Mean Girls

Mean Girls introduces us to Cady (Lindsey Lohan), a 16 year old girl who just moved to a new high school and city. She was homeschooled her whole life and is trying to fit in with the “plastics” who invite her to sit at their table after a couple weeks. The leader, Regina (Rachel McAdams) is the prettiest and most popular girl in school. Man girls can relate to Cady because high school is one of the hardest times in any person’s life trying to fit in and have friends. The director, Mark Waters really connected to girls in high school and older women that have had those experiences by created typical scenarios that happen in high school.

            I would say this film was a good versus evil theme. The narrative arc happens when pandemonium breaks out in the school when a “burn book” full of nasty comments on most of the girls surfaces. Cady’s math teacher (Tina Fey) preaches the theme of the movie about how being cruel is no way to build up one’s self-esteem.

            As far as technicality goes, I researched and found that aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this double-layered DVD caused the movie to look good but not exceptional. For the most part, the sharpness was good. The tones displayed vivid and vibrant shots. There was some use of low-light shots.

            Overall this movie was good for a selective few, mainly younger girls, which is when I first saw this movie in 2004. I enjoy watching it now, but it is not the same as it was before. It is amusing and sly, but not something truly memorable.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) was named after a war hero from the civil war. He grew up living with his mother (Sally Field) because he was considered “slow” with an IQ of 75. Although he was slow, he was not stupid and ad a very unique and positive perspective on life. Throughout Forrests very interesting life as football star, war hero, successful businessman and a pop icon, Forrest never forgets about his first and only love, Jenny (Robin White). This movie will have you laughing one moment and then next you’ll be in tears because of the powerful moments of this “lifestory” drama.

            There were some visual effects made that allowed Forrest to meet George Wallace, President Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. It was one of the first movies to use computer generating images that allowed a whole new story to be told. The director, Robert Zemeckis did a good job portraying Gump as a role-model, although he is not the smartest, his simplistic view on life and his niceness (not greedy with fame, no grudges, trustable) made him a model. He becomes a millionaire but gives most of his money away.

            This movie was very heartening and was a runaway hit. Many people felt as though it touched with their “inner child”.  One thing I really liked was the movie was unpredictable. Gump never grows up or matures in the movie. He never becomes  a man and remains a boy throughout. Zemeckis did a good job showing anyone can retain their inner child as long as they never grow up or become mature.

Jaws

In this man vs. nature film, Jaws displays various themes such as feelings of helplessness and fear of the unknown. This film is all about danger and suspense along with gore and violence. Things go from being ok one minute, to surprise and thrill the next. Many know Jaws because of the music without even having seen the film.

            Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster drew people in from the beginning of the movie, creating an innocent scene with young kids enjoying a campfire on a warm summer night. The next minute, things completely shift when one of the girls decides to run into the water for a swim and she is attacked by something unknown. Starring Roy Scheider as the police chief and Robert Shaw a local fisherman, the town doesn’t believe that a shark could have been the cause of the girls death. They didn’t believe something that big existed in their waters. After finding a marine biologist to help out with the goal of having the beach open for the fourth of July weekend, the film sets up the suspense when they believe they killed the shark the day before. Since everyone thought it was safe now, and the mayor (Murray Hamilton) approved, the beach was open but the shark really wasn’t dead.

            This film was low budget and the shark looked fake, but Spielberg created suspense and mystery well with the zoom effects used in different scenes. One way he connected with the audience was not only the fear of the shark, but also the dark and mysterious water.

            I really enjoyed this film and it is considered a classic that was very popular at its time of introduction. From the music used to create suspense, to the different lighting and angles on the boat and underwater, this is a masterpiece that is one of the best films today.

Princess Bride

The Princess Bride was a quirky, funny fairy tale that has an unusual amount of violence including sword fights, death by poisoning, giant eels and quicksand. Although it was violent, the storybook feeling made the film humorous and very creative.

            Directed by Rob Reiner, this fairy tale was staged as a book read by grandfather (Peter Falk) to his grandson (Fred Savage). The grandson was very weary about reading a ‘love story’ but the grandfather assured him that it was much more, which built up some curiosity and excitement to the beginning of the film. This film was about a beautiful woman, Butttercup (Robin Penn) who got engaged to the cruel Prince Humperdinck (Chris Saradon) after she got terrible news that the Dead Pirate Roberts killed her true love, Westley. Before the wedding, Buttercup was kidnapped by Andre the Giant and an evil genius (Wallace Shawn).  A mysterious masked man (Cary Elwes) came to the rescue and took Buttercup with her where she learned the lesson that “love conquers all.”

As far as the film’s elements are concerned, the director used a variety of different techniques. One was the title of the movie, “Princess” setting the fairy tale theme, and “Bride” hinting that it may be a love story. The lighting helped to tell the story by establishing the mood. It was natural during the outdoor scenes and very dark and scary in the swamp scene to create an eerie felling.

            I could tell this was a low budget film, but the director achieved good humor and positive feedback from the film using auteur theory to create a great storytelling fairy tale that children and adults could both watch.