Buffalo '66

I find myself starting to laugh again when I start thinking about Buffalo '66 again. Shockingly, though rather not, I didn't seem to find it on the best movies list in our book. It is quite an interesting film. Although it was quite random, it was full of many things that kept me, the viewer, entertained and involved in the movie.

The beginning really sets the tone of the movie well and introduces characters very fully without much confusion, at least to me. Development of characters is a vital thing if a movie is going to succeed, and Gallo did this perfectly. What was interesting about how he did it as well is the fact that he didn't just develop them all in one section; some characters we continually found out above until the very end of the movie. That includes characters we had been seeing the whole movie also. In this case, it was not a bad thing to have a progression of character development because it only kept me wondering what other parts am I missing. As well, not only did he develop his characters well but the settings he created, although not always vibrant and colorful, added to the movie being well portrayed. Settings are major factors in a movie that we ignore sometimes by being too caught up in the action of the movie, but in Buffalo '66, not only were the settings essential to the character development but to the movie development, on a whole, as well.

The storyline was fairly easy to comprehend although it took a big turn at the end. It was sort of a typical storyline for a movie of this matter, but the way the storyline progressed in the movie was not done in your typical way. That is what makes this movie so unique in my opinion. There were many twists and turns that always insured a variety of things in the movie. I'd probably say my favorite aspect of the movie, besides the storyline, was the ability of the movie to keep me laughing (not too much, not too little) about things that normally you wouldn't laugh about. The reason I perceived it as funny was not neccesairily because the actual acts were amusing, but the way Gallo revealed them through the characters personalities was in the utmost funniest fashion. The way that it was done was very neat.

In reference to film techniques, I really didn't see as many in this film from at least the techniques and terms we have learned already. There were new things I recognized such as jumps in times, freezes, and other things that looked like new material. Every now and then I saw an angle that we learned used, but I didn't really see as many in Buffalo '66. Lighting, though, I did see much use of, especially in that it helped out with the development of the settings, which I already mentioned I thought was a big part in the movie. Another thing I noticed was the random focusing on different things throughout the movie. These were focus's in which I sat wondering why that certain object was being focused on instead of the people, who were blurry due to not being focused on. Finally, it seemed as though there was a lot of mise en scene and that certainly was not a bad thing.

As for the ending, I thought it was excellent, even though it tricked me. I truly thought that he had gone through the process of killing the kicker and himself until he was alive again. Until I sorted it out in my mind, I really didn't realize what had happend, but after I did, I thought it was a great way to end the movie. I only wish there was a sequel.

-Kevin

Citizen Kane

Looking through the course book the other day, Movie Game Book: A Serious Pursuit of Film Trivia, I saw a list in the back of the book. It was a list of the best movies from about 1895 to the present. The first movie on the list was Citizen Kane, which I found a little interesting especially since it is the movie that we are watching and studying to begin the year. I found it interesting that it was the movie we were studying first and that it was number one on the list.

The movie, on a whole, was about a five and a half out of ten in my opinion. Their were parts that made me laugh, parts that made me wonder, parts that made me question, parts that had me totally interested, parts that had me totally lost, and parts that had me totally bored. The funny thing is that my attitude inside the movie changed from scene to scene. Still speaking in reference to the whole movie, I really liked the storyline once I figured it out. I'm not just talking about the whole Rosebud deal either. I didn't figure out what Rosebud meant until the end, but until I found out that the whole movie was centered on that phrase and his death, I was totally lost, confused, and bored. At that point is when I got into the movie more.

Speaking on behalf of Citizen Kane's storyline, I actually thought it was pretty neat both the idea of the storyline as well as how they progressed the movie to fit the storyline. I like mysterious movies where you are trying to figure out something about someone or what they said and things like that. That is what mainly kept me interested in the movie - trying to figure out what Charles Kane's dying words meant. Sometimes I am surprised and then sometimes I already guess what happens. In this case, I was surprised because I was in no way expecting the word to mean what it did. I actually liked it and thought it was pretty neat that it was the center of the whole movie progression - his childhood and him wanting that back. In this case, I thought it was very well done.

Since the storyline was the main part of why I liked the movie, what makes the movie a little low on the rating scale for me is the fact that I completely disliked the beginning. Personally, for me, the most crucial part of a movie is having an excellent beginning, and in my opinion, the movie did not accomplish this. The beginning was very vague and uninteresting and kept me wondering what the heck was going on. When I realized the storyline of the movie, I then started realizing the beginning did not represent the movie as a whole very well.

On a side note, I thought the movie demonstrated the things we covered in the very first class when you lectured about different parts of a film very well. I saw many examples of angles, lighting, movement, focus, and different shots that was talked about at that class. This, in my opinion, is the reason why I think it was a decent movie to start with for this year's class.

Overall, like I said, with the exception of the beginning, the movie was pretty good. A flowing middle and an excellent ending contributed to the movie's success. I can see in some instances why many would think the classic, Citizen Kane, would be one of the best movies out there.

-Kevin

Film Studies 2006-2007

I actually did not plan on taking this class because I was originally planning on taking other electives. Those electives didn't fit into my schedule which left open a few classes, including Film Studies. Since my Senior schedule seemed to be tough and academically focused enough, I thought why not take a class that seemed neat. So, I decided to take Film Studies.

I am a little uneasy because movies and I are hard to get along. I really have to be into a movie before I can even consider it, but I thought that it would be interesting to take this class and see how my thought process with movies went with the class.

-Kevin