I had a great time watching this film because it had a very creative way of tackling social issues like, racism and capitalism. Here we see our protagonist Cassius Green, a broke black man who lives in the garage of his apartment, with his girlfriend, struggling in life to earn money and live in a better life. Getting in a call center agency, he is introduced to the ins and outs of the job. How to become a “power caller,” which is to part of the best of all the callers, who receive special treatment, lots of money. He meets Langston, an old worker. Cassuis was curious as to why after all his years working for the company he never became a power caller. Langston told him to be a power caller he should use his white voice, and samples Cassius his own. Here we can see Langston as someone who is wise and loyal and refuses to let himself forget who he really is. We see Cassius try it out and was able to land a deal. He got hooked and became famous in the company right away. At the same time, his girlfriend, Detriot, a very strong-willed artist, started working there at company. He and his friends planned on striking the company because of its unjust treatment to its workers. Just when they had their first strike, Cassius was promoted as power caller. Here we see the glimpse of racism and white supremacy, when Cassius accidentally used his normal voice and was said that only white voice is allowed in the Power Caller floor. Cassius started living better and better and better. Here is when we see the capitalism side of the movie where Cassius started living a luxurious life and forgot about his friends in the lower floor who was still on strike. Cassius succumbed to the capitalist, white favoring system of his work place, that he forgot who he really was. Even outside the company, he was so used to using his white voice that everywhere he goes that what he used. As he was being richer and richer and more famous in the eye of the top people, he was able to get the attention of Steve Lift, the richest man and owner of the company he works for. In the party, Cassius stumbles upon a room where he saw horrific thing. An equisapien or what we filipinos commonly call, a tikbalang. Cassius finds out that this equisapiens were men before and turned into those creatures to be a better work force, and Steve wants him to be the leader of the equisapiens and work for Steve. Cassius decides to go against Steve and join his in strike again. With the help of the equisapiens who manage to escape, they were able to fight off the security guards of the company. Cassius gives his lavish life away for a better life of simplicity, when suddenly he turns into an equisapien and hunts Lift down. Sorry to Bother You is a film with great humor and plot. I loved how it tackled social issues and showed it in a weird but fun way.

The Lost Highway is one of those movies that would give you a nightmare. As I was watching it, I honestly got confused during the character switch from Pete to Fred. The movie got intense quickly because of the video tapes Fred would receive every morning. Things got a whole lot creepier when Fred met the mystery man in the party. This was the first “holyshh” moment in the movie because the mystery man was with Pete while talking to him as if he was the one who answered telephone in Fred’s house. The following scenes were to build up how this movie is a horror film. After being sentenced to death because Fred murdered his wife, Fred suddenly became Pete. When Pete became the protagonist, I got lost again because I felt like they threw away the plot of Pete and started a new one for Pete. It was somehow a good thing because I got more hooked into the movie to look for the connection of Pete and Fred. When the mystery man appeared in the story line of Pete. Then later own, we find out the Alice and Renee are the same girl, which marks the second “holyshh” moment in the movie. When Pete was finally escaping with Alice, whom he stole from a gangster named Dick Laurent, and later, arrived at the deserted cabin, they make love and while they were making love alice said the lines “You’ll never have me!” and suddenly we’re back to being with Fred again. Which made me think if both are one person. We then see Fred in a motel and finding his wife, Renee, sleeping with another man. Fred gets mad and kidnaps the man. At this point, I was lost again because I couldn’t understand what was happening. The man and Fred tussled, and when Fred was losing a hand appeared out of nowhere and hands him a knife and murders Dick, leaving him lifeless on the ditch. All of a sudden, the mysterious man appeared with a video camera and chases Fred.

            After re-watching the movie, I understood so much things and there is just o much things going on in the movie, and these are:

1. Fred and Pete are the same person.
2. Renee and Alice are the same person.
3. Pete was a developed personality of Fred wherein the scenarios are different in way that Dick stole Renee from Fred but Pete steals Alice who is Renee from Dick.
4. Mystery man is another person developed by Fred because of madness and jealousy.
5. No matter what happens being Fred or being Pete, he can never have Renee/Alice.
6. Mystery man is another person developed by Fred because of madness and jealousy.
7. The video Camera shows the reality because through the camera Fred got caught with the murder, and the mystery man chases Fred with a video camera.

This movie is really interesting because it is a movie that you need to watch again or go into deep research to understand a thing. It is a nice horror film because they did not have to have a monster or ghost to make it scary. They used the point of view of the brain to scare the viewers. Overall, this is a must watch.

My Own Private Idaho is probably one of my favorite movies in Sir Ty’s list. It tackles such a sensitive topic, which is homosexuality which was a taboo during the time period the movie released. The movie was directed by Gus Van Sant, a director whose movies always would consist of marginalized young teens. The screenplay was originally based form a novel of John Reechy, City of Night, and Shakespeare’s Henry IV, which was why Bob the Pigeon has a monologue that seemed to be from the Shakespearean era and a real life narrative from a real street hustler.

Here were are introduced to Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves) and Mike Waters (River Pheonix), both are homosexual hustlers. Scott is a privileged young man, son of the mayor, but chooses to escape the life destined for him as an act of rebellion to his dad. Mike, on the other hand, is a teen who suffers narcolepsy, which causes him to pass out or fall asleep in times of stress. Every time he gets unconscious, the are weird scene that happen, like a house falling out of the sky and shattering when it it hits the pavement, or salmon swimming on a river. Though being so different from each other, both are often paired up in the movie. Throughout the movie, both protagonists, are always travelling because of Mike’s mother whom he wishes to meet. During their travels, a very iconic scene was shown, a scene where Mike and Scott admit to each other that they love each other. It was different for Mike because it was the first time he did something sexually stressful, without suffering narcolepsy. Apparently, this whole scene was written by River Pheonix, the actor behind Mike. Eventually, they ended up in Italy because they heard that Mike’s mom flew there. In Italy, Scott falls in love with Carmela, the girl who lived in the past house of Mike’s mom. Everyone felt what Mike felt, cheated, when Scott told Mike that both were gonna get married. Again, we see Mike suffer from narcolepsy, but this that it was different. Scott was not around to be there for Mike.

During the funeral of Bob the Pigeon and Scott’s dad, this scene was a powerful scene. We see the two groups, the rich and the poor and we see Scott, all dressed well acting like he does not know those people who he spent most of his life with and not mourning for the person who was his father growing up, Bob Pigeon. All of a sudden, Mike and his group start acting crazy and kissing each other. This shows the huge difference between Scott and Mike, who in beginning of the film was seen so similar. Lastly, we see Mike in the same road as the beginning scene of the movie, passed out in the middle. Then we see people stopping for him getting his stuff and eventually getting him. We could say that it was quite unfair because, Scott if he failed in life, no matter happens, he has is riches to fall unto, but for Mike, all he had was Scott, but now Scott’s gone, Mike is gone as well.

Overall, I liked the movie but it was a sad one for me. I liked it cos seeing Keanu Reeves play a part that is so different in what roles we see him in, like Matrix and John Wick, makes him a really good actor. It was a great way for Gus Van Sant, to use his talent to be able to make this movie at the same time being a voice of taboo topics.

The endless excited me because of the fact that I’m a fan of horror movies, and we were told that it was a horror movie. The story is very interesting, because of the “cult” which makes most horror movies with cult scarier and even darker. Examples of these are the Paranormal Activity movies.

            The movie was a bit dragging for me, things were a little freaky when the magic trick was done and the test with the rope where it would seem an invisible giant held the rope and baseball up in the air. The movie got a whole lot interesting when the mystery man in beige cargo pants appeared and when Justin tries to follow him he disappears without a trace. One recurring theme in the movie escape. It was understood that the brothers were able to escape Camp Arcadia, who people not from the camp think is cult because of its secrecy. Unfortunately, the two brothers who were allowed to leave, had to come back because for Aaron that was everything they knew, that they felt out of place outside the camp. When they went back to the camp, nothing has changed from the day they left it and, it seemed that the members of Camp Arcadia did not age at all, which made the camp much shadier. The reason why I like horror movies is because it keeps you on your feet and the jump scares are too look forward to. I loved the scene when Justin saw the man he was following earlier in the movie, lifeless because he hung himself and suddenly see him again who is alive. Mise en scene is used in this scene as Justin and the man were talking while you can see the lifeless man hung on the background swaying. The concept of the movie is very nice how they’re all stuck in a loop and until the entity gets tired of playing with their lives and kills them and resets their loop. Basically, the members of the camp have no escape. I am convinced that Justin and Aaron, despite being able to escape the camp, are still stuck in the loop, a bigger one. I feel like their loop is escaping the camp somehow and eventually coming back, over and over again. Justin knows about the loop but Aaron doesn’t not until the end of the movie when Justin acknowledges that his brother has figured it out.

After watching Futureless Things, I literally did not know what I just watched. It gave war flashbacks of Schizopolis, where I really did not know where the film was going. Though it is kind of different, in way that you understand what was happening scene per scene, you understand what was being said clearly, you just don’t know what was happening. Though after watching again and a little bit of thinking you would understand and interpret things differently.

            The film has numerous protagonists as the story revolves around the clerks at a convenience store and the clerk would differ shift by shift. Each shift offers a different protagonist or character who for some reason all go through bizarre events. It was fit that the setting is a convenience store, because it is a possible setting where all these bizarre characters can actually cross each other’s paths, be it buying something to eat or drink, just enjoying the air conditioning which turned on 24/7, trying to hit on the clerk on shift, or just leaving a mysterious box? We have Seong-Joon who had to look over a mysterious box and eventually was eaten alive by the same mysterious box. Another protagonist, Soo Hee, who went through harassment and discrimination. Each character somehow got taken advantage of by the customers kind of treating them like “things” instead of humans. I think this film kind of took it literally the saying “The customer is always right” maybe that’s why Soo Hee, couldn’t retaliate as much as she could when the customer was harassing her and dissing her for being someone from the North.

            The movie has a rollercoaster of emotions. It can be spooky, light, and turn into dark in an instant. I think it has something to do with the store being the only setting, and in a convenience store, you don’t know what will happen next, who will go in next, you literally don’t know what’s in store.

Trainspotting is a movie that would make us really emotional. It is about a group of young teens trying to get by in life, experiencing everything like growing up and trying to survive in an environment where it is hard for people with less opportunities to survive, to live “a perfect life.” It revolves around a group of friends: Mark, Spud, Begbie, Sick Boy, and Tommy. But the story focuses mainly on the life of Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor).

            The movie opens with Mark and his friend Spud running away from guards, while items fall of their pockets. From here, we have a glimpse of what kind of life the characters are living. This is supported by the next scene where the group of friends are introduced and characterized, alongside fast paced music. This kind of supports that the “bad boy” characterization of the main characters. Throughout the movie, we would see the group of friends looking for work, this goes to show that somehow, they want to escape the lives they were living of doing drugs, stealing, and getting in fights care of Begbie. In the movie, we can see the constant conflict of Mark with himself, as he would think about stopping and leaving behind the life of the drug addict, but somehow would spiral down to shooting up heroin again. Props to him, he’s the only one trying to stop, and it is somehow implied that he has tried multiple times but failed because he succumbed to withdrawal. Tommy, in the movie, is portrayed as member of the gang who has his life together. Unfortunately, because of a breakup decides to try heroin and eventually, gets hooked into it. The death of baby Dawn brought the group into their lowest, and I think it was because it seemed that the one thing that was good in their lives, which was baby Dawn, was taken away from them. We can imply that Sick Boy is the dad because of how devasted he is. Mark and Spud gets into custody after shoplifting a store, putting Spud behind bars for 6 months and Mark being pardoned as long as he takes his shots for withdrawal. Craving for another shot of heroin, Mark goes to the apartment of Swanney, their fixer, and almost dies of OD, and is brought to the hospital. It can be implied that ODs usually happen in their area, and how the taxi driver just carries him out of the cab and drops him on the floor. He is later put under room arrest, and during his room arrest, he went through a series of withdrawals giving him hallucinations. This was the creepiest scene in the movie for me, with the baby crawling on the ceiling, his sick friend Tommy, and his best friend, Spud, in chains. When Mark is all better, he decides to visit Tommy, who is on the brink of dying, and eventually does. Usually, when something bad happens, Mark shoots up herion but this time is diffirent because of Diane, Mark’s girl. She convinces him to move to London and escape his life in Scotland, but is followed by Begbie, Spud, and Sick Boy. This is a way to say that Mark won’t be able to escape his life. They were able to score lots of money selling “high quality” cocaine and Mark plots to steal it and escape. When he steals it he is seen by Spud, but lets him go. The movie ends with Spud opening a vault with a bundle of cash for him left by Renton.

            This is movie gave numerous emotions. Sad that Mark’s progress of being drug-free was broken, happy that he got to escape the bad influence of this friends and puzzled to why he just left money for Spud and not Sick Boy also, who did not harm him. There are many ways to interpret the ending. Though Mark saying he chooses to live a stable life we cannot really tell he will be able to because he has taste of heroin again and what if, just maybe, he is going through the cycle of withdrawal, designed by Sick boy?

Shin Godzilla is probably one of the OGest movie shown in class. Also, it was interesting because it was the first time I watched a depiction of Godzilla by the Japanese, as all Godzilla movies I watched was produced by America. Godzilla is one of the biggest movie franchises with now more than 15 movies. I think, in a way, this is a nice movie to be second in Sir Ty’s list, because being one of the biggest franchises in the movie industry.

            One of the most awaited scenes in each Godzilla movie is the first time we catch a glimpse of the mighty beast. However, the first time Godzilla is seen in the movie was kind of a WTF moment, wherein it jumps out of the water and started crawling, while smashing anything in its way. It was strange seeing THE Godzilla, walking on all fours, not looking cool, but still looks scary as hell. Then as the movie progressed, I understood that Godzilla was evolving throughout the movie, and would start standing on two feet and grow the classic spikes on its back. I think this was the first movie wherein the showed the evolution of Godzilla, because most movies would show the version where he is standing on two feet, already causing havoc. Although, I appreciated how they kind of showed an origin story of it. Throughout the movie, the Japanese had multiple attempts in trying to stop Godzilla, but they weren’t able because of the lasers that came out from Gojira’s back and mouth. There was also a hint of the post American vs Japanese war brought by world war 2, which was kind of funny, because the final if ever the Japanese were not able to contain Gojira, America would drop another bomb. Keep in mind that this movie was released at 2016, years and decades after WWII, which was kind of weird. Though they were able to stop Godzilla, on they own while refusing help from foreign countries, it was quite frustrating and inspiring at same time. Frustrating because the Japanese took so long to act which cause more damage because of so much rules that they had to stick to the rules or laws. Inspiring because despite everything, they did not give up especially when the odds are stacked against them, when Godzilla evolved and evolved and developed lasers out of nowhere, they still kept on fighting and devising plans to stop him.

            Despite some weird factors in the movie, like the bomb-trains suddenly jumping and vaulting in the air, this movie would still be a good watch especially to those who are Godzilla fans and also to those who are not Godzilla fans. 7.5/10

Steven Soderbergh’s Schizopolis has a lot going on, It would break the wall between the audience and the actors in film when Steven Soderborgh greets the audience kind of making feel we are part of the film. The movie is set in an old suburb community, probably in the 1960. There are multiple settings, one is the life of Fletcher, an office worker, and Elmo, who is a bug exterminator who would hookup with housewives. From the beginning of the movie, we have a scene where a man talks nonsense.

Well, my first impression of the movie is that it was nonsense. I tried so hard looking for a plot, but the movie was going everywhere. There were scenes where two characters were talking to each other, but talking in two different dialects, or scenes when they literally read the lines from the script but it was asking them to ad lib. An example of this scene is when Elmo and the lady would hook up in the night and they were talking to each other in different languages and would change from time to time. Though being a really weird, confusing movie, one of my favorite scenes was when the conversation of Fletcher and his neighbor. I think they tried to depict how neighbors act plastically to each other, but instead removed the plasticity and and became a humorous scene, as fletcher was dissing his neighbor while the neighbor was responding in a way that was Fletcher was saying is nice. There are multiple scenes that would leave you confused and asking, “what the heck is happening?” or “what am I even watching?” Being the first movie showed to us, I honestly thought that it would be a movie that would have its watchers shocked like how Shutter Island did to its first time watchers. Instead, Schizopolis, is an unorthodox way of starting a screen arts, where I expected deep scenes, but all I got was comedic yet confusing scenes.