Rebel Without A Cause

I really enjoy this movie especially the second time through. I agree with what William said in class. James Deans performance seems genuine and it still holds today. Using Semiotics it has become a huge myth in the culture of are society, James Deans character and attitude that is. But the other two actors Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood's performances seem over the top at points and outdated. However if you can get past this, which I believe is an easy step, it is an excellent movie. I really think it plays into the mind set a lot of young people have felt. I think this is why it is so succesful. Some scenes still make me laugh, like the cliff scene or the fact that chicken gets to Dean's character so badly. It all seems a little over the top but I accept it for the time period portrayed. The red coat and attitude is one of the most memorable things in cinema carrying over to culture. Smoking cigarettes, nice bad ass coat, boots, a screw you attitude, you can find it in any high school in America and I think they says something strong for this film. Also this film is very powerful in terms of Family, at least to me. The fact that all these dysfuctional kids with messed up families, (I mean one kills puppies) can come together and become their own family and be happy for the brief period there together. It's a powerful message and image to see. this is another reason its so popular with me and other's.

Coming Home

I absolutely hated this film. I don't know why it just didn't do anything for me. it didn't feel real or maybe it was too real, just something about it. I couldn't keep up and didn't want to. I gave up on the film in the first twenty minutes. However it taught me an important lesson about screenwriting which Rob shared with us. You wanna find your own piss bags for each scene. What I mean is if you look at the scene when they first meet in the hospital he spills piss on her. This gives the scene a unique quality and makes it its own. These are the things as a screenwriter we must look for. Little gems that make your piece stand out. Besides that I have no use for the film.

All That Jazz

All That Jazz was not the traditional narrative I was used to. However I really enjoyed it. I felt the repetative scene of him taking his pills etc really added alot to it all. Over time we began to realize this man was killing himself with his work and we were getting dragged down with him. This film has so much going on we feel like the main character, tired and used. I felt that the only thing that I disliked was the extremely long ending. I get it your dying, so just die. Besides that I really enjoyed every second of it. The airline scene when they dance had an amazing quality to it. You were like offended or uneasy but you couldn't turn away. It was good to view this movie because it gives you some ideas of what you can accomplish with your narrative structure etc.