That's Entertainment!

Hmmm.. so you ask, why aren't musicals as popular as they were back in the day? I think it's a cyclic thing. Musicals and comedies were popular during the depression and World War 2 to make people feel happy and upbeat. That lasted somewhat through the 50's and early 60's then they fell out of favor. Personally, i can't stand musicals as much as some people can. If i am given a musical to watch, give me a maximum of 30 minutes before my head smashes my desk and i am in a comma and sleeeeeeeping away! I mean, i understand how in the olden days that this stuff was oh so popular and such but in our society now... we are all crumbling from stress and influenced easily with all issues happening around us, that all these happy and cheerful musicals just do not interest the majority of people anymore. Our society has changed so much within the years, and our generation of today just isn't into that kind of stuff. All kids and most adults are into now are the famous R&B singers, Hip Hop, and the rappers that just "sing" their lyrics within a matter of seconds! Take for examples, 50 cent, G-unit, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Timbaland, 2pac, etc. Also, i have noticed our music industry has changed so much, going from peaceful and innocent lyrics to violent and rage-filled lyrics expressing all hatred and vulgar language within every second verse. Isn't that just fantastic?

For me, I can't say that anything raised and brought back the musicals popularity anymore. I would have to say it is in the middle. Like It's not insanely popular and it's not extremely hated by everyone. It fits just perfectly in between for me. If the majority of people would stem way from the violent music being produced nowadays, musicals could gradually increase in popularity and become amazing once again. However, in my personal opinion, i do not think that will be happening anytime soon. Which, I could imagine, can be very heartbreaking for those musical and broadway lovers out there!

American Teen

As i was watching the 2008 documentary film, directed by Nanette Burstein, American Teen presents us with a highschool filled with highschool kids dealing with all sort of typical and common issues us highschoolers go with in our day to day life. In this film, we are presented with one character who goes by the name Hannah Bailey, also known as "the rebel". Hannah is an artist, musician and wannabe filmmaker. Early in her grade 12 year, her long-time boyfriend breaks her heart, causing her to miss weeks of school while she recovers from the heartbreak, and later, while she deals with possible embarrassment at school for missing so many days. During the course of the documentary, She dates Mitch for a while during the year, but their relationship causes friction with his clique of friends. Causing him to break her heart via a text message (I know what you are thinking... what a jerk!). At the year's end, she heads to San Francisco to live (and eventually go to college). In the film's credits, it's revealed she left the west coast for New York City to study filmmaking.

Now, focusing on the issues Hannah had, these are most definately some issues a few highschool girls would go through. Dating a guy for such a long time, then later on something bad happens, such as feelings change and the dude no longer wants you, and before you know it, they are finito! Typical, typical, typical! However, I don't think many girls would ever react in the same manner as Hannah did. I mean, who realistically would miss so much school and risk their grade 12 year over a stuid boy? I don't know actually, some people just make the weirdest decisions! I'm just glad her dad somehow tried to convince her to go back to school, and just act normally and to keep her head up. She certainly did that, she went about with her year and as she graduated and finished from highschool, she then moved to San Francisco to live on her own their and to eventually go to college, get an education and lead a success life for many years to come.

"...We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about. "

Just when you thought the mockumentary had mocked everything worth mocking, here comes a new gem of the genre that will have you rolling in the aisles once again. Best in Show is presented as a documentary of five dogs and their owners destined to show in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, held in Philadelphia(where the cream cheese is made obviously). The documentary jumps between the owners as they prepare to leave for the show, arriving at the hotel, and preparing backstage before their dog takes the show.

As the movie started to progress, i would have never imagined to ever come across the funniest 'couple' in this movie. At most times, as i was sitting and watching this movie, it was extremely hard for me to believe that these were just actors plaing their role. Sherri Ann (played by Jennifer Coolidge) and Leslie Ward (played by Patrick Cranshaw) Cabot with an accompany of their standard poodle named Rhapsody in White (a.k.a. Butch), a two-time winner of the show in the past. Sherri Ann is a big-breasted blonde, having the elderly Leslie as her "sugar daddy" (a parody of the marriage between Anna Nicole Smith and that really old man whom no one knows his name). She is primarily worried about giving Rhapsody a makeover; however, her dog trainer Christy Cummings (played by Jane Lynch) makes sure the dog is ready for the show, while Leslie stays utterly oblivious and apathetic. Over the course of the film, the fake couplehood between Sherri Ann and Leslie crumples while Sherri Ann's romantic involvement with Christy becomes apparent.

Overall, before i was about to watch this movie, i was thinking to myself and saying that this was going to be a miserable and torcherous hour and a half of my life, however... little did i know this movie was filled with a bunch of comedians! I actually enjoyed the movie. Although, in all reality, i would never ever watch a dog show. It would just simply bore me to death.

"five, six, seven, eight..."

After watching Mad Hot Ballroom, i completely fell in love with it. The documentary, directed by Park Sloper Marilyn Agrelo, follows New York public school kids in a citywide a ballroom dancing competition. If you haven't yet seen it, you should run out and do so. Watching Mad Hot Ballroom is worth watching just for the priceless pairings of gawky, grinning 10-year-olds, forced to make eye contact and hold hands at an age when they're still allergic to each other. During rehearsals, as they constantly practiced and practiced, there was always a few students that would simply turn into little clowns. Nevertheless, throughout the whole documentary, i had my laughs and chuckles here and there. In addition, those children were so incredibly adorable! I actually enjoyed every moment of it, and it certainly caught my attention.

I think that the school personally chose to enroll and get those children involved in a ballroom dancing program because you honestly don't see a whole lot of schools, or any schools at all really, start a ballroom dancing program and it would be a change and something completely unique. Living in an atmosphere like how those kids were living in, in a few years, one would predict that the majority of those kids, once all grown up, would be either drug dealers, or to just generally say... criminals of some sort. Therefore enrolling the kids in a sophisticated program such as this, as the kids grown older and older they would learn to appreciate the art of dancing and perhaps continue on and possibly all become famous dancers or something of that nature. In my opinion, having a ballroom dancing program would be incredibly fun, however it is too bad our school will never provide us with any expensive and entertaining program like this.

Reality TV & Documentaries

For me, reality television and documentaries are not so similar to one another. Personally, i think reality television is waaay more popular then the majority of the documentaries out there. Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors. There are several types of reality television and documentaries are one of them.

In many reality television shows, the viewer and the camera are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is often referred to as "fly on the wall" or as "Factual television". Usually the "plots" are planned situations, or therefore contructed via editing of all sorts. Within a documentary-style reality television are several variants such as Special living environment, Celebrities, and Professional activities.

Special living environment- In this type of documentary-style, programs place cast members, who in most cases previously did not know each other, in artificial living environments. For example, Big Brother is probably the best known program of this type in the world with different versions produced in many countries around the globe.

Celebrities- Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life. Examples of this can easily be The Osbournes and Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica.

Professional activities- Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business or performing an entire project over the course of a series. Absolutely no outside experts are brought in to provide any help or anything. An example of this would be Miami Ink.

As a whole, I personally think reality television beats documentaries by far. Reality televsion simply keeps the watchers hooked on and it shows the viewers whats happening in other peoples lives and how they go about with their own lives.

Westerns - courage & fear

Usually, the central plot of the western film is the classic, simple goal of maintaining law and order on the frontier in a fast-paced action story. It is normally rooted in archetypal conflict - Good vs. Bad, Virtue vs. Evil, White hat vs. Black hat or Man vs. Man. Western heroes are often local lawmen, ranchers, cowboys, territorial marshals, or a skilled, fast-draw gunfighter. They are normally masculine persons of integrity and principle - courageous, moral, tough, solid and self-sufficient.

In the first Western we watched, High Noon, the Marshall of the town, named Will Cane (played by Gary Cooper), was a very courageous man and gave off the impression that he had no fear of anything. He would go through anything to just capture the criminals and lock them behind bars for as long as they could be there. In the town the Marshall lives in, everyone is independent and depends on no one else but themselves. Citizens of that little town all try their best to keep their families out of danger and stay as far as possible from any crimes. In the beginning of the film, we are shown the wedding of the ‘retired’ sheriff. His wife, Amy Fowler Kane (played by Grace Kelly) is very pacific and does not want her husband to go to fight, especially not right after his wedding day. Will Cane, being as stubborn as he is he turned back and went to go fight for his town. He threw his fears outside the window and let courage come in to him and to guide his path. He knew if he let fear take over him, his town was going to suffer and he was just not ready to let that happen at all. The citizens of that town gave him no help at all, ad no feed back at all. He tells them what’s happening and all they do is stare at him as if he were talking an unknown language. The people are too scared to act or to involve themselves in something they know they might not come out alive in. So Will Cane had the most courage in this Western, unlike the other characters. Although, near the ending... his wife was one to help him out and totally go against her beliefs of no violence. So, you can say Mr. Kane had a great influence on the other characters, specifically the secondary characters.

In the Magnificent Seven, this group of Mexicans needed some assistance; therefore they ask others for help. In this western, it is a little different then High Noon, due to the fact that in the Magnificent Seven we now have more than one specific hero and instead there are seven. The cast is a dream team of the 60s real men. As we know in the beginning these Mexicans were too afraid to do anything themselves, therefore they go outside to go and get people to help them. In this film, the Mexicans are afraid of getting hurt or letting something bad happen to their little town. They do not normally fight for the bad; all they want to do is just live in peace, serenity and just mind their own business without any troubles involved. As the movie progresses, we see how as time went by the Mexicans learnt a thing or two from the others. The ‘Magnificent Seven’ team members all were different and unique in their own ways. With their separate knowledge, everyone benefited from one another and everyone learnt from each other. In addition, every single person as already an expert at what they did by themselves, and when you combine them, you get a team of strong men ready to take down any bad guys and create harmony between everyone.

Every Western film varies from the other. You can get those Westerns that were recorded all in black and white and with simple storylines. Others would come in color, and have a higher chance of having an interesting storyline. As for High Moon and The Magnificent Seven, one was a little uninteresting and unpleasing to watch and that one was High Noon only for the soul reason it was in black and white, and only one soundtrack was repeating itself throughout the film. The Magnificent Seven grabbed my attention instantly and it was amusing to watch, with a little bit of comedy added here and there and because of the fact there was a lot of drama, suspense, and not to mention, a bunch of action involved as well.

Batman Begins - Symbolism

The use of symbolism in films is to represent ideas or qualities. When you see a reappearing object in a film, you know that somehow there is a symbolic meaning attached to that object. As for the movie Batman Begins, a variety of symbols were used throughout the film.

To start off, one symbol that was very constant throughout the whole movie was the use of masks. Take for example Batman himself. Without the mask to compliment the rest of his costume, Bruce Wayne would just plainly be Bruce Wayne. The Mask is what makes Bruce Wayne transform truly and uniquely into Batman. As Bruce Wayne is dressed in costume, he can do just about anything and save anyone in danger within a matter of seconds! Otherwise, minus the costume, you are also eliminating the “super powers” Batman possesses. Taking into consideration that fact, also the villain (the antagonist) in the film, Dr. Jonathan Crane who played the scarecrow, also has a mask. As Batman uses his skills and all for good, the scarecrow is the complete opposite. For Dr. Jonathan Crane’s undercover mask, the scarecrow mask is used in the film to bring out the worries and the fears hidden within the other characters in this film. Therefore, the scarecrow mask was used to in the film to serve as an “evil” symbol as Batman holds the title as the ‘good guy’.

A second symbol I noticed return quite a few times in the movie was the stethoscope. In the beginning of the movie, we are shown when Bruce was a younger boy with his father and they both use the stethoscope to listen to each other’s hearts. For Bruce’s father, Mr. Thomas Wayne, that stethoscope was used to help people medically and to assist in medical issues. His father was simply there to aid in people’s lives if they were suffering or not. As time went on and after the heartbreaking death of both of his parents, the stethoscope had no meaning really, not until Bruce grew up older and decided to go and live again back in the mansion him and his parents all lived in. As time passes, he then uses the stethoscope for good as well and to continue the good deeds his father was doing. However, instead of giving any medical assistance to anyone, he further used his knowledge and strength to use this stethoscope as an influence and to follow him around him when he was rescuing others from dangerous situations. He was primarily the hero of Gotham city who went by the name ‘Batman’.

Last but not least, the third symbol that I thought stood out the most as well was the Wayne’s family mansion. As a young child, Bruce grew up in that house and that mansion has much memories of his past. Memories of his father, his mother and his childhood experiences as well. When Bruce therefore decides to go back and live in the mansion, the furniture and everything is just covered in pure white sheets. You can tell no one had been there for a while and things were still the way they were when he was a young boy. After deciding to live in the mansion, Bruce starts a new beginning for him and that mansion. Soon enough an addition of new memories would be added on as well. Later in the film, Bruce decides to hold his birthday party at his mansion. It was time to celebrate and probably celebrate a new start of a life for him. Desolately, his former mentor Henri Ducard was also at his party. Some issues and problems happened, leading Henri to burn the mansion down to pieces. After some time, near the ending of this film Bruce Wayne is found building a new home, similar to his first one, but this time with a stronger foundation and with an open mind to live a wealthy and caring life like his father did.

Scene Analysis: Oh... the MISERYY

In this specific scene, Annie Wilkes provides Paul Sheldon with a typewriter. She wants him to write more Misery books. However, Annie got Paul the wrong typewriting paper, so Paul asks Annie is she could kindly step out of the house for a bit just to get him the correct batch of paper. Annie, hesitant at first, accepts and is on her way to the little convenience stores back in town. As Annie drives away, Paul decides to somehow try to escape from that freak’s house. With his one and only help, he uses a bobby pin to unlock his door leading him directly to the living room and the kitchen. All this, is shown to the audience through point of view, various canted angles, as well as several medium and close up shots.

Paul leaves his room and starts probing around this empty hose as he wheels himself around in physical pain. He passes through the room where Annie keeps all her medicine hidden. As he enters that room, an angle of destiny is used as Paul Sheldon desperately grabs the pills from the top shelf. He then proceeds to the living room. In the living room, we are shown a pan of the living room and Paul is filmed at a medium shot, sometimes close up, where we can see clearly facial expression and the emotions that he was releasing. After hunting and examining the living room, the kitchen was his next stop, and possibly his final stop in the house.

Once at the kitchen shot, the viewers are given a pan of the kitchen and a point of view shot as well from Paul’s position. As he peruses throughout the kitchen, he spots the kitchen door that could help him escape the house. We are then shown a ground shot when Paul is crawling his way to safety. As he reaches the door, he struggles to reach for the door knob. However, the door knob on that kitchen door was like as if he is reaching for his last hope. Suddenly, it seems as if his whole escaping plan just might not work out after all. Shown with a long shot, we see Annie driving and approaching the house. Closer… and closer… and even closer! Ahhhhhh!!! This is where a shot reverse shot also comes into play. As Paul hears the car approaching, he scurries back to his wheelchair so he could reach his room in time before she got a chance to enter house.

As Annie is walking towards the house, Paul is wheeling himself to safety. As Annie gets her keys to open the front door, Paul is locking and closing the door with the bobby pin. Right there, a match cut was used to link their simultaneous movement. Thankfully, Paul made into his room in all safety in time; nonetheless he was dripping in perspiration.

I found this overall scene to be quite stressful. I personally got so into the movie and I couldn’t even take my eyes off the screen. With the use of an enthralling soundtrack playing in the background and action happening... it was too much to handle! The purpose of this scene was to mainly link the characters. Showing how Annie was the antagonist, in a way, and Paul being the protagonist. Paul was having thoughts of leaving that house as soon as possible, and Annie wanted the opposite, meaning she was locking and isolating Paul inside the house. Taken as a whole, this movie is one of my favourite movies. Hence, having such great tension and action and winning an Oscar.

JAAWS!

If ever there was justification for being terrified of sticking a toe in the ocean, it's “Jaws”. Director Steven Spielberg's fantastic piece of art really had its sheer ability to grip an audience. Before even viewing the movie, who knew a movie made in the mid 1970’s would have carried such action and suspense. This movie completely exceeded my expectations for a typical 70’s movie.

As this movie beginned, we were put in a dark atmosphere on Small Island, community of Amity, a vacationer, named Chrissie Watkins in the dark getting chased by another guy on the beach, decides to take a swim in the water, while its pitch black, and all of a sudden… after all the screams of joys, the area goes quiet. There are no surrounding sounds. We then swiftly see this young lady getting attacked and we see all this happening through the Sharks point of view. Early morning on the next day, Martin Brody, new chief police of Amity was put on the search to investigate this horrifying and tragic incident.

As the movie went about, more deaths seemed to just occur. As parents enjoyed and soaked up the sun as watching their children and other children playing, a group of children went racing towards the ocean to play some games and have fun splashing one another in the water. One child, named Alex Kintner, decided to go surfing. With the incorporation of several jump cuts, where the camera man shows the audience the kids splashing the water everywhere, in a matter of seconds the suspenseful music switches on and you further know something bad was about to happen or has just happened. All children rush immediately out of the waters, as they leave the ocean empty. Come to think of it, maybe the ocean wasn’t that empty after all… Within minutes Alex Kintner was pronounced dead.

Now, if you think the beginning of the movie was intense, wait until you see the few last scenes shot in the movie. Midway through the film, we are shown that three men were going to go on a little escapade and try their best to sail the oceans and capture the hidden monster whose taking lives as we speak! In this scene where we see Quint, chief Brody and Matt Hooper, there were a lot of selected types of camera movements that occurred. For example, the majority of the techniques that was used were the use of canted angles. As this long and treacherous journey develops for the three young men, unfortunately, Quint was the one to be attacked and killed by the shark, and his body is dragged under the water so no one can try to save him. After a terrifying and exhausting trip, chief Brody and Matt Hooper are the ones to finally capture this beast and once again peace, happiness and safety is yet again restored back into this little community of Amity.

All in all, even though this is one of the older movies, with all the techniques incorporated, including camera movement, sound effects and the many use of transitions, I would have to say that Jaws is a quite interesting movie to watch and, surprisingly, clutches on to your attention as soon as you hear the dangerous, yet threatening music play softly in the background. Dun, dun, dunnnnnnn!!!