Jaws

The movie Jaws the classic 1975 horror film directed by Steven Spielberg was and may still be to many people one of the best films of all times.  The movie takes place in the New England area around summertime. When a great white shark attack happens on the shores killing a child, police chief Martin Brody (Roy Schneider) and his wife Ellen (Lorraine Gary) tag teamed​ up with a shark hunter named Quint (Robert Shaw), an oceanographer named Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), the mayor Amity Island named Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) to find the shark. 

For me, this movie my expectations as a classic thriller/horror film.  The movie was actually kind of cheesy in my eyes.  The background music made it naturally suspenseful but I have to say the scenes and the acting overall did not pull me in as much as I'd liked them to.  Yes I know the movie was made back in 1975, which means the acting was it going to be at its best. 

I think the movie was definitely able to capture the realism of the plot which was shark attacks at the beach.  The beginning starting out on a beach filled with people.  Then the unexpected happens and a child who was playing in the ocean goes missing.  It didn't take long for them to realize it was a shark attack which put fear in the entire beach.  Everyone's focus was on the shark attack and there wasn't just a one and down.  Once they cheif and his crew had found the first shark they thought that was the end.  Turns out it was far from it.  Another attack had popped up flooding the people who were on the beach with fear once again,.

Minus the low quality acting in the movie, I actually liked it.  I have heard of the other four movies that go along with this one and i'm kind of interested in checking them out after watching this one.  The fear element that is protrayed throughout the movie among the people in the town kept it interesting.  Not enough though to give it credit for being a good thriller movie like many people say it is.  

Creed

The movie Creed (2015) is a spin-off from the original movies Rocky.  It stars Michael B Jordan as Adonis Johnson who is the world's heavyweight champion Apollo Creed's son. Adonis never met his father because he died before he was born. But there was no denying that boxing was in his blood. The movie begins with Adonis quitting his 9 to 5 job and fully becoming invested into boxing.  Even though he knew his father was a famous boxer, or as most people know him as the greatest boxer of all time, he wants to make a name for himself and not just Apollo Creed son. 

Adonis is very serious about making a name for himself in boxing and seeks out to find a mentor who is the former heavyweight boxing champion and his father friend, Rocky Balboa.  Rocky agrees to be his mentor and helps him train.  Earlier than expected Adonis is put up for a match.   So like the original Rocky movies being trained and trained day in and day out.  When Adonis first moved Philadelphia where he's training with Rocky, he meets a girl named Bianca (Tessa Thompson) who lives next door to him and becomes his love interest.  Adding that slight romantic feel to this sports drama film.  Rocky gets notifies some very bad half way through Adonis's training which almost dims the mood right before his big fight.  Rocky has cancer and choosing to not get treatment for it.  He excepts whats coming for him and is content with it even though it hurts Adonis to see him like this.   Soon enough he decides to get the treatment he needs and to stay strong for Adonis.  

Many people have mixed emotions about Creed because it's a spin off of the classic movie Rocky.  Did it up held to the original story of Rocky or was it just a cheesey add on?  For a person that didn't really grow up watching the Rocky movies, I believe this movie was great.  It brought out the message to never give up on your goals no matter what.  Just like how the movie Rocky.  Personal I really enjoyed the movie since I am an athlete and the never give up message that the movie Creed was able to capture is so relatable.  

The Breakfast Club #Damian Henderson

The breakfast club was a movie that brought a lot of different kinds of people together. It was funny, had a little bit of drama, and was flat out entertaining. It took place in detention at a high school. Like a said there was a bunch of different personalities in detention. You had a jock(Andrew), popular girl(Claire), nerd(Brian), antisocial girl(Allison), and a trouble maker(John). All of them were in detention for completely different reasons. But they were all in there none the less. None of them got along at first. The trouble maker who was there regularly in detention every Saturday kept getting everyone mad. He would either try to pick on the popular girl or go back and forth with the jock.

They were in there for so long they were getting bored. John stuck out and grabbed a stash of weed from his locker. They all ended up smoking it together and instantly started bonding. They laughed, told stories and had the best time of there lives. They started by telling each other stories of how that got into detention. But it quickly got personal. They started talking about there flaws and how none of them liked the life that they were living in. They basically opened up to each other and told them things that they wouldn't even say to there real friends.

They started discussing how high school can dictate everyone's social life. Like, popular girl would rather die before getting seen talking to the nerd. And the jock would be made fun of if he were talking to the antisocial weird girl. Because that day in detention made them all realize something. It doesn't matter what others think. If you are friends with someone it shouldn't matter if they are a jock or a nerd. We are all human.

Creed #Damian Henderson

Creed was a movie based on the many Rocky films of the past. In the old Rocky movies there was a famous boxer named Apollo Creed. He was the best boxer in the world at the time. But sadly he was killed in the ring. Before he died he had an affair and ended up having a son. His son Adonis Johnson was a kid who got in trouble a lot. Many for fighting. He wanted to be a boxer just like his father. Even though they have never met each other, he had his father's fighting ability in him. He moved to Philadelphia looking to make a name of himself. He found Rocky and told him about being Apollo's son. He wanted rocky to train him so he could be a better boxer. But at first Rocky said no. He was retired and didn't' want to go back into boxing. But Adonis was persistent.

He went to Rocky all the time to get drills and tips that he could learn. Eventually Rocky saw that Adonis wanted to be great so he decided to help him make a name for himself. He started training him and saw that he was a very good boxer who just needed some direction and guidance. They trained everyday and everyday Adonis was getting better. He even won his first fight by knockout! Everything was going good for Adonis. He was doing what he loved and he even found a girl that he loved. His neighbor Bianca.

But people eventually found out that he was the son a Apollo Creed. The media was buzzing and in the blink of an eye everyone knew who he was. He even got so much attention that he was challenged to fight the best boxer in the world Ricky Conlan. He had to train even harder now that he was fighting the best of the best. But there was a problem. His trainer Rocky got sick. He was in bad shade and was looking like he wasn't going to make it. But Adonis told him that if he fights through it and makes that he would train his hardest and beat Ricky Conlan. Rocky took that as motivation and fought through his sickness. Adonis had the biggest fight of his life and the support of Rocky and Bianca. Did he win? You're gonna have to watch and see for yourself!

The Color Purple- Kaysha Carrasquillo

Kaysha Carrasquillo

6.10.17

B3/Film Studies

                             

The Color Purple

The Color Purple by Alice Walker, is based on a poor, uneducated 14 year-old girl named Celie, who lives in the American South in the 1930's. She begins to write to God after her father, Alphonso, beats and rapes her. Alphonso impregnates Celie twice, the first time a baby girl and the second child a boy, which he also abducts shortly after birth. Celie's mother dies after cursing Celie on her deathbed. Celie and her younger sister Nettie discover that there is a older man, Mister, who is need to get married, in need for someone to care for his children and to keep his house. But Celie's father refuses to marry Nettie, and decides that he'll marry Celie. They then accept the offer and Celie is forced into marrying him, after his wife was murdered by a jealous lover and has to deal with the mistreat from both Mister and his children. Nettie runs away from Alphonso and goes to Celie's house, but then Mister makes sexual advances towards her and Celie advises her to reach out to a well dressed black woman for assistance that she had seen at a general store a while back. The back woman decides to adopt Celie's daughter, that was the only black woman that Celie ever saw with her own money. Nettie is forced to leave after promising to write but Celie never receives a letter from her sister and concludes that her sister is dead. After some years, the children from the Mister's home begin to grow up, and move on with their lives, which leaves Celie with the Mister and his new mistress that he soon marries. Eventually Nettie finds the letters from Nettie that Mister has hid from her for decades, which indicate that she befriended a missionary couple and accompanied them to Africa to do missionary work. Towards the end of the film is by far my favorite when the secrets begin to come out about Alphonso being their step-father, their father being a store owner, reconnecting with Samuel and Olivia after realizing they were Celie's children and Celie gets fed up with the abuse of her husband and leaves. She then discovers that her step father has died and inherits his land and moves into her childhood home, also grows the courage to decline her husbands" proposal after he suffers when she decided to leave him. The film ends as everyone (Nettie, Celie, children) introduce themselves to one another at Celie's house, embracing that they haven't seen each other in 30+ years. This film has a great ending after these characters face so much.

Creed- Kaysha Carrasquillo

Kaysha Carrasquillo
6.10.17
B3/Film Studies

          

Creed

The film Creed was directed by Ryan Coogler, and was released November 19, 2015. This film starred Michael B. Jordan who played Adonis Johnson who grew up as a fatherless kid and never got the chance to meet his famous father because he died a day before Adonis was born. Adonis's father was boxing champion Apollo Creed, after knowing the past of his father, Adonis takes the initiative to leave his job and reach out to former/retired boxer, Rocky Balboa to be his trainer because he feels that boxing is in his blood, to continue in his father's foot steps. After Rocky Balboa meets Adonis he agrees to mentor him because he sees much of Apollo in him, and he knew he'd be a great boxer.  After some time that they begin to train, Rocky receives a phone call from the handlers of world light heavyweight champion "Pretty" Ricky Conlan, who is due to retire by an impending prison term. He'd like to make "Creed" his last opponent, and after balking at first, Creed then agrees. While training Rocky discovers that he has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, he refuses any treatment remembering that it was not enough to save Adrian, his best friend who had ovarian cancer. Through it all they continued to train, and Adonis was able to match with Conlan who did end up winning after knocking Creed down, and on a split decision. But even after the fight Creed was rewarded with the respect of Conlan and the crowd, they believed that he'll be the future light heavyweight champion, and that although he didn't win, he won the night after seeing what he did in the match.

Caitlin Willis - Indiana Jones

Caitlin Willis

Intro. to Film Studies

6.5.17

Indiana Jones

       
         This film was interesting but not in a good way. I can start out by saying that the film was a bit older (visibly dated; while true, it may be of note that it won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects the year it came out). While there were a few humorous situations, there are many aspects I did not like, though. The trio was an odd, but expected, mix of people. First, we had Indiana Jones, the white man, the "hero," of the film. Then we had Short Round, a young Asian boy, the one positive minority throughout the film. Last we had Willie, a white woman, who was extremely obnoxious but also a victim of discrimination.

          To get straight to the point, this movie had hints of racism and sexism [Yes, these are valid observations, and you do a nice job backing up your criticisms.  I am curious if you think that the film reflects the cultural values of the time that it portrays (the 1930s) or the of time it was made (1984), or possibly most troubling both?  I also think that your observations make it all the more interesting that Spielberg's next film was The Color Purple]. I didn't like how Indiana Jones (white man) was the savior for the Indians. The fact that him and his female counterpart (Willie) looked down upon the Indians they were "saving" was very evident and stood out to me. It had a lot of racist stereotypes mixed into the movie. In the beginning and end, the Indian children basically surrounded Indiana like he was a savior of some sort, lowering and raising their hands at him as though he was a God. The Indians in the movie enjoyed a meal of monkey brains and eyes, which I'm almost positive fueled racist comments towards Indians when the movie first came out and perhaps even now. The way food was portrayed throughout the movie was very discriminatory and dehumanizing; it make Indians seem like savages for eating such "gross" foods. Despite the fact that the food was definitely dramatized in the movie (because not all Indians eat beetles, monkey brains, and eye soup), it hints at the prejudicial opinions of Indians and the cultural foods.

          There was also hints of sexism in the movie, though less prominent than racism. They portrayed Willie as a diamond hungry woman who was scared of all things bugs and unfamiliar [I also find it interesting that in spite of this treatment/characterization the actor Kate Capshaw ended up marrying Spielberg]. Despite the sexism, Willie's character still managed to be racist by refusing to eat the food of the Indian culture and constantly complaining about her life.

          I can honestly say that I did not enjoy this movie and that it's one I definitely won't be watching in the future. I get that this movie is supposed to be one for "the kids," [this raises an interesting problem as well.  My children are fans of the series; however, they have either not viewed this particular installment, are not fans of it, or are scared to watch it.  But I digress, the problem raised about intended audience may or may not have been resolved by the creation of the PG-13 rating which by most accounts was the direct result of this film] but we can have an action movie for kids that doesn't dehumanize women or an entire race.