Heat

          This is an American crime film written and directed by Micheal Mann in 1995.

          The film is about the fight between a career criminal, Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and the lieutenant of L.A.P.D, Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino).  Neil steals $1.6 million from money launderer Roger Van Zant (William Fichtner) with his crew. Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), Micheal Cheritto (Tom Sizemore), Trejo (Danny Trejo) and the new member, Waingro (Kevin Gage) are with him. During the heist, three guards are killed. Waingro causes their death and put others in trouble. Neil wants to kill him but he escapes. For warning other criminals, Roger orders his men to kill Neil. Neil’s crew protects him; he is unharmed. After that, he decides to revenge.

          Vincent pays attention to Neil for a long time. Learning he is planning another heist, Vincent leads his group stop him. He wants to prison him. At the same time, Neil and his crew directed their aim to a bank, which holds 12 million payoff. Waingro is caught by Vincent because of his criminal: killing prostitutes. Vincent is not happy recently; his wife cheats him and he moves to the hotel. Same thing happens to Chris. His wife, Charlene Shiherlis (Ashley Judd) falls in love with Alan Marciano (Hank Azaria), who lives in Las Vegas as a liquor salesman with a criminal past.

         While Vincent keeps his eyes on Neil, they are both suffered by their personal problems. Vincent is worrying about his stepdaughter, Lauren and the diverse gives him bad effects on working. Neil also has problems with his girl friend, Eady (Amy Brenneman). They meet face to face and show respect to each other, but they are still enemies. Killing, or be killed. Death is the only way to stop their fighting.

          Neil and his crew go for heist as usual. They take money from the bank but hindered by Vincent. Several police officers are killed and Micheal, the member of Neil’s crew, dies. Chris is harmed terribly by the gun and Neil leaves him to the doctor. At that time, he still thinks about Charlene.

           Eady is tired for these criminall activities. She wants a peaceful life and Neil is going to New Zealand with her. But before that, he needs to go and find Waingro for killing him.

            Charlene finally goes with Marciano to a police safe house with her son. But she is threatened that if she doesn’t betray Chris to the police, they would send her son to a foster home. She asks Chris to come but warns him that police is there secretly. Chris escapes. Vincent finds that Lauren harms herself terribly in his hotel room. He quickly calls his wife Justine and sends Lauren to the hospital. Their relationship becomes better. At that night, Neil finds Waingro in a hotel room and kills him. His things are done and he is going to start a new life with Eady. But Vincent finds him right in the front of his car. He tries to escape and leaves Eady alone in their car. Vincent and Neil come to an airport and Neil is killed by Vincent. Before his death, Vincent holds his hands and he dies.

           Al Pacino plays Vincent and Robert De Niro plays Neil in this film. They are both good and their acting illustrates what Vincent and Neil really are. They actually have similarities.

          In the film, Vincent is from L. A .P. D and Neil is a career criminal. From what Neil does from the beginning we can see that he is an experienced criminal. It’s hard for L. A. P. D to not draw attention on him. Seems that Vincent and Neil are on opposite side in the film. They are enemies. But I think they are not only enemies but also something else. When Neil is dying, Vincent comes and holds his hands. That scene makes them more like friends and that’s understandable. In the middle of the film, Vincent tells his wife that he has kept his eyes on Neil for about ten years. And from the way he works and speaks, we can see that he is not that sort of people who has a good job and speaks politely. He sometimes more likes a criminal. For knowing the criminals’ lives well, he maybe will try some experiences like this. And from how he asks people for information, we can see that he hits others, yells to them and acts rudely. That’s just like a criminal. And people like Neil are always dangerous; they don’t care so much about killing. So does Vincent. He kills Neil and his crew members with no thinking. Death is as normal as eating or drinking for him. And he knows Neil for many years. But he never had a chance to get him in past ten years. Neil is as smart as him. Catching Neil becomes a part of his life and they have similar qualities. Both of them actually care about people who are important for them. Neil is actually a great criminal; he is wealthy and smart. But he chooses to go with Eady and in the end of the film, before going to the airport, he tells Eady to wait and don’t worry. Vincent cares about Lauren, his stepdaughter very much and seems he becomes nervous when he sees she is bleeding. He divorces his wife because she cheats him and after that, he feels upset. There are just a few shots to show their emotions, but it can be found from these details. So maybe if they are on the same side, they would become very good friends.

Super 8 (dramatic)

            Super 8 is an American science fiction thriller film directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg in 2010.

           The story is about a group of teenager- Joe (Joel Courtney), Charles (Riley Griffiths), Preston(Zach Mills), Martin (Gabriel Basso)and Cary (Ryan Lee). They live in Ohio, America. Joe’s mother dies because of a factory accident. His father, Deputy  Sheriff Jack Lamb (Kyle Chandler)blameto Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard), his mother’s co -worker. Louis’ daughter, Alice (Elle Fanning), is also one of them but Joe and her seems not close in façade because of their father’s problem.

One day, Charles decides to make a zombie movie and they go to a local train depot for the film. They need a shot of the passing train. But a truck suddenly comes in and drives onto the train. It’s their biology teacher, Dr. Woodward.  He is alive and tells the children to be silence. There’s something secret with the train and it will put them in danger. From there, Joe picks an iron cube. No one knows what it is. The army comes soon and the children leave. Dr. Woodward is taken by force. Their camera flew away because of the accident. When Joe and his friends watch what they just filmed, they find something goes out of the train.

              That’s an alien. After that night, many people disappear and the children find s secret. That’s a 1958 film of Dr. Woodward. He is with some other scientists and they are testing some cubes. That’s just like what Joe picks by the destroyed train! In fact, it’s an alien creature; that’s a part of their spaceship. The aliens are strange creatures with humanlike face and spider body. They eat people. After finding the spaceship, they are prisoned by the scientists and now, they want to escape earth. Meanwhile, terrible thing happens: Alice is caught by the alien. Joe and his friends are going to save her. At the same time, there are battles in the town. The U.S Army shoots aliens by tanks and mounted machine guns. Aliens are in anger. In a water tower in the town, the children find the two aliens. They are trying to make another spaceship and hang people on ceiling as food. Alice is there. One alien grabs Joe but releases him after learning “ Bad things happen”.

               Finally, people who hung by aliens are released and the aliens goes back to their planet. Joe and Alice become closer and their fathers build good relationships with each other as well. Charles’s movie is finished and everyone has a good ending.

 light brings feelings for the film. The poster is really good with the blue light

 The light makes the frame looks dreamy and very like a science fiction thriller film

Boys are looking down to the aliens' cave. The space seems deep with the light and I think it creates a mood.

               That’s a really boring film and seems nothing special with it.  But I think it is really good with dramatic work. Light makes the film looks good. In the film, the light is not natural. They are all coloured light spread from one point to somewhere else. This is a science fiction thriller film and it doesn’t need to be that real. Most of the light in this film is blue or white. It looks awesome in dark night. The colour make frames dreamy and just… very science.

               Other things are not too bad with it, I like the light but the story is so boring. I’m not so interested in it. For me, it’s just a boring film with good light work.

Comparison of the two versions of The Count of M.C

          This is a story written by Alexandre Dumas and filmed in few visions. I have

seen the 1934 vision and 2002 vision; there are differences between them and I like

the old one better.

          The story is about a young, successful sailor, Edmond Dantes who is trapped by

his best friend Fernand Mondego. He has a lover, Mercedes de Rosas. But Mondego

also loves her, he plans to make Dantes disappears. A letter (to Mondego’s father)

adds a final touch; it’s from Dantes’ captain and has some political information

within. Mondego companies the second officer of the ship, Danglars, and Raymond

de Villefort Jr to imprison Dantes. He stays in jail for eight years; during that time, he

meets an aged prisoner, Abbe Faria, who teaches him knowledge and gives him a

map. If Dantes gets out and follows the map, he would find treasure and become rich.

Then, Faria dies because of an accident and his death helps Dantes escape; he is cast

into the sea as dead. A ship picks him up. After that, he follows Faria’s direction and

finds the treasure and goes back to French. Wealth and knowledge make him looks

noble. No one knows who he really is excoept Mercedes. Mercedes has already

married to Mondego who tells her that Dantes is died. They have a son, Albert. He

becomes a friend of Dantes and also a tool of his revenge. Dantes plans to kill the

three people who trapped him. Finally his enemies all destroyed and he reunites

with Mercedes.

            The 1934 vision is an American movie directed by Rowland V. Lee. This is a

black and white film. It’s a movie of Hollywood golden age and looks better than the

new one. In this vision, the director tried to display the whole story by the movie, so

maybe it goes too quickly. But there are no useless shot and looks very classical. It’s

more like a real story in 19^th century. I think the acting is not that lively like the new

version, and there’s no shot of kissing or something like this. Maybe it’s not only

because of the environment (of that time) but also because the movie illustrates the

story about revenge more than about love. Costumes and make up also look better

than the new one. Mondego, Mercedes and The Count of M.C are all nobles; at least

they have a position, so the costumes shouldn’t look untidy or cheap. They dress

opulently and gracefully; costumes make them look a little delicate. But in the new

version, the costumes are terrible. Perhaps it’s because this one is more about

showing a romantic, beautiful love story. But I don’t think like it; nobles look like

pirates in this movie.

how the costumes look like in the old version

Costumes in the new version

            But in the new version, there are some shots for showing the views. Like

Mondego and Dantes fights in the countryside and views of the beach. I also don’t

like that; it’s useless and not natural. In the old version, Mondego and Dantes fight in

Dantes’ house, it looks much better than fight in the countryside and the movie is

not about National Graphic. Why there are such useless things?

In general, these are my compersions and feelings of the two movies.

Cast of the 1934 version (from google) 

•     Robert Donat as Edmond Dantes / the Count of Monte Cristo

•    Elissa Landi as Mercedes de Rosas

•    Louis Calhern as Raymond de Villefort Jr.

•    Sidney Blackmer as Fernand Mondego, Count de Mondego

•    Raymond Walburn as Baron Danglars

•    O. P. Heggie as the Abbé Faria

•    Irene Hervey as Valentine de Villefort

•    Georgia Caine as Madame de Rosas, Mercedes' mother

•    Lawrence Grant as de Villefort Sr.

•    Luis Alberni as Jacopo, Dantes' assistant

•    Douglas Walton as Albert Mondego

Cast of the 2002 version (from google)

•    Jim Caviezel as Edmond Dantès

•    Guy Pearce as Fernand Mondego

•    Richard Harris as Abbé Faria

•    Luis Guzmán as Jacopo

•    James Frain as J.F. Villefort

•    Dagmara Dominczyk as Mercedès Iguanada

•    Michael Wincott as Armand Dorleac

•    Christopher Adamson as Maurice

•    JB Blanc as Luigi Vampa

•    Alex Norton as Napoléon

•    Henry Cavill as Albert Mondego