One of my favorite Dark Comedy movies I enjoy is “Snatched” which premiered back in 2000. The movie has a myriad of actors ranging from Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt, and Jason Statham. The movie revolves around a priceless stolen diamond. Serendipitously, the diamond crosses paths or indirectly changes the trajectory of each character. There is a specific scene in which Jason Statham character is an up and coming Boxing promoter with only one client named Gorgeous George a street knuckle boxer. During the interim of the movie Jason Statham and his boxer Gorgeous George have a bad run in with some Gypsies over the purchase of a trailer. The Gypsy leader is played by Brad Pitt and throughout the movie, everyone has a strong disdained towards
The characters in these films were savvy, secretive and wealthy unlike the gangsters seen in Little Caesar and Scarface: The Shame of the Nation. Brian De Palma’s Scarface (1983) payed homage to the original, and although they follow roughly the same storyline, De Palma’s remake is more reminiscent of The Godfather films than its predecessor. Tony Montana (Al Pacino), the film’s main character, worked his way up from poverty by selling drugs and committing horrifying acts of violence in order to attain the power, wealth and woman he so desired. In his 1983 review of Scarface, Pulitzer prize winner, Roger Ebert states “Al Pacino does not make Montana into a sympathetic character, but he does make him into somebody we can identify with, in a horrified way, if only because of his perfectly understandable motivations” (RogerEbert.com). More than fifty years later, Ebert expresses similar thoughts to those of Robert Warshow, esteemed film critic and author of “The Gangster as a Tragic Hero.” “…We [the audience] gain the double satisfaction of participating vicariously in the gangster’s sadism and then seeing it turned against the gangster himself.” (Warshow) These sentiments are exactly what the censorship of the 1932 version intended to prevent, yet Scarface (1983) did not receive the same scrutiny. Despite the mixed reviews that Howard Hawk’s original Scarface: Shame of the Nation and Brian De Palma’s
George Roy Hill's film, The Sting uses many forms of irony in the setting of the 1920's Chicago to show the theme of revenge for a friends death. Johnny Hooker played by Robert Redford is the main character in the film. The irony in the film is that he is the 'good guy' and is also a gambling addict and street con-man. Hill also uses other forms of irony, Henry Gandorf played buy Paul Newman owns a gamblingwhore house which has a giant carousal in the middle. The film starts out quickly and keeps up the pace as it goes on. The film is set up like a book its opening credits are shown over each page. The film is also split up into chapters each with its own title. When the title of the chapter shows up it looks like a piece of paper and is turned going into the next scene.
For this project, two films were viewed. The first one is Annie, a film made in the early 80s about a girl in an orphanage. She is then brought to live in a mansion for a week with one of the richest men in this world. He doesn’t like her at first, but he learns to love the little girl, and adopt her. The second film, Cinderella man, is about a boxer who loses his job after he breaks his hand during a match. He is then left to fend for his family. He begins to slowly rise up as a boxer and fight again, much to his wife’s distaste. For this project, I will discuss the similarities and differences between the films, and the time period, setting, and characters. Annie is the first film.
Latin lovers, banditos, and gangbangers are the negative roles that have been filmed in Hollywood production have diminished over a long period. Bandito is dirty with unshaven face and they are dishonest, irrational and emotional to violence. Media had portrayed racist imagery on Banditos featured inability in English speaking and their accents is a racial marker.
New Jack City, noted as ‘the crime film of the 90’s’,serves as an important episode for African-American people in America. Set in New York city, the film depicts the story of a success-driven antagonist Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) who builds an empire powered by organized crime, drug trafficking, and Black delinquent young adults trapped in the cycle of crime. Ronald Reagan’s economic policy coupled with the popularity of crack-cocaine in the inner city creates inconsistencies and untapped markets in the poor community which Nino Brown brilliantly capitalizes on and exploits. His empire is able to successfully cut out the middle men in the drug trafficking market and centralize their operation in a single low-income housing complex inhabited
It is for this reason that laws were made to increase punishment against what was known as “urban” crime. Although times has changed, there are still many stereotypes around both white and black individuals. Society has filled television shows as well as movies with content that exposes the tension and humor between the African-American and Caucasian race. Films were being made where two males of different races would develop an everlasting friendship, which was a rare occurrence in the 1900s. However nowadays, racial animosities are being shown in film for the reason that it would attracts audiences to buddy films, even though inequality is still present. For instance, in the movie “Get Hard”, Kevin Hart’s character Darnell, is an African-American man, who is struggling to expand his car washing business as well as to provide a better education and home for his daughter. It is also shown that Darnell’s cousin is an ex-convict living in what is known as “the hood”. Whereas, Will Ferrell’s character James, is shown as an extremely wealthy man, who is a senior fund manager that has tons of money to spend. As one can tell, instantly the movie demonstrates the inequality between the two races, demonstrating that Caucasian are generally more well off in comparison to
The Trouble with Men: Masculinities in European and Hollywood Cinema - Phil Powrie, Ann Davies and Bruce Babington.
It has always been a quest for individuals to achieve fame and success. In this day and age a community exists where many people have this intent to achieve this desire for attention and wealth. Hollywood can be interpreted as this mindset and life style. For those who succeed in this community of publicity seekers, include the usual benefits of success, wealth, power, influence and fame. But for the majority of people in Hollywood their quest for the luxuries of fame go awry. Hollywood to put plainly is a vulgar cut throat business, it is a dog eat dog world out there in Hollywood. For those who do not achieve their quest to be in the lime light, they often used, stabbed in the back and theoretically cast away in a dark rainy alley, like bag of garbage or a typical film-noire hero. Sunset Boulevard is a satisfyingly humorous film-noire film about the inner workings of the vicious “jungle”, that one would know of as Hollywood. It was perhaps the purposely over acted antics of antagonist Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), that makes Billy Wilder’s black comedy so memorable. Sunset Boulevard fits the definition of film-noire thanks to Wilder’s use of the typical film-noire style characters, the all too familiar storyline and Wilder’s visual style of the film itself.
Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.
The film Gilda, combining a plethora of genres including drama, romance, thriller and film-noir revolves around a high profile, glamorous, controversial and sophisticated woman Gilda. The male character Johnny Farrell is a seasoned American gambler in Argentina who gets attacked by thugs for winning a large sum of money; but survives after being helped by a hero, Ballin Mundson. Ballin warns him about gambling with his own dice and informs him of a classy casino which is involved in illegal gambling. Before long, Johnny is put in charge of overseeing the casino’s operations and is responsible for the basic needs of his boss. Johnny later comes face to face with his former lover, Gilda, who is now Ballin new found love. Ballin soon gives him the job of looking after her, as she is too beautiful to be left in the casino alone. Johnny doesn't want the job but reluctantly agrees. The meeting of the former lovers triggers past memories but they are keen to play strangers and unleash their past frustrations beneath a veneer ...
Due to the new ratings system, filmmakers were enabled to seek inspiration beyond the restriction of the Production Code. Breaking away from the limited and implicit elaboration of two-sided characters such as the outlaw heroes against official heroes (Ray 1985, p. 59), the reconciliatory combination of moral ambiguity and complexity into one thus became the salient characteristic that divided experimentation and avant-garde films from the typical melodramatic investigation between the good and evil. (King 2002, p. 32) A common phenomenon in Hollywood Renaissance is the use of marginalized individuals as the main character. Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver is a disturbed individual devoured by loneliness and moral mysophobia; McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) is a criminal not understood by the society, battling authority in a mental institution; in Harold and Maude
The best movie I have ever seen is, “Goodwill Hunting.” I have heard people talk about it up until about a year ago, but I still never gave it a shot. Until one night I’m going through my nightly routine of scrolling through Netflix titles trying to find a show or movie that will put me to sleep. Of course I could pick an obvious show like “The Office” or “Family Guy”, but I wanted to find something new. So instead I just search my favorite actor, Matt Damon. Came across a movie called, “Rounders”, and it co-starred Edward Norton. This was an obvious choice so I watched it without checking out any other movies with Matt Damon. I was very glad I chose to watch this movie because the cast did amazing and I love movies about gambling.
The movie "Blood Diamond" was released in 2006 and featured Leonardo Di Caprio as an arms smuggler whose main goal is to obtain a seemingly priceless diamond from a villager during the civil war in Sierra Leone. The film, although it has been called mild in comparison to reality, depicts the brutality that inhabitants of diamond villages were subjected to. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, and won numerous other awards.
Human trafficking, or the selling and buying of people, is a well-hidden yet prominent issue within today’s society. It is both an immoral and horrific topic that needs brought to attention and dealt with. When human beings are manipulated into work, sexual servitude, or economic hardship, human trafficking is occurring. In the year of 2006, only one individual is convicted of human trafficking per 800 victims (UNGIFT). By looking at straight statistics, reasons human trafficking happens, and the toll it has on people, it is very clear that this is a major issue that is happening in our world.
Teenage Illiteracy has a major effect in many teenagers’ lives today. Literacy is a learned skill, and illiteracy is passed down from parents who many not are able to read nor write. In America two thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. As Americans we often don’t take the time to realize that schooling at a younger age through high school will improve a child’s opportunities and chances at life. Schooling in younger ages, middle school, and high school play a major part in a child’s life as an adult and how they function.