Journal #1

After doing a little research on a number of movies I came across a critic that seems to have the same taste in movies as I do. He also seems to judge a movie on its entertaining value instead of analyzing way too far until it becomes to miniscule it doesn’t even matter. This critic is Lawrence Toppman from The Charlotte Observer. The review I chose was by Lawrence Toppman on Batman Begins. The movie is about the roots of batman and how he became the superhero we all know and love.

I like how he talks about all of the elements of the movie which I feel are important. He makes a great point about Gotham City being somewhat more realistic than the past Tim Burton Gothams which seemed almost too over the top. I also think that Nolan cleared up the story of batman. In this movie the viewer will learn where batman learned to fight, where he got all of his gadgets, and how the bat cave was made.

“Nolan has found precisely the right blend of back story, action, sardonic humor, emotion, menace and characterization. He and Goyer don't aim to create a myth; their Gotham looks like a grungy version of New York or Chicago, not the dark fantasyland of Tim Burton's two "Batman" outings.” (Toppman)

Another way Toppman shows his knowledge of a superhero film is by stating the needs of a good superhero film. He goes over the main points that all superhero films have in common. He carefully examines each one and shows how the movie clearly has all of those things.

“Superhero pictures require certain conventions: a romance, a sidekick, cool weapons, a juicy but inconsequential bad guy who answers to the master villains. Nolan and Goyer meet these expectations in unexpected ways.” (Toppman)

I like how Toppman goes in depth but not so far that it’s hard for a normal movie watcher to take the review seriously. Sometimes critics seem to only write good reviews on movies they think will win academy awards. When I see critics analyzing a movie way to far I stop reading the review right away. Toppman analyzes the film critically but he doesn’t go so far that I want to quit reading. He seems to judge a movie on if he enjoyed it or not instead of judging a movie on its award winning excellence.

Overall I liked the review very much. It reinforced my liking of Batman Begins and he wrote about things I hadn’t even thought about after the movie. I think he explained himself very well because sometimes critics write to little and leave the reader still confused. Also I like Toppman because so far he likes and dislikes the same movies as I do. We need a critic that we trust to make the right judgment of a movie. Everyone has different opinions about certain movies and I like Toppman because he pretty much shares mine.

This clip shows many film elements but the ones that stood out to me the most were the lighting and the low angle shot. The lighting in this clip is meant to make everything seem more realistic. There are many shadows especially with the people in the helicopters. The goal of the lighting is to make it look more realistic and battle like. Also it uses low angle shots to make the soldiers seem bigger and more powerful. It makes the viewer feel like the soldiers are very strong and brave.

Joe's homework assignment

My favorite movie is braveheart. It is the story of William Wallace, a Scotish revolutionary, who led the Scots to freedom over the british. The movie follows Walace through his life but most of the movie is focused on when he is an adult. He begins to fight the British to avenge the death of his wife but he turns into the hero who is to help win Scotlands freedom. Walace is played by Mel Gibson.

I really like this movie because it is full of action, it is a great story and it is very well done. There are alot of great fight scenes in this movie and that makes it very entertaining. There are many battle scenes in this movie and they are done well. It is also a great story and iot is very interesting. The story keeps me intertested through the entire movie. Also the movie is very well done. It portrays the life of William Wallace very well and everything is done right. This movie is about 1000 times better than 300 because it is not a modern cartoon and 300 sucks.

This academy award winning movie was liked by almost all of the critics I read. According to James Berardinelli, with its clashing armies, heartstopping action, and grand sense of romance this is the sort of film it's a pleasure to see and review. The only bad thing that critics said about the movie is that it is a little chiche. But overall the critics really enjoyed it and recommend it to viewers.

Image from: blog.tmcnet.com/.../images/braveheart.jpg