Anecdote

Mrs. Bennett: "Daughter married?"
Elizabeth: "Is that really all you think about?
Mrs. Bennett: "When you have five daughters tell me what else will occupy your thoughts and then perhaps you will understand."

Though short, this anecdote exemplifies the thoughts and ideas of the character Mrs. Bennett. All she ever thought about was making sure her children has suitable husbands and would have good futures. This series of quotes shows Mrs. Bennett's love for her five daughters. When she finds out one of them has married she is ecstatic and begins frantically running around the house to make arrangement for the newly wed couple's arrival. Mrs. Bennett thinks about her daughter's happiness constantly and hardly has time to think of anything else. Elizabeth is the outspoken daughter who wants more than just a husband with money. As a result of Mrs. Bennett's ideas Elizabeth and her mother constantly butt heads and do not get along very often. Mrs. Bennett is just a loving mother who constantly hunts for her daughters husbands. Her husband on the other hand shows his love in a very different way and that is shown through my essay. As discussed in my essay Mr. Bennett is the head of the family who makes the final decisions of the family. When he lends his support to Elizabeth when she refused to marry Mr. Collins, the audience can clearly see his concern for the happiness of his daughter.

Plot Summary

The classic tale of love and misunderstanding unfolds in England near the close of the 18th century. The five Bennett sisters, Elizabeth, Jane, Lydia, Mary and Kitty have been raised well aware of their mother's fixation on finding them husbands and giving them bright futures. Elizabeth, however, strives to live her life with a broader perspective, as encouraged by her father.When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley begins to reside in a nearby mansion. Among the man's circle of  friends and the increase of young militia officers, there is no shortage of men for the Bennett sisters to choose from. Jane, the oldest, and most beautiful, falls in love with Mr. Bingley. Elizabeth is introduced to the handsome and snobbish Mr. Darcy, and the battle of the sexes is joined.Their encounters are frequent and interesting yet far from encouraging. Elizabeth finds herself inclined not to accept a marriage proposal from a cousin, Mr. Collins, and with the support of her father, she upsets her mother and Mr. Collins by declining. When the good hearted Mr. Bingley abruptly departs for London, devastating Jane, Elizabeth holds Mr. Darcy responsible for contributing to the heartbreak. But a crisis involving sister Lydia soon opens Elizabeth's eyes to the true nature of her relationship with Mr. Darcy. The two finally understand each others intentions and fall in love and get married.

I decided to focus mainly on the love and thoughts of the Bennett mother. The entire movie was focused around the idea that all the Bennett children are supposed to get married in a timely fashion. A mother's main focus in the 18th century was to marry off her children. I chose to focus on that instead of the main love story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. 

Criteria for Evaluation

Criteria for Evaluation

For the film I am reviewing, The Avengers, the two main criteria or elements I am going to be focusing on are acting and writing.  Why I chose acting is, or should be, pretty obvious.  Acting in a movie is extremely important, so important that bad actors can and will destroy a movie.  Some examples of the great acting in this movie are done by Agent Phil Coulson, who is played by Clark Gregg, in the scene where he gets into a fight with Loki and well dies (obviously).  Or when Nick Fury, who is played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson, uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers to work as a team.  The second criteria I am focusing on is the writing/script because the key to a good movie is a good script.  As for examples I do not have any ready at the moment as it is hard to find good examples of writing without giving away spoilers in the movie.  I am sure that there are some but I will have to watch the movie three to four times in a row in order to find them, probably any way.  

Film anecdote

For my anecdote, I have selected the scene where John Preston (Christian Bale) finds Partridge (Sean Bean) in a church reading Yeats. The scene opens with Partridge reading the poetry and Preston enters from the side. Sinister music begins to play as Preston approaches Partridge who continues reading. He says to Preston “You always knew,” and then begins to quote Yeats as he slowly puts the book down saying “But I being poor, have only my dreams, I have spread my dreams under your feet, tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” As he asks Preston if he dreams, Preston quickly changes the subject to tell Partridge he will try to have them go easy on him.  Both men know that they never go easy on sense offenders and that Partridge will never be seen of again. Preston coldly tells Partridge he is sorry, to which Partridge replies that he is not, “ You don’t even know the meaning of the word, It's just a vestigial word for a feeling you've never felt.” Preston attempts to justify the work that clerics do, saying that they have eliminated war and murder which Partridge believes is a heavy cost which he would glady pay to feel. The music speeds up and becomes louder as Preston raises his gun to Partridge, as Partridge turns the safety off on his own gun and raises the book to cover his face, Preston shoots him in the head. The light from the church windows shines behind Preston as the camera pans out and Brandt (Taye Diggs) greets him at the door.

I selected this part of the film because it is a major turning point in the film's plot. Preston sees his partner fall and while at the time he does not understand how someone could succumb to their emotions, this scene greatly foreshadows later parts of the movie.

Equilibrium plot summary.

Set in the near future in the city-state of Libria, 2002’s Equilibrium is a modern dystopian work. The film focuses on the story of the cleric John Preston (Christian Bale) as he enforces law within the city. The Tetragrammaton Council, lead by a man called Father, govern the city and citizens are required to take Prozium – an emotion suppressing drug. Any form of emotion or artistic expression is banned in Libria and clerics enforce these laws on the people.  Through the use of martial arts (known as gun kata), clerics raid the area outside of the city limits known as the Nether to stamp out the resistance that has formed. After his initial partner (Sean Bean) is emotionally compromised and he has to kill him, John Preston is set on a course which makes him question his own actions. After missing a dose of the emotionally suppressing drug, Preston begins to experience emotions. As the film progresses and he becomes more aware of his emotions and rediscovers life, Preston must work to hide his illicit activity from his new partner (Taye Diggs) and the authority.  By coming into contact with the resistance movement, it becomes clear to Preston that he is the key to overthrowing the people he once worked for.

I opted to include the main characters and a brief summary of the film which does not give away too many details to spoil the film.

summary

The Left Behind movie is about the Christian theology of the rapture and following tribulation period of time, believed to be a total of 7 years.  Presented is a present day view of events the bible says will take place all over the world. The movie begins with the the disappearance/rapture of a large number of adults and every child from every corner of the globe.  Portrayed is a current day look at what life will be like for those who are "left behind" and the trials they will face in the first half of tribulation period. The movie centers around an airplane pilot, his daughter, a christian minister and a newspaper reporter facing the Antichrist;  portrayed as a political leader with a one world mindset and agenda.
The reason I chose what I did say in my summary was because I didn't want to go in to much detail that would give things away. I told the main background of whats going on in the movie and who the main people in the movie are based on. There are love interests in the movies that I don't think should be added to my summary because its not one of the big facts in the first movie.  

the aspects of my movie

              The aspects that I review for my film are acting and special effects. Since my movie is a historical movie, it takes place in ancient Rome, the place that doesn’t exist anymore. As a result lots of scenes have made with CGI or computer special effects in order to create the cities, the place, and the people that do not exist anymore. Gladiator is a successful movie for illustrating and creating historical scene because it creates real scenes and makes audience to feel they are in the middle of ancient Rome. For example, the Great Arena or Coliseum in the movie was made half as a model with wood and polyester and half with CGI, and the result was completely satisfying for both audience and critics because the movie got the Academic Award for its special effects. The acting of the actresses is another factor which leads the movie to a great box office succession. The main characters like Maximus and Comodus ,with their strong performance, present characters with certain personalities. For example, audience can immediately understand that Maximus is a humble, family friendly and carrying person.

Plot Summary

The Avengers Plot Summary

Marvel Studios delivers the ultimate comic-book film, which ties together such characters as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) for a big-screen franchise team-up like no other. Taking center stage this time is Nick Fury (played once again by the note-perfect Samuel L. Jackson), leader of the peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury, along with former Russian spy Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), recruits a super team to combat Thor's ever-deceptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after he brainwashes ace archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) while stealing a cosmic cube from an underground base. Thus the heroes must learn to work together alongside outlaw scientist Bruce Banner (Ruffalo), who can track down the artifact's gamma signals when he's not hulking out into a giant green monster.  The Avengers, now brought together, argue and deliberate over how to approach Loki and the revelation that SHIELD plans to harness the Tesseract's power to develop weapons, a discovery made by Rogers.  The Avengers rally in defense of New York, but quickly come to the conclusion that they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth.

               

                I simply included the main characters and the premise of the movie, which everyone should know, and I made sure not to include anything that was not in the trailers, although things that seemed obvious to me like the people arguing was not in the trailers but it should not surprise anyone that they would argue given who they are.

Film Anectode

        I am retelling one of the fight scene of the movie for my film anecdote because the scene it so entertaining and captures audience eyes. Scene is in the Great Arena or the Coliseum, a round place like a stadium  in the ancient Rome, where classical mythologies are recreated in order to entertain people and the emperor of Rome. This Time announcer announces the Battle between Carthage and Barbarians. Gladiators ,who are suppose to play Barbarians role in the battle, are standing behind the door of Great Arean  not knowing what is going to happen to them, but they sure about one thing, they are there to fight for their lives so they can be entertaining for mob. Gladiators enter the arena, looking up amazed at the overwhelming size of the arena and crowd. They are ordered to solute as “We who are about to die” only one gladiator refuses to make such a solute, Maximus, who has an unfinished business with the Caesar. From the other side of arena, Legionnaires barrel into the arena on their glorious chariot to battle the gladiators .Maximus (who once was the general of the Rom’s army, leads the gladiators and tells them: they have to stay together in order to survive. At first, it looks impossible for gladiators to win the battle; however, after four minutes of breath taking warfare between legionnaires with their golden chariots, bows, and arrows and gladiators who are well structured by Maximus’s orders, battle comes to the end by victory of gladiators with Maximus is seen magnificently atop of white horse. Fascinating heroic and historic story of the Gladiator with its believable performance of actress, electrified audience for 155 minutes and make the movie one of the most successful one in its own genre.

Anecdote

The king and queen have no children yet one day in the winter the queen wanders upon a lonely rose blooming despite the snow and ice she is taken by its strength and makes a wish right then and there.  She wishes for a girl “with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as a raven, and a spirit strong as a rose in winter”.  Shortly after the queen appears to have her wish granted and little snow white is born.

I choose to go with this anecdote because with out snow white there can be no snow white and the huntsman :).

But more importantly what she wishes for is the essence of what snow white not so much on the physical wishes but the wish for the spirit as strong as a rose in winter the idea of no matter the obsticles to keep fighting.

PlotSummary DQ

Normal happy life all the kingdom is thriving with the good king and his queen they have a child.  Unfortunate circumstances befall the queen and she passes away in a rough winter.  The loss of his wife opens an opportunity for the beautiful witch Ravenna.  She uses her magic to fool the king and usurps his kingdom locking away Snow White in the castle.  The reign of Ravenna is like a plague on the land and the people.  Opportunity arises for the fair Snow White on the day she finally becomes of age she gains her freedom now she just has to find out how to regain her kingdom.

I choose to go broad because i did not want to release any more information than nessisary about the movie most people know that basic story of Snow white each different movie or story has its own twists and turns that usually lead us to good prevailing over evil :)

anecdote

The anecdote that I plan to use for the movie Left Behind is one of the main events that is shown in the movie. The anecdote I chose is when a lot of the adults and all the children went missing all over the world. The people that were left behind have no clue what happened except a select few that think they know what happened and what is going to happen in the future. The reason I selected it was because it is one of the main events that leads to later events in the movie. It also leads to the main events in the other two movies that fallow the same book series . I sorta wished that I could do my review on all three movies but I chose the movie that started it all. I know these movie is religious based but after seeing the movies that I think that someone of any religion would like the story. The movie shows that people do care about other people no matter what their religion is. The movies make you wonder if these events could actually happen in real life. It might not be a good movie for everyone but I enjoyed it a lot.

Week 10: Writing About Film Continued

Practical Argument Readings:

• Chapter 9: "Summarizing, Paraphrasing, Quoting and Synthesizing Sources" (249-62)

Resources:

University of Chicago Lab:  How to Write a Movie Review
Dartmouth University Writing Program: "Writing About Film"

Discussion Questions:

(Please remember that these should be 200-300 words.  I have been seeing many very short posts recently.)

• Post the anecdote you plan to use from/about your film.  Explain why you selected it and how it fits your criteria for evaluation.
• Post the criteria for evaluation you have selected for your film.  Explain why you chose these criteria and explain some of the examples you will use to evaluate them.
• Post the plot summary of your film.  Explain how you selected what to include/leave out in your summary.

Assignment:

Essay 3: Film Review, due Friday, October 26.  Please see the assignment sheet and rubric posted to the Lessons page on Angel.