Seven (Se7en)

This movie is one of those movies that I don't have any problem writing about and could probably go on days and days about all of the neat things about it. Seven, also known as Se7en, was a very upbeat and intense movie. Combining all of the factors we have been learning throughout last year with an excellent storyline, this movie was one that everyone should see, regardless if he or she is studying film or not.

Maybe it's just me because it is consistent with me for every movie, but once again, I had a hard time getting into the movie in the beginning and figuring out what was going on. I look back at the beginning now and think how in the world did I miss that or not get that. It all connected obviously when I realized the movie was based on the seven deadly sins and murders surrounding the sins. Anyways, as for the storyline, I have to commend the writing and directing cast. This was one of the best storylines I think we have seen on film this year. Taking something the world can really relate to and putting it into context was really neat. Not to mention, the way the storyline was brought across was even better. Once again, this movie had a great set of actors and actresses. From the small parts to the big parts, the whole movie came together very well and was portrayed in excellent to get across a great point.

My favorite thing about Seven was its ability to do something very few modern movies can do. A typical modern movie talks about the same old stories dealing with love and outrageous violence or something of the like, using no sense of good movie technique except for the "Hollywood Way." Seven, on the other hand, went above and beyond that. It applied concepts of movies that have been used in the oldest movies we have seen. It didn't focus on the Hollywood technique but on real film technique. There were quite a few differences I saw but two that I thought were pretty major.

The first that really stuck out to me was that this movie had a theme and storyline that meant something. Instead of focusing on a typical storyline that means nothing at all, Seven portrayed a great theme. Taking the seven deadly sins, something all of us can relate to at some point, and putting them into perspective was a major sign. It even made me kind of think about the things I do that fall under all of those categories; everytime I saw one of the murders and therefore one of the sins, I kind of felt guilty at the same time, knowing some time or another I probably committed that. So, for this reason, the main point is that the storyline and theme had value and wasn't just pure imagination.

The other thing that stuck out to me was Seven's use of technique, especially under the Film Noir category. I saw quite a few similarities to Seven and other movies, but even more under the Film Noir movies. In a typical Film Noir movie, you have a story based in crime, crazy plots and twists to the crimes, a femme fatale (woman causing the downfall of the man), and the story looked at from the criminal's perspective. In each of those facts comes some show in Seven. Seven was a movie based on crime that was definitely crazy and twisted up; this was definitely not your typical murder story nor something we would normally see on the news at night in reference to a murder. I also saw Seven as a movie that we saw from the murder's eyes; we saw his plan unfold and eventually succeed and exactly what his plan was all about. Finally, we also see a mini femme fatale in the young detective himself but also in the young detective's wife. I see the young detective as the femme fatale, except as a man, for the older detective. While the older detective was going through a downtime, when the young detective screws it all up, I see the older detective going down too. At the same time, we see the young detective's wife as the femme fatale because her being caught up with the murder eventually causes the downfall of her husband, who eventually blows away any chance of defeating the criminal.

All in all, I think Seven was an excellent movie to show. I loved it and I think it is a movie that really shows a lot. Not only did it take us on a unique movie ride, but it also did so in a unique way, using things that a typical movie of today rarely uses.

-Kevin

The Big Lebowski

In a movie that I compare to Bubba Hotep in how absurd it was, The Big Lebowski was an extremely interesting movie, both in entertainment and film style. I really enjoyed it and thought it did a good job in portraying a story through the technique and characters. Also, for a movie that we were to look for similarities between it and The Big Sleep as well as Film Noir, I really had a hard time concentrating on looking for that, being distracted by the movie in general.

There were a lot of neat things about The Big Lebowski. In addition to hearing the many different ways to say the f word, I had a good time experiencing the movie on a whole. I liked the cast a lot and the setting always seemed to fit the movie and what was going on perfectly. What I really liked about this movie was that it didn't have to be too complex of a movie, meaning that we didn't need all these special effects and major actors or actresses to have a quality, modern movie. Other things that were also very solid in The Big Lebowski was its ability to keep the viewer interested, not only in their language and how funny they were acting but the actual story and how the story played out through the characters and therefore from the camera.

While in the Film Noir movie, we watched this movie to compare it to The Big Sleep, which has been said to have quite a few similarities. One of the major similarities was the "mock role" of the general in The Big Sleep to the big Lebowski in the movie. Along with that, the other two characters that mocked each other's role was the Dude and Bogey, especially whenever they are around their bosses, which was the general for Bogey and the big Lebowski for the Dude. I also saw another similarity in the storyline. What I mean by this is not necessairily that the stories matched each other, but more that they both started off with this one goal in mind and eventually it branched out into a bunch of different stories, some fitting and some random. The Big Lebowski, in this case was easier to follow and understand. And of course, both movies left you hanging, wondering what happend here and there and basically everywhere. Anyways, for me, I really only saw a few similarities between the two movies, although I did see a few more similarities between a typical Film Noir movie and The Big Lebowski. This is why you can basically name this movie a modern Film Noir movie, if there is such a thing.

As I mentioned earlier, I did not like the ending. I still have so many unanswered questions - What happend to Jesus? Did they win the bowling tournament? What did they get out of the whole deal? Did they gain any money? Did he get his rug back? Is his room tied together now? Did the Big Lebowski get what was coming for him? Did the guy looking for his money sing like he did in Buffalo '66? So many questions, so little answers...

Regardless, The Big Lebowski was quite a movie to stick into the curriculum. I enjoyed it and thought it was very fitting to what we were discussing because even though I didn't catch numerous similarities in the two movies mentioned above, there were quite a few. This is neat because it is interesting how film is so continious and just keeps growing, but growing out of what started it, including movies like The Big Sleep.

-Kevin

The Big Sleep

This was an interesting movie to start out the second semester, one that I actually liked in many aspects as well. As we begin the unit on Film Noir, I am excited to see what other movies there are that are considered this type because I liked this type of setting and environment. I like the darkened, paceful, stormy feel during a movie and these movies tend to stay in that style. The Big Sleep was one of those movies. With the whole Film Noir going on, The Big Sleep helped show me not only more about the style but more about film itself.

There was one thing that distracted me a bit, and I hope it is not common in these films. Like most of the viewers of this movie, I could not follow all of the storylines. When I thought I figured out one of them, another one popped into the story and the one I had been trying to figure out was never really solved and stated. This really bothered me because I had a hard time following the movie, but it did allow me to focus on more of what a Film Noir movie is. I easily related this movie and this type of movie to the German Expressionism movies. Like the German Expressionist movies, the storylines were hard to totally figure out and the environment remained the same; it just seemed like these directors had more green to put into the movie. Overall, though, like I mentioned, I like this low-key and black and white style of films, especially when a lot just seems to be fitting perfect.

Obviously, my likes outweighed my dislikes for The Big Sleep. At first, I wasn't a fan and not because it wasn't color but because I couldn't seem to get into the movie and focus on the theme. Once I put interest into it, I realized that what was showing was pretty neat, although the storyline was way out of whack. This is a prime example of a time when I wish directors and writers would've written down about each movie they worked on what exactly everything was all about. While I do like to watch a movie and try to interpret it myself, this movie was nearly impossible to do so. Another thing I realized in these Film Noir movies is there similarity to German Expressionist movies in the introducing of actual film technique. Since these movies were made back then as well when film technique was coming out, it is interesting to see it being used as comparison to later films that we have watched.

There were two things that were without a doubt my favorite. One of them is obvious - the environment and atmosphere of the movie. The way the movie went about was so smooth, excluding the storyline, and the flow was so excellent inside of the surrounding figures and things. The other thing was without a doubt the actors and actresses. These people were great. While they worked around a complex subject, they made the movie that much better. Both Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were perfect fit for the role that was played. Doing exactly what they needed to do to pull off their part in a Film Noir movie, they are the main reasons, along with the first favorite, that I like these types of movies.

The ending, well, was your typical ending and needed to come before my brain blew up trying to figure out what was exactly going on, but The Big Sleep was a great movie to start off the semester and the Film Noir unit. In regards to a movie I found interesting and actually comical at times, I am curious to see more similar to it in the category.

-Kevin