Viewing Journal

MODERN TIMES - CHARILE CHAPLIN

We are introduced to the film with a top-down view of flock of sheep that transitions to a top-down view of works making their way to work, insinuating workers are just like sheep. I really liked how well built the factory machines were and how they made large machine that Charlie ends up going down and being dragged along by the turning cogs. all the sets throughout the film were really well designed. When Charlie goes to the toilet for a smoke a screen appears and the factory owner tells him to get back to work, I liked how this could become the future, to keep the workers working as efficiently as possible and sacrificing privacy. I think Charlie was trying so to criticise capitalism through humour, and how working long hours in a factory can impact mental heath by sacrificing happiness. Charlie ends up wanting to stay in prison where he is happier. Further on in the movie he does end up finding happiness and purpose with the young woman he met, and tries to get a job to support her.

THE GOD FATHER

I liked how the start of the film was a close up of a man talking about his daughter; how she was almost taken advantage of and brutally beaten. The room was dark, and only his face was illuminated drawing our eyes directly to him making it feel personal, almost as if he was talking to us. the dark atmosphere tells me everything in that room is to be taken seriously, and what ever is discussed in that room may be dark in nature, and never to be spoken of outside. I also quite like how "The Godfather" is very family orientated, he's protective, wants the best for his family and wants his family to be the best they can be. for a killer he's very caring for those he loves. Some of the camera shots are really nice, such as when one of the characters are walking down through a film studio. When the man wakes up to find his severed horse's head in his bed I had no idea at that was about to unfold. his sheets looked clean and there was nothing to suggest there was anything strange or unusual, then I see a little bit of blood, maybe he was injured? then we see a lot more blood, it looked pretty gruesome, but it cant all be his blood then we get the revel of his poor horse's head. It definitely sends a message.

ALIEN

H.R Giger did a pronominal job at helping to design the Xenomorph. His work usually looks at biomechanical and sexual concepts with dark and cold tones. I don't think the film would have become so big if it wasn't for Giger's iconic alien. I really loved the design of the claustrophobic ship corridors; the interior looks so busy with all the pipes that adds to the feeling of being trapped within the metal jungle.

BLADE RUNNER

Based on Phillip k. Dick's book "Do androids dream of electric sheep". I love the world building, set design and dystopian, gritty, busy, claustrophobic city. I like how how Tyrells building overlooks the rest of the city, telling us those who are rich and privileged don't have to deal with the people down below; they can ignore the bad conditions of living there. The warm lighting in Tyrells room make him seem like he's a god living in heaven compared to the cooler, damper, polluted city below him, it shows us what kind of person he is. The replicants that Deckard is tracking down only want to live, these grown beings who were made for slave work can feel what we humans can feel, and are trying to become something more than just a tool for the humans. do these beings grown into existence who are able to think and feel for themselves, who feel pain and suffering, deserve to be treated as less than human? I don't think so, if these were sentient robots I believe it would be unfair to treat them as less than alive.

THE CABINATE OF DR CALIGARI

while this is a horror fil it is also considered to be a German expressionist film. The style used for the scenic elements heavily uses uncomfortable shapes to convey feelings of anxiety, insecurity, fear, and instability much like how the people of Germany felt at the time. The art style reminds me a bit of cubism, surrealism, and futurism. The murders also gave the people of the town feelings of paranoia, something that the people of Germany also felt around the time of this film being made. The intro of the film starts with a man telling us there are ghost all around making the into feel mysterious and we see a woman who appears to be a ghost, she wears a white dress, looks pale and shows no emotion. the other man says that was his fiancée and he and her have lived through some terrible events. its spine tingling.

When we see the doctor being introduced to us, I find his demeanour rather interesting and dare I say a bit camp because of how exaggerated his look and the way his walk is.

AN ANDALUSIAN DOG

I enjoyed the randomness of some scenes and how it makes you wonder what's coming next; particularly the scene with the dead cows on the pianos and the shock of the razor cutting an eyeball. I couldn't understand the story of film if there was even a linear story. However because this was a surrealist film I think many of the events must have some kind of meaning to them. One scene shows the man acting almost predatory and lusting for the woman, he proceeds to grope her breasts and then begins to drool and become engrossed with her breasts like they are drug. as the woman escapes his grasp the man picks up a weighted rope and tries to move towards the woman, this could suggest he has something holding him back from from going after the woman again, and the piano with the dead cows could symbolise trauma from his past or something deep in his mind that's stopping him in the present.

DRACULA 1931

We start off with some travellers warning us of something terrible that happens at night, and when Jonathan tells the carriage drivers that he will be going up to the castle to visit Dracula they look shocked, they warn him not to go there because the locals believe there are vampires there. Of course, Jonathan does not take the warnings very seriously, so I start to become concerned for his safety as he travels to Dracula’s castle. Even the road heading towards the dark and gloomy castle speaks danger, its rocky and there is no life around, other than a few trees at the castle itself. Seeing Dracula’s hand slowly pop out of the coffin makes me shudder.

Jonathan goes to check out the window of the carriage taking him to Dracula’s castle, unexpectedly he sees a bat and no diver. And when he gets out the carriage, he sees no driver. That is spooky and unsettling, and the castle door opens by itself.

The interior of the castle is grand and leaves me awestruck, I love the dark, gloomy, cobweb ridden aesthetic. I think places that seem unlived in for a long time and abandoned will always give you some sense of unease. I loved how imposing Dracula looked stood on the stair way of his castle ready to greet Johnathan Harker.

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

I enjoyed the introduction, a Lancaster bomber had was badly hit in combat and was going down. One crew member remained on board, navigation was lost, fog blinded his vision, and so his only option was to bail from an unknown height in an unknown location. He had one last convocation with a woman, it was almost gut wrenching, you could feel her distress as he came to grips with his inevitable demise; this is probably the first time the character had to deal with such a situation.

the depiction of heaven was interesting, like it was a military checkpoint, and the dead had to pick up their wings like it was a piece of equipment. heave is black and white while the real world is in colour. The Frenchman is a camp character, bringing a lot of life to the movie.

the doctors place has piles of books, letting us know he's a very educated man.

the scene of the woman being taken to heaven really pulled at the heart strings, it felt unfair that the case was for them to live together only for her to die instead. But thankfully that little glimmer of hope in the back of my mind was right, the woman was only used to show how much they did love each other and how the law worked.

IMITATION OF LIFE

A story of two mothers, one black and one white. I found the story to be rather heart breaking. Lora the white mother took Juanita and her child in after because they had no where to go. They got on well, Lora treated Juanita with respect, compassion and love, and Juanita was very appreciative of Lora’s actions. I liked this because it showed that even though Juanita was of a different skin colour it does not mean we cannot treat each other well and love one another unconditionally even if you end up being a celebrity.

Near the end of the film Juanita dies, Lora is heartbroken, we feel a lot of emotion from this. We know they have both been through a lot and are very close. It is another point to demonstrate that skin colour does not have to dictate how we feel about another person. Sarah, Juanita’s daughter was white and did not have to live with the disrespect that black people had in those times, she wanted to get away, she should not need to, but because blacks are viewed as less than whites, she felt her mother was ruining her chances of being happy and successful like white people. Deep down she still cared about her mother. As a viewer I get the feeling that things should not have had to happen like this, we know that Juanita is not a bad person, and is just like Lora and so it did not feel right that Sarah had to estrange herself just to be happy.

THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT

I found it amusing that the homosexual characters seem to be just as sassy as LGBT personalities portrayed today, however I am not sure if that is a stereotype that the movie tried to show. I also enjoyed how camp the actors were throughout in the movie. When Quentin Crisp decided to go all out on dressing in an improper manner, dying his hair, painting his nails, etc… I was not surprised by the backlash he received, such as getting beaten up, but I was supporting him in my mind because I understood he was doing it to show the world that homosexuals exist and should be accepted into society. I also enjoyed the part where Quentin stood up for himself in court, if that is what he truly said it was quite clever, he did not say anything that would cause enough offence that he’d be dismissed and sentenced as guilty.

THE ELEPHANT MAN

I felt this film works well in black and white, if the into was in colour I do not think it would have given as much of an impact. The scene where we first get introduced to the doctor while he is performing surgery shows everyone without proper equipment such as masks, and the doctor even coughs on the patient, I liked how this shows us how Victorians did not have much knowledge about how infections could spread. Some of the sets such as the factories I really liked, they really made me feel I was in the Victorian era.

The story of the elephant man was both heart warming and sad, he eventually finds a home, with the hospital, when the doctor’s wife first met John Merrick, she broke down crying in what I assume she just felt so sorry for john, how he has had such a lonely a terrible life because of his deformities. He was given so much love and support after people saw who was behind his appearance. however, there were still a few people who wanted to take advantage of him to make profit from showing him to people that thankfully gets resolved and John can feel happy and at peace again. At the end, in wanting to be like every other normal human, he attempts to sleep in a position that ends up killing himself.

HEREDITARY

scene where bodies were floating into tree house was quite disturbing and unsettling.

METROPOLIS 1927

Arguably a proto-cyberpunk film.

BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA 1992

This adaptation is closer to the book than the original film.

BLADE RUNNER 2049

ALIENS

ALIEN 3

ALIEN RESURRECTION

PROMETHEUS

ALIEN: COVENANT

PREDATOR 1987

THE ADDAMS FAMILY

THE ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES

CORALINE

THE CORPSE BRIDE

ALTERED CARBON

ALICE IN BORDERLAND

LORD OF THE RINGS - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

LORD OF THE RINGS - THE TWO TOWERS

LORD OF THE RINGS - THE RETERN OF THE KING

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN - CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN - DEAD MAN'S CHEST

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN - AT WORLD'S END

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN - ON STRANGER TIDES

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN - DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

STAR WARS - THE PHANTOM MENACE

STAR WARS - ATTACK OF THE CLONES

STAR WARS - REVENGE OF THE SITH

STAR WARS - A NEW HOPE

STAR WARS - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

STAR WARS - RETURN OF THE JEDI

STAR WARS - THE FORCE AWAKENS

STAR WARS - THE LAST JEDI

STAR WARS - THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

THE MATRIX

THE MATRIX RELOADED

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

JOHN WICK

JOHN WICK 2

JOHN WICK 3

THE CONJURING

THE CONJURING 2

INSIDIOUS

INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2

INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 3

INSIDIOUS - THE LAST KEY

IT 2017

THE BABADOOK

HOT FUZZ

ELI

THE SILENCE

THE PLATFORM

CLOVERFEILD

OVERLORD

BATMAN BEGINES

THE DARK KNIGHT

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES