Week 15

     My favorite screening we watching in class was Pans Labyrinth. I've never seen the movie before we watched it in class. I found the movie very entertaining and I liked how the movie was in Spanish also. I don't mind reading subtitles and I think a movie should always be played in its native language. The movie also had the one scene with the food that is iconic. I have seen the scene before but I didn't know it was from the movie.

    One thing I discovered about myself as a film spectator is I learned that instead of just watching a movie for entertainment I can watch and imagine what it was like for the actors and even the filmers. After we made our own films in class I saw what it was like for actors and film makers and now when I watch a movie I can imagine what its like for them.

    One movie I saw over the pandemic was Scarface and I want to watch the movie with my friends now because it is my favorite movie now. I think watching a movie with others is a very different experience because you can see their reactions and talk about what you think after. I think Scarface would be a great movie to watch with my friends and I think they would enjoy it.

    I think next semester you should show the class "Knives out." Its like a murder mystery movie and I saw it a couple years ago and its a very good movie. 

Week 14

     This week I watched The Social Dilemma for homework. I thought this film was very interesting and relevant. It talked about how we are addicted to our phones and we pretty much rely on them for everything. Recently I have been trying to not use my phone as much. I am realizing that social media is pretty much pointless and you don't get anything out of it. It is pretty much just a waste of time and yet everyone spends so much time everyday on it. We know we are addicted but there is nothing we can do about it. Day after day we spend hours and hours on social media. 

    After watching the film only helped me realize more how much of a problem it really is. The parts that really stood out to me were the parts when they were in the command room and they were taking data on the kid and created a model of him. I feel this is actually accurate and its actually what happens. People don't realize that all the things we search and like and even look at is being tracked. Another part of the film I found interesting was when the kid had to try to not go on his phone for a whole week. I think this would actually be a good challenge to try because I am curious if I could do it. One time I did do a 24 hour no phone challenge with myself and I was able to go 24 hours without going on my phone. This wasn't actually that difficult for me to do.

    In conclusion I think the film was very informational and it really makes you think and do some self reflection. Social media is the problem that we don't think is a problem. It leads to depression in young people because they see other people and compare themselves to these perfect people on social media. I think people should really start to limit the amount of time they spend on social media every day. Live life and live in the moment without looking at your screen. 

Week 13

     This week in class we got to watch Jaws. I've seen the movie before but its been a while. The last time I watched it I was just a kid. Watching it again was a great refresher for me and it was a different experience watching it as an adult rather than just being a kid. As a kid when you watch movies you don't really understand what is actually going on, you just watch for the action. Watching as an adult you can actually understand the dialogue and understand more of the plot and interactions between characters.

    I think Jaws did a great job at its story telling and plot. It was very engaging and entertaining. I felt very locked into the movie and invested and next thing I knew class was over. Jaws was such an iconic movie for its time and I think one of the main reasons why is because of the special effects, especially the shark itself. It looked very realistic for its time and even still looks realistic. The movie was made in 1975 and the shark looks more realistic than some things created by CGI in more recent movies. If it looks realistic to me now I can only imagine what it looked like back in 1975 when people first saw the movie.  I've always been a fan of practical effects and costumes over CGI. I think that practical effects look more realistic than CGI does. 

     Overall I enjoyed watching Jaws in class and I thought it was very surprising that some people have never seen the movie before. Even if people have never seen the full movie before I bet they have seen clips or scenes from the movie. One of my favorite quotes from the movie is where they are on the boat and the shark comes and he says "Were gonna need a bigger boat." Another one of my favorite scenes was when they finally kill the shark and blow it up.