True Grit

    The 2010 film True Grit is a remake of the 1969 Western classic starring John Wayne and Robert Duvall. This film tells the tale of a young girl who's father is murdered in cold blood, and set for retribution, she goes on a dangerous adventure hunting down her father's killer with a washed up alcoholic bounty hunter. This film contains a very popular cast consisting of Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and finally Maddie, the true protagonist is portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld. True Grit's Western narrative begins in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Maddie is in town collecting her father's body and possessions. After she gets into town, Maddie has a change of heart and realizes what she must do to fix the wrong that the murderer Tom Chaney, and that is to hunt down and take Chaney dead or alive. In order to help her on this wild goose chase, Maddie goes through town searching for the best bounty hunter to enlist to help her capture Tom Chaney once and for all. After finally finding who some told her to be the best around, Maddie hires Rooster Cogburn, who's truly an old incompetent drunkard. In the beginning of their journey, Rooster attempts to leave Maddie behind and bring along Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, but Maddie chases after them and convinces them to bring her on their trip. This is where the true adventure begins for our main characters.
    Although, Rooster . In the beginning of their time spent trying to find Chaney, Maddie claimed Rooster had "true grit", which is by definition, courage, honor, bravery, and other characteristics of a truly heroic person. As the movie progresses and we see the disposition of each character, it is clear to the audience that someone does indeed have "true grit", and that character is Maddie. For the entire time Maddie is with Rooster, she was always helping him up when he was down and putting him in his place when need be, and most importantly, unlike Rooster, she never gave up. In one of the climactic moments in the movie, when Rooster gives up on their mission, Maddie desperately tries to continue their search and doesn't plan on stopping until she has Tom Chaney. Although Maddie is a seemingly harmless little girl, the idea of true grit is deeply rooted in her and shown through her character traits and actions in the film. This film to me is one of the most entertaining Western classics and this remake only made it hold up more in modern times. Another unique part about this film is the main characters themselves, Maddie and Rooster. Normally in Western classics the man is portrayed as the typical male hero who is extremely moral and a role model for all, and they save the damsel in distress, and in this film it's truly the other way around. We see a smart and brave young girl go on a deadly mission in the frontier to capture a murderer. Having a young girl take this role in a film is interesting because it doesn't happen all that often, and makes this movie special in it's own way. This is not only one of the most excellent Westerns in the past few years, but it is also an outstanding remake and it deserves all the love it gets.

Alien

     During the 1970s, a new wave of space movies started that would eventually lead to the modernization of one of the most popular genres and most popular film franchises of all time. The influx of films set in galactic territory contained such franchises as Star Trek, Star Wars, and the Alien series. In 1979, prestigious director Ridley Scott, created one of the most unique and revolutionizing films of it's time and genre. Unlike Star Wars and Star Trek, Ridley Scott's Alien steered away from the more upbeat and vibrant elements of the space films of it's time, and set itself in a more intimidating and sinister version of space than previously seen in cinema. Many would argue that Alien set the archetype for sci fi horror films to come in the following year and even modern cinema. Ridley Scott's rendition of space was a dark and menacing place where audiences felt as though something could be lurking around every corner of the deep dark galaxy. Alien was a very important film in that it changed the way modern sci fi directors think today and really created an icon that is the alien in that film.
     At it's time, Alien contained two major stars to be in the American film industry. Not only was Tom Skerritt, most known for his role in Top Gun, one of the lead space goers in Alien, but the true protagonist in the sci fi horror was Sigourney Weaver, who would later become one of the most famous actresses in modern cinema. After her role in this film, Weaver's popularity sky rocketed and her career took off from Alien. Throughout the film, there is a sense of dread and unease that something horrible is going to happen and that is one of the best parts about the movie. As some say, fear is the best character, and the sense of fear that comes from the ambience of being on an isolated ship in deep space really strikes it's viewers. One of the most memorable things about this movie is the tagline, which read, "In space no one can hear you scream", and that perfectly describes what works so well in this movie. As each of the characters makes the decision to wander into the bowels of the ship where some unknown terror is awaiting them, a sense of anxiety is transferred to the audience as we know something bad is out there and the characters in the film might not know what awaits them. This sense of dread stays until the end when the protagonist and true hero, Weaver's character fulfills the "hero" role and defeats the alien creature, which is something that none of the other characters could do. The fact that this woman was able to step up and solve the problem not even the captain of the ship could do went against most prior situations in popular film where it was a male who was the real hero, not a female. This movie not only made popular the sci fi horror genre in general, but also was the first major film to use a female as the action star/hero. Ridley Scott has gone down in history as one of the most revolutionary directors for the science fiction genre as a whole and popular culture would forever be changed because of his works, Alien is not merely another sci fi horror film, but a work of art that sculpted the way similar films were created over the next few centuries.

Best in Show

     Documentaries are a type of film that have been around since the early 20th century and are continued to be made today, but "mockumentaries" put a spin on the genre to create a more comedic effect. Renowned director Christopher Guest has created and starred in several mockumentaries including This Is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and Best in Show. I recently watched Best in Show, Guest's film from 2000 that follows the lives of several different dog owners as they prepare for a national dog show. This film's star studded cast consists of Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, John Michael Higgins, and of course Christopher Guest. Best in Show utilizes everything that works well in a documentary and in my opinion, makes it better by adding a comedic tone.
     Throughout the entire film, the use of popular documentary elements makes the film more interesting by adding things most audiences aren't used to in a comedy film. One of the things I believe works best in this film, is cut aways. In order to add interesting backstories behind he characters, their is cut aways which is basically a one on one interview with just the dog owner(s) and the cameraman. This allows the audience to hear some personal information from the characters that you wouldn't normally hear in a regular scene, and that further allows the audience to create a stronger bond and connect with the character more. One of the other intriguing elements in this film is how all of the characters are constantly very close to each other, without actually meeting until later on in the film. The audience gets to see jump cuts from one character to another, and although they're not physically together, the editing allows us to see everyone in rapid succession so it never feels like a certain character is isolated. In the third act, when all of the characters finally meet and compete against each other in the big show, it is very rewarding for the audience to see everything finally come together. Although it isn't the most mainstream popular comedy, it is a truly smart and comedic film that puts a twist on normal comedies that not only makes it more enticing but smarter as well. Best in Show is a great film that adds a lot to several genres and does what it attempts very well.