Atomic Cafe

Atomic Cafe was an interesting movie that depicted human beings in a bad light and criticized them for constantly going to war. The stupidity of the Cold War was demonstrated in this movie as both sides started to use nuclear weapons and wound up hurting each other more. The movie showed this idea with clear allusions to the stupidity of believing that hiding in fallout shelters will save you from a nuclear weapon. Throughout the movie, we see the tests the government took to see the power of the nuclear weapons and the total destruction these weapons devastate. This movie shows us that if we start a war with these weapons, we will all die. However, when this movie was made, the message was supposed to be that of reassurance that fallout shelters can save you and your family. It's very interesting to see the massage of the film change throughout the years without the film being changed. This was definitely one of the est documentaries I have seen.

The Atomic Cafe

Thanks to this movie, I now understand better why every country has to have more and better atomic weapons than the other countries. The biggest power an atomic or hydrogen bomb has is inflicting fear, which is why each country wants more of them to intimidate other countries with their power. This movie greatly represents the fact that for people, war is just a game with no winner. No matter how much each side tries to fool itself, in the end, both sides end up losing everything they have. But because of human nature, we cant help but to go to war again with each other. America demonstrates its enormous power of atomic weapons over Japan and the consequences the country with less bombs has to face. This documentary teaches us about the aspect of war and atomic warfare in specific and the history our country had with atomic warfare and other countries.

Dr. Strangelove

This movie had a very nice balance between the serious mood of showing the Cold War and adding comedy to the not-so-serious scenes. This movie had some concepts that were very similar to Runaway train. For example, they both represent the idea that humans distract themselves in order to forget about the inevitable death. Both these movies show the everyday pleasures that people partake in to entertain themselves. However, while Runaway train had escaped convicts and action to portray this theme, Dr. Strangelove shows us this theme through the satirical humor of some of the characters. Another theme this movie greatly demonstrates is how war is completely useless as everybody ends up dead and there is no winner. Both the Russians and Americans are planning to survive the nuclear explosions underground, but even after they get out they will continue fighting. If that will happen, then there would have been no point of the nuclear war at the first point.

Memento

        Even though I was absent for two days and didn't see the first half of the movie, thanks to the chronological order of scenes in this movie, it wasn't really necessary. Thankfully, I was still able to watch Lenny's confrontation with both Natalie and Teddy so I knew that one of them was at the root of all of Lenny's problems. However, due to the ending of the film, where Lenny writes himself "don't believe his lies", I started thinking that Lenny himself created this murderous self to prevent himself from feeling guilt over the death of his wife. I still don't understand how his wife died, whether it was from the killers or Lenny killed her with the insulin. Also, is Sammy a real character or just a persona created by Lenny, as Teddy has explained? These questions remain unanswered after the ending of the film, which definitely makes this film as one of those movies you would love to go back and watch again to get some answers.

        The order of the scenes is very interesting as they go from the last thing that happened to Lenny to the way it all started. I think this technique keeps the viewer interested and makes him want to find the answers to all of Lenny's problems. This movie was sort of a suspenseful detective movie where you have to look for clues and solve the puzzle yourself as the movie will not answer it. I have deeply enjoyed seeing this film because it really captivated my interest till the very end and I will definitely re-watch it so I can see all the things I missed the first time. 

Dark City

This movie was definitely one of the most captivating and thrilling movies we've seen so far. The director was able to make a modernized sort of sci-fi movie with the same Film Noir styles. Most of the movie is shown in darkness, just like The Asphalt Jungle, to create a Film Noir type of setting. The theme of the movie would be that we have no control over our lives and can't change that. Everyone in this movie, even the powerful aliens, are powerless against fate and have their own problems to solve. John Murdoch can't remember who he is and tries to solve the mystery of his reputation as a murderer. His wife is trying to get John to come back to her. The doctor is trying to teach John the truth about the aliens and the world they live in while he is being controlled by the aliens to do their dirty work. However, even the aliens are facing a problem of extinction, which is why they started this project to learn about the humans. Also, the maze where the mice is trying to find its way out in the doctor's lab represents how all the characters are, in a way, that mice and are trying to find the answers to their lives. When we learn that the whole city is a spaceship, it shows the whole city as a sort of labyrinth with no escape, which is the feeling we get from the characters' dilemmas.

The Asphalt Jungle

This movie is one of my favorites we've seen so far, as the action and the plot develop more and more every minute. The "gangster" genre that this film is portrayed in adds character to the film. The characters are developed phenomenally as they are these bad gangsters with flaws that every person has. This makes the viewer feel as though they can connect to the characters. Emmerich's vice is women, while Cubby's vice is alcohol. Also, money is one of the most important vices these characters have. Handley's friend (Eddie i believe) gives Handley money while he himself has debts, so I'm curious to know what makes him so close to Handley. Because of the theme of movies shot during the time period this movie was made in, it's obvious that all of the main characters involved in the crime will come to a bad end one way or the other, as we have already seen with many of the characters.

Unforgiven

     Unforgiven was one of my favorite films we watched so far. It's definitely not the typical western, seeing as it points out and criticizes some of the parts of westerns we all know and anticipate. In this film, they focus on how the gun battles found in most westerns are poorly made and that it is usually the second person who shoots and takes his time that gets the kill, not the one blazing away. Also, they keep track of the amount of bullets each character has during these battles, while in other films we're supposed to consider the fact that they reloaded while the camera wasn't on them. Also, there were no swinging doors in this film as you can find in every pub in the classic westerns. The whores that are also sometimes found in most westerns are depicted as worthless animals. For example, Little Bill decides to negotiate with the two men over the whore's cut-up face by getting horses from each one of them as payment. "Property for property" depicts his view of these whores. 
    As the movie went on, I found it hard to determine who the real bad guy in this film was. Even though Will  is expected to be the bad guy because of his dark past, throughout the film he shows that he is a better person now and stopped drinking and killing for no reason. The only reason he went back to killing is to avenge his best friend Ned and get money to support his kids. I have a feeling that once he gets home, he won't be killing anyone anytime soon. Little Bill, on the other hand, is depicted as the good guy in the film. However, his actions make me think otherwise as he keeps on beating up and bullying newcomers in his town. Even though he believes that he is protecting his town and serving justice on those who deserve it, his means of doing it aren't exactly humane. Schofield Kid is a wanna-be killer that lies to Will and Ned at first about how many people he's killed, but after his first kill, he breaks down and confesses that it was his first kill and that it is an amazing thing that those guys will never breathe again because of a pull of a trigger. In the end, he tells Will that he is nothing like him and to take his gun, as he won't be doing any more killing.