American Hustle The first thing we see is Christian Bale’s almost surreal beer belly, similar to an overdue pregnant stomach. He stands in front of a mirror and adjusting one of the most complex comb overs I have ever seen, which includes artful interweaving of glued hair extensions. Add to this a pair of smoked colored pilot glasses and a sophisticated outfit that screams out our worst nightmares of the late 1970s, and it is dangerously tempting to expect a continuation of a hard groomed freak show, populated by thoroughly ridiculous people who make and says ridiculous things. Especially as the second thing we see is one of Amy Adams countless, magnificently deep necklines. But if that's what we believe will happen, we will become thoroughly …show more content…
Lawrence is not part of the movie as much as one would like, but once she is in the scene, she is convincing and perfect for the part she is playing. It becomes even more complicated when Irving’s and Sydney’s scams becomes uncovered by the FBI and an overambitious agent, Richie DiMaso, played by an energetic and curly haired Bradley Cooper. He pushes them to take part in scamming supposedly corrupt politicians with the help of a fake sheikh and his fictional millions. Richie is blinded by his wishful thinking and falls for Sydney and her fake British accent, and he begins to woo this imitation lady even during the arrest. To top it all, Irving starts feeling genuine friendship for one of the politicians who is supposed to be scammed, a loved honor dot (Jeremy Renner), who is mayor of Camden. David O. Russell weaves all of these strings, with good help from Linus Sandgren's great camerawork, very nicely together into a dynamic, melodic, multi-dimensional and intelligent entertaining movie, which by no means lacks a final decisive scam with everyone included. I give this movie a 5/5, mainly because of Bale’s amazing acting and the magnificent work from O. Russell. Even though Cooper does a fine job, he
One of the main products of this movie that popped out to me was the stars. They all seemed to be great actors even though I only knew one of them. For example, I thought that Ian Michael Smith did a great job portraying Simon Birch. He made the movie cute and funny all at once. I also thought that Joseph Mazello did a great job portraying relatable feelings in the movie. You could tell by his facial expressions what his mood was. All the actors did a great job and I can’t pinpoint one of them who did worse than the
Braff himself has a warm, easy-to-watch screen presence. He can say nothing during the lull in a conversation, while the camera remains focused on his face, and it feels right. Portman and Sarsgaard are also genuine, each wonderfully relaxed in their roles. Production design is superb: details in every scene are arranged well, and the photography, by Lawrence Sher, is - like the story and the acting – unpretentious, never distracting, tricky or cute. This film never seems to manipulate us; instead it engages us, arouses our curiosity and amusement, bids us gently to care about Andrew and Sam and even Mark, leaving us entertained in the best sense. This movie is as confident, as secure in itself, as comforting, as a well worn pair of house slippers or your favorite reading chair. A splendid film. Grade: A- (09/04)
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.
Some actors in this movie do a good job of portraying their character. However, a few take away from the overall experience, such as Tony Ross and Claudia McNeil. Tony Ross, who is an actor known for Pancho Villa, plays Stacey Logan. Claudia McNeil was an actress known for her role in Raisen in the Sun, and she portrays Big Ma. Both of these
Every film can be related back to socially significant issues that occurred during the time it was released. It’s a snapshot of the issues during that time period. Film is not created in a vacuum. As described in our textbook, film “Conveys “the temper of an age of a nation” as well as that of the artists who produces it” (Belton 22). Films tend to reflect current society, country ideals or beliefs in order for the audience to relate. Some of those techniques used include, the American dream, family, corruption, divorce, and crime. If a director decides not include current social issues than it becomes harder for an audience to relate to the film because they will not be able to connect to the characters and get into their shoes. One film that encompasses all of these current social issues is American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013). This film is a melodrama because of the context and social issues this film deals with. American Hustle has a social significance to today’s current culture, society, beliefs and social issues through the use of the American dream, corruption, divorce, crime and family.
I started taking drugs at the age of 14. The first drug I had was LSD, and it was given to me by my father. He had an abundance of them. He worked for this guy named George. When I was 20 my doctor put me on Zoloft for anxiety. He did not tell me how addictive it would be. I am now on many drugs such as oxycontin, cocaine, vicodin, methamphetamine, and many other opiates and narcotics. I have tried to get sober and have gone to support groups, but I did not actually want to stop. As soon as I left I went back to drugs. This is just one out of millions of stories of people who have become addicted to psychotropic drugs in the United States. In the documentary American Addict 2 - The Big Lie, released in 2016, Sasha Knezev depicts how the pharmaceutical
LaBoeuf was a character I disliked in the novel; however, I did not really care for him at all in the movie. I was rather upset that his role in
Ben Affleck, director, does an excellent job with the movie Argo. Being able to find the fear and suspension in every scene is difficult to do, yet Affleck does so seamlessly. Based off a true historical event that happened in 1979, Affleck choses to pick the Iranian Hostage Crisis. He starts out the movie with some background information, so that viewers are able to have some understanding of what has happened and why this is happening. He then merges into a heartbreaking scene, where a mob of Iranians have bombarded their way into the American Embassy. Screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs, the actions happening outside are horrific. Showing the fear in every American’s eyes in the building pulls at every heart
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.
Her character must have been in an act for much of the film, but everyone she plays just comes across as icy and detached. The supporting players do well, though, specifically the two villains. James Mason is fantastic as Phillip Vandamm, the chief antagonist. He brings the perfect amount of collected cool to the role, but also adds a touch of menace to the character. Martin Landau, in an early role, also does well as Leonard, Vandamm’s right-hand man.
The Wolf of Wall Street produced and directed by Martin Scorsese tells a story of Jordan Belfort, a stockbroker living a luxurious life on Wall Street. Due to greed and corruption, Jordan falls into a life of crime and abusive activities. Belfort made millions of dollars by selling customers “penny stocks” and manipulating the market through his company, Stratton Oakmont, before being convicted of any criminal activity (Solomon, 2013). Jordan reveals behaviours and impulses all humans have, however, on an extreme level. This movie illustrates “why ethics is another tool whose importance cannot be overstated” (Delaney, 2014). Without ethics and morality, individuals can never truly live an honest and happy life.
A genre is a type or category of film (or other work of art) that can be easily identified by specific elements of its plot, setting, mise en scène, character types, or style. (Goodykoontz, 2014) The gangster film is a sub-genre of the broader genre of crime film. A genre main objective is to classify the depiction of entertainment. The genre of my movie is a gangster film. My movie I chose was Scarface. Directed by Brian De Palma.An update of the 1932 film, Scarface (1983) follows gangster Tony Montana and his close friend Manny Ray from their trip on the Cuban Boat Lift for refugees to their arrival in Miami. (Scarface, 1983a)
Wall Street is a movie that exposes corruption and disguises all values, beliefs, and other ethical philosophy. Throughout the movie, Wall Street shows how ethics adapts to a person’s personality by power and wealth alongside honesty and truth. Bud Fox, a young stockbroker is looking for a way to make a name for himself. He is determined to get as many clients as he can to become successful. He later meets a ruthless man named Mr. Gekko where learns how to reach to the top by illegal actions such as insider trading. Bud Fox was an honest living man who had good ethics but was later showed what true power is became money hungry. The power of greed is fascinating the code that everyone lives by is inevitable once money comes into play. There are five types of interpersonal power; reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power. These types of power will be used to correspond relationships throughout the movie. In Wall Street we realize how Gordon Gekko uses Bud Fox for his benefit. In this paper I will show the types of powers that are used by Gordon Gekko and how they are used. One clear type of power that Gordon Gekko uses in his relationship with Bud Fox is the Referent power base. This power stands out because it is clear that Bud wants to become a top notch in the industry. Bud is striving to be successful when he exposes what he’s able to do at the meeting with Gordon Gekko he instantly become closer to his goals. There were scenes where Gordon had legitimate power. His knowledge and information was what made him rich. Bud Fox had to listen to what Gordon was telling him in order to become successful. This was an example of Gekko having legitimate power over Bud Fox. Expert power which is an ...
In the film "A Fistful of Dollars", the sole hero is corrupt. This is equivalent to the status of the sole hero in a large portion of the purported, "Spaghetti Westerns". The Spaghetti Western's were shot in Europe, utilizing Italian performing artists as a part of everything except the main part, and dedicated with American voices. The Spaghetti Westerns completely changed the substance of he Western, as they turned out to be rougher - and the solitary hero turned into an a great deal more awful character. Whenever viewing "A Fistful of Dollars", the initially engaged picture is the rough, forsake soil. After this, the camera container and zooms in onto the solitary legend and his steed. Overwhelming imagery is being utilized here - that the
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’