Screwball/romantic comedy post

This unit really has opened my eyes. I had initially thought that romantic comedies were all lame cutesy chick flicks starring the shirtless Matthew Mcconaughey, which always resulted in the male and female lead happily together, only to really end up adding to the increasing divorce rate . But, after watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, I now have more respect or at least appreciation for the genre. In fact, I actually Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind quite meaningful. Those Matthew Mcconaughey should be ashamed for tarnishing the genre!
I think that the film questions whether we should just try to forget old mistakes, and just live in an artificial bliss-like world created within our minds that is oblivious of reality. I really like the film, because I think it poses such a direct question: if you had a memory erasing machine, would you use it? Obviously the most instinctive answer would be "no". However, personally, after I thought "no" in my mind, I started to question my instinct. We all have some humiliating experiences, and sometimes, you feel that life would just be better without them. The procedure in the movies would make life become dream-like and surreal, which in some cases would be akin to a state of intense joy (after all, isn't that why people drink alcohol, and take drugs?). The very notion of myself actually considering something like this seemed quite scary to me, but it's also why I think it is a good movie - it actually questioned the concept enough to make even consider it.
So, to me, the movie is very clearly against the idea of living in this false sense of reality. This is shown directly through Joel's actions. Although he opts to undergo the procedure, halfway through he ends up regretting it. This is when Joel is going through the good memories he has with Clementine that he realizes that he doesn't want to let go of the most intimate moments of his relationship with Clem. Also, at the end of the movie, Joel asks Clem to stay with him and weather the relationship regardless of their supposedly inevitable falling out later. I think the movie does imply that they will work the problems in the relationship, due to the desire to regain and actually keep the "good memories" from their previous relationships.

the western post

The movie Unforgiven, although featuring all of Clint Eastwoods insane amounts of rugged handsomeness, has a rather unconventional protagonist. throughout the film, Will is never has the certainty and conviction to get his bounty. He constantly has reluctance haunting him in the form of his dead wife, who he claims has healed him of his old problems. The movie doesn't establish that Will is undoubtedly justified. Throughout the movie, Will even constantly questions himself as to whether he should kill the two "criminals". The movie questions the old mythical and overly glorified conceptions of heroism in the West. Both of the "criminal's" deaths are not glorified at all. Eastwood portrays them both very realistically: dying in fear.
In fact, the showdown at the very end isn't even between Will and the criminals. The main antagonist is actually Bill, who spends most of the movie not even knowing about Will. It's only at the end of the movie, when Will has the showdown with Bill that they meet. And the funny thing is, Bill is actually the one that society views as respectable, and Will is the disreputable outlaw and killer. After the showdown, Will is undoubtedly shown to be the wrongdoer, but the audience doesn't sympathize at all with Bill; I was actually cheering Will on. I mean, the final showdown ultimately comes down to a battle of ruggedness and Bill honestly had nothing compared to Clint Eastwood.

Alien Movie Review

It seems that every series spanning over more than two films in lengths suffers the same problem of just getting subsequently worse, with a few exceptions. The Alien saga is a prime example of this case, and perfectly exemplifies the studio's desire to squeeze as much money out of the business as possible - with an astounding five sequels made after the first Alien movie. However, by following that logic, one can draw the conclusion that Alien must be very good, which it is.
I admire the film as being one of the film to make science fiction a legitimate and respected film genre. The movie ties together the classic hardcore features from science fiction movies and the suspenseful and gruesome features from horror movies to form a very commercially and critically successful end product. Obviously, Alien is most remembered for its horrific depiction of a monstrous alien species (hence its name) which infests a crew member of the commercial space cruiser Nostromo. The alien then proceeds to kill the rest of the crew save one. Even after almost thirty years, I’m still surprised that the film was able to still seem so suspenseful and surprising at points. I will admit that there was a lot of the surprise was taken out due to some more obvious predictions, but that’s only due to the numerous films that follow Alien’s success formula. And, despite this, I was still very surprised and shocked at some moments.

But, I also think the longs shots of the ship’s interior and exterior in the beginning should get special mention. Although they were probably ignored by most people, I think the scenery shots really set in place the lonesome and isolated nature of the entire movie. The opening title credits, featuring a long pan out into the dead of space also does a great job of this. I found the long establishing shots very useful in orienting the viewer, and really putting the audience in place of the crew. This proved very useful in the later suspenseful scenes, when the alien slowly devoured each crew member of the Nostromo.

Although the idea of a killer slowly isolating and picking off a group of people one by one is not very original, Alien adds a fresh angle to the style through the use of an otherworldly alien that actually doesn’t seem that distant. The alien’s very unconventional birth is pioneering. It emphasizes the loneliness portrayed throughout the movie. Even though all the crew members were supposedly very close, alien’s ability to “fertilize” them made them very distant. As humans, we all try to be with the group, and stay away from isolation. But, the alien’s contamination of the crew shows that we are all very much alone, and not as secure as we might like to think. This also fits with the movie’s tag: “In space no one can hear you scream."

When compared to the sequels, I think Alien succeeds the most because it didn’t just focus on recreating the most popular aspects. I enjoyed the emphasis of the setting, especially since it was of a place so foreign to us, and I think that everyone should consider getting Alienated.