The Atomic Cafe

As we watch this film, it escapes my mind that we're watching a documentary. It's difficult to believe that our government did such things. People always say that the communist governments were brainwashing their people, but at the same time so was our own. The commercials and informational segments that were put on TV were ridiculous. The information was false and made no sense, especially the pie chart with 85% worry and 15% death. After watching Pearl Harbor I thought that the event somewhat justified the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan, but after seeing these last 2 films I take that back. The negative aftereffects outweigh the positives, and I feel as if in a way this was the reason for the Cold War. The actual usage of an a-bomb in war made it seem like we were capable of using it every time that it looked necessary, and we pressured the Soviet Union into joining the race.

Dr. Strangelove

I found this movie interesting because aside from being interesting it also had some historic value. The details may not have been accurate but it displayed the way people were living in the time. I didn't understand why the movie was named after the Dr. if he had one of the shortest numbers of lines out of all the main characters. I found a few pieces of irony in the film interesting. When the President says there's no fighting in the war room, and when the military is attacking the base that the General is in there's a billboard in the background is 'Our job is to keep piece' as there re gunshots being fired everywhere. I feel like the US and Russia each felt like by building all these missiles they were keeping peace when they were actually endangering the entire world

Momento

Mr. Bennet, I've enjoyed your last few choices in films. Dark City and Momento have now become two of my favorite films. They don't explain everything right away and leave you guessing til the end, which is why I also enjoyed Shutter Island and Inception. It's bothering me that the truth in the story of Sammy Jenkins was left to interpretation, whether he actually existed or if Leonard convinced himself that he did. Personally I think that the story of Sammy Jenkins isn't real, because before Leonard killed Jimmy, he was wearing regular clothing, but in his memories he had a job that required suits, like the one that he stole and coninced himself that it was his. And the fact that in the end we're shown that Leonard lies to himself a lot, so it wouldn't surprise me that he did when it comes to the story of Sammy Jenkins. I think that Leonard is right in his ways, but somewhat understand him. Without this job of playing detective for himself, his life would have no purpose, he would wake up every morning and do nothing, simply sit there like a vegetable. It's not right, but killing drug dealers is keeping him "living"

Dark City

Dark City started off by confusing the crap out of me, I had no idea what was going on and I was starting to think that the movie was pointless. But once the storyline came together and everything was explained, the movie became truly mindblowing. Althought it's only 12 years old, it feels as if the movie was somewhat ahead of it's time. I can't think of any other movie of the time that was this creative. Also in terms of the special effects, the way that they flowed and looked seemed realistic. I liked the fact that Dark City was a modern take on Film-Noir, because after watching Asphalt Jungle I took a liking to the genre.

Out of the entire cast, I felt as if Kiefer Sutherland did the best acting, playing Dr. Schreber, the personality and character was believable. I'm not sure of the character's name, but the one playing the alien kid was the creepiest one of all the aliens, I don't know if that's because it was a kid or just because of the way he was acting, but it added some horror to the film; for example when Murdoch was hanging off the ledge and the kid was biting his hand.

Overall I enjoyed this film, it was an interesting view on civilization, how we're not simple beings, and there's no way to figure us out, because every single one of us is individual. The concepts introduced in Dark City are ones that a peron can spend a long time thinking about.

Asphalt Jungle

Prior to watching Asphalt Jungle I had not been familiar with the genre of Film-Noir. The genre seems to consist of serious films about crime and gangsters in our society, which is always an interesting topic. The film Asphalt Jungle was the first of it's kind to actually show most of the crime and how it was committed, which at the time was seen as unacceptable due to the consequences that that can have, I see it as something to make the film more exciting because it keeps you aware of what is going on in the movie. The creators of this film in my opinion did a very good job of keeping the audience interested with the script, characters, camera angles, and all around feel of the movie.

My favorite character had to have been Doc, with his clever schemes and scientific outlook on crime. His German accent seems to add somewhat of an evil yet innocent sounding effect to the character. I think it'll be interesting to see how the ending plays out after his ordeal with the police officers.

Brooklyn's Finest

Brooklyn's Finest is a movie I saw in theaters when it was released, and although it received some mixed reviews, more negative than positive, I feel like it was underappreciated. Starz on Demand recently put the movie up on their channel and I watched it again, and really enjoyed watching it because I noticed a lot more detail than I had the first time. It takes the commonly used plot involving police and drug dealers set in New York but the creators took it to a different level and switched it up a bit. It tells the stories of the lives of two police officers and a man trying to get out of the ghetto life, and shows how they're all so different yet so similar. I don't want to give away what happens but I think we should watch this movie in class because aside from being a good modern action film it's also very well thought out.

The Seventh Seal

The Seventh Seal has been a great movie so far, although somewhat difficult to watch. I disagree with Mr. Bennet that watching a movie with subtitles is a plus, because I see the foreign language as more of a distraction. I feel like I can appreciate the film much more if it's in a language I know. I do however like that this movie has some humor in it, or at least more than the others that we've watched. I see it as ironic that we're watching a film that illuminates how death is inevitable and yet it has gotten more laughs out of the class than the others.