The first time SPQ interviewed actor and Pittsburgh native Carl Clemons, he was part of HBO’s awarding winning series “The Wire.” Since the show’s conclusion, he has kept himself working as an actor in a variety of acting roles. “These past few years I have experienced personal trails & tribulations. Working in the film business is not as easy as it seems.” Carl shared. There is saying in the film business that many great scenes are left on the cutting floor; it’s not an idle phrase, but truth. Carl has experienced this not once, but twice. Once during the filming ‘South Paw,’ starring Jake Gyllenhaal and 50 Cents. Carl went up for a featured role, but did not get the call back. Not to take rejection nor the opportunity to work with Pittsburgh native award winning Director, Antoine Fuqua, he humbled himself to a role as a movie extra. Not long into filming he ran into fellow actor, Tyrese Gibson, who had a featured role in the film. His friend asked, why he was a movie extra? After discussion and finagling, Carl was offered the role as Tyrese’s character’s friend. In the editing, Tyrese’s entire character was cut, as Carl’s character. The second experience happened while filming ‘Out of the Furnace’ with Christian Bale. “It was only a seven-minute scene, but it was powerful,” said Carl. His seven minutes of what might had been his personal Oscar winning scene, lay on the editing floor. Anyone with less passion and determination, might have walked away,
“No wire hangers!” What would be a normal thing to find in an average persons home is not accepted in Joan Crawford’s home. This posses the question why in the movie Mommie Dearest does Mrs. Crawford have a dilemma with wire hangers in her closet? Why does she have so many mental complications in general? Although to the public, Joan seems like a striving successful actress she obviously has some underlying issues. She has developed her personality disorders her whole life, but how she got them is a mystery. Most people develop personality disorders from their parents or how they are raised. This is most likely the case with Joan Crawford, but no one really knows since she is diseased. Joan has four major personality disorders within the movie; Obsessive-compulsive, Bipolar, Borderline, and Narcissistic personality disorder.
The Patriot. A person who is willing to fight for their country against enemies. The Patriot begins in the year 1776 in the colony of South Carolina. Mel Gibson plays a planation farmer who fought in the French-Indian war named Benjamin Martin. A War was about to begin and Benjamin wanted no share partaking in the soon-to-be American Revolutionary War. He was more concerned about his two eldest sons who wanted to fight under General George Washington. The beginning of the movie starts out with Benjamin Martin peacefully living with his kids whom no longer have a living mother. Benjamin’s oldest son, Gabriel, joins the war without permission from his father. As the rest of the family are at home one afternoon, Colonel William Travington burns the Martin Plantation to the ground and his second oldest son was killed immediately for interrupting Travington’s plan. Benjamin finds a way to seek revenge because of the rage he experiences after his family is hurt. He begins to realize that he needs to fight for his children and he will not do it alone. Both Benjamin and his oldest son, Gabriel, decide to join the militia as a way of showing what they are capable of. Throughout the film, Benjamin Martin becomes a soldier whom others respect and admire. He shows the militia what it means to truly care for not only his men, but also for his family. As the film progresses, a turn of events take place that show Benjamin’s continued want of revenge against General Charles Cornwallis. The Continentals and the militia soon commence the battle at Cowpens. This is when Benjamin Martin meets his enemy, Travington, who murdered his two eldest sons. After a drawn-out battle, Benjamin stabs Travington in the neck and kills him for the sake of his children. It is then that General Cornwallis retreats his forces and the rest celebrate. Even though some portions of The Patriot aren’t as accurate as we perceive, it is a film full of war and despair, but also a film that contributes to the importance of dignity and the love for one’s family.
Imagine the world is invaded by aliens. Some of them eat humans, some live among humans, and others live outside of our world. You don’t know it, but many of the people who have shaped our lives and our culture aren’t even human themselves. This is the world of the 1997 film Men in Black, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Men in Black is a sci-fi comedy about a group of enforcement agents defending and regulating aliens from invading Earth. But if you take their costume off, Men In Black can be seen as far more than a comedy about space aliens. Under the lens of postcolonial criticism, the film reveals itself to be a veiled, political commentary on immigration. A lens is a way for us to look at a piece of literature in a whole new depiction that we may not have thought of the first time we had read or watched a piece of literature. Through the postcolonial lens, I can see the movie as a biased contrast between the immigrants and the immigration police. Interpreting the movie through this lens allows me to see that the Men in Black are the immigration police, and are considered to be the protagonists of the film. On the other hand, the aliens, or immigrants when looking through the lens, are the antagonists of the movie; The Men in Black protect the US from bad aliens, giving immigration police the positive reinforcement of the brutal evictions immigrants received in the 90s.
Once in awhile, a dashing and debonair actor who performs with such precision and heart comes along, and pure magic happens on the screen each time he appears. And in the case of Marcus Rosner, all of that happens and more. The only downside has been is that from some of his earliest appearances with Hallmark in When Calls the Heart to his more recent works in Summer of Dreams, he NEVER get the girl and always departs the film with all his money intact, but none of the integrity and dignity that he possesses in his everyday life. I had the pleasure of interviewing Marcus again within this past week, and he gave a few hints regarding his upcoming works. In fact, just maybe the tables are about to turn for his upcoming characters. Hearties can only hope.
The critically acclaimed film, Goodfellas, is a gangster crime drama that features an incredible amount of talent. Household names such as: Robert De Niro (Jimmy Conway), Joe Pesci (Tommy DeVito), Paul Sorvino (Paul Cicero), and promising stars like Ray Liotta (Henry Hill) and Lorraine Bracco (Karen Hill), attracted numerous Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. That type of cast power, linked with the signature talent of Martin Scorsese as a director, made for cinematic gold. Unquestionably, the actors and actresses did an excellent job augmenting the verisimilitude of this film and compelling audiences to empathize with their characters. But the cinematography in this film plays just as large a role in having audiences feel what the characters are feeling at a specific moment. Through the use of freeze frames, we learn of significant moments that shape Henry into the man that he is. By means of first-person narration we are able to know exactly what is going through a particular character’s mind. Finally, wonderful editing made great use of point of view and multiple jump cuts, which added to the sensation that we are undergoing the same experiences as the characters on screen. I will go into further detail and specify scenes that convey these elements as the essay progresses. Altogether, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas effectively depicts paramount scenes and allows the audience to empathize with the characters by virtue of stylistic editing and cinematography.
When Jencks got out, he came across a Hollywood screenwriter who was looking for movie ideas, named Paul Jarrico. He has recently been blacklisted by Hollywood. When Jencks told him about what had happened, Jarrico thought it was so interesting that he contacted some of his Hollywood friends who helped him produce the film about
American Psycho is a movie adaptation directed by Marry Harron released in the year 2000 that was based off of the 1991 novel of the same name authored by Bret Easton Ellis. The movie focuses on the main character Patrick Bateman who is an investment banker in New York in the era of the early 1980’s. Patrick is a perfectionist whose life by day seemingly rotates between his picture-perfect job, his superficial relationship with his fiancée Evelyn, and his shallow interaction with his co-workers and peers. By night, Patrick is a textbook Psychopath and a serial killer.
the first of its kind to be made with a small budget, unknown cast, and limited resources. This proves that this film is unique by showing how differently the director and actors
As the movie begins, the audience notices that Oscar Grant is portrayed as a man who is loving and caring toward his family, but also has a history of convictions and drug dealing experiences. As the movie continues, Grant is shown as being a doer. Acting on situations without much thought and logic, his life has been full of risks. By depicting Grant as having two completely different sides to him, the director does a great job in displaying his struggles with himself as he tries to become a better man for the sake of his family. The audience is allowed to see the humanization of Grant as the film proceeds. His character is portrayed as flawed and misunderstood which relates to the viewers on a more personal level. The audience notices the shrinking gap between themselves and Grant as the film continues and takes them deeper into Grant’s life. The film as a whole is filmed with cinema vérité
Do you ever look back on your good old high school yearbook pictures and say to yourself “what in the world was I thinking?” You often catch yourself wanting to hide it or rip the picture frame off the wall that your mom once proudly put up. You find it hanging on relative’s refrigerators, or being the topic of laughter on holidays. Trends throughout the years often change. Many of these changes happen quickly. One week something is “in” then the next week it is totally “out”. Imagine having to go back to school 10-15 years after graduating and trying your best to fit and blend in with the teenagers of that time period. In the movie, 21 Jump Street, that is what they attempted to do. The movie is starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. It’s about two police officers who are forced to relive their high school days. They are assigned to go undercover as high school students to prevent the outbreak of a new synthetic drug and capture its supplier. An “honor roll geek” and “athletic underachiever” work together to fight crime and form an inseparable friendship while doing so. The police officers are forced to gain the mindset of a teenager. They have to learn how to fit in and interact with others during that time period. They realize that some of the things that were once “cool” are no longer as cool as they once thought they were. This movie features various different stereotypes in high school. Styles have changed, along with attitudes, and new clicks have formed. The
In the movie, “The Road from Crime”, Greg was a great example of how Merton 's Anomie and Agnew 's General Strain theory led them through a criminal lifestyle. The environment that Greg lived as a child was a prime example of the Agnew’s General Strain theory. He came from a society where crimes are viewed as a norm in his community. There are different types of circumstance that lead people and groups inside a community to participate in deviant behavior, such as harsh disciplines, child abuse, negative school experience, residence in economically deprived neighborhoods and more. However, Greg was a resident of an economically deprived neighborhood, which had an influence on his criminal background. According to Merton’s Anomie theory, offenders lead a criminal lifestyle because they are not able to accomplish their desire goal. Everyone does not have the same opportunities to become successful. Greg came from a society where people were looked down upon and did not have the opportunity to become successful in life due to their race. Greg was from a community where everyone in his society had an impact on one and other. For instance, he had a friend name Terry who inspired him to be the man he is today. As a kid, Greg looked up to Terry and tried to follow his footsteps. Terry and Greg were neighbors and that is one reason Terry was a role model to Greg. Greg admired Terry because he played basketball and was a “ladies man”. During, Terry and Greg childhood drugs were
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)
Martin Scorsese’s film “Raging Bull” is considered by many to be one of the greatest “sports” films of all time. The plot focuses on the professional and personal life of boxer Jake LaMotta. In the opening sequence, the film uses narrative, mise en scene, cinematography, editing, and sound to provide a framework for the rest of the picture. These elements also help to establish the film’s themes of nostalgia, isolation, loneliness, and suffering. In addition to setting up the film’s themes, these elements also help to create two distinct personas of the main character Jake LaMotta.
The film, American Gangster, directed and produced by Ridley Scott is a drama based on the biography of Frank Lucas. In the movie, Frank Lucas constructs his own business of illegal work after his boss, Bumpy Johnson, passes away. Frank builds a heroin business, following in the footsteps of Bumpy, and becomes the most powerful crime boss in Manhattan. Furthermore, because of Frank’s immoral ways, he gets caught by the police and is sentenced to 15 years in prison. As the movie progresses I form a couple assumptions of what could happen in the short term and long term. First off, when Frank Lucas attains his heroin I believe that in the short term he will succeed. Frank has established a vast amount of insights into the drug business from Bumpy, and from what he has learned he will take in and apply it to his situation. However, all immoral acts will have to be put to an end, so in the long term, Frank’s heroin business will be caught. If Frank’s business is the biggest thing in Manhattan then the police are bound to question where are all the illegal drugs coming from, how, why, and who. The police were already hunting him down so it was inevitable for him to get out of his illegal mess.
In todays modern society, there is now a constant growing concern about adolescent’s exposure to the medias portrayal of sexuality and love. The publicity of love and sex that todays adolescents are saturated in is mainly unrealistic and false, theoretically affecting and distorting their, behavior, beliefs and attitude towards sex and love. These impractical pictures tend to commonly be publicized through social media, networking, television and movies. The medias views tend to contradict the biblical messages towards love and sex, confusing young society on the meaning of true commitment and love. A popular television show targeted to the demographic of female teenagers ‘Gossip Girl’ features and emphasizes the wrong messages concerning love and sex.