The Roar from the Greatest Villian - Jaws - An Amber Steele Review

Taking the risk on a small, no name director, Universal Studios had their hands full from the start. Steven Spielberg had only directed a few shorts at the time when he was given Jaws. Inexperienced, at the least, Spielberg had his hands on a tunnel to gold, but surely he didn’t think so at the time. Anything that could have gone wrong on set did. All the footage on the boat they were filming on sunk. Their main character, the shark himself, fell to the bottom of the ocean, MORE THAN ONCE! These were just a few of the things that were making Universal consider hiring a new director for the job. Where would our superior Spielberg be today, if he had been replaced? But Spielberg persevered and gave the world the first Blockbuster.

A type of Villain no one could have imagined, a villain who is never seen until more than two-thirds through the movie. A minute island off of the coast of New England, Amity holds an unassuming community who is blatantly unaware of the inevitable danger heading their way. Martin Brody, one of the newest members to the community and the new Chief of Police, is handed the first case of murder of a Chrissie Watkins. The autopsy report reads shark attack leading Brody to beg the mayor to close the beach.  But with the summer season and many tourists with money for the town heading their way, he refuses. At his final and only choice, Brody and two others head out to the ocean to track and kill the beast. 
           
There are many things that make this film interesting and appealing to such a wide audience. It thrills, scares and captivates all at the same time. With the malfunctioning mechanical shark, the allure of never seeing the shark makes the movie much more captivating. It seems that the human mind can create a much more disturbing character than actually seeing it.
           
Most people underestimate the power of a score or the help of music to set a mood in a film. This factor is probably the most important edge to the movie. John Williams takes two notes and creates a legendary and unmeasurable fear. Dun-dun dun-dun.
             

The Chaos of a Ending Race - Children of Men - An Amber Steele Review

Fertility? Gone. And the youngest human being of almost the past two decades has just been killed in a bomb explosion. The hope for humanity seems to be gone. The world in the year 2027 has been sent into a state of chaos. Britain, one of the few surviving countries, fights to maintain their hold the people of their country. The film undergoes a trek where
 Theo, our lead takes the last hope for the future of the world, and refugee, Kee, to the sea.

This movie is captivating from the start. The camera work was very mentally simulating as a film student.  At some points the actual camera would be involved into the scene, with blood splatters on the lens, etc.  For some it may “take them out” of the movie. For me, it pulls me in, as if I was actually in the scene.

The Director, Alfonso Curaron, and the Director of Photography, Emmanuel Lubezki, formulated many spectacular “oners” throughout the movie. They devised perfectly planned shots throughout the movie lasting minutes on end, with extremely wild action, perfect performances, and beautiful images. There are two shots in the movie that stand out to me, and might be the most renown for the movie: when they are in the car, and Julian gets killed and the ending of the movie where Kee and Theo are leaving the interment camp.

The director took the script he was given and did wonders with it. This movie’s cinematography brings awh to a wide variety of audiences. Personally I think we brought a very fresh and inquisitive way to look at film.

Through the Darkest Corners of Donnie Darko - An Amber Steele Review

Have you ever stopped to puzzle the idea of what would happen to the people around you, your family, your peers, or the world, if you did not die when you were supposed too? Would they even be affected? Would things change or continue in it's same monotone path? Deep in the suburbs, in a town called Middlesex, Donnie Darko lives with his family of five. Known to be one of the smartest kids in the local Catholic School, Donnie is often regarded by his peers to be an daunting outcast. His therapist also follows suit by proposing Donnie to be psychotic, and prescribing him medication for his frequent black outs and hallucinations. His main companion, we discover, is a tall demonized man wearing a bunny mask with a gun shot wound in his eye, Frank, one of his hallucinations.

Frank guides Donnie out of his house in the middle of the night, helping him evade the jet engine that is about to crash into on his room of the house. A half-awake Donnie standing in a golf course facing the menacing Frank is then revealed the coming of the end of the world. 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. By the next morning Donnie is well aware that Frank had saved his life, and that by following him we will survive the end of the world. Frank send Donnie on missions complying to extremely reckless things, both vandalize and flood the school, along with burning down a local televangelist's house.

Before I begin to analyze the films' artistic technique and camera work, I wanted to bring up the soundtrack of the film. Many songs were made famous by the cult film or whose popularity were just enhanced (Duran Duran's "Notorious", Tears For Fears' "Head over Heels" or Echo and the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon"). Even Michael Andrew's song "Mad World", that he made specifically for the film, has become renown across the world. At the same time Michael Andrew's scored the film making such melodies as "Gretchen Ross" or "The Tangent Universe" which would identify specific times or specific characters in the movie. Donnie Darko has been one of my favorite scored and soundtracked film's of all time. Purely brilliant.

My thoughts to categorizing a good or bad film dwell within the realms of intriguing me. Whether it be by the thoughts or ideas brought up by the film, motivations and actions of the characters (lead or not), and whether it consumes me helping me to forget world I live in. This film has claimed all three deeming qualities for me in just the first cut released in 2001 to just a hand full of small theaters in the U.S. thus making it one of my favorite films

  

The Tornment of Love and Hardships - The Princess Bride - An Amber Steele Review

The film begins with a young boy, sick in bed, playing video games when grandfather comes to visit him. Reluctantly the boy lets his grandfather read him a book that has been read to his family for generations, The Princess Bride. The Grandfather explains that the book is filled with action, adventure and true love. From there the film takes the audience into the book as the Grandfather begins to read. We are then introduced to the two main characters Westley the farmboy and Buttercup the farm owners daughter. Buttercup and Westley begin to form a loving relationship, but Westley is soon shipped out to the sea to acquire money for the two.

News comes to Buttercup that her sweet Westley's ship was over taken by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who left no survivors. Caught up in disrepair Buttercup accepts a hand in marriage to Prince Humperdinck. Buttercup is then captured by criminals on her daily ride as a ploy to get Prince Humperdinck's country to fight the country across the sea. Dread Pirate Roberts discovers and follows the boat of criminals holding Buttercup hostage. Soon after defeating the world's best Spanish sword fighter, biggest man giant, and the criminal crew's mastermind, the Dread Pirate Roberts reveals to Buttercup to be her one love Westley.

The plot twists in the movie seem to spring up from no where, which has always kept it interesting for me even though I know the plot to all ends. I have loved this movie since I was a child. That is definitely saying something about the movie regardless; it holds universal age likeability within it. It not only has a grand likeability going for it, but it also has an excess of comedy present on subjects that aren't normally laughable.

Buttercup is a character that many people can see terms with. She deals with the hardest of heartbreaks, still hollow she pushes to move on with her life hoping to find happiness. It's very common for people today attempting to muster the courage to push through their pains to reach a life of happiness. Westley shows passion and determination to us in a new and fresh way. He absolutely refuses to give up fighting for a life with Buttercup even at the point of death! (oops have I given away too much?)

Though there are many other character I have failed to go into detail about, it is now your job to watch and develop you're own opinions of the film! The Princess Bride has been and will always be one of my favorites. I will therefore give it a 4 out of 5 stars! Go watch and enjoy!