My favorite films
I've noticed that most of my favorite films are actually listed in the syllabus. That's what makes this class so great.
Films
1. Godfather part II
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I can't even being to describe how great this film is. The first was was astounding. But the second builds on the first one and is able to take off with a storyline of the young Corleone killing the sicilian "black hand" That scene was just great. Lots of moral relativism that really makes you think. On one hand you know that he is killing the extortion tyrant but at the same time you know that because it's a flashback that killing the Black hand was just a way to cut out his own extortion niche
2. Apocpalypse Now
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I like this one more for the cinematography that the storyline and dialouge. I fell in love with this film because of the way that Francis Ford coppla blends the Tai Chi scene with the excruciating surreal lament of The Doors song "The End" The film also ends with the song. I just think that everything was executed perfectly. But "The End" is absolutely what made the film what it is. The horrifing pounding acid-washed raga sitar arpeggio reapeating over and over just haunts whatever is happening on screen. Interesting fact: Francis Ford Coppla and Jim Morrison plus Ray Manzarek of the doors were classmates at UCLA film school. If you look at some of the lost Morrison film projects you can see how Morrison's melancoly depictions of the hero characters rubbed off on coppla. I think it's a prefect fusion of film and music.
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3. I'm not there
The surreal depiction of the life of bob Dylan. It just recently came out and I'm not sure if i've fully digested this film yet even though it's been weeks since I saw it. I'm a sucker for composite characters and non-sequitor storylines. I wouldn't call this a biography of Dylan, it's just too weird and dissociated from the biography format. But at the same time I think that the film may be the most accurate depiction of a dynamic personality. But at the same time i still have this feeling that dylan's biggest fault is how his perfectionism makes him a fraud in some ways.
4. Juno
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This film just came out and it's getting nice reviews and such but I can't help feeling like I saw a different film thaneveryone else. Maybe I just derived less than the professional reviewers who were expecting something different. I though it was simply a sweet story and a welcome break from all the crappy formulaic films that hollywood cranks out expecting to be paid by the pound for film stock. I put this one the list because I think it's a better example of what a film could be if writers and directors would break out of the mainstream and stop worrying so much about making a film acceptable and accessable to everyone and just produce a movie on faith that the public will be able to handel it if there the film is just a little weird.
5.
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Run, Ronnie, Run
A comedy by David Cross and Bob Odenkirk that really flopped when it came out. All in all the film isn't absoulely packed with laughs every minute but the musical segments are so great. One scene has unique parody of the bland
R&B music that was so spot on that i've replayed it over and over and it's become a goldmine for inside jokes among my friends