Some Reviews of films I watched over my Cinematic Education. Part Two.

[dean]

Ok, here's round two, which was my second semester class on Film Theory.

This subject focused on different film theories, such as Auterism [the general idea that the director is very important and is sole creator/contributor for a film, regardless of who wrote the script], postmodernism, psychoanalytical film theory, queer and feminist film theory etc.  I'll list what the week was on and what I thought of the films.

The films we saw were:

A Documentary on Hitchcock which I can't actually remember most of it, but had some interesting moments.


Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

I've seen this so many times in various other circumstances that it seems to have lost a lot of meaning.  It's still a great film and served as a good enough example for the auteur principle.


The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

Served as a comparison piece to Psycho.


Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)

Still on auteur theory, but used to explore thematic emphasis and the main themes of Scorsese.  Enjoyed this one, and it actually made me realise how much I liked Harvey Kietel's work [hadn't really given him much thought before this one]


Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)

A further exploration of Scorsese's somewhat unique style.  Very fine film that is quite engaging, and has a good soundtrack [if you buy the cd, there's a track with De Niro/Bickle's speech on filth imbedded over some music which is good to listen to if in a crazy mood]


Blue Steel (Kathryn Bigelow, 1990)

The start of feminist film theory.  This Jamie Lee Curtis movie was interesting enough when I watched it, and I liked how it played with detective/police genre conventions.


Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow, 1995)

A week on the discusson of post-modernism versus classic sci-fi plus a bit of auteurism as well [but that's pretty much going to be constant in this subject so I don't think I need to mention it]  I really liked this film, and I also own the soundtrack.  Ralf Fiennes is pretty good in it, though the whole 'Year 2000' party situation is a bit outdated now, and thus the film kind of loses a bit of punch.


The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986)

Starting on Psychoanalysis and theories of the abject.  Very interesting, if somewhat complicated stuff.  Plus watching Jeff Goblum tranform into a disgusting fly-man is always a bonus.


Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)

A week on sex and the body coupled with horror and psychoanalytical theories.  Once again, a great film which I really enjoyed.


Boy's Don't Cry (Kimberly Pierce, 1999)

The start of our studies into Queer theory.  The film was good, with Swank's role well played, and it had a great, sad ending.


The Cying Game (Niel Jordan, 1992)

Post-colonialism and Gender Cross dressing.  I didn't actually get to see the end of this film, since I had to leave about 20 minutes to go, so that really annoyed me, but not enough to motivate me into finishing it off.  Whittaker is pretty good in it though.


Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan, 1986)

A week on Neil Jordan as an auteur and how queer theory may help us understand his work.  Didn't actually get to see this film due to illness.


More to come later!

[BoyScoutKevin]

What you haven't seen "The Crying Game" in its entirity? I don't remember at what point the revelation, and I won't say anything more about it, comes in the film, but that revelation is considered one of the most, if not the most, shocking moments in film.

[daveblackeye15]

All right you go to see the Birds! That's a good one.

Bodaga Bay, I love saying that.

But still no god damn Godzilla movies!

[dean]

Haha, I already knew the ending for Crying Game as I was watching it [plus the subject for that week was gender and cross dressing so if you didn't know you could guess]

And yes, I really should watch the end [I didn't see the big reveal] but I've heard it was a big thing when it was released, with alot of hype and a whole 'don't tell the secret' thing going on.

Oh and Dave, there will be no Godzilla films on any list, but one may have been on the extra viewings lists [films that also go well with the subject that week but aren't actually shown, so you see them in your own time]

[Neville]

"Strange days"... I'll love that overlong, flawed film until my last breath. A cyberpunk film in its own right, plus a pretty good noirish apocaliptic film. The idea of the clips and the thingy that plays them is brilliant, and the clips itselfs are masterfully filmed.

[Scott]

BLUE STEEL with Jamie Lee Curtis wasn't bad. I don't usually like police dramas. I remember watching it on pay TV in Orlando, Florida about 14 years ago. I remember liking it.