Dom's Film Blog

 I sat down to watch what may have been the worst movie I've seen in 2022, so I wanted to talk about it. Troll is a Netflix movie that takes place in Norway, and is based off of some of the tales of trolls that have been a part of the culture of Norway for centuries. The premise is solid, bringing another giant monster movie to life when it's not exactly fresh, but not quite overused at the moment either. Movies like Godzilla and King Kong have been popular for years, and some have been recently made with not too much to show other than some box office revenue. However, taking a story that is based off something relating to an actual culture, and being able to make some creative choices, Troll , had a chance to prove itself. The end result, I feel, just didn't live up to the expectation. This is how I've felt with numerous Netflix films over the passed couple years, that pour so much money into solid ideas, but they end up just lacking passion. In this situation, they ...

Chapter 3 Cinema reinforces the dominant ideology by resembling an art form that has a primarily cookie-cutter system for production. The audience can see that many films are being made by the same people, and especially the same types of people. The stories that are being made, especially in the 70's and 80's that the book focuses on, focus on members of majority groups and appeal to members of majority groups. Using theoretical tools and focusing on specific aspects of the filmmaking process, it can become easy to see who the films are appealing for. If one were to focus on the Male Gaze, they would examine the way that the camera is looking at its female subjects, and analyze the choices that are being made by the director.  Counter-Cinema is an extremely important concept for the entirety of film, because it represents the struggle for equality within the cinema world. It also creates a rich diversity of not only actors and filmmakers, but the films themselves. Film would s...

I got to the theatre opening night to see the newest Spielberg movie with my family, as it was one I knew I would enjoy. As someone that loves movies, watching a movie about someone else and their love for movies is sure to entertain me even if it doesn't end up being that good. That was a suspicion of mine regarding The Fabelmans. It seemed to me that the movie was made for Oscar bait, and that the actual passion behind it would maybe be a little stale. I must've thought this because Spielberg isn't one of my personal favorite directors, but with someone as iconic as him, I shouldn't have doubted him. His life belongs to motion pictures, and the film captures that in a beautiful way.  For starters, the cast was amazing. Someone who has had a lot of experience in the industry, but is beginning to really show just how talented he is, is Paul Dano. He gives a great performance alongside Michelle Williams, who gives a tearjerking performance playing the role of Spielbergs ...

I remember seeing the trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos's The Lobster back before it hit theaters in 2015. At that time, I was a sixth grader and I had no idea what A24 was, or what the production company would become. Now that some of my all time favorite movies from some of the most famous directors of all time make up the studios filmography, I felt that it was right to go back and finally watch the film. I knew that Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, and John C. Riley were all stand out performers that made up the cast, but I was surprised to see Olivia Colman also making an appearance. Her part in the film was just as good as her other work, but it was especially interesting since at the time the film was made she had yet to win her Oscar. The dystopian society that Lanthimos creates in the film is significantly better than most societies created in the many movies like these from the past few decades. You can tell that it takes place in the near future, and while things are run down and...

We finally had another screening in class, which took a while after we watched Breathless . Shane Carruth's  Primer was a movie I was interested to see because of the praise it had gotten from Sundance and among audiences and critics alike. The low-budget indie was written and directed by Shane Carruth, and it was interesting to see a film from someone that is making passion projects without all the resources of a Hollywood director. Going in, I knew very little about the film except for the fact that it was sci-fi and it had the same vibe as a Christopher Nolan movie. Memento was also a low-budget film, so I was interested to see if Primer was most similar to that. The plot follows 4 entrepreneur friends, and their endeavors to produce different machines. This unravels into a time travel movie, in which they find out their device has the unique power to tamper with time, and they must figure out who gets to use it and how they get to use it. The thing that stood out to me the m...

For my English 200 class, I was tasked with watching the film M. Butterfly and compare it to the written play that we had previously read. While I was skeptical about the low scores on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes for the film, I assumed I'd find some more enjoyment from the story, seeing it adapted in a different way. Right away, I noticed key similarities and key differences. The way the two characters met, was word for word the same dialogue sequence that it was in the play, however there were a lot of things that the writer changed for the on screen adaptation. Which was strange, because the original writer, Henry Hwang, also wrote the adapted screenplay. The most notable difference is the narrative style change, in which the movie has a linear passage of time. The heart and soul of the play is the 4th wall breaking segments that take place at different times of the events of the story. It provides a light hearted lens in which the characters can express their thoughts and feelings...