Stagecoach

The western that I liked best in class was Stagecoach. I enjoyed it very much. I have become to like John Wayne a lot more too. My uncles like him and that’s how I got hooked it the movies myself. When ever I can I turn on my basic television to channel two. Where a person can watch an old western movie starring John Wayne.
The overall summary of this movie is about a stagecoach that is traveling across a desert with a load of passengers; a vengeful outlaw, a prostitute, a drunken doctor and a liquor seller. The main purpose is to catch up with a military unit and drop off the wife of the officer in charge. But to get to this destination, the passengers have to go through some risky business. The main reason though is that Geronimo is on a warpath in the area they must pass through.
I liked that Dallas and Ringo kicked it off. I think they were meant for each other. They’re both young and are going to have a fun life together down in Mexico where Ringo’s farm is. Doc Boone is also a great character. He is the comic relief. He’s always drunk and is most likely the best doctor in town. I think characters are shunned due to their social status, “good” people are revealed to be not as good as they think themselves while “bad” people reveal themselves to have good hearts and the potential for redemption in their lives. This is a great lesson for every one. To repeat a common quote, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Babel

I know that this is supposed to be a great movie, but I’m not sure I understand why. “Yessss!” is what my mom said when she won the DVD on some free game thing. So when the movie finale came in the mail of course we watched it that night. I thought it was jumpy. For example it would go here’s a scene of Brad Pitt, now lets watch some naked Japanese chick. I know the girl had some issues but come on. I think the only reason this movie was popular is because of Mr. Pitt, the ladies man. I have watched the movie a couple more times since then and I think I understand a little more each time I watch it. I see now that each story ties together with everyone in the movie. The Mexicans, and Pitts kids, the gun and Pitts wife being shot. But of all the times watching it I don’t understand the drugged up Japanese girl. Now I’m not being mean, I just don’t understand her concept in the movie. It was her dad that owned the gun not her. Any ways I think the only way you can understand the movie is by watching it multiple times.
By Roger Ebert
“Even more separated are cultures that do not share languages, values, frames of reference, or physical realities. “Babel” weaves stories from Morocco, America, Mexico and Japan, all connected by the thoughtless act of a child, and demonstrates how each culture works against itself to compound the repercussions. It is the third and most powerful of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s trilogy of films in which the action is connected or influenced in invisible ways. Sometimes these are called “hyperlink films.” After “Amores Perros” (2000) and “21 Grams” (2003), it shows his mastery of the form, and it surprises us by offering human insight rather than obligatory tragedy.
Without revealing too much, let me chronologically piece together the stories. A Japanese businessman goes on a hunting trip in Morocco, and tips his guide with a rifle. The guide sells the rifle to a friend, who needs it to kill the jackals attacking his sheep. The friend’s son shoots toward a tourist bus at a great distance. An American tourist is wounded. The tourist’s Mexican nanny, in San Diego, is told to stay with their two children, but doesn’t want to miss her son’s wedding, and takes the children along with her to Mexico. Police enquiries about the Japanese businessman’s rifle lead to consequences for his disturbed daughter.”
Have fun.

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a classic musical, loved by children and their parents for generations to come. The main character is Dorothy Gale who lives with her aunt and uncle t their farm. She always wants to be some where else and that day comes sooner then she expects. While she dreaming of a better place, a huge tornado lifts Dorothy, her dog Toto, and the house up into the Land of Oz.The Good Witch of the North tells Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road, and while she follows she sings the song Yellow Brick Road. On the way to the Emerald City she meets some new friends; first The Scarecrow, second the Tin Man and lastly the Cowardly Lion. They all head down the yellow brick road singing their way to meet the Wizard of Oz. Who knew that the Wicked witch of the West would come and spoil everything? Have no fear, for in the end Dorothy makes it with her new ruby red heels all the way home.
Roger Ebert / December 22, 1996
“As a child I simply did not notice whether a movie was in color or not. The movies themselves were such an overwhelming mystery that if they wanted to be in black and white, that was their business. It was not until I saw ``The Wizard of Oz'' for the first time that I consciously noticed B&W versus color, as Dorothy was blown out of Kansas and into Oz. What did I think? It made good sense to me.
The switch from black and white to color would have had a special resonance in 1939, when the movie was made. Almost all films were still being made in black and white, and the cumbersome new color cameras came with a ``Technicolor consultant'' from the factory, who stood next to the cinematographer and officiously suggested higher light levels. Shooting in color might have been indicated because the film was MGM's response to the huge success of Disney's pioneering color animated feature, ``Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937).”
I was about seven when I first saw this movie. I remembered the flying monkeys most of all. They were kind of scary and they were funny looking. I also remember the songs. These songs were some of the best. I especially liked Over the Rainbow and If I Were King of the Forest. Those two songs will mostly stick me for a long time. As will the movie.

3:10 To Yuma

“James Mangold's "3:10 to Yuma" restores the wounded heart of the Western and rescues it from the morass of pointless violence. The Western in its glory days was often a morality play, a story about humanist values penetrating the lawless anarchy of the frontier. It still follows that tradition in films like Eastwood's "The Unforgiven," but the audience's appetite for morality plays and Westerns seems to be fading. Here the quality of the acting, and the thought behind the film, make it seem like a vanguard of something new, even though it's a remake of a good movie 50 years old."
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070906/REVIEWS/709060305

After I read the review by Ebert, I compleatly agree with what he is saying. He has some very good points. When he said they dont make many westerns anymore I thought that was very true. Most movies now days are all about some weird monstars from space that want to take over the world. I find this to be annoying most to all the time.
The two leads are a dermatologist's dream-Bale's nose wart and Crowe's facial moles dominate the closeups. Set in Cochise County, Arizona, Christian Bale is Dan Evans, a hard-luck farming Civil War vet facing eviction from his land by a nasty overlord. He gets entangled in the capture of notorious outlaw Ben Wade, played by Russell Crowe, and commits to helping transport Wade to a prison train (the 3:10 to the Yuma Territorial Prison). This is a short over view of the movie from my perspective.
I rented "3:10 to Yuma" from the red box up at the local mcdonalds. I thought it was so good that I watched twice in a twenty-four hour period. If I were a real critric I would give this movie two thumbs up. I suggest you all check it out. Even though this was filmed in New Mexico.

Film

Films are created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a method for education. Some movies are a way of communication for example movies with subtitles become popular worldwide.