1975 Movie Trailer Post

“The Policeman”

Starring Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, and Jodie Foster, Francis Ford Coppola directs the  story of a man determined to do what is right. Coming back from Vietnam, John Doe(played by Robert De Niro) discovers the country he left to fight for in the war has completely changed from what it used to be. Vying for peace and a return to normality, he becomes a policeman through his connections with the military. Though he is no longer a soldier, he still believes that orders need to be followed and rules must be obeyed. However, as the ever-changing country evolves, John changes with it. He finds himself caught in society’s new influence of drugs, sex, counterculture, and revenge. He must solve for himself what is good and what is bad. Paramount Pictures presents “The Policeman” an exploration of morality, justice, and humanity. This film is Rated R for violence, sexuality, drug usage, and explicit language.

I thought that the 70's placed a large emphasis on the changing moral standards of the world, so thats the idea I based my movie on. I saw in The Godfather that Francis Ford Coppola does a great job with charachter development, like he did with Al Pacino in Michael Corleone's charachter. I chose him to direct my movie because I thought this charachter development  would make my movie that much more interesting to watch. In addition, The Godfather, as well as other 70s movies, showed a main charachter that was not outwardly good. This "antihero" aspect was another thing I wanted to include in my movie, and I couldnt think of a better way to show it than with a crooked cop. Obviously I have included popular social changes and events in the 70s, which are all accurate to that time period. My genre is definitely more of a drama than anything else, which I think would be succesful as people were looking for more grown up movies at that time. Lastly, instead of trying to get the wholesome, family-oriented viewers, I wanted to include copious amounts of violence, sex and the like, because thats what I think people really wanted to see. While ill admit my movie isnt the most innovative or origional story, it would be extremely fitting for a 1975 movie.

MYST POST #4

For my fourth MYST post, I watched the movie “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, by Stephen Chbosky. I decided to watch it because it was a rainy day, and my girlfriend really wanted me to see it because it’s her favorite movie. The story follows a boy named Charlie in his freshman year of high school. He doesn’t have many friends, and is a generally shy and antisocial kid until he befriends a group of seniors. As we follow Charlie through his first year of high school, we see adversity arise in many different ways. The story covers topics like depression, suicide, love, homosexuality, and drugs, and ends up being a very real view of a teenager’s life. By following Charlie in his story, it ends up relating to the viewers life as well, which made it a very powerful and touching movie.

One part that was especially memorable to me was the final scene of the movie. After Charlie’s senior friends go away to college, he is left alone again. His depression comes back, and he ends up getting put in a psychiatric hospital for treatment. Everything seems to be spiraling downward into a tragic end, when his two closest friends come back to visit. They take him on a car ride through a tunnel they used to drive through together, and Charlie comes to a moment of realization where he fully appreciates everything he has in his life. The whole story leads up to this point, and the music and filming make it into a really special scene.

I thought one of the best parts of the movie was the music. Because it was made to appeal to teenagers, it used upbeat, modern, music in most of the scenes. In other, more serious scenes, the music also fit really well. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there actually was some element of cinematography involved. In the scene I mentioned above, as well as in many others, long sight lines and perspective made the characters seem either big or small, depending on the situation. The lighting was also dark during the sad scenes, and really bright during the happy ones. It was nice to see that amount of care put into what would normally just be a standard teen movie. It reminded me of the movie Brick we watched in class, with some film noir elements and dry humor spread throughout. It was actually really successful in terms of artistic style and cinematography, which was a nice surprise.

Overall, I would give The Perks of Being a Wallflower a 10/10. I really, really liked it, which is rare for movies of this type. Even though it’s a typical teenage girl’s movie, I thought it was actually really really well done stylistically. I feel like to give anything less than a 10 would be unfair, because there was simply nothing that this movie did badly. Steven Chbosky’s original story provides a real look at a high-schooler’s life, and I think anyone who watches this movie can relate to, and learn from the messages this movie portrays. I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially those in high school, to watch this. Don’t be afraid of the “girly” aura that it might exude, this is a competent exploration of life and what it means to appreciate everything we have. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie.