in my lifetime, this short documentary expressed more honest problems with our government and media than any other. The filming style was basic and to the point, quickly showing clips of relevant examples from FOX News. Detailed shots were placed throughout the course of the movie. The most memorable were of host Bill O’Reilly arguing with Jeremy M. Glick, then following up the next day with a report changing Mr. Glick‘s words around.
He said Jeremy was using vial propaganda; and later that he accused George Bush Jr. and Sr. for the 9/11 attacks. Neither of these statements were true, and O’Reilly stated many other false accusations as well. This was a despicable act that deemed cowardly in my opinion, because the person he was accusing was not there to defend himself. Yet even with the short length, what remained was a powerful movie with impactful knowledge within. Besides that, the movie had a great and open flow to it, and nothing lacking importance was left in any scene.

First Blog

Hello internet!!! This is clearly my first blog ever, just putting my name out there. Will post on some new topics soon, such as the films Outfoxed, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Transformers 2, The Hangover, and Push. See you soon.