#movies

May 29, 2017

Manchester By The Sea (2016) – Asymmetrical Character Coverage Reflects Different Emotional St

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (2016) Directed Kenneth Lonergan (Margaret; You Can Count On Me). Starring Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler. I wanted to point out one element at play visually in the “Could we ever get lunch?” scene that so many people love. Watch the scene here. The scene begins with Lee (Casey Affleck) running into his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams), Randi’s baby with her new partner, and Randi’s friend. Lee is about to leave when Randi

Aug 5, 2014

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) — Directionality

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006) Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Ruby Sparks). Written by Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3). Starring Greg Kinnear (Sabrina; You’ve Got Mail; Invincible; Green Zone; Modern Family; Rake), Steve Carell (The Office; The Way Way Back; Evan Almighty; Date Night; Crazy, Stupid, Love), Toni Collette (About a Boy; The Sixth Sense), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood; Prisoners; Looper; 12 Years a Slave), Abigail Breslin (My Sister’s Keeper; August: Os

Mar 18, 2014

Rushmore (1998) – Surface Divisions and Storytelling

RUSHMORE (1998) Directed by Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums; Moonrise Kingdom). Written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris; Wedding Crashers). Starring Jason Schwartzman (Fantastic Mr. Fox; I Heart Huckabees), Bill Murray (Groundhog Day; Ghostbusters; Lost in Translation), and Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense; An Education). Surface divisions are obstacles/barriers placed in the frame such that two subjects/characters are physically separated in some way. T

Jan 5, 2013

Any Given Sunday (1999) – Enhancing an Inspirational Speech through Cinematography and Editing

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999) Directed by Oliver Stone (W.; JFK; Platoon; Natural Born Killers). With Al Pacino (The Godfather; The Godfather Part II; Scarface; Dog Day Afternoon; Insomnia; Serpico), Dennis Quaid (The Right Stuff; The Big Easy; The Rookie; The Day After Tomorrow; Traffic; Vantage Point), Cameron Diaz (The Mask; Shrek; My Sister’s Keeper; Being John Malkovich; Gangs of New York), Jamie Foxx (Collateral; Ray; Law Abiding Citizen; Django Unchained), and many others. A

Jan 3, 2013

Promised Land (2012) – Brilliant Communication Through Cinematography

PROMISED LAND (2012) Directed by Gus Van Sant (Milk; Good Will Hunting; Elephant). Starring Matt Damon (The Bourne Ultimatum; Good Will Hunting; The Departed; Invictus; The Talented Mr. Ripley), John Krasinski (The Office; Leatherheads; Away We Go; It’s Complicated), Frances McDormand (Blood Simple; Fargo; Almost Famous; North Country; Burn After Reading), Rosemarie DeWitt (Standoff; Rachel Getting Married). Screenplay by John Krasinski and Matt Damon. Music by Danny Elfman.

Jul 21, 2012

Loves of a Blonde (1965) and Biutiful (2010) – Homage? It looks that way.

LOVES OF A BLONDE (1965) and BIUTIFUL (2010) Loves of a Blonde: Directed by Milos Forman (Amadeus; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). With Hana Brejchová, Vladimír Pucholt, Vladimír Mensik. Biutiful: Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel; Amores Perros; 21 Grams). With Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men). Loves of a Blonde and Biutiful are by no means similar films. Loves of a Blonde follows a girl and her relationships with various boys and men. Biutiful is about

Jul 20, 2012

The Dark Knight (2008) – “Madness Is Like Gravity” – Cinematography

“I don’t, I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You… you… complete me.” – The Joker, speaking to Batman, The Dark Knight THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) Directed by Christopher Nolan (Insomnia; Batman Begins; Inception; Memento). Starring Christian Bale (American Psycho; The Fighter), Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters; The Cider House Rules; etc.), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), Morgan Freeman (Shawshank Rede

Jul 19, 2012

Shame (2011) – Expressing Shame through Juxtaposition

SHAME (2011) Directed by Steve McQueen (Hunger). Starring Michael Fassbender (Jane Eyre; 300; Inglourious Basterds; X Men: First Class; Prometheus), Carey Mulligan (Drive; An Education; Pride and Prejudice). In my previous post (The King’s Speech Part 2), I began discussing the power of juxtaposition in editing. Nowhere is this more observable than in the opening minutes of Steve McQueen’s disturbing-yet-scarily-relevant Shame (2011), detailing the sex addiction and lonelines

Jul 18, 2012

The King’s Speech (2010) – Part 2 – The Power of Editing: Juxtapositions

THE KING’S SPEECH (2010) Note: Notwithstanding some exceptions, my goal in my posts is not at all to recap entire films; I aim to share interesting aspects and scenes of films which are particularly striking to me. In two posts on The King’s Speech, I will discuss two of these interesting sections (one per part). Directed by Tom Hooper (John Adams). Starring Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice; A Single Man; Love Actually), Geoffrey Rush (Shine; Quills; Shakespeare in Love), Hel

Jul 4, 2012

The King’s Speech (2010) – Part 1 – Cinematographic Choices in a Pivotal Scene

Jun 29, 2012

Lost in Translation (2003) – Coming to a Boil

LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003) Directed by Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides; Somewhere). Starring Bill Murray (Saturday Night Live; Ghostbusters; Groundhog Day; The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), Scarlett Johansson (The Island; The Prestige; We Bought a Zoo). Francis Ford Coppola was a producer. After my first viewing of Lost in Translation, I was not impressed. I grasped some of the themes, but I couldn’t quite piece together what the film was actually about. I recently wat

Jun 27, 2012

Drive (2011) – Each Shot a Painting

DRIVE (2011): EACH SHOT A PAINTING Directed by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. Starring Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March; Blue Valentine), Carey Mulligan (An Education; Pride and Prejudice), Bryan Cranston (Little Miss Sunshine; Breaking Bad), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men; Life as We Know It), Ron Perlman (Hellboy; Tangled), Oscar Isaac (Robin Hood; Sucker Punch; Body of Lies), and Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo). Nicholas Windig Refn works well with his DP, Newton Thomas S

Jun 26, 2012

Sidney Lumet – Confinement and Claustrophobia

SIDNEY LUMET: CONFINEMENT AND CLAUSTROPHOBIA Restricting Space for Dramatic Purposes Sidney Lumet was a masterful filmmaker. He directed films like Twelve Angry Men (1957, starring Henry Fonda), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962, starring Katharine Hepburn), The Pawnbroker (1964, collaborating with Ralph Rosenblum, the longtime editor for Woody Allen and Lumet), and Network (1976, with Faye Dunaway). One common element which I’ve noticed being used in a multitude of Lumet’s

May 11, 2012

Aliens (1986)

ALIENS Directed by James Cameron. Starring Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters; Avatar), Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn (The Terminator), Lance Henriksen (The Terminator; AVP), William Hope (Sherlock Holmes; Captain America: The First Avenger), Bill Paxton (Titanic; Apollo 13). I have two insights to share about this film. One deals with characterization, and another deals with patterns in Cameron-esque filmmaking. 1. CHARACTERIZATION In Aliens, we pick up where Alien (1979) leaves of

Mar 27, 2012

The Hunger Games (2012)

THE HUNGER GAMES Directed by Gary Ross. Starring Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone; X Men: First Class), Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right), Liam Hemsworth (The Last Song), Woody Harrelson (The People vs. Larry Flynt; No Country For Old Men; The Messenger), Elizabeth Banks (Seabiscuit; W.; Spider-Man), Lenny Kravitz (Precious), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Donald Sutherland (M*A*S*H; Ordinary People; The Dirty Dozen; The Italian Job). Based on the 2008 novel of the

JOSH JACOBS

WRITER/DIRECTOR