Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Film Related to Class:  I think that the music and the narration in the movie really made it what it was.  The narration gave the movie that third person point of view.  The audience were spectators in the relationship turmoils of Vicky and Cristina.  The narration emphasized that and kind of let the audience sit back more.  They were not in the thick of the action, on the edge of their seat.  The viewer could just watch and see how things played out.  At certain points the narrator would talk over the characters, this separated the audience from the characters even more.  I liked this because when the relationships got fiery, I did not feel as though I was a part of it.  This led to a less stressful viewing experience.  The music in the film really played to the laid back sunny setting of the movie.  It was always sunny and people were always walking slowly and the music worked very well with that.  Three of the characters being into art also played into the soundtrack as well.  

Article Summary:  ( http://www.ew.com/article/2008/08/15/vicky-cristina-barcelona )  This article speaks about how the author believes that Woody Allen is the worlds last hippie.  They mention how they believe that this movie is a play on Woody Allen's view on commitment.  How he thinks that commitment is "so damn...bourgeois."  The movie was very travel and leisure oriented with a relaxed view on relationships.  There are slow walks and sipping wine in the park.  The author speaks of how Bardem was a hunk but spoke with sophistication. They did kind of bash the outdated idea of hippie love as far as relationships go.

Article Related to film:  This film did have a very hippie feel to it.  The three person relationship had a very free-love vibe.  The movie had a slow paced vibe but moved along at a very good pace.  This slow pace fed the hippie theme that the author was getting at.  Everything was artsy and flawy and about happiness, life and love.  Every scene was a sunny day and had a ton of bokeh from the sun peaking through the green leaves of a tree in the background.  I thin that the hippieness of this movie may have been slightly disguised by the fact that it had a modern setting but was very obvious at the same time. 

Critical Analysis:  I enjoyed the narration and music aspect of this film.  I liked that I was separated with the narration and didn't feel invested in the characters very much.  TI also enjoyed the music because of how well it fit in with the setting.  The ending was funny to me because they both left really trying to figure out what life was about and what they were trying to get out of it.  They went though these emotional moment, loving moments, confusing and angry moments.  After all of that, by the end of the film everybody went back to what they had before and not many answers were found. I thought that was really a play on how were experience life in general.  We try so hard to see what life is all about, and by the end of the day we are more confused than when we first started.

Spirited Away

Film Related to class:  This film's animation is a far cry form the first animation back in the day.  The animation was very realistic even though it was in an anime style.  There was a scene were Chihiro was looking out the window before she arrived at the amusement park, the trees were moving in a natural way.  The depth of the scene was very accurate to real life.  The physics of the characters were also very realistic.  Sometimes in animation the ground will move too fast or zoo slow as someone or something walks over it.  When Haku was a dragon, his movements were very fluid and natural as well.  He flew and ran into walls, but nothing seemed unnatural out out of place.  Also when characters jumped they did not rise or gal too fast.  This made it very easy to watch the film because there were no awkward movements that would distract the viewer from the story. 

Article Summary:  ( http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/SpiritedAway )  The article mentions the complexity of the films's plot.  Within the first half hour a multitude of things happen.  Chihiro was traveling to her new home and then her parents were turned into pigs, she was stuck in the spired world, met a man with multiple limbs and was put to work by her huge headed new boss.  Spirited away reached high acclaim when it won an oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.

Article Related to Film:  This film was extremely popular.  It was reflected in their aware at the Oscars.  It is the only anime film that has ever won.  This helps solidify its epic status.  The award makes sure that this film is not only know for its animation.  The animation is great, but it won the award for animated film.  This rewards the movie's plot, and not its animation.  The movie may have had great animation, but this award is proof that it was an all around great film.

Critical Analysis:  I am not a fan anime at all but I suppose I cannot say anything bad about this film considering how much praise it has received.  I am not a fan of very fanciful movies like this one, but I did think the complexity of the plot.  Even if someone does not like anime, or could not figure out what the movie was about at all, could still be entertained for the entire film.  I am not totally sure about what the deeper meaning of this film was about but it seemed to me to be about nature.  How people are destroying nature and that all of their spirits are now sunned to an abandoned theme park.  I liked the deeper message to tho movie, if that was actually the deeper meaning or not.  I think that it was just subtle enough to not be completely obvious, but just deep enough that you had to to some figuring out.  The animation was very seamless as I mentioned before, but the constant action and plot is what really did it for me.