Taken (2008) Movie Breakdown Essay

The 1967 film by Mike Nicoles “The Graduate” is about Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate, who is at a crossroads in his life. He is caught between adolescence and adulthood searching for the meaning of his upper middle class suburban world of his parents. He then began a sexual relationship with the wife of his father’s business partner, Mrs. Robinson. Uncomfortable with his sexuality, Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson continue an affair during which she asked him to stay away from her daughter, Elaine. Things became complicated when Benjamin was pushed to go out with Elaine and he falls in love with her. Mrs. Robinson sabotaged the relationship and eventually the affair between Mrs. Robinson and

Criminology is the study of why individuals commit crimes. Several sociologists and criminologists have developed theories that attempt to explain criminal behavior and why it occurs. In earlier times, theories such as biological determinism and phrenology were often used to explain criminal behavior. Those theories have since been proven to be unreasonable and unrealistic. As time passed, sociologists and criminologists created more plausible theories including the rational choice, classical, conflict, labeling, life course, critical, strain, social disorganization, routine activity, social control, and positivist theories. In attempts to better understand these criminological theories, an individual could apply one (or more) of these theories to real-life events or things he/she has seen on television. I have chosen to apply the rational choice theory to the popular movie Taken starring Liam Neeson and explain the many examples found throughout the movie.

The vision Christopher Nolan had for The Prestige (2006) was to add to the outbreak of street magician film, whilst playing a large dramatic subplot equal in grandeur to the magical performances within the film. In the final sequence of the film, I will analyse how the cinematography and sound resolves the plot so that it summarises the themes present in the film, whilst also invoking a response from the audience. Nolan predominantly uses close up shots, non-diegetic sound (music) and dialogue collaboratively to convey the dramatic, personal subplot of the characters and their relationships, whilst appealing to the audience bringing forth an emotional response from the audience. The heavy, slow, dramatic atmosphere of the ending sequence uses various techniques to summarise and uncover the underlying mysteries of the events throughout the film and consolidate themes introduced during the exposition.

Bellevue Inside Out is a documentary filmed at the public psychiatric ward in New York.

Chasing Amy is a movie that uncovers the hardships we find within the confusion of love and sex in our lives. Sometimes the line between love and sex seems almost invisible, but the differences and complications of understanding that are quite clear in this movie. The issues presented in Chasing Amy are directly related to the discussions of “Politics of Sexuality” as well as everyday life in our culture.

The film, “the Power of One,” followed the life of a boy named P.K. from a small child to a handsome young man. It showed all the hardship and tragedy he had to endure throughout his life. Although the movie could have focused more on the apartheid, it instead portrayed the vulgarity of those times through the eyes of an English boy. As time went on, P.K. slowly began to realize the full severity of the apartheid. It was difficult for a child to comprehend how horribly people could treat one another for no apparent reason.

In the movie Hitch. Dir. Andy Tennant. Perf. Will Smith, Eva Mendes, and Kevin James Sony Pictures, 2005. Dvd. The movie Hitch is about Alex Hitchens who plays “The date doctor” or a consultant as he calls himself. When Alex Hitchens was younger he fell head over heels over Cressida he came on a little strong that led her to another man’s arms. That experience taught him so much that Alex decided to coach other men in avoiding the same mistakes he made to get them to the woman of their dreams. While coaching one of his clients, Albert Brennaman, who is secretly in love with a client of his investment firm, celebrity Allegra Cole, Hitch finds himself falling for Sara Melas she is a gossip columnist whom after her best friend had a one night stand with a gentleman that said that he was the date doctors “client” Sara Melas decided to write a column to expose the “The date doctor” unknowingly that the person she will be exposing would be Alex Hitchens the person she is slowly falling for. Albert and Allegra’s relationship continues to progress while “The date doctor” realizes that none of his own methods are working for him while pursuing a relationship with Sara. At the end of Sara’s investigation she finally finds out the identity behind the much talked about “date doctor” that leads to her break up with Alex. She proceeds to write and publish her story knowing the damage that would cause for his clients and for Hitch reputation the expose article caused Albert and Allegra to

In the movie A Better Life, the Main Character Carlos Galindo is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who started working as a day labor worker when he first arrived in the country, however he has had steady work from Blasco Martinez who owns a gardening business which he tries to convince Carlos to buy from him as he says he is moving. The idea of being self employed is very appealing to Carlos but he knows he can never afford to do so and the risk of getting caught and deported is very high. Carlos has a son Luis who is reluctant to go to school on a daily basis and gets into trouble as he is influenced by his friends who are part of the

In the movie Wit, English literary scholar Vivian Bearing has spent years translating and interpreting the poetry of John Donne. Unfortunately, she is a person who has cultivated her intellect at the expense of her heart. Both colleagues and students view Bearing as a chilly and unfriendly person lost in her private world of words and mysterious thoughts.

“Ordinary people” everywhere are faced day after day with the ever so common tragedy of losing a loved one. As we all know death is inevitable. We live with this harsh reality in the back of our mind’s eye. Only when we are shoved in the depths of despair can we truly understand the multitude of emotions brought forth. Although people may try to be empathetic, no one can truly grasp the rawness felt inside of a shattered heart until death has knocked at their door. We live in an environment where death is invisible and denied, yet we have become desensitized to it. These inconsistencies appear in the extent to which families are personally affected by death—whether they

Carrie stared out the window of the car at the endless plains outside. People always described this kind of scenery as boring or dull, yet Carrie enjoyed looking at it. She needed the reminder that vast open spaces such as this still existed. After living with her father in the big city for nearly three years, Carrie had had enough. Moving back to her childhood home was a tough decision, but she needed to see something natural and the city parks would never be enough. Nobody can really enjoy a city park; the officials chase down and ticket those who “abuse” the grounds. Carrie collected quite a few tickets for, of all things, climbing trees. People climbed trees all the time where Carrie came from and the worst that happened was a scraped knee or a broken branch.

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 Motorcycle Diaries is the film based on a Medical student (Ernesto Guevara de la Serna) journal. The film entails details of a road trip for medical student friends with the objective to have some fun before their graduation. In the movie, Che Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado seek to have fun with young women traveling across Chile, Colombia, and Peru. In the movie, the two friends face significant challenges that include lack of enough money, motorbike breakdowns. In the end, the friends manage to make meaning out of the road trip with the help of some communists.

One must never judge or discriminate a person based on their physical attributes. Prejudice and discrimination directed against someone of a different race is known as racism. It is evident in the movie “Crash” directed by Paul Haggis, that people misconceive others due to judgement on their physical traits. Throughout the movie, the characters living in Los Angeles face the challenges of fitting in a town populated by people of different colours. The offenders are the “white” people whereas the victims are everyone else. The presence of racism is the main cause of every conflict that occurs in the movie.

Betrayal is something everyone has experienced. “The saddest thing about betrayal is that is never comes from your enemies. It comes from friends and loved ones.” It’s amazing how one little quote can have so much meaning. In the story Baba betrayed Ali by sleeping with his Sanaubar then making a child and Baba betrayed Hassan because he never told him he was his father . Baba never redeemed himself for doing those unforgivable actions, but the idea of betrayal is a recurring theme in the story and the movie.