(500) days of the summer review

Steve Sardone
(500) days of the summer review:

500 days of summer is one of my personal favorite films ever. It is very well made; also I think it was appropriate to show this movie during the class about editing. This movie was well edited and shows some of the great advantages of editing technology we have now a days. The scene where it shows what Joseph Gordon Levitt expectations and the actual happenings at the party as the happen side by side is one of the greatest scenes in the movie.  This movie has a very unique storyline; the jumping around from different dates in no particular chronological order is truly amazing and keeps the audience guessing. It really brings this movie to life and gives it such a unique taste. The editing helps bring it together and give it such a nice look. The acting helps a lot with very unique set of characters. Also not having it end in a traditional way helped give it just a nice unique aspect in the end.

Raiders of the Lost Ark Review

Steve Sardone
Raiders of the Lost Ark Review:

All the Indiana Jones movies are amazing and well done but I never realized how much of an impact you see from Spielberg compared to Lucas in different areas of the film. Sound obviously plays a huge role in the film and it is constantly playing. It is an amazing soundtrack from the greatest ever, Mr. John Williams, that is something that is constant within Spielberg films but Lucas as well. You can definitely see Spielberg in the shooting. The shots used and use of lighting have Spielberg’s mark all over them. The use of shadows and only seeing Indy’s silhouette is something Spielberg likes to do and makes very good use of it. The Spielberg face is not used very much but it is in there at times. A noticeable one is when they open the Ark of the Covenant. The use of humor seems to be more Lucas’s doing but Spielberg has also had many use of humor throughout his movie.  Think all together you can see Spielberg’s and Lucas’s touch in the different aspects of this film which makes it such a great film because they are both so talented.

E.T. Review

Steve Sardone
E.T. Review:

This is definitely one of Spielberg’s greatest films of all time. One reason I can point to for reasoning for that conclusion is the stories of m’n’ms. The copy that owns m’n’ms did not want to have its candy in the movie because they thought E.T. would scare kids. Well they were not too crazy to think that because honestly E.T. is not the most attractive creature but Spielberg was truly able to bring him to life and make him so loveable and have the audience connect with him. Spielberg’s skilled really shined in this movie. I felt his ability to tell the story and have character development and have the audience be able to connect with characters is amazing. He used the simple humor from characters always seen in Spielberg movies. Also, artistically his shots were great. He waited to reveal “keys” to show what he looked like, making the character seem so ominous. He used the “Spielberg face” I feel as an appropriate amount and in the perfect moments within the film. It was over used a bit in third kind. There is no doubt while this movie was an instant classic and became so huge. Spielberg turned a great story into an amazing film, making it likeable from many angles, whether it would be form a visual or story telling side.

Jaws Review

Steve Sardone
Jaws Review:

Jaw’s is way more than just a movie about a shark attack. Spielberg created a whole new style of movie with this movie. The summer blockbuster came into existence with this one. Spielberg invented the style of when having a monster in a movie to wait for the reveal. Not showing the shark actually came about because of the technical difficulties with shark so they were not able to shot as much with it in the early scenes and it lead to the best most innovative part of this movie and helped launch Spielberg. Universal took a big risk letting Spielberg make this movie. The tactic of showing the shark a lot would have not the movie as good, especially since the technology used to make the shark was not the best and can be seen because the actual did not look that menacing because of its speed made it look so slow. Other elements in this movie do show Spielberg characteristics with many of the Spielberg faces, dolly zooms, and great musical scores which Spielberg always makes sure he includes. He told a great story as well. This could have been such a weak terror monster movie, but Spielberg really brought this movie above that to make it a lasting hit.

first blog

This is my blog for Art of The Cinema.