Films and movies are probably the most popular form of entertainment in the world. The film industry has grown into a big entity over the centuries, which not only provides employment for actors and producers but also keeps viewers entertained at all times.
As a film fanatic, I will attempt to review some movies that were interesting and entertaining (Gazetas, 2008). Titanic is an example of one epic romance and disaster movie that was released in 1997. This is a movie that still sells entertaining viewers, who did not live at the time of the real Titanic. This movie was based on a true story of the ship Titanic that sank into the ocean. The Titanic was produced and directed by James Cameron, a successful Hollywood producer; starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet.
The film starts with the episode, in which Brock Lovett, a treasure hunter, explores the wreck of the Titanic together with his team in the hope of finding the necklace called the Heart of the Ocean. The team believes that the jewelry is in Caledon Hockey’s safe, and they recover it. However, they do not find the necklace, but find a painting of a naked woman wearing the chain, which was dated April 14th 1912, the day that the Titanic sank. Rose Dawson finds out about the drawings and then contacts Lovett, and she tells them her story on the ship.
In 1912, 17year old Rose boards the titanic with her fiance Cal, the son of a tycoon, and her mother Ruth. Ruth stresses to Rose the importance of her marriage to Cal because it will solve their financial issues. Rose is, however, distressed and tries to commit suicide by jumping over the deck. Before she could jump over, a young artist of the third class intersects her and convinces her not to jump.
When Cal asks her about it, she lies to him that she was trying to look over the deck in curiosity, but tripped and Jack, the artist, saved her. By the following day, Jack and Rose have developed a timidcomradeship that is forbidden by both Cal and Rose’s mother. She is sneaked into the third class party by Jack, and then Rose realizes that she prefers Jack over Cal. They spend some time together and they go to Rose’s stateroom,where she asks Jack to sketch her wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean, the engagement present from Cal. They move to the ship’s cargo then, where they make love.
Afterwards,they return to the ship’s deck, where they witness the ship’s collision with the iceberg. Cal discovers the painting and is infuriated, so he frames Jack for stealing the chain. The ship starts sinking and Rose stays behind to find Jack. The ship tips over at 90degrees, and they both fall into the water. Jack saves Rose by putting her on the top of a board, but Jack dies of hypothermia.
The story ends when Rose throws the Heart of the Ocean into the ocean. Titanic was a successful movie with quality production, good effects and a well-structured story line. It is a combination of romance, thriller andadventure movies rolled into one. There are moments of exuberance, humor pathos and tragedy.
The characters do the incredible work in marrying those qualities into the movie, and at the same time gaining the sympathy of the viewers. James Cameron’s ability to bring out meticulous details in the movie remains vast in scope, and intent gives the viewers the privilege of not just watching, but experiencing the movie. His flawless recreation of the Titanic ship has blurred the line between reality and imagination. It is as if he created a whole new Titanic ship just to sail it and sink it, in order to bring out and capture the real story and events. He makes it look like the ship and the characters were actually not an illusion, but real characters (Berardinelli, 1997).
Cameron places his characters above the visual effects in the movie. Despite te fact that the movie has almost perfect visual effects, he uses the effects to serve his plot and not the other way around. The pictures spectacle the sinking of the ship, but the core of the movie is in the affair between the two mismatched pair of star-crossed lovers. The film does not just start as any other. It is twisted to make it more interesting by throwing in the flash backs.
The whole movie is based on a flash back, where Rose recalls her experience on the ship after a treasure hunter finds her portrait. This mix of style and effects is what makes Titanica work of art and class, which makes it the most watched movie decades after its production. The Shawshank Redemption was another epic drama film, written and directed by Frank Drarabont; starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Adopted from the story by Stephen King,novella Rita Heyworth and Shawshank Redemption, the film tells the story of Andy Dufresne, who spends twenty years in jail for the murder of his wife and her lover, in spite of his claims of blamelessness. During his time there, he befriends another jail mate, Ellis Redding, and also finds himself getting favoured by the guards, when he helps the warden with his money laundering business. Andy obtains a small hammer from Red and uses it to make small chess pieces.
Red jokes that Andy could use the hammer to break out of prison, when Andy gets a poster of Rita Heyworth from Red. During his first two years in the prison, Andy works at the prison laundry. He attracts the attention of the ‘sisters’, the group of inmates who assault other inmates sexually. He tries to avoid them as much as possible, but is beaten and raped a number of times on a regular basis. He later overhears Hadley, the warden, complaining of having to pay taxes on a forthcoming inheritance, and he explains to him a legal loophole. He is, thereafter, reassigned to help the librarian, an elderly inmate, on the pretext to allow Andy to work on the financial requests full time.
His financial advice is sought after by other prison guards from nearby prisons. Hadley gives a beating to the gang after assaulting Andy, and leaving him at the infirmary. The gang does not abuse Andy from then on as he now had protection.Andy helps an inmate, who recently got incarcerated on robbery charges, to get his GED.
When he hears about Andy’s case, he reveals that an inmate in a nearby prison claimed to have committed a similar murder, suggesting Andy’s innocence. Norton, fearing that Andy will reveal the details of his corrupt money business, refuses to cooperate and, after arguing, he throws him in solitary confinement for two months. He then organizes the death of Tommy, making it appear like an unsuccessful escape endeavor. Andy returns to his ordinary cell chunk and tells Red of his trance of living in Zihuatanejo, and setting up a lodge with boat rides for his clientele. Andy instructs him that should he ever be freed, to visit a specific hayfield to receive a package. The following day at the roll call, Andy’s cell is found empty.
Norton gets angry at Andy’s disappearance and throws a stone through the poster and discovers a tunnel he had been digging using his rock hammer for the past 20years. Andy had switched Norton’s ledger with his prison issue bible. Taking his chess set, the ledger and a suit that he stole from one of the wardens; he escapes through the passageway and a tapered sewage sap during a cloudburst. Andy sends evidence of Norton’s corruption to a local newspaper, and reports Tommy’s death. The police arrest Hadley, but Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest. Red receives parole after 40 years and remembers Andy’s advice.
He finds a cache of money and a note from Andy telling him to go to Zihuatanejo, where they are united and start a new life. This is a simple story of hope made by the remarkable interaction between two the charracters, Andy and Red. The two actors Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins do a fantastic job at making their roles genuine and believable. They also work together extremely well, almost as if they had known each other.
This is not a fancy film where they throw fancy tricks here and there to make the movie interesting or to capture the attention of the viewer. Some of the violence in the movie is extreme, but it only serves the purpose of the movie, which is to bring out hope. The movie ends with a feel of exuberant emotion, but one would wish it only goes on a bit longer. It is a simple touching film graced with depth and commitment (Chee, 2003).
Singing in the Rain is an old classical movie, produced by Arthur Freed and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. This is an American comedy musical released in 1952. It offers a stand-upportrayal of Hollywood, and its evolution from soundless films to talkies. It was, however, not a hit when it was produced, but it accorded its legendary status by contemporary critics.
Don Lockwood is a silent movie star, who was a singer, dancer and stunt man. He hardly tolerates Lina Lamont, his leading lady, who is egoistic and brainless, according to him. He prefers the upcoming actress Kathy Selden, whom he met while he was escaping his screaming fans.. She drops him off, but not prior to claiming to be a theater actress and sniping at his unbecoming accomplishments.
Kathy states at first that she does not recognize Don. However, later into the film, she admits that she knew him and was actually a big fan. R.F Simpson, the head of Don’s studio, one day at a party decided to do the demonstration of a short vita phone taking picture, but the guests are not impressed.
Kathy then pops up of a tease cake exactly in front of him as an element of the amusement, and it turns out that Kathy is a chorus girl. Don teases her and she is furious, and decides to throw a real cake at him. The cake misses him and hits Lina right in the face. Don later looks for Kathy and makes up with her, and they start falling in love.After a competitor studio have a massive hit with their first talking movie, Don’ studio have to turn the movie ‘Dueling Cavalier’ into a talkie. The production is faced with a number of difficulties that actually reflect what took place in the beginning years of talking movies.
Their worst problem was Lina’s voice. They could not get her to talk properly, and the sound synchrony was off at some point in the movie. Cosmo has an idea that they should record her voice with Kathy’s, and turn the movie into a musical. Lina finds it out and loses her temper and attempts to sue. The movie is a success, and when the audience asks for Lina to sing live, they improvise by asking her to lip sync as Kathy sings into a different microphone back stage.
Their plot backfires as they are discovered and Lina walks out of stage embarrassed. They bring out Kathy, and together with Don they introduce their new movie Singing in the Rain. Singing in the Rain is considered one of the best musicals of all time. It takes one through the journey of feel good territory.
It is one of the best mood altering movies ever done. It was produced during the height of the movie musical era. More than 50years after its release, it is still a testimony to the craftsmanship of the producers and the athleticism of the actors. It takes us back into the time of the 20’s where silent films were being neglected.
They bring out the story to the screen in a tremendously intriguing manner. Unlike many musicals, Singing in the Rain was not based on stage production. Most of the songs were written and composed specifically for the movie. It received numerous nominations, neither of which it won. Though it is an old movie, for the lovers of musicals, it is a must watch. One experiences the most splendid examples of cinema entertainment (Dennison, 2006).
