Incoherent Vice would be a much more suitable title. Incohesive, long, and dialogue-heavy, Inherent Vice has all the potential to flounder. Yet under the steady (or rather, wild) hands of director Paul Thomas Anderson, the film becomes a psychedelic, incredibly enjoyable ride brimming with wit and melancholy. The film follows Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello (played in routinely magnificent fashion by the now ever-reliable Joaquin Phoenix), and his exploits to help his ex-girlfriend, Shasta Fey (Katherine Waterston, also exquisite) investigate a kidnapping of notorious real-estate billionaire Mickey Wolfmann. From there, the plot descends (or ascends, depending on your perspective of the film) into sumptuous lunacy; a mystery involving the coveted and secretive …show more content…
‘Golden Fang’, a fascinating encounter with a figure named Adrian Prussia, and a charming, nostalgic tale involving a Ouija board all intertwined into the flick’s increasingly crazed plot. It’s a stoner noir that gives the audience the impression of being stoned themselves – a startling achievement by both P.A Anderson and Thomas Pynchon, the writer of the book that this flick is adapted from.
It’s not about the end result, but about the journey; plot threads aimlessly disappear and reappear, often left unresolved amid the concoction of brewing story lines; told from the perspective of Doc’s weed-frazzled mind. Yet despite the apparent attempt to confuse and toy with the audience, the flick is never not-fascinating. As the opening credits appear, you’ll find a big grin spreading across your face – barely disappearing during Inherent Vice’s 148-minute run time. Part of this is due to the film’s soundtrack – just like its plot, it’s a daring and muddled mix in equal measures, an amalgamation of Jonny Greenwood’s terrifically periodic score, and the various offerings of artists, each with a booming, bombastic track to deftly support what’s on screen; Vitamin C, Here Come the Ho-Dads, Simba, and Les Fleur all stand-out as proudly and brilliantly as Doc’s sideburns. They also help contribute to Inherent Vice’s wonderful, tonal atmosphere – the turn of the 1970’s portrayed on screen with expert
precision. The atmosphere created is also helped enormously by the director’s use of large format film, fabricating a musty, saturated quality that wouldn’t be possible to produce otherwise. Inherent Vice also features the best cinematography of any film released in 2014 – which is saying a lot when considering Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel were both released last year. Each shot is filmed with typical P.A Anderson-ian perfection, outmuscling his previous effort, The Master, for beauty alone. And all this praise without truly referring to the acting – yes, the acting is something special too. Joaquin Phoenix brings his deranged, frustratedly lackadaisical persona to the forefront, and it works wonders. Doc is equal measures of composure and insanity, a brewing mix of hippie goodness that is juxtaposed expertly by the straight-faced ‘Bigfoot’ (Josh Brolin), a hippie-hatin’ detective that surprisingly features as the figure that prises the most laughs from the audience. Less surprisingly, he’s portrayed excellently by Brolin, shrouding himself in a subtly affectionate sentimentality; his character depth, where sexuality and sentiments towards Doc remain ambiguous throughout, elevates the film to a whole other stratosphere. He’s a character with a comical facade and an aura of sadness. Katherine Waterston, who plays the main female lead as Doc’s ex-girlfriend, must be mentioned too. A relatively unknown face, she brings fragility and vulnerability to the storyline, where her chemistry with Joaquin Phoenix forms much of the crux of the film. She stands out expertly in one particular scene – a sensual, sorrowful discussion with Doc that culminates in silently affectionate sex; leaving the audience in a similarly hushed state. The scene is a showcase of Waterston’s acting range and capabilities, and she handles the challenging task with aplomb. The same can be said for all of Inherent Vice’s bloated jumble of characters, each adroitly played; Martin Short helming a terrific cameo, and only Owen Wilson debatedly miscast. Their encounters with Doc contribute as the overall chassis of the plot, and if you can withstand the initial tedium, it plays out beautifully. Inherent Vice works on so many levels; an accurate portrayal of life in 1970, an intriguing mystery and crime drama, a fantastic character-study, and a poignant tale of love and paranoia. Inherent Vice may not be for everyone, but if it works, it works wonders – a gem of a film with a myriad of vibrant characters and a plot as smart as it is unhinged.
The auteur theory is a view on filmmaking that consists of three equally important premises: technical competence, interior meaning, and personal signature of the director. Auteur is a French word for author. The auteur theory was developed by Andrew Sarris, a well-known American film critic. Technical competence of the Auteur deals with how the director films the movie in their own style. Personal signature includes recurring themes that are present within the director’s line of work with characteristics of style, which serve as a signature. The third and ultimate premise of the Auteur theory is the interior meaning which is basically the main theme behind the film.
The new Christian movie "Captive" is coming to theaters on September 18, and is a testimony of a drug-addict Ashley Smith, whose life changes in a seven-hour ordeal with her kidnapper Brian Nichols.
For years directors have been making sports movies that audiences love. Movies like the Gavin O’Conner film “Miracle”, based on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, and the Richard Linklater comedy “Bad News Bears” have stood the test of time and remain fan favorite movies. However, “Southpaw”, which premiered in 2015, is the next generation of sports films. The movie follows lightweight boxer Billy Hope as he struggles with the fame, fortune, and tragedy that come with being the reigning champion. Hope loses everything and must navigate a tough road before he can return to the ring. Unfortunately, critics didn’t agree on this film; some gave it great reviews, and some gave it terrible reviews.
The historical drama of “The Conspirator” (Redford) is using scenes to reveal the background of the Lincoln assassination in 1865, on Good Friday. The authors of the movie are attempting to reveal the plot behind the scenes, and the role of individuals in killing Lincoln, as well as their true intentions in doing so. The movie was an answer to some of the misconceptions about Lincoln’s final years, as well as the political forces that led to the events. The main focus of the movie is to reveal Mary Surratt’s involvement in the conspiracy. Entertainment and historical correctness, however, does not always walk hand in hand, therefore, it is important to review whether or not the account represented by the film is accurate, and
Houwelingen, Dave V. "The Films of Martin Scorsese Part XXI: GoodFellas." : The Films of
Arranging a nonlinear storyline, Tarantino tells of three interrelated stories of mobsters, thieves, and power that are equally filled with irony. The characters depicted voice absurd dialogue that unimaginably alters the traditional violence cliché. Strong, relatable characters are used to create a sense of reality and understanding. The film’s interest is heightened by various improbabilities and a wild series of events that only seem possible in Hollywood. Considerable time is exhibited understanding, getting to know, and relating to the characters, forming a more dramatic perception for the audience. As character Mia Wallace would suggest, this film commands the audience to “not be square” and to step outside of the box. Pulp Fiction is an astoundingly thrilling masterpiece; a suspenseful crime drama, harnessing the elements of glorified crime, impactful scenes, immorality, and underworld settings. The film commences to another level, assisted by black comedy, to portray improbable coincidences and unconventional satirical and surprising humor.
A legend is somebody who goes past the points of confinement of the standard to accomplish something for more prominent 's benefit of society and humankind. With fearlessness and valor, a legend endeavors to demolish what isn 't right and low with society with their challenging activities. With these activities a saint 's motivation is to attempt to change how individuals imagine life in an alternate point of view. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi had the capacity decimate the social administration in India, built up by an abusive British government, with his advancement of peace and insurgency. Gandhi 's demonstration of upheaval affected the locals of India, to imagine an existence of flexibility, far from remote standard. Some of the time a
Veterans of the war in Iraq are frustrated with the film The Hurt Locker in the way that it inaccurately portrays the process of a mission involving the disarming of roadside bombs. In movies, the ideas and concepts of things that we have not yet experienced in our own lives subconsciously instills itself in our minds and everyday thoughts. For example, when the mind thinks of any crime, like murder, a bank robbery, or being in jail, if you have not experienced these things first-hand, then there is no real way of knowing exactly what those things are like. But we think that movies give us all of the information that we need to know. War is the best example of this. By watching war films, the average civilian thinks that they have a general
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
As we know, most of Quentin Tarantino’s films have strong personal characters. People call Tarantino as an ‘Auteur’ which means that a director who makes films which reflect his/her personal vison and preoccupations. (Lecture 3) And Tarantino’s characterized use of violence is a huge part of his auteur. Sometimes when people see the specific scenario in a film, they can easily tell that the film is a ‘Tarantino film’ because of the use of ‘Tarantino’s violence.’ To describe Tarantino’s depiction of violence, we can use the phrases ‘all of a sudden, extremely cruelness and strong artistic effect.’ And we are going to focus on two specific examples in ‘True Romance’ which Tarantino played the role
Auteur theory was started by a group of influential French film critics in the 1950s and explores the idea of individual creative vision and cinema control. Hence the director brings his unique style and interpretation to the film. Francois Truffaut's comments that "there are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors" (Truffaut 1954) shows film needs to be a signature of a creative individual. This hypothesis was developed a couple of years later in the United States through the articles written by Andrew Sarris, critic for The Village Voice. Sarris insists that to be a true auteur, there are three areas of criteria that need to be met. Firstly, the director must prove to be technically proficient in film making. They
Pulp Fiction is a movie that not only entertains, the goal of any movie, but causes you to think. The dialogue is the key to this movie. For example, the scene wear Vincent shoots Marvin in the face. They are having a conversation regarding the validity of Jules’ supposed miracle, when Vincent accidently shoots Marvin in the face. The viewer becomes invested in the conversation, only to shocked back into reality by the shooting.
The most significant events in Roland Emmerich’s film The Patriot includes the scene in which Benjamin Martin avenges his son’s death by the murdering of twenty redcoats, Martin retrieving his captured men from the British in return for dummies impersonating the British officers, and achieving victory of the British at the Battle of Yorktown. The film conflicts around the colonies desire for independence from the British in order to form their own government. The film reaches its point of climax when Gabriel decides to take a group of men to search for Tavington to punish him for setting fire to the church, however, a turn of events occurs once Tavington fakes his death and murders Gabriel instead. The conclusion of the film involves the French
The movie discussed in this project is Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee. This movie was released on 2005. The movie is about two young men, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, that get a job taking care of sheeps during the summer on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. Ennis is engaged to Alma. They are getting married in the fall. Ennis wants to have his own ranch one day. Jack wants to become the greatest rodeo cowboy alive. Ennis and Jack become friends and later on they start going out. By the end of the summer, both of them go on their own way. Ennis married Alma, and they have two girls. Jack has a son with a cowgirl called Lureen whose father is wealthy because he has a business that sells machineries for farmers. Later on, Ennis and Jack get in touch again, and they start doing “fishing trips.” Alma sees Ennis and Jack kiss the first time Jack comes back to Wyoming and visit Ennis. She gets suspicious about the trips and later realize the truth about the fishing trips. Alma and Ennis get divorced, and Ennis can only see his daughte...