Jaws: By Darious Cooper

In my opinion, Jaws was a movie with a lot of experimentation. For the time, the ways in which they convey the shark attacking is honestly convincing. The movie also struck me because it was the first time I'd ever actually seen it. Coming in and not knowing the plot of the movie but understanding it sort of shows the stereotype of shark attacks. You get your people on a boat in the ocean, a huge shark and that all spells disaster.

Crooklyn Deana Tavares

This film honestly kept my attention at all times. It wasn't my favorite but I liked it. Its about a 9 year old girl named Troy who lives in Brooklyn with her family. Troy went through a bunch of hardships with her family as a young girl. Her parents were having relationship problems and problems with money but eventually things were resolved a little later in the film. In the movie Troy is also facing problems other than watching her parents go through bumps in the road like getting caught stealing and constantly arguing with her brothers. She even ends up having to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin during her summer. After receiving reading a letter from her mother she ends up going back home to live with her family, come to find out her mother was diagnosed with a severe form of cancer.Unfortunately she ends up passing away which was really sad to me. I really like the after effect it had on Troy though because she got some thicker skin and matured from her tragedy with her mother. She almost took on the role of her mother. It was a very bittersweet ending. 

Winter's Bone

Jennifer Lawrence AKA 17 year-old Ree, takes care of her sick mother and brother and sister that are younger than her. Her father is a drug dealer that has been missing for a while. A cop shows up one day looking for the dad saying that the he put up the house/property for his bail. This meant that if he didn't show up for the trial date they would lose all of it. She immediately started looking for his whereabouts and asks around for help to find him. Each one of them warned her that shed get hurt looking for him and did end up being beat up quite a lot. Eventually with all her determination she ends up finding his dead body.

This was also another one of my favorite movies this quarter.  Ree had to help cut off her father's hands which kind of freaked me out. But it was really interesting how willing she was to do whatever it took. She played her character so well you couldn't tell that it was even a movie really. I could re watch this movie a million times and not get bored. 

Beasts of the Southern Wild

The main character, Hushpuppy was a six year-old girl who lives with her dad in the Bathtub. The Bathtub is a southern Delta neighborhood that I think was at the edge of the world (can't remember). Her father had a serious illness so he's really hard on her and teaches her how to take care of herself because he knows he isn't going to live much longer. I assume something happened to her mom because she used to talk to her but she never appeared in the movie or anything. Once a frozen ice cap melted it went downhill from there. When Hushpuppy finds out her father is dying she went to go look for her which was really upsetting to watch.  A man takes her to a nightclub where she meets a woman in a kitchen who she talks to and dances with. Then Hushpuppy goes to see her dad before he dies and eats her last meal with her father that she'll ever have. This was really one of my favorite movies of this quarter because you could really see how strong she was after losing her parents and being so young. It reminded me a little of Crooklyn because Hushpuppy was able to accept her dad's death and stay strong like Troy with her mother's death in Crooklyn.

The Breakfast Club Deana Tavares

the breakfast club was about a group of teens that were sent to a Saturday detention for doing something out of the box at school. In the beginning of the movie everyone disliked each other because they were from different group types in the high school, popular, jock, awkward, bad boy, and of course a nerd.  None of their cliques associated with each other of course. They were all pretty stereo  typical characters. By the end of the movie they all ended up realizing they aren't that different from each other no matter who they hanged out with.  They all realized that they all had problems that they had to deal with which brought them closer but once the detention was over it was all agreed that nobody would talk or hang with each other. 

I really liked the movie but at the same time to me it was pretty predictable. I think because of the movie Mean Girls I was just like oh here we go again another high school popular kids and geeks movie. But its an older movie so its basically like the original high school movie. 

Jaws

Jaws (1975) is actually the only other movie, other than The Breakfast Club, that I have seen a few times before watching it in class. I love movies where people are being attacked by sea creatures. I also love the classic Jaws theme. I wouldn't consider Jaws as a scary movie, I actually thought some parts of it were pretty funny. I've never seen any of the sequels to Jaws but I am considering watching them if I get the chance.

The movie starts out with the death of the first victim of the shark attack. A teen girl who is partying with friends. Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) is called in about the missing girl and investigates finding her mangled body on the beach. He believes  it was a shark attack, however, the idiot mayor (Murray Hamilton) tries to convince him otherwise so they don't have to close the beaches. Eventually another attack does occur proving that it was a shark attack. People then start hunting for the shark. One group who thinks they are successful, did not find the right shark. They decide to take up Quint (Robert Shaw) a local fisherman's offer to kill the shark.

The real action of the movie starts when Brody, Quint and Hooper go out to capture the Great White shark. However, I was upset with how Quint ended getting killed by the shark in the end. That was probably the only person I wouldn't have expected to be devoured by the shark. He was the best character. At least they were able to destroy the shark in the end. I enjoy watching this movie and would definitely watch it again.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) was a very interesting movie. The main character, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) is a six year-old girl who lives with her hot-tempered father (Dwight Henry) in the Bathtub. The Bathtub is a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Hushpuppy receives tough love from her father who is trying to prepare her for the outside world when he is not there to protect her. He seems to have some mysterious illness. Then a storm and melting ice caps creates trouble for the Bathtub and it becomes flooded.

When Hushpuppy finds out her father is dying she goes searching for her mother, who I just assumed the whole time was dead, and she is picked up in the water by a random boatman. He takes her to a nightclub where she meets a woman in a kitchen who she talks to and dances with. Then Hushpuppy realizes she should go back to see her father before he dies. She has a last meal with her father and stays strong even when he passes.

Although I liked this movie, the ending was sad having her parent die when she was so young. It reminded me a little of Crooklyn. Hushpuppy was able to accept her father's death and stay strong like Troy with her mother's death in Crooklyn.

Overall I thought the movie good. The acting was great and most scenes were beautifully shot in my opinion. I would probably watch it again if I got the chance.