A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard

A Morning Stroll is about three New Yorkers, each from a different generation, and their reactions to seeing a chicken while walking. The first one, who is from 1959, just stands there, and eventually walks away. The second one, from 2009, tries to take a video on his smartphone, but gets distracted. The last one, who is a zombie from 2059, tries to eat the chicken but eventually dies.
This one was a bit less serious than the others. I really liked how the animation style slowly progressed and became more advanced as it went on. This short was probably my favorite because it was a lot more creative than the others. All of the other shorts were trying to be meaningful and inspirational, while A Morning Stroll was just fun and cheerful. The music, which was pretty joyful and cheery, helped raise the mood and make the video lighter. I'm giving this video 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. I would've been 5, but there was no really plot in it, it was merely for entertainment.

La Luna by Enrico Casarosa

La Luna is about a young boy who learns about his family business, turning the full moon into a crescent moon. His father and grandfather disagree on many things while teaching him ,like how to wear his hat and what tool to use for the job, but when they're overcome with an obstacle, a huge star that fell and won't budge, neither of their ways work. The young boy then comes up with a way to fix the problem without anyone's help.
I like this short not only because the animation style is one that I like and am used to, but it teaches kids that it's okay to follow a different path then the one their parents set out for them. It lets them know that everything will be okay in the end. While that's not always true, it gives kids hope. I'm giving this short 4 out of 5 stars. It would've been 5, but this short follows the same plotline that's in many other Pixar movies and animations.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce is about a writer, Mr. Lessmore, that is writing his book when suddenly, a tornado strikes the town. It had taken all the words from Mr. Lessmore's book, and left him without inspiration, making him monochrome. He's walking away from the town, when a woman flying through the air surrounded by flying books sees him, and leads him to a house full of books. She flies away, and Mr. Lessmore wanders through the house. As he does, he sees all the flying books, and gets inspiration. He lives in the house, reading, restoring books, and giving them to people to spread the joy of books. One night, he starts writing again. This goes on until he gets old. When he finally finishes his book, some of the flying books take him with them flying, and he dies, but not before leading a young girl to the house.
I really liked this short because it shows that books can be magical, and can inspire anyone. That and the animation style is really good. The music really helps in showing the mood of different scenes, by becoming quick and fast during the tornado, and slowing down as he loses inspiration. Overall, I'm giving this short 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. It's not 5 because it's not interesting unless you like books, which isn't a lot of people compared to people who like technology.

Summarizing My Work So Far

From what i have learned so far while working on this project this year is that the soundtracks chosen for a movie are a very important part of its making. The effect the music has on the mood of the moment is also often overlooked by the audience. After watching many movies and listening to the tracks chosen for them, and the timing at which the music is played, has made me notice that music is, in fact, a very important factor in movie making. It often backs up the visual aspects of the movie as it does in, for example, a sad moment where the music played helps the audience better understand the feelings of characters and the mood of the moment. In other cases the music played can foreshadow something to come, as it does with a sudden pick up of music, moments before the tide of the battle turns and the main characters begin to overpower the opposing force. At times the music in the movie can be so soft that even when you try to hear it its hard to make out, but subconsciously your brain still acknowledges its presence and uses it to better connect you ,as the audience, and the movie with its events and characters.

Dimanche by Patrick Doyon

Dimanche is an animated short film about a boy's daily routine on a Sunday. He's dragged to church, and then later on to his grandma's house, by his mom. His dad is apathetic to everything that happens, and just watches everything around him. He doesn't seem to have any friends in the short, so he plays with a coin by putting it on the railroad track next to his house to flatten it, but by doing so he harms a bear.
It has a muted color palette and a simple animation style, and I'm not really sure about the plotline. It doesn't stand out from the rest of the short stories, so I'm giving it 2 out of 5 stars.

The Silence in Movies

One problem that got in my way was finding movies with soundtracks that can be reviewed. Very often movie makers use music as a filler, for example, to entertain the audience during the movement of a character from one place to the next. The music here does not symbolize much and although it may hint at some events to com there is not much to discus about it there. In decisive moments in movies, silence if often chosen in order to give the audience to a feeling of suspense, sort of like everything in the forest goes quiet before something big happens. This anticipation is also a very important tool used in movies to keep you on the edge, hooked up in the action of the movie. In this case the music is often used as a means of breaking this suspense and either reflecting or foreshadowing the outcome of the tense moment.

The Dark Knight Review

For the first time ever, I watched The Dark Knight and reviewed its cinematography. I was not only surprised by the visual aspect of the movie, but also the movie as a whole. Believe it or not, the movie included several life lessons incorporated into the plot. In addition, the role of the characters in the movie taught me a little bit about how people communicate with each other and have relationships.

Overall, the movie was shot incredibly beautifully and I really enjoyed it. The thing I want to focus on for the purpose of this post is the special effects and makeup, especially that of the Joker and Two-Face. So far for this project I haven't ever really talked about the special effects or makeup that I have seen but this is a perfect opportunity to do so.

I was utterly fascinated by the Joker's makeup in the movie and decided to do a little bit of research on what it entails and how exactly the look is created. I couldn't find anything  directly from the set of The Dark Knight but I did find a YouTube video tutorial of how to create the same look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2K1eOa6uKc

I also found an interview with the Joker's makeup artist talking about how he thought of the look as well as the techniques used.
http://www.resource411.com/411update/issue_59/articles/dark_knight.cfm

After a quick Google search I discovered that besides the makeup that is used to create the creepy face of the Joker, Heath Ledger also wore prosthetics on his cheeks and mouth to create the scars that form the Joker's "smile." Below I created a transformation timeline of how Ledger becomes the Joker.
          

        Heath Ledger's transformation from a normal face to that of the Joker.

Another interesting transformation in The Dark Knight is that of Harvey Dent into Two-Face after being burned in a gasoline fire. I did some research on how this process occurred and discovered that his Two-Face look was created using digital imagery editing. I found a brief video of how this editing takes place and creates his ugly face that will make you cringe.

Here's the link to the video regarding Harvey Dent's face alterations:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/dark-knight-effects-two-face-video_n_1718650.html


     
Aaron Eckhart's transformation from Harvey Dent to Two-Face.

Sherlock Holmes 2 **SPOILER ALERT**`

In the final fight scene, Sherlock Holmes has a mind battle with Professor Moriarty. At first when Holmes makes his first "mind-move" there is no music, the audience is held in suspense for the battle to come. When The Professor counters his attack the audience watching begin to pick out quiet bits of the low mysterious music which then pics up as the fight unwinds to show a sort of sad almost despairing mood. These sad sounding notes hint at the negative outcome for Holmes in this battle. As The Professor releases Holmes' body, in slow motion, to fall into the water far far below, all we can hear is a slow music that reflects a finality, a doom, a lose off all hope. When the scene returns to reality there is a sudden drum beat signaling a return of hope but it dies quickly as the sad music continues and slowly dies away. As Sherlock Holmes starts following through with his actual plan and blows ashes into Professor Moriarty's face as a distraction so he has time to grab him in a hold, the music reflects this by quickly starting up with a fast escalating upbeat mood as it is clear that Holmes may still win. It dies quickly as Dr. Watson enters and Holmes Throws himself over the rail, still holding the Professor. As Watson watches this the slow sad piano notes start to play reflecting his sadness at the lose of his good friend. The sad music then continues as the narrator, Dr.Watson, finishes telling the story of the great Sherlock Holmes. When he is finished and notices the package that came in the mail he opens it and fins the oxygen tank that Holmes was interested in at the manor, the music then softly transforms to mysterious and then dies again as Watson walks out of the room. A Sherlock Holmes, who was hiding in the room, reviles himself to the audience the music, reflecting the ending, turns happy and sort of reminds me of what a prankster and joker  Holmes is in its slow beat and tone of the notes.

To Kill A Mockingbird Synopsis & Trailer

I'm planning on watching several movies this coming weekend and reviewing them since it's a long weekend. I'm going to post a trailer and summary for each of the movies that I am going to watch just so you can get an idea of what they're about. Enjoy!

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRCa3RCa5Pg

Synopsis: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/plotsummary

Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning book of 1961. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s. He agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Many of the townspeople try to get Atticus to pull out of the trial, but he decides to go ahead. How will the trial turn out - and will it change any of the racial tension in the town ? Written by Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>

Through the eyes of "Scout," a feisty six-year-old tomboy, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD carries us on an odyssey through the fires of prejudice and injustice in 1932 Alabama. Presenting her tale first as a sweetly lulling reminiscence of events from her childhood, the narrator draws us near with stories of daring neighborhood exploits by she, her brother "Jem," and their friend "Dill." Peopled with a cast of eccentrics, Maycomb ("a tired and sleepy town") finds itself the venue of the trial of Tom Robinson, a young black man falsely accused of raping an ignorant white woman. Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem's widowed father and a deeply principled man, is appointed to defend Tom for whom a guilty verdict from an all-white jury is a foregone conclusion. Juxtaposed against the story of the trial is the children's hit and run relationship with Boo Radley, a shut-in who the children and Dill's Aunt Rachel suspect of insanity and who no one has seen in recent history. Cigar-box treasures, found in the knot hole of a tree near the ramshackle Radley house, temper the children's judgment of Boo. "You never know someone," Atticus tells Scout, "until you step inside their skin and walk around a little." But fear keeps them at a distance until one night, in streetlight and shadows, the children confront an evil born of ignorance and blind hatred and must somehow find their way home. Written byMark Fleetwood <mfleetwo@mail.coin.missouri.edu>

The place: a small town in the south of the United States. The time: the early 20th century. A black man is accused of raping a woman, and an idealistic lawyer gets to defend him. We start watching the reasons that make his defense far from easy; and that's mostly because nobody in this town seems determined to believe in the guiltlessness of an accused negro. Written by Chris Makrozahopoulos <makzax@hotmail.com>

In the rural American south during the depths of the Depression, two children watch as their principled father takes a stand against intolerance.Written by Carl Schultz

The Dark Knight Synopsis & Trailer

I'm planning on watching several movies this coming weekend and reviewing them since it's a long weekend. I'm going to post a trailer and summary for each of the movies that I am going to watch just so you can get an idea of what they're about. Enjoy!

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GROmJWb-3wU


Synopsis: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/plotsummary

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker. Written byPeteagassi

Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins, Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as the Joker appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against the Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent and Rachel Dawes. Written by Leon Lombardi

The follow-up to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves effective. But soon the three find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces Batman closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante. Written by Anonymous

With just one year having passed after taking out Ra's Al Ghul's plan to have Gotham eliminated and the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA the Scarecrow, and after the city was nearly plundered with his toxins, Bruce Wayne and his vigilante alter-ego the Batman, continue the seemingly endless effort to bring order to Gotham, with the help of Lt. James Gordon and newly appointed District Attorney Harvey Dent. But a new threat has now emerged into the streets. The Dark Knight faces a rising psychopathic criminal called The Joker, whose eerie grin, laughter, and inhuman morality makes him as dangerous than what he has yet to unleash. It becomes an agenda to Batman to stop the mysterious Joker at all costs, knowing that both of them are in an opposite line. One has no method at all and seeks to see the world plunge into the fire he has yet to light. One represents the symbol of hope and uses his own shadow to bring the peace and order he has yet to accomplish doing. Written by Anonymous

Gotham's new district attorney has been elected. His name is Harvey Dent, and he has a radical new agenda that threatens to take down Gotham's organized crime underworld once and for all with an iron fist. But the emergence of the rogue vigilante known as Batman has caused problems for Dent and his agenda. A new criminal mastermind known only as "The Joker" has arrived and aims to take Gotham out from under Harvey Dent's iron fist. The Joker stages a masterfully planned bank robbery and robs the Gotham mob blind. He uses this money to stage a series of horrific and strategic attacks against the city and its' people - each one carefully planned and aimed at Dent and Batman while causing the rest of the city to enter panic mode. Meanwhile, Batman thinks he might have found a lead to The Joker thanks to Wayne Enterprises' dealings with a shady Chinese banker, and that takes Batman and Alfred to Hong Kong. The Joker has no rules, but Batman has only one, and the Joker aims to make Batman break his only rule. But who will be the one to take him out - will it be rogue vigilante Batman or will it be elected official Harvey Dent, the new hero with a face? Written by halo1k

This Year...

In a few weeks, the school year will be coming to an end and I thought now would be a good time to reflect on our group project. Overall, I really enjoyed this project because it involved something that I really love doing, watching movies! We had a rough start with trying to figure out a group project that we all supported, but it was a good experience in trying to resolve conflict with our peers. It was painful to have to take notes during each movie because it would have been much more fun to just enjoy the movie, but I didn't mind it as much because I ended up picking really amazing movies. The movies I picked all ended up being surprisingly good, probably because I chose them based on whether or not I liked the trailer. I do wish that I had the time to watch a greater variety of movies just to get a better understanding of more of the techniques used to create stunning cinematography. However, I have been extremely busy recently with school, lacrosse playoffs, and preparing for the AP test. I have a long weekend this week and I am going to attempt to watch a few movies, including older ones to get a better grasp on the evolution of cinematography. Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable  project and it really has taught me to be more aware of the visual aspect of movies.

Fast and Furious 6 **SPOILER ALERT**

One of the climax scenes in F&F 6 is when Dom and his crew try to take down Shaw´s team in a tank car chase. I feel like the music works well with the visual part of this scene. One part that stood out to me was when the convoy crashed into the cable and the tank burst out, because as the tank was emerging in slow motion the sound played was a drum roll that picked up in volume. I felt like this was meant to show the might of the tank and sort of glorify its power. Every time the tank is shown, the music shifts to glorious and up beat, it reminds me of the music associated with an ancient roman battle with echoing low notes and a heavy drum beat. The rest of the time the music playing is fast paced matching the racing feeling as the racers try to stop the tank. I like this scene because it somehow grabs your attention and holds it until the very end.

Movie Trailer Music

Most action movie trailers are made the same way music wise. The clip starts out with slow and quiet, or no music, as the video introduces the setting and characters of the film. As the clip progresses and some action starts showing the music starts to pick up in speed and volume. As the film is introduced there are flares of music to mirror the bursts of images and information portrayed by the video.  In decisive moments before something dramatic happens the music dies down building up the suspense the silence breaks and something dramatic happens. The music keeps building up all the way to the end of the clip, and breaks as it reaches climax. Abruptly transferring back into slow, quiet, often mysterious music that leaves you hanging and wanting to watch the movie.

Here is a great example of an action movie trailer, After Earth:

Animated short films

So it is pretty obvious that I don't really like adapted screenplay. I like books, But I just don't like seeing them turned into movies. So for the remainder of this school year, I will be looking into animated short films. I'll be seeing if they're animated well, and if they tell a story clearly. The short films I'll be watching are:
Dimanche
The fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A morning stroll
Wild life
Nullarbor
Amazonia
Skylight
Hybrid union
I'll be watching these over the next few weeks.

Dramatic Sound Tracks From Movies

Another common job of music is to make a scene dramatic. To make you feel the magnitude and glory of what is occurring. These are often  found at or near the end of a movie and help you feel the finality and greatness of the victory. I find my self associating this kind of music to nonfictional movie with knights or gladiators and monsters, when you see the main character  the hero, return victorious and everybody is cheering for him. The music almost makes me feel as if I am that hero that just defeated the great evil against all odds and have returned glorious and respected.

Jaws Annalysis

Although the music in jaws does its job I feel like it usually starts too early. In the movie the shark music starts when everything is peaceful and well and this continues for some time before there are signs that all is not well. While this creates tension as you wait for the shark to attack, I feel like the music starts to early and there for you start to lose patients before the action in the movie starts. One thing I would do to fix this would be too start the music a bit closer to the action, that way right as the audience cant wait any longer the shark attacks and the tension is broken. This would greatly increase the effect and contribution of the music track to setting the scary mood. The sound has to work with the film to portray the mood and action of the movie best.

Tribute to Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was a highly acclaimed cinematographer who sadly passed away on April 4, 2013. For each movie I have watched and written a review for, I paired it with a post that included Roger Ebert's review of the movie. These reviews that I posted was how I discovered Roger Ebert's talented mind. His movie reviews consist of perfect blends of a movie summary as well as an analysis of the movie and its characters. I did a little bit of research on Ebert when he passed away and realized what an amazing film critic he truly was. He received several extremely coveted awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, as well as being the first film critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During his career as a film critic, journalist, and screenwriter, he coined the term 'Two Thumbs Up" in addition to being described as "without a question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic." Ebert continued writing reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times right up until his death, despite the fact that his salivary gland and thyroid cancer had destroyed his ability to speak. I plan on continuing to use his reviews as I basis for mine as I continue to view movies an critique them on their cinematography. Roger Ebert was an extremely talented film critic who's influence will be continually remembered and missed. Rest in peace. 

Saving Private Ryan Trailer

I just realized that for the first two movies I watched I posted a trailer of them along with the review. But, I haven't done that for my last two movies that I watched. So, here's a link to a trailer of Saving Private Ryan. The trailer does give a good look at how stunningly the movie is shot and how emotionally it portrays war. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68t6PhbYiSo

Jaws

Jaws is a very good example of a movie where music plays a critical part on the effect of the movie on the audience. The music helps create the tension, when you see somebody playing in the water and the ¨shark is coming" music starts playing you know what is about to happen, you are expecting it and you are afraid. The music is meant to give you that feeling that something terrible is about to happen and it makes you wanna scream at the movie, tell the characters to get out of the water, but unlike you they don´t hear the music. Wouldn't it be nice if music played in real life when something was about to happen to warn you?

Saving Private Ryan Legitimate Review

Below is a review of Saving Private Ryan by Roger Ebert. I post his reviews in accordance with the reviews I post because he does an excellent job of summarizing the movie as well as talking about the characters and the meaning of the movie in an easy to understand manner. In this particular review Ebert talks more about the meaning of the movie and how well the director and cinematographer display this message, rather than talking about specific visual elements. Our reviews complement each other nicely by providing two different perspectives. Enjoy!


Saving Private Ryan
Roger Ebert

The soldiers assigned to find Pvt. Ryan and bring him home can do the math for themselves. The Army Chief of Staff has ordered them on the mission for propaganda purposes: Ryan's return will boost morale on the homefront, and put a human face on the carnage at Omaha Beach. His mother, who has already lost three sons in the war, will not have to add another telegram to her collection. But the eight men on the mission also have parents--and besides, they've been trained to kill Germans, not to risk their lives for publicity stunts. "This Ryan better be worth it," one of the men grumbles.

In Hollywood mythology, great battles wheel and turn on the actions of individual heroes. In Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan," thousands of terrified and seasick men, most of them new to combat, are thrown into the face of withering German fire. The landing on Omaha Beach was not about saving Pvt. Ryan. It was about saving your skin.

The movie's opening sequence is as graphic as any war footage I've ever seen. In fierce dread and energy it's on a par with Oliver Stone's "Platoon," and in scope surpasses it--because in the bloody early stages the landing forces and the enemy never meet eye to eye, but are simply faceless masses of men who have been ordered to shoot at one another until one side is destroyed.

Spielberg's camera makes no sense of the action. That is the purpose of his style. For the individual soldier on the beach, the landing was a chaos of noise, mud, blood, vomit and death. The scene is filled with countless unrelated pieces of time, as when a soldier has his arm blown off. He staggers, confused, standing exposed to further fire, not sure what to do next, and then he bends over and picks up his arm, as if he will need it later.

This landing sequence is necessary to establish the distance between those who give the order that Pvt. Ryan be saved, and those who are ordered to do the saving. For Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) and his men, the landing at Omaha has been a crucible of fire. For Army Chief George C. Marshall (Harve Presnell) in his Washington office, war seems more remote and statesmanlike; he treasures a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote consoling Mrs. Bixby of Boston, about her sons who died in the Civil War. His advisors question the wisdom and indeed the possibility of a mission to save Ryan, but he barks, "If the boy's alive we are gonna send somebody to find him--and we are gonna get him the hell out of there." That sets up the second act of the film, in which Miller and his men penetrate into French terrain still actively disputed by the Germans, while harboring mutinous thoughts about the wisdom of the mission. All of Miller's men have served with him before--except for Cpl. Upham (Jeremy Davies), the translator, who speaks excellent German and French but has never fired a rifle in anger and is terrified almost to the point of incontinence. I identified with Upham, and I suspect many honest viewers will agree with me: The war was fought by civilians just like him, whose lives had not prepared them for the reality of battle.

The turning point in the film comes, I think, when the squadron happens upon a German machinegun nest protecting a radar installation. It would be possible to go around it and avoid a confrontation. Indeed, that would be following orders. But they decide to attack the emplacement, and that is a form of protest: At risk to their lives, they are doing what they came to France to do, instead of what the top brass wants them to do.

Everything points to the third act, when Private Ryan is found, and the soldiers decide what to do next. Spielberg and his screenwriter, Robert Rodat, have done a subtle and rather beautiful thing: They have made a philosophical film about war almost entirely in terms of action. "Saving Private Ryan" says things about war that are as complex and difficult as any essayist could possibly express, and does it with broad, strong images, with violence, with profanity, with action, with camaraderie. It is possible to express even the most thoughtful ideas in the simplest words and actions, and that's what Spielberg does. The film is doubly effective, because he communicates his ideas in feelings, not words. I was reminded of "All Quiet on the Western Front." Steven Spielberg is as technically proficient as any filmmaker alive, and because of his great success, he has access to every resource he requires. Both of those facts are important to the impact of "Saving Private Ryan." He knows how to convey his feelings about men in combat, and he has the tools, the money and the collaborators to make it possible.

His cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, who also shot "Schindler's List," brings a newsreel feel to a lot of the footage, but that's relatively easy compared to his most important achievement, which is to make everything visually intelligible. After the deliberate chaos of the landing scenes, Kaminski handles the attack on the machinegun nest, and a prolonged sequence involving the defense of a bridge, in a way that keeps us oriented. It's not just men shooting at one another. We understand the plan of the action, the ebb and flow, the improvisation, the relative positions of the soldiers.

Then there is the human element. Hanks is a good choice as Capt. Miller, an English teacher who has survived experiences so unspeakable that he wonders if his wife will even recognize him. His hands tremble, he is on the brink of breakdown, but he does his best because that is his duty. All of the actors playing the men under him are effective, partly because Spielberg resists the temptation to make them zany "characters" in the tradition of World War II movies, and makes them deliberately ordinary. Matt Damon, as Pvt. Ryan, exudes a different energy, because he has not been through the landing at Omaha Beach; as a paratrooper, he landed inland, and although he has seen action he has not gazed into the inferno.

They are all strong presences, but for me the key performance in the movie is by Jeremy Davies, as the frightened little interpreter. He is our entry into the reality because he sees it clearly as a vast system designed to humiliate and destroy him. And so it is. His survival depends on his doing the very best he can, yes, but even more on chance. Eventually he arrives at his personal turning point, and his action writes the closing words of Spielberg's unspoken philosophical argument.

"Saving Private Ryan" is a powerful experience. I'm sure a lot of people will weep during it. Spielberg knows how to make audiences weep better than any director since Chaplin in "City Lights." But weeping is an incomplete response, letting the audience off the hook. This film embodies ideas. After the immediate experience begins to fade, the implications remain and grow.

Here's the link to the above review on Roger Ebert's website: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/saving-private-ryan-1998 

Saving Private Ryan

The movie Saving Private Ryan won best cinematography in 1998 when it came out. I decided to watch it over the weekend because I was sick of having my friends saying I haven't lived unless I've seen Saving Private Ryan and because I thought it must be pretty visually appealing if it won an Oscar for cinematography. Turns out my friends were right about it being a must-see. However, I did not think it had the best cinematography I have ever seen. Yes, it was an amazing movie with serious, valuable life lessons incorporated, but I didn't think it had anything special visually.

The movie was entirely about war and the majority of the filming was done during battles. This aspect of the movie was done stunningly. Each battle scene was shot so originally it was incredible. The camera angles used in the movie were one of the most interesting aspects. The scene never showed both sides shooting guns at each other, but rather an intimate shot of the men setting up their guns, awaiting the enemy, and firing the shot. As the men are about to fire their guns, the camera zooms in to show their eyes blinking as they take their aim, their lips moving slightly in a whispered prayer, and finally their finger slowly pulling the trigger. The entire movie was a more intimate look into what war is like than anything I have ever seen. Often times, the camera followed the soldiers as they ran into battle or ran from the enemy, and the camera was even placed right next to the soldiers so you saw exactly what they did. Once during a battle, the men are using machine guns and when the audience hears the staccato fire of the guns, the camera shakes simultaneously. The scenery of the movie is so important that the camera scans the battlefield frequently during the movie so you can soak up every detail of the war. In addition, the movie begins with the battle at Normandy when the U.S. troops arrive by water and charge the land. Frequently during this scene the camera goes below water to show injured and killed men sinking to the bottom of the ocean.  The camera angle that struck me as the most significant was at the very end of the movie when Private Ryan is shown as an old man in Normandy at the cemetery for all the soldiers who were killed and his face is in the foreground and filling up the rest of the screen are rows upon rows of white, stone crosses that each represent a dead soldier. A dead soldier who suffered while Ryan did not. A soldier who was unlucky, when Ryan was. It really shows the significance of brotherhood between soldiers in war and how much they become like family to one another.

Another significant aspect of the movie were the colors used, both the bright and dull ones. Obviously war is not the brightest subject to film, but the colors used in the battle scenes were so significant and fitting to what was going on. The movie includes a scene in which the U.S. troops set up fort in a half-wrecked house that used to be the home of a German family. The house is clearly not in very good condition, except for the bright wallpaper that still remains on many of the walls. The significance of the wallpaper is how it must remind the men of their homes, so far away that it's hard to even think they may one day return. The majority of the scenes during battle consist of very dull greens, blues, and browns. All but one in which the men go into battle during a thunderstorm and the entire television screen became a see of misty blues as I was watching the film. It was so magical, yet eerie, just as I assume war must seem. 

Why Music?

 What would a movie be like without music? Why is a scary movie not scary at all on mute? The sound track of  movie is almost just as important as what you actually see on the screen. Without music or sound any movie would suddenly become boring and will not do what a movie is meant to d. Capture your attention and make you feel what the characters of the movie feel. The music in a movie, sets the mood of the story for the people watching it. What a movie lacks in words that a book can describe but a movie cant, it makes up in imagery and sound which the back cant show.

Forrest Gump Legitimate Review

Once again, Roger Ebert and me have very similar thoughts on movies. Below is his review of Forrest Gump and much of it matches up with my thoughts of the movie. He mentions the special effects that I thought were very realistic and cool, as well as the true magic of the story. Ebert also does an excellent job of summarizing the whole of the movie, a task that I cannot do without spoiling the whole thing.

Forrest Gump

BY ROGER EBERT / July 6, 1994

I've never met anyone like Forrest Gump in a movie before, and for that matter I've never seen a movie quite like "Forrest Gump." Any attempt to describe him will risk making the movie seem more conventional than it is, but let me try. It's a comedy, I guess. Or maybe a drama. Or a dream.

 The screenplay by Eric Roth has the complexity of modern fiction, not the formulas of modern movies. Its hero, played by Tom Hanks, is a thoroughly decent man with an IQ of 75, who manages between the 1950s and the 1980s to become involved in every major event in American history. And he survives them all with only honesty and niceness as his shields.

And yet this is not a heartwarming story about a mentally retarded man. That cubbyhole is much too small and limiting for Forrest Gump. The movie is more of a meditation on our times, as seen through the eyes of a man who lacks cynicism and takes things for exactly what they are. Watch him carefully and you will understand why some people are criticized for being "too clever by half." Forrest is clever by just exactly enough.

Tom Hanks may be the only actor who could have played the role.

I can't think of anyone else as Gump, after seeing how Hanks makes him into a person so dignified, so straight-ahead. The performance is a breathtaking balancing act between comedy and sadness, in a story rich in big laughs and quiet truths.

Forrest is born to an Alabama boardinghouse owner (Sally Field) who tries to correct his posture by making him wear braces, but who never criticizes his mind. When Forrest is called "stupid," his mother tells him, "Stupid is as stupid does," and Forrest turns out to be incapable of doing anything less than profound. Also, when the braces finally fall from his legs, it turns out he can run like the wind.

That's how he gets a college football scholarship, in a life story that eventually becomes a running gag about his good luck. Gump the football hero becomes Gump the Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam, and then Gump the Ping-Pong champion, Gump the shrimp boat captain, Gump the millionaire stockholder (he gets shares in a new "fruit company" named Apple Computer), and Gump the man who runs across America and then retraces his steps.

It could be argued that with his IQ of 75 Forrest does not quite understand everything that happens to him. Not so. He understands everything he needs to know, and the rest, the movie suggests, is just surplus. He even understands everything that's important about love, although Jenny, the girl he falls in love with in grade school and never falls out of love with, tells him, "Forrest, you don't know what love is." She is a stripper by that time.

The movie is ingenious in taking Forrest on his tour of recent American history. The director, Robert Zemeckis, is experienced with the magic that special effects can do (his credits include the "Back to the Future" movies and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"), and here he uses computerized visual legerdemain to place Gump in historic situations with actual people.

Forrest stands next to the schoolhouse door with George Wallace, he teaches Elvis how to swivel his hips, he visits the White House three times, he's on the Dick Cavett show with John Lennon, and in a sequence that will have you rubbing your eyes with its realism, he addresses a Vietnam-era peace rally on the Mall in Washington. Special effects are also used in creating the character of Forrest's Vietnam friend Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise), a Ron Kovic type who quite convincingly loses his legs.

Using carefully selected TV clips and dubbed voices, Zemeckis is able to create some hilarious moments, as when LBJ examines the wound in what Forrest describes as "my butt-ox." And the biggest laugh in the movie comes after Nixon inquires where Forrest is staying in Washington, and then recommends the Watergate. (That's not the laugh, just the setup.) As Forrest's life becomes a guided tour of straight-arrow America, Jenny (played by Robin Wright) goes on a parallel tour of the counterculture. She goes to California, of course, and drops out, tunes in, and turns on. She's into psychedelics and flower power, antiwar rallies and love-ins, drugs and needles. Eventually it becomes clear that between them Forrest and Jenny have covered all of the landmarks of our recent cultural history, and the accommodation they arrive at in the end is like a dream of reconciliation for our society. What a magical movie.

Here's the link to the review above:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940706/REVIEWS/407060301/1023

Life of Pi Legitimate Review

As a part of this project I am going to include an actual movie review for each movie that I watch and critique. Below I included the Life of Pi review written by Roger Ebert. His review gives an excellent summary of the movie without ruining any of it as well as further illustrating my praise of the film's beauty. Our opinions are very similar, once again giving me hope that I am doing pretty well with this whole movie reviewing thing. Feel free to compare our reviews and enjoy!

LIFE OF PI
By: Roger Ebert

Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery. Inspired by a worldwide best-seller that many readers must have assumed was unfilmable, it is a triumph over its difficulties. It is also a moving spiritual achievement, a movie whose title could have been shortened to "life."

The story involves the 227 days that its teenage hero spends drifting across the Pacific in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. They find themselves in the same boat after an amusing and colorful prologue, which in itself could have been enlarged into an exciting family film. Then it expands into a parable of survival, acceptance and adaptation. I imagine even Yann Martel, the novel's French-Canadian author, must be delighted to see how the usual kind of Hollywood manhandling has been sidestepped by Lee's poetic idealism.



The story begins in a small family zoo in Pondichery, India, where the boy christened Piscine is raised. Piscine translates from French to English as "swimming pool," but in an India where many more speak English than French, his playmates of course nickname him "pee." Determined to put an end to this, he adopts the name "Pi," demonstrating an uncanny ability to write down that mathematical constant that begins with 3.14 and never ends. If Pi is a limitless number, that is the perfect name for a boy who seems to accept no limitations.



The zoo goes broke, and Pi's father puts his family and a few valuable animals on a ship bound for Canada. In a bruising series of falls, a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and the tiger tumble into the boat with the boy, and are swept away by high seas. His family is never seen again, and the last we see of the ship is its lights disappearing into the deep — a haunting shot that reminds me of the sinking train in Bill Forsyth's "Housekeeping" (1987).



This is a hazardous situation for the boy (Suraj Sharma), because the film steadfastly refuses to sentimentalize the tiger (fancifully named "Richard Parker"). A crucial early scene at the zoo shows that wild animals are indeed wild and indeed animals, and it serves as a caution for children in the audience, who must not make the mistake of thinking this is a Disney tiger.



The heart of the film focuses on the sea journey, during which the human demonstrates that he can think with great ingenuity and the tiger shows that it can learn. I won't spoil for you how those things happen. The possibilities are surprising.



What astonishes me is how much I love the use of 3-D in "Life of Pi." I've never seen the medium better employed, not even in "Avatar," and although I continue to have doubts about it in general, Lee never uses it for surprises or sensations, but only to deepen the film's sense of places and events.



Let me try to describe one point of view. The camera is placed in the sea, looking up at the lifeboat and beyond it. The surface of the sea is like the enchanted membrane upon which it floats. There is nothing in particular to define it; it is just … there. This is not a shot of a boat floating in the ocean. It is a shot of ocean, boat and sky as one glorious place.



Still trying not to spoil: Pi and the tiger Richard Parker share the same possible places in and near the boat. Although this point is not specifically made, Pi's ability to expand the use of space in the boat and nearby helps reinforce the tiger's respect for him. The tiger is accustomed to believing it can rule all space near him, and the human requires the animal to rethink that assumption. 



Most of the footage of the tiger is of course CGI, although I learn that four real tigers are seen in some shots. The young actor Suraj Sharma contributes a remarkable performance, shot largely in sequence as his skin color deepens, his weight falls and deepness and wisdom grow in his eyes.



The writer W.G. Sebold once wrote, "Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension." This is the case here, but during the course of 227 days, they come to a form of recognition. The tiger, in particular, becomes aware that he sees the boy not merely as victim or prey, or even as master, but as another being.



The movie quietly combines various religious traditions to enfold its story in the wonder of life. How remarkable that these two mammals, and the fish beneath them and birds above them, are all here. And when they come to a floating island populated by countless meerkats, what an incredible sequence Lee creates there.



The island raises another question: Is it real? Is this whole story real? I refuse to ask that question. "Life of Pi" is all real, second by second and minute by minute, and what it finally amounts to is left for every viewer to decide. I have decided it is one of the best films of the year.

Here is the link to the above review found on Roger Ebert's site: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121120/REVIEWS/121129995

Life of Pi **SPOILER ALERT**

I watched Life of Pi last night because I thought it would be a good choice for my next review since it won an Oscar for Best Cinematography. WOW. That's all I have to say about the movie. The story was intriguing and magical while the visuals were just breathtaking. I have never before seen a movie so beautiful in every possible way. For this review, I thought the aspects I should put the most focus on are the colors and the lighting. By doing this I won't ruin the story for anyone, because it truly was one of the best movies I have ever seen.

From the very first scene, I knew this was going to be a stunning movie. The colors of everything in the  scene were so vibrant and bright and crisp. It looked like a painting of paradise. From then on, I tried to pay extra close attention to the colors in each scene as well as the lighting and how that enhanced each story. During several scenes throughout the movie, the colors seemed to dull a bit and this change added to the mood that was to be associated with what was going on. For example, when Pi is on the boat on his way to North America, leaving his home for good, the colors of the room and his clothes are very dull and melancholy to further illustrate his sadness and longing for home. Multiple times throughout the movie Pi experiences a storm while at sea and suddenly it seems as though all the lights were shut off on the movie set. Obviously this is done to make the storm seem as realistic as possible, but it also creates a very gloomy and miserable mood. Each night while Pi is in his lifeboat, the stars and moon reflect beautifully in the vast ocean and serve as the only source of light for that scene. They are so bright and warm that they give the audience hope that Pi will eventually be saved. On the first morning after the ship Pi was on with his family sunk, and after he got into a lifeboat by himself, the sun rises and the scene might have been the most stunning and hope-filled in the entire movie. The sun, clouds, and water are all in warm shades of gold and combined they really light up the entire scene. The sun reflects off of everything in the boat, including Pi, and create such a warm feeling. It would take me hours to give every example of how gorgeous each scene was or how the colors were the sharpest I have ever seen, so instead I am going to try to include as many pictures as I can in the rest of this post so you can all appreciate the pure beauty that was in the film.

I want to focus this post mainly on the color and beauty of the film, but it is also important to mention the camera angles used. There were shots taken from under water, from the sky, from the water level, and everything in between. The angles were very original to me as I rarely see such daring shots in movies. Since most of the movie was about a boy being shipwrecked, many of the angles in the movie were taken below or at sea level. Obviously I have seen movies that use these techniques but not to the extreme where it looks like a character is swimming across the sky, as it did in Life of Pi. Another interesting angle that was used very often was that of an aerial shot of Pi's life boat, surrounded by endless miles of open ocean. This angle really illustrated to the audience the solidarity of Pi, and how big the ocean is compared to a young teenager. The last shot that really struck me as being significant was when Pi is looking up into the sky during one of the storms he endures while on the lifeboat, and basically says to God that he is ready to die and that he completely surrenders. The camera is below Pi's  head, facing up and you can see the pain in Pi's eyes as he looks hopelessly into the heavens.

Pi is on an island and at night the whole island glows in a turquoise shade. 

 

On his lifeboat, Pi can see the glowing jellyfish and sea creatures swimming at night.

The sunrise on the first morning after Pi's ship sank was truly the most beautiful I have ever seen.

The tiger that accompanies Pi on his journey is very near death and his bright orange fur begins to fade.

Pi dreams about his mother while at sea and her face is made up of stars reflecting in the ocean.

Aerial shots are used quite frequently to show the sea life swimming just underneath Pi's lifeboat.

The storms Pi endures transform the entire scene into a blend of blues, grays, and blacks.

The tiger that accompanies Pi is a bright orange color that is contrasted by the deep blue of the ocean.

Forrest Gump *SPOILER ALERT*

I've decided to switch up the style of my movie reviews, for the time being at least. I honestly thought my review of Braveheart was a bit on the boring side and that's not exactly what I'm aiming for with these reviews. For this review on Forrest Gump, I'm thinking of just talking about the most important aspects of the movie as a whole, rather than individual scenes. The main subjects I will focus on are symbolism, color techniques and special effects. Overall, the movie was AMAZING. Tom Hanks is a phenomenal actor and the plot of the movie is extremely relatable and moved me to tears.

The two most significant symbols in the movie, as far as I could see, where a pair of shoes and a feather. As the opening credits appear on the screen, the camera is shown following a white feather as it drifts down from the sky and lands next to Forrest's shoe. He then bends down to pick up the feather and saves it in a Curious George book. This same feather is shown in the end scene of the movie when Forrest is watching his son, Forrest Jr., get on the bus for his first day of school. The feather is resting against Forrest's shoe once again and then shown blowing away on the breeze. The significance of this feather is kind of what the whole movie is about, fate and destiny. The feather could have landed anywhere, but it landed on Forrest's shoe randomly, just as your destiny is handed to you randomly. Another significant symbol in the movie are Forrest's shoes. Similar to the feather, Forrest's shoes represent his destiny and his believe that he can achieve greatness. Everyone can fulfill their dreams as long as they believe in them. For Forrest, his shoes gave him confidence that he would be lead in the right direction his entire life.

The entire movie stretches the length of Forrest's adult life and therefore goes through many different styles of clothes and significant time periods in history. The costume designer and set designer of the movie manage to capture the fashion style and whole essence of each decade the movie progresses through. The color palette used in each scene as Forrest grows up perfectly illustrates that decade and the types of clothing that were worn at that time. In addition, the color of the clothing worn always seems to correlate with the current weather, coincidence or not, it added to the mood of the movie.

Special effects are used most noticeably used when Forrest is shown in old, famous television footage whether he was shaking JFK's hand for receiving the medal of honor or seeing Nixon in the Watergate Hotel before his scandal was exposed. The makers of the movie found a way to manipulate Forrest's face into the footage and this effect added to the authenticity of the movie. Another special effect used was while Forrest was in the Vietnam War and body parts were shown blown off of soldiers' body's, as well as Forrest's general shown laying in a hospital bed with no legs. The effects were handled very skillfully and appeared as a realistic war scene. 

Visions of Light

This past weekend I watched the documentary Visions of Light about cinematography. To be honest it was a bit on the boring side compared to the kinds of movies I enjoy watching, but it was very informational to say the least. The majority of the movie consisted of different directors and cinematographers talking about their experiences making films as well as clips from different movies. The first part of the movie talked about cinematographers and their true role in movies. I did not know very much about what a cinematographer adds to a film and learned very much.

A cinematographer must first understand the plot of the movie and where the director is going before he starts filming. Once the film is understood, he must then find a way to create visual images to tell the story. A cinematographer does not mirror exactly what the director envisions when he creates the movie, but must come to the film with a different view and add energy to every scene. The goal of a good cinematographer is to portray the entire movie just through images, so if someone were to turn off the soundtrack, a viewer could still enjoy and understand the movie just based on what is shown. By creating a story through images, a cinematography must be daring to experiment with techniques to express a desired emotion or concept. They cannot be scared by trying something new, but see it as an opportunity to succeed. Many of the widely used techniques in movies today are based off of those created decades ago that have proven as successful. Cinematographers, like other professionals, learn from others and they often copy ideas to a certain extent. Several of the techniques used in movies were a mistake by one cinematographer and then turned out to create a positive effect on the film. The goal of a cinematographer is to incorporate new techniques and those used before to create a picture that viewers will remember not just for the plot, but for the emotion they felt when they physically saw the story come alive before them.

As a cinematographer, one must decipher what emotion the director is trying to create and use a variety of effects to help portray that emotion. Effects such as sharp contrast are used to create mood in the image and often times the most important aspect of a scene is the lights you don't turn on. A cinematographer's best friend is light. They have the ability to shift the focus of a scene or illustrate an important detail just by adjusting a few lights. Contrast was especially used in movies of the Film Noir era that were shot in shades of black and created mood in the film. A particular example is that of Marlon Brando's eyes, or the lack thereof, in The Godfather. The audience never really sees his eyes, but rather two shadowed holes and this decision by the cinematographer adds of mystery to his character. The last aspect of a film that is most important when regarding a cinematographer's role is the camera angle at which the scene is shot. Intimate shots when the camera is in a room with the actor creates a certain effect that a bird's eye view does not. The invention of helicopter and crane shots as well as panoramic shots added a whole new aspect to the film industry as the viewer could finally relate more to the scene in a movie.

Dissappointing...

Well, clearly I have not been able to watch movies and post about my thoughts towards them as often as I previously planned on. I know there's nothing to be gained from me complaining about things, but sometimes I feel as though that's the only way I can express my feelings toward school. Anyway, I really haven't had time to sit down and watch a movie without distractions in several weeks. I've had ten tests the past week and the amount of homework I have received is overwhelming to say the least. My point being that since next week is spring break, I plan on watching two movies at least and posting my thoughts. I also have two other posts to finish regarding a documentary on cinematography, and on Forrest Gump! So sorry for the delay but I just wanted to post and let you know where I'm at right now and where I plan to go from here. 

Update

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been reading The Silver Linings Playbook (it's a good book), which has been difficult because I've reading a ton of books for my individual blog, not to mention the loads of homework that's been  given to me. I'm almost done, and then I'll watch the movie, and then I shall post what I think of it. Bye!

Braveheart Legitimate Review

As part of this project, I plan to look at a review of each movie I watch that is written by an actual critic. For the movie Braveheart, I looked at a review written by Roger Ebert. His review not only serves as an excellent summary of the majority of the movie, but also gives me a little hope that my thoughts on the movie were pretty accurate. One of the first things Ebert mentions in his review is the battle scenes of the movie, I also noticed the techniques used in battle and how realistic they seemed. Another aspect of the movie that he mentions is of the scene after Murron and William Wallace get married and they are standing in front of the waterfall and the only thing serving as a light source is the moon reflecting on the water. The last paragraph of Ebert's review basically talks about how the movie was very well thought out, and the techniques used were very effective, these thoughts matching mine about the movie as a whole. 

BraveheartBY ROGER EBERT / May 24, 1995

Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" is a fullthroated, red-blooded battle epic about William Wallace, the legendary Scots warrior who led his nation into battle against the English in the years around 1300. It's an ambitious film, big on simple emotions like love, patriotism and treachery, and avoids the travelogue style of so many historical swashbucklers: Its locations look green, wet, vast, muddy and rugged.

Not much is known about Wallace, known as Braveheart, except that according to an old epic poem, he unified the clans of Scotland and won famous battles against the English before being captured, tortured and executed as a traitor.

Wallace's dying cry, as his body was stretched on the rack, was "freedom!" That isn't exactly based on fact (the concept of personal freedom was a concept not much celebrated in 1300), but it doesn't stop Gibson from making it his dying cry. It fits in with the whole glorious sweep of "Braveheart," which is an action epic with the spirit of the Hollywood swordplay classics and the grungy ferocity of "The Road Warrior." What people are going to remember from the film are the battle scenes, which are frequent, bloody and violent. Just from a technical point of view, "Braveheart" does a brilliant job of massing men and horses for large-scale warfare on film. Gibson deploys what look like thousands of men on horseback, as well as foot soldiers, archers and dirty tricks specialists, and yet his battle sequences don't turn into confusing crowd scenes: We understand the strategy, and we enjoy the tactics even while we're doubting some of them (did 14th century Scots really set battlefields aflame?).

Gibson is not filming history here, but myth. William Wallace may have been a real person, but "Braveheart" owes more to Prince Valiant, Rob Roy and Mad Max. Once we understand that this is not a solemn historical reconstruction (and that happens pretty fast), we accept dialogue that might otherwise have an uncannily modern tone, as when Braveheart issues his victory ultimatum to the English: "Scotland's terms are that your commander present himself in front of our army, put his head between his legs and kiss his - - -." Uh, huh.

In the film, Wallace's chief antagonist is King Edward I ("Longshanks"), played by Patrick McGoohan with sly cunning; he is constantly giving his realpolitik interpretation of events, and that's all the more amusing since he's usually guessing wrong.

Edward's son, the Prince of Wales (Peter Hanly), is an effete fop who marries a French woman only for political reasons. "I may have to conceive the child myself!" Longshanks says, and indeed, under the medieval concept of prima nocte, or "first night," nobles were allowed a first chance to sleep with the wives of their lessers.

The Princess, played by the French actress Sophie Marceau, does not much admire her husband, who spends most of his time hanging about moon-eyed with his best friend (until the king, in a fit of impatience, hurls the friend out the castle window).

Edward, smarting from defeats, dispatches the Princess to offer his terms to Braveheart, but soon she's spilling all the state secrets, "because of the way you look at me." The Princess is the second love in Wallace's life; the first, his childhood sweetheart Murron (Catherine McCormack), marries him in secret (so the local English lord won't claim his rights). The two spend their wedding night outdoors, and the backlit shot as they embrace gains something, I think, from the frost on their breaths.

These characters come from hardened stock. (When Wallace has a reunion with his childhood pal Hamish, they hurl rocks at each other for entertainment; later, when a Scotsman has his wound cauterized, all he says is, "That'll wake you up in the morning, boy!") It is sometimes seen as an egotistical gesture when actors direct themselves, especially in heroic epics costing (so they say) $53 million. The truth is, given this material, I do not know that anyone could have directed it better. Gibson marshals his armies of extras, his stunt men and his special effects, and creates a fictional world that is entertaining, and thrilling.

And as Braveheart, Gibson plays his role with flamboyance, and cuts it with sly humor. He is an amazing battlefield strategist, inventing new strategies and weapons, outsmarting the English at every turn, leading his men into battle with his face painted blue, like a football fan. There is a scene where he is so pumped up with the scent of battle that his nostrils flare; not many actors could get away with that, but Gibson can.

Here's the link to the review posted above:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19950524/REVIEWS/505240301/1023