Raging Bull (1980)

         Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese, is a beautiful black and white film about the success and demise of boxer Jake LaMotta. Based on the actual life of LaMotta, the movie shows the heartbreaking crumble of a seemingly once great fighter. The story goes back and forth between Jake’s personal life, family and love, and his fighting and work after his retirement. Angry, jealous, and almost always on the verge of a fight, LaMotta is not painted as a lovable character from the beginning, however as the audience, we still route for him through the majority of the film. His extreme jealousy and suspicion towards his wife is a constant source of stress

throughout the movie. Jake further and further drives himself away from his family and fans with his attitude and determination to make a name for himself, by himself. He is even described once as the sort of guy that everyone is routing against, which the audience can relate to after watching him at home with his wife. The inevitable fall from glory at the end is almost expected, and the contradiction between his life as a famous fighter, and as a nobody, cabaret comedian show the sharp juxtaposition of you reap what you sew.

         Raging Bull is a cinematic vision and the storyline moves along, but the real masterpiece of the thing is De Niro’s performance. Robert De Niro plays LaMotta with a delicate hand: he became the character, and showed every inch of human imperfection. No amount of planned character development and scripted direction could provoke such a performance. When LaMotta is put in solitary confinement after being arrested for introducing a fourteen year old girl to some men, his true snapping point is revealed and De Niro slams his head and fists into the wall with such force I expected actual brain damage. This moment is so poignant and powerful, and the audience expects a turning point: for LaMotta to beg for forgiveness and change his ways, to amend the years of wrong he’d done and for everything to become good again as soon as he was released. In reality, nothing much changed, but this less “fairy tale” ending gave more power to the movie, and more power and complexity to the character De Niro builds. Captivating and poingnant, the combination of De Niro’s acting, and Scorsese’s directing, Raging Bull deserves it’s fourth place on the AFI’s top 100 of all times list.

Annie Hall (1977)

          Woody Allen’s Annie Hall made me question love, while simultaneously reaffirming its strength, all while making me laugh. All opinions against Allen aside, the humor in Annie Hall was intelligent and often refreshing while being sarcastic and often mildly whiney. The honesty in both characters and the perspective on love gave the movie depth. Annie Hall is the story of two people finding their way together through love and a relationship in New York. Alvy Singer, a comedian and New York native falls in love with Annie Hall, a Wisconsin singer living in the Big City. The movie follows their love and fading love, reminiscence of past relationships, and all the ups and downs of conflicted wants in a fading relationship.

         The frequently explore

d idea of love and passion fading gave an angle on love typically avoided in movies. More often movies show the optimistic and ever-prevailing side of love, while Annie Hall showed that sometimes, it just fades away. Alvy and Annie try again to make things work several times but the movie ends on a realistic note of “it just doesn’t always work out.” The movie ends on the hopeful note that at least the two are still friends, but Alvy finds himself wishing things with Annie had ended differently. 

         Annie Hall is dynamic, with a wide variety of shots, often in a jumbled chronology. The ups and downs and back and forths of the movie ever leaves you bored and the overall brevity of the movie doesn’t leave you wanting more, but doesn’t drag in the least bit. Allen’s stylistic choices to brea the third wall, interact with theaudience and other characters in the setting of the movie, and have strangers on the street share opinions of deeply personal things in the main character’s lives adds another level of interest. Many pop culture references and jokes of the day also add to the richness of the movie, although they simultaneously date the movie, and take a significant portion away from later generation’s viewing. Annie Hall is a fun, witty movie and despite its lack-luster real world view on love, it makes viewers excited to go out and fall in love.

Taxi Driver (1976)

         Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver explores human nature through the eyes of a taxi driver. Robert De Niro’s performance stuns in yet another movie. De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a cabbie and Vietnam vet who’s observation of sleazy, after hours New York coupled with his crushing loneliness and isolation leads him to lust after violent action.

         Careful, deliberate artistic shots created the work of art surrounding the human exploration within the movie. Shots such as the prolonged pan over the handle of the .44 the gun salesman shows Bickle emphasize Bickle’s attraction to the gun and violence and force the audience to acknowledge and take stock of these details.

         Travis Bickle transforms for the audience. At first he seems merely intriguing, although he is stalking Betsy, a woman he sees as a beacon of light in the dark city, his confidence in approaching her, and his subsequent curiosity sparking observations of her draw us into his character. However as the movie progresses, these seemly innocent quirks throw up a few red flags, namely when he takes Betsy on a date to an adult film. His isolation and loneliness only become more apparent as the film goes on. Even when he has passengers in his cab he is alone and separate from the people that enter his car. Scenes of his apartment scream of isolation as he works out and writes letters to his parents. At one point, his television falls over and breaks, cutting him off a step further. Lost and lonely, Bickle sets out to right the wronged city with violence and ends up saving a child prostitute as his final act. Before he saves Iris, however, he channels his violent desire towards assasinating Presidential candidate Charles Palentine. His character continues to develop and the audience is torn by his complexity, on the one hand his violent tendencies don’t seem to be in the name of “good,” yet he does good when he saves Iris. He is treated as a hero, and Betsy flags down his cab, perhaps to give him a second chance. Travis surprises us by turning her down, adding another layer of realistic complexity to his character. Overall, Taxi Driver is a well made exploration of loneliness, the line between good and evil, and human nature as a whole.

The Deer Hunter (1978)

         Beautiful. Moving, inspirational, heart-wrenching, suspenseful, Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter has it all. The movie begins in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania the day of Steven’s wedding, right before he ships out with his friends Mike and Nick to the Vietnam War. The movie shows their lives and happiness before the war, their ordeal in the war, and how it affected them after. While taken hostage in Vietnam, Nick, Mike, and Steven find themselves being forced to play Russian Roulette for the entertainment of their captors. After they escape, they are separated and Nick finds himself in an American hospital with amnesia. After being released, he joins a gambling circle for Russian Roulette and becomes sucked into that world. Steven loses both his legs and lives in a home for injured vets while Mike returns to his home in Pennsylvania and lives with Nick’s girlfriend.

         The Deer Hunter exposes all the damage the Vietnam War inflicted on everyone it touched. I expected the movie to be entirely battle scenes in the jungle of Vietnam but was surprised by the amount that was not in Vietnam. It was honest and vulnerable but never boring. The characters were so real and relatable and interesting to watch. The experience of the Vietnam War and its over arching effect on life was and continues to be a difficult topic for many. The generation that experienced the war personally would be more deeply affected than a generation removed from the situation. Being in a removed situation, however, I still experienced a deep impact and was touched on many levels by this movie. The Deer Hunter is a beautiful and moving work of art.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

         Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange can never be unseen. This sounds like a negative comment, but it is a cinematic feat unlike anything else that is so powerful, and strong that it cannot be watched and then forgotten. Alex DeLarge, a delinquent youth in a totalitarian futuristic version of London spends a large part of the beginning of the movie terrorizing the public with acts of “ultra-violence and rape” with his cronies. Obscene and often over the top instances of this violence sets the stage, and the character of Alex up to be hateful and impossible to sympathize with. He is cruel to the extreme, with the terrifying quality of complete sanity, control, and rationalization. Finally he is put in jail when his cronies leave him out to dry after Alex kills an old cat woman while trying to steal her money. After a small amount of his jail time is completed, he volunteers to be a test subject for a politician who believes he can cure evil for the sa

ke of his campaign. While in jail, Alex pretends to eat up the word of God and wins brownie points wherever he can, so when he volunteers as a test subject, he can get out of prison earlier. As the subject, Alex is made to watch brutally horrific videos after being given a medicine to induce incredible pain and nausea. After a while he associates the acts of violence and sex with the induced pain and is, effectively, cured of evil. When he is released back into the world, he encounters many of the people he wronged, but is helpless to defend himself because the sickness pain is too great to commit any act of violence. You begin to do the impossible and feel for him. Eventually, he attempts to kill himself and fails. Upon waking, Alex discovers he no longer experiences the pain from witnessing violence, but pretends to still be “cured.”

         Many interesting ideas are brought up in A Clockwork Orange: can evil be cured? Can anyone ever really change? The flaws brought up by the method used to “cure evil” and how it was only being “cured” to help out a politician. This “band-aid over the bullet wound” attempt at curing evil in the name of better crime statistics is incredibly thought provoking. Clearly the method of “curing evil” does not take into account self defense, and leaves the “cured” delinquent as an empty shell of a person, only incapable of not doing wrong, as opposed to doing good or stopping evil. Although it does effectively “cure” evil, it is done in the wrong way. A lot of these excellent ideas and concepts, however, were dulled and put to the wayside by the beginning and the overly emphasized acts of “ultra-violence.” Graphic acts are more powerful when they stand alone, or are isolated, but the beginning of the movie was a bloodbath of rape and violence that was a little stronger than it needed to be. It was well done to achieve what it was aiming for, and established Alex as a character who you hated, which makes it all the more shocking when you begin to feel pity for him. It is a stylistic choice, however, and ninety percent of the reason it sticks with you so long after the credits roll. A Clockwork Orange is highly effective at bringing up the complicated issues, but could have toned down the “shock factor” that a large portion of the movie strives after.

Raging Bull

As the 4th best movie of all time according to AFI, Raging Bull (1980) follows the life of Jake Lamotta and his ups and downs as a boxer. Jake starts out his boxing career winning fight after fight, and finding a rival in Sugar Ray Robinson. After purposely losing a fight, Lamotta is given a chance at the title, and he becomes the middleweight champion of the world. Along the way, he leaves his first wife for Vicki. After he loses the title and quits boxing, he opens a nightclub called Jake LaMotta's. Soon after, his wife Vicki leaves him after almost 11 years of marriage. He goes to jail soon after and does a little work in the stand up comedy business. The movie ends with a quote from the bible: "So, for the second time, [the Pharisees] summoned the man who had been blind and said: 'Speak the truth before God. We know this fellow is a sinner.' 'Whether or not he is a sinner, I do not know.' the man replied. 'All I know is this: once I was blind and now I can see." This quote is a part of a dedication to director Martin Scorsese's film teach Haig P. Manoogian.

This movie was wonderfully done. What struck me most was that Scorsese chose to film in black and white even though colored films had been around for decades. The only color used in this movie was during the montage of his relationship with Vicki, going through pictures and silent video of their relationship.

Robert DeNiro does a fantastic job of portraying Lamotta. Based off of Lamotta's autobiography, he seems to portray him like he was, not putting him in a better light or glorifying him in any way. While I thought this was a really good movie, it was not inspiring at all. There did not seem to be anything uplifiting at the end and there no kind of message to leave us with or a lesson to learn. It was a great story of an incredible boxer, but it did not leave me with any good feelings. Even so, that is not really the movie's fault, it simply followed Lamotta's life, and I would still highly suggest watching this at least once in your life.

Raging Bull (1980)

This biography directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro was a painful downward spiral of once great boxer-Jake LaMotta. We follow LaMotta from the time he’s starting out-already abusively threatening toward his first wife and aggressive towards his brother. When LaMotta meets 15-year-old Vicki and falls in love he seems to become even more self destructively paranoid. Often beating her and screaming about how she was having affairs when he had no real evidence. After a lifetime’s close relationship with brother/mentor Joey, Jake beats the pulp out of him based on an incorrect inkling Joey was sleeping with Vicki. This shatters the relationship. During his last fight versus Sugar Ray Robinson, we watch as LaMotta allows himself to be beaten viciously without falling to the ground. His pride keeps him standing and he lets Sugar Ray know that he never knocked him out. Years later, it appears Jake has his life together when he opens up a club called ‘Jake LaMotta’. Unfortunately, after running into trouble with the law and Vicki leaving with the kids, Jake finds his life in shambles. We watch as he punches a cement wall of a cell, punishing himself. He continues with a seemingly unsuccessful stream of stand-up comedy. The last scene features LaMotta in his dressing room before a show warming up as he did before boxing matches. It was a heartbreakingly pathetic scene. At this point, everything has fallen apart for him and he’s reverting back to what he knows. We saw how his violence and uncontrollable temper pushed him to a point where he could trust no one but himself, leaving him without love and family.

The fight scenes alone took the crew ten weeks to film and it’s obvious why. Technically, the scenes were crazy. The punches, the crowd, the sound effects and physicality of the actors is remarkable. Once again, De Niro had an outstanding performance. One of the best acting jobs I’ve ever seen. In the jail cell having a meltdown and at the end preparing for his show were both gut-wrenching. Not to mention De Niro having to shift his weight and appearance during the filming. Incredible devotion to a character and obvious submersion in the story is evident from De Niro’s performance. Cathy Moriarty, who plays Vicki, was just nineteen years old filming this, manages to appear as if she really is an exhausted wife and mother that ages at least twenty years. Her performance was on par with De Niro, especially knowing how young she was. Joe Pesci, who played Joey, had unbelievable chemistry with De Niro as his brother. Their energies together was interesting to watch and they work together nicely.

I was impressed with this film that I have heard so much about and excited to see my third De Niro movie. I had never really thought much about De Niro despite his still very much active acting career. Now I know that he deserves to be the most respected actor of today. His work in all three films have seemed like they would require total submersion in the character and all of the characters have been so diverse despite the films all being filmed just a year or two apart. Many one dimensional actors will play the same kind of role in different films but De Niro can do it all and flawlessly at that.  

Annie Hall

Annie Hall starring Woody Allen is ranked 35 on AFI's movie list. The movie follows the life Alvie Singer and his relationship with Annie Hall. They meet at a tennis game, and she drives him home. They break up at one point, then after a few days get back together when she needs him to kill a spider in her bathroom. Finally near the end of the movie, after going to California, they decide their relationship isn't working. Annie moves out, and they both go about their separate lives. She moves to California and after a little while Alvie goes to try and bring her back. It doesn't work, and she doesn't go back with him. When he sees her finally back in New York, they chat but they never get back together. The movie ends similar to the way it began- with a quote from Woody: "Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs." 

The beauty of this movie is not just the plot. The way it is made and the characters in it are what makes this movie stand out. This is the first movie I have seen where he looks directly into the character and addresses the audience. It is like he's looking back at his life and making commentary on everything that is happening. There is a great scene in the beginning where they are in line for the movie. There is a man behind him talking about Marshall McLuhan, and as Alvie (Woody Allen) gets more and more frustrated, he finally addresses the issue... by bringing out McLuhan, who tells the man he doesn't get what his movies are about. Even though the movie is set in the real world, it is not a traditional movie at all, instead it directly talks to the audience, commentating on the lives of the characters involved. 

Annie Hall was a funny movie and if you have never seen a Woody Allen movie, this is for sure a good one. I can definitely see why this movie is considered one of the best, and I highly suggest watching it!

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver starring Robert DeNiro is ranked as the 52nd best movie of all time, according to AFI. It tells the story of Travis Bickle (DeNiro), an ex-marine who gets a job as a late night taxi driver because of his insomnia. He spends his time driving people around, going to porn theaters, or eating at a late night diner with fellow late night taxi drivers.

One day, he sees Betsy, a young woman working in a political office and he becomes obsessed with her. He finally gets her to go to lunch with him and then on a date. After taking her to one of his porn theaters, Betsy storms out. He tries to reconcile with her by sending her flowers and calling her, but she refuses both, and when he confronts her in the office, he screams that she will "burn in hell like the rest of them." He soon buys a large number of guns. He continues his obsession with Betsy and Senator Palandine (the senator she works for), but he also becomes obsessed with saving Iris, a young prostitute he wants to save. He storms the brothel where Iris lives, killing everyone including her pimp "Sport." Bickle himself is shot many times, however he ends up living and being called a hero. Iris is returned to her family, and the final scene of the movie is of him giving Betsy a cab ride and then not charging her.

While this movie was really good, it was not one of my favorites. I found it hard to get into, and I was not really impressed with Bickle as a character, although DeNiro did a good job playing him. I didn't have a problem with his acting (I think he is a fabulous actor, especially in Deerhunter) but I didn't really like Bickle, and I thought that many of the other characters were underdeveloped. I mean I can see how it made the AFI list, so see it if you want, I guess, but I'm not dying to see it again.

Lord of the Rings

I have heard Lord of the Rings references for as long as I can remember. Whenever I say I haven't seen them, people stare at me all wide-eyed, shocked that I don't know the story. Even before watching it, I feel like Lord of the Rings has always had a huge presence in my life, just a presence I did not understand. After watching the movie, I understand where all the well-deserved hype comes from. And while only Fellowship on the Ring made it onto AFI's 100 best movies list (ranked at #50), all three deserve to be up there, and it is hard to say which of the three is the best, since they are all so stunning and captivating.

 The Fellowship of the Ring starts with  the story of the one ring, the ring to rule them all. Bilbo Baggins finds the ring in a cave after Gollum loses it. He keeps it in his pocket for 60 years, until setting off on his final adventure and leaving the ring behind with Frodo. Sauron was the creator of the ring, forging it in Mount Doom. He was defeated thousands of years earlier by Isildur. However, instead of destroying the ring, Isildur kept the ring. The ring was lost until Gollum found it, and then when Bilbo found it. Gollum whispered two words when interrogated about the rings whereabouts: Shire and Baggins. Looking for the ring, the ring wraiths started hunting Frodo and his friend Samwise Gamgee, who was there to help him. His goal was to get the ring to Rivendell, where the elves lived. Along the way, we are introduced to characters like Aragorn, heir to Isildur and rightful king of Gondor, Gandalf the grey, and Saruman, the bad white wizard who joins Sauron's army. We also meet Arwen, an elf that is in love with Aragorn who helps them get to Rivendell. At Rviendell, the Fellowship is formed. It consists of Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Boromir, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck. The Fellowship starts out on the way to Mordor, in order to destroy the ring in Mount Doom where it was created. The first movie ends with Boromir dead, Peregrin and Meriadoc in the hands of orcs, Sam and Frodo taking the journey to Mordor alone, and the rest of the group going to say Peregrin and Meriadoc from the orcs.

Two Towers starts out where The Fellowship left off. That was only the briefest overviews of the first movie and it was still really long. There is so much that goes on so honestly, my writing an overview of the movies is simply not worth it. The movies cover so much ground and the storytelling is so amazing that you simply have to watch them for yourself.

Tolkien is a genius. The whole story is so incredible, and he pays amazing attention to detail. He even made up a full elfin language. His characters are vibrant and full of depth, each with a unique back story that shapes who they are. Even besides the story, the cinematography is beautiful. There is one scene when they are lighting the torches to alert people of the trouble in Gondor, and each torch is lit amidst mountain ranges. 
The footage then keeps zooming out so you see more and more of the torches being lit. There is also another scene when Aragorn releases the dead from their bonds and they all can finally die in peace.
Watching the dead army essentially save Gondor and then fulfill their debt and fade away is simply an amazing scene. Those are only two examples of some of the beautiful scenes throughout all three movies.

I now understand the shock when people heard I had never seen the movies. They are incredible, and if you have never seen them, you need to get on that right now. I loved them, and they deserve all the hype they have been given.

The Sixth Sense (1999)

            Starring eleven year old Haley Joel Osment and Bruce Willis, The Sixth Sense is a chilling movie about a young boy that can see dead people. The boy is in the care of his single mother and is relentlessly teased for being weird by other kids at school. Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a well-known child psychologist is attempting to understand the boys problem and help him. However, Crowe finds this difficult because there has been strain on his marriage recently and he doesn’t know how to fix it. After the boy admits to being haunted by the dead, Dr. Crowe relates him to a boy he once tried to help with the same problem. This boy broke into the doctors home and shot Crowe as well as himself. In order to prevent the same fate from Cole, Crowe looks back on his old files and discovers how Cole can get rid of the ghosts. Simply by listening to them and helping them he can allow the ghosts to pass through the earth and leave life behind peacefully. Unknowingly Cole helps Dr. Crowe sort out the problems in his marriage and it is revealed that Crowe has been dead since Vincent shot him in the beginning of the movie. This incredible twist changes the entire movie around.

            The acting job by Haley Joel Osment was incredible. I found myself in tears by the end. Osment was rightfully nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. There was undeniable chemistry between Osment and Willis as well as Osment and his on screen mother Toni Colette. The cinematography in this movie was on par with the other films I’ve seen this spring. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the movie I characterized as a “scary movie,” but I found myself more emotional than spooked by the end of it. The shock element was not overused and the number of scary moments was not excesive. The gore was kept relatively to a minimum and it was more about the relationship between the boy and his mother and the boy and his doctor. The shocking end was surprising and exciting. I would recommend this movie highly. I usually hate scary movies but I thought this was tastefully done. This movie is definitely one of my favorites I’ve seen this spring. 

Taxi Driver (1976)

Starring Robert De Niro as Travis, the viewer is captivated by this disturbed, troubled man living in New York City. Because he was feeling so lost and out of control, Travis takes a job as a taxi driver and sets his eyes on campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). He watches her from his taxi cab until finally getting the courage to ask her out for coffee. Only an extremely sad and lonely woman such as herself would agree to go out with this seemingly creepy and strange man. The awkwardness of the date is evident. After another failed date, she tells him to leave her alone. This is the point where Travis becomes obsessed with guns and purchases four. We then watch him practice whipping them out. The guns give power to this man that feels he has no control over his life. Day after day he sits in his cab-people getting in and out yet no one notices him. He’s invisible and doesn’t have the courage to do much despite viewing the city as “full of scum.” One day a young girl gets in his car attempting to run away only to be pulled out by an older man. The man throws twenty dollars at Travis to keep him quiet. It works. This obviously has an effect on Travis seeing as he continues to attempt to help Iris throughout the movie.

His first murder is when a man was robbing the convenience store he was in. This was another turning point. Now he knew what he was capable of and felt that assassinating Palentine, the presidential candidate was what he was supposed to do. But instead, he uses his guns to free Iris from her protectors and give her a chance at life. Iris was one person he actually cared about and felt obligated to help. This made him a local hero, glorifying his violence. The guns gave him power and confidence to make his own decisions. He watched a lot of television and porn, this highlighted the empty, and loneliness he felt.

This movie was fantastic for the shots of the city but what really made it great was the jazz music always playing. The music really shaped the feeling of the movie all around. It cast a mysterious shadow over the movie. It seemed really “New York” to have the jazz playing and it was important to the story. Overall, I would suggest watching this movie. I think it showed how one insignificant person in a big city can make a difference-shown by the letter from Iris’ parents. Despite the glorification of guns and violence and the psychosis of the main character, the film was interesting and gripping. The characters were developed nicely along with the story line and it had the positive message that you determine your own fate.