"Sicko"

The movie "Sicko" was basically about Michael Moore's opinion on the United States health care system and his motive to change it by showing Americans how "great" other countries health care systems are. He goes on to talk about how various Americans are unable to afford health insurance because of the high costs or the exceptions to getting insurance due to one's current health. He claims that other countries such as France or Cuba have it easy, because it is free and prescriptions are really cheap. But Michael Moore is missing some very important facts about those other "better" health care countries such as not looking at the aspect of waiting lists and also the truth about the high debts that these countries have acquired.

I think America's health care system is messed up due to the fact of not allowing people to get health care and not covering such things as an ambulance ride, especially if you are unconscious. Michael Moore did point out some good, debatable aspects of the U.S. health care system, but he also left out the positives such as no waiting lists. I think America should change the way our healthcare is set up and allow everyone to be able to buy a plan because this is a free country and we are all citizens that are alike. What we could do is have people that have surgeries and/or multiple doctor visits, or really chronic health, just have those people pay a bigger co-pay. This way, we would all get the same treatment for insurance, instead of having a select amount of people not be able to have it at all. I think this was a good movie in the sense that it got people's attention and made them think about the United States' current health care system.

In the article, "From Ballet to Buddhism" I thought the young filmmaker Chaille Stovall was a very unique and brilliant young child. I was shocked to hear that he wrote his first documentary at the age of 12, because he was in dance for a disability and young boys were probably making fun of him. I was also surprised by reading the part that noted what Chaille found out throughout the dance documentary and the other documentaries he made. I mean he is just a young child and he already thinks/realizes that "film is the best medium to get out a message." He is so young, yet so smart. Overall, I thought it was interesting to read.

The article, 'Sicko':Heavily Doctored by Kurt Loden mainly depicts the faults of the Michael Moore movie. The article states that Moore does a real service in bringing these stories to light--some of them are horrifying, and then infuriating. I believe this is very true from the story about the 79 year old guy that is still working in order to pay for his prescriptions to the guy that sliced part of his fingers off and had to either pay $12,000 for one finger or $60,000 for the other. This article just brought the attention even more about the actual number of people in America that are uninsured. It talks about Hillary Clinton and her reform for the health care system which ended up getting shot down. Personally, I believe it was a good choice in not changing our health care in the way that Hillary wanted it, because we would have turned out to be just like the other countries that have enormous waiting lists and debt. Moore simply tried making the other countries look better, but they have faults in their health care system just like everyone else in the world. Simply put, there isn't an easy solution to make everyone happy. I believe health care will never stop having problems because of technology and how the population is growing.

"Memorable Line"

"Sometimes you gotta break the rules to make things straight."

This simple phrase means a lot to the characters in the movie such as Homer and Dr. Larch. First of all, Dr. Larch ends up breaking the rules or as he thinks "bending" the rules, so that Homer can work as a doctor at the orphanage house to take over Dr. Larch's position. One thing is that Homer never went to school of any kind. Dr. Larch broke the rule of copying his doctorate licenses and other things to make it look like Homer went to school and was a great canidate for the doctor position. Another example of rules being broken is from the house that the apple workers lived in. It was simple. None of occupants could read, therefore they didn't pay attention to the rules that they had broke. Another thing to add for examples, I believe is when Homer dated Candy, while Candy's boyfriend was over fighting in the war. They together broke the rules of relationships and that is what eventually leads Homer right back to the orphanage to start his career as a doctor.

I think that the saying means that rules are meant to keep society sane, but there are exceptions depending on the circumstances that are involved. If Dr. Larch didn't copy all of his doctoral paper for Homer, then a different doctor could be placed in that orphanage with different beliefs.

Some rules are for the better and they are to keep people at peace. But in the case of this movie, some rules are bad and they shouldn't be followed because they don't help society. So in this case, breaking the rules was a positive factor. I'm not saying that all rules should be broken or that Homer's case was fair, but I do believe that it was for the better of the orphanage. It was a great story to watch and enjoy with Homer growing up in the orphanage to Homer taking over the orphanage as the doctor.

"Little Miss Sunshine"

The movie, "Little Miss Sunshine" is about a middle-class family dealing with financial problems. The dad is trying to support the family by giving people motivation from his nine step program for success in life. The mom tries keeping everyone calm and satisfied without actually helping the money issue, stating that she doesn't have a job. Dwayne, a teenager, is their son, who took a vow of silence until he succeeds with his dream of becoming a test pilot, which his dad thinks he is following his nine step program. Their little girl Olive is just trying to find herself in her messed up family.

The story begins by the mom picking up her brother, who was in the hospital for attempted suicide. They sit down for their evening meal and the family is just plain weird and awkward because they go from the serious father to the son who doesn't speak, and the grandpa who is doing drugs. The parents get in a fight and then Olive gets in the middle because of her Little Miss Sunshine pageant. The entire family decides to go to California for the pageant because the mother fears that another attempted suicide might happen. They don't have a lot of money so they decide to drive their olden day van that barely runs. The van ends up malfunctioning along the entire trip. First of all, it completely stops running, and they get to the point that they have to push the van in order for it to work. They all start by pushing the car until it gains speed so it can start up, and then one by one they jump in the car. Another instance with the van occurs when it honks uncontrollably, and they even get pulled over. They stop at a hotel and decide to call it a night. Olive the little girl interrupts her parents' sleep and tells them that her grandpa is dead.

The family's next course of action is at the hospital with all of the papers to file about the dead body. They only have a few hours until the beauty contest so the family steals the grandpa's dead body and puts it in the trunk. They manage to get to the pageant and are bewildered with all of the girls, who look nothing like Olive. Olive performs her dance routine exactly like her grandpa showed her and the audience is awe struck because it isn't like any of the other girls' routines, it is more of a strip show. Olive's parents are told to take their daughter off the stage but instead they join in on the strip/porn dance. The police end up coming and Olive is allowed to go on the condition that she never enters another beauty contest in the state of California again. The family quickly obliges and is on their way home.

The trip seemed to bring the family together, even though they all did not want to go along in the first place. Even though the grandpa ended up dying, dwayne broke his vow of silence because he found out he was color blind and is now unable to become a pilot. The uncle seemed to be okay with this family even though he saw his ex with the new boyfriend. The Little Miss Sunshine pageant did wonders for the family.

The article entitled, "In High Fear on Low Funds" was an all right article. It dealt with talking about a family with limited means. Most movies don't talk about money issues or if they do, its not a matter because they have so much money. This movie was more down to earth with the middle class folks. The family in this movie didn't have a lot of money, but they still worked things out and tried to make everyone happy.

The other article talked about the five vans that were used in the film. I thought this was a very interesting article. I would never have imagined that they had used five different vans because they all looked the same in the film. I never thought about something going wrong with them but in reality it was an older type of van and it was in a climate that is very warm. Overall, it was a great article and an overall great movie to watch!

"The Full Monty"

The movie is about a guy named Gaz, who used to work in a steel mill making all sorts of different steel products. The mill soon goes out of business and Gaz loses his job along with other workers. So Gaz and his friend Dave try looking for a job or a way to get money. Gaz wants money for child support, so he can continue to see his son and Dave wants money to support his family. They start off the movie by stealing a big piece of steel, but instead it sinks their car in water. When this stunt turns out bad, they stumble across Chippendales, a men's show for women. This show involves dancing for women, but the men are not completely naked. Gaz and Dave decide that dancing for women would be a very good way to get the money that is needed. At first the men aren't too excited to do the strip show because of their physical bodies(mainly Dave, because he is fat), but they continue with the show. Next, they quickley get Lomper to join their show, who was was introduced to the film trying to kill himself by fumes going into his car. Gaz and Dave stop him and he goes along for the ride of the strip show. Soon, Gerald joins the dance show, he worked with Gaz and Dave at the steel mill. The guys sabotage Gerald's interview and Gerald was lost with no alternative but to join the show. The reason why Gerald also needs money is because his wife is still spending money like crazy and doesn't know that he lost his job. So, the strip show seems like a fast and easy way to get the money that he needs now!
The men start interviewing guys for their show and decide to have horse and a couple other guys join. They practice in an abandoned factory and are really worried about their appearances. They get caught practicing their strip show and the town of Sheffield finds out who the men are that were having the "real, naked show," so now they have to perform especially since 200 tickets were sold.
They perform the show and are nude, as in full monty, and that is why the movie is called, "The Full Monty." Also, in the end the last thing that was taken off was the hat. In addition to that, throughout the entire movie, music was played from when the guys are strolling down the street and come across chippendales to the time when they are performing their show.

The article talks about how the movie was based upon olden times when employment was a tough thing to find. It goes from talking about men that are steelworkers to men that take their clothes off in public, since society doesn't have a "role" for them anymore. Also, the article talks about how the men of this day and age, felt as if they needed to support their families, and one of the best ways to do that was to strip down, although this movie wasn't just about stripping down, it was also about creating a bond between these men and fulfilling their need of money for their families.
The article continues to go on to talk about bodies of men and women. It started off by talking about how men were presumed to be the tough, strong, built, and the hard gender; while women were perceived as light, feminine, soft, and weak gender. This image is soon changed with the guys showing off their bodies. The women turn into this wild beast that don't need men in their lives anymore, except for performing strip tease shows. An example is when a woman came in the bathroom of Chippendales and used a urinal. Altogether the article explains that the different relationships between men and women, and men with their sons is very important to society and men will do about anything to keep it going. The Full Monty was a prime example of someone being considered low class in the society to someone becoming a hero in the end.

Amelie

1) I think some of the things that stood out to me about the movie first off was the subtitles. They were translated to english differently than how Americans would normally talk, because the french language has different sentencing of words than what I am used to. I thought that storyline was also a little different because it was confusing and weird at the same time. I disliked Amelie because she seemed more less like a creeper and stalker than someone that was just trying to do go deeds for others. I was somewhat intrigued by the movie as well because it was nothing like American movies, especially in the sense that we don't flat out say, "sally likes these things and sally hates this." The plot was very confusing until the end when I figured out what she was trully doing with all of these peoples' lives and the end is when I figured out that she was actually trying to help all of these people. The movie was simple yet very complex. Also, it was very surprising!

2) I thought the movie was about a young girl whose parents sheltered her from the world because they thought she had heart problems and she was forced to be home-schooled by her mother. Her mother dies and later on she moves to a new apartment, by herself. At the apartment, she finds some treasure in one of the walls of the bathroom which was left by a former resident. She returns the treasure and she loves how the guy was so happy that she gave the treasure back to him that she decides to devote her time to doing good deeds for others throughout the movie such as writing love letters, helping the guy with the treasure box, helping two lovers unite, and also helping the guy who is said to have brittle bones and paints. After all of this, Amelie decides that she also wants to be happy, so she does so by doing little deeds to "tell" her lover that she likes him. It isn't until the very end that the guy figures out who has been playing these tricks on him and they begin dating.

3) I learned from Amelie that you should do good deeds for others to make them happy, but to also make yourself happy. In addition to that I learned to follow your heart and everything will come out in the end.

"Hotel Rwanda" and "Imaculee"

1. I learned a lot about the Rwanda genocide from the experiences I had last week, by watching the movie and listening to Imaculee tell her story. Honestly, before last week I didn't even know that this had even happened in Rwanda. To start off, I learned from the movie that the genocide was in 1994, between the Tutsis and the Hutu, which were the two main ethnic groups of the country. It all started when the Rwandan president and the Hutu president of Burundi's plane was shot down in a plane crash. After the plane crashed, the Hutu extremists began brutally killing and murdering thousands of Tutsis people everyday. The reason why the Hutu extremistst were doing this is because they believed the Tutsis were the reason why the presidents had died.

Through Imaculee's story, I also learned a lot of information that I had not known before. Imaculee's story was very touching. She told us all how she had lived in a small bathroom which was three feet by four feet with a number of other woman, for a period of 91 days! Imaculee had to hide in the bathroom in fear of her dying from being killed by the Hutu people. She survived this tragic experience with little or no food each day, and actually taught herself how to speak english. There were several times when she was almost caught by the Hutu clan, but she managed to stick it out to the end. I will never forget Imaculee's story and how she lost all of her family members. Whenever I think I am having a bad day, I will just think of how much harder it is for Imaculee to continue living with all the hardships she has been through.

Finally, I also learned that through all of this genocide in Rwanda, 800,000 Tutsis people were killed, in the Hutu extremists wills to kill the entire Tutsis population. It is a very sad experience and I hope that nothing like this ever happens in the world again.

2. The real event I am going to tell you about is the 9/11 event. I received all sorts of media messages ranging from television broadcasts to news on the radio and newspapers. I think the most believable messages came from the newspapers, because they tried to give you the most update and truthful information. The most emotional media was definetely the television broadcasts while it was actually happening. It was a very tragic experience in the United States and it was hard for me and fellow citizens to watch the trade towers falling down and killing Americans because of terrorists. In addition, I also remember the television broadcasts the best because that was the first time I had heard about the incident, while sitting in my health class. I think by listening to people on t.v. was very hard because they often blew things out of proportion, while the newspapers wanted to give their audience the correct information, so it was easier to read.

3. I believe the director of a movie has a great responsibility when producing a film about events in history as well as events that are occuring everyday. I believe that directors often blow things out of proportion to make people want to see the movie or to sell it better, but I believe that isn't the best thing to do. Many Americans watch these films and think they know everything about the event after watching the film, but often alot of the film is just lies or dramatic effects. I believe we all have the right to see movies that tell the truth, so we can all be informed correctly about different interests. It is the director's responsibility to sell the movie and make people want to see it, but I also believe that it is the director's responsibility to tell everyone the truth.

Artistic or Visual Design Assignment

I decided to do my assignment on the movie, "The Wizard of Oz." I thought this movie had lots of visual effects and lighting that changed often.

1. I think the overall set/location is very important to this movie because Dorothy is at her home and then is dropped in the middle of nowhere, into this magical land of munchkins. She was in a place, where she knew everything and how everything worked, and now is suddenly somewhere, where she doesn't have a clue what is going on. Dorothy just wishes she was at home, and home is the most important set that she wants at this point. In the end, Dorothy even asks the wizard to let her go home.

2. I think this film was shot at these sets because it is a Magical land, where it makes you think you are a kid again and realize that everyone really does like home. Even though sometimes kids wish to be in a land with chocolate or fantasy, they don't know what they have until they are gone. Dorothy was familiar with home and that is all she wants.

3. I think the art director is trying to tell everyone that the Wizard of Oz is all about fantasy as you can tell from their costumes. From the lion to the tin man, even to Dorothy's outfit, and the good witch's costume, it is all about happiness and a magical land that a kid might dream about.

4. I believe the lighting for the film was the correct amount. The lighting was both harsh and direct at times, but soft at other times, depending on how Dorothy feels about different things and where she is(at home or in the magical land.) When Dorothy is at home the lighting was soft because Dorothy was happy. But when the storm came along the lighting soon changed to a harsh effect. Also, during sad times during the film it was harsh, such as when the apes came after Dorothy and her friends.

5. I think the Director is trying to tell me that the lighting helps to tell the audience when something good is happening in the movie, as well as when something bad is happening in the movie. Good things have soft and diffused lighting when Dorothy is happy, and bad things have harsh and direct lighting when Dorothy is sad.