Sound vs. No Sound

First of all, the whole shower scene in psycho was kind of weird. Honestly, who enjoys a shower that much...I mean they are pretty enjoying but she just exaggerated a little too much. Anyways, there is a huge difference sound wise with this scene. When watched with sound, the scene becomes more suspenseful; the audience can tell something is about to happen and it's probably not going to be good. However, when watched without sound, there are no emotions felt from the scene. When Norman walks into the bathroom with the knife raised, without the tense music, the scene becomes less scary. Especially when Norman starts to stab Marian, without sound, you cannot tell what's going on. Since special effects weren't to fullest potential back then, the directors couldn't show the murder occurring, so the audience could only hear the sound of the knife being used, but without sound, the scene just looks all scrambled. Sound makes a huge difference in this scene. It allows the audience to anticipate and brace themselves for what is about to happen. Without sound, there is no emotion, it's like...having a balloon that's not blown up. You can get the basic idea of what it is, but you can't get the full enjoyment out of it. Now that is a great metaphor!

Casablanca Review

Casablanca, in my opinion, was not that good of a movie. I know almost every person you ask will say it is an instant classic, but it just was not my taste. This movie had a romantic storyline to it; some may say it was very emotional. I could not get any emotion out of the movie. I have felt more emotion out of Brokeback Mountain than Casablanca, I’m sorry. I could not get into the movie. To be completely honest, after reading a synopsis of the movie on the internet, everything started making more and more sense. During class, my interest was never really on the movie. I could not pay attention to the movie; I found it incredibly boring. On IMDB.com, every review of Casablanca gives the movie ten out of ten stars and says it’s one of the greatest movies of all time…I don’t get it. Maybe because since it was made in 1942, people at that time thought it was a great advancement for movies or it was one of the first great romantic love stories. Whatever the reasons are, these are the reasons why I am not a huge fan of Casablanca.
One, it is a romantic love story. I enjoy funny movies or action movies…movies that can keep my attention. The acting in Casablanca was mediocre. Whenever there were supposed to be sympathetic parts, I just felt like blah I don’t really care. The ending of the newer King Kong movie was more emotional than the whole Casablanca movie in my eyes. Also, the way they use the Gaussian Blur technique when closing up on Ilsa to show romance or beauty is also not that good of a technique. At first, I did not even notice any changes between frames. It wasn’t until Ms. Pepe slowed down the movie and pointed it out that I actually saw the blur and the fuzziness. Reason number two: I could not follow the storyline of the movie at all. This is half the reason why my interest level was so low during the movie. Without the summary given to us and looking at other summaries on the internet, I would have no clue right now on what the movie was about. The only thing I got out of Casablanca is that it is extremely hard to watch a movie that is confusing to follow. Third: The movie was in black and white, as if it couldn’t be worse enough.
The thing I did like in Casablanca is how much of a boss Rick Blaine was. Right from the start with the impressive entrance, you can tell this guy is no joke. But, as we watched the movie, one finds out that Rick was turned into a cynical person at the cost of heartbreak. In all fairness, Ilsa was put in a very difficult situation, choose to go to Paris with Rick…or go back to her husband who she had thought was dead. I feel Rick did get played out on this one and I can understand his sorrowness and pain inside. After all these years, Ilsa just randomly shows up at his nightclub, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” He has a right to be upset when she walks into his club. She pretended to agree with going to Paris with Rick and when the morning finally came (a depressing, raining morning), she was nowhere to be scene and just a letter was given to him saying she could not go with him for reasons that were not stated. Of course Rick should be angry with Ilsa when she shows up at his place. I really liked how Rick changed though by the end of the movie. He gives the letters of transit to Ilsa and Laszlo and in an instant, she is back out of Rick’s life once again. Originally, Rick said he sticks his neck out for nobody, but his true feelings finally appear as he orders Ilsa to get on the plane with her husband for it is the safest choice to make. The movie was extremely boring, uninteresting, but Rick is still the man.

King Kong- The better movie...review

What can I say about this movie...Peter Jackson was amazing. Besides the first hour or so where the storyline is just beginning, this was kind of boring. When the crew finally makes it to skull island though, the movie and the special effects is just incredible. Compared to the 1933 version of King Kong, this one just totally knocks it out of the park you could say. There were some noticeable differences between the two movies though. The 1933 version portrays Kong as more of a jerk so that when he dies at the end, the audience does not really feel sorry for him. Unlike the newer movie, I'm not ashamed to admit it, I....basically....cried a little bit when Kong dies in front of Anne. There is just so much more emotion put into the newer Kong movie. The audience can immediately tell the connection between Kong and Ann, whereas with the older one, there is little emotion that is produced by the time Kong dies. For examples: When King Kong and Ann are playing and sliding on the ice near the end of the movie, you can hear Kong laugh a little and it just choked me up knowing that he was going to get killed very soon. Also, when Kong and Ann are sitting on top of the mountain and staring out at the sunset, or when Kong is being tortured before his capture by the crew members and Ann is on the boat screaming at them to stop. Whenever it showed Kong's eyes looking into Ann's and you could see the pain and loneliness in his, and it is so easy to feel sorry for Kong and to immediately call the crew members jerks. The ending of the movie just brought so much emotion to me and made me feel so sorry for King Kong. Before they have the ice rink scene, it shows Kong holding Ann as they walk through the dark streets on the outside of New York City. As the sad, depressing piano music is being played, you can easily feel bad for Kong and see the pain in Kong. Another huge difference in the newer King Kong (pretty easy to see) is the special effects. There is no skipping between frames, no clay models of Ann, and everything just runs smoothly. There is also a more powerful vibe given off when establishing shots are shown in the newer King Kong. When Kong is in the foreground and you see the first image of the Empire State building in the background, you can tell that something very very important is about to happen. There is so much more detail put into the shots of this movie compared to the older one. One major question I did ask during the new King Kong movie was how in the world did the crew get Kong to New York after they knocked him out on the island? They just skipped from the part where Kong is put to sleep to when he is on display in New York. I'm just curious how this happened. One more scene that really makes me a little bit sad (that I feel was very important to the movie) is when King Kong is captured on the island and Ann is screaming at the crew to stop. When Kong's eyes are closed-up on and the sadness is shown as he outstretches his hand towards Ann in hope to get her back, it just kills me to watch that. I cannot get over how much more feeling and thought was put into the newer King Kong movie than the older, 1933 version.
All in all, the newer King Kong movie is just so much better in all aspects of production than the older movie. The storyline, special effects, and music is amazing. Besides the first hour of the movie where I found it really boring, the action starts to take place and my interest was automatically into the movie. You know when a class feels like it lasted twenty minutes that the movie was pretty good. When we watched the older version, it literally felt like Film Study took three hours to get by that day (i'm just saying). This movie was amazing in my book.

The Old King Kong Movie Review

I really did not care for the movie. The parts that King Kong was not involved in had no interest for me to be completely honest. I found it humorous when Kong appeared in the movie because of the difference of special effects between 1933 and today's movies. When they closed up on Kong's face after he picked up Anne, it looked like he was moving his eyebrows in a...sexy manner. I don't know, I found it funny. But, in all fairness to the directors of the old Kong movie, when I found out that they took 24 frames/pictures per second, I was really surprised. The patience involved in showing the transition between frames when Kong picks up the clay Anne model or when he fights the dinosaurs is amazing. There must have been a LOT of effort put into that movie (or movies back then in general). Anyways, besides the actual look of the movie, the acting was also humorous to me in certain parts. For instance, when Jack, Ann, the movie director, and all the people helping out sneak onto the island and find the tribe doing their little ritual activity, they get spotted. The director of the movie in the movie then proceeds to say "welp guys, they've spotted us" or something along those lines. The way he said it (in the most careless, relaxed way) just made me laugh. The acting was just terrible in some spots but without it, I would not have enjoyed the movie half as much. Another thing that caught my attention when watching this very old movie was, well there were two spots. One where Jack and Anne jump off the cliff to escape the natives and also when King Kong falls off the top of the Empire State building. The way they made the falls look in the movie (the use of clay or it looked like they were rag dolls) just reminded me of how far special effects have gotten in movies. The thought of people back then thinking that this movie was a breakthrough in entertainment is just amazing to me. When we watch the more recent King Kong, it will be like someone punching you in the face when the difference in special effects is shown. Yes, that is a metaphor, do not worry. What was actually good about this movie is the way the camera angles were used throughout the picture. For example, when Jack had the conversation with Jane on the boat and anyone could see a little love was in the air. Or, when Anne got captured by the natives and was then tied up and offered to King Kong. The movie angles perfectly shown the size of the setting, the fear in everybody (especially Anne), and it also showed the size and power of Kong when the audience catches their first glimpse of him. Between the usage of long shots, close-ups, low-angle shots, etc...the director can get the appropriate emotions out of the audience like fear, anticipation, etc... After stating all these things about the older version of King Kong, this just makes me look forward to watching the newer King Kong. The difference in special effects and such will be incredible. Although, as for the storyline, both Kong movies are basically the same. The only difference is that the newer movie is a lot longer in duration and the acting is a lot better! Jack Black is a great actor in my opinion...just throwing it out there. Oh, another thing about the older version of King Kong: i felt they emphasized on the beauty and the beast thing a little more than I remembered compared to the newer one. I think the idea of the usage of beauty killing the beast was a great idea for King Kong though because it represents the movie perfectly. King Kong meets Anne (or kidnaps Anne, same thing), and slowly becomes less mean and begins to protect Anne from other things on the island. Therefore, the beast in Kong disintegrates within him. It's a great theme to the movie and can summarize it perfectly. That is how I feel about the movie. I can't wait to compare it to the newer one though.