Jean-Luc Burch Film Studies Blog

The Style Of Spike Lee It's clear that to Spike Lee race relations are very important. Most of his films feature race and crime as major themes for example "Malcolm X" a film about the somewhat controversial race campaigner. After watching "Do The Right Thing" I'm going to look at two other Spike Lee film and compare them to "Do The Right Thing" in terms of their themes and style. 1. Malcolm X Context/Background: The film follows the life of Malcolm X ,an influential race campaigner who rose to public interest around the time of other race campaigners such as Martin Luther King, and his life. To this day there are many different views on Malcolm X and his attitudes towards violence. Some people view him as an extremist whilst others think he did what had to be done in a desperate time. It is clear that Spike Lee has some admiration for Malcolm X by the use of his quote at the end of Do The Right Thing. This shows a ...

Film Noir and The Classic Hollywood System- Its influence on Casablanca Hollywood Studio System At the time that Casablanca was made the Hollywood studio system was like a factory with many studios churning out films all the time. It was a collaborative effort between sound, directors, actors and cinematographers working together to produce films. Casablanca was nothing special to the studio and its success was likely due to its timing due to america having just joined world war 2. Many studios had a particular style for example Warner Bros who distributed Casablanca was well known for film noir hence why there is a lot of film noir influence in Casablanca including their use of the famous film noir actor Humphrey Bogart who up until then had only played bad guys in film noir such as The Maltese Falcon. Humphrey Bogart was used in Casablanca because unlike in modern Hollywood where actors are freelance back in the 40s actors were on long term contracts to particular st...

Breathe Director - Andy Curtis. Producer - Jonathan Cavendish After seeing breathe at the BFI it was clear that the emotional content of the film moved the audience. This captivating true story really captures the experience of being confined in body but not in mind. Andy Curtis has done an amazing job at bringing this story to life alongside Jonathan Cavendish who is not only the producer but also the son of Robin Cavendish whom the film is about. The film follows Robin Cavendish who is crippled from polio and given only 3 months to live. However he goes on to live another 20 years. Not only does he survive but is determined to live a full life and to bring freedom to those who have his condition. Determination brings him out of depression and out of the hospital wards as he invents a chair to allow him to move with his respirator. There is a real sense that this film was created in a well informed manner with not only first hand accounts but also with the help of t...

Was that IT? IT was a disappointment to me. In my opinion it didn't live up to the hype or the scary reputation it had received. In all honesty the thing that scared me the most was the overreaction of the people sitting behind me who would scream at the slightest thing. I will now try to explain why it was such a disappointment to me. Music: Being a horror movie IT sports the typical high pitched suspenseful music that is not only cliche but also seems to be losing it's effectiveness with every film that uses it. The soundtrack was of no particular interest in this film and i felt it only served to heighten my disappointment. Effects: The special effects in IT were average at best although at some points practical effects were used, the majority of the effects were CGI which as per usual only served to snap the audience out of any immersion. Though I will give IT props for several humorous scenes involving effects which may not have been deliberately funny yet were ...