MYST #6: Drive

Ryan Gosling has been playing a number of different roles lately and I would argue that his character in Drive is his best. Drive is not your average Hollywood film. The film has many of the characteristics of a Hollywood film, while maintaing that independent film feeling. Just one reason why Drive is an awesome film. 

The story starts as an unnamed driver, played by Ryan Gosling, prepares to be the driver of a robbery. After a couple misfortunes, Gosling and the two robbers he’s driving are found in the middle of a police chase, but thanks to Gosling’s expert driving and creativity, the car gets lost in a flood of fans leaving the Clippers game. The creativity of Goslings’s character proves key to many scenes throughout this film. Later,  he meets his new neighbor Irene, played by Carey Mulligan. Gosling’s character has an attachment to Irene’s young son, whose father, named Standard, is in prison. Once he gets released from prison, Standard finds himself indebted to people who protected him in prison. After seeing Standard get beat up in a parking lot, Gosling’s character gets himself involved in the conflict. To pay the debt off, Standard must rob a pawn shop in the valley. The robbery ends up going terribly wrong and the driver finds himself alone with one million dollars in cash. Throughout the rest of the film the driver tries to get rid of the money and ensure Irene and her son’s health. The driver ends up coming face to face with the main antagonist, named Bernie. There they come to agreement that the driver will hand over the money and Irene will be safe, but in the parking lot they end up getting in a fight. The driver comes out victorious leaving Bernie and one million in cash on the ground of a parking lot.

The cinematography in this film was outstanding. After research I found out that this movie was filmed digitally, attributing the overall brightness and color to this film. Some of the chase scenes in this film left me mesmerized and wondering how they got some of the shots. Newton Thomas Sigel took full advantage of the setting in Los Angeles to capture shots of the city that I thought were cool. For a relatively low budget film, I was impressed that they got some of the shots that they did. I guess that is a positive of independent film, the attention to detail in every scene.

Overall, I thought this film was outstanding. The plot was very entertaining, cinematography great, and had many great acting performances. I give Drive 4 out of 4 stars and would recommend it to anyone.  

MYST #5: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

After watching The Tree of Life, I was interested what other work Brad Pitt had out there. Having already seen Fight Club and the Ocean’s Eleven movies, I decided to check out The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 

The main plot for this film is about a man named Benjamin Button(Brad Pitt) that ages backwards. Abandoned by his family, he is raised by a servant named Queenie. After learning how to walk and hanging out with all the old people that live in the same nursery home, he moves out at the age of 17 and becomes a part of a tugboat crew. After experiencing many ‘firsts,’ including having his first drink and going to his first brothel, Mike, the captain of his boat, volunteers the boat for the Navy following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Following a battle that resulted in both the tugboat and an enemy submarine to sink, Benjamin is rescued and released from the war. When he gets home, he meets his biological father whom he is angry at. His father reveals his is sick and is going to give Benjamin everything in his will. A number of years go by and Benjamin links up with his childhood friend, Daisy(Cate Blanchett), and they fall in love. They return to New Orleans and have a child, but are faced with the dilemma of what they should do when Benjamin is too young to be a father. Benjamin decides to leave and the rest of the film are scene of Daisy and Benjamin seeing each other every 10 or so years. Benjamin ends up dying in Daisy’s arms and Daisy dies two years later. The film is narrated by the child the two have as she reads the story of Benjamin. 

The visuals in this film were very impressive. Without the visuals of this film, it would be very hard to believe. The early scenes especially when Benjamin was ‘young’ were masterfully crafted to make the film credible. The time periods were also captured very interestingly that it made you feel like you were in that time period. The film ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Visuals in 2009.

Another thing about this film that stood out to be was the incredible similarity to the 1994 film Forrest Gump. For example, both are fatherless, have difficulty walking at a young age, go to war, get rich very fast, travel the world, and end up having a child with a childhood friend. Both screenplays are actually written by Eric Roth, so i’m sure that’s why. I thought that was interesting.

Overall, I thought this film was average. Director David Fincher and Brad Pitt have a solid chemistry between each other, but I feel the film is just too long. Running at 2 and a half hours, scenes just seem to drag on. This film had an interesting concept, but just was missing something. I give the film 2 and a half stars out of four.

1975 Film Post: Sent to Hell

             Sent to Hell is a war film set during the Vietnam War about three brothers who go off to war together. Billy, Joe, and Frankie Jones were coal miners who were born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia until the day their lives changed forever, the day they got drafted to the army. In Vietnam, the youngest brother, Joe, gets kidnapped and sets the stage for the rest of the film with his two other brothers searching for him. While searching for Joe, Frankie and Billy are faced with grim reality of war and are forced to question the cause they are fighting for. Behind enemy lines, both Frankie and Billy learn a lot about themselves and each other in their search for their younger brother. Playing the brothers we have Christopher Walken, Harrison Ford, and Kurt Russel. We believe that having these young actors and somewhat unknown actors would give the film a realism to it that would be hard to achieve with big time movie stars. We also think they are three great actors. Set to direct we have Steven Spielberg. We believe he has the vision to make a great war and he knows how to make a high budget film. In addition, we think this film can build off the hype of his other 1975 film, Jaws. Paramount Pictures will be our studio for this production because they have a very good history in this decade and they will give us the financial freedom needed to make a good war film. This film will be focusing on cinematography. There is no better man to help us to do this than Gordon Willis. Much like The Godfather, we want a darker, grittier tone to this film to help capture the intensity and pain of war. With Gordon Willis, we think we can achieve this. The characteristics of a 1970s film in this film are the difference between good and evil, the darker tone of the film, and the plot that is very relatable to the everyday American. We believe that Sent to Hell has what it takes to become both a commercial and critical success. Go see Sent to Hell!