Madichi's Blog: Film

Weekly Film: Avengers: Infinity War Avengers: Infinity War is a film released in 2018 by Marvel. It is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo who also directed two other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America 2 and 3. The film is a huge culmination of 18 films and 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It contains themes of: love, loss, power and sacrifice. As with the previous entries it is distributed by Walt Disney Studios. It had 2 unique selling points. The first is that Infinity War marks the first time that a feature-length movie has been filmed entirely on IMAX cameras. The 2nd is that the directors promised that several characters will be killed off which was something that fans wanted due to the argument that the films lack stakes if characters always survive. There are over 40 main characters in this film with pretty much every superhero from previous films making a return. These include: The Avengers, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-man, Doc...

Compare how far the actions of the main characters are influenced by the times in which the American film you have studied were made (Casablanca,Kurtiz/ Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee). 'Casablanca' and 'Do the right Thing' both contain themes that strongly affected the world at the time: World War 2 and racial injustices respectively. Casablanca, despite being set in 1941, was made in 1942. These films both contain characters that likely contain the viewpoints of the director and go with the message that they are trying to portray. For example, in Rick's bar the French people stood up to the Germans by singing the national anthem. As a result of this, it could be classed as war propaganda like many of the 1940s noir films were. Another comparison between the two films are the character arc that the main characters (in this case Rick and Mookie) go through.  They both start off as introverts who mainly worry about themselves. However as the plot unfolds ther...

Character Creation 17 year old boy Student  Lives in modern-day London with his dysfunctional family Witnesses parents arguing a lot Has a few friends but is overall an introvert  Fights on behalf of sibling. Agile as he did gymnastics in the past Dealing with a surge of gang violence in the area People do not feel safe on the streets When sister is attacked, takes matters into his own hands Learns how to fight for 3 years Joins a team of people who fight for the same cause. Weakness: when beaten he lacks self-esteem and the ability to carry on Questions his role in life Struggles to find the line between good and evil

Ready Player One Ready Player One is a science fiction film that was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg (E.T., Jurassic Park) and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. It is based on a highly successful book written in 2011 by American author which became a New York Times bestseller and won multiple awards. It is set in a near future in the year 2045. The film contains themes of escapism due to all the characters choosing to spend most of their time in a virtual-reality landscape rather than the real world. The film follows Wade Watts, who is portrayed by Tye Sheridan (X-Men Apocalypse), an avid gamer who spends the majority of his time in the OASIS, a virtual world in which players can be whoever they want, whenever they want. When the creator of the OASIS, James Halliday (Mark Rylance, The BFG), dies he leaves behind a hidden Easter egg that players have to find in order to inherit his company.  This leads Wade's avatar Perzival and his clan to go through 3 di...

Film theories and Shaun of the Dead Propp theory: Propp's theory of narrative is that it is driven by 8 characters. The Hero, villain, princess father, dispatcher, donor, false hero and sidekick. This works for Shaun of the Dead as each character could fall into these brackets. Shaun is the obvious hero, Ed is the obvious sidekick and it could be said that the villains are the zombies themselves. Liz is the princess character as she is the typical love interest. Yvonne could be described as the helper or the donor character due to her help in the narrative. Dave is the false hero which is primarily seen in the middle of the film where he tries to shoot Shaun's mother after the revelation that she has been bitten by a zombie as well as when it is revealed that he is in love with Liz. The story is driven by these characters and how they respond to zombies attacking them. Barthes theory: Narratives are a series of codes that are read and interpreted by the audience. These...

'We Need To Talk About Kevin' Analysis We Need To Talk About Kevin is a psychological drama film directed by Lynne Ramsey. It contains themes of mental health. It was adapted from a book written by Lionel Shriver. The BBC got the rights to the film in 2005 and started developing the film form there. However the film took 5 years to make, with filming commencing in 2010 and the whole film eventually being released at the Cannes film festival in April 2011 and released theatrically on 21st October 2011. There are three main characters in the film. These are Eva, the mother portrayed Tilda Swinton (Doctor Strange), Franklin, the father portrayed by John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) and Kevin, the troubled son played by Ezra Miller (Justice League). Despite Kevin being the titular character, the film is taken from the mother's perspective and how she deals with her son's actions. Colour is used quite often in the film, particularly the colour red which symbolises...

Weekly Film: A Wrinkle in Time A Wrinkle in Time is a fantasy, adventure film directed by Ava DuVernay, famous for the multi-award winning film Selma. The film  had a budget exceeding $100 million, making her the first African-American woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of that size. Despite the main character being portrayed by child actor Storm Reid, the marketing department chose to focus on established actors: Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon's involvement. The film is based on a novel written in 1962 by Madeleine L'Engle.  The film contains themes of self-belief and has the clear binary opposites of light vs dark, good vs evil.  It consists of main character, Meg Murray embarking on an adventure to try and find her missing father  whilst trying to avoid the dark entity known as the IT. They are accompanied by the three Mrs: Who, Which and Whatsit. To be honest the Mrs do not exactly help her at all doing little to...