Apocalypse Now Film Review

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning”

The movie, Apocalypse Now, was created in 1979, with the actors Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, and Robert Duvall. The storyline takes place during the Vietnam War, where Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) was sent to Cambodia, by the US military, to assassinate one of the most decorated officers in the US Army, Green Beret Colonel, Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando). The army sent Willard to kill Kurtz because they believed that Kurtz had gone completely insane and it was Captain Willard’s job to eliminate him. On their way to find Kurtz, Willard and his crew met up with surfer-type Lt-Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), which was head of a US Army helicopter cavalry group that eliminates a Viet Cong outpost to get an entry point into the Nung River. While on their mission, Willard’s crew gave in to drugs and were slowly killed off one by one, by the many evils that surrounded the jungles. ‘As Willard continues his journey he becomes more and more like the man he was sent to kill.’

LA Confidential Movie Review

“Off the Record. On the QT. And Very Hush-Hush”

L.A. Confidential was a movie made in 1997, with the actors Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Danny DeVito, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, and Kim Basinger, based off of the 1990 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. This movie was directed by Curtis Hanson, the director of the movies 8 Mile and, In Her Shoes.
            L.A. Confidential tells the story of the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1950’s and the corruption between them.  The film is based around three police officers who find themselves tangled in a multiple murder case that occurred at the ‘Night Owl’ coffee shop.  Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is an officer working as a technical advisor in a TV show called ‘Badge of Honor’ and is also associated with Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) of Hush-Hush magazine.  Where he sometimes stages celebrity arrests that deal with narcotics for Hush-Hush and receives a part of the profit in return.  Officer Wendell “Bud White” (Russell Crowe) is the muscle of the LAPD and is feared by everyone because of his brute figure and his short tolerance of violence towards women.  His tough exterior is no match for Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), a call girl and Veronica Lake look-alike, who sees more in Bud then he sees in himself.  Sergeant Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) is the son of a high-profiled LAPD Inspector who will stop at nothing to outdo his father’s reputation.  Not poplar among the other officers, Exely decides to testify against his fellow coworkers during a police brutality case to be promoted to Detective Lieutenant, even though it goes against his superior, Captain Dudley Smith’s (James Cromwell) advice. 

Little do they know, the Night Owl case will unleash lies and cover-ups that they never thought possible along with some of their own personal demons.

The History Boys: Drama VS Film

What are the differences between the book and the movie?

In this assignment we were asked to write an essay on the notes we took in class, on the differences between the Drama vs Film, while watching the movie, “The History Boys”. I came up with a few notes for the minor differences that I noticed.

There are more differences, between the book and the movie, than you would imagine. One of which is that the book is in a slightly different order than the film. One minor difference between the book and the movie is that the Headmaster seems more demanding and serious in the book, where he looks more cunning and nicer, in the movie. Another difference, between the book and the film, is that Irwin, in the movie, is a little more hesitant, I thought he would have been a better liar, at least, but the students seem to work well with the attitude. I also noticed another minor detail, and that was that Irwin’s first class, with the boys, was outside in the movie, but in the book, it was in the classroom. Something that I noticed was different from the book and the movie was that in the book, Dakin actually has sex with Fiona, but in the movie he doesn’t, the book is a little different from the movie. Another change, or difference, between the book and the movie, is that Posner shows that he wants Dakin, in the movie, whereas he was much more discrete in the book. In the movie, they also added an extra character, there was an art teacher in the movie, but in the book they never even spoke of art. Also, Hector’s wife was never mentioned, or anything, in the movie, whereas in the book, they did. When the boys were going to go on a tour of the universities they were applying to, they got into a random bus, that was never mentioned in the book, but I don’t think this minor change plays a big role. Last but certainly not least, in the movie, the crossing guard that saw Hector touching his student was supposed to be the Headmaster’s wife, like it was in the book, but instead it was a random new character in the movie.

These are the differences I noticed between the book and the movie, that I found watching it for the first time, but I think that if I watch the film again, I would find even more differences.

Graphic Organizer

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Gist Statement

Character	Setting	Conflict
Sasha	Moscow	Embarrassing
Sashkin		Irony
Doctor		Gratitude
Uhov		Gaudy
		Candelabra

My Short Story

                My name is Sasha, and I live in Moscow and I have a little problem. My friend, Sashkin, gave me a Candelabra for my birthday and I don’t quite like it. It’s a really gaudy piece of work. But I was still very grateful for the present and for the fact that Sashkin got me a gift. But I decided to give it to my other friend, Uhov, who likes eccentric things like that. But the ironic part is that Uhov didn’t like it either, he thought it was too boring. So he decided to give it to hisDoctor, who he needed to buy a gift for anyway, but the doctor didn’t like it either. And the doctor, didn’t know that I had that candelabra first, gave it to me, because he thought I would like it. Which I found quite embarrassing

Thursday, September 16, 2010