Boyhood editing blog post

Boyhood is an unique film to say the very least as it documents the boyhood of a boy using the same actors for continuity. In order to accomplish such a feat, good editing was needed to connect the scenes where he aged. For the most part Linklater, the director, does a great job with this never totally blindsiding us with any changes. This was particularly true with The "alcoholic Dad" sequence where it went from the Mother meeting him to her marrying him and then to their life together. Linklater then gives us a sense of time passing and their situation getting worse and worse without disorienting us. This was not true however, with the transfer from the angsty Mason to the super profound and hipster Mason. While we did a glimpse at his budding interest in photography from the darkroom scene, the changing of his overall attitude is very sudden and comes off a little irritating in my opinion. You could argue that such is the nature of this film and it was intentional but seeing as how it deviated from the rest of the films smooth transitions I'd beg to differ. This one hiccup however, does not negate the value of this film which tells the story of about from ages 6-18 in the most accurate way possible and is beyond a shadow of a doubt a historical milestone in filmmaking.

MYST #4: Children of Men

When we first saw clips from this movie my initial thoughts were that this movie would cover an intense civil war/rebellion and cover it in a documentary style which I had not seen before. I was disappointed by the eventual outcome of the plot but was nonetheless blown away by the superb cinematography and interesting world in which the story took place. First of all like I said the cinematography in this film is really good as it has long uninterrupted shots that caught some of the most important moments in the film. The first scene, which I find particularly effective, introduces our main character Theo hearing that the youngest person in their infertile world has just been killed. It then follows him outside to the gray, gloomy streets filled with cars and rickshaws uncharacteristic of a first world country. The camera then pans to the coffee shop that Theo just left, which explodes and then zooms to a dazed Theo and showing the viewer that this movie wasn't playing around. This method is utilized throughout the film and is able suck the viewer into the scene like nothing ive ever seen before. Also the World that the film creates is also gorgeous as it manages to look believable and classically dystopian at the same time. it is gray but also filled with ads and other aspects of modern life.
The overall plot is another story, however. Theo is an uninteresting cliche of a government bureaucrat caught up with some rebels. To be fair, the film doesn't really revolve around him but having his character be so dull really slows down the beginning of the film significantly. Also, it seems like the film does not know exactly what it is criticizing as it goes all futuristic one and consumerist one minute but then shifts to immigration. It is probable this is to satirize America in general, but the film could be much stronger if it chose to specifically satirize immigration. No particular character really stands out in this film as they are all mostly cliched. For example there Theo as I mentioned earlier, and Key the pregnant woman in this film is innocent but realizes her "ark" type status. I honestly think that if the environment and cinematography weren't so excellent this film would not be nearly as memorable. Also, the ending is absolute crap and has little payoff. Maybe I'm this cynical about it because of my overall opposition to the political message of the film which may be a factor behind the praise for the film, some of which is probably unwarranted praise. I give this film a 7.5/10 stars
 

Goddamn Conglomerates

Tuesday, after I came back from history club, I was watching TV in my living room. not too long after I sat down a commercial for the final installment of the hunger games flashes onto the screen. However, this one was different as it was simultaneously a Chrysler ad  that was telling me to go and buy a shitty domestic car with "0% APR financing for 75 months". Of course, this would've been ironic with any large corporation advertising a movie about a revolution but ,Chrysler, the company that only stayed in business because of $1.3 billion of tax-payer money and the peak of this Government's corruption, is just too much. This is of course to be expected with how corporations since the 80's have all but taken over from the independent studios and now tie in movies with merchandise and many more products, seeking to squeeze every dollar they can out of it. I just saw this as the most ironic ad ever and represents the slow erosion of the art of filmmaking.

Short term 12: lighting

Destin Daniel Cretin's film Short term 12 deals with life in a home for troubled youth ,ith troubled meaning abandoned, abused or just lost. Given such dark subject matter it figures that the majority of the film should have rather dark, muted lighting to match the tone and situations presented within the film. The use of lighting in a film is essential to establish mood and atmosphere. The film reaches its darkest when we delve into the personal struggles of both Marcus and Jayden. This is especially true of the scene where Jayden shares the story of her abusive father as told by the "octopus" story. and later at Jayden's dad's house. This darkness of course represents the mood and the feeling of being lost and neglected commonly found in group home kids but is also a great demonstration of trends in contemprary dramas, as new tech has allowed for more atmospheric shots and lighting. needless to say there was points in the film where the lighting was weak as it was often overused and made more positive moments feel somber. The use of lighting in this film is strangely similar to Christopher Nolan's memento, a thriller. I say this because Memento is largely dark as well and is very atmospheric, with several Noire elements, which also represents the trends in contemparay film.

MYST #3: Spectre

James Freaking Bond, doesn't get much better than this right? The adventures of 007 have been pulling audiences into theatres since 1962 with fast action, beautiful cars and gorgeous women. The newest entry in the series "Spectre" doesn't seek to change that, as we still see the usage of great visual effects and not one, but two beautiful women. As the fourth film starring Craig as Bond the film retains its markedly darker tone, having a grey hue throughout and making villains far more personal and diabolical, which we saw mastered in Skyfall by the likes of Silva. This time Bond is taking on the criminal organisation behind everything: Spectre.
The strongest point of this film as with all Bond films is the big-budget action, my personal favorite is a chase scene with Bond in a single engine plane pursuing a convoy of baddies who kidnapped Dr. Madealine Swann, his love interest, which culminates in Bond adjusting the trajectory, flying through a barn and straight-up ramming one of the vehicles, resulting in a huge fiery explosion. This in addition to a mid-air struggle to control a helicopter and the always excellent gunplay makes Spectre a solid action film in its own right. The editing in the film is also superb, being essential for action scenes. one such place it was well utilized is a car chase through the alleys of Rome which cycles through many shots to keep the pace of the action up.
Even so, the film is held back severely by its lack of an interesting plot. We see the introduction of a malevolent shadow organisation, which in spy movies is probably one of the most tired cliches available, barring the Soviets. The first half of the movie consists of Bond finding information about Spectre who, it turns out, seek to take over the world through a unified security program called "nine eyes" introduced by "C" the Joint Chief of Staff who you know is evil within two seconds. The second half consists of Bond stopping their "nine eyes" plan, which involves satellites and other stuff we've seen before in the series. The climax of Spectre was rather lackluster as well as it consisted of Bond saving Swann from the old MI6 building which was rigged to explode while "M" and "Q" stop "C" from activating "nine eyes". It's cool, but not as cool as the climax of Skyfall which was a last stand scenario at James' house complete with the old Aston Martin and an attack helicopter, which ultimately resulted in the death of a villain we thoroughly hated and despised. The saddest thing about Spectre is how Director Mendes failed to utilize Christoph Waltz, a man who owes his fame to a hammy, hilarious performance as a Nazi officer, as a villain. We see hide nor hair of him until the third act where his "personal" vendetta against James is revealed out of nowhere and throws the entire story off-track. Luckily, he survives in the end so he may come back later with a vengeance.
In any case Spectre's weak plot is real downgrade from Skyfall which makes it all the more tragic and with the next film likely being Craig's last we can only hope that the next film can leave us with the closure and payoff we saw in SkyFall

MYST #2: The Manchurian Candidate *loaded with spoilers*

In light of what we've been learning about in class paired with the release of Bridge of Spies I saw it fit to review the 1962 political thriller Manchurian Candidate which is one of the most iconic political films in American history. Adapted from a 1959 novel of the same name the film follows the story of Raymond Shaw, the son of a powerful political family, played by Lawrence Harvey and Ben Marco, a military officer, played by Frank Sinatra. It revolves around a Communist plot to usurp the presidency through a puppet president, a Manchurian Candidate. Senator Johnny Iselin, who is the the said candidate, is interestingly, a carbon copy of McCarthy, complete with the ever changing number of communists in the Government and provides a look into how it affected american politics.

The film begins with our two heroes serving together in Korea, during oddly enough, the Korean war. After a a moment it becomes clear Raymond is not liked by the other men in the unit, as he is an uptight and all-round unpleasant person with no sense of humor. Ben is the commander and orders everyone to move out as there was enemy contact about 3 klicks north. during the engagement, they are captured by the enemy who use brainwashing to condition the men to perform their will.

The men are sent back with a story of Raymond bravely fighting off hordes of communist troops and unanimously call him the "kindest, warmest, bravest human being I've ever met in my life". Raymond's "actions" win him the medal of honor which his power hungry mother and his stepfather Senator Johnny Iselin both of whom he despises, use as political leverage, and pose for pictures with the press.

However, Raymond's brainwashing had a deeper purpose than that of propaganda. He is a cold-blooded sleeper assassin who is activated by the phrase "why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire" which he plays until he comes upon the Queen of diamonds or the "Red Queen". He then proceeds to kill an anti-Iselin newspaper man just as Iselin reveals a list of "known" communists in the state department and sends the American people into a frenzy. Meanwhile, Marco has had a recurring dream about about a brainwashing demonstration as has everyone else in the unit, which prompts Marco to investigate Raymond who he saw killing people in his dream. He travels to meet Raymond whom he sees literally jumping into a lake after someone inadvertently uttered his his activation code.   Marco slowly begins to unravel the mystery and realizes his dream may not have been a dream after all.

*loaded with spoilers*

Raymond comes back to the house where a party is being to held to celebrate Johhnt's nomination as Vice President and while Raymond is there he receives a telephone call, which activates him. It is then revealed his mother is his handler and is the human form of the "Red Queen" and she orders him to assassinate Johnny's running mate at Madison Square gardens in order to elevate him to the Presidency. Just before he is able to do so, Marco who has figured the key to the puzzle, the "Red Queen" uses a deck of Queens to interrogate Raymond and get the whole story and orders Raymond t stop and no longer be bound by the red Queen. Despite this, Raymond proceeds to Madison square Gardens and retrieves the gun to be used in the killing. He waits until the perfect moment and shoot his mother and Johnny in the head. He then turns the weapon on himself and dies, The films ends with Marco reflecting on Raymond's heroism and what kind of man he was.

This film is, no doubt a quality political thriller. For the America of 1962 it took a very real fear and current events and translated into film. Even in modern times the movie still has a pretty interesting plot and blends suspense with intrigue which are both handled very well. Its also has great compostion specifically heavy use of deep space composition, typically in scenes with his mother showed where the strength really lied. This is a solid political thriller film with great performances. I give it a 7.75 out of 10

Memento:Editing

Editing

The most impressive feature of Christopher Nolan's all-around impressive film Memento is undoubtedly the editing. Telling the complex story present in the film would be a challenge within itself, much less telling it in reverse but Nolan pulls it off with enviable smoothness and the perfect balance of confusion and understanding.

The most notable aspect of the editing is, of course the transfer between scenes where the beginning of the previous is shown at the end of the current scene allowing for a much smoother transition and helping the Audience fully-grasp what is happening. This little detail overall makes the film a lot more enjoyable since it won't require multiple viewing to decipher the story until it makes sense. This also serves to make the film more interesting compelling as it keeps the audience guessing. One great example of this is when we see Leonard open up the closet to find Dodd. We don't know how he got there, and don't know anything about him besides his name, hastily scribbled on a blurry Polaroid.

Another great and innovative use of editing was the black and white sequences which somehow managed to have what appeared to be a Flashback within a flashback(a concept similar to that of a film also directed by Nolan)as the sections that pertained to Sammy Jenkins were intertwined with scenes of Leonard speaking on the phone with who is later revealed to be teddy. Similar to the other time jumps, this was extremely smooth and artfully revealed more and more info regarding the first scene of the movie as time went on.

Despite the great use of editing throughout the film but there is a weakest link in every chain. One place where the editing was particularly weak was towards the end as the scenes got shorter and more intense they got harder to keep up with. Of course this may have been intentionally disorienting but one of the chief purposes is to give the audience a new unique understanding of a scene so arrant confusion is not really the most safe option.

I'd say say the editing in this film is somewhat comparable to the 2002 film Minority Report as it also plays around with time and distortion of memory. This can be seen with similarities between the pre-visions and Leonard's memories which are both edited in a choppy style to mirror the real perception or lack therof of memeory