Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Chase - Terminator 2


   At the time of this scene, Skynet has activated and identifies mankind as its enemy. A boy, John Connor, is destined to be the future leader of the human rebellion. Skynet, the revolutionary military artificial intelligence system, has sent humanoids called terminators to kill John in the past. This particular model, the T-1000, has an indestructible body to go along with his mechanically designed need to kill John Connor. The boy is told from childhood that he would grow to become a great leader; however, he feels hopeless when he is cornered by the T-1000. Just as the would-be leader is about to be killed, another humanoid, the T-800 pulls his gun from a bouquet of roses to shoot the T-1000.

   I believe this scene form "Terminator 2" deserves to be posted on my blog since it is the perfect example of irony. One of the ironies is that in the previous movie, the T-800 is the main villain. It tried to kill John Connor’s mother, Sarah Connor, to prevent the birth of John. John chooses the T-800 to protect himself from the T-1000. This indicates that John has an understanding beyond the concept of human against robot. This is further proof of his leadership and wisdom by allying himself with a stronger foe. He understands the terminator can be either his enemy or a great ally. The other irony in this scene is that the terminator is pulling his gun out of the rose box. Who would think that he would hide his gun inside of a rose box? The hazardous gun in a beautiful rose box increases the dramatic irony of the movie. As the T-800 pulls out his gun and aims it at his enemy, the red rose-pedals spread on the floor like drops of blood. The contrast between rose and gun increases the mise-en-scene of the movie.

May-28-2015

The Ice Dance - Edward Scissorhands

   
   The clip above is the famous ‘Ice Dance’ scene in the movie, Edward Scissorhands, by Tim burton. I will need a few pages to explain how much I love the film, but I will make it short to describe the most beautiful scene in the movie. Edward is a humanoid with scissor-hands who never had an intimate relationship due to his unique physical trait. His face is covered with scars from his own hands and he injures people around him unintentionally. People are interested and scared of him at the same time. The girl in the white dress is Kim who is not prejudice towards Edward. She is the only one who tries to see through Edward and seeks to find his kind nature.
   The scene is the most famous as well as the most beautiful scene in the movie. Edward is sculpting an ice statue for Kim’s Christmas party. As Kim sees snow from the statue, she starts dancing under the snow. Personally, I think the best part of the scene is the dreamy music which perfectly fits together with the beautiful dancing scene. The components of this scene, more notably the music, snow and her white dress create an absolutely stunning scene.
   This scene is meaningful because it reveals the characteristics of the two main characters, Kim and Edward. Kim is an innocent character who is not biased, contrast to her neighbors. She knows to see through the nature of a person, in this case Edward, and too look at the warmth in his heart all the while looking past his appearance. Edward is a character who is talented in making stunning art work however he continuously hurts the people around him.

   Moreover, creating snow is a non-verbal method for Edward to communicate with Kim. Kim realizes the kind nature of Edward and she becomes more attached to him after the ‘Ice Dance’. When she becomes old and she cannot see Edward anymore, she still knows he is out there by looking at the snow.  

May-27-2015

The Domino - V For Vendetta


   The movie, 'V For Vendetta,' contains so many epic scenes that it was hard for me to settle on a favourite, considering it is also one of my favourite film. But in the end, I picked the domino scene. Like Gone Girl, it shows a montage of different things happening at once while there is a narration voiceover of someone important explaining what is happening - or in this case, what will happen. As the deadline day of November 5th approaches, the government is panicking as its citizens take up the streets in rebellion against them. It is a really cool scene because as the narrator is talking, V is setting up a huge set of dominoes that create his symbol, 'V.' At the end when he topples the domino over and it creates the domino effect, it looks really awesome. In addition, it is a great usage of foreshadowing of all the things that are about to happen in the UK. I would consider this scene a part of the rising action before it hits the climax - the music is also pretty suspenseful and consists of a nice build-up. I think this scene, along with many in the movie, was one of the greatest moments in the film.

May-26-2015

The Sick Truth - Gone Girl



   I've always loved films that contain a good plot twist. In the movie, 'Gone Girl,' I was mesmerized by the ultimate plot twist in the scene where it is revealed that Nick Dunne's wife is not dead, but technically missing, and she framed him for her alleged murder. The scene consists of a montage of events of Amy Dunne, his wife, doing the various things that needed to be done in order to achieve her plan to frame him. Her voice is narrating her meticulous plan in the background as we are shown each step she took such as faking a pregnancy and writing fake entries in a diary claiming he abused her. It shows everything chronologically from what approximately looks like a year ago until the morning of her disappearance. It is such a great scene because I remember being absolutely blown away by it when I was watching in the theater. I haven't had the slightest clue because up until then, the movie made it seem so convincing that Nick had killed her. Also, it's a great scene because the movie leaves you with so many questions in your head about the various clues that are scattered out but basically in one scene, your questions get answered as it shows how she did certain things, when she did them, and why. Since it was such an unexpected plot twist, it remains one of my favourite unforgettable movie scenes today.

May-25-2015

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The First Encounter - Forrest Gump


   There are so many scenes I could choose to write about from the film, 'Forrest Gump.' It's filled with quotable dialogue, hilarious moments, as well as unforgettable scenes that are either emotional or action-packed or both. But the one scene that really stood out for me was the one near the end when Forrest Gump meets his son for the first time. Forrest is reunited with his love, Jenny, once again after many years. He meets her at her house, and upon greeting each other, Jenny tells Forrest there is someone that she'd like for him to meet and introduces him to her son who she also named Forrest after his father. This is one of my favourite scenes because after it fully registers in Forrest's mind that the little boy is his son, he asks with a shaky voice: "Is he smart? Or is he...li-.." and subtly pats his chest. Though he doesn't finish his question, you know that he is referring to himself... and his condition. It's such a touching scene because it shows that Forrest knew about his condition all along despite seeming blissfully unaware of it throughout the movie on his many wonderful adventures. Jenny answers him by stating that Little Forrest is the smartest in his class, and Forrest composes himself as he gets a bit emotional, then sits down beside his son.

May-22-2015