Wall-E

Personally I found Wall-E to be a very endearing character because of number of traits and qualities created by the film makers such as his inquistitive nature, for example when he goes out to work every day and finds the most random objects that a normal human being would have no care for, but to Wall-E the objects either baffle or amuse him. Such as an object as simple as a ring box. This leads me on to another point, the irony when he finds the ring box and throws the (what we assume to be very valuable (to us)) ring away and keeps this box, this emphasises his naivety which when mixed with his other childish and anthropomorphic traits, such as carrying a lunch box with him out every morning on his back like a primary school child makes him even more endearing.
Normally, a film with little or no dialogue in would put me off but I think that the characterisation of Wall-E and the setting and tone of the film, along with a nice uplifting happy ending made me made it a very enjoyable film to watch. It also made a nice change for a post-apocalyptic film, rather than the usual '2012' or '28 Day's later' style mass death productions.

Oldboy

My opinion of this film is somewhat of a mixed one... I thought that the film was pretty gritty from start to finish and some parts were grimly funny (similarly to the style of Fightclub) such as the part close to the start where 'oldboy' gets arrested. The plot of the film is in many ways deeply disturbing and in terms of Mr Wook's aims of a film (to focus on fear and pain), he has definitely produced something that taps into these feelings, both for the characters and the audience. Overall I believe it to be a good film, not necessarily one of the most enjoyable to watch, (which sounds kind of contradictory but it's hard to explain) but the construction and style of the film was very appealing, it's just parts such as the teeth smashing and tongue cutting that I found hard to watch, but hey... it's quite a shocking film so you'd expect events like that.

Fight Club - tasks for Tuesday

Hi all
Below is a past paper question from Section C: Single Film: Close Critical Study....

"Consider debates that have arisen in the critical reception of your chosen film, either at the time of its initial release or now or both."

Clearly to answer a question such as this you need a good understanding of the critical reception the film recieved, both at the time it was released and subsequently.
To that end, you should spend the bulk of this lesson READING reviews and essays on Fight Club. While you are doing so - TAKE NOTES headed up with the reviwers name and date it was written - then add bullet points on the things they are critical of or positive about. What key debates did the film stir up? ARe there common themes/criticisms here? If so what? What is your view on it?

Remember to bring these notes on Wednesday, along with the other reading I gave you to do on FC.

Here are a few to get you started....but cast the net wider and read some more.

Roger Ebert review is here
Another review here, this one from culutre vulture.net.
And another here
Another here, a positive one, discussing some of the bad reviews it got (ironically hosted on the Roger Ebert site, written by Jim Emerson, who made this....


Condensed Fight Club from Jim Emerson on Vimeo.

ps - don't forget to comment on Wall-e and Oldboy posts - and complete your blockbusters games!!
 

BLOCKBUSTERS

Created on DLD2! With the power of 2! :)
David, Jake and Jake - you need to do one too!
Jake W - I suggest you do one on Team America.
David, you have Wall-E.
Jake T - La Haine. (you have notes from French)

Go here to create one - don't forget to name it specifically for the film and use FM4 in the description.

Here is my one on Once Were Warriors:

Here is Marianne's one on Amores Perros:

Here is Jake's one on Team America:

Here is Davide's one on Wall - EEEEEE!

We'll be testing them out in class soon!

Oldboy (2003) Park Chan-wook

So, what did you all think?
Hard not to have a fairly strong emotional response to this film...
Either to one of the themes, the content or style of the film.

Tasks to complete:
1. Research the film and take notes. How successful was it? Look at box office, awards and critical acclaim. Also look for articles that take issue with some of the more violent and disturbing content. Why do you think this is? See if you can find evidence of critics citing 'copycat' theory - a brand of effects theory.
2. Research the director and take notes. Find out more about Chan-wook Park. What other films has he done? What are they about? What do people say about his style? Why is his subject matter often so dark? Why do you think he is well respected as a filmmaker?
3. Write a comment to this post by the end of the lesson outlining your initial emotional responses to the film.

"In my films, I focus on pain and fear. The fear just before an act of violence and the pain after. This applies to the perpetrators as well as the victims." - Park Chan-wook