LMU Homework - Don't Look Back and Midnight Cowboy - 13 & 14 of 15

Nearly done.
Though I'm not watching all 20 movies on the list. just 15.

Don't Look Back is a documentary on Bob Dylan while he was in England in 1965.
Pretty interesting... pioneered the use of Cinema Verité, the director had created a portable 16mm camera and made portable sound so to get in the moment footage. But as I suspected Bob was putting on an act. People never act like their "true" self on the camera. But anyway, it was a good documentary nonetheless. I liked that even though it didn't have much of a plot the end note of Bob Dylan being an anarchist kind of summed up a little of the insanity and no rules way he went about things in the movie. Enjoyable... and I really like Bob Dylan's music. I want to see I'm Not There (2007)... a drama based on Dylan.

Midnight Cowboy... ehhh bleh. Good acting, nice editing and use of flashback to further the story. BUT I really didn't like the degrading view of humanity...
Okay so I'm being harsh... its true these people are here and they do immoral and stupid things, but I guess overall the story led to at least Joe finally realizing there are easier ways to make a living that are an actual honest JOB. Haha
So while I was screaming at the screen the whole time saying GAHH just get a job stop being so stupid and stealing all the time... at least the guilt led him to realizing he should look elsewhere to make his life less painful.

LMU Homework - Citizen Kane - 12 of 15

I just watched "the greatest movie ever made". And for its time, its relevance and technical beauty, it pretty much is the most cutting-edge film of the age. I will not rave that Citizen Kane is my new favorite movie, no it's not, But that does not mean I don't deeply admire it. In fact it's very inspirational as a filmmaker (besides that Wells was incredibly lucky, but luck is when opportunity meets preparation...). One other thing Wells had was such a deep multi-layered understanding of his main character as a hybrid of himself and Hearst, And it played well on the screen. Their shots and angles were fresh and the editing was unique... I adored the crane-ish shot through the club sign into the skylight that cross faded into the scene. :)

Power is self-destructive.

LMU Homework - The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs - Freshman book

Alright so I have semi-mixed feelings on this book. While I adore its dedication and exploration of the bible, I'm too much in love with faith in God to see how this secular Jewish man can keep such a guard up to believing. Eh... maybe its how we grow up. At least he's open minded and that's where many people fail to understand that in keeping an open mind we can see all the view points and more fully come to know why we believe what we do.

His conclusion is interesting. While I've been told in church not to be a "Cafeteria Catholic" (and I agree with not being such within Catholicism because to embrace your confirmation as such you should believe in the teachings of your faith.), his view is that practically every sect of christianity and judaism has a Cafeteria grasp on the Bible. Which after reading it is basically true... you can't really embrace every minute detail and expect it to work out, in fact the contradictions in the Bible make it near impossible. Old Testament laws weren't "abolished" by Jesus' coming, and yet as a christian we hardly follow most of the old ritual laws... this book helped give me a better understanding of the rituals of Judaism and their meaning. But do these contradictions and very varied interpretations (is everything literal or is most of it figurative?) that make the bible any less sacred? No, at least in my opinion.

This book is thought-provoking, hilarious, and humbly truthful. You'll probably be saying hey I've thought that or Hmm, never thought of it like that before. But whatever your spiritual walk in life is right now agnostic to mormon... this book is a nice refreshing read. :-)

LMU Homework - Ladri Di Biciclette and Rashomon - 10 and 11 of 15

While I almost immediately loved Rashomon, Ladri di Biciclette slowly grew on me as I realized the profoundness of the Italian neorealism movement.

Ladri Di Biciclette, or Bicycle Thieves, follows the story of a poor man and his stolen bicycle. His son also tags along. Generally it has hardly a plot... just lots of random encounters in Rome... This being the basis for neorealism, its point was to pare down the story and focus in on reality, the situations and walks of life in a truthful, documentary-seeming way. It moved the shooting off the set and into the streets with real people, with real architecture. The man never gets his bike back and is under such increadible pressure because of the poverty following the war and trying to provide for his family, he attempts to steal a bike himself... failing miserably. It ends with a big question mark, which emphasizes the fact that while we are obsessed with the future we have no control or answers to what is going to happen. We just have to live out what life gives us and that's the reality.

With Rashomon, Kurosawa completely questions reality. In this murder-mystery-esque Japanese drama we are told five completely different stories of a man's murder (the only fact we seem to have). All are shown to the audience, who, with artful camera work, seemingly become the interrogators trying to find the truth. Each story is completely different and suits each person's need to defend their honor, except that of the woodcutter, whom at first his story is a lie but then I think the truth finally comes out under the pressure of knowing. But then this again emphasizes that all men seem to be liars, and as the priest fears how can he trust humanity after all of these lies and betrayal.
There are so many great themes in this movie, its just such a smart look into a sort of psychology of man... we lie, we succumb to evils, we are selfish, we blame and yet are guilty, we hope and yet we fear, we trust and yet are skeptical...etc
But I like the way this movies ends, because there's this respect between the priest and the woodcutter that there is hope for some good in people, even if its only a few.

Anyways very interesting movies! :)

LMU Homework - Harlan County USA & Thin Blue Line - 8 and 9 of 15

DOCUMENTARY FILMS!
Oh how I adore your justice seeking ways!

Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris opens with a shot of Reunion tower in DALLAS!
That made me smile, but the rest of the film made me shake my head in disgust...
Dallas (the city itself) is one of the worst in the country for crime. We have the 6th largest prison in the US, and our criminal justice system is notorious for being pathetic and brutal and this film really highlighted that. Then again it certianly isn't uncommon in most the rest of the USA... Jurys putting away OBVIOUSLY innocent people.

The best thing that came from this film was that soon after its release the innocent man was finally released after 13 years in jail. I don't know whether to be happy this film made it possible for his release or if I should be upset to see another man's life ruined by the justice system. I'm pretty sure I would never want a jury trial... my fellow man is rather incompetent.

One other interesting thing was that in the bonus section of the DVD there was an episode of Morris' tv series... it looked into the range of human evilness, if there is a rating system at all and the extent of the horrendous things people do to one another. It was interesting despite its morbidity.


Harlan County, USA... Again a great documentary that lets you really get to know real people and their struggles. It focused on the coal miners strikes during the late 60s into the early 70s. It showed the point of view of why people wanted unions, these very poor people trying anyway to get what they needed to atleast live semi comfortably instead of straining in pathetic housing with no plumbing and no means to climb out of their situation. A undereducated, resilient group, coal mining is all they knew or had but they fought for better conditions and pay that they truly deserved...
Won the Academy Award in 1976.