The Goonies Analysis

"The Goonies" is a film from 1985 starring young Sean Astin. Sean Astin plays the character Mikey Walsh, a young boy who decides to solve his parent's financial crisis by hunting for pirate gold. He and his friends find an ancient treasure map in his attic and follow the clues that sends them down a path of excitement and danger. While searching for the gold, they attract the attention of the Fratelli family, a family of thieves and murderers. A few things come together to create this great movie. A great soundtrack, the lighting of the set, and the off-the-wall characters all create this cult classic.

The soundtrack of "The Goonies" makes this movie seem somewhat magical. The music is very slow and eerie thus adding to the haunting effects. Many string instruments are used in the musical score; the string instrument family is very haunting when played slowly. Whenever the kids are underground, the creepy score makes the viewer feel slightly creeped out.

The lighting in this film is very minimal thus adding to the haunting feeling of the movie. For a large majority of the film, the characters are in dark underground tunnels; during most of the rest of the film, the sky is very cloudy thus minimalizing the amount of light in these shots. The lack of light creates a somewhat solemn mood that is reflective of the sadness of the Walsh family. This lighting creates both haunting and solemn feelings within the viewer.

This film has many zany characters. There is an italian family of killers, a kid with a jacket full of gadgets, a super strong man known as "Sloth", and a few other off-the-wall characters. These bizarre characters surely help make "The Goonies" a cult classic. The crazy character personas bounce off of each other to drive the plot in a kooky way.

"The Goonies" is a great film that has a plot that keeps the viewer engaged from beginning to end. The musical score makes the film seem eerie and magical. The low lighting of the film adds more creepiness to the film, and the bizarre characters bounce off of one another to adds kookiness to the film. All of these effects come together to create a purely spellbounding film.

Toy Story Analysis

The 1995 computer animated film "Toy Story" is Pixar's first full length film. Although it is their first film, it is still packed with moving scenes and great messages. Like Pixar's later movies, this film uses a variety of tools to create a visually stimulating film. The use of shading, character conflict, and facial expression all comes together to make this film a true classic.

This film has excellent use of shading. Being the first full length computer animated film, it is surprising that the shading is so in depth. The effect of this shading allows the animated characters to feel more realistic. Without shading, all of the characters and objects onscreen would be flat. The shading creates a three-dimensional effect that brings the plot and world to life.

Character conflict makes this film seem more realistic as well. It is very difficult to make animations seem real, but the use of character conflict makes the characters jump off of the screen with liveliness. This film strays from the stereotypical "perfect world" of most animations. Buzz Lightyear and Woody, the two protagonists of the movie are constantly in opposition to one another during the plot. Real people have conflicts with one another, and "Toy Story" mimicks this by adding this perspective to the film.

The facial expressions within "Toy Story" are phenomenal for being the first full length animated film. The smiles and frowns of the characters breathes life into these animated toys. While watching the movie, I was reminded of real people while evaluating the facial expressions of the toys onscreen. This coupled with shading and character conflict creates a cinematic classic that allowed Pixar to be catapulted into the legendary company that it is today.

Death to Smoochy Analysis

The film "Death to Smoochy" directed by Danny DeVito is a very bizarre, yet entertaining film starring Edward Norton, Robin Williams, and Danny DeVito. This dark comedy uses a variety of tools to create an enjoyable film for the audience. The character personality evolutions, outlandish plot scenarios, and real world critiques makes this movie a two thumbs up film.

Throughout the film, many characters go through changes in their personalities and attitudes. This not only makes the characters feel more real, but it makes the viewer love the characters more. The biggest instance of this change occurs with the main character's love interest, Nora. Nora begins the film detesting Edward Norton's character, Shelton, and had nothing but negative things to say to him. Slowly throughout the movie, her character warms up to Shelton's personality and she begins to appreciate all of the things that he does. Her demeanor during their interactions becomes more warm and open. People in the real world go through changes in personality in regards to relating to other people, and this imitation of this fact within the film makes Nora more realistic.

This film's plot is very outlandish and bizarre. Many zany things happen within the film, including Shelton having a family-like relationship with an Irish mafia and Nora's love affairs with a multitude of Children Television hosts. This sets a very interesting mood for the film that has allowed this film to reach cult movie status. Although many dark things happen within this movie, the inclusion of the quirky film parts effectively balances "Death to Smoochy" out to create an enjoyable view.

This film critiques many real world problems. One of the main criticism created by "Death to Smoochy" is the criticism of Capitalism and its effects on society. Within the film, the executives of the television station that Shelton works for tries to increase capitalistic gain by selling cheap products to children and promoting unhealthy foods to this young audience. Shelton fights against these moves and ultimately wins this battle. Because the hero of the movie is fighting against personal profit for the benefit of society, the viewer roots for this stance.

Many things come together to make "Death to Smoochy" a unique watch. Character development, oulandish plot events, and critiques of the real world all come together to create a truly entertaining movie.

Paranormal Activities Analysis

The film "Paranormal Activities" is perhaps one of the scariest films that I have ever seen. This film focuses on the life of a young couple who encounters very eerie events in their home. They later deduce that they are being haunted by an evil demon. The film utilizes many strategies to create a scary mood that keeps the film viewers on edge. The film utilizes a lack of musical score, conditions viewer expectations, and is a mockumentary. All of these things mix together to create a truly frightening film.

The film lacks a musical score. This keeps the viewer constantly listening for noises from the demon. Every time the demon strikes, a small vibration noise is sounded; because the film lacks any background music, the vibration can happen at anytime. This lack of knowing when the demon will strike causes the viewer to be on edge at all times. This creates a scary mood at all times during the film.

"Paranormal Activities" also conditions viewer expectations to create scary experiences for the viewer. For the first 2/3 of the film, the demon only struck the couple at nighttime while they are asleep. Then, out of left field, the demon starts to attack during the daytime. This throws the viewer off because they are conditioned to be weary of the strikes during the nighttime; then the viewer is scared when something happens unexpectedly. This makes the film so much more scary because of the unexpected nature of the film's scary moments.

This film is a mockumentary. The entire film is shot in the view of a camera that the main character purchased, and it is narrated by the two main characters while they hold the camera. This makes the film seem scarier because the film seems very realistic; I found myself believing that the events on screen were actually recorded footage from actual events. This makes the film scarier because you start to think "this could happen to me too."

The film was amazingly scary. Many things compounded together creates a really frightening mood in this film. The lack of musical score, the conditioning of the viewer's expectations, and the mockumentary style of the film are all added together to create a great film.

Requiem for a Dream Analysis

Darren Aronofsky, the director of "Requiem for a Dream" does several things to create a spellbinding piece of art. This movie focuses on the lives of four people whose lives turn to hell after delving into the world of drugs. Aronofsky utilizes several things to create a feeling of "trippiness" in the viewer while they watch the film. The director plays with camera angles, special effects, and picture quality to simulate the feelings of a drug usage.

Many times, the camera angle is canted or rotated in illogical ways to simulate confusion. This method is especially applied during scenes of intense drug usage where the character on screen is experiencing a high. Many times, during intoxication, the drug user may feel disoriented or confused, this is recreated by the filming of the movie. The viewer is looking through the eyes of a drug user when the camerawork displays scenes in confusing camera angles.

The mother in the film, sees things while high. Many special effects are used to simulate these visions. These hallucinations include, a refrigerator that tries to bite her, television characters jumping out of the screen, and food shooting past her. All of these effects create a surreal feeling during the "high" times of the mom. This feeling is felt by some people who experiment with drugs, and the feeling is also felt by the viewer of the film during these trippy scenes.

When I first started to watch this film, I thought it was made in the seventies. I found out later that it was made in the year 2000. The film is very grainy and slightly blurry. This creates a slight "high" effect. Some people who have a buzz see the world as more blurry. By making the film slightly blurry throughout the movie, the director has caused the viewer to feel like they are looking through the eyes of someone who is buzzed because of the graininess and the blur.

Many effects go hand in hand to create drug intoxicating feelings within the viewer. Bizarre camera angles, strange special effects, and picture quality all work together to create the effects intended by director Darren Aronofsky.

Seven Analysis

"Seven" is a detective thriller starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Spacey. David Fincher, the director did many good things to make this a worthwhile film. The setting, music, and intertextuality makes this film jump off of the screen.

Because the setting of the movie is mainly urban, the director uses a few strategies to connote feelings of an urban environment. Many of the places that the two detectives, Pitt and Freeman, visit are very dirty. Even the interiors of many houses and buildings seem filthy and dark. Many people think of dirtiness when they think of big cities. Another approach used by the director is the use of lighting. The light in many scenes is very minimal, making the environment of the film more unsavorable. This makes one think of dark alleyways in cities. This creates a dreary mood that is fitting of a murder mystery story.

The music of this film also adds to the mysterious nature of this film. The movie uses many slow instrumental pieces. Bach's "Air in G-String" is used which is a very slow, ominous piece. While many of the murders are being investigated, the slow music makes the viewer feel dreary. Another musical effect employed by the director is the use of tension filled music when the directors are about to find something. Violin music is used heavily during these scenes which causes the viewer to be on edge when the strings of the violin are stroked in eerie ways.

This film is very intertextual in regards to older books. The books "The Canterbury Tales", "Dantes Inferno" and other older texts are referenced in regards to the seven deadly sins. This intertextuality causes the viewer to reference these other works and find out additional information about the storyline. This is great for people who yearn to learn more about things.

I thought this movie was a masterpiece. The ending was the icing on the top of the cake to make this film a must watch. Setting, music, and intertextuality all come together to make "Seven" a five star film.

Girl on the Bridge Analysis

Girl on a Bridge was a great French film about a man who throws knives for a living named Gabor who falls in love with a woman named Adele with mad sexual desires. These two meet while Adele is on the verge of throwing herself from a bridge. Eventually, she does so and Gabor rescues her. They hit the road to do a series of wild knife throwing acts. Their adventure along the way brings them closer and illustrates several key themes within the plot.

Sex is a huge focus of the film. Adele has a gigantic sex drive, and she acts upon the smallest sexual urges. She has a lot of spontaneous sex with random men throughout the film, yet she never has physical sex with Gabor. Gabor and Adele, however, have emotional sex throughout the film. During the scenes where Gabor throws knives at Adele, Adele makes sexual movements and noises while Gabor throws the knives with a passion that is unseen outside of sexual fantasies. Adele even confesses after the first act that she has never ecstasy like that before.

Luck is another theme that is heavily focused upon within the film. Gabor and Adele engage in activities that require a lot of luck, knive throwing, card playing, and betting. While they are together, the luck never runs dry. Once they are separated, each loses their luck. This is a way of showing the viewer that they complete one another and are better together than separate.

Another theme of "Girl on a Bridge" is the idea that there is a perfect person out in the world that completes you. Neither character is happy when they are apart. When they are separated, the filmmakers created an interesting effect; they talk to one another by cutting from place to place. Although this should not be taken literally, this shows that they have a deep connection that binds them together. Also, Adele has sex with many guys, all of which she could potentially be happy with, but she is never happier with one of these guys than when she is with Gabor. This shows that they complete one another in ways that others cannot complete them.

Little Miss Sunshine Analysis

"Little Miss Sunshine" is a movie about a dysfunctional family living in California. Every family member has their own problems as well as personal feuds with other members of the family. Olive, the young girl in the family played by actress Abigail Breslin qualifies for a beauty contest that is happening hundreds of miles away from the family abode. Under unusual circumstances, all members must accompany Olive to the beauty contest. This leads to a hilarious peak of the oddities of each family member and fights that almost rage out of control. The music, character realism, and stunning visuals all make the movie a must see.
Most of the music in the movie is composed of violin and piano duets. The instrumental parts are very solemn and slow creating a saddening effect upon the viewer. This adds to the emotions felt by the characters during family conflict and depression. During humorous parts of the film however, more uplifting instrumentals play. This musical effect truly helps the viewer understand emotionally the plot of the film.
Character realism is great within this movie. Every character has massive flaws which is almost too real. Many films forget to give characters problems; this leads to flat characters. This film makes the viewer see part of themselves within a character on the screen; one sees similar character flaws between oneself and someone from the film. This creates an emotional tie between the viewer and the character that allows the viewer to become sad when the character is sad and happy when the character is happy.
The visuals within this film is breathtaking. Much of this movie takes place in the deserts of California. The vast yellow sand coupled with the beautiful blue sky creates a cheerful effect within the viewer, and the stark yellow color of the vehicle that they drive only adds to the cheerful visuals. Many times, the vibrant colors act as a contrast to the depressing storyline; this causes the viewer to question their own emotions. Great movies creates confusing emotions within the audience.
The music, character development, and stunning visuals all work together to make "Little Miss Sunshine" a great movie to enjoy. The viewer becomes attached to the characters and plotline emotionally and intellectually throughout the events on screen.