Analyzing the First Few Minutes of Die Hard Essay

At the beginning of the 1970s, two men, by the names of Martin Scorcese and Robert De Niro, met and started an extremely successful and world renowned string of movie director/actor collaborations. Over the course of 22 years,spawning from 1973, with their first film Mean Streets, to 1995, with their most recent work Casino, the duo paired up for 8 movies, most of which are considered some of the greatest films of all time. The most notable, however, would have to be their 1990 movie Goodfellas, a classic film which was nominated for 6 oscars, winning one, and named the greatest film of all time by British film magazine Total Film, an organized crime movie which is one of my favorite movies.

The film The War Room is a documentary about Bill Clinton that has very little to do with Bill Clinton himself. The primary focus of the film is devoted to the team of campaign strategists that got Clinton to the presidency. The two main players the film focuses on are James Carville--the Lead Strategist for the Clinton campaign and George Stephanopoulos the Communications Director. The film follows them and their team of campaign strategists and experts as they try to get Arkansas Governor, Bill Clinton, to the presidency. The documentary highlights many key moments in Clinton’s campaign, for example the Gennifer Flowers scandal. However, the film showcases what was happening behind closed doors in the War Room, where Clinton’s

For my paper I have chosen to analyze the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This movie is based on the novel – by the same name – written by Harper Lee. The story has two major plotlines. One follows Jem, Scout, and Dill as they try to uncover the secretes behind the infamous “Boo” Radley. It’s only at the end of the movie that we learn “Boo’s” real name to be Arthur, and that we discover he actually tries to protect people, as he saved Jem and Scout’s lives. The other major plotline, and the one more relevant to this class, follows Atticus Finch, Jem and Scout’s father, as he tries to represent Tom Robinson. Mr. Robinson is an African American man who has been charged with raping Mayella Ewell. The movie then follows both the trial and the

The film The Green Mile was originally written by Stephen King and later directed by Frank Darabont. It is based on the guards and inmates of a penitentiary’s Death Row during the great depression. There is a certain monotony that comes with working on Death Row and Paul Edgecomb, played by Tom Hanks, has become numb to the fact that he is paid to take lives; that is until John Coffey gets sentenced to death and is sent to Paul’s “green mile”. John Coffey is a very large black man that was accused of rape and murder of two little girls, and in the 1930’s having charges like that brought upon you was grounds for the death penalty, especially for a black man in the south.

As time goes on, history has a way of getting distorted from its most truthful form. Time causes people to drift away from accuracy and become more interested in what they want to remember. Hollywood has a reputation of creating films that cater more to the average viewer, rather than the history buff. Inglorious Basterds, by Quentin Taratino, take very liberal liberty with a history story, and creates a story that will sell to the crowd. This may seem dubious, but it is often not such a bad thing. Hollywood can take a story that may have one connotation, may it be serious or dreary, and turn it into something that evokes different emotions, will still addressing historical issues or topics. Taratino chooses to film a movie of this type

Requiem for Detroit? is a historical documentary, released in 2010 and directed by Julien Temple, about the decline and collapse of Detroit, one of America’s largest cities. It chronicles Detroit’s journey through its success in the automobile industry all the way through its urban decay and industrial collapse to the present day. As the film draws a close, Temple also suggests some ways forward for Detroit. He presents possibilities and clearly shows which he thinks is most likely through his use of interviews with subjects and visual representations of these offered opinions. The intended reading that Temple offers viewers is a complex one, with many anti-consumerist and anti-corporate ideas and leanings. Despite the ‘doom-laden’ feel of much of the text, Temple paints optimism for the potential for a progressive and productive future for Detroit. Throughout the documentary he clearly expresses this intended reading through effective use of motifs, shown by visual and sound techniques, music and interviews with both privileged and non-privileged characters.

The iconic coming-of-age movie The Breakfast Club, focuses on the development of five, seemingly very different high school students. In the movie we are presented with the five main characters all with stereotypes that they identify with. Claire is the princess or the beauty queen, John, often referred to by his last name “Bender,” is the criminal, Brian is the brain or the nerd, Andrew, is the athlete, a wrestler , and finally Allison is the basket case or the weirdo. The story is set in saturday detention where they are forced to spend eight hours with people from other cliques that they would normally never interact with. The day progresses and the characters interact with one another, smoke, dance, break rules, and reveal very personal parts of themselves with the others. The story ends with some of the characters making an attempt to change their identity with the realization that even with the boxes they have been put into they are not that different from one another.

Spike Lee’s ‘School Daze’ has certainly done good for introducing historically black colleges and black modern culture to Central America than I have seen any other movie about colleges especially black colleges at that it is through this film that I have realize that the media plays a big part in educating us but also can be the cause of not only bitterness that will be built up but also enlightening us black people of our history and also our actions against each other. In the movie ‘School daze’ the themes of life versus dark skin the refusal of one to recognize his own race Are two themes that stood out throughout the film. And it’s only school these confront a lot of issues that aren’t

The cinematic film Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele, presents a scenario in which African Americans are targeted by white people mainly for their physical advantages. The plot follows Chris Washington, a professional African American photographer who goes away for the weekend to visit his white girlfriend’s family. Chris’ best friend, Rod Williams, is a TSA agent who is concerned about Chris going to a white family’s estate. Throughout the movie, Chris discusses to Rod the strange events that occur in the Armitage house. Get out displays how two people use their intelligence and ability to identify social cues to escape from an arduous situation.

Watching Forrest Gump for the first time I feel that the movie has a little of everything in it, from action and war to love and romance. For one man to overcome so many hardships and live a life full of love and happiness it is inspiring. Each character had something that reached viewers. From Jenny to Lieutenant Dan they all had something that made them easy to connect with. Even the people that sat on the bench next to Forrest created interest; they listened and were in the story for us, but were not truly part of it.

Girl, Interrupted (1999) directed by James Mangold is largely based on a semi- autobiographical book by the same title. The movie chronicles eighteen year old Susanna Kaysen’s experiences surrounding her stay at a mental institution. It is 1967, a time of social change and unrest. Susanna makes a half-heart attempt at suicide, ingesting a bottle of aspirin and chasing the pills with a bottle of vodka. She is taken to the emergency room, her stomach is pumped and she survives. Afterwards she meets with a psychologist who explores her more recent feelings and experiences. The psychologist concludes, with her parents assent, that she would benefit from a stay at Claymore, a private mental institution. The next year and nine months forever

War Compared in The Movies Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now The movies Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now are based in two major war conflicts including the United States. This paper will examine how Saving Private Ryan depicts World War II and how the movie has become recognized everywhere for the realism of the war conflicts. Commonly known for the first conflict in the movie that reenacts the gruesome attack on Omaha Beach on June 6th, 1944.

“In action pictures, there was no virtuous side to identify with and nobody you really felt very good about cheering for. (Kael 113)” This forty-two-year-old remark is still true for at least half of present-day action movies; the remaining ones are either about good triumphing over evil or about dopey loser unlocking inner genius. These movies usually (and perhaps unavoidably) involve vendettas too bad to be true or masters too good to be true. While I openly distain their outright unreality and secretly savor their gripping intensity, I am aware of a hope, an expectation, a desire, deep in my heart, awaiting something with both stylish actions and a realistic plot. The Tenth Mile perfectly fits that blank space.

Set in South Boston, Good Will Hunting is about Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a young man who immerses himself in books, drinking and friends to escape his anger and frustration stemming largely from his past experiences with abusive foster families. Will and his best friend, Chuckie Sullivan (Ben Affleck), hang out together with their small group of friends in impoverished areas of Boston, drinking and occasionally fighting down in Southie. Will works menial jobs, hiding his incredible genius (such as a talent for memorizing facts and an intuitive ability to solve complex math equations).

Oliver Stone’s 1994 classic, Natural Born Killers, excited and traumatized its audiences while also causing controversy. The tale of white trash lovers caught up in a realm of chaos that includes a continuous murderous rampage from state to state, draws in audiences with its graphic violence and riveting pulse inducing music. Yet, the message of this film seems to be much deeper than just exposing audiences to yet another chaotic action movie filled with guns, blood and mayhem. Stone’s Natural Born Killers examines the subject of media’s investment in serial murder very thoroughly, and so it seems likely that it has the potential to offer a more rigorous interrogation of the nature of the American public’s fascination with the serial