The Wire -David Simon

I have been watching The Wire season 1. I started watching this at home as 'family viewing.' I dont think this is the kind of show I would have made an effort to find and watch myself. I have really enjoyed it and become very hooked on the plot and very attached to the characters. I think it is wonderfully written, very witty & clever and very well filming. I find this show interesting because it is not your typical 'cop show' series. The police are not glamourised to look heroic like in most other sitcoms dealing with crime. In The Wire there is a really gritty element to the filmmaking/script it shows a much more real insight into street crime and the underground drug scene in America. there are no over the top sophisticated shots, the show has more of a documentary feel to it, adding to the audiences sense of reality. This makes the show really rely on the script to hold it together. This is risky as we know people love to see police as heroic, brave and looking stright out of a catwalk, so to offer something like the wire to the public was very risky. I think once people watch it they appreciate it for its honesty, the story catches their attention and the well cast Dominic West (who I think's a very good actor) as officer Jimmy McNulty actually really lives up to the 'heroic male character' we love to see, through his determination for justice. So there is a strong moral empasis seen from the show aswell.

JFK -Oliver Stone

I had heard about this film for some time but had never seen it. I decided to watch it this weekend because of all the research we've been doing in Richard's screenwiting class about the upcoming US presidential elections. It is also a good film to watch after broadcasting News & Citizen Kane as it has shown me another prime example of media control and power over the people. This film shows the extent that the government will go to make you think exactly what they want you to think, by making you watch what they want, with a biased point of view. In this film they go as far as to edit photos and film, it really shows they can change any part of the truth whenever it suits them.
I liked the use of flashbacks, which were really well filmed in black & white, and the use of real footage from the day of JFK's assasination.
I find this type of film interesting to watch because like I said it makes you aware of the medias manipulation on the people but at the same time I fell for it again with this film, believeing exactly what I had seen here momentarily, that Oswald was framed ect. Again it is just another view on what 'could have' happened.
I am glad this film was made because in this way it makes you look at the facts and think for yourself, I after researched more into the assasination of the president. Films about these horrific events (like 9/11) are nessesary becasue they make sure these events are continually discussed and not forgotten.

Broadcast News -James L. Brookes

We watched this after Citizen Kane. This film shows the manipulation of the media, character fakes crying to a girls interview on rape, shows how moraly low reporter will go to get viewers, and how you cant always trust what you see on TV.
I liked the screenplay, some parts were very funny and witty.
Shows how news presenters are picked on their looks, and are being controlled by the producers, they are shown amost as puppets in this film. Which has made me more aware when I watch TV now.

Science of Sleep -Michel Gondry

One of the best visual films I've ever seen. Stephane is a graphic designer who gets confused between his dreams and reality. So we get these fantasy scenes, one scene has a city made out of cardboard which is amazing. Again the attention to detail just amazes me, I could watch this film every day and not get bored, maybe becasue like eternal sunshine, it is quite phycological and films like these are full of metephorical objects and situations, meaning you could read something different into it everytime you watch it.

Eternal Sunshine -Michel Gondry

I like the story -erasing each other from their memories, their relationship turns sour, through the process of loss they discover what they had to begin with.
Beutifuly filmed, fav scenes were memories are being erased and Joel & clemintine are running through each memory as its literally dissolving around them. Very clever scenes.
Could watch this film over and over and see something new.
Use of Clemintines hair colour to tall the chronological order of the story.
We know they will lose their memory but science doesnt win, they still meet in Montauk.
This precedure will be avilable one day so its got a real, scary quality to it.

Citizen Kane -Orson Wells

Orson wells pioneered many film shots (like having the background and foreground in focus simultaniously)
I liked the amount of thought and precision that went into every shot, as one of the first phycological films, you can tell everything is there for some purpose.
I liked the shots with the camera looking slightly up at Kane, giving the impression that he's bigger and more important.
other than charles Kane, the females are very strong characters in the film, starting with his mother (whos much stronger than his fathers character) and the two wives. His mothers unconditional love in sending him away for a better life, takes him on this journey to find love, thats what he wants to be loved. Quite stong in making you empathie with this character.

'Rosebud' thought to be a pet name for Hirst's (who Kanes based on) wives intimate female parts.

Could also allude to a time when he was poor but had love, he was happy and wanted nothing, before this graduall obsession with collecting statues ect.

Could be a metaphore for love/sex/lust, usually found in poetry.

City Of Ember -Gil Kenan

I liked the story idea, but this was a film aimed at a very young audience. I liked the set designs and a lot of the visual elements were very detailed.