The AFI movie I chose for a week 3 assignment is Scarface, this 1983 cinematic masterpiece, starring Al Pacino, shows the journey of a simple immigrant from Cuba trying to make his way to America, trying to find the American dream, after the character Tony Montana play by Al Pacino tries to enter into United States illegally, he was caught and placed into a immigration detention center, this is where Tony Montana gets his big break by taking on a contract hit for a Colombian drug cartel that can help him with his immigration status. The theme of this movie Scarface is a fast rise and fall of a poor immigrant from Cuba, with goals and aspirations to become a drug kingpin. Each scene becomes progressively understanding and clear that Tony Montana goal is to become a boss, by setting into motion plans to make his way into South Florida by any means necessary, Montana at this time has taken on hit man jobs and started paddling narcotics for himself and his crew, I feel as though the first scenes Tony Montana's cocky attitude broken English and demeanor and disposition towards the police, introduced us to who Tony Montana was, at one point in this film Tony Montana talks about Humphrey Bogart and a few other actors that portrayed gangsters and gangster life style, he seemed to be admiring the gangster life style, in this scene you can almost see the admiration within his eyes as he was telling the a story about them. This scene was brought to light by the cinematographer who created a dim but dynamic lighting setting, the focal point was directly on Al Pacino as he was telling his story, the effective framing and captivating way that Al Pacino portrays his character. There was another scene in Scarface
After completing your movie analysis, you will reflect on the analysis process and how you have learned to more thoroughly analyze film as well as how rigorous study of film enhances your development as a student and thinker. In this 300- to 600-word reflection, review your initial post from the “Post Your Introduction” discussion in Week One, and consider how your ability to analyze movies has changed or grown. Append your reflection to the analysis portion of your paper. Your reflection should be personal and exploratory in
The debate over Casablanca and Citizen Kane has been a classic argument between film critics and historians alike because both of these pieces contain great cinematographic value, and are timeless pictures that have managed to captivate audiences well beyond their era. However, the real question at hand is which film is the greatest? Which film transformed the future of American film making? It is these questions that I as many others have, will attempt to answer in the following essay as I explain why I believe Citizen Kane has achieved the status of greatest film ever made.
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.
The critically acclaimed film, Goodfellas, is a gangster crime drama that features a great deal 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 Golden Globes and Academy Awards 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, strong editing made efficient use of multiple jump cuts, which add to the sensation that we are undergoing the same experiences as the characters on screen. 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.
Present at least 3 events, ideas, people, artifacts, or combination of three of these from the film in terms of representing American values. The first idea would be Pan American International High School in Queens, New York, where school lets the Latino students to study. I think it is American values the people who organizes this kid of organization like school are very kind and generous. It is values that some American citizens not only think about themselves, but about other ethnicities as well.
When talking about a true American crime story, one can start and end the discussion with one of the most powerful and influential true stories ever told: GoodFellas. Based on the incredible true story, the film follows the rise and fall of Lucchese crime family associates Henry Hill and his friends throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 1980s. Originally written as the non-fiction novel “Wise Guys” by Nicholas Pileggi, the story takes you deep into the world of arguably the most notorious crime posse America has ever known: the Italian Mafia. It is viewed by scores of critics and moviegoers alike as one of the greatest crime/drama movies ever filmed – so needless to say, with such a
Second, I want to cover the cause and effects registered in this movie. A very reoccurring cause and effect in this movie is whenever Scarface gets angry or mad he snorts more and more cocaine. I found this relatively funny because by the end of the movie he is snorting a ton of cocaine that leads up to his demise. Another effect that is shown throughout the movie is Scarface growing in success and reputation. The cause of this is the many successful business deals that he undertakes and engages in. Another effect is that he makes more and more enemies along the way. This is due to his reputation and power rising. Another cause and effect occurs when Scarface has an argument with his wife and yells at her about her not being able to produce any children for him. This later on causes him to fail a mission because he is not able to bring himself to kill children. A major cause and effect in the story occurs when Scarface sees that his best friend is with his sister. At this point Scarface kills his best friend, which causes his sister to go into major depression, and which pushes him to indulge in even more cocaine which leads to disaster.
This was due to the regular portrayal of Italian-Americans as “overly sexual, violent, and sentimental” individuals in a majority of cinematic productions such as The Skyscrapers in New York and The Black Hand (Tamburri, 209). Based on this, the audience can see that the purity aspect of the Italianamerican is intentionally incorporated in an effort to combat media’s historic negative representations of this ethnic community. In doing so, Martin Scorsese uses his parents as prime examples to trace back to their ethnic origins and utilizes these personal stories to impel members of the American cinematic industry to reexamine the sexuality and race of the Italian-American demographic. Scorsese’s documentary, which covers the difficulties his parents faced as they settled into the American way of life, potentially instilled a sense of empathy in the minds of other immigrants who shared similar experiences of acculturation with Catherine and Charlie Scorsese. Scorsese’s role as a third-generation Italian-American led to the successful creation of Italianamerican and its attempt at reducing the unfavorable opinions and beliefs many expressed towards
'Shawshank Redemption' directed by Frank Darabont is a compelling film about the life of one of its prisoners, Andy. many film techniques were used through out the film as a clever way of conveying main themes. This essay is going to examine how Darabont used camera angles and colour effectively in this film to portray the idea of power.
Scarface is a crime-drama film that is famously known for being one of the most violent and profanes films during its time of release. Focusing on the rise of Tony Montana (Al Pacino) on the criminal ladder and becoming more psychotic as his career as the leader of his drug empire progresses, leading to his eventual downfall. Directed by Brian de Palma, written by Oliver Stone and with performance of the cast with the lead Al Pacino, Scarface became a cult classic among the masses.
The film I picked for my critique is Red Tails, a historical World War II drama. The movie starred Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard and Gerald Mcraney, was written by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder, better known as the creator of the comic strip “the boondocks”, from a book by John B. Holway, directed by Anthony Hemingway and produced by George Lucas . In this paper the author will show how all elements of filmmaking
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.
Francis Ford Coppola directed the gangster crime drama film, The Godfather (1972), inspired by the novel of the same name, written by Author Mario Puzo. The film plays out in the beginning how Don Corleone declined to join the narcotics business with notorious drug lord Sollozzo. With this in mind, one of the greatest gangster films created by a man who decided to lead, and not follows. Moreover, explaining the formalist approach for this film which covers an array of elements that include plot structure, camera techniques, editing, mise en scene, and sound. The following film critique will analyze “The Godfather,” beginning by utilizing the formalist approach theory, camera technique and sound gradually introducing additional theories
The crime genre is about a crime that is being committed or was committed and may sometimes be an account of a criminal's life. Scarface displays many criminal that can blow one's mind and is in many ways an account of Montana's life as a drug lord. The film falls into the subgenre of crime, as a "gangster" film for the simple fact that it portrays a criminal organization with a level of organization and resources that
Al Capone was the center of the movie, as a man who went against all