Monday, December 7, 2009

Homework Movie - Blade Runner - In Theater Screening



I've watched Blade Runner now a few times to prepare for this evenings live screening in my local theater. I've rented out the room and posted an event for my friends and The Vine Cinema has put the listing on their website. I chose to screen the 1997 Director's cut of the movie based on the few audience members that I spoke with before the screening took place. That was the fan favorite despite the absence of the monologue during the opening.

Watching Harrison Ford in this role was amazing. Being someone who grew up on Indiana Jones and Han Solo, Blade Runner wasn't something I was allowed to watch because I was too young at the time. I did get to see the 1997 version when I worked at the now closed Tower Records. It was in our "cult" movie section and that was a favorite area for my rentals when I worked there.

This movie was the most expensive movie I watched for class the whole semester, but it was worth every penny. I rented out a theater, printed flyers to get an audience, and lost so much sleep that it will take the entire winter break to catch up. If I could make a movie like this of my own to bring an audience together would be such a great moment for me. I've always enjoyed movies and to see others who like them as much as I do was great.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Homework Movie - Do the Right Thing


Spike Lee is a very polarizing film director. Just ask the people in my family: My aunt hates his movies because she's a bigot who doesn't like anyone and will tell you that she's always right. My mother doesn't like his movies because he's a "reverse raciest" as most people have talked of Lee's work. My dad would rather record the OJ escape footage on the freeways in the 90's than watch Do the Right Thing. But the ideas behind his movies are to get people to think about their own lives and see how what he has put on the screen is only reflecting what the public is doing every day, only Lee puts it under a microscope to examine and hopefully change.

A few of the actors in this movie have worked with Lee prior Do the Right Thing and some have worked again with him since. He discovered Rosie Perez but put her in only one movie. Before her start on Do the Right Thing, Rosie was a Dancer on the 80's show Soul Train. Spike chose to showcase that in the beginning of the movie with her dancing to Public Enemy's Fight the Power. Spike somehow pulls off more than a cameo in his movies putting himself either in the main character or someone close to the main until the last decade.

Of his movies, this one isn't very polished but it shows promise to come later on. The actors were facing the camera or only slightly turned for the majority of the first half of the movie. It looked like there was only one microphone in the direction of the camera and the actors were trying to get their dialogue heard.