The Hateful Eight

So it's that time of year again. Time for family, holidays, good food and presents. However, it's also time for some interesting movies. Now everyone's been clamoring about the new Star Wars, but personally, I have my eyes set on a different movie. The Hateful Eight is the, coincidently or not, eighth movie from famous director Quentin Tarantino. He's made some of the most commercially and critically successful movies ever, such as Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, and most recently, Django Unchained. He has been known for his sharp writing, over the top violence and meticulous attention to detail that's garnered him such a loving following over the years.

The movie, set to star actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Walter Goggins, Tim Roth among others. Many faces in the cast will look familiar to people who have seen a Tarantino film before. Anyway, the movie is about eight different people who, against their will, get trapped in a building and have to spend a few nights with each other, and this isn't any happy sleepover. No one trusts anyone and tensions are bound to be high.

One choice Tarantino made for the film which is really interesting is he made the decision to shoot using 70mm film, which isn't seen too often these days, and is certainly worth checking out one of the 70mm versions, because it will contain 6 addition minutes of film as well as usage of different takes. The total run time for the 70mm version is 3 hours and 2 minutes, and it's likely jam packed with everything that makes his movies so enjoyable. The movie releases on Christmas day, and I recommend making plans to go see, not necessarily on Christmas. And don't forget to go with someone you trust.

Top Five Favorite Films

Top Five Greatest Movies of All Time: Krystal’s Edition

• Grease (1978)
• Classic and personal favorite film. I can literally watch this film a million times, with all the singing and over dramatic scenes and be completely content. Had this film be of the 2000’s I would probably be annoyed and bored of the musical cliches. The characters have great charisma and the songs are addicting. But if nothing else- this film proves to be a great one simply off of the marketable aspect of it (example: halloween costumes). Although I must admit, I wish they would have never made a sequel.

• Titanic (1997)
• The hand scene, gives me life! I believe it is one of the main crystallizing images of the film other than Jack holding Rose on the edge of the boat. The storyline of two people from different backgrounds merging into one, to cover one of the classic tales of love in an historic tragedy-is priceless to me. This fictional story of Jack and Rose with real life occurrences was beautiful and remarkably believable. It is hard to imagine the Titanic without the thought of the film and the love story of Jack and Rose. James Cameron as a writer and director for this film was also astounding. Everything from the music, to the special effects, even down to the costumes was purely magical and extremely impressive.

• Gothika (2003)
• I’m not a big fan of thriller/crime films but the acting and storyline really draws you in and there’s a certain amount of empathy or sympathy (both) that can be felt! Every single time I watch this film I have an emotional reaction to it, my skin crawls/chills I become nervous and afraid (suspense), and as a result of those constant emotions the film has made my list. I do believe that in a year when romantic comedies were rolling out of the box office, this movie was underrated. I would even go as far as to say that Halle Berry had one of her best performances in the film!

• Maleficent (2014)
• The casting was phenomenal, and of course the storyline is great however the true reason why Maleficent has made my list is the outstanding art direction, and costume designs in the film. I believe great art direction can give you if nothing else a boost in ratings, so toast to disney for a great turn out of a new twist. Similar to the 2014 Cinderella art direction, production design, and wardrobe. Angelina Jolie performance as was phenomenal, she managed to make a traditional one-dimensional villain more relatable and sympathetic, as well as magical/ whimsical. I enjoyed how this film isn't classic Disney, but is a new found favorite for adults and kids.

• The Lion King (1994)
• Childhood favorite! Great animation, storyline was very impressive, and once again the overall attention the film can grasp from the audience is truly overwhelming. As well as the amount of repetitiveness this film has had over the years, in comparison to its overall likeness is also… shocking. Similar to Tarzan in overall likeness and disney adventure classic. This film has it all amazing animation, all star cast of voices, and great lessons! Its a huge part of my childhood, and a film classic.

Please note that this list was written with my humble opinion and that only, you are all open to your own interpretation/opinions!

Best,

Krystal Novaton

American Horror Story

Since yesterday was Halloween, I thought that I would be fun to watch American Horror Story, since it has that spooky vibe. As Ron Burgundy says "well that escalated quickly". That one episode turned into a marathon. This show is so interesting and suspenseful that you cannot merely watch one episode. This show features a bounty of talented and well known actors; Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Paulson, etc. It also has so many different story lines that you never become bored or exhausted from watching the same thing. I was disappointed that they left some storylines open at the end, but they had so much ground to cover that it only makes sense. This is one of the first shows on television of it's kind. People don't normally decide to pop on the couch and watch an hour of suspense when they could watch a feel good comedy show. But this show also has a bit of dark humor to it, I highly recommend it.

 I thought it was interesting that Fox (producers of the show) had to handle a lawsuit about the infringement on someone's tattoos. A male model by the name of Rick Genest has his body fully tattooed to look like a skeleton. In a scene of American Horror Story one of the characters has his face tattooed to resemble a skeleton as well. The problem with this was that the character then shot up a high school. They were able to settle outside of court, but still this brings into question if Rick Genest even has the right to copyright a tattoo or whether if the show was committing defamation, which could have ruined Genest's career.

Hour of the Wolf

I watched Hour of the Wolf this past week on Arturo's recommended movie list.  This movie was very interesting and unlike anything I had seen before.  It is a Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman and it follows the story of an artist who is struggling with his past and night demons he has while he sleeps. One of the aspects of the film that I find so interesting is that it is told in a series of diary entries.  So after each scene, there is a fade to black, and between each scene we do not know what happens.  There are flashbacks yet the story stays in order.

The film mixes a lot of suspense and horror and it really touches on emotions that many other movies do not.  I was very confused with Johan, the main character, because he was always scared but I did not know why.  And he was violent at times yet I do not know his motivations to be violent.  It is a movie that I think I would need to watch multiple times to fully understand but I enjoyed watching it.

One-Shot Film

Hidey ho everybody, ever since class on Wednesday I've been thinking about our One-Shot Story Assignment. My group was bouncing back and forth some great ideas but I was having a lot of trouble getting my creative juices flowing. By the time we left class I knew that I wanted to do something that built suspense but I had no idea of how I could achieve this.

I finally got a short story idea and wrote up a rough draft but before I reveal too much here is the script. I'd love to hear what you guys thinks and any constructive criticism would be appreciated.

-nickp

Music

I think the one of the most important aspects in a film is sound, especially music. Music can either destroy your project or help enhance. It can also add certain feelings and emotions to a scene. One of the biggest mistakes that we as filmmakers often make is adding music just to add music on our projects. If the score you choose does not fit your idea or concept, the final result may look cheesy and weird. That's why I think that the director and the music director have to work together to combine film and music together to create a master piece. I think that one of the greatest movie's composer of this era is Michael Giacchino. The man is a genius. He can literally make you feel happiness and sadness with just one song. He has composed for TV shows like Lost and Alias. He also made the scoring for movies like Ratatouille, Up, Star Trek and Super 8. I just love that all the music that he composes tell a story along with the movie. It is absolutely amazing. One of the greatest example in how music and film sync in perfection is in this montage from the movie Up, where Giacchino literally brings the audience from one extreme to another in terms of emotions.

Bur my favorite Giacchino's song is actually the "Main theme" of movie Ratatouille. I feel that this song depicts the main message of Ratatouille. it just fits perfectly with the movie. Also the instruments used by Giacchino remind me of Paris, and French culture.

Giacchino also composed one of my favorite TV shows of all time, Lost. With its music he added suspense and drama to the show. Every fan of the show would recognize this next song used composed for Lost.

Finally I think that everyone should keep this post in mind, and really think the kind of feelings you want to transmit to your audience when choosing the score for your short film.