Shortbus

Tanisha Wilson

Michael Benton

Shortbus

Where do I start? Well, first this movie can basically stand for itself. Shortbus  was a very good movie. I loved the fact that they played into so many different avenues of sexuality. Shortbus was written and directed byJohn Cameron Mitchell. This movie had all types of different actors. There are so many prefrences of sexuality in the world, and not everyone has the same prefrence. The plan Jane  guy and girl together doesn't hit every angle. This movie was perfect, it played off of lesbians, gays, domonictrics, swingers, the whole nine. It was a good insight on different peoples lives and how the handle the differences of sexuality.

 Second, the behind scene look at how they produced the film was very intresting. These actor's really did all of their sexually stuff. One of the main actor's in the movie was hit with presurres at her other job. Her job ended up being put on the line because of the explictiness of the film. The decision to go forth with that movie and to be sexual and show the world about what the directors what us to see from there eyes, was genius. That to me showed me the type of person she really was. I feel like she believed in the film and what it was trying to get  across to the world. The movie was very moving in a porno type of way. It was very explicit, but on the other hand, I feel like people today need to see this type of realness. Alot of people can't understand why some people have a certain type of sexual drive. Not every one has a cookie cutter life. There are some people that may like guys, girls, black, white, anal, orgys, etc. You just dont know what people like untill they come out with it. And peoploe today are so scaried of coming out with their sexuality.

Finally, I feel like this movie inspired a lot of people after watching this. It never cared about what anyone might think or say, but more about what they wanted the world to see, and that was brave to me. Both of these directors had a strick budget and  prayer going for them in the beginning to shot this movie. At first, It didn’t seem very promising but towards the end when they finally got all of those issued resolved and everyone on the same track. The movie has been a wonderful success.

Oldboy

Tanisha Wilson

Michael Benton

Oldboy

One word for this movie, “WHACKO”!  Oldboy was directed by Park Chan Wook. I would love to meet this director one day, this man has a twisted way of thinking and his vision of art is totally out of the norm. In a real awkward way of looking at the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. This put a whole new spin on family. This movie had my head going a thousand and one ways the entire movie. You begin to ask you self what would you of done, and how would it of felt to of been locked up somewhere for 15 years and then released into the world again.

This movie was about man that gets kidnapped on the night of his daughter’s birthday, and is imprisoned in an unknown building. The building is filled with rooms with other people that have been captured as well. They are all held against their will, and with no clue as to where they are, how long they are going to stay, and what their there for. This was not the first time for Oh Dae-su played by Choi Min-sik. This was actually the second time he had been imprisoned in this building in the same looking room.  Come to find out in the end, that the person that is running the building and kidnapping people was an old school friend of Oh Dae-du. Back in the day during their school years as young boys Oh Dae-su discovered that Lee Woo-jin (The guy behind the building) played by   Yu Ji-tae, had sex with his sister. Lee Woo-jin found out that Dae-su watched him have sex with his sister, and then Lee later killed his sister because of the guilt and shame. This is what triggered his crazy spell of capturing people. Dae-su was his best catch. Once out of his imprisonment after 15 years, He fell in love with a waitress at this restarunt he went to. The restaurant was the first time he had been anywhere else and was also the first time he had eaten anything else besides egg rolls. The waitresses name was Kang Hye-jeong, and she was a major part of his life to him. She was the one that got him back on his feet; they both had an amazing love affair, and brought him back to life. In the beginning of the movie, Dae-su was kidnapped after being released from jail, for drunken exposure. As he is making the call to his wife to promise his 2 year old daughter that he would be home soon for her birthday, he was abducted in the process. He later finds out that his love of his life is his own daughter. In the end he finds out that the girl that he fell in love with was his own daughter he hadn’t seen in 15 years. Finding this out crushed his heart once again. By the end of the movie Dae-su finds a way to coop with the fact that he know is in love with the daughter he never got to see growing up. In the end the daughter never finds out, and Dae-su ends up not telling her and continues to have a love affair with his daughter forever.

Asian culture is very foreign to many people, but, after watching this movie it has opened my up to learning more about Asian cultures and ways. The colors in this movie were crazy. In Asian culture there are a lot of expressive colors that play around with tradition and life’s colors. For example the Koi fish is very colorful and represents all aspects of life.

The plot in this move was kind of sick, but was awesome to watch. They did everything in his movie with actions; there was not a lot of talking or dialect. The producer did a good job of showing actions to speak the story.

Moolaade

This is probably one of the best female empowering movies I have ever seen. Besides the Paramount Movie Blood Diamond, and a few African humanities class tapes, this is one of the first African films I have watched that wasn’t a documentary. Moolaade is written and Directed by Ousmane Sembene. This movie is about a group of kids that are being forced to go under female circumcision. Colle one of the wives’s in the tribe. She refused to have her daughter circumcised seven years ago, and for good reason. All little girls know how painful and tortures this operation can be; it can also be deadly. In the movie two girls drowned themselves in the well, three escaped and one died. The three that escape return back to their home village to seek protection behind Colle, and the Moolaade. The Moolaade is a sacred curse that can never be broken and never taken away unless the person that summoned the Moolaade commands it away. It was amazing witnessing and experiencing African life. It was so real to me; it put a lot of things in perspective for me.

Go Colle, Go Colle.  The main character to me was Colle. She was so strong, and powerful. She held her ground and stood for what she felt and knew was right. Even though female circumcision is a tradition and has been around for hundreds of years, it was something she didn't not want her children to go through. Lots of kids have died from this tradition; I don't think I would have risked my daughter’s life either, so I don't blame her.

The life they live was actually like everyone else’s, they raised their kids, make dinner, clean their houses, punish their kids, and have families disagreements like every family I know. With Africa being one of the poorest countries in the world there is a lot of stereotypes that come along with Africa. Despite how poor the country really is, these people made everything thing work. They might not have stoves, knives, but there were still able to have a wonderful nutritious meal. Also, they might not have buildings or actually homes with roofs on them to sleep in, but the tents and cloth that they used to make their homes was all they needed. Everyone in the Village works as a team, and all the wives help each other as much as they can. Family and the people that are in their village are all they have. So, everyone works as a team, so everyone can eat, and enjoy life as it is in Africa.

Another aspect of this movie that was very moving was the men in African society. Men in African society have way too much power and say so with what goes on in the village and with the women.  Women in Africa can’t poop without their husbands giving them the right to do it. This to me is way wrong. Men in that African society doesn’t let their wives do anything but raise their kids which I feel is so sexes to me. Women only had a small say so in that community. There reason why this movie moved me like it did was because at the end of the movie you say how the women of this tribe began to stand up for themselves and do what they wanted to do, instead of being ordered to do something.

Moonsoon Wedding

Tanisha Wilson

Michael Benton

Monsoon Wedding

Monsoon Wedding was such a delightful movie. Moonsoon Wedding was directed by Mira Nair.  This movie was the best Indian movie I've ever seen. It had heart ache, lies, sex, mystery, fights, the whole nine. It was such a good story of an Indian family planning a wedding that they arranged for their daughter. But during the planning, there are many trials and tribulations that go on during that time. Aditi is the daughter that is scheduled to be married. Aditi doesn’t really believe in the her parents arranging the marriage. She feels as if she  doesn’t really know the guy they have arranged to marry and the worst part of it is, Aditi wants to marry for love not tradition. These two they are forced to marry and live together forever. She eventually comes to love her arranged husband,(which can I say is a gentlemen, and is so much more a better fit then her ex that was married, that she was sneaking around with), and I think that’s what she figures out in the end. Her arranged husband is much more the perfect fit for her than her Ex. Throughout the movie there are so many different themes of love that play during this movie with different characters. This is what steals your heart, and you begin to love these characters. Also, during the movie you put yourself in the characters shoes that fit you and your personality the best.

       This movie opened my eyes to Indian culture. I have never been interested into knowing a whole lot about Indian culture. It just didn't seem like something I would like since it was so out of my norm. But, after watching this movie, it has motivated me to learning a little more information about India and Indian culture.

I love the colors in this movie. There are usually a lot of colors associated with Indian Culture. You can see these beautiful colors in  the food, clothing, religion, and traditions. This movie showed a much upscale part of India which was beautiful. It did also show the more urban parts of India as well, which gave it that real feel of the busy streets and food stands downtown that smell of fresh Tikka Chicken Marsala and Naan bread.

This movie is a great example of family issues.  No matter what type of race or religion, there is always events that pull family together and apart. It’s impossible that you can see into every families life, but, everybody or every family is struggling with the similar issue that we all are dealing with, all over the world. As a family or relatives, your going to have lots of disagreements and arguments, as every family does. But, in the end, family is what is always going to be there for you in the end. In the movie they did an amazing job of pulling together as a family in the end and understanding what’s right.

Response #2 Hunger

       Wow what a movie! I'm so glad Mr. Benton showed us this movie. It was a real eye opener and I really enjoyed it. The movie is a lot of behind the scenes looks into the lives of these inmates going on hunger strike in a maximum security jail. Some people in my class were so clueless as to what was going on; it made me laugh.  I am so glad that some of my class mates were exposed to that type of lifestyle. Some people didn't even know any of that stuff even goes down in jail, but on the other hand you don’t know  until you exposed to such horrible events as the ones showed on the movie. The movie is about an Irish Republican that went on Hunger strike. It is the story of the last six weeks of his life, and all the trials he put himself through.
     Can I just say, the actors in this movie were what put the goose bumps on my skin? They made everything seem so really and NASTY! Everything to the poop on the walls, to the screaming inmates as they were beaten, to the guard’s mother in the mental institution. Even to this day, a week later, the things that I saw on that movie are still turning my stomach. There’s been one actor that deserved a standing ovation and that was Michael Fassbender. Michael Fassbender played the part of Bobby Sands. Was the actor that did an amazing job wow……she put the acting in actor. That is one example of an actor getting into his/her role. He really became Bobby Sands and

 I think what really made the movie, was the real life grittiness of the movie. The film directors did an amazing job of bringing all of the events that took place during that period, and in the jail into reality. At the end of the movie you also see how serious everything was during that time in Ireland. Another thing that stuck with me was the fact that all the other inmates say the damage that Mr. Sands put on himself, and for nine other people to endure the same torture was dedication; some people would say ignorance. There was also a part in the movie that stuck with me. There's a point in the middle of the movie that has Bobby Sands talking to the priest, during a visitation to see if the priest can persuade Bobby to stop everything. What stood out was that it was a 20 minute script. These actors had to of known their parts to a t and any slip ups or forgetting their lines, they would of had to of started all the way over. But for an actor to memorize 20 minute worth of lines is pretty amazing.

The most memorial thing about the movie is that they showed everyone’s point of view on the matter from the Guards doing to beating, to the Guards that worked for the Jail, and they also showed the real lives of the ones affected by the strike. I showed their normal lives and how every single one of them has their own life outside of the jail and that eventually they must all go home to their normal lives. It was like the movie Crash. It plays back to each character, and how they are a part of the situation and the time line leading up to the event. That's how this movie was it was very outlandish but I loved it. It showed everyone’s point of view on the strike and how it affected not only the inmates but everyone having to endure such events. 

Response #1 BLEU

Three colors : Blue B was an incredible movie, This is the first movie we watched in out international film study class, and I was hooked after that. Mr. Benton opened my eyes with this movie. This movie is not just your typical dramatic movie. It did an amazing job of showing a different way of filming different objects, feelings, situation, and life situations in this movie. It took me further into the Directors views and what they were trying to get across the audience.

Three colors : Blue was made in 1993. Julie Delpy was the director and writer of this film.Juliette Binoche was the main character in this movie and I thought she did  an amazing job. Her husband which brings surprises in the movie was played by Zbigniew Zamachowski.  Binoche did such a good job in this movie and playing her role that she really brung out the feelings of the emotions in action. Three Colors: Blue is the first part of Kieslowski's trilogy on France's national motto: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Blue is the story of Julie who loses her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter in a car accident. 

Blue is a movie that follows the recovery of a woman trying to find her way after the death of her daughter and husband, that meant the world to her.

Blue is a movie that tells a story about a woman that is married to a famous composer. One day driving, the family all get into a car crash and everyone dies except the wife. The movie basically tells a story of her finding out the truth about herself, and her husband. It is about her new life and starting over. In the movie you find out that she was actually composing her husbands music for him. There are alot of surprises along the way, which is why it kept my attention so much. Very emotional movie but the filming speaks for it self, and sets a good picture or love, pain, and pleasure.

It was very heart warming because it should the good recovery of her self and being able to find out what she would like to do for herself in life. In the end you find out that composing music wasn't everything to her any more, and the memory of the life she had with her husband and daughter is something that she'll never forget nor will she every let go of. You find out in the movie that the color blue is posed in a lot of the movie, but once you get into it you can begin to understand that the color blue stood for the remeberance of her daughter and husband.

My Favorite Movie:)

Tanisha Wilson

Michael Benton

My Favorite Movie

My favorite movie

My favorite movie since I was a kid, is the WIZ. The Wiz is ta remake of the orginal Oz but with an all African American cast, and story. It is something about the Wizard of Oz that stuck with me since I was a child. There have been so many different versions of the Wizard of Oz over the years. But this version of the Wizard of Oz was a classic for me, and still is today. The Wiz was made in 1978. The Wiz was  a musical/movie with the inspiratioin of the Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz is about a girl named Dorothy, she was a shy school teacher that lands up in the magical world of Oz. The movie plays a story of her journey back home,  and all the friends she meets on the way. She meets such friends as the  as the scarecrow, tin man, and the cowardly lion. The movie tells a story of strangers that work together to ask the Wizard(Richard Pryor) to grand their wishes and find there way through the land of Oz. One awesome thing this movie does is, it speaks of different historical African stories and poetry in the movie. They did an amazing job with putting the African American twist on everything. LIke for example instead of Dorothy trying to find her way back to kansas, Dorothy in the Wiz is trying to return her home to her house in Harlem New York.

This movie was Directed by Sidney Lumet, and produced by Rob Cohen. This film received four Academy Award nominations of Best Art Driection, Best Costume Design, Best Original Music Score and Best Cinematography.

The characters in this movie are what set it apart from any other version. The cast was Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor. All of these actors were absolutly brilliant. Diana Ross played Dorothy, Michael Jackson played the scarecrow, Lena Horne was Glinda the Good Witch of the South. Ted Ross was the cowardly Lion, Nipsey Russell is the Tin Man, Thelma Carpenter was the Miss One, Theresa Merritt is Aunt Em, Stanley Greene was Uncle Henry, Richard Pryor was the The Wizard, and Mabel King was Evilene.

What is really interesting now that I look back at the movie, now in 2011 for the set of the Emerald City they used an analogue of the real life World Trade Center plaza. Which today is now known as one of the most memorial places today.

The Wiz is my favorite movie, and probably will be for the rest of my life. This movie was sucha a good reeanactment, that this is something i will show my kids when they get old enought. You never think such movies would stick with you like they do, but, the proof is in the pudding,  If I am 23 years old and still down for watching the Wiz, then they movie will be forever stained in my heart.

Wikipedia.The Wiz:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheWiz(Film),1978