CopyRight Troubles

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Part 1

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Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Week 5?

Just One More!

Hi, readers!

Sorry, I am a little behind on schedule with my movie reviews because they have taken way longer than before. I have already watched my final movie, Airplane!, but now I just need to write a review for it. But I will get it done by my TED Talk Wednesday, no doubt! I am almost completed with my “Da Comedy Critic” website. Since I am almost halfway through with my Web Design class with in M hall, I have lots of knowledge on HTML and CSS. This is why I coded the website myself and didn’t take the easy way out by using website makers. All I need to do is finish the Parody review and put that on my website, and I will be all set to show you guys during my TED Talk. If you are curious to see what my website looks like, here is a sneak peak of my Character Comedy page:

The movie review that is  posted below is Home Alone, one of my favorite movies. When I watched it, it was as if I was watching it through a whole new perspective. I really learned something new about Kevin, the main character, and his development throughout the movie. At first I thought he was just a clever, funny kid. But now, on top of that, I learned something deeper about him. He was a boy with a desire to be on top and to overcome, despite society pushing him to the bottom. Despite having some independence for a few days, living the lifestyle of an adult, he realizes that he still is only a kid and is not ready to be at that level of maturation. I really love movie review, it is making me see these old characters that I have known all my life, and putting new life into them, new stories, new people. I think that there is something to be learned here in life as well. If we should try to experience the repetitive things in life in a different way every time we experience it (if that makes sense). Don’t be in a routine, doing the same boring old thing over and over again, try to change it up a bit every time you do it. It will give you a different perspective on one event. We should never experience the same thing in the say way.

Well, here is my movie review for Home Alone:

Click here to see the notes I took while watching Home Alone (spoilers).

I really focused on the acting and truthfulness to genre. These are the two main components of movie reviews, especially in Siskel’s and Ebert’s movie reviews. I tried to cut out the unnecessary components that I reviewed in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. This is because a real movie review wouldn’t focus on music, colors, and analysis. I made around a 70-30 review-analysis split because I still needed some analysis. I did much better this week than last leek on my review. It is shorter and has more review than my original . I really enjoyed doing a review for Home Alone way more than Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

If you take notice, I have a fresh cut and I am wearing a t-shirt. You cannot see this but a I am also wearing shorts in that video. I am so ready for the spring. Why did it have to snow on the first day of spring? Seriously? Hopefully the weather will start to be consistently in the 60s.

Comments

Jacob Kaffey
Mohammed Rashid
Arslan Amir

Vlog

If you can't access this video through Blogger, click here.

Week 4

Progress Is Picking Up

Wow. Writing a movie review is very tough and more time consuming than I realized. It took me the whole week to do one movie, working on it about three hours a day. I was expecting for the movies to take less time to watch and the review part to take more time, but it was the other way around. While watching Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, after every scene I would have to stop and write my notes on the different components of that part, like music, color scheme, and analysis. It was so slow that I watched twenty-thirty minutes of the movie in a 2-3 hour time frame. By the end, I had taken a little more than 10 pages of notes. Here is my review on Pee Wee's Big Adventure

If you can't access this video through Blogger, click here.

Looking back at this review, I have come up with some things that I want to improve for my next movie reviews:

• First, I want to have more personality. I felt that I completely lacked it in this movie review. Having personality will make my movie reviews more interesting and they would represent me the best.
• Second, I want to have better transitions. I thought that my review was really choppy due to a lack of transitional words and ideas.
• Third, as I was looking more into the two greatest movie reviewers, Siskel and Ebert, I noticed that their reviews had a split of around 30% analysis and 70% criticism. I did not mean to do this, but in my movie review, it was about 50-50. So for my next movie review, I am going to make sure that I focus more on the critical part of movie reviewing than the analytical.
• The three bullets above are general improvements that I need to make on all of my movie reviews. But I want to specialize in different components in each movie review, then in my last movie review, compile them all. For my next few reviews, I want to focus on:
• Quality of Acting- Acting performance is a huge part in what makes movies great. A bad cast can lead to a movie that is awkward, boring, and/or a movie so bad that it is hilarious (Sharknado...). Siskel and Ebert seem to talk about if the actor/actress fit their role in the movie.
  

  

  How is this a movie

  
  

And for the few reviews after that, I want to focus on:

• Comedy Aspect- One of the main focuses in this project is to focus on comedy movies. The big question is, does the movie fit its genre? I want to focus on what makes good and true comedy, which is more than if it is funny or not.

I believe that by focusing on these two key components in a movie review, I can become advanced in detecting how they come into play in movies. Focusing on a specific aspect of a movie will help me improve at writing reviews more than trying to do them all at once in each movie. It will be like...what’s that idiom? Something with having too many eggs in a basket? Ya, well, all in all, I don’t want to be juggling too many things at once.

I am now on a roll with movie reviews. I went into reviewing Pee Wee’s Big Adventure with just research and no experience but now, I will be able to review more movies in less time so I can get back on track with my goal. With my method of having one component to focus on, I can learn faster, and in less time. Time is money, and I am frugal.
(Click here to see the notes that I took for Pee Wee's Big Adventure. THERE ARE SPOILERS)

Week 3 Comments

Nathan Leung (VeryLoudCloud)
Sam Klugherz (Longboarding)
Abby Butt (Hurdling)

Week 3

Key Points in a Movie Review

I know nothing about being a movie critic so before I start watching movies, I need to do some research on the key components of writing a general movie review. I want my reviews to be as great as the movie critics’ reviews on my last post, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. It would be nice to be the one of the most renowned movie critics in history and have my own TV show. Plus, I would get to watch movies, with style. Many have asked me if knowing what movie critics know will ruin my experience as a devout movie watcher. But as Disney said I would get to watch movies in "a whole new world. A new fantastic point of view."

GIF from Disnney's Aladdin

Without further ado, here is what I have been researching this past cycle

on writing a good movie review:

• Break the actual movie down into different parts
• Paying attention to the plotline. Every single movie has a main character. He/she is the hero in the story. There is always a problem (the problem could be a person, object, or even a situation) that prevents this hero from reaching a certain goal. How does the hero interact with the problem? How do these interactions move the plotline forwards? What are the hero’s and problem’s goals? Also, I have to consider if the events that unfold are predictable. If I know what’s going to happen next, then the movie is not very good. In general, I need to pay attention to all of the characters’ interactions and their importance to the story.
• Paying attention to the colors being used. To make a deeper understanding of the movies, many movie producers use different colors. Movies that are well put together use a color scheme to convey emotions and character development. The colors can be in the setting, clothes of the characters, and anything on the screen. Here is a list of colors and what they can mean in movies:

	Positive/Neutral	Negative
Red	Passion, love, desire, desire, strength	Anger, danger
Pink	Love, innocence, romance, femininess	N/A
Yellow	Wisdom, joy, optimism, imagination, hope	Dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy
Orange	Humor, warmth, enthusiasm	N/A
Green	Healing, good luck, renewal, youth	Pride, jealousy, envy
Blue	Faith, loyalty, calmness, unity, trust	Coldness, depression
Purple	Royalty, mysteriousness, change	Cruelty, arrogance, mourning
Brown	Earthliness, reliability, comfort, stability	Materialism
Black (dark)	Power, elegance, wealth	Mystery (the unknown), fear, unhappiness, evilness, sadness
White (light)	Protection (angel-like), love, purity, peace, innocence	Coldness
Silver	Riches, natural, sleek, elegant, high-tech	Greed
Gold	Riches, preciousness, warmth, prosperity	Greed

Most of these colors have their positive and negative representations so I have to pay close attention to what a color in a movie could represent. To do this, I have to pay attention to reappearances of colors and the consistency of the moods and plot during the appearances of these colors. [DISCLAIMER: This skill is not useful in real life. If you see someone wearing white, it does not mean that they are your guardian angel trying to protect you.]

• Paying attention to music. Like colors, the music used in movies can help convey the character’s mood and development. A good movie is not going to have a joyful song during a sad scene. Although, in comedy, the music can create an atmosphere that is different than what is being portrayed, but that is just to add some humor. If i am amused by the music in a comedy movie, then the movie writer was successful.
• Write the emotions you feel. The emotions that the movie gives me is also an important component of movie criticism, so I need to write them down. In the case of comedy movies, they should make me feel happy and they should make you laugh.
• Pay attention to the acting. Acting is important in any movie. If the actors or actresses are bad, then we, as an audience, are not convinced that their roles are remotely real. This is why it is important to have a good cast.
• Include a short summary. Sum up the movie in a few sentences WITHOUT any spoiler alerts.
• Include an analysis. Analyze the movie critically. Include ideas like themes and plot.  
• Rate. At the end, I want to rate it, whether it is a scale from 1-10, a 5 star system, or a thumbs up/ thumbs down system. When I start to rate movies, I am going to use the 5 star system.

All of these key components should be specific to comedy movies, which are meant to make the audience laugh. It seems like the end of the world when you pick a bad comedy movie when you are ghanging out with friends. Here are some of the main components to a good comedy movie:

• Funny characters. Whether the movie is character comedy or not, the characters in the movie have to be funny. Their jokes and silliness are what will entertain the audience.
• Timing of the jokes. It is important for the jokes in a comedy to be said at the right time. This will result in more laughs and less awkwardness. Once, I was having dinner with friends and we were talking about one of our favorite movies. Then, when we started talking about a different subject, I made a joke about the movie that we just talking about. The table just became really silent and awkward in an instant. Characters in comedy movies cannot pull a Matt. They need to tell jokes at the right place and right time to be funny.
• Staying true to the genre. The three genres, or sub-genres, of comedy that I will be watching are character comedy, slapstick comedy, and parody. Each movie that I watch should be true to the genre. For example, if I am watching a character comedy, it better be a character comedy. It better have a plot line revolving around a hilarious character based on stereotypes [as I explained in a previous post]. If I am watching a slapstick comedy, there better be exaggerated physical activity used in a creative and funny way. If I am watching a parody, it better make lots of jokes about the movie(s) it is based on.

  

  Slapstick comedy at its finest

More Week 1 and 2 Comments

Muhammad Rashid

David Weiss

Sarah Kollender

Week 2

Hi, readers!

Nowadays, it seems that becoming a movie critic takes no skill. People think that all you need is something to watch movie with and a blog but people constantly forget a key ingredient to a quality review: a brain. [Yes, you read that correctly.] There used to be an artform to movie-critiquing and it is losing a battle to technology. Now, I want to bring back these old methods and mix them in with new methods of movie critiquing.

Siskel and Ebert (and Their Show)

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were two of the greatest movie critics in history. This duo hosted a TV program, called Siskel & Ebert. What I like about they way they review movies is sometimes, they have opposite opinions and they debate topics like, did the actor/actress place his/her role correctly. Here are Siskel and Ebert critiquing Mrs. Doubtfire:

Here are some ways of reviewing that are a trademark to Siskel and Ebert:

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Ebert (left) and Siskel (right) with their
thumbs up, thumbs down method. 

This system was a signature of Siskel & Ebert, created in 1981. It was Siskel and Ebert’s way of rating new movies. They would either give a thumbs up recommendation or a thumbs down. This became huge in the movie critic industry because instead of just giving a yes/no recommendation like any other movie critic, they did something unique. Plus, would you rather have to analyze a whole movie review to see if you want to watch it or would you rather just look for if the critic recommends it or not? Don’t get me wrong, an analysis is important, but there are just some situations where one cannot read through the whole analysis. Movie producers who received a thumbs up from both Siskel and Ebert for one of their movies would boast that they got “Two thumbs up.” This method is so simple, yet creative in the movie business. Why settle with a yes or no when you could settle with a thumbs up or thumbs down?

See It, Skip It, Rent It

In 2008, this method of reviewing movies came about. By 2008, both Ebert and Siskel were not on the show anymore because Siskel died of brain cancer and Ebert was unable to speak due to a cancer that was removed in the jaw area [the TV series was changed to At the Movies].  This scoring system was like the thumbs up, thumbs down method but with a medium between. “See it” means, yes, watch it. “Rent it” means that the movie was okay, but not unbearable. Finally, “skip it,”as the name suggests, if it was on a list of movies that you might watch, skip it, abandon it, and move on to a new movie.

Critics Roundup

Critics roundup was a method that also appeared on At the Movies in 2008. During this event, At the Movies would have a few guest critics. They would pick a few movies to talk about; use the see it, skip it, rent it method; and then go on from there with discussions. Basically, it was just the same show with more people. What was good about this was that there were more than two voices debating on how good a movie was. 

Legacy

Siskel and Ebert will go down in history as the best of the best for movie criticism. They were not only movie critics, but inventors of new styles, like the thumbs up, thumbs down rating method.

Siskel (left) and Ebert (right) watching a movie together

Comments

Harry Chernak

Jacob Cohen

Alex Tappen

Week 1

Hi, readers!

I am excited– no, that’s not the right word to describe what I’m feeling right now. I am thrilled– no, still not quite the right word. Oh, yes, I have the perfect word...exhilarated. I am exhilarated to do the genius project this marking period. [Wow, “exhilarated” rolls off the tongue perfectly]. At first, when I heard we can learn to do anything we wanted to do, I was confident that I wanted to do something soccer related, but I could not put my finger on what I could do with soccer. I was stumped, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

So then, I decided to brainstorm for ten minutes. I wrote everything that came into my head [when I say everything, I mean everything no matter how crazy the idea was]. At the tick of the 8th minute of brainstorming, I was enlightened. I wasn’t stuck between a rock and a hard place because the rock was actually paper mache [excuse my 🌽 corny🌽 jokes].  What was this great idea? It was to start a revolution against Judy Clark to give more snow days!...just kidding. I realized my passion for watching comedy movies and I decided to learn how to be a comedy movie critic for the next month. I watch comedy movies almost every weekend with my friends and family. Sadly, people say that my taste for comedic movies is terrible. I was even shunned by my own family because apparently, thinking that The Interview is a great movie is a sin. Who doesn't love Seth Rogen and James Franco? I have a whole list: my uncle, my dad, my friends’ parents, and apparently, all adults [who seem to have no sense of humor these days]. 

This dispute made me wonder why my opinions of movies seemed “wrong” in people’s eyes. Being able to see through the eyes of comedy critics will let me have a new understanding of what makes a comedy movie a box office hit or a flop.

Types of Comedy

  Comedy is not just one genre. It has different sub-genres that appeal to different audiences. Here are the three sub-genres that I want to delve into over the next month:

• Character Comedy
• Slapstick Comedy
• Parody Comedy

Character Comedy

Character comedy is where many actors and actresses become popular. This type of comedy is when the plot revolves around a character whose personality is funny and is based on stereotypes. These characters act out of the norm of society in a silly way. What makes these movies humorous are the things that the characters do and say, and how they interact with people in the movie.

I feel that when the actors and actresses play these parts, they get so into it that the character becomes them. One of the best actors that does character comedy is Jim Carrey. He plays many roles of characters that are hilarious, and a bit nutty. What makes him so great are his facial expressions and just the overall aura that he radiates. Some examples of Jim Carrey's acting are above.

Slapstick Comedy

This is a scene from a The Three Stooges episode. As you can see,
Curly punches the guy and the guy goes flying. These over-the-top
effects make it slapstick. (These GIFs work best in Chrome)

Have you ever watched a comedy with overly exaggerated physical activity? The movies where the violence is just ridiculous? The movies where you cringe and say, “That must’ve hurt,” when someone gets thrown out of a window or kicked in the face? This is known as slapstick comedy. It originated in the 1500s when mimes would get smacked by a harmless wooden paddle that would make a loud, slapping sound on contact. The audience loved this over-the-top violence in the past and they still love it today. I mean, in all seriousness, who doesn’t like to see a guy getting kick between the legs in a movie? As I like to say, “Their pain is our gain.” Since these types of movies do have stunts like the ones listed above, stunt doubles tend to be used for many scenes.  

Charlie Chaplin is one of the fathers of modern-day slapstick. He wrote, directed, and starred in his comedy films, which must have been a handful to do all three. Even though these were silent films, the music and the foolish things that took place brought his movies to life. The Three Stooges was a series of short films that tended to exaggerate violence to the extreme. The three characters, Curly, Larry, and Moe, probably had IQs of below zero and would not be far off from getting a zero on the SAT.

In a real situation, no one would spin around the branch like
that. Also, that fall would hurt...a lot. These exaggerated
actions add to the slapstick comedy of The Three Stooges.

Parody

The final sub-genre of comedy that I will touch on will be parody. What makes parodies comedic are that they mock of these other movies by imitating specific scenes of a movie or just making a spoof of the whole movie. Many don’t like this genre because most parodies produced are too silly for people's likings. Out of the pool of many parodies, few become classics and even go on to have sequels. Two of the greatest parodies are a Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Airplane!.

My Goal

  Over the next three weeks, I want to watch movies in each of these three sub-genres of comedy and I want to write reviews of each of them.

For character comedy, I will watch:

• Mr. Bean’s Holiday
• Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
• Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

For slapstick comedy, I will watch:

• Home Alone
• City Lights
• Dumb and Dumber
• The Mask

For parody, I will watch:

• Scary Movie 3
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
• Spaceballs
• Airplane!

  Throughout these next three weeks, I will be measuring my progress by being able to write a thorough review with all of the key points that a critic would touch base with. After I finish reviewing all of these movies, I plan to make a website during week six that has all of my reviews posted on it. This will be the “Rotten Tomatoes” of the movies that I watched.

Game Plan

Week 3: Character Comedy				N/A
Week 4: Slapstick Comedy
Week 5: Parody