Motivations

Motivations...well I'd say love is the most obvious motivation. In each movie the guy longs for the girl he can’t have yet can’t seem to stop longing for. Also, money plays a part in motivating the women to stay with the men they are already with.
-Leigh Ann King

Christy

What are 3 parallels that can be made between both films, their characters, plots, settings, acting, etc. ?


The plotline of each movie is very similar and both are set in Texas. Each of the "rich" characters owns his own land and runs a business of sorts--whether it be cattle or wheat. The plot of both movies follows someone who let himself become controlled by greed. I think that James Dean's character and Richard Gere's character are very similar in that they have the cool, laidback attitude, and they both want the rich man's wife. The end<3
Ps I had to put a picture of James because he's so cute

Liz

1. I was thinking the same thing as your number 3, Alyce. Both movies revolve around a one woman and how she effects two other men. huge similarity!
2. The house. In many movies that involve people working on a plantation or farm, it seems that the house is either shown from the inside or the outside, depending on the point of view. Both of these movies, at some point, are shown from both the inside and outside views…basically meaning that the life of both the working class and the upper class is shown in some way.
3. This is kind of a personal similarity. In both movies I’m not really sure which guy I want to get the girl. In Giant, Jett is so easy on the eyes I can’t help but want her to get together with him. However, I can’t really find a reason for her not to be with her husband. In Days of Heaven, I can’t decide which man I want her to be with. I think I’m more worried about her being poor and having to work again than I am about her being in love.

Again, it's a bit hard to try to come up with something new after everyone has posted!

:D

*Both are old films that are set in even older times

*Both are set in a rural area with a random big house

*Both are about rich people who own a lot of land

-Jessica Benton

Inferior?

Jessica, are Rock Hudson and Sam Shepard inferior actors, or do the roles they play suggest different attitudes, more sublime, gentle or honest, than the actors who star opposite them?

Mr. Fleig

GIANT vs. DOH

The theme of the movie is very different from what I have seen so far, but the premise is basically the same. In Giant the idea of being moved to this distant, secluded area is shown constantly by the migrant workers in Days of Heaven. Then the idea of the less fortunate coming into fortune, good luck, and living a better life come true in both situations. Then finally a movie cannot be complete without a steamy love triangle, where in both movies the actual husband seems to be the more passive, inferior actor to the roles of Dean and Gere.

~Jess A

Motivations

What motivates the characters? What are they after and why are they after it? These questions may help guide you when addressing the similarities.

Mr. Fleig

Candice's Answer

1. Characters: The characters of Richard Gere and James Dean both long for the love of the woman character opposite their lifestyles. Even though Gere began with the main woman character, she ends up falling in love with the person he pressured her into marrying. James Dean, also, falls for Leslie and wants to be with her throughout the movie, as shown in his last scene through his drunken speech.

1. Setting: The most obvious parallels in settings between the movies are that they are set in Texas in the middle of no where. The land and layout are also similar as well.

1. Acting: The characters have very dynamic personalities and are well-developed throughout the movie. Throughout both movies, characters were surprising and ambiguous.

I don’t know if this is right, I think it was difficult to not repeat what other people have already said.

-Candice

???

Alyce, he looks like Dean because he is Dean. That pic is from Giant.

Mr. Fleig

Ok, well that makes sense then because I didn't remember seeing that scene in what we watched on Wednesday. I feel dumb.

Another similarity to replace my dumb one: Both of the husbands in the movies are very attractive (that's awful I know but it's the only one I can think of).

*alyce

ok some similarities

1. I don't know if its a stretch to say that Richard Gere and James Dean have similar personalities/acting styles but maybe they do? They both kind of have a suave and effortless approach to acting.
2. In that image fleig posted of Gere covered in nasty black soot, he looks a lot like James Dean did right after he dicovered on Little Rietta.
3. The movie centers around an exuberant female lead and her effects on two other men

alyce

uhh

1. The house from Giant is very similar to the one in Days of Heaven. Not only do they look similar, but they were both located in the middle of miles and miles of nothing land.
2. In each movie, there seems to be a love triangle or really more of a love angle-- two guys showing affection for the same gal.
3. They both took place in Texas.

Puckett

Days of Heaven vs. Giant

I want each student to post an answer to this question by 8th on Friday, Feb. 24. What are 3 parallels that can be made between both films, their characters, plots, settings, acting, etc. ?

"Too flip to be serious and too smug to be rousing."

Last night I watched a movie called Pretty Persuasion with a friend. This movie was also a Sundance nominee, and we thought that it had an interesting cast containing Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen), Ron Livingston (Office Space , plays Berger on "Sex and the City”), Selma Blair and James Woods (Virgin Suicides). I can’t say that I liked it all that much- the movie just never drew me in.

This movie was a dark comedy about a girl, Kimberley, who will basically go to any lengths to ensure herself a career in acting. In many reviews I have read about this film they all take note of the movie’s all around mean-spiritedness and also it just seems like the movie is trying too hard to shock, and when I feel as though a movie is trying too hard I find it hard to enjoy. You know how they have movies or TV shows that make you say “AH I can’t believe they did/showed that!”? Well, you could tell Pretty Persuasion was asking for that kind of reaction and it didn’t particularly deliver. In trying to be a hard-core Mean Girls, it ends up coming off as a blatantly offensive movie. Also, in trying to touch on the racism pointed towards the people from the Middle East, the movie comes off as too rude, too nasty, and a bit racist in itself. I understand that the director, Marcos Siega, wanted to create a quirky and honest dark comedy similar to Ghost World; however, there is very little humanity shown throughout the movie and it seems as though there is too much focus on the wickedness possessed by these young characters. The characters have very little depth and many scenes just seem useless. Thinking back on the characters, I can’t find a protagonist. It seems as though there is no one character that you like or that you find an ounce on depth in. One reviewer, Bruce Kirkland, claimed "Muckrakes in such a convoluted, bizarre way that it threatens to become what it seems to be satirizing: A racist, homophobic, mean-spirited tract,” and I must say I agree 100%.

All in all, I didn’t enjoy it so much. It definitely didn’t make for the best Valentine’s Day movie to watch but Blockbuster was out of basically every chick flick. I wouldn’t recommend it but who knows, it may just be your cup of tea.

-- sorry, i always forget my name
LIZ

This past Sunday my parents decided to have a 'family movie' day, so around 2 o'clock, we smuggled gummy bears and five cans of diet coke into Citiplace 11 theater to see the 'family film', 'The Pink Panther'.

Think 'Mr. Bean' meets 'James Bond' while watching 'Bend it like Beckham'.
The movie has a little too many cheap laughs, but there is something about Steve Martin that just makes the movie worth seeing.
I don't recommend anyone follow in my footsteps and watch this movie with your parents. There is a lot of physical humor, and while you're next to your mom...er...awkward...

While watching the movie, I didn't look at the filmography so much as the choice in music. The composer somehow tied in 'The Pink Panther' theme song into every piece of music. You know that new Beyonce song, Check on it? (Yea, she's got a big role in this film) You get to hear it with a 16 piece string band, and you should watch the moive just for that...

In closing to quote the film:

A woman is like an artichoke
You have to do a bit of work to get to her heart...

"A curious mélange that works more often than not."

A friend and I decided to watch a movie called “Dot the I” after seeing that it was a Sundance film festival audience award winner and also because the cover of the movie had a quote claiming this movie is "this year’s Memento". The movie was very intriguing and unexpected. It seemed to be a love story at the beginning. However, the way the director, Matthew Parkhill, added in quick flashes of scenes and noises you knew that this movie had something going on we weren’t seeing. In the end, all of the quick scenes made sense. It was extremely appealing to see this love story emerge and then subconsciously know something isn’t quite right.

Carmen, a gorgeous Spanish woman has moved to London because she was stalked and abused by an ex-boyfriend in her hometown, Madrid. When the movie begins, she is engaged to a guy named Barnaby (yes, Barnaby- that is not a typo). On the night of her Bachelorette party, or Hen night as they call it, she takes part in some kind of tradition where she has to kiss the last man she’ll ever kiss as a single woman. Well, the kiss with a stranger named Kit turns out to be a pretty good one- good enough to make her rethink marrying Barnaby at all (yes, she was actually considering marrying some one named Barnaby in the first place…). She hesitantly begins a relationship with Kit, still intending to marry Barnaby both because he provides her with security and also because he seems to treat her well. Everyone in this movie has secrets that will be revealed by the end of the movie.

This movie has an extremely large amount of twists. This movie is very unpredictable- you never will know what’s coming next… and when you find out, you’re just like WHAT!? I thought this movie was both well-shot and well-acted. The acting was definitely outstanding for being an indie film, also considering that this was some of the actor’s first film. The main character, Carmen, learned how to speak English weeks before filming, so her accent is very heavy but she’s completely understandable. I would really recommend this movie- it was truly surprising and I can see why it won the audience award at Sundance. Very different from anything I've ever seen.

Liz

The History of Film Tech

Check out this video from Google Video about the history of film technology. It was made by some college students from Cal.

-Mr. Fleig

Methods of Madness

Who is this man?

Click Here to Learn More

“Alright let me break it down to you right quick…”

The other night I decided I was in the mood to watch an old favorite of mine, Hardball. I have to say that Hardball is my favorite sports movie EVER. The title of this post is my favorite line in the movie, I say it all the time. The movie takes place in some housing projects in Chicago, and is about a kids baseball team. Keanu Reeves plays Connor O’Neil, who is a drunk and a gambler. Keanu is really the only big name in the movie, other than that the cast is made of virtual unknowns. Connor(Reeves) is only coaching this team because he is being paid $500 a week to pay off gambling debts. He meets the team one afternoon and sees that this job is not going to be as easy as he thinks it will be, they are arguing and fighting throughout the entire practice. Throughout the movie the children are able to teach Connor to care about other people than just himself. As the movie goes on Connor becomes more and more involved in the children’s lives and tries to help them along the way. The movie showed how hard it was to live in the projects for these kids, it shows the gangs and the violence that comes with the neighborhood. We see that the children do not have anything else going for them, they rely on baseball and on Coach Connor to help them. Baseball helps keep them out of trouble and shows them that not everyone will let them down. There are times in the movie when you are going to laugh and there are definitely times when you are going to cry, because of this I find that the movie has a little bit of everything and is the reason I love it.

Adrienne

The Website That Will Change Your Life!

Check out this Cinematography!

The Website That Will Change Your Life!!

- Blair and Fleig

Full list of Oscar nominations

http://www.oscars.org/78academyawards/noms.htm


Alyce