Movies and Me

Movies & Lucas Lowman

Lucas Lowman has always loved movies. Movies have inspired him, made him angry, made him sad, made him laugh, and movies have made Lucas have fun.

A movie that inspired Mr. Lowman was Arthur. This movie made him realize how entitled he was and how he needed to work for things and earn things.

A movie that made him angry with rage was ironically 28 Weeks Later. The ending is so depressing that it just makes him plain mad.

A movie that made him sad was I Am Sam. The movie is about a mentally ill father raising a little girl. The relationship between the two is heartbreaking to him.

Lastly, a movie that made him laugh is the movie Paul.  Do I need to explain why, he asked.

Corruption

 Corruption in the MPAA

There is a long process for movies, from inception to the big screen for the public audience. One of the most important and corrupt parts of the process is the MPAA.

The MPAA is the organization that decides what a movie should be rated. The people’s identities that meet and decide the ratings are secret. The MPAA is supposedly composed of average American parents, but that seems pretty unlikely. If endorsed by a major film studio your film will get a “public ready” rating, mostly because of the money that will get made from it. If you are an independent filmmaker with a risqué scene based around sex your film is most likely to get an NC17 rating. But violence is totally fine. If its bloody violence expect an R, and if it’s just plain old violence than expect a PG13. But don’t have put sex in an independent film for your likely going to have to edit the scene out for a lower rating. In most other countries it is the polar opposite. Violence is condemned rather than sex. Nobody really knows much about the MPAA except for the people who work for it. There is no transparency in the MPAA. Also when accusations are made against them they never respond. Thus leaving people to believe they aren’t accountable for their actions. Lastly their rating system is incredibly inconsistent.

On March 1^st, 2011 Chris Dodd was picked as the new head of the MPAA. He is an extremely corrupt politician. He proposed to bailout Countrywide financial because mortgages on his house were taken out by Countrywide. He also gave wrong info about the fall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saying they were in good standing. The list goes on and on.

Corruption is abundant in the MPAA. It is time for it to stop. The organization needs to be restructured and more transparent. 

Joe Johnston

       Joe Johnston is an American film director. His notable works include Jumanji, Jurassic Park 3, and the upcoming Captain America. He attended USC film school and is from the state of Texas. He is a blunt director and when a movie doesn’t do well he admits it. 

Super 8

The Making of a Super Movie

I went to go see Super 8 on midnight. I went in there with medium expectations partly because I didn’t know what to expect. The ad campaigns for Super 8 did a really good job at giving absolutely nothing away. Marketwatch.com says that, "Super 8’s last-minute ad campaign may have baffled audiences but not enough to keep them away from theaters, as the film raked in $37 million in its opening weekend at U.S. box offices.” Their ad campaign was very mysterious and vague. While some argued their ads wouldn’t grab audiences, it obviously left the audience wondering what the hell?

The budget for the movie was 50 million and so far has grossed 43.2 million. The cinematography in the movie was amazing making sure the mystery stayed. You knew just as much as the characters. Larry Fong was the cinematographer his works include 300, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch. JJ Abrams produced, wrote, and directed. This man is considered a genius by most. He dabbles both in movies and TV. Steven Spielberg also produced.

 Joel Courtney played the main character and this was his first major movie role. Elle Fanning played the love interest and is actually Dakota Fanning’s little sister. Kyle Chandler played Joel Courtney’s father and probably had the best character development in the movie.

Overall this movie is one big mystery and insightful for anyone with a traumatic past.