Discussion 1- Favorite Year in Film

Currently, my favorite year in film would be 1979.

This is the year that Apocalypse Now was released, a film which rates among my favorites of all time. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by John Milius, the movie is a masterpiece in every way. I am in love with the beautifully destructive cinematography. The screenplay was originally based off of the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which also happens to be one of my favorite books of all time. For me personally, this film is nearly perfect.

Also released in 1979 was The Amityville Horror. A great horror film that was wildly successful.

Alien was also released in this year. This is a hugely successful science fiction horror film that has influenced many other works, and has even ended up combining with the Predator franchise to create Alien vs. Predator.

Stalker, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, was released this year as well in Russia. This film was based off of the book Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. I am a fan of the book, and have just recently stumbled upon and taken a liking to Tarkovsky as a director, so when I found out that he had done a film adaptation of it I was overjoyed. In the film, the “Zone” is a mysterious area that was hit by a falling meteor and since then has been plagued by supernatural occurrences. The government has cordoned the area off but a “Stalker” can be hired to guide one into and back out of the zone. The areas outside of the zone are filmed in black and white, whereas the zone itself is filmed in color.

Mad Max is another great film released in this year. Made in Australia, it is a fantastic movie that was filmed at a low budget but ended up becoming one of the most profitable films of all time. There is one point in this film that literally made my jaw drop, and I love this movie for it.

 

Week One: Least Favorite Film

     It took me a while to think of my least favorite film; I tend to not store those as well in my head and focus more on the films I like. I would not call the film I chose my least favorite film, nor would I say I hated it, it is just something that happened to me and I was left very disappointed at the end of it all.  I watched this movie on Netflix at 2:00 A.M. about a month ago, as a laugh, and two hours later I had somehow watched the entire thing. Without burying the lead any further, the film was Joshua Michael Stern’s “Jobs”, starring Ashton Kutcher.

     I had very low expectations when I first started this movie, which in the past has allowed me to actual enjoy a movie I would have otherwise not been interested in, so it was even more so troubling that this movie left me feeling worse than I had already prepared myself to feel. 

     Steve Jobs lived a very fascinating life and his story is one of great struggle, pain, manipulation, terror, and sadness. Where this movie failed is in capturing any of those feelings, and instead of focusing on the personal journey and relationships that Steve Jobs had, it focused on hitting all of the major beats of his life. It was like watching the visual form of a college students essay on a historical figure; the movie had all the details, though this is debated because the producers did not consult with Jobs’ partner and co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, but captured no real feeling of gravity. 

     One of the best examples of a recent popular figure in film is David Fincher’s “The Social Network”. Fincher honed in on a specific aspect and human flaw, the desire to be wanted and acknowledged by the world, and crafted that to Mark Zuckerberg. “The Social Network” isn’t about Facebook, it’s about what it represents and the sacrifice behind obtaining that goal. “Jobs” fails because it becomes about the historical plot points, not the ideas behind them. 

     All that being said, I did enjoy Ashton Kutcher’s portrayal of Steve Jobs; I feel that he really nailed his mannerisms and pattern of speech. It really is a shame that their was not a better script to bolster his performance with, maybe then I would have had one of those surprising moments. 

 

     

 

 

Week One: Favorite Year in Film

     After watching the Top Ten Years in Film video on Youtube, I believe I am going to go with the year 1994. 

     It was really hard to narrow down a year that had a lot of my favorite films in it, and also a year that was relevant to film as a whole. The more I looked at the year 1994, the more I came to realize the impact it had on our current modern day movie landscape.

     Out of the five films I chose, three of them were mentioned in the Youtube video. Those films are: Pulp Fiction, Clerks, and Forrest Gump. These are obvious standout choices for their respective impact on their genres, not to mention three of my favorite movies. 

     Pulp Fiction is a classic action/noir film that really goes against action/noir films. Quentin Tarantino’s now famous dialogue is prevalent all throughout his breakthrough film; most of what happens in this movie is spoken, rather than demonstrated.

     Forrest Gump is a movie that really needs no explanation. It is a fantastic film through and through. Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis crafted a superb, and heartwarming, epic about a simpleton from Alabama who just wants to love.

     Clerks holds a very special place in my heart. It is all at once dark, terrifying, and extremely funny. Many argue that director Kevin Smith opened the floodgates to the indie film movement with his twisted and hysterical tale of two customer service clerks.

     My personal picks that were not included on the Youtube video is French film Leon: The Professional and Natural Born Killers. 

    Leon: The Professional is a fantastic English-French action film that features a very young Natalie Portman for the first time. Gary Oldman gives one of my favorite performances of his as an out of control and corrupt DEA agent, while Jean Reno portrays a hitman who has taken in the recently orphaned Natalie Portman and trains her in the ways of being a contract killer. 

    Natural Born Killers was originally a Quentin Tarantino story that ultimately wound up in the hands of Oliver Stone. It features Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as psychopathic serial killers. The movie is very surreal and is a comment on hyper-violence in society and in the media. 

    These films are why I believe 1994 is one of the best years in film history. Sorry that this post went on forever.