The Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt locker shows the overwhelming boredom of army life, followed closely by the insane, stressful moments that come with war. This film uses music very sparsely in order to emphasize the soundtrack when something important happens; a sort of audio "white space", creating a very minimalist soundtrack. The film begins on a quiet Iraqi street, and an EOD (Explosives Ordinace Desposal) team disarming an IED. Sgt. Sanborn and Spec. Eldridge are talking about the lawn business they want to start. Suddenly, with very little warning, they are stressed, screaming and being blown up. This is really a good example of what Bigelow does to ease the viewer into a false sense of calm then thrust them into a heart pounding, adrenaline rushing sense of fear. This all plays into Sgt. William James' personality though. He craves the adrenaline. He cannot function without it. The last few moments of the movie, Sgt. James is home from war, shopping for cereal in a supermarket. for this scene they actually moved the aisles farther apart than would usually be customary to create a sense of hugeness, and him not knowing how to function outside of war. This is why the movie is called The Hurt Locker. A Hurt Locker is someone who is in a lot of trouble/ has lost it mentally, usually referring to people like Sgt. James who cannot function outside of war.

Django Unchained

Django Unchained is a quintessential Quentin Tarantino film. It is a movie that breaks previously steadfast walls of what is taboo in American cinema. This movie does not try to soften racial subject matter like his other film, Inglorious Bastards, does. This is set in the 1800s in the American south, in the heart of slavery. Before this film very few dared to tread on such matters, especially when Tarantino said "The N Word", both simply in the film, as well as personally as a character line in the movie. This caused much controversy, in fact it caused many African Americans to be upset with Tarantino, saying he was disrespecting the people who actually lived through slavery. I, however have to believe that the film uses the humor among the white folks at the expense of the slaves shows how slaves where not even thought of as people, and shows the horrors of slavery more than it makes light of it. Tarantino shows characters as the stereotypical person of their time period, as far as morals and interests are concerned. This is to portray the distance between cultures better. This is to say that in the time the movie is set, Calvin Candies hobby of watching Mandingo fights would have been socially acceptable, and this makes the audience uncomfortable about the scene.

Sharknado

Sharknado is a low budget horror film set in California. It centers around a bar owner named fin (Obvious foreshadowing). The plot follows Fin, His surfing buddy Baz, his Ex Wife and daughter, and a waitress named Nova trying to save the city of Santa Monica from a tornado filled with sharks that are eating people. This is frankly a very poorly done, low budget film. It is because of that the movie becomes hilarious. This is another movie along the same vein as many of the SyFi channel original movies. The pedigree that comes with such movies as Sharktapus, Swamp Shark, and of course, the classic Megashark Vs. Giant Octopus cannot be overlooked. These movies know what they are, low budget. They don't have the money for good CGI to make a convincing animation, so they make a movie that is just enjoyable, and fun to watch. I have to say that they did a very good job with the resources available, and should continue to produce these,awful,beautiful films.

Pulp Fiction

Pulp fiction is a Film about crime in the Los Angeles, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. This was the first film to really make it big for him, and it really defines his style as a writer and director. His style since this movie has remained mainly the same, tweaking itself each time just a little to match the vibe of the movie. His use of popular music in his films at unexpected times in his movies to make the watcher uncomfortable is often accentuated by his use of dark, rude humor to truly turn the scenes in many of his crime/war movies into the daunting, frightening situations they are meant to portray. This is shown in Pulp fiction in the breakfast scene. The two main characters, Jules and Vincent Vega, are sent to deal with some flakey business associates of their boss, Marcellus Wallace. In this scene Tarantino only uses natural light to emphasize the fact that this is supposed to be a real life event, and this makes Vincent and Jules' performance stand out as forced, and rehearsed, as if done many times before, and is part of their ritual when sent to kill.
Breakfast Scene