The Graduate

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1. The Graduate was an incredible motion picture that was released in 1967. The film was directed by a formal aspiring actor named Mike Nichols. Nichols earliest achievements began as a New York Broadway director, than after he moved on to directing movies. The Graduate was a very popular film during this specific era. In fact Nichols won an Academy award for “Best Director”. The wonderful, exciting, and youthful film successfully earned top ratings on the box office. The textbook Flashback describes The Graduate “a Box office champion of the decade”. The younger demographic audience truly enjoyed watching this partial film because they could relate to the starring role as a college graduate Benjamin Braddock.

2.  http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19671226/REVIEWS/712260301/1023

The article I have chosen was titled “The Graduate” by author Roger Ebert. He described the all time favorite American movie has being the greatest film for that partial decade. Ebert said The Graduate was also “the funniest American comedy of the year”. The young British director had an amazing way to illustrate the free spirited era through the characters of the film like “Mrs. Robinson”. Ebert goes on by saying the storyline of the film was also wonderful and entertaining. The film was so fresh, youthful, and creative; the comedy in this film came so natural as well. The youthful audience could not resist from laughing. The Music also plays a tremendous deal in the film as well. The Director used popular tunes to simulate the audience as well. The film was a great combination of comedy and creativity.

3.Roger Ebert article related to the screening very well. He first starts off by appreciating the film’s creativity and entertaining story plot and comical scenes as being “The funniest American comedy of the year”. Ebert article points out how truly popular this film was because of its generation. In class we learned that many of the younger demographic loved this film so much because most of them well college graduates themselves and could relate to the characters. The film was released during the late 1960’s, where the American Culture was becoming more youth oriented. So you can see where the theme of this film came to play.

4. This film was absolutely amazing to watch. I can truly agree with Roger Ebert, when he mentioned the screening being the funniest movie of it time. The film had a unique way of surprising the audience, including myself. The characters in the film was incredible. My personal Favorite was Mr. Robinson, i truly loved the woman she played. Also what i really enjoyed about this film's use of music. The music also added a sense of  funny and laughter to the scenes. The movie was so great and  i would watch it again.

Casablanca 1942

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  Casablanca was released by Warner Brothers studio in 1942. The Motion picture was directed by Micheal Curtiz. The movie was filmed during the early 1940’s and it considered one of the many classical films. In fact, the American Film Institute voted Casablanca the #3 film of all time. The film starred Humphrey and Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Casablanca was very popular because how much it related to the audience during that time. It was mentioned in the Flashback textbook, the film was “released during the darkest days of World War 11, and Bogart’s ultimate romantic gesture-giving up the woman he loves and always will for the greater good- struck a responsive chord among Americans.”Casablanca earned three academy awards which included; “best picture,” “best director” and “best Screenplay.”

 

                              

2.      http://www.filmsite.org/casa.html

The article named Casablanca 1942, from Film site Movie Review discussed the wonderful aspects of the film. The article starts off by explaining the classical film being the much-love romantic melodrama, which found itself on the top-ten lists of great American films. The article then continues by saying Casablanca incredible rich and smoky atmosphere created a certain mood to the film. The specific dark shadows and lighting also enhanced the strength of several powerful romantic and political scenes. The article named Casablanca “one of the most popular, magical, and flawless films of all times”. The incredible film featured themes which included lost love, honor, and duty. The film also illustrated the wonderful connection among each character. The review then gives a detailed summary of the film.  

 

3.      The Film Site Movie review article relates to the film by first appreciating its classical love-melodramatic style, but by recognizing the many significant aspects of the film as well. For example, the article mentioned the great emotional connection between the characters, which made the film so interesting to watch during this era.  The audience had the opportunity to relate the film from what they were going through in their own personal life.  A great example in the film which goes back to what the article mentioned was the relationship between character Rick and Lisa. Their conversation had so much depth and meaningful responses.  The connection between the two truly had a strong impact to the film dramatic scenes. For example, when Rick selflessly sends Lisa on to the plane out of Casablanca, the film emotionally impacted the audiences.

                    

4.      I really didn’t find Casablanca that interesting what so ever. But I can appreciate the storyline and where it was coming from. I like how the director used what was currently happening to the nation to create a good theme to the film. The melodramatic scenes were extremely predictable and I knew Rick and Lisa would never stay together. But overall I did like the dark shadows in the film because it did add a sense of urgency to see what is going to happen next. 

Citizen Kane

 

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Named “The Best American Film of all Time” by American Film Institute, the film Citizen Kane was released in 1941. The Film was based on a very wealthy and powerful man named William Randolph Hearst. Hearst ran his own newspaper company. Charles Foster Kane portrayed Hearst’s Personality and life tails through this film. This interested film was directed by Oscar Welles and after released it went on to receive nine Oscar Nominations. One of the infamous nominations included “Best Original Screenplay.” Director Oscar Welles also was nominated for four Oscars, which was incredible during this Era. Welles won the Oscars for “Best Original Screenplay.” In class we discussed many significant facts about Oscar Welles.  Citizen Kane was the Director Welles first motion picture.  Welles directed this film at a very early age of 24. While directing, Welles had complete control in producing and collaborated with Herman Mankiewicz on the scripts.

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The Article I have chosen from Film site written by Tim Dirks, discuss how the Film engendered controversy in the early 1941, because the film appeared to illustrate fictional and false accusations about the life of William Randolph Hearst. Hearst was a powerful newspaper writer and publisher. His life was based on the character Charles Kane in the film Citizen Kane. The film was accused for drawing remarkable, unflattering, and uncomplimentary parallel to the actually life of Hearst. In fact the article mentioned that Hearst ordered his publications to completely ignore the popular film and to not release any comments about the film and its portrayed character. The Article also illustrated a detail similarity chart of the character Charles Foster Kane and Hearst, to represent how the film was strongly influenced by Hearst.

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The article by Tim Dirks relates to the screening by pin pointing the many similarities that the character, Charles Foster Kane, in the film had with the infamous Newspaper writer William Randolph Hearst. The article did an excellent job explaining the complexity of the Film’s Character and how it strongly impacted Hearst and the audience. The film had Kane portray such a well known man in history of journalism to be relived through a motion picture. Charles Kane worked for the New York Inquirer as a multi-millionaire newspaper publisher, who had a distinct over-willing and in many cases misunderstood personally that was Hearst seemed to present through the eyes of many. Though the film did includes certain inaccurate facts about Hearst, is also use many significant aspects about the newspaper business and the power man behind it all. 

4.

 First, I can truly agree with the American Film Institute, when they said Citizen Kane is the greatest American film of all time. But I can say it was a film because of its great character, Charles Kane. Kane had me truly believe it was as miserable as what he portrayed in the film. The sound and lighting in this film worked to it great advantage. For example, when Kane was upset and was speaking to his second wife about singing for the opera, the sound got louder and the lighting was shining directly on him. The scene was much more intensified, not only by the content.  The lightings and sounds allowed the characters to truly come alive and define the intensities of the film. I truly enjoyed when moments between the scenes were sad or aggressive, I got those feelings in my own emotions. It was like a was feeling each character’s emotions.