Wednesday, June 16, 2010
The Bride VS Travis Bickle
Starring Roy as The Bride, and Momo as Travis Bickle.
Totally was a fun day guys, every group did great =]
A big thankyou again to Roy and Momo for being such 'fighters'
Enjoy!
- Dray
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Movie Day
Ok, firstly, *phewf* just want to say congratulations on completing this subject everyone =]

We have reached the end of the semester, and you little monsters have now sucked out all the necessary brain juice from Dr Dray to watch movies differently from all your friends.
I hope that by now - either on your first date with a girl, or just chilling with your 'homies' or 'pals' - when your out at the cinema and you finish watching a movie, the person you go with will probably say:
"Man, this movie sucked. I didn't get it."
But YOU will step in and say:"I disagree! The director uses alot of slow-motion technique in his film to emphasise his themes. The director also used quite alot of long takes, ECU's, and even a high-angle shot at the end, so it has quite a range of cinematography. The mise-en-scene could of been better, but overall, the film has deep meaning, it even has.........*blahblahblah*"
And the person you went to watch the movie with, their face will be like 0___O And they will think to themselves "Oh my god.. I like this movie now.."
See.. You will do well on your first date, and will be looked up to as a God next time you go watch a movie.

Now, like I promised, to end our time studying film and cinema, we should all go out as a group to watch a film together. So here is my proposal -
Director: Sylvain White (Stomp The Yard, etc)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Date: Sunday 13th 12:20PM / Monday 14th 12:20Pm
Company: Dreamworks (Shark Tale, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, etc)
Genre: Animation
Date: Mon 14th June (anytime before 5pm)
Ok so please comment and choose which movie we should go see!
Dr Dray
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Remember the Titans

This movie is about a newly appointed African American football coach over the highly successful white coach to coach the team where the school is not racially integrated. The idea of an African American coaching the team was not accepted even though he was equally as successful as the other coach.
Tensions arise when players of different races are forced together on the same football team. This film is based on a true story and takes place in the USA. Even though this film is based on a true story not all scenes are actually true but i still really like this film and have watched it a few times. Some of the characters are not real but are fictional.
The message that this film projects is a strong one and like "Do The Right Thing" acceptance and racism are themes in both films but that's all i think they have in common.
At the start the African Americans didn't want to play in the same team as the white guys and vice versa.
After a two week training camp which brought the guys together they returned to find that the community was in turmoil due to the forced desegregation of the high school. As the season progresses the team's success caused the community to accept the changes.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The shawshank redemption

QUESTION ABOUT FINAL ESSAY ~
What exactly "special effects" is??
Like... include what ?

I absolutely love this movie its so hilarious. Its about one of the characters Doug and he is going to get married so he takes his 2 friends Stu and phil and his soon to be brother in-law Alan who is the main reason why this movie is so good.
They have a big night out and cant find the groom Doug and latter find out that Alan gave them drugs on the night. They then find out the things that they got up to on the night and attempt to find Doug.
This is probably my favorite quotes of all time (im only saying this off the top of my head but still)
Alan: "You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine."
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Exam
Exam is over.. Isn't that cool?
Now you can relax and focus on your other exams coming up.. and also... *dun dun dun* your ASSIGNMENT 2!!!! yayy...
Does anyone want to say anything about the exam? Or how they feel they went?
I have a strong feeling in my guts that you all did a good job.. I'll start marking now =]
I've also uploaded your assignment 2 brief in the box on the right hand side of this blog.
Feel free to start writing it up early, I'll go through it on our last ever class on Tuesday.
Enjoy the rest of your week!!
Dr Dray
Paul Blart Mall Cop
I love this film it’s so funny. It’s about a man who man who works as a security guard in a shopping center. His name is Paul Blart. I’m pretty sure it’s called a segway throughout the film there pretty cool.
For years, he has applied to become a cop, but he always fails the physical exam because he is overweight. He gets bashed by a fat lady at some point........just though i should randomly put this in there.
On the busiest shopping day of the year and the mall is seized by a tightly organized crew of thieves, and customers are ordered outside, but Blart is playing free video games and doesn't notice.
He knows his way around the mall very well which is his advantage and his daughter and the girl he likes are one of the hostages so he is left to save the day.
I don’t think many reviewers like this movie but Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars.
If anyone has seen this, my favourite part is what he does when he is at the bar and gets drunk hahahahahaha
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The cove

Sunday, May 9, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
PERSEPOLIS
PERSEPOLIS one of the movie which I watched in class, the story of the movie is about the life of girl Marjane who left Iran after SHA RAZA Communist government and new Islamic government in Iran, and saw all the sudden changes in front of her eyes. This changes happened during 1970s.
Their family were expecting the good change in new Government but they found it worst then before.
Marjane was sanded to france for study but reality was this that her parents were scared of sudden changes and wanted her to be safe and sound.
She grew up in France and when she came back she felt no change in her country it was the same as she left many many years before.
She was really confused about her own personality as a Iranian being in France. She got failed many times before falling in love but she found it at last.
I personally like this movie because I can really understand the satiation which the director shown about condition of iran because I have been asked the same question in airport (any play card? any drink? any porn). I have seen that government also very closely.
Any how that movie was quite interesting and i really enjoyed that.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Who IS Roger Ebert?
Don't worry my little monsters, I shall elaborate more about him in next tutorial.
Next Tut - we will be studying QT's 2 films: Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill Vol.1.
Before our class, please research the term "Auteurism" so we can have our group discussion about it =]
Thanks guys, have a great weekend!
Muahaha
Dr Dray
Roger Ebert on Kill Bill Vol. 1

BY ROGER EBERT / October 10, 2003
"Kill Bill, Volume 1" shows Quentin Tarantino so effortlessly and brilliantly in command of his technique that he reminds me of a virtuoso violinist racing through "Flight of the Bumble Bee" -- or maybe an accordion prodigy setting a speed record for "Lady of Spain." I mean that as a sincere compliment. The movie is not about anything at all except the skill and humor of its making. It's kind of brilliant.
His story is a distillation of the universe of martial arts movies, elevated to a trancelike mastery of the material. Tarantino is in the Zone. His story engine is revenge. In the opening scene, Bill kills all of the other members of a bridal party, and leaves The Bride (Uma Thurman) for dead. She survives for years in a coma and is awakened by a mosquito's buzz. Is QT thinking of Emily Dickinson, who heard a fly buzz when she died? I am reminded of Manny Farber's definition of the auteur theory: "A bunch of guys standing around trying to catch someone shoving art up into the crevices of dreck." The Bride is no Emily Dickinson. She reverses the paralysis in her legs by "focusing." Then she vows vengeance on the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, and as "Volume 1" concludes, she is about half-finished. She has wiped out Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), and in "Volume 2" will presumably kill Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), Budd (Michael Madsen) and of course Bill (David Carradine). If you think I have given away plot details, you think there can be doubt about whether the heroine survives the first half of a two-part action movie, and should seek help.
The movie is all storytelling and no story. The motivations have no psychological depth or resonance, but are simply plot markers. The characters consist of their characteristics. Lurking beneath everything, as it did with "Pulp Fiction," is the suggestion of a parallel universe in which all of this makes sense in the same way that a superhero's origin story makes sense. There is a sequence here (well, it's more like a third of the movie) where The Bride single-handedly wipes out O-Ren and her entire team, including the Crazy 88 Fighters, and we are reminded of Neo fighting the clones of Agent Smith in "The Matrix Reloaded," except the Crazy 88 Fighters are individual human beings, I think. Do they get their name from the Crazy 88 blackjack games on the Web, or from Episode 88 of the action anime "Tokyo Crazy Paradise," or should I seek help? The Bride defeats the 88 superb fighters (plus various bodyguards and specialists) despite her weakened state and recently paralyzed legs because she is a better fighter than all of the others put together. Is that because of the level of her skill, the power of her focus, or the depth of her need for vengeance? Skill, focus and need have nothing to do with it: She wins because she kills everybody without getting killed herself. You can sense Tarantino grinning a little as each fresh victim, filled with foolish bravado, steps forward to be slaughtered. Someone has to win in a fight to the finish, and as far as the martial arts genre is concerned, it might as well be the heroine. (All of the major characters except Bill are women, the men having been emasculated right out of the picture.) "Kill Bill, Volume 1" is not the kind of movie that inspires discussion of the acting, but what Thurman, Fox and Liu accomplish here is arguably more difficult than playing the nuanced heroine of a Sundance thumb-sucker. There must be presence, physical grace, strength, personality and the ability to look serious while doing ridiculous things. The tone is set in an opening scene, where The Bride lies near death and a hand rubs at the blood on her cheek, which will not come off because it is clearly congealed makeup. This scene further benefits from being shot in black and white; for QT, all shots in a sense are references to other shots -- not particular shots from other movies, but archetypal shots in our collective moviegoing memories.
There's B&W in the movie, and slo-mo, and a name that's bleeped entirely for effect, and even an extended sequence in anime. The animated sequence, which gets us to Tokyo and supplies the backstory of O-Ren, is sneaky in the way it allows Tarantino to deal with material that might, in live action, seem too real for his stylized universe. It deals with a Mafia kingpin's pedophilia. The scene works in animated long shot; in live action closeup, it would get the movie an NC-17.
Before she arrives in Tokyo, The Bride stops off to obtain a sword from Hattori Hanzo ("special guest star" Sonny Chiba). He has been retired for years, and is done with killing. But she persuades him, and he manufactures a sword that does not inspire his modesty: "This my finest sword. If in your journey you should encounter God, God will be cut." Later the sword must face the skill of Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), O-Ren's teenage bodyguard and perhaps a major in medieval studies, since her weapon of choice is the mace and chain. This is in the comic book tradition by which characters are defined by their weapons.
To see O-Ren's God-slicer and Go-Go's mace clashing in a field of dead and dying men is to understand how women have taken over for men in action movies. Strange, since women are not nearly as good at killing as men are. Maybe they're cast because the liberal media wants to see them succeed. The movie's women warriors reminds me of Ruby Rich's defense of Russ Meyer as a feminist filmmaker (his women initiate all the sex and do all the killing).
There is a sequence in which O-Ren Ishii takes command of the Japanese Mafia and beheads a guy for criticizing her as half-Chinese, female and American. O-Ren talks Japanese through a translator but when the guy's head rolls on the table everyone seems to understand her. Soon comes the deadly battle with The Bride, on a two-level set representing a Japanese restaurant. Tarantino has the wit to pace this battle with exterior shots of snowfall in an exquisite formal garden. Why must the garden be in the movie? Because gardens with snow are iconic Japanese images, and Tarantino is acting as the instrument of his received influences.
By the same token, Thurman wears a costume identical to one Bruce Lee wore in his last film. Is this intended as coincidence, homage, impersonation? Not at all. It can be explained by quantum physics: The suit can be in two movies at the same time. And when the Hannah character whistles the theme from "Twisted Nerve" (1968), it's not meant to suggest she is a Hayley Mills fan but that leakage can occur between parallel universes in the movies. Will "Volume 2" reveal that Bud used to be known as Mr. Blonde?
Roger Ebert on Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs

BY ROGER EBERT / October 26, 1992
Now that we know Quentin Tarantino can make a movie like "Reservoir Dogs," it's time for him to move on and make a better one.
This film, the first from an obviously talented writer-director, is like an exercise in style. He sets up his characters during a funny scene in a coffee shop, and then puts them through a stickup that goes disastrously wrong. Most of the movie deals with its bloody aftermath, as they assemble in a warehouse and bleed and drool on one another.
The movie has one of the best casts you could imagine, led by the legendary old tough guy Lawrence Tierney, who has been in and out of jail both on the screen and in real life. He is incapable of uttering a syllable that sounds inauthentic. Tierney plays Joe Cabot, an experienced criminal who has assembled a team of crooks for a big diamond heist. The key to his plan is that his associates don't know one another, and therefore can't squeal if they're caught. He names them off a color chart: Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink, and so on. Mr. Pink doesn't like his name. "You're lucky you ain't Mr. Yellow," Tierney rasps.
The opening scene features an endlessly circling camera, as the tough guys light cigarettes and drink coffee in one of those places where the tables are Formica and the waitresses write your order on a green-and-white Guest Check. They argue, joke and b.s. each other through thick clouds of smoke; it's like "The Sportswriters on Parole." There's a funny discussion of tipping. Then they walk out of the restaurant, and are introduced in the opening credits, as they walk menacingly toward the camera. They have great faces: The glowering Michael Madsen; the apprehensive Tim Roth; Chris Penn, ready for anything; Tierney, with a Mack truck of a mug; Harvey Keitel, whose presence in a crime movie is like an imprimatur.
The movie feels like it's going to be terrific, but Tarantino's script doesn't have much curiosity about these guys. He has an idea, and trusts the idea to drive the plot.
The idea is that the tough guys, except for Tierney and the deranged Madsen, are mostly bluffers. They are not good at handling themselves in desperate situations.
We see the bungled crime in flashbacks. Tarantino has a confident, kinetic way of shooting action - guys running down the street, gun battles, blood and screams. Then the action centers in the warehouse, where Madsen sadistically toys with a character he thinks is a cop, and the movie ends on a couple of notes of horrifying poetic justice.
One of the discoveries in the movie is Madsen, who has done a lot of acting over the years (he had a good role in "The Natural") but here emerges with the kind of really menacing screen presence only a few actors achieve; he can hold his own with the fearsome Tierney, and reminds me a little of a very mean Robert De Niro.
Tarantino himself is also interesting as an actor; he could play great crazy villains.
As for the movie, I liked what I saw, but I wanted more. I know the story behind the movie - Tarantino promoted the project from scratch, on talent and nerve - and I think it's quite an achievement for a first-timer. It was made on a low budget. But the part that needs work didn't cost money. It's the screenplay. Having created the characters and fashioned the outline, Tarantino doesn't do much with his characters except to let them talk too much, especially when they should be unconscious from shock and loss of blood.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Today's Tutorial Question
Comment on what you think.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Yunfei's Analysis
The name of the movie is called Lost in Translation, made by the director Sofia Coppola in the year 2003. The story is about two Americans meeting in Tokyo and the culture different make two people close up. There are three main themes that the director wants to show audience. The first one is lonely, second is culture shock, and the last one is sadness.
The story was beginning at a grand hotel in Tokyo. The movie star Bob Harris and woman Charlotte meet each other. Charlotte’s husband John was full passion about the work and almost ignores her, the woman Charlotte was feel lonely and do not understand all of her husband. Beside of them, the man Harris use be a movie star in the past, however, with the time pass he was not young and not popular enough. He just comes to the Tokyo for some advertisement which he do not like. In the end, they meet and help each other to live in the strange country. It is a love story but a little bit sad.
The first and main theme about the movie is lonely. At the beginning of the story, the Harris sits in a taxi and no energy on his face although it is activity outside and it is a new country for him.
Harris just sit in the car and feel tired and lonely.
Beside of them, a lot of shot in the hotel make the atmosphere support the main theme. Two people sit in the hotel bar and silence all the time, but behind of them are really noisy. The third shot is both characters sit in the room and look the TV set, all the program they do not understand and feel bored and of course lonely. The directors Coppola use a lot of the close up camera shot to explain two main character’s emotion. And also use the point of view to show it. And be a audience, it is really easy to catch the feeling because when we feels lonely, it is quite normal to look around and looks unhappy. Secondly, the director use a lot of comparison skills such as environment comparison and sound comparison to show the lonely. For example, Charlotte walking on the street and look around without purpose, and all the pedestrians looks busy.
Charlotte walking on the street without purpose.
That contrast can be easy to catch audience attention. That is the environment contrast. The sound contrast is easy to appear. Some kind of Asian music was chosen in this movie, compare with the whole background, the audience can feel the character’s psychological very clearly.
The culture shock is the second and big theme that the director wants to show. The two characters are from western country but the directors choose Tokyo to be the background. Be a audience it is hard to understand why the director doing like that. However, deep think about the whole story, it will be easy to know that. The Asian culture and the western culture have a great different. The director just use that shock to film the movie, and show the deep lonely in both characters. On the other hand, the whole story is based on a love story between two Americans trapped in Tokyo. Their relationship is fueled by their feelings of displacement in the strange world of Japan. Because the love story is based on characters feelings of being outcasts, Coppola has chosen to use and exaggerate many Japanese stereotypes current in American culture. She has used stereotypes of size, manners, and language differences to make the Japanese people seem weird and different. One of the evidence is the man Harris join a TV show in the Tokyo. And from the whole program he just smiles and do not understand what the host said.
Harris joins into a Japanese program.
Furthermore, the Japanese host talks a lot of jokes and try to make the atmosphere nice. But Harris cannot put his energy into it and look really bored. Medium shot and close up are best way to show character’s emotion, director Coppola uses a lot of medium shot and close up to show each person psychology. Compare with others, the man Harris feel absolutely bored and helpless. Therefore, the audiences are easy to understand what happened at that time and sympathy the man Harris. The second scene is happened at Harris join the advertisement. Japanese director in the movie try to talk to him and asking his to the thing which he want. But with the translator Harris still do not understand his meaning and they camera the advertisement again and again.
Harris in a advertisement.
The culture shock is a big part of the movie that the Coppola wants to show us.
Both characters close to each other and talk.
The third theme about the movie is sadness. The director Coppola balance of humor and poignancy makes it both a pleasurable and melancholy experience. There's nothing labored or forced in the exploration of the undefined yet intense relationship and the insights about this type of brief but indelibly memorable bond emerge quite casually. However, the lonely and sadness feeling are show from begin to end. Think about, be a foreigner, the language and the different society are really for people to live in different country. All the people can understand the feelings and get resonance. The scene in the karaoke shows a lot of them. All the Japanese really enjoy about that but Harris and Charlotte not, although they looks happy and activity.
Harris singing in karaoke.
Another evidence is happened in the end. In the morning the man Harris say goodbye to the women Charlotte. He will back to his country at that time. Few minutes later, he jump out the car to see her again although he already on the way. Finally, big hugs between them make the whole movie more sweaty and move to ending.
Say goodbye
It is a love story in the end but full of pain. The pain and sadness not only by their action but also into their psychology. I got some research about the director Coppola’s background. She makes the movie Lost in Translation after her lovelorn. It is possible for her just to show her own feeling in the real life. Some of the long shot express the whole background and the noisy city Tokyo. However, the character’s psychology will be sadness all the time. On the other hand, some of the camera shot in the movie expresses her emotion about Japan. Therefore, Tokyo might be taking some great memoires for her and she want to show it exactly. All in all, the third theme sadness will be related her real life.
In conclusion, the movie lost in Translation includes three main themes which are lonely, culture shock and sadness. Each of the theme the director Coppola use different shot to explain it. Last one is music in the background. The director uses two main kind of music in the film. One is Japanese traditional music and anther one is slow music. Both of them show lonely and culture shock. Looking for the whole story, it is slow and quiet. All the things around are strange and two characters more close up because they support each other. It was a warm story when the audience appreciate it and should be get a lot of memory after it.

