A Clockwork Orange

1. A Clockwork Orange might be one of the craziest/ weirdest movies I've ever seen.  It starts with a gang that commits many crimes and finally the leader gets caught murdering someone.  He goes to jail and gets put into this special program that is suppose to help him and make him better.  When he returns home nobody wants him anymore, and it turns into a story of pure tragedy and sadness.

2.  I found an article on city-journal.org that talks about the violence in the movie.  While it was considered to be a masterpiece, it was also considered to be contagious to people, making them more violent.  The article says how Britain tried to ban this movie for it's violence, and I could see why.  The amount of rape and murder in this movie is unreal.

3.  In class we talked more about a change in Hollywood and how this is a huge change.  We never had seen something so gruesome and violent in films.  This movie was a game changer to Hollywood, giving future directors more freedom to do what they want with their movie ideas.

4.  I thought this movie was well done, but it was tough to watch.  There were so many weird things and violent things that happened in the movie some was too much.  Even though they didnt show all of it they showed enough.  Plus I never really enjoyed movies such as A Clockwork Orange.  But I can respect what it has done for film.

The Graduate

1. In class, we discussed how actors and acting was starting to get looked at more closely in Hollywood as Hollywood was in a transitional period.  Movies were being done better and they were more thought out.  Newer technology was being presented and things in movies were being done differently.  The Graduate was unique because it was focused on one man and how he changed as his life changed.  Not to mention this movie had it's own soundtrack with Simon and Garfunkel.

2. I found an article on tcm.com on why the Graduate is essential and it explains how it is still a relevant movie even after 40 years have passed.  It mentions how this movie was a great example of the change in Hollywood and how movies were evolving.  The Graduate was a huge mark in films history.

3.  In the article it talks about the Graduate being part of "New Hollywood".  We talked about in class how Hollywood was changing and how movies were changing. We talked about that in class and it is interesting to hear it mentioned again in this article.

4.  Personally I really enjoyed this movie.  I thought Dustin Hoffman fit that role of Ben perfectly, as it was an awkward situation for anyone to be in but he portrayed it beautifully.  The story kept me hooked as I didn't how this mess was going to turn out.  Overall I thought it was a great idea for a movie and I really loved the Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack; especially when Mrs. Robinson came on.  That was the first time I understood what that song was about.

The Big Sleep

1. I was not in class the day we watched The Big Sleep and it was a classic detective crime movie.  Film noir is described as "stylish Hollywood crimes, particularly those who emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations".  This movie closely fit that standard as Philip Marlowe goes through the movie finding out who was blackmailing General Sternwood and finding out much more along the way.  He finds one of the Generals daughters drugged at a crime scene in Geiger (criminal) house.  That eventually leads to finding out that Eddie Mars has been behind all the blackmailing and Marlowe kills him.

2. I found this article on TCM.com that explains why The Big Sleep was essential to film.  It explains how this type of film noir changed how movies like that were made.  This movie changed the genre by the way it progressed through the movie, with little dialogue but still a lot of things going on.  The movie always kept me guessing which was it's goal in order to make it a great noir.  Directors today still make movies like The Big Sleep.

3.  I thought the article had a great point explaining how important this movie was to this type of genre.  It changed the way crime movies were looked at made.

4.  This was actually one of the movies in this class that I really really liked because of how it was structured.  There may not have been a lot of dialogue but it was still easy to watch because of how the story kept pulling you in.  It always kept me in suspense, I never could predict what was going to happen next.  I think that's what made it such a great movie, especially for it's time.  Now a days we see tons of movies like that, and I believe it was because of The Big Sleep

Citizen Kane

1.  When we discussed the significance of Citizen Kane to cinema in class, we talked about a number of different ways Orson Wells filmed this movie.  The camera angles were something never seen before, with focus shots that are still used in movies today.

2.  I found an article on slate.com that is titled "The Mark of Kane" by Nigel Andrews.  It talks about the things we discussed in class with the different camera angle and effects Wells put into his movie.  It also talks about how the idea of the script and story were beyond it's years.  This film changed the way people make movies based off the storytelling and plot of Citizen Kane.

3. This article relates to class because of our discussion on how great Citizen Kane was.  The groundbreaking techniques that were used in shooting the film.  Also how good the story was that made it still relevant for 70+years

4.  I thought Citizen Kane was a great movie.  The way Kane's character progressed throughout the film; from being young and full of life to old and fat, was incredible for it's time.  I loved the dialogue in the film because it always kept me wondering what was going to happen next.  I would definitely recommend people interested in movies see this film.  While it can be slow at times, everything is methodically placed to make it one of the greatest masterpieces in film history.

Stagecoach

1.  In class, we discussed the emergence of western films in the United States.  Stagecoach is considered to be a western film featuring John Wayne.  Westerns weren't popular really until Stage coach made its first appearance and made an impact on American film making for years to come.  Stagecoach portrayed all the things we talked about in class about westerns minus the fact that it wasn't as active as most westerns.  Stagecoach was more about a story and dialogue instead of violent action scenes.

2.  This article on boston.com talks about how Stagecoach was practically a debut for John Ford because he never did westerns before hand.  John Ford took a chance on a dead genre and really brought it to life.  Stagecoach was Ford's first western film and it was a huge hit, empowering him to make more westerns.  This, in my opinion, solidified Ford great film making career.

3.  This article relates to our classroom discussions because we talked about the emergence of westerns.  This article states how Ford took a chance on westerns and turn it into a huge hit.

4.  Personally, I thought stagecoach was not great.  Maybe I thought that because I was thinking that it would be like most other westerns with all the action and violence.  But it was more based on character development and I respect that, but it threw me off guard.  I really would like to watch it again now that i know what to expect.

It Happened One Night

1.  In class, we discussed how screwball comedies came about and how they were formed due to the implementation of sound.  It happened one night finally feature sound on motion pictures, bringing dialogue to motion pictures.  Also in class we discussed how censorship was brought into play. You could no longer put anything you want on film.  It had to be somewhat moderated.

2.  I read an article on Lehigh University's website talking about film censorship.  Today, censorship is relatively rare due to the ratings that movies get now a days (G, PG, ect.).  Back then, censorship was implemented because people weren't use to being able to see sex and violence on the big screen as much as we are use to it now.  That kind of stuff is truly part of our society.

3. The article relates to our classroom discussions because we talked about how much censorship changed movies at the time.  Sound/Censors were a big deal back then and rightfully so.

4.  I didn't enjoy the movie all that much but I found it fascinating to see how movies were when sound was first implemented.  I find it so interesting on how they did the scenes without all the technology that we have these days and still make a decent film out of it.

Early Animation (Blog 1)

1.     In class, we discussed how Edison was a big starting point to what films are today.  Edison was able to create motion pictures with the invention of the kinetograph.  It was interesting to see how those images that he created were used on the kinetograph.  Movies today are so advanced and technical that it made me realize how cool it was to see how motion pictures first were.

2.     I read this article or blog on Classic Movie Gab and it talked about “The Kiss” by Thomas Edison.  The Kiss was the first cinematic kiss in history.  This is significant because people back then never saw something like this before.  People were still getting use to the fact that pictures were moving.  The Kiss, along with other films by Edison, where a huge stepping-stone into improving societies entertainment.

3.     The article relates to the class because in class we discussed how huge Thomas Edison was to motion picture.  The article explains the significance of that kiss.  Therefore, both are connect with explaining the significance of Edison to motion picture.

4.     Honestly, I enjoyed watching those clips from early motion picture production because it made me realize how far we’ve come with movies.  The fact that movies use to be that short and have no words to now being able to see them in 3D.  Also back then you were only able to show one person at a time.  Now movies are one of the biggest sources of entertainment out there and the movie industry rakes in the big bucks.  To think it all started from films like the ones we saw in class is nothing short of spectacular.