Denis Villeneuve and Jake Gyllenhaal collaborate again after Prisoners (read my review here), now for a movie called Enemy. Gyllenhaal plays a dual role, that of Adam Bell and Anthony St. Claire.
Anyone who enjoys a complex character should see Filth. We discuss the movie’s representation of corruption and explanations for criminal behavior.
It’s less than a week to go for the big event of the Academy Awards! On March 2, the 86th Academy Awards will take place, presented by Ellen DeGeneres. The event usually takes place a week earlier, but was scheduled a week later to prevent broadcasting conflicts with the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Identity is a short film by KJ Adames. The short film criticizes the dominant cultural norms of identity and the self, and beautifully stylized, suggests we be ourselves instead of try to conform to those norms. Although the use of masks is a tad literal, I found it interesting nonetheless.
In earlier instalments of How To Analyse Movies, we discussed film language, how meaning is created in film through the use of signs, codes and conventions and most recently, we covered mise-en-scène and editing. In this chapter, we’ll discuss the camera and how it too can create meaning and how important it is to know about the way the camera is used to analyse a movie. The way the camera has been positioned or has been used too can create meaning, and it’s very important to know how it has been positioned and to analyse a film in its whole.
A few weeks ago I was looking for some sort of schematic overview of what a film production looks like, and I found something spectacular, created by Anton29 on Deviantart.com. Left click on the infographic and select “open in new tab/page” to see it in its full glory!
Grease has been hugely popular ever since it came out in 1978 – yep, it’s already that old. It’s rated 7.2 on IMDb and 70 by MetaCritic, and if you look on the IMDb message boards for Grease, for instance, you can see it’s still being discussed actively.
Oblivion was a movie I’d been looking forward to as I’m a huge (dystopian) sci-fi fan. Unfortunately, it was quite a disappointment. Rarely have I seen a movie as unoriginal as this one.
Another week, another cinema. This is the Castro Cinema in San Fransisco, CA, USA. It’s a classic beauty, isn’t it?
In the last part of How to Analyse Movies, we discussed signs, codes and conventions. In this chapter we’re moving on to the scene and editing, and what that means in film language. Everything you see in a film is constructed to fit on a screen.
I had already previewed Prisoners a while ago, and was quite interested in seeing the movie. However, I didn’t have the chance until yesterday due to… life.
When I was younger (and not a critic yet), I used IMDb ratings to decide what to watch, for both movies and TV shows. My rule was: don’t watch anything that scores below 7.
Ah, the weekend’s on our doorstep once again. Here’s a beautiful cinema for you: This is the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, France:
It’s Thursday and there’s a bunch of new movies to premiere today, January 30 of 2014. These are release dates for the U.S.