The Holy Girl

The movie, The Holy Girl, or as it is called in Spanish, "La Nina Santa," (I know there is no accent over the second "n" in Nina because I have no clue how to do it) was very boring. I know that this is not about our opinion, but it was just boring to me. Anyways, on to the prompt of this movie blog. I believe that the reason why this movie was important was because of the theme of sexuality and the coinciding of their spiritual life. That is what I believe is the biggest motive of importance of the movie. I think it is important because we all have sexual impulse, let's be honest here. Most of us actually believe in something as well, which is the spirituality part. It is kind of the saying of "You can't have your cake and eat it too." It also shows how people can use sex as a sort of weapon or use it as sort of a justifying force, depending on whose hands it is in. I just read that and it could be misconstrued as a pun, so pun definitely NOT intended. In this case, the main character of the movie, Amalia, was being hit on by one of the doctors at her mom's (who is pretty good looking) hotel. She thinks that she needs to save the doctor from the inappropriate behavior he portrayed towards her. She kind of got over it and fell in love with him and desires to be married to him. Oh yeah, and she also starts stalking him. This movie felt sort of like some significant book or play made in the 1800's or something. I can't pinpoint it, but it sort of feels like that, much like the 1983 movie Scarface wort of reminded me of Macbeth (actually it was the other way around because I saw Scarface first.) The reason why I believe the movie was selected is beyond me. If I had to guess, it was because it was a very significant movie that has a very significant message about sexuality. That is just a guess, though because I really don't know.

The Babadook

First off, all I have to say is wow. This movie was great! Not my favorite movie ever, but it was pretty good. It sort of started out slow but then got suspenseful real fast. Honestly, this movie is the best movie that we've watched in this class so far (at least from my perspective.) You kind of felt for the mom, since she was a single mother with an annoying son that got into a bunch if mischief at school. I kind of related her sort of like Jack Torrance from The Shining because of the hysteria she was in when the Babadook possessed her breaking down doors and trying to kill her son, like Jack Torrance tried to do in The Shining and whatnot. There were plenty of differences within the two movies, but it could be closely compared to The Shining, which I thoroughly enjoyed throughout the movie. Anyways, on to the topic of gender and the horror genre. Most of the time in horror movies, the villain is a man, but we really don't know if the Babadook is a man or a woman. I personally wouldn't give it a gender, it was just sort of a beast. Women in horror movies are also stereotyped and are the victims (in this case it was true to an extent,) but Amelia was the victim AND the hero because she tamed the Babadook and sort of made it her bitch, with a little bit of help from Sam, her son. The gender roles were sort of reversed in this movie, which definitely intrigued me since Amelia wasn't like the typical woman in the horror movies. To conclude, I believe that this movie was really well put together and lived up to the label of "psychological thriller."

Dogtooth

Alright. I thought that this movie would have been much more...dark. It wasn't really dark, it was just weird. The movie was a lot like Eraserhead. It is probably a good movie, but it just gets weirder and weirder as the movie progresses. There was no real shock value, at least to me, because if I'm going to be shocked, I have to be psychologically. Now I know when the older daughter knocks her right "dogtooth" out it was supposed to be very thrilling, but it didn't do anything for me. Overall I didn't mind it, but it wasn't the best. I know that for a fact that they definitely made it weird for the Greek Weird Wave, but it just got progressively weirder throughout the movie having me question why they were doing stuff, like when they were doing the, I guess, scavenger hunt? Can you call it that? Anyways, the part where the kids are blindfolded and are walking around in the yard to the wooden platform where their mother was. Anyways, the scene that I was going to analyze was the ending five minutes or so. The oldest daughter went to the bathroom and then knocked her right canine out and then hid in her father's Mercedes Benz's trunk. The youngest daughter went to the father's room and started licking him, to what I assume is to wake him up. He got up and started searching for the oldest daughter outside of the boundaries of their house. The kids and the mom started barking like dogs and the youngest daughter also called out Bruce, since the oldest daughter said that she would respond if the youngest daughter called the older one Bruce. They couldn't find her, so they stopped looking. Later, the dad and mom were at their table and he told her to drink the orange juice, for some reason. As an aside, I don't know what it is about the recurring theme of the orange juice, but whatever. Anyways, the dad went to his job and the camera shot to the trunk and just ended with that. It was not really the ending that I thought, but it is what Lanthimos wanted. I was expecting the ending to be the oldest daughter getting out of the trunk and running away Rocky style and whatnot, since she watched Rocky when the girl that was banging the son gave her the VHS tape for *ahem* service downstairs (if you know what I mean.) I wanted it to be really stereotypical modern movies where the main character gets away free and clear. It of course didn't happen like that. The movie also lived up to the hype of being "weird," so Lanthimos should be proud of that. The younger daughter was also pretty good looking, which was pretty nice.

Proof

First off, I did a little bit of research on this movie. I googled "Proof" and I saw a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Sir Anthony Hopkins and I just let out a huge groan. But then I looked at the year it was made, and it wasn't even in the 90's. So I felt extremely stupid, to say the least. I then actually looked at the 1991 movie Proof, and it seemed pretty good. I did a little research and saw that Maximus from Galdiator and the Agent Smith from the Matrix series were in it, and I knew that it was going to be good. Now, I know Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving were nothing like the characters that I just mentioned, but they actually acted pretty well in this movie. Anyways, I should probably get down to brass tacks and analyze a scene. The scene that I enjoyed because it kept me on my seat and had me laughing at the end of it was when Russell Crowe, or Andy, took Hugo Weaving, or Martin, to the drive-in. Russell Crowe was describing the slasher flick that they drove in to see to Hugo Weaving, you know, since he is blind and all. Andy then went to go get some food for the two to eat while watching, what I assuming was a cookie cutter slasher film with a bunch of blood and gore that was described by Andy. Anyways, Andy went to get food, and the people parked next to them saw Martin touching everything in Andy's car and then staring into their car. They didn't really take to kindly to that, and then called Martin a "faggot" and stuff(not knowing that he was blind or anything) and then vandalizing Andy's car. This part made me think of the Wolf of Wall Street when Brad knocked Donnie's block off saying "Who's the faggot now, faggot?" I don't know why, but it definitely reminded me of that. Andy then got back and tried to beat the asses of the posers that were vandalizing his car. He fended them away for the most part, got into his car, and then peeled out. Martin was also in the driver's seat, so you can see how hard that would have been, you know, with a blind man driving. The cops then saw them driving out of the drive in, speeding out and went to pull them over. They did that, but then Martin accidentally put his foot on the gas and hit the back of the police car. But that isn't the funny part. When Martin pretended that he went blind because of it was. He acted his ass off, in my opinion. Andy thought it was sly, you could definitely see it in his eyes. Anyways, this was a pretty good movie.

When Harry Met Sally

First off, I believe that this movie is just, meh. I'm not really trying to detract from it or anything. I know that this movie (and Sleepless in Seattle) are the pioneers to modern movies, but this is just not my wheelhouse. I mean I've seen it before and thought it wasn't anything spectacular and I have said it once, now I am going to say it again. All romantic comedies are the same in one way or another. Anyways, off of my soap box and on to the prompt. The other movie that I will compare this movie is the 40 Year Old Virgin. I know that this is sort of a stretch, but they are sort of similar. The two scenes that I will compare and contrast is the scenes in the 40 Year Old Virgin where Andy thinks that he is over Trish and goes to the club and tries to have sex with Beth from the Barnes and Noble but realizes that he really does love Trish and they get married and when Harry and Sally get married. They are similar because they believe that they really don't love the other character but in fact that they actually do love each other and end up getting married (and consummating their marriage in terms of the 40 Year Old Virgin.) One main difference is that in When Harry Met Sally, Sally is at a New Years eve party when Harry shows up and professes his love for her, while in the 40 Year Old Virgin, Andy, again, was going to have sex with Beth and felt bad because he really didn't love her and chases after Trish and tells her that he is not a sexual deviant and they profess their love for each other and get married. Another two scenes that I can compare and contrast to each movie was when each of the lovers fell in love. In the 40 Year Old Virgin, it was love at first sight and it took time in When Harry Met Sally. That was the contrast, but the compare is that in the end they both get married and are actually in love. I know that this is really unrelated to anything, but the 40 Year Old Virgin has one of my favorite lines that makes me laugh every time, when the guys pay a transgender prostitute to have sex with Andy and Andy says that she "had an Adam's Apple as big as her balls!" I don't know why, but it gets me every time. I am literally laughing at it as I am typing this!

Annie Hall

First off, I thought that the movie was pretty good. I mean, I really haven't seen a lot of Woody Allen movies, but I've heard mostly good things about his movies. Anyways, getting to the question of if Allen's comedic style is successful, and in my eyes, I think it is successful. The movie is sort of Seinfeld-esque, with Woody Allen being kind of like George mixed in with a little bit of Jerry, I think that it made a pretty good romantic comedy. If some parts of the movie are some of the motives for Seinfeld, it would not surprise me because it is sort of dry humor and sort of observational humor, which I enjoy. So overall, since it is like Seinfeld (which is one of my favorite shows) I enjoyed it and think that Woody Allen's approach to his comedy in Annie Hall was terrific, but not the type of humor that I am into. If it was a lot more slapstick and a lot more crude (yes I know that is a little weird because this is pretty crude) I would probably enjoy it more. I do kind of like the asides that are used to talk to the camera and the sort of flashbacks that were used to see Annie's past boyfriends. Overall, this movie was pretty good, but I was not in love with it, but I respect it.

Night of the Living Dead

George Romero's Night of the Living Dead was extremely ground breaking AND pretty good for a 1960s thriller movie. If we still had the other movie in Psycho, I would still probably watch this, because I have already seen Psycho, and it is just...meh, for an Alfred Hitchcock movie. What I am trying to say is that I am glad we watched this movie, since I have heard so much about the movie, and we got to watch this movie. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Anyways, on to the prompt for the blog post. There were plenty of things that could be many political implications in the film, but the one that I am assuming of right now is that the political implication is the use of an African American for the main character in the movie who is the hero and has normal hero qualities. He can also be compared to many ground breaking people throughout history, but the one that people most compare Ben to is Martin Luther King, Jr. because he was an African American leader that was killed by a bunch of rednecks (or in Martin Luther King, Jr's case one redneck,) and was the leader of many people. You could actually compare Ben to any leader that had been assassinated. All in all, I loved this movie because it was campy, and I like some movies that are pretty campy.