Independant Film vs. Mainstream Film

The mainstream movie that I am comparing is Shawshank Redemption. I enjoyed this movie and I liked the story line. I noticed that most of the mainstream films that I have watched have a good, hero guy and a bad, villian guy. They are very distinct and can easily be noticed. I understood the story line of all this movie and it was easy for me to watch. There were some inspirational and memorable quotes in this movie.




The independant film that we wached was Donnie Darko. I really didn't like this movie. The only parts I enjoyed was the music, Jake Gyllenhaal and there were a couple funny parts. This movie was very hard to follow along and I felt that the movie really had no point. Unlike the mainstream movie, I couldn't find a real good hero in the independant film. The villians in Donnie Darko were easy to tell, but the hero weren't the textbook hero that I was looking for. I also couldn't remember any quotes that really stuck out to me in the independant film.

1.Wall-E
2.The Great Debaters
3.Simpson's Movie
4.The Graduate
5.Shawshank Redemption
6.Psycho
7.V for Vendetta
8.Citizen Kane
9.Gone With the Wind
10.Donnie Darko

Wall-E Movie Review

"Wall-E" and "Eve" are basically the only words that are said in the movie Wall-E. The movie is shown mostly threw body language and the voices are mainly robotic and there are only a few human voices. I was glued to the movie and I was fasinated by the way the writer could show emotions in a cartoon without using words. I rated this movie 4.8 out of 5 stars. I think this movie satisfies any age group, from young children to moms and dads. At times this movie was very sad, like when Eve leaves Wall-E. And there were times that were very funny, like when Wall-E found a spork and didn't know whether to put it with the forks or spoons.

I think it was really clever how the writer of Wall-E kind of poked fun at our weight problem and garbage use. In the future it showed that instead of sky scrapers, there are huge piles of garbage and that the earth is too poluted to maintain human life. I also found it funny how all the humans that were living in space didn't know how to walk because machines carried them around and did everything for them. I also found Wall-E to be very cute and I loved his outlook on life, even though he was a robot. He found the simplest things fascinating and he risked his life for Eve, the robot that he loved.

The Great Debate Podcast

http://www.box.net/shared/28dpri4ae8

http://www.box.net/shared/h5gpe2ua95

http://www.box.net/shared/me25qkqujk

http://www.box.net/shared/oqby29cxuq

V for Vendetta Movie Review

"Symbols are given power by people." V said. "A symbol, in and of itself is powerless, but with enough people behind it, blowing up a building can change the world." This quote by V was very important to the whole movie, because he was trying to give symbols power throughout the whole movie but never had enough people to make them powerful until the end. I rated this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars. I didn't particularly like this movie because I was completely lost the whole time and I couldn't seem to get involved in the movie. Another reason I didn't like it is because the genre was action/adventure and there are very few films of the genre that I enjoy watching. I thought the production and the acting were very well done though. I think that Natalie Portman did a fantastic job playing Evy. Not every women can pull off the bald look and Portman really embrassed the character.

Even though I didn't enjoy watching this film, i would recommend it to anyone. The story line is very creative and the director is very intelligent for tying in the roman numeral V to most everything in the movie. I felt it was unrealistic, though, that V could just walk around and the government being so uptight never had records of his existance. It was also frustrating to me to find out at the end that top government officials had secret deals with V all along. I guess even the people running the country were fed up with the way the government ran, just like the residents.

The Simpsons Movie Review

"Maggie! What a great little accident you turned out to be." Homer said when his baby daughter saved his life. This is just one of the many times that The Simpsons' movie made fun of family. I rated this movie 4.5 out of 5 stars. This movie was really funny because it made fun of movies and current social issues that are relatable to everyone. The writer made it funny, but never crossed the line to where it became offensive to me and the rest of the class. The reason I think the movie never offended our class was because there was such a variety of things being poked fun at and not just one consistant group or person.


I thought the movie was really neat because the author actually had a point that he wanted to get across about global warming, our government and other issues. But at the same time there was many random jokes throughout the movie about different movies, religion and famous people. My favorite part of the movie was when Homer brought home a pig and and walked it on the ceiling while singing "Spider-pig, Spider-pig, does whatever a Spider-pig does." Though the Simpson's is a cartoon, I believe that it is made for people between the ages of 16 and older because of some of the references to movies and people that younger people wouldn't get. I also don't think that kids under 13 should watch this movie because I don't think they are mature for a couple of the jokes displayed. I enjoyed watching The Simpsons because it was a very relaxing movie to watch and the humor really brightened my day.