My Favorite Film

So earlier in the year I remember seeing a lot of "My Favorite Film" posts on this blog, and it got me thinking about some of my favorite movies. My taste in films is all over the place and I often find myself liking films that others find either over the top or boring. Overall what I look for in films is to experience something new, to feel something that wouldn't come naturally to me in the real world. One director that has impressed me time and time again is Tim Burton. Burton has taken a lot of heat over the years for his creative choices, but to this day I cannot name a Burton film, aside from maybe Alice in Wonderland, that I did not thoroughly enjoy. So without further adieu here is a mini breakdown of one of my favorite movies of all time:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I watched this movie four times in the theater when it came out. I even went to my town's local video rental store and begged them to let me have the official movie poster that they had hanging in their front window. This movie was successful for so many reasons but in the interest of not further outing myself as a weirdo allow be to begin my analysis with:

THE SETS

I mean just look at those bad boys. Each set is so unique and vivid and works perfectly to stimulate and emotional response from the audience. Burton gets a lot of heat for starting his movies off gray, british and bland, but that's only so he can make the introduction of color that much more significant.

The Music

So once the movie begins to kick off and we've established that Charlie Bucket and his family are literally in the brink of poverty we begin to understand the real stakes of this factory tour. All the music in this movie thus far has been mostly grand, emotional, and mystical. Everything feels so bleak and hopeless and then once the factory doors finally open we're greeted with this.

It's sugary ridiculousness borders on the psychotic. It's a perfect way of showing how distant Wonka's psyche is from the poverty and hardships that surround him. It also serves as a way of presenting his egomania to the children of the parents who are about to willingly allow a mad man escort their children around a chocolate factory.

Shot Composition

All about that symmetry. I'm gonna cap off my review here but let me just say that what I love most about Burton is that he seems like he cares deeply about the films he makes. Even after watching this movie about a bazillion times I still find myself catching little details that make the whole experience enjoyable again. I can honestly say that I think this film couldn't have been pulled off by any current mainstream director quite as well.

Devil: The movie that makes elevators even creepier

DEVIL 

For all you horror film fanatics, this 2010 movie "Devil" is simply scary. It features five strangers get trapped in an elevator to face their ultimate death. The movie starts of with a low angle shot of a man committing suicide and a narration begins. The narrator begins to tell the audience about the stories his mother used to tell him regarding the pernicious ways of the Devil. As the movie progresses, we find each unique character has a horrible vice. One is a mattress salesman who cons people to buy his products, and another example of a woman who is waiting to inherit millions. 

The camera work is fluid and interesting in this film. It is odd that the majority of the film was filmed in an elevator, being such a small space and not having to work with much. Each time the lights go out, a death occurs and someone is dead when the lights come back on. I like that they chose to shoot it in this way because it makes the viewer have to imagine what is going on and that is even scarier. The lighting in the beginning of the movie is natural, but in the elevator it flickers on and off and their is a large use of shadows. It is almost a fun movie because the entire time you are trying to figure out who is killing everyone in the elevator; the black man, the grandmother, the young woman, the edgy man, or the middle eastern man? Watch the film to find out!

This is one of my favorite horror films because it is so simple, yet very well done. It was based on a story by M.Night Shyamalan and he is one of my favorite directors as well. Overall this movie is terrifying, especially to those who are religious. I am Catholic and the idea that the Devil walks among us is terrifying. In the end of the film, the narrator states "If the Devil is real, God must also be real" which is a great way to end the film in my opinion. 

Here is the trailer, check it out if you dare:

"Trick r Treat"

TRICK R TREAT

In light of the Halloween season, since I have been home for break I took the opportunity to choose from my wide selection of  horror films. My mom recently bought “Trick r Treat” a scary movie from 2007 that I had never heard of. So, we popped it in and began watching it.

This film features three to four different stories, all intertwined during on Halloween night in Ohio. There is this scary little “kid” with a cloth bag over his head that is always present in each individual story.  It is hard to follow the stories at first, as the viewer is constantly switched from on to another. The movie establishes them quickly, and soon it is easy to differentiate.

The composition of shots is average, nothing too special or intriguing. Lighting in the film is mostly dark, with shadows and “moon” light.  The character development was poor, since there were so many stories intertwined I never got a chance to really know them. The idea of this movie is interesting, but it could have been composed better.

One of the scenes I thought was well done is a scene of a group of girls in the woods. (this is not going where you think/hoping it was!) We find out the girls are all werewolves and the each brought a “date” to the “party”.  The metamorphosis of the girls is done well, as they each begin turning into their true and scary selves. The scene has awesome lighting and special effects that are very believable.

Overall I probably would not see this movie again. In the end the viewer is taken back in time to see the events again, but from different perspectives and that is pretty cool how they tied that in.  All the stories are meshed together, but it didn’t entice me to the point that I would want to watch it again.

Here’s the trailer, take a look