Extra Credit Harout Mjukian

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11814726/thank-you-all

Antichrist

Antichrist was released in 2009 and was directed by Lars von Trier. The main characters are the husband, wife, and child. Although the child is only there for the first 5 minutes, he plays a major role in the movie. Their son dies while they are having sex because they weren't paying attention to him, and then the wife ends up being extremely depressed. The husband is a psychiatrist and believes he can treat her better than staying at the hospital so he takes her home. They go to their cabin, "Eden", to face her fears and to hopefully make her better. After they get to the woods, things start to look on the brighter side until she relapses. The movie has a very dark feeling, and you really do need to have a strong stomach. It usually takes a lot for me to get extremely grossed out to the point of having to cover my eyes, never has a movie done that to me before I watched Antichrist. If a few scenes were taken out, I would say this is a good movie and really makes you pay attention and have to really think about it. There are a lot of underlying messages in this movie which is why it reminds me of art. When looking at a piece of artwork you have to think about what the artist is trying to state and look into it. This movie does the same thing when you watch it, which was one of the few things I actually enjoyed about this movie.

A clockwork orange

A clockwork orange is a rather interesting movie to say the least, there are really no words to describe it.  Stanley Kubrick is either creative or sick, even though it is based off a book, it made me wonder who made up this story.  The main character in the story Alex, was one sick human being and didn't seem to mind it.  Raping women, hitting people in the nuts, and just doing about anything he wanted to do.  One had to know that he had it coming when he got arrested and I think getting drugged wasn't enough.  Even though the government used him to their advantage, one had to know it would not last.  As we figured out in the end, the brain washing was not going to last.  The movie was different then most and if that is the future, then society is going to be in a very bad place.  Some aspects were a little hard to take, I've seen the Shining and Full Metal Jacket and they were both interesting in there own way.  This movie just showed the evil side to people and that people are capable of anything, this movie took it to the extreme.

Movie Review of Russian Ark

Russian Ark was directed in 2002 by Alexander Sukurov. It is filmed in a single 96 minute shot. The film looks like a dream narrated by the director. In the beginning of the film, the narrator said that he has been dead because of a mysterious accident. He meets a French diplomat Marquis with whom he follows the 300 years of Russian History. They meet different historical and fictional characters from the history as they enter each room. The rooms present the specific era of the Russian history. The film included a court scene in which Shah of Iran sent an apology for the death of Alexander Griboedov. It also included a grand ball featuring Orchestra and dancers. The family life of Tsar Nicolas has been discussed in the film. The scenes from War World 1 and destruction caused by the war can be seen in one of the scenes. The film is technically fascinating as it is filmed in a single shot. The narrator and Marquis are visible to audience and interacted with the characters in some parts of the film. The architecture of the building and backgrounds of the scenes are incredible. The costumes are relevant with each era of the history. The music included in the film is by Mikhail Glinka. The scenes are connected to each other although they are not in chronological order. The film ends as the narrator leaves the building ans sees it as floating in the sea.

"Metropolis" directed by Fritz Lang

My assigned film was “Metropolis” directed by Fritz Lang. It was released in 1927 and is a science fiction German expressionist film. The film takes place in the future of 2026 amidst a social crisis between workers and owners in a capitalist society. The owners enjoy the futuristic city of convenience and luxury ran on the backs of the poor workers that live underground. Mistakenly the son of a wealthy owner, Freder, discovers the underground world and the terrible living conditions of the workers. Freder then abandons his entitled existence and joins the oppressed workers in a revolt, against the owners and technology that controls their lives.

The films main theme is the conflict between the working class and the repressive social controls of the wealthy. In this case the use of technology is the repressive social control. I think Fritz Lang uses this film to comment on the abuse of technology as well as a cautionary to expedited technological development. Also, it demonstrates that no advancement goes without sacrifice, and in this case it is the sacrifice of people. Furthermore, being a German expressionist film, it could be negatively commenting on the beliefs of the futurists, who celebrate technology, force, power, machine aesthetic, and industry.

I did like this film. I thought it was an interesting concept and the special effects were great considering the time period this film was produced. The action was relatively fast paced which I liked and it had an emotional component as well. I can see why it was a pioneer of its time.

Das Leben der Anderen

My assigned film was The Lives of Others, an Academy Award winning German film. It takes place in East Berlin and chronicles the Stasi’s surveillance of a playwright. The playwright, Georg, is in a relationship with an actress, Christa-Maria. A party leader covets Georg of Christa, and orders the Stasi to bug his apartment in attempt to destroy him. The captain who runs the operation begins to feel sympathy for his subjects.

The film deals with the struggles of an artist living under a totalitarian regime. It explores how an oppressive government will stifle creativity while a subversive subculture takes route, creating a national cognitive dissonance. Even those who are part of the regime are not satisfied with their lives. This results in the death of Christa toward the end of the film-the end of the feminine, the artistic, the left. There is a part in the film where the Stasi discuss the torture of writers by depriving them of human contact and any sort of sensory stimulation. This also leads to an expose regarding suicide under an oppressive regime, and how it is the abandonment of all hope.

Movie Blog-Apocalypse Now

Short Overview of Movie

I really liked this movie a lot. It was full of action and very good actors like Harrison Ford, Marl en Brando, and Mike Sheen. The movie was about a military captain named Willard (Sheen) that after coming home from a mission and drinking away his problems was asked to do another mission. Willard's mission was to find a general in Cambodia, that had abandoned the US military, named Kurtz(Brando) and stop him from making his radio broadcasts. Willard, after getting into some gun fights with his friend nicknamed Chef and Lance ends up finding Kurtz and his men. As they approached Kurtz hiding spot, Willard tells Chef to call in the order for an air strick on the location and leaves him behind. Willard gets detained by Kurtz people and Kurtz tells him that he is nothing but an arren boy. Then Kurtz holds Willard hostage and shows him that he had found Chef and had decapitated his head. After a while Kurtz let Willard free in his base and Willard ends up killing Kurtz with a machete. After this all of Kurtz men drop there weapons and Willard sails away.

Themes with in the movie

The first theme that is trying to be represented in this movie is life in Vietnam during the war. This movie shows the dark sides of the Vietnam war and how soldiers lose there lives. The use of shadows depicted the unknown/ununderstood things. An example of this was when Willard talked to Kurtz. Also there is a lighter twist on this movie as well because when the soldiers were not fighting they were water skiing and having fun. I think the message it was conveying at this time was that war is a negative thing with all the death around. Also at the same time that being a soldier is not a bad thing. Another message was that it is bad to go against your country. This is depicted by the outcome of Kurtz at the end of the movie.