Halloween (1978) by Kelsey Barbosa

Halloween: The Night He Came Home, is an American slasher film starring Donald Pleasance and Jamie Lee Curtis. The film was directed and scored by John Carpenter, and released October 25^th, 1978. It was shot and edited within twelve weeks, which speaks to the determination and artistry of John Carpenter, the cast, and film team. Halloween has been acknowledged as culturally and historically significant in the film industry, and was chosen to be preserved in the United States National Film Registry. With success comes profit and that is exactly the case for Halloween. Although the movie was given a $300,000 budget for being an independent film, it was the most profitable independent films for twenty-one years, having grossed $70 million at the box office worldwide. Since the premiere of Halloween: The Night He Came Home, it has become a sequel of seven films. There have been two remakes of the Halloween series, Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009) both directed, written and produced by Rob Zombie. As of today, it has been announced that Halloween will be returning to the big screen in October 2018, starring Jamie Lee Curtis once again. There is something so chilling yet pleasing about the art of this film, which continues the remaking and premiers of the Halloween series.

Halloween: The Night He Came Home, is the framework for the rest of the Halloween movies. The film briefly tells the story of Michael Myers childhood, which begins with Michael killing his older sister and being sent to a sanitarium for the crime. After several interviews and studies, it is concluded that Michael is a danger to society and his family. Michael spends the rest of his child and adolescent years in the sanitarium until he escapes at the age of twenty-one. The rest of the movie and Halloween series follows the same storyline of Michael Myers taking vengeance on his sister Laurie, her friends, her son, and his friends. Although the endings of each movie are relatively the same, the determination and immortality of Michael Myers captivates the audience. The uncertainty of whether or not Michael will die in the next movie, induces the audience to keep watching the next films. In addition, Michael Myers is a ruthless murder, who never speaks or runs after his victims, which makes his appearances throughout the film unpredictable. How subtle and eerie he is makes the movie even more chilling. Halloween will always be a classic independent and slasher film because of its uniqueness and artistry. The Halloween sequels make their annual appearance on television every Halloween.

Alfred Hitchcock - Suggested Viewings

Here is a selection of some of Hitchcock's best American Films.

The Birds

North by Northwest

Notorious

Psycho

Rear Window

Rebecca

Shadow of a Doubt

Strangers on a Train

To Catch a Thief

The Wrong Man

A Quiet Place

Review

A Quiet Place is the newest drama/thriller directed by John Krasinski. Krasinski also, acted in and co-wrote the film with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. The film is set in the near future. It is about a family that must stay silent because if they aren’t creatures will come after them. That is the basic premise without giving too much away. I wouldn’t consider it a scary movie however, there are some jump scares and thrilling moments.

The soundtrack is amazing and really help set the tone. Whenever a certain instrumental came on you knew a creature was coming. The daughter in the film is deaf and the actress, Millicent Simmonds, is also deaf which I think is great for representation of the deaf community. The use of muffled sound when the film is focused on her is very creative. The family communicates by using sign language because even whispering will send the creatures after them. The use of sound or rather the absence of sound, was chilling and the theater was silent. I read reviews before I saw the movie, so I knew to finish my popcorn before the movie started. It was a cool experience because I’m used to hearing people talking or rustling with snacks.

I found a behind the scenes video on YouTube of the movie that gives a cool look into the silence required on set as well as Krasinski’s great directing. Krasinski had this to say to the New York Times about the silence on set, “So they were legitimately the loudest crew I’d ever heard for four or five days, but then we learned together how quiet it needed to be,” he added. “Like, no, you literally can’t move because we need the room tone, we need the breeze through the trees, we need the corn, we need the barn. It wasn’t like, yeah, I’ll put in ‘barn’ later. And instead of the crew being gruff about not being able to live a normal life on set, they really embraced it. They thought, we’re making something special here.” As a film student I completely understand the silence necessary when shooting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tyZB9Om0l0

The wife and mother in the film is John Krasinski’s actual wife. In the film they had great chemistry and you can see it in the behind the scenes also. I really appreciated that the male characters were strong and the female characters. Overall, I really enjoyed this film and I would recommend it to anyone.

Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/movies/a-quiet-place-john-krasinski-interview.html

Required Reading - Hitchcock & "Vertigo"

Here is a link to this week's required reading:

Is "Vertigo" the greatest film ever made?

"Memento" by Lale Parez

Memento is a must see movie if you enjoy neo-noir or psychological thrillers. The movie is directed by Christopher Nolan, a well-recognized film director, screenwriter and film producer. Christopher Nolan has directed and written several movies like Following, Memento, Inception, and the Dark Night Trilogy. His movies are recognizable for its style, feeling, and production. Memento has been one of the most popular movies ever made by Christopher Nolan creating a story around the feeling of thriller and the influence of neo-noir. Christopher Nolan has worked along his brother Jonathan Nolan to develop this incredible film and tell the story of Leonard Shelby.

Guy Pearce, played Leonard Shelby, the main character in the entire film. The whole story develops in a different and confusing pace, by playing around with the feeling of time. The entire movie can be seen through the eyes of Leonard Shelby, and the reminders left in his body. These reminders are left to him in forms of tattoos or notes. Other things that lead the character to his next clue are phone calls and a polaroid. Pearce plays the part of Shelby, a detective current investigating Sammy Jankis. His story starts to progress throughout the movie by discovering new clues about Jankis’ living situation.

The feeling of the movie can cause a sense of confusion and thrill, considering the style and use of black and white scenes with a combination of regular colored scenes. Each scene opens up with a key to solve the mystery of the movie and the character. To understand and appreciate the movie the viewer must succumb his or her full attention to the movie. Some scenes require more than just looking to appreciate and draw conclusions of what just happened and what is going to happen next.

The dedication of the director and the editor plays with the attention of the viewer. This way, anyone is able to identify where the scene is trying to direct you, and what you are supposed to be paying attention to. The exuberant feeling and style of the movie plays around the viewer’s attention to confuse and complicate the story. However, this style allows the viewer to continue trying to understand and find the meaning to the entire story. Although the main story can be seen through Shelby’s eyes, other characters like Natalie, Teddy Gammell, and Burt can mess around with the interpretation of the movie. While watching the movie, you will feel an infinity of emotions with a ending left to interpretation.

"The Post" by Lale Perez

The Post

History has shown how important investigative journalism has played an enormous role in government decisions. The Post, directed by Steven Spielberg, illustrates on film how the Washington Post affected the presidency of Nixon regarding the Warfare policies and decision-making strategies at the time. The movie explicitly narrates the story of how the Washington Post managed to publish the Pentagon Papers and all of the troubles the reporters had to go through to publish them. The movie is filled with a thrilling and dramatic story on how all journalists part of the newspaper industry was trying to prevail and maintain the First Amendment.

Another incredible story is told in the film, that supports women’s right and the struggles that women had to face in all different industries at the time. Meryl Streep plays the role of the first female publisher, Katherine Graham. This character, in particular, evolves throughout the movie to become a bolder and savvier publisher and a stronger woman. Katherina Graham’s position as the publisher of The Post was taken slightly since this job was passed onto her after the death of her husband. However, Meryl Streep interprets the character to show the audience how powerful a person can be, even after all of the obstacles she faced due to her gender.

The entire scenery of the movie takes the viewers back to the late 50s and early 60s. The difference in technology is something astonishing the recognize. Admiring the work of reporters back in the day where reporting was not as easy as it could be today. Technology-wise, news can spread around faster nowadays than how they could back in the 60s. Reporters had to find information, confirm it through their sources, and publish to inform the entire nation and even the world.

Steven Spielberg’s take on the film portrays the sensation of stress coming from the reporters. The raise between newspapers to write a game-changing article first, but reassuring the credibility and the facts that what they are publishing is true. Also, the movie shows all of the factors that influence the entire newspaper to publish against the government. Not only expecting the worst for them individually but fearing for the sake and reputation of the company that is the Washington Post. Luckily, history taught us that the government should be watched and that newspapers are there to force them to give answers.

City of God

The movie "City of God," follows a group of children as they grow up in an extremely poor area of Brazil known as the "City of God." This film is told from the perspective of Rocket a young boy who is aspiring to be a photographer.  The group of children the film follows all have dreams of making it rich and getting out of the favela or slum. Many of these individuals find the easiest way possible is through a life of dealing drugs or committing robberies. Rocket tells the story of nearly every character as they experience life growing up in the favela. One of the main characters Ze rises to power as one of the top drug dealers in the favela. By doing this he creates a sense of calmness and protection for the people and community that lives around him. This protection only lasts for a period of time before a rival drug dealer attempts to dethrone Ze. As all of this is happening Rocket is photographing much of the action and lives of his peers. The rival between Ze and the other drug dealer (Ned) ends in a bloodbath where many individuals die. This gang war was photographed by Rocket and ultimately leads to Rocket landing a job in a top newspaper in Brazil.

City of God, a Brazilian masterpiece directed by Fernando Meirelles has been regularly regarded as one of the top 100 films of all time. It has been nominated for over 70 awards winning upwards to 50 of them. Meirelles predominantly used amateur actors for the film many of which were from the slums (city of god) in Brazil that the movie took place in. The film features beautiful camera work that makes each scene its own work of art. Meirelles allowed his viewers to feel as if they are in the favela with the camera angles and unique shot sequences.