Author: Ty-Prysock

          In the movie rocky, the under dog comes out on top. He started from the bottom and worked his way to the top with blood sweat and tears. My experience with the film was that I was originally taken back, at first I never thought that he would go so far and make his own life become such an impact and an influence to other people’s lives. But everyone can prove you wrong that’s why you can never judge a book by its cover. I would consider this film a great film, because people still to this day look up to Rocky as an idol as a character and also Sylvester Stallone as a human being in general for playing that role that so many refer to when thinking of toughness and heart. This movie is also a classic because it is the epitome of the underdog story that everybody wants to tell or be a part of in history. Rocky is now an American sign for never giving up and fighting through adversity. The name Rocky alone resonates with almost every middle to lower class home in America. Everybody at the bottom wants to make it to the top some day. Rocky did that. So the American people look to figures such as him to pull themselves through tough times and hard times by adopting their mentalities and key attributes to be more so like them.

          One key moment in the movie Rocky is when Rocky loses the fight at the end to creed by a split decision. This moment is so crucial and so vital to the story in the meaning behind the story because Rocky doesn’t win the final bow yet it’s still a happy ending because of the fight that it took to make it to the top in the grind that he went through to get to where he played it. Rocky doesn’t win the fight but he wins the heart of every consumer of this movie. Not many movies can have their main character lose or die without the fans of that character being disappointed. The creators of Rocky took the chance on building suspense and letting down those watching the movie. But it paid off because centuries later and people still see him as a hero even through the loss he took to Creed in the very first movie. 

          Another key moment in the film has to be when the fight is initially set up. The fight is set up for a “nobody” to become a “somebody”. The world heavyweight champions’ opponent gets injured and can’t fight anymore so his manager sets up a fight with a struggling boxer who is on the come up. The fight is supposed to be easily won by Apollo Creed in a landslide fight with no fighting chance for Rocky in the ring (pun intended). Rocky never got the memo that this fight was supposed to be a cake walk for the champ. He took this as his only opportunity to make it big time in the boxing game. He may have lost the fight but he went from a “nobody” in the boxing world to a “somebody” just by going the distance with the reigning champion. Rocky showed that his heart was much bigger than his skill set and that’s what carried him through the fight all the way through the final round. That and his unfailing will to win and make a name for himself. 

          A third key moment is when Rocky is training for the fight with the champion Apollo Creed. The moment in particular is when Rocky runs up the famous steps in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that now stands as a US monument and keeps the legend of rocky alive even in today’s day and age. Kids growing up today even know about this scene from a movie that was shot before some of their parents were even born. They may not know anything whatsoever about Rocky, but they know the run up the steps and the hands in the air declaring victory and one of our national signs of pure confidence and bliss. The kind of confidence and bliss that you get from putting in the work to get to where you want to be in your life or to get something that you love and cherish so much in life. That one scene alone has left its own legacy apart from the movie itself over the past 50 years and still lives on today.

resources:

https://www.thewrap.com/all-7-rocky-movies-ranked-from-the-original-to-creed-photos/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rocky-film-by-Avildsen

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/rocky

          The Sound of Music is one of the most delightful movies out there from an artistic standpoint. Julie Andrews is exceptional as Maria, the tomboyish girl, while Christopher Plummer is phenomenal as Captain von Trapp, the widowed father with 7 kids. The soundtrack is also sensational with classics and cornerstones in the music industry such as Do-Re-Mi, The Sound of Music, and Edelweiss, just to call out a hand full. In conclusion, The Sound of Music is one of the movies that should be on your to-watch list if you appreciate art. So I give it a definite five stars in that category. But from a normal movie goer standpoint, the flavor of this genre and style of movie can be very dry in today’s day and age. Honestly, The Sound of Music wouldn’t appeal to most people of this generation unless the consumer understands and appreciates the music that is paired up with the cinematic value that this film has to offer.

        The Sound of Music is a classic film that had all of its external or outside shots filmed in European countries such as Austria and all of its internal or inside shots filmed in California. This masterpiece of a film follows the story of a widowed father of 7 children, who runs his house just like the ship he used to run. That is, until their whole life as they know it gets flipped upside down when Maria comes into town. She comes to become the new governess of the 7 children and eventually turns them from little sailor children into singing balls of joy who make the audience want to sing along and find joy in the simplest of things that life has to offer just like they do. Maria marries the father and realizes she no longer wants to be a nun, as she originally had made plans for. This fairytale ending is almost ruined when Austria’s new German rulers decide that they want Von Trapp, the father, back in the military. I feel as if these are the most significant moments in the film that should be focused on. 

        When speaking to other individuals and reading the reviews on this specific film I realized that the majority of people who have seen this film say that the movie is very slow. Some say that the plot of the movie isn’t interesting enough to them. Some say that they expect more twist and turns, more unexpected events to occur, and more exciting moments within the film. I personally could agree with some of these opinions because I’m not the type that likes a movie that starts off slow at all. I like a lot of action in movies and this film shows a lot of emotions and you can connect to the kids in the film really easily. This is a singing type of movie that really persuades the view to sing along and keep up with the musical storyline along with the dialogue of the characters. On the other side, a lot of individuals say that the movie was pretty good and that they really like how you can relate to what the kids are feeling very easily. I personally can agree with some of these kids and it’s crazy how the director puts the effort in to appeal to our emotions. It takes a lot of thinking and research to find a relatable piece of emotion that is shared between many different individuals out there. 

        Some may say that the sound of music can be considered a great film and others will say that this film is completely overrated. I personally can agree that this film has a very slow beginning would be a lot great if it was a lot more spontaneous. Compared to some of these other great filmed I’ve watched I can easily say that I feel as if this film is overrated and could be a lot better. Not saying that the storyline wasn’t good or anything in that nature but personally I don’t feel like the director put his all into this film like he could’ve. I feel like if the director would have taken a bit more time to look over his dialogue and just make a couple changes that would catch the audience off guard he would have made a much better movie. I don’t feel like the movie was completely horrible I just don’t feel like it fulfills the name and reputation that it’s said to hold.

          My experience of Star Wars: episode IV was one that I did not expect to endure. Usually I am not into the sci-fi, intergalactic type of movies as I had never seen any of the Star Wars movies before. Anyways, my experience was that this was a really exciting movie that is action packed with a great plot and story line. And you can see how this first movie unfolded the path for the success that the series has gone down and still continues to go down now a days. This movie is the second highest grossing movie of all time not only in the US but also Canada. So as you can tell we aren’t the only ones that feel like the Star Wars movies are some of the best ideas ever came up with. When I watched the first movie I definitely didn’t expect to be so locked in and interested in a movie that was based off so much science fiction, but you really have no choice. After watching the first movie I felt as if I had no choice but to continue watching the series just to keep up and know what happened next. 

           A very significant scene in Star Wars was when obi’wan became one with the force. In the entire movie you hear them talking about the force , like the force this, and the force that. Then when he was struck down by Darth Vader his body disappeared instead of being cut in half, which was the first time the force had actually been proven. The force was talked about by the good and evil people in the movies but ultimately the force never really was shown to be a real thing. Another very important moment in the film was when the destruction of Alderaan occurred. This is the first example of the death star being used. The death star was like a huge ball, no bigger than the moon, that had a crater in it and was used to shoot lasers out and destroy planets. The last but certainly not least moment that I found to be very significant in the film was when Luke turns off his targeting computers and uses the force to manually launch the torpedoes in the exhaust port of the death star, at obi’wan’s request. I feel as if there are too many great moments in the movie to really pinpoint just a couple significant times so I randomly chose 3 just to show how good the scenes in the movie really were.

          Anyone I’ve ever talked to about Star Wars either tell me that they really love it and have seen every single episode, or that they’ve never had the opportunity to really get in the movies. The people who haven’t seen Star Wars usually have a pretty negative opinion on the movie and on the people that watch it. I’ve heard multiple people call people who have watched Star Wars either nerds, lowlifes, or anything else they can think of just to justified to themselves that’s it’s ok that they haven’t had the chance to witness such an experience of science fiction. Anyone I have talked to that has seen Star Wars is simply addicted and are always talking about how they can’t wait to see the next episode coming out. 

          On a technical level I really enjoyed the media and visuals they took the time to put inside of this film. I know it took a whole lot of editing to have to create and entire sequence of movies that all took place in outer space. I would definitely say this this is considered one of the greatest movies of all time and never will lose that title. Even after watching ET and King Kong I was amazed on how great the edits and special effects in the movie were. This movie was released in 1977 and I know it took more than 2 and a half years to get this movie completely produced and finished. So yes, there are films out there that are considered great films, but unfortunately don’t live up to their name. Good for George Lucas, Star Wars doesn’t fall until the overrated category like the rest of the so call “Great Movies” that aren’t really that great. In actuality, this series of movies has been getting greater and greater as time has been passing, technology getting greater, and George Lucas (the director) getting smarter.

sources:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_IV_A_New_Hope

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-wars-episode-iv—a-new-hope

https://www.lucasfilm.com/productions/episode-iv/

         The movie King Kong is definitely one of the top 50 movies ever made in America. I love how the movie shows a clear meaning to what they want people to believe it’s like, but there is also a deeper meaning behind it. Kong is set to resemble a terrifying creature sitting on an island waiting to create mass destruction to anyone or anything that comes in his direction. Little do they know, Kong actually has a good heart and isn’t out to terrorize but really to mind his own business. I definitely feel like the deeper meaning to King Kong is to show human greed and how they will stop at nothing to get what they wanted. 

          One of the moments that really stood out to me was when kong first fell in love with Ann and how his love for her led him to do things he’d never even think about doing. For example Kong fought off dinosaurs in desperation to keep his love safe. Another really significant moment in the film was when they had Kong chained up inside of the theatre in order for the people with cameras to come in and take pictures of him and really harass him to full extent. The final but certainly not least significant moment of the film was when Kong had fallen from the top of the Empire State Building to his death after fighting off multiple fighter pilots with Ann inside of his hands. This was the final scene of the movie and certainly one of the most important. 

          Although the movies graphics weren’t the best I still found them very good and impressive for a movie made in 1933. There were many other movies around this time that didn’t use special effects not nearly as well as they did while creating King Kong. The deeper meaning behind this movie made me appreciate the film for much more than just the visuals, but along with the dialogue and the events they used to build up to the climax of the movie. One of the reviews spoke on how you’d watch the movie and keep in mind that this 65 foot gorilla is not only fake as can be, but hard to believe any of the events he was doing were even possible. Even still, people watch this movie and are filled with excitement and enjoyment seeing the amazing things this huge animal is capable of doing. The art of imagination is really played with in this film and I am yet to see someone watch this movie and complain about how fake it is or how scenarios like this will never come true. I’m very glad that over the years people have watched this film with an optimistic eye and are able to get a deeper meaning out of the concept. I can easily agree that these reviews match the experience I took from watching this film as well. 

          There are only a couple of movies made in this world that you can label under a great/Top of the charts type of movie. I feel like having a consistent storyline where you’re being very persistent with the point that you’re trying to make, along with simplicity can complexity all mixed together is what makes a great film a great film. With the use of all these attributes, along with imagination, I feel like you have the capability to make any regular idea into an award winning movie. When I watched other great movies like ET and Forrest Gump you can also see the complexity, optimism, and imagination it took for them to create these great films with relatable meanings. Not only do the meanings have to be relatable but they need to be simple enough for someone with a 5th grade education to understand, but not in an oblivious type of way where it seems as if you may be talking to the audience in a “dumbed down” type of way.

          On a more technical level, I can say that I really enjoyed the audio and sound effects they used to create this film. I also liked the effort they put forth in order to create special effects in such an older type of movie. The actors worked really hard to give a realistic reaction to how scared they were of Kong and I couldn’t tell you how much I appreciate a good actor in a science fiction movie. In all I really enjoyed this film and recommend it 10/10 to my peers.

When someone says they’ve never watched Forrest Gump, people fall back, appalled. They can’t believe you’ve never seen the classic movie with Tom Hanks as main role. Honestly, I was 18 years old the first time I watched this film. I watched it with my two brothers, one which had already seen the film, my mom, and our dog. I couldn’t say I was too excited to see what the hype over this movie was because it didn’t really sound that interesting to me. Two long hours and 22 minutes later, I admit humbly my whole perspective had changed.  Truthfully, I can see why it is such a popular movie among American’s or really any humans that truly enjoy an underdog story. 

My overall experience with the movie was a very enjoyable. I think Tom Hanks really outdid himself as an actor. I have watched other movies with him such as: Saving Private Ryan and Sully. Both films, which I thought were great, and this movie is definitely my favorite. For being a movie that really didn’t seem to fit my genre, it was extremely intriguing, had me on the edge of my seat hoping he would get his dream girl and have the best life. 

The moments that stood out to me in this movie were the famous line “RUN FORREST RUN!” In this scene, Forrest is being pelted with rocks to his body and head. One rock specifically, made his head bleed. In this moment, Forrest is struggling to run on his own, he gets up and Jenny screams those famous words at him and Forrest begins to attempt to run away from the bullies as fast as he can. The bullies get on their bikes and begin to chase him. As their chasing him Forrest breaks out of his support and runs like the wind. The reason this moment stood out to me is because everyone would always say “Run Ty Run” in a voice that I didn’t understand when I was growing up. After this movie, I realized that this was where they had gotten it from. They were mocking Jenny’s voice, so it brought back memories from my childhood, and I felt like I could finally relate to the in crowd of Forrest Gump watchers. Apart from that, the deeper meaning was that beautiful scene where Forrest learns how to run. It was when he finally figured out his purpose and his passion. He claims in the movie, “If I was going somewhere, I was running.” It’s truly a feel good moment. 

Another scene that really stood out to me was when his friend “Bubba” died in the war. Forrest was always so committed and loyal to everything he did. When he lost his best friend it was truly heartbreaking. In the end, when you realize Forrest opened up the famous restaurant Bubba Gump, a place that I had eaten and never was able to make the connection it was even more meaningful. You realize what good and honest of a person Forrest is. It makes you wish only the best for him. 

What the critical conversations that I read all mostly agreed with my experience with the film. A lot matched my experience by claiming that the story of Forrest Gump is a story of love, hope, perseverance, respect, and tolerance. It was hard to find a critic that could disagree with that. 

Why I believe some films are considered “great” is because they teach us lessons, or have a deeper meaning, give us a good feeling. For instances, such as this one Forrest teaches us the importance of never giving up, and moving forward despite his past. The fact that he is honest, inspirational, and has good intentions he can be a motivational person for others. Another reason I believe films can be considered “great” is if they can be great to all different types of groups, not just one. For example, my favorite film The Blind Side is another underdog movie, about a kid who literally came from nothing to become an NFL star. Not only do athletes, as myself benefit from watching this, but a lot of people I know who aren’t athletes, not people of color, really enjoy this movie. I think it’s “great” because a lot of different people can agree it changed them in a way. Contrastingly, I think there are a lot of movies people claim to be “great” that really aren’t that great to me. I think that all has to do with opinion however. Not everyone likes the same thing. What a film critic might claim as “great, best, amazing” a regular movie goer might not agree. Everyone has different ideas to which they think great is. 

The Studio System

Book definition:
“Under the studio system, the more of production that dominated American film making from the 1920s to the late 1940s, each move company signed most of its directors to long-term contracts, along with actors and other creative personnel.” (Sikov,120).

“The studio system operated under a mass-production model in which films were made and distributed like sausages or boxes of cereal, and there was not a lot of room for individual directors to put their personal stamp on films they made.” (Sikov, 121)

Resources:

1) Academic:
Author, Tom Schatz, writes in detail about the rise and fall of Hollywood’s studio system era. Before going in depth about the rise and fall, he explains the studio system. Essentially the studio system was a vertical integration of production, distribution and exhibition of films popularized between the 1920s and 1940s. Studios controlling all vertical factors of production established norms for the film industry. Essentially through the studio system, big studio names ;such as Warner Bros., or Paramount; followed production norms to mass produce films. In this system big studio heads contracted the same directors, production teams, and actors to uphold their label. The studio system followed a top-down system in which the executives controlled the business side of distribution and exhibition while producers oversaw the overall production of the film.

2) Journalistic
Writer, Ryan “R.L.” Terry, reveals that during the time of the “studio system”, there were five major film studios known as the Big Five, essentially controlling the film industry from production to distribution. These studios consisted of Paramount, MGM, RKO, Loew’s, Fox Pictures, and Warner Brothers. The studio system contained the collateral that big banks were looking for in order to invest in films, after all, film and television were and continues to be the United States’ largest exports even though they are only recently counted as part of the U.S.’ gross domestic product. The system would prevent independent filmmakers in expanding their creativity within projects and keep established positions in studios as permanent, limiting additional creatives to join the company. This limitation also applied to properties. In the days of the studio system, outside companies could not rent and shoot films or television shows on another company’s lot.

3) Personal
An article on the Hollywood lexicon describes the Hollywood studio system. An interesting take from this article was the allusion to the Ford Motor Company. The similarities between the Ford company and the studio system are not too shocking, but the fact this article touched upon this is good information. The article also goes in detail about the hardships non-studio system theaters went through in order to produce a film. An example of the studio system theaters power was the idea of “block booking”. Block booking was big studio names way of renting out their studios to second grade studios.
Through block booking non-established theaters were required to buy blocks of film that they had to produce on. Sometimes these packages included footage worth 20+ films. Needless to say the big 8 studios controlled over the film industry. More so this article talks about the use of stars to sell movies which created the notion of A-list movies or B-list movies based on who the actors were.

4) Vernacular
Author, Amelia Robinson, describes the studio system as a means of film production, distribution and exhibition dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the 1950s. The term itself refers to the practice of large motion picture studios (1) producing their own filmmaking lots with creatives usually under long-term contracts and (2) proceeding a vertical integration through ownership of distributors and theaters, guaranteeing additional sales of films through manipulative booking techniques. A key part of the studio system was block booking, which entails them selling a year’s worth of films to the theatres that included a number of particularly attractive, big-budget films,
which would therefore, entice theatres to buy the whole block. Additionally, foreign films could not get a foothold in the U.S. unless they had arrangements with one of the Big 5 U.S. film companies.

Sources:
Academic:
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_chapt
er/9781405133876/9781405133876_C01.pdf
(Links to an external site.)

Journalistic:
https://the-artifice.com/after-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-studio-system-could-we-use-it-today/

(Links to an external site.)

Personal:
http://www.hollywoodlexicon.com/studiosystem.html
(Links to an external site.)

Vernacular:

The Studio System

(Links to an external site.)