Kurosawa

After watching Stray Dog, Yojimbo, and Ran, I can pretty easily say I am not the biggest Kurosawa fan out there. That is not to say I don't appreciate some of the themes his movies possess - such as good vs evil, but that I had trouble staying captivated to a movie that was all in subtitles. I need to be in tune with a movie, but without the dialogue I couldn't understand many of the suttleties of the Kurosawa movies. Stray Dog was my most liked movie of the three. I think it was because it had a plot I could most keep up with. I liked the long black market scene and I also understand why it was over 8 minutes long. He needed the viewer to see the reality of the hardship the black market possessed. Also, I like the detective movies. In Ran, the basic plot is finding the man who took the detectives gun. The end scene is kind of awkward when they are fighting and then moments later laying next to each other sobbing. Though, you can appreciate that the theif finally realizes the severity to his crime, and what his future will now hold for him. In summary, I wouldn't call myself the biggest Kurosawa fan, but I can understand those who do.

The Da Vinci Code

Ron Howard. Tom Hanks. Again. This movie was just as good as Apollo 13 as Howard and Hanks teamed up again. Despite being a very well done movie, I still had some disappoints that stemmed from having previously read the book. The book, The Da Vinci Code, is my favorite book of all time. Carrying that status into a movie watching is a tough task to hold up to. At first I doubted Tom Hanks being able to play the role of Dr. Robert Langdon, most likely because I had built up Robert Langdon so much in my head, but as the movie went on Hanks grew on me. He was witty and quick on his feet as I had pictured Langdon. The plot was what left me irritated. The book was so perfect and so detailed, yet the movie left out huge gaps. I feel like for the majority of people who just watched the movie missed out on what was actually suppose to happen. I understand Ron Howard had to turn a 700 page book into a 2 hour movie so naturally things would be left out, but still I hoped for me. All in all, a very good movie - but read the book first!

The Alfred Hitchcock

I always had heard the name Alfred Hitchcock, but didn't know much who he was, nor what type of movies he had produced - with the exception of Birds. Of the three movies we watched in class, I found Rear Window and Vertigo to be most entertaining, while 39 steps was a little lackluster for me. The thing I liked about Hitchcock the most was that he assumed the audience was capable of making connections and figuring things out for themselves. In Rear Window, we were expected to understand the relationships amongst the neighbors without it being clearly stated. I always enjoy a movie that gets me thinking, in comparison with sitting there like a vegetable. The thing that was enjoyable about Vertigo was the very abnormal plot that was unrealistic, but at the same time possibly feasible? 39 Steps I found to be fairly bland. Overall, I was a satisfied Alfred Hitchcock viewer. I might rent one of his movies - but let's not get carried away just yet.