Film & TV - film reviews

The Shining Review

My perception of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining- Instead of the normal cramped darkness and panicky quick editing of the standard-issue scary movie, Kubrick gave us the audience spooky, huge, brilliantly lit spaces of the Overlook Hotel which was initially created in Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire. It actually looks like an abandoned city or you could say the state rooms of the Titanic; amazingly undamaged at the bottom of the ocean. There's inspiration simply in the scene in which the young Danny (Danny Lloyd) rides his tricycle around the boundless corridors; the wheels thundering on the wooden floor, at that moment suddenly the sound of the thundering gets quiet over the carpet which then alerts us the audience that something bad is going to happen and this is just before he sees the strange little girls covered in blood. Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall play Danny's parents, Jack and Wendy, who have the live-in job of care-taking an enormous resort hotel while it is closed for the winter. But the place is soaked in the memory of a violent past, and the horror and trauma rise unavoidably. The easy-going pace, lengthy dialogue scenes and those sudden threatening inter-titles ("One Month Later", "4pm" etc) contribute to the awkwardness. Nicholson's performance as the abusive father who is tipped over the edge is a rousingly rough, black-comic turn, and I found out that the final shot of his face in daylight is a masterstroke.

Jaws Review

In my view, Jaws was absolutely amazing.  I was instantly terrified by the drowning girls scream as it was so real! Steven Spielberg had made himself the most successful director of all time. The cinematography is outstanding in its cruel attempt to bring the audience to the depths of a powerful ocean and to the eyes of the dark. The story of the killer shark attacking only the unfortunate island in the world is more than scary. It could have been any place in the world, and it had to be Amity Island. The shark could have easily lost its way in the currents of the ocean, but as the opposite inhabitants of the beach got angry, this shark was there to stay! The technique is wild, absolutely wild, and John Williams sure earned that Oscar for it! The creepy piano notes impact the films titles, and the blue depths of the unknown territory beneath the sea let us all know that no sense, however small, was to be spared. The first victim, alone will haunt those who view it for the rest of their days, and the rest of the story is more like a battle. This strange battle is often more focused on understanding the other side. The common theme in this terrific classic is survival. Survival is a natural instinct to all animal alike. The shark must survive, as it makes so clear by catching unsuspecting swimmers, but also the people, they too have to survive, but the island is not big enough for both man and fish together.

Romeo & Juliet Review

I believe  Baz Luhrmann chose the right Shakespearean play to make into a film. The film was based on the play and it only modernised in 1996; a story about two star crossed lovers. I loved this film adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, I thought Luhrmann cleverly directed it. Especially, the fight scene, a gun is aimed and at the side of the gun it says sword which then relates it back to the Shakespeare play. 

The historical influence in the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, aka the Rodney King Riots. The early 1990s was in a difficult time, specially for South Central. South Central was rapidly changing. During the 1980s, 1991 and 1992 were the worst on record for crime rates. 1992, the year of the riots, the murder rate was the highest in LA in history. At 1077 murders, it was close to three times the rate today. Many of these deaths came from gang violence in South Central. However, in Watts in the projects, gang violence came to a complete end. Right before the riots, there was a massive gang armistice between the Bloods and the Crips throughout the three Watts’ projects. This came as a result of unity against the police. 

Rodney King was severely beaten by the police on the third of March, 1991. The police attempted to pull him over in the Lake View Terrace in the San Fernando Valley after he was caught speeding at 110 mph. He led the police on a short pursuit as I believe he knew being pulled over would violate his parole for a prior robbery. The police claimed that he was resisting arrest once he was pulled over. They claimed he was on drugs, I had done further research and actually realised he was not. The police in fact continued to beat Rodney King brutally knowing their mistake.

This play was  used was for the attractive personalities in the play so the audience could: easily get the storyline, hopefully realise it's actual intentions. The modernised version of Romeo and Juliet came out parents started to question their children just to make sure they were not apart of gangs.

This film is a modernisation of Shakespeare's play  containing the original Shakespearean dialogue. The Montague's and the Capulet's are represented as warring business empires and swords are replaced by guns with brand names of the guns known as Dagger, Sword.
In the adapted version the Prince, Prince Escalus is a police general and other things such as horses were replaced with cars and in the traditional Shakespeare the sword fight is replaced as a gun fight. The play is set In the fictional modern-day location "Verona Beach" which isn't actually in Verona. It was modernised after the original publication. it was mainly intended to educate a particular audience of the ages sixteen to twenty-five. The reason this play was mainly used was because of the attractive personalities in the play the audience could: easily get the storyline, hopefully realising it's intentions. After the modernised version of Romeo and Juliet came out parents started to question their children just to make sure they were not involved in gangs.

Numbers of Gangs and Gang Members 1996-2000

NYGC researchers estimate that more than 24,500 gangs were

active in the United States in 2000, a decline of 5 percent from

1999. However, cities with a population of more than 25,000 experienced

a slight increase (up 1 percent from 1999) in the number of

gangs. The estimated 12,850 gangs in these cities equals the 1996

estimate, the largest number reported during the survey years.

This quote was taken from the following website

 https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/ojjdp/fs200203.txt