Movie/Director Review: Quentin Tarantino

I watched Inglorious Basterds, a film directed by Quentin Tarantino released in 2009. The movie was entertaining. It had beautiful scenic shots as well as a color palette that visually seems to make the period style more believable. Of course, it was obviously a Tarantino film because it's exactly like all of his other films. The opening scene before the credits is a clip from the middle of the story line, something happens then bam! The movie actually starts. The plot is pretty much non-existent, with long drawn out scenes for no reason, just like the Kill Bill's, Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, etc. So basically the movie is shit if we're trying to be all film elitist with it in my opinion. However, if we look at it from the average person's perspective then it was a great movie. It was aesthetically pleasing to watch and kept my attention.

Film Movement (Avant-Garde/Experimental/Surrealism)

Fireworks (1947) by Kenneth Anger

Personally I'm not a fan of homo-erotic films and abstract films in most cases. However, I can definitely see how this film was a pioneer for a new frontier of not only film but for society. In fact, after further research on the film, I learned that Mr. Anger was arrested for obscenity after releasing the film and the manager of the theatre which screened it.

The film is in black and white with barely any dialogue. it mostly consists of angled shots of a man half naked at all times in possibly erotic ways depending on perspective. In one of the early shots the man wakes up with "morning wood" which turns out to be just that, morning wood.

Avant-Garde is important because it led to many new fields of film by having new ideas be introduced and its legacy is much of modern film makers being inspired either directly or indirectly by avant-garde films.

Fireworks can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDu7mbcGqGY

The Act of Killing - Joshua Oppenheimer

Although this film received good reviews, I didn't like it one bit. It was so boring to watch. There were many interview scenes and none of them caught my attention at all. Even the surrealistic scenes (recreations of memories/nightmares) were extremely boring. I honestly couldn't even watch the whole film to do this assignment, there was around 30 minutes of footage left and I couldn't force myself to watch it any longer. It was informational and all, as a documentary should be, but it was not captivating.

Concussion Directed by Stacie Passon - Review

I have such mixed feelings about this film. The cinematography was nice, the depth of focus kept changing throughout the whole film until the ending which really added to the foggy view of reality Abby had from her concussion in the very beginning of the film. The story was entertaining most of the time but didn't really seem to represent a realistic version of the middle aged housewife's struggle. It made it seem as if the swingers lifestyle is a common one that is shared by every gay/lesbian person. Literally every character aside from Kate are unfaithful, cheating, adulterating scum. It did manage to keep me engaged throughout most of the running time but the ending was so disappointing because there was what felt like an hour of buildup to a fizzled out conclusion instead of a bang. At one point during the movie, Abby had to kiss this fat gross looking abomination of a human being on both sets of lips and I nearly stabbed my eyes out. I don't know how much she made from this film but she probably deserved more just for that one scene alone.