Rocky: Americas Manly Man

Rocky, it was the movie I watched and I thought other than the accent I wanted to be just like him. He was the kind of guy you knew would be the under dog but all you could do was root for him to win because he was such a nice guy. Rocky is the classic underdog story. I remember when my dad would jokingly say "hey don't worry son I'm like Rocky I can get through anything". So what is so amazing about this movie? First the story behind the making of the movie is just as amazing. No one expected the unknown Sylvester Stallone had the skills or the money to pull off such a film. Sylvester Stallone struggled as an actor and moved back to New York with a dream to become a great actor. He came up with the idea of Rocky and wrote the film in only three and a half days. He loosely based it off the famous fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner a rugged club fighter know one knew who made it through all fifteen rounds with the champ. 

As you watch the video you see Chuck Wepner the challenger being pummeled by the champ like nothing. While you admire the champ for his skills and grace you cant help but have a weird attraction to Chuck's ugly, unpolished, street type of fighting. You can tell he is no where near the level of the champ but for the life of him the guy will not quit at all; he just keeps fighting and you wonder how it is possible.

In this video its the final fight in Rocky. Rocky Balboa finally fights Apollo Creed. As you can see Creed is so similar to Muhammad Ali in his flashiness, his charisma, and confidence. You see Creed even moves like Ali in how he fights. Rocky you see hes very humble you can tell hes shy as soon as he introduces himself in the ring. When he fights you can see that he is sloppy, wild, and stubborn. For most of the fight you see Rocky taking a viscous beating. However unlike in the previous clip Rocky was able to hurt the champ. Sylvester Stallone is smart enough to show Rocky is no joke. While we love our underdogs we prefer for them to be winners as well. People are only behind the underdogs only hoping they will win not lose. SPOILER ALERT! Rocky still lost this fight to Apollo Creed but the only difference is Chuck Wepner was forgotten, Rocky Balboa was remembered forever.

Rocky statue in front of Philadelphia art museum

Rocky was only shot in 28 days with a budget of only about one million. Its an underdog story both in the film and the making of the film. It would also become nominated for ten academy awards for which it won  Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Film editing. The people loved the film so much because it is something we can all relate too and admire and at the same time is something so American.

Rocky: PG: 119 min: 1976: Sports drama:
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTY5MDMzODUyOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTQ3NTMyNA@@._V1_SX640_SY720_ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBPDsE080kM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSUmB80GqDM 

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/1-rocky-statue--philadelphia-brendan-reals.jpg 

Memento: The Clueless Hero

Before the films that we all love such as The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception this is what I consider to be Christopher Nolan's first masterpiece the Director of Memento. The Director is known for focusing on the plot of all his films and the complexity of the story. This movie was the first movie where I actually had to pay attention to understand what was happening. During the course of this movie all the viewers have to become investigators and figure out whats happening during the story. In most movies while the viewer may be aloof to what is happening at least the character knows the story and we have a guide to rely on during the movie. In the course of the film we are not only trying to figure out the story, but the main character is also trying to figure out who he is and the story repeatedly. Leonard Shelby the main character of the movie is the most unreliable character in the movie.

Leonard Shelby played by Guy Pearce has suffered a head injury while trying to save his wife from being murdered. He now suffers from short term memory loss a condition where he cannot retain new memory. He only retains memory the night his wife was murdered and prior. So this fact about the character is what makes the story so interesting. Because since neither us as the audience and the main character have no idea what is going on, the story is open to interpretation. This film gives us the unique opportunity to create our own back story, our own interpretations, and our own answers. Lenny made his whole purpose to find the killer of his wife and kill him. Could Lenny have had been the killer and we just don't know it? Did he already find the killer? Are the people in his life really for his benefit or not? These questions will continue to be murky through out the film. Whenever we learn something for the first time, it his also new to him. Since Lenny was an investigator prior to this he learns many ways to retain information in a way that can not be changed and is trustworthy.

As you see in the picture Lenny has tattoos of information all over his body. Like Lenny always says "facts are important and they must be recorded". He doesn't let his condition stop him from getting the facts that he needs and keeping them. The most reliable way he keeps information and probably the most iconic is he tattoos of facts on his body. The most noticeable one is the one across his chest that reads "find him and kill him". He also takes Polaroid pictures of every person he meets and puts a fact about them behind the picture and keeps them with him at all times. Here's a clip of how he deals with his condition and how the tattoos help him in being able to still have control of the situation somewhat.

So as you can see here while Lenny is the hero of the story he is the most vulnerable person in it. You can't help but feel bad for him, but at the same time expect for him to pull through and overcome because that is what a hero in the story does. However it is more complex than that in this film. You come to learn that you cannot only trust the other characters in the film but Lenny as well. You would ask well how is that possible when he has no control over the facts, and when he can hardly retain them? That is wear lies the important question. Are the small facts that Lenny has being manipulated by himself for himself and why?

The film employs all different types of unique qualities to make the film such a fantastic film. The construction of the story is made in a way where the viewer is discovering the ending along with the main character. The way it is filmed using both modern and old noir type styles and the way the hero is portrayed is unique. I highly recommend and hopefully you can figure it out in the first view.

Memento: R: 113 min: Mystery: 2000
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/b/b3/Leonard_Shelby.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130125161613 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/tribeca_cms_production/uploads/uploads/image/gallery_image/526952c4b57ce90aca000003/memento.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSgiVutQ2JQ
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/

The Blair Witch Project: Fact or Fiction?

 

 Is it real? that was the question that ran through many minds of the people that saw this movie in theaters. Terror and suspense went through all the minds of the people when they finished this movie and they asked themselves the question is any of this even real? Is what I am seeing a movie or the last moments of peoples lives that happened to be bought by a big company (Artisan entertainment) and showcased to the world for our sick pleasure? I'm going to save your blood pressure by telling you don't worry the three main actors of the film made it out alive. But how did this movie come to be the most successful independent film in film history what did the directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez do differently and how?

On the left is the poster that was put all over the city near the venue where the sundance film festival was to be showcased. They put up the posters up in the city five months before the film festival, more than enough time to cause some hysteria and problems. To the directors surprise people took the poster very seriously by assuming these three teenagers were missing. They did mean to cause and uproar but they did not expect it would rise up to this level. Fun fact! The creators ended up taking the posters down because and executive producer from the film industry actually got kidnapped so out of respect they took them down.
The affect of the poster was huge in that it got the audience to question is what they were seeing a documentary or just a cleverly filmed movie. Another tactic the creators used to add to the films mythology was the use of the films website. As soon as Artisan Entertainment saw the film in the Sundance film festival they bought the rights to the movie and continued to create more ways to make the film seem real. They took the films website and added a timeline to it, police reports, and pictures. People were really into it. Here is a link to the movies website and how it looks now. http://www.blairwitch.com/. Why was the website being used such a good idea and why was the company able to get away with this? The internet is hands down the best way to spread hoaxes, fake celebrity deaths, rumors and more. This is possible because this is perfectly legal. you are completely free to put false information on the web and call it true and if people believe it that is their problem. So what about the very film itself? All the advertisement they did were great but what about the film? First here is a clip of the opening scene.

As soon as you noticed in the opening scene of the movie their were no credits. This is the first thing viewers see when they watch the movie. So you would ask yourself is this just some found footage? This was the first popular movie to use the first person style for their film. So it also received a lot of buzz and attention because viewers want to see this new movie that was filmed like "someone and their buddies made". It added to the terror and fright viewers received when watching the movie, because it seemed real. Since The Blair Witch Project was so successful in using this tactic many horror films and later regular films perfected and used this type of filming style to make their movies. Their is the paranormal activity franchise, Cloverfield, Project Almanac, and Chornicle, and others. "The creators of The Blair Witch Project manipulated the various media through which its narrative was presented in a manner that encouraged initial audiences to experience its fictional story as if it were non-fictional."(The "Witchcraft" of Media Manipulation: Pamela and The Blair Witch project). The bottom line is all viewers want something real. The creators of The Blair Witch Project wanted to project what they were showing was real and we accept it even thou deep down we know it is not. However it's fun to pretend what we are seeing is real and that is what I did with this movie and many others. I tried my best not to spoil the movie so I hope you watch it. I did spoil the fact that it's not a real documentary but its 2015 I hope you figured that out by now.

The Blair Witch Project: 81 min: horror: 1999
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/
http://www.filmonpaper.com/site/media/2011/03/TheBlairWitch_onesheet_missing-2.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntgrRUML2ic