Clueless

In doing some more research on the film, I realized that Heckerling studied high school students for 4 years in order to write the script. I feel that hard work like this makes the film more believable and the viewers can relate better to the film critically. Some of the biggest realizations that I noticed were the clothes, slang, and attitudes that each character presented throughout the film.

As for the clothes, Wikipedia says that "surprisingly trendsetting soon became the new fashions of real life, as plaids, pastels, baby doll dresses and knee-high tights quickly became the new "thing" in young women's fashion at a time where grunge fashion was still popular." In 1995, when the film was released, I can recall some of these fashions through my older sisters. Everything from the skateboarder fashion, to the P.E. spandex makes us remember the times when we once looked as ridiculous as the characters did in the movie.

Some of the slang, "as if, like, whatever, chill..." that was used in the film clueless, was very trend setting. As we discussed in class, these words were used by many females after they saw the film. These words became part of everyone's vocabulary used in our day to day lifestyles.

As for the attitudes of the characters, I noticed that everyone had an attitude that they had to be the best looking and most talked about. One of the big things was that all of the girls were getting nose jobs. This was very true because in high school my cousin got a nose job, and that was during the time when the movie clueless was most popular. Most of the characters throughout the film were mostly concerned with what was going on Friday night and who had the newest most hippest clothes.

I chose to write on the details of the movie that make us realize how effective every little thing like clothes, vocabulary, and attitude had an influence on the viewers. These things make the story line more believable and can relate better to the viewers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clueless_(film)

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800240281/info

Web Links: Point Break

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-Fso2EZq8 (this one is really cool!)

Point Break

I remember seeing Point Break for the first time when I was young. I was interested in the film because I too was a surfer growing up. I was even Ronald Regan for Halloween when this movie was popular.

When I look into depth of the video, I do realize some of the gaze that appears toward Keanu Reeves. I think that some of the major points of gaze were the beginning of the film when he was being tested for shooting practice by the FBI. Another example would be when Keanu Reeves woke up next to Lori Petty on the beach. These two sets were in slow motion and were very persuasive that Kathryn Bigelow was attracted to the characters and the male gaze.

"Point Break" is not the kind of movie where we should spend a lot of time analyzing the motives of the characters. Once Johnny Utah realizes, for example, that Bodhi knows he's an FBI agent - should he really go skydiving with him, and let Bodhi pack the chute? When this question came up, I think that this was a little extreme, but you do have to realize that Johnny Utah was in love with the character, Tyler. Tyler was going to get killed if there wasn't a connection between Bodhi and the guy holding Tyler hostage; therefore Utah did not have much of an option of whether or not to jump out of the plane. The things that we do for love...

As for the very end of the movie, I think that it was wrapped up well. I like how Johnny Utah was set to go out and find Bodhi. Once he found him and new that he wouldn't survive the rough surf, he let him go. As for the last quote, Utah tells Bodhi, "Go with God"

Too good to be a 'Black' film

I think that this is a harsh topic. I think that this title gives a bad reputation to this critic. It startles me because I kind of feel that the critic is giving "black" directors and "black" people in the film industry a reputation of low standards. By low standards, I mean that the general public only expect them to produce low quality films and stories, which is really sad. Regardless of color and being too good to be a black film, I felt that this movie was well worth the viewing.

As I read the article by Mia L. Mask, it states that "Eve's Bayou, one of the most financially successful independent films released last year." This goes to show me that race shouldn't have an influence on the film. Segregation should not be a reason for people both white and black to not go see a film if they are not of that race. Later on it states that, they found out who was going to see the film, leading them to the surprising discovery that over half of Bayou's moviegoers were white. This is just evidence that regardless of race, a movie is still a movie.

Ultimately, the question of "whether Eve's Bayou is too well made, too universal in its appeal, and too sophisticated in subject matter to be considered a 'black' film," should not even be a question. It was a good independent film not because it was a black film, but because of its meaning and content.

Links for Eve's Bayou:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eves_bayou/

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar/Film?Film=oid%3A141091

Links for Sidewayz

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideways

For Wanda and other B grade movies

When I was watching Loden's, For Wanda, I could see how people would not understand how directors and other people who had any contribution to this film could have imagined that this film would "make it." I read the readings about the video and could easily see how people could get the ideas of, no wonder this film only was released in one movie theater and then forgotten for another ten years. For Wanda can be first looked at as a film that most people would not consider to watch, even if they had to! When you take into consideration the amount of money, time and equipment used, the story line and outcome is a very good video. I feel that they did well with what they had to work with.

I was one of those people who used to think that low grade and low budget filmed were a waste of time. It only took one film that really got me interested in independent and B grade movies such as For Wanda. The movie that really got me interested in this area of film was a movie that was released in January of 2005, Sidewayz. Alexander Payne directed this film about two middle aged men who go on a journey in the wine country nestled in the central coast and Santa Ynez valley. This comedy features actors such as Sandra Oh and Paul Giamatti. One of the reasons that I first got interested in this film is for the primary reasons that I grew up in the same spot they filmed. I could refer to every scene, golf course, restaurant, store, and building that was in the movie! I highly recommend this film, you also learn a lot about wine and the wine country.

Since I saw the movie Sidewayz, I began to get quite the interest in low budget films and began to appreciate the hard work that goes on in film production. My interest have expanded more into other work of B grade movies. If anyone has any suggestions on movies for me that you think would catch my eye, let me know!

Links for Sex and the City

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_the_City

http://quiz.ivillage.com/astrology/tests/sexandthecity.htm