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Top Ten Favourite Movies

1. Shindlers list - shindlers list is one of my favorite movie.it's a movie I can watch over without getting bored. I also like this time in history during the ww2 with the holocaust

2. Memento - I like how it plays with your mind and it is not like any other movies I've seen before

3. Harry potter and the deathly hallows -I love all the Harry potter books j.k Rowling published. However I didn't really like the movies except the last and final one that came out this summer. It was filled with action and suspense.

4. Some Like it Hot - this is one of my favourite old movie ever. It is funny and entertaining the whole way through till the very end.

5.Toy Story 3- I love disney and pixar animation films. This is my favourite toy story out of all three that came out. I like how all age group can watch and enjoy this movie

6. Johnny English 2- I just recently watch Johnny English, and enjoyed it a lot. It is one of the funniest movie i have seeen, that I couldnt stop laughing the whole way through. I loved how the director also added a bit of suspense to it.

7. Avatar - I really liked the effects in this movie, and how creative the plot is.

8. Thirteen Ghosts - I like scary movies, and how it always makes you jump. Its exciting and i enjoy the suspense.

9. Click - I felt like this has most of the type of genres i like put into this film. Such as comedy, romance, and its very touching.

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - i liked the idea of the story and i felt like the story was creative.

Notes on German Expressionism

German expressionism

Expressionism – non-realistic/ more about expressing the inner view

-Style of filmmaking developed during Weimar years in Germany

-WW1- could only import movies from Scandinavia

-More emphasis on cinematography than plot and narrative

-mainly focused on lighting, scenic design and camera placement as well as to focus on criminal underworld -> deliver thriller)

-Experimented with light and shadow – Chiaroscuro style of lighting

            -Low key lighting- emphasize light and dark

            -Key feature of film noir – horror and crime genre film

-Stick to shadowy aesthetic – theme is dark (tradition in German literature)

-Crime and soullessness – darker side of human nature emphasized

- Nazi took control – many directors and cinematographers (mostly Jews) fled to America -> Hollywood

Seven Deadly Sins - Sloth

Memento Review

I watched memento during my first TOK class, and found it very interesting. Unlike other movies, this does not start off with the beginning of the plot but starts from the end of the movie making its way to the beginning where everything started.   

Memento is a psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan, which was released in 2000.  The film is presented in to two different series; black and white, and colour. The black and white sequence shows the things happening chronologically whilst the colour sequence is shown in the reverse order. Until they meet in the middle of the story in the end where it combines to produce one mutual story.
The story is about a man named Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce, who is suffering from a short-term memory loss. He uses picture with notes and tattoos to help him find the man (John G) who he thinks killed his wife by rape. We see him talking on a phone, telling a story about a man named Sammy Jenkins with a short-term memory loss, who without knowingly killed his diabetic wife by over injecting her with insulin, after she tried to be sure that he was not faking the illness. However, towards the end we find out that this ‘Sammy Jenkins’ was actually Leonard Shelby himself, and he was the person to accidentally kill his wife. However, he does not want to believe in the truth therefore he makes his own truth up to keep him happy, thus carries out his mission to look for a ‘John G’.

In my opinion this movie has a strong connection between the main character and the people watching. When Lenny (Leonard) realizes something it s when we start to add the movie together, as if like we are in the story with him. The main character is alone most of the time or always with one other character. We also get to hear the things he says when he talks to himself. This makes us feel closer to him and makes it seem more realistic.

There were a few times where I would go off track as it could be a bit confusing, however by the end of the movie the whole story comes together. I love the idea of using black and white and colour cinematography in a sequence to show the different time period and how it merges together in the middle.