Casino

Title:    Casino

Released: 11/22/1995

Major Actors: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci

Casino is a crime drama film that was directed by Martin Scorsese in 1995. In this film Robert De Niro’s character Sam Rothstein was a sports gambler who was called on by the Italian mob to oversee the Tangiers Hotel and Casino. While working at the Tangiers Sam meets Ginger which is played by Sharon Stone. Ginger is a female hustler and ex- prostitute who eventually marries Sam.During their marriage Ginger becomes addicted to cocaine and prescription medication. Joe Pesci character Nicky is sent to Vegas to make sure money from the Tangiers is skimmed off the top and the mobsters in Vegas are kept in line.

I would consider Robert De Niro to be a Personality type of actor. An interpreter actor is described as “An actor whose own personality tends to define all the characters he or she portrays, so that the actor’s name alone lets audiences knowwhat the screen character will be like. (Goodykoontz, 2014). De Niro has been known to star in films very similar to this one such as Goodfellas (1990), Untouchables (1987) and The Godfather Part 2. All of these films had very similar content such as mafia or mob ties. So once you see Robert De Niro you already have an idea of what his character was going to be in this movie.

Sharon Stone is more of a Wild Card actress who had a very dramatic performance in this movie. A wild card actress is classified as “an actor, usually a star, who is difficult to classify as one certain type, an actor who can play a wide variety of characters equally well without becoming typecast” (Goodykoontz, 2014). I had a difficult time classifying Sharon as her character Ginger was very unpredictable. Sharon has played many different roles but this one was by far the most dramatic.

Joe Pesci can be defined as a Impersonator which is classified as “an actor who tries to put his or her personal stamp on roles, often playing characters that have been done by others” (Goodykoontz, 2014). Joe Pesci much like Robert De Niro starred in many films that had the same mob or mafia concept but in this film Pesci’s personality made his character an epic one.

I do believe that no actor can be placed in the same category for all the films they star in. Every film requires them to act a certain way which can potentially change their acting types. For this particular film it was a bit difficult classifying the actors because I have seen many of their movies and I feel I have a pre-conceived idea of their acting types.

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. This text is a Constellation™ course digital materials (CDM) title.

Casino. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112641/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Psycho

Title: Psycho

Released: September 8, 1960

Major Actors: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh

Psycho was based on the life of Norman Bates who happened to be trapped in the persona of his mother, whose personality he had adopted after murdering her. Norman travels back and fourth from his own personality to his mothers and throughout the process commits many crimes. One specific crime was that of Marion Crane. Marion Crane was a secretary who fled her home after embezzling a lot of money from her employer. Norman was fascinated with her but his mothers personality would not allow him to, therefore instructing him to kill Marion. Norman eventually gets caught after several murders.

The sound in this film was a major contributor at making this movie a chiller. Throughout the movie, specifically when main character Norman Bates would attack his victims the music would crank up and chills run down your spine. “The short, rhythmic notes of screeching high-pitched violins mimicking both the jabs of the knife and the screams of the victim” (Goodykoontz, 2014). As soon as you hear the music the tone is set and you realize that the movie will be a suspense film. The tone of the music that was played made it clear that the film would be a Horror movie with a sub-genre of suspense.  Psycho is one AFI’s top 100 horror films of all times.

Throughout the film there were many realistic sounds such as the birds and the city noises among others. Being that the setting was based on real times all of the elements were very real and believable. This film was such a hit that a remake was filmed in 1998 where Norman Bates was played by Vince Vaughn. The remake was actually the first time i saw the movie, shortly after i saw the original and was very surprised to discover that the film maintained the exact same concept.

Reference:

Goodykoontz, B.; Jacobs, P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd edition). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

“Psycho.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 17 May 2015.

Titanic- “I’m Flying” Scene

Title: Titanic

Writer: James Cameron

Director: James Cameron

Released: 12/19/1997

Major Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet

The lighting used in the “I’m flying” scene was in between high key and low key. According to our textbook “A high-key lighting design has very bright light over everything, with few shadows and relatively low contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the scene” (Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C.P. 2014). Low-key lighting is described as “often used for intense dramatic scenes, horror films, mystery thrillers, and the like”(Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C.P. 2014). In this particular film, the sun is setting which gives a dark appearance but there is still enough orange and blue lighting from the sunset. 

The benefits of the lighting used is that the darkness makes the scene seem intense and passionate. The tone was set when the scene focused on a lonely Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) at the tip of the ship but it slowly shifted as Rose (Kate Winslet) walked towards him.While the orange and blue sunset lighting makes it romantic and dreamy. The technique used made the theme very romantic and passionate.

According to IMDb Titanic is considered to be a Drama genre with Romance being the sub-genre. Although our textbook specifies that Drama is not necessarily a genre, many movies are placed in this category.  This genre typically uses different types of lighting depending on the scene or message they are trying to deliver. If this scene was brighter I do not believe the same feeling or intensity would be felt. The darkness makes everything so passionate and intense.

Titanic. (2015, May 7). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/

Titanic Scene – “I’m Flying!” (2015, May 7). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPoMFB0FjYg

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. This text is a Constellation™ course digital materials (CDM)

The Fault in Our Stars

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Writer/Author: John Green

Director: Josh Boone

Major Actors:  Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort

Released: June 6, 2014

This film was about a 16 year old girl (Hazel Grace Lancaster) who has thyroid cancer that has quickly spread to her lungs. While at a cancer support group, she meets the love of her life 17 year old Augustus Waters whose osteosarcoma caused him to lose his leg. Throughout the course of the film Augustus demonstrates his love and affection for Hazel by getting in touch with the Author of her favorite novel, a longtime dream of Hazel. Augustus arranges to use his granted wish on a trip to Amsterdam where Hazel and Augustus get to meet the author of “An Imperial Affliction”. At the end of their trip Augustus revelas to Hazel that his cancer has now spread all over his body and has no idea how much more longer he has to live. Shortly after Augustus loses his battle with cancer but not before having Peter Van Houten the author of An Imperial Affliction personally hand a eulogy he wrote for Hazel. In this eulogy Augustus says getting hurt in this world is inevitable, but we do get to choose who we allow to hurt us, and that he is happy with his choice. He hopes she likes her choice too. Hazel states she does.

This film was presented in chronological order