Symbolism Movie Reviews Samples For Students

This essay deals with the notion of death and dying in the movie, where protagonists prove to be more than ordinary people who would probably succumb to the pressure of knowing that their last days are numbered. Instead, they face death head on and follow their bucket list, with items that need to be done in order for them to believe that they have led truly fulfilled lives. In the end, however, they figure out that for this, they did not need fancy dinners and exotic trips, rather what they needed was beside them all along: family and friends; ...

Introduce segment & importance of segment to the film as a whole

This scene features Ben running away from the relatives gushing over him at his graduation party and the older Mrs. Robinson seducing him as he drives her home.Provide persuasive reason for why you chose this segment.This segment introduces the idea that Ben feels stifled by the expectations of his elders, and provides a youthful escape into the sexual temptations of an older woman. Detailed analysis and deconstruction of:Narrative structure (classical, formalist, realism, adaptation) – How do you know?The narrative structure is very formalist, given director Mike Nichols’ penchant for stylized cinematography and editing to convey larger thematic ideas (like isolation, confusion, ...

11th July, 2011

Sociological Movie Analysis: Passion of the Christ

Introduction

The film viewed is called “Passion of the Christ.” Mel Gibson presents the passion which is known by Christians as the sacred crucifixion of their Lord and Savior by Jews who did not accept him as the messiah. The major plot and characters were deducted from accounts given in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Scenes included Sermon on the Mount; Mary Magdalene and the last supper. (Passion of the Christ)
The predominant sociological perspective as espoused by the author is religion. In this discussion Functionalist theory of Herbert Spencer and Talcott Parson ...

- Pitch Perfect
- Identify the Climax: The climax of the movie was the part wherein the protagonist, and the other members of her band, the Barden Bellas, made it into the intercollegiate a capella competition’s finals to fight once again after suffering from an embarrassing and devastating loss the previous year. In the climax, the Barden Bellas came in to fight, once again, their long-time rival, an all-male a capella singing group from the same university, in the competition’s finals. The outcome of the climax was a win for the Barden Bellas in the singing competition.
- ...

In the movie “The Sixth Sense,” the director employed varied techniques to bring about a valuable motion picture. Out of the many techniques evident in the movie, gothic symbols and motifs are paramount as these techniques bring about other aspects of the film such as thematic expressions. This paper explores different motifs and gothic symbols in the movie “The Sixth Sense.” Ultimately, the paper highlights the meaning or importance of the identified technique.
Shyamalan (the director of the movie) consistently employs visual motifs through reflective objects such as glasses, windows, mirrors and many others. The visual motifs in “The ...

- Depicts Catwoman at her apartment, having yoghurt or something from a packet and listening to messages from her answering machine
- The house and just about everything in here is faded pink in colour (pink is a feminine colour). Appears both exhausted and frustrated
- Answering machine gives advert about one of Shreck’s perfume that would make your boss want you to work late
- She flies into a rage, and ransacks her apartment, smashes just about everything including teddies. Street cats are coming through the walls. She has blood on her face
- Good lighting ...

South Africa in the 20th century had many words to describe it but none were flattering. Words like hate, suffering, anguish, separation, ignorance and apartheid. Apartheid is best described as government institutionalized racism and is Afrikaans for apartness. The South African government disfranchised black voters and non-white citizens. An American example that is similar is the Jim Crow laws in the south While there was wide spread racism in South Africa for several years before that, it was made into law in 1948. It took the resolve of Nelson Mandela to guide the country in a new direction.
Nelson ...

Introduction

Although decades of numerous incarnations have slightly diminished the stature of the vampire, the horror, seductiveness and mystery associated with it remains. Over the years, several themes have been associated with the vampires depicted in various films. The dominant metaphorical representations have been animal appetite, sex, evil and venereal disease. In F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, the vampire, unlike those in similar films, is unattractive and ghastly yet the fascination that grips those around him is remarkably disturbing. In this context, several metaphors emerge. This paper presents the metaphoric functions of the vampire in the film Nosferatu.
The ...

Japanese horror films through the years had made astounding contribution to the movie industry and to the horror genre in particular. One of the notable directors of great Japanese horror flicks is Kurosawa Kiyoshi who is often compared to Andrei Tarkovsky and Stanley Kubrick in terms of directing style and influence. Most of his films are focused on ho a general society affects an individual and how the society also reacts to adverse irrational and disintegrated social mechanisms. Japanese horror movies are not typical to the usual western made fright movies. As observed from many western horrors movies, they incorporate ...

Assignment: Historical Accuracy in Hollywood Movies based on true stories.

A. What reasons do your authors give to explain the historical inaccuracies in the films? Give an example from one of the articles.

The director James Cameron seemed to be working against himself in putting together the movie “The Titanic.” As the reviewer notes he carefully tried to portray the sets and rituals of Victorian society but then he used a script that showed a contemporary view of the appropriateness of . . . making love? having sex?. . . with a stranger. On top of that all the fine historical clothing was flooded so no one could ever use it again. I think the director had ...

Thesis statement:

The life has the second chance irrespective of the place you live in so that it is up to the person to define the dimension for the further living.

Introduction:

This story resembles the example of successful romantic comedy which is concerned about the life of the people after the death when some of them, who has committed the suicide, meet at the way-station in order to exchange the experience and thoughts. The main idea of the film and message delivered by the editor is that everyone should have the worthy life. At the same time, the person should enjoy ...

Jane Doe

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William Goulding’s novel, Lord of the Flies has not only been a classic piece of literature that is studied and admired throughout both the literary and academic world. The fascinating story of a group of young boys stranded on an island after their plane crashes was also produced into a film in 1963 by director Peter Brook, and then remade in 1990 by director Harry Hook. After observing the 1990 version of the film I was able to capture numerous core concepts and theories of sociology that were applicable to the events unfolding among the characters of ...

The miracle of face is a movie that explains the impacts that beauty plays as far as our life is concerned. For example, babies are drawn to beautiful faces, and they tend to spend a lot of time scaring at them. But when it comes to ugly faces, they cannot withstand scaring at them-most of the time they will cry while looking for an escape since they are scared by ugly faces. Research has been conducted, and it clearly depicts that even older individuals are scared when it comes to socializing with scary people. Henry having his eye removed-due to facial ...

Secrets and Lies (1996)
This movie focuses on the life and struggle of one woman in finding truths in her life. After her adoptive mama passes away; Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a triumphant black eye physician, searches for her birth mother. She is surprised when her investigation leads her to a plebeian white woman, Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn). Initially, Cynthia denies the claim, but she finally admits to birthing Hortense as an adolescent, and the pair begins to bond. Nevertheless, when Cynthia invites Hortense to a relative’s barbecue, Cynthia's already nervous relationship with her kin becomes even more complex. The film is ...

The new live action movie of Maleficent is reworking of the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty with the villain taking the main role and the ever happy Princess Aurora taking a backseat. It slowly delves into the background story of why Maleficent came about to be the way she is-an evil witch who cast a spell on baby Aurora. Without getting into the details of every dialogue here we are going to look into some elements, character relations and compare the review of two critics.

The elements/relationships that are going to be written about here are

- Setting of the movie
The movies boundaries are between two worlds, the Kingdom and ...

The following analysis of Persona and Solaris reveals how movies from unlike countries and of different genres portray the development of opposite human personalities while losing or gaining humanity under the external influences and internal self-recognition. The attempts to create a fine movie about internal and external of human life do not often impress much, especially nowadays when we experience an endless flow of visual images. Probably, it inspires people to look back at the classic works that not only represent the unusual transformations in the forms of self but also produce extraordinary rhythms in the scenes (Tarkovsky 113). ...

The point of many movies lies in the fact of illustrating social problems. Global and domestic issues, issues of consciousness and symbolism – all of those aspects are shown in the three movies, which will be discussed in this paper. Avant-garde filmmakers have produced tons of works and it is essential to reveal at least some of them.
Powerful experiments with theatrical forms are introduced by Robert Lepage in his masterpiece, called “Le Confessionnal”. He is known as a director of game cinema and released four pictures during eight years in different countries of the world. His unique film "Confessional" ...

Introduction

Different individuals across the globe say that old folks are resistant to change since they tend to be accustomed to the ancient ways. However, in the “Gran Torino” by Clint Eastwood, it is very evident the every individual can embrace change. Walt Kowalsky, the protagonist, is a cold hearted racist veteran, whose humanity is thawed through his associations with the Hmong neighbors; motivating an enormous change in the manner he treats himself and even other people around him. Clint Eastwood utilizes the ending and the beginning to pinpoint this change and educate the audience valuable lessons through the implementation ...

“The Moped Diaries” is one of those short films that can be appreciated loved by many different audiences. However, it is difficult for the audiences to say what they like about this film. To explain why this film is so popular is an even more difficult task as a description may not do it justice.
While there are many elements about this film that make it so interesting, the fact that it is a bit on the quirky side. There is slight humor when there should not be such as when the entire family is looking at their motor ...

This story resembles the example of successful romantic comedy which is concerned about the life of the people after the death when some of them, who has committed the suicide, meet at the way-station in order to exchange the experience and thoughts. The main idea of the film and message delivered by the editor is that everyone should have the worthy life. At the same time, the person should enjoy the life given, while it is highly important to find the person worth loving in order to add value to the personal life. Symbolism plays the important role in ...

Genre: Suspense

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak
Objective Analysis: (give a few examples and provide text to support your examples)
Visual component (such as the art direction, camera angles and movement, cinematography, lighting, visual style, etc.):
Hitchcock’s visual style is tense and scary, with great use of focus and top-down shots to get the feeling of Jimmy Stewart’s “vertigo.” The visual style of the opening sequence is dreamlike and unsettling, as is the dream sequence he has halfway through the movie. It really gives the feeling of losing your grip on reality.
...

Genre: Horror

Director: Tobe Hooper
Stars: Marily Burns, Gunnar Hansen
Objective Analysis: (give a few examples and provide text to support your examples)
1. Visual component (such as the art direction, camera angles and movement, cinematography, lighting, visual style, etc.):
The film is very gritty, with a dark visual style, heavy use of shadows and more. The visual style is very stripped down and gory, with close-up camera angles to capture the horror.
2. Editing component (like the pacing, rhythm, transitions, etc.):
The pacing of the film is very tense, with situations and shots lingering ...

Genre: Mockumentary

Director: Rob Reiner
Stars: Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer
Objective Analysis: (give a few examples and provide text to support your examples)
1. Visual component (such as the art direction, camera angles and movement, cinematography, lighting, visual style, etc.):
Filmed like a documentary, Spinal Tap uses handheld camera and talking head interviews to make the documentary part feel real. The filmmaking is straightforward to let the actors improvise.
2. Editing component (like the pacing, rhythm, transitions, etc.):
The film is fast-paced, and uses flashbacks and “archival footage” to flash back to the ...

Genre: Drama

Director: Orson Welles
Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten
Objective Analysis: (give a few examples and provide text to support your examples)
1. Visual component (such as the art direction, camera angles and movement, cinematography, lighting, visual style, etc.):
Excellent use of Expressionist cinematography (canted angles), chiaroscuro lighting (stark contrast between black and white), low angles frequently used to make Kane seem larger than life, etc. Incredible use of deep focus, such as in the shot where Kane’s mother signs him away from his impoverished childhood (Kane in the background, same shot as adults in ...

Stuart Rosenberg, the director of the film, Cool Hand Luke (1967), is one of the most noted filmmakers in the history of world cinema. Born in 1927, Rosenberg completed his graduation and started hi training as an editor on television programs. At the age of thirty, he graduated from being an editor to a director. After directing close to as many as 50 episodes, he moved to making movies. Thus, he went on to make memorable films like movies Cool Hand Luke, The Amityville Horror, Voyage of the Damned and The Pope of Greenwich Village that immortalized him as a stalwart ...

Complete Name of Professor

The Express: There’s So Much More than Just a Football Game
The face of American sports would not be what it is today if it weren’t for the huge contributions of many real sports’ heroes. In true American tradition many movies are made to honor these heroes lives and acheivemeents. The Express is a movie based upon the true story of Ernie Davis. The movie depicts Ernie Davis’ extraordinary life as a gifted African-American athlete and a reknown football hero. Ernie Davis was portrayed by Rob Brown in the film. Ernie Davis was the first African-American to win the Heisman ...

Introduction

Christians have been the radicals at the forefront of the abortion debate that has undoubtedly raged on in a sea of opinions for ages. People are differently opinioned when it comes to the sensitive subject that ignites a lot of medical, moral, and legal debates. The Christians still maintain a negative force towards abortion, which they identify as being against the doctrines of biblical teachings and morality. Christians maintain that an abortion amounts to the murder of an innocent person, and cite this together with other immorality arguments. In a country like the USA today, half of the pregnancies formed, especially among young ...

The film ‘Rabbit-Proof Fence,’ is the story of three young Aborigines who dared to challenge the extreme and hostile terrains of the Australian bush country and desert to escape from captivity to freedom. The movie is touching and deals with cultural anthropology to the hilt. Right from the onset when the camera runs across a spectrum of barren land and reaches the eyes of an innocent girl who looks at the distant mountains and the bird in the sky with an emerging smile, the viewers are quickly moved to understanding that the eyes talk of the crave for freedom. On ...

Introduction

Almost every year, there are thousands of individuals that decide write movie scripts actually hoping to get them produced and then also to make some serious cash flow. What people do not realize is that a lot of these scripts are never even looked at or even bought. The reason for Th is that movies are costly to make and basically only the best scripts are ever actually get produced. When they are made into movies it is important that a film analysis is done in order to see what was done correctly and what was not. Often, students that do ...

English 225 Introduction To Film

The film “The Elephant Man” is an iconic and powerful humanistic filmmaking endeavor. Released in 1980, the film relates the story of Joseph Carey Merrick, the real-life figure who was born with a horrible deformity and had to deal with issues of humanity and discrimination in 19th century London. Through the use of compelling performances, assured and minimalistic direction, and a stark, Victorian Gothic aesthetic, director David Lynch forces the horrors and sadness of deformity onto the audience in a way that leaves the viewer tear choked with sadness and sympathy. Most people who watch the film are touched in a way that ...

Takashi Miike's 1999 film Audition is an artful yet horrifying tale of a mild-mannered widower (Ryo Ishibashi) who, in his attempts to find a new wife, falls for a young woman Asami Yamasaki) who is far more than meets the eye. Miike's signature dreamlike mise-en-scene, complete with moody and atmospheric cinematography and strong, vulnerable performances from both leads, creates a twisted romance/revenge film that strongly addresses issues of gender roles and divisions within relationships, particularly as they are applied to Japanese culture. The film explores and critiques notions of romanticism normally found in modern romantic dramas, as the representation of relationships and sexuality in ...

Introduction

Movie producers undergo several obstacles before the completion of their respective projects. Peter Jackson goes through similar predicaments in his creation of the “King Kong Movie”. However, he still manages to create a fascinating movie that has several significant aspects. For example, this movie by Jackson tells an adventurers story that teaches its viewers unique aspects of movie production. The intent of this paper is to provide a social, economic, technological and aesthetic analysis of the movie.

Social

Peter Jackson introduces diverse aspects of socialization throughout this thrilling movie. He begins by letting his protagonists fall in love when they sail to ...

American Feature Film Critique

The Pursuit of Happiness
Introduction

An emotionally wrenching story of a father and son's struggle for survival from life's challenges has been the thematic foundation of the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness (otherwise spelled as Happyness)”. The film starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner together with real-life son Jaden Smith have delivered a remarkable performance portraying the characters based on real-life accounts. It was directed by Gabrielle Mucciono and was released in cinemas on December 15, 2006. The movie was inspired by the life story of the now CEO and founder of Gardner Rich & Co. Christopher Paul Gardner (Henning, n.d., ...

The Joneses, directed by Derrick Borte, is about four people who are pretending to be a family living in a wealthy neighborhood using personal product placement to try to increase sales of particular items in the community. It sounds like a simple idea, but the movie has characters, themes, symbolism, irony, and cinematography styles woven in complex ways that give the movie depth and a multifaceted message.
The main characters are the family of four, including Steve Jones (David Duchovney), Kate Jones (Demi Moore), Jenn Jones (Amber Heard), and Mick Jones (Ben Hollingsworth). The movie takes a limited omniscient view, showing each character ...

Analysis: “Out of the Past”

Out of the Past is one of the classics of the American film noir genre, staring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas in one of the classic twisted plots that is a hallmark of this milieu. Joe Stephanos is searching for Jeff Bailey, who has enamored local girl Ann Miller, but who has also attracted the suspicions of the law – and of Ann’s father. Stephanos finds Bailey and takes him to see Whit Sterling, who has been hunting for him, over a matter of $40,000. Bailey and one of his former loves had swindled Sterling out of the ...

Final Film Critique: American Psycho

The film, American Psycho (Harron, 2000) is based on the book of the same name, written by Bret Easton Ellis and is fundamentally preoccupied with the idea of wealth, sex and success as being significant drives behind human behaviour. Its central protagonist, Patrick Bateman is a mass-murdering psychopath whose actions are driven almost singularly by his desire to be the best: the richest, the most successful, the most popular and somewhat bizarrely, the man with the best business card. Set in 1980s New York, the film is a discussion of yuppie culture taken to its absolute extreme and is hugely successful ...

Final Film Critique: American Psycho

The 2000 film, American Psycho is based on the book of the same name, written by Bret Easton Ellis and is fundamentally preoccupied with the idea of wealth, sex and success as being significant drives behind human behaviour. Its central protagonist, Patrick Bateman is a mass-murdering psychopath whose actions are driven almost singularly by his desire to be the best: the richest, the most successful, the most popular and somewhat bizarrely, the man with the best business card. Set in 1980s New York, the film is a discussion of yuppie culture taken to its absolute extreme and is hugely successful in ...

The 2005 film, Constantine explores the ideas of heaven and hell and their impact on the day to day lives of the people on Earth. In terms of its success, the film was, financially, a big one and took a total of $230,884,728 at the box office. However, it was greeted by a mixed reaction from critics and audiences alike – this was largely due to the film being based on a popular comic book series entitled Hellblazer. The film tells the story of John Constantine, a man who is able to see demons and angels at work on Earth and takes on ...