42nd Street Film Analysis

New Jack City is based in the 70’s-80’s with the main character Nino Brown. Nino is a young black small time drug dealer who was selling cocaine to the rich white people. The movie started off with one of Nino “killers “Duh Duh Duh man, holding a white man over a bridge “you don’t have my money & you don’t have my product.” Nino said to him before he had Duh Duh Duh man let him go. The introduction to the movie starts off strong and has you wheeled into it already. Nino has a right hand man named G-money, he was the one who introduced Nino into the crack life. Then Nino sets out to become the kingpin of the crack game even if it meant killing off all his rivals, and even taking over a whole apartment building called The Carter. But out to stop

During the end of the 3rd Century, the Playwright Plautus wrote many of the first Roman comedies. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical comedy film adaptation of Plautus's comedies.Set in ancient Rome, many aspects of Roman theatre, including stock characters, were included in the film’s production. While the film is based off of multiple comedies, Plautus's Pseudolus character Calidorus is nearly identical to the film’s Hero. During the time Pseudolus was written, the Crisis of the Third Century led to up to 25% of Roman population being comprised of slaves(Southern). Of the many stock characters Platus included in his comedies, Calidorus/Hero, the son of Pseudolus’s owner and the stock character adulescens, best

The timeless classic Miracle on 34th street is a favorite Christmas movie in many homes. The argument among many families is which version of the movie is the best. The original movie filmed in 1947 has a few different twists than the 1994 remake. The basic storyline is the same but surrounding details are altered a bit.

Dealing with the theme of assimilation, Hester Street, set in 1896 was a depiction of the immigrant Jewish community living in the Lower East Side of New York City. Throughout the film, we see the challenges the Jewish immigrant characters endure when their “Old World” traditions, practices, and ideas were juxtaposed with the “New World,” American values. Thus, Hester Street highly endorses the characters’ acceptance with assimilating to American values. Furthermore, the film also showcases the resistance and complications to assimilation as some characters try to maintain their culture.

Casablanca, the crowning achievement of director Michael Curtiz, which was released in 1942, is a film that had to work against the pressing concerns associated with World War II to stay relevant in both cinematic and general audiences. The writing, which was done by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, had to be inspirational yet uncontroversial. With actors like Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund, Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, and Paul Henreid as the French revolutionary Victor Laszlo, Casablanca has a respectable cast. The movie initially appears to fit the film noir genre because of its smoky backdrops with muted colors,

When watching The Hateful Eight it’s clear that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing. There are quite a few subtle nods to the classic horror film as well as some not so subtle similarities. One could watch one right after the other and immediately see the similarities between the two films. While most people would not consider The Hateful Eight a horror film it takes the greatest horror aspects of The Thing and uses them to its advantage. Quentin Tarantino took quite a few ideas from John Carpenter’s The Thing and modified them so they fit seamlessly in to his western film, including actors, characters, and even some music that was originally written for Carpenter’s film but was never used.

The untouchables is a movie based on the true events that occurred when the eighteenth amendment was passed. The eighteenth amendment established the prohibition of production, transport, and sale of alcohol. The Federal Agent Eliot Ness wants to stop Al Capone, who is the top of organized crime. It was a hard job for Eliot Ness because Al Capone with his money bought many policemen, politicians, and other important people, therefore Eliot Ness could trust anyone. Eliot Ness had to choose no more than twelve men to form his squad. The Untouchables were formed by Eliot Ness, and another nine men he picked, they were called the Untouchables because they never accepted any bribes. Al Capone One of Al Capone’s men offered Eliot Ness $2,000 to stop interfering with the organization and an additional $2,000 if he continued to cooperate. Eliot Ness’s plan was to make an impact in the income of the gangsters, so they couldn’t pay for protection. (Biography.com)

Annie Hall, an American romantic comedy released in 1977 retells the story of a man named Alvy Singer (portrayed by Woody Allen) and his attempt at comprehending why his relationship with Annie Hall failed. Annie Hall incorporates many cinematic techniques into its story which help solidify its place regularly on lists of best comedies (Snider). It uses conflict, different types of narratives and a classic three act structure. The movie beautifully conveys a story in New York in which one really feels the characters are actual citizens and not actors (Barsam 166).

The film Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross is about two modern teenagers, David and his sister Jennifer, somehow being transported into the television, ending up in Pleasantville, a 1950s black and white sitcom. The two are trapped as Bud and Mary Sue in a radically different dimension and make some huge changes to the bland lives of the citizens of Pleasantville, with the use of the director’s cinematic techniques. Ross cleverly uses cinematic techniques such as colour, mise-en-scene, camera shots, costumes, music and dialogue to effectively tell the story.

A few years before the release of On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954), the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated alleged Communists in Hollywood. Among those under investigation, Elia Kazan elected to release names of others involved in the same movement (Neve 66). This event sparked intense controversy in Hollywood, and it forced the people he uncovered to either release more names or be blacklisted from filmmaking. Through an early example of film authorship, Kazan was able to relate scenes throughout the movie to his personal experiences with HUAC. Within the Classic Hollywood Narrative, Kazan’s directorial creativity allows him to develop his ideas through the typical structure and expand his deeper thoughts through the allegory of the waterfront. A majority of the film stays within the Classic Narrative Style, but some scenes will venture outside the realm of the typical structure. While scenes throughout the movie may or may not follow the narrative, they are specifically created to tell a deeper story in relation to the movie’s plot and Kazan’s life.

The Gangster film ‘Scarface’ (DePalma) is about the rise and eventual fall of Cuban immigrant, Tony Montana. Throughout the film the viewer witnesses how Tony Montana goes from a criminal in Cuba to a drug overlord in America. The average viewer cannot connect to the arc of Tony Montana. But, the average viewer can connect to what Tony Montana is working for, the American dream. Brain DePalma chooses purposefully to have a hyper-masculine, narcissistic, megalomaniac immigrant as the main character of a story of American dream. In ‘Scarface’, DePalma show the universality of the American dream. By utilizing various filming techniques, DePalma shows how the American dream is available for everyone.

In the film Sunset Boulevard, we meet various different characters filled with their own backstories and struggles. Throughout the film we see the main character Joe go through ups and downs and hard decision making. This movie shows the impact of how you see yourself for what you are and what actions you take to show your true self. The film also shows the consequences of the actions you take and how even honesty can get you killed. In Sunset Boulevard it teaches you to really look at your life and make you decide how you see yourself and how you want others to see yourself.

In the Bedroom could rebelliously be considered a love story. The movie is not your traditional guy and girl living happily ever after, but there’s multiple love connections that need to be examined. There’s a father and offspring connections, husbands and wife’s, mothers and children, and settle friendships all throughout the movie. Matt Fowler is a well-known man in the -town community. He was the town doctor, who in the right state of mind wants what is best for everyone.

Finding fulfillment in life requires people to truly understand their reality and is only achieved through an effort to grow out of one’s comfort zone. This idea is explored in the film Sing Street, directed by Jim Carney. The film follows the journey of Conor Lawlor, a shy schoolboy who gets moved from a private school into a strict Catholic school due to his parent’s financial situation. At Syng Street he is bullied by another student and his principle. A turning point occurs when he falls in love with a mysterious girl. After a desperate attempt to gain her phone number, he starts a band with a group of outcasts from his school. Throughout the film, Carney suggests the idea that to fulfill one’s happiness, a person needs to make an effort to take a risk and push beyond their comfort zone, and while doing so they also need to gain a sense of confidence in their identity. It is necessary to grow beyond hindering beliefs to achieve a new perspective on life to lead to happiness.

The film, the Untouchables, was directed by Brian De Palma. It was set in the prohibition era, which was right at the start of the 1920’s. Prohibition can be described as a law that made selling and manufacturing alcohol illegal. By putting this law into effect, it actually increased the amount of crime and violence throughout cities in the US. This was ultimately due to the rise in organized crime, also known as gangs. In the movie specifically, it was centered around the rise of the Mafia in Chicago. By looking at the production of the movie, we can see how during prohibition, the Mafia controls everything and the violence ultimately it leads to.