1935 Movie: Happy Wife

Happy Wife

1. Happy Wife is a drama about a once wealthy family struggling through the Great Depression. Having an overall dark yet sleek tone, this movie focuses heavily on the role of the wife/mother figure, known as Lucille James. While the economy crash took a heavy toll on her husband, Raymond's, income, it's up to Lucille to try to hold the household together and properly raise her two children. Struggling to make ends meet, while still trying to maintain their lavish lifestyle and public image, Lucille is forced to get an undesirable "job." Little does she know, this new career path (which may involve becoming an prostitute) may be more than she can handle. With her family now in danger, Lucille has to fight for their safety. I think an audience in 1935 can definitely relate to the financial struggles of this time, but would also be interested in seeing a bit of "movie-magic" added to the mix. Since this film shows the downfall of a rather luxurious family, average people may find it interesting to see how the "other half lives" (or at least deals with financial problems for the first time in their lives). This movie does a great job of humanizing everyone. Many times people judge others for how much, or little, they have. In a time when America as a whole is struggling, people care less about possession and more about the quality of people in their lives. This movie is meant to get the viewer's thinking.

2. Losing your fortune seems to be an American's worst nightmare, so, I decided that deeming this movie a "drama" would fit well. Prostitution is also seen as a very harsh and desperate way of making money. It typically portrays someone who has hit rock bottom. This film should have its audience both on the edge of their seats and in tears. If that's not drama, I don't know what is.

3. I chose to have Paramount Pictures make this film. I thought it would be a good fit due to the amount of freedom that the directors were given. Not anyone could just make Happy Wife. It's a very complicated and artistic movie, especially with its controversial plot line. Not many studios could get away with such.

4. This film was directed by Cary Grant. Known for his European style Paramount movies, I thought he would be prefect for this. Having grown up with an institutionalized mother, Grant would know how to portray a family with a very absent mother character. He knows how to handle drama, despite his appreciation of comedies.
The lead role, Lucille James, is played by Miriam Hopkins. She was very liked in the Paramount world for her versatility between roles and was very pretty, so is the perfect subject for leading a secretive double life.
The lead male role, Raymond, went to Herbert Marshall. He was often times the husband figure in Paramount movies. He also plays a very good elegant character, which fits the role. He was also a World War 1 veteran who lost a leg, which got him some major sympathy points. Especially when he plays the poor husband who lost all his fortune and is now being lied to by his wife.
Of course, we had the Westmore family in charge of everyone's makeup. They really are the kings of the make up industry these day, in the 1930's. They don't only do monster makeup well, they made our cast absolutely beautiful. A family who should appear very wealthy and luxurious should have some very nice looking faces as well.
Since the 1930s was the sound era's coming of age, we decided to add in a musical number. While this goes against the typical norm, we thought it would be a nice change to the movie industry. In Lucille's lowest moment of the movie, she breaks out in a dramatic solo, singing beautifully but also in agony. I think it makes the audience feel for her even more so.
This movie also focuses on the cinematography aspect as well. You see, the biggest challenge of making this movie was showing riskay scenes without actually showing anything bad, per say. Because of this, we had to get creative. We used many close up scenes of our character's faces, to really show their emotions and not their bodies as much.

5. Hays Code definitely put many restrictions on this movie. The plot line itself was almost rejected for being too sexual. However, after pulling some strings and asking for some personal favors, we were able to rewrite the original plot line to make the movie more appropriate. We were able to show that breaking the law, aka the prostitution aspect of the movie, was not good or acceptable by any means. In fact, we actually show the negative consequences of breaking the law. In addition, we make the audience think about their lives, but in a beneficial way. After watching this film, audiences should think less of their materials and more about the people they love.

6. This really is a break-through film of the movie industry. It is unlike any film of its time. While still following the Hays Code (for the most part) this movie was able to express its creativity freely. It is a relatable drama that grabs its audience's attention and won't let go. It's a movie that definitely makes you think.

MYST POST #1: Muriel's Wedding

I went into this movie not knowing what to expect. I had never seen the trailer, read a review, or even heard the title Muriel's Wedding. In fact, it was not until my mom picked it from the countless selections on Netflix that I was able to see this movie is an Australian masterpiece. I am so fond of the movie, in fact, that I award it a solid 4.5 out of 5 Didomenicos. (Yes, that's the star system I have chosen to work with.)

Summary
This movie begins by introducing its protagonist: an awkward and overweight Muriel Heslop (played by the young Toni Collette) who wants nothing more than to become a bride. There is clearly a dark tone established early on in this film. Soon into the movie, it is clear that Muriel plays the victim, being the butt of all the jokes. Often times, she is shown wearing bright colors, making her stand out more than her goofy personality already does. She tends to resemble a clown with her wardrobe and makeup choices. Because of this, she is not accepted by her petite, popular friends and her family is a wreck. Her overworked, overwhelmed, unappreciated mother is struggling to care for her five lazy children. Meanwhile Muriel's father is a sleazy politician who only cares about money and his reputation. He also happens to be cheating on his wife with a much younger woman, who was once a family friend. Muriel's life seems to be hopeless, as she can't even find a job. All of these factors cause the depressed character to spend hours in her room, listening to ABBA- which becomes a major reoccurring theme throughout the movie.
It is not until Muriel runs into an acquaintance from high school, a young woman named Rhonda, that she is pushed out of her shy, awkward shell. Rhonda is the complete opposite of Muriel: she's outgoing, sexual, and very confident, exactly what Muriel needs. The two girls become fast friends and move to Sydney together as a way of starting over, and it only gets more interesting from there.

Scene Composition: Introduction to Muriel
In one of the first scenes, Muriel's home life is introduced. The camera first pans into a wide shot, which shows the setting of a suburban Australian town. This movie does a fantastic job of introducing Muriel's family. First, we hear her father's angry, booming voice, without actually seeing the character yet. Once the camera is inside the house, you immediately see a little girl spinning and crazily dancing. Right away, the father harshly yells at her to get out of the room where he is having a serious (shady) conversation on the phone. He also barks out commands, telling her to have Muriel's mother make him a cup of tea. The camera then follows the little girl into the living room where it shows the children watching tv, being lazy. Upon hearing the tea request, Muriel's older brother calls out "me too!" The scene then cuts to the kitchen where Muriel's mother sloppily makes a cup of tea in the microwave. The shot lingers on the spinning cup, trapped in the microwave. It seems to be a symbol of how the mother feels: trapped in the same dull routine. The scene ends panning out the window, showing a police car bringing Muriel home. The stage has been set: the audience now has a feel for Muriel's saddening home life.

Key Scene: Waterloo
Background: Muriel's popular friends decide to go on a "honeymoon" together after one of the girls, who was recently married, finds out her husband had an affair. De-friending Muriel right before the trip, Muriel decides to surprise them and tags along on the tropical vacation. Instead of rejoicing by the sight of Muriel, as she had hoped, they are outraged and even throw a drink in her face. Later, while sadly eating alone, Muriel is reunited with a high school acquaintance who recognized her. Upon hearing that the former high school bullies are at the same resort, Muriel's new friend, Rhonda decides to have a word with them. She tells the soon-to-be ex-wife of the cheating groom that Muriel saw her best friend, who happens to be standing right next to her, with the groom on the day of the wedding. Immediately following this is the famous "Waterloo" scene.

Muriel and Rhonda are shown on stage in costume. Both in white outfits and wigs, the two friends begin their dance rendition of ABBA's "Waterloo." Previously, one of the popular girls called Muriel out for listening to ABBA, saying it was so not cool to like 70's songs in the 90's. However, Muriel's new friend embraces her music taste. Initially, it is clear that Muriel is very uncomfortable with dancing in front of an audience. While Rhonda rocks the belly shirt and shows that she can really move, Muriel awkwardly dances with a straight face and wears a very unflattering jumpsuit next to her skinny friend. But it is clear that Rhonda doesn't care! Unlike the other girls, Rhonda is not bothered by Muriel's appearance. She is just there to have a good time. The camera pans over to the audience, which shows the four popular girls sitting front and center, the one with a black eye (for obvious reasons). As the crowd claps and cheers louder and louder, it becomes tense between the girls. As the performance goes on, Muriel and Rhonda get closer and closer to the edge of the stage, in other words closer and closer to the four mean girls. At one point the camera zooms in on the ex-bride's face. It is a high angle shot, showing that she is being looked down on. She is less powerful than she was before. Immediately following that shot, is the opposite. Muriel and Rhonda are shot from a low angle, looking down on the popular girls. From that point on, Muriel is smiling. And her dancing becomes much better, as if she has suddenly gained a tremendous amount of confidence. The two tense girls look at each other funny and a physical fight actually breaks out. After pushing a table out of the way, the girls are literally on top of each other, punching, hair-pulling, all of the typical girl fight actions. Typically when men see this, they stop everything and watch. However, it is very clear that the men are not bothered by the fight, and don't even try to break it up. Instead, their eyes are glued to Muriel and Rhonda. This is the first time Muriel has ever had positive attention from a man and is a large turning point in the movie. 

Comparisons
Toni Collette: Muriel's Wedding was one of Toni Collette's first films and even earned her an Academy Award nomination. Collette really is wonderful throughout the film. She conveys so much through her body language and facial expressions alone, that you can feel the torment and turmoil she keeps bottled up without ever having heard her speak. She does a fantastic job of wearing her emotions on her sleeve. Since this early, stellar performance, Collette has appeared in many well-known movies and television shows including The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine, and more recently, the series United States of Tara. While she initially played a dorky and awkward young woman, she is most known for her motherly roles. Even though she does play roles in comedies, she tends to gravitate towards dramas or dark comedies at the very least. In fact, she is even cast in an upcoming horror movie called Krampus. One consistency I've noticed throughout Collette's films is her amazing ability to cry on command. I mean, check this out...

Director- PJ Hogan: While Hogan may have directed Peter Pan and Dark Shadows, which stray from his typical genre choice, he is a big fan of romantic comedies. Movies he directed like Muriel's Wedding, My Best Friend's Wedding, Unconditional Love, Mental, and Confessions of a Shopaholic all fall into the comedy category. I find it interesting that he directed My Best Friend's Wedding just three years after Muriel's Wedding was released. He also recast Rachel Griffith (Rhonda) in My Best Friend's Wedding. Hogan has a very unique directing style. He loves small details. Many of his movie must be watched multiple times to get the full effect. In fact, he adds so much detail that it is hard not to miss something the first time around. In Muriel's Wedding, there are many hidden facts that could easily go unnoticed if one isn't tentative. For example, it would have been easy to miss the fact that Muriel's father pulled some string in immigration and got a Chinese restaurant owner's uncle out of China. As a thanks, he and his family or clients are given free food, which explain the multiple scenes shown in that restaurant. Hogan also decided to make most of the music in the movie ABBA music. This went along nicely with the character's love for the old band, but also kept an upbeat tone to this dark comedy. It is even played at Muriel's wedding to show how quirky Muriel's personality is and added humor when the bridesmaids tried walking down the aisle in sync.

Review of Reviews// American Ultra

1. The Bad, by Rafer Guzman 
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/american-ultra-review-one-toke-and-a-few-sins-over-the-line-1.10751458
The author of this review made his point very clear and practical, at times making me question my own opinion of the movie. Guzman begins his review with a comparison to another well-known action/stoner movie Pineapple Express. He decides that American Ultra simply does not live up to its potential, even going as far as saying the movie's comedic tone was killed by all of the gruesome violence. Guzman uses the line "American Ultra forgets about its marijuana motif and quickly turns dark," to further explain how this movie gets sidetracked. On top of that, Jesse Eisenberg is said to be miscast. His "twitchy" attitude deems him "too naturally high-strung to play a space-case."

2. The Good, Chris Vogner
http://www.guidelive.com/movie-reviews/2015/08/20/american-ultra
The author of this review praises American Ultra for its strong but unique plot line. While Vogner claims it may follow similar story lines, again bringing up the previous example of Pineapple Express, he furthers his thesis by claiming the movie knows "exactly what it wants to do, and then does it with a blend of brute force and surprising tenderness." Furthermore, Vogner appreciates all of the movie references made in American Ultra, including scenes that are spun-off popular action films like The Terminator, Blade Runner, The Manchurian Candidate, and the Bourne movies. This film is said to work beautifully by making a potentially messy story quite straightforward and easy to follow. Concluding his review, Vogner applauds the costarring roles, saying they were cast perfectly for what the movie was trying to get across.

2. In Rafer's review, he claims "After introducing John Leguizamo as a kooky drug dealer, "American Ultra" forgets about its marijuana motif and quickly turns dark." After seeing this movie in theaters, I have to agree with this point. I was definitely expecting more of a stoner comedy, like Pineapple Express. However, I got much more of an action film with a lot of violence. After the intro, this movie seems to get off track and completely forget about the stoner aspect. I can't say I hated it, but I think the trailer was very misleading. I had been expecting to laugh most of the movie, as opposed to wincing and struggling to hold down my popcorn at times.

In Vogner's review, he says, "Ultra works by making a potentially messy story rather simple, and by using its carnage as an extension of its comedy. It has no interest in piling on plot minutiae. It's too busy getting to the next bit of mayhem." I definitely agree with this statement. Throughout the movie, the action continues to draw viewers in. There are endless scenes of suspense and it definitely left me wondering 'Where the hell is this movie going?' While the plot was easy to follow at the moment, there was really no saying where the twists and turns of the film would take it.

3. In my opinion, the bad review is more convincing, because of how brutally honest it is. It says that this movie is nothing more than a bad spin-off of most other action films. It also claims that the movie get very distracted from its initial comedic stoner theme and really overdoes it with the violence. Knowing how most action movies like that go, I would definitely trust this review. On top of that, looking at the character list isn't very reassuring. Rafer also says that the characters seem miscast. I think that's pretty believable because Jesse Eisenberg is most known for his roles in The Social Network and Rio, both of which are very far from an action story line.


4. I would absolutely include the fact that the movie drifts far from its original stoner comedy plot. The trailer really seems to focus on the drug use while the movie does quite the opposite. I would also explain that there is a lot of violence in this movie. However, I feel that most of the violence was necessary to correctly get the theme of the movie across: a slacker, stoner kid finds out he's a specially engineered government agent that has the ability to kill people with random objects in the room (like a spoon). This movie definitely keeps the viewer's attention and I would say there were very few slow moving or boring parts. I wanted to see how everything worked out, which, of course, it did. While the ending of this movie may have been predictable, there were also many shocking scenes that I was not at all expecting.

Film Intro Survey

1. What is the first movie that really made a strong impression on you?
The first movie I can remember seeing was The Land Before Time. Something about the animated dinosaurs intrigued me as a young child and I can remember begging my mom to put the "dino movie" on. Since then, I have been quite a fan of cartoons and animations.

2. What are 4 of your favorite genres?
Comedy, Dark/Film Noir, Mystery/Thriller, Horror

3. What are 3-4 of your least favorite movies?
Romance, Biography, Sci-Fi, Musical

4. What are your 5 favorite films?
The Sixth Sense, Kill Bill, The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, 12 Angry Men

5. List 3 characteristics of what you consider to be a good movie..
I think that a good movie is memorable/perspective-changing, original, and inspiring.

6. What are some of your least favorite movies?
Demon Child, Marley & Me, Jack and Jill, Sharknado

7. List 3 characteristics of a bad movie.
A bad movie is totally predictable, poorly written, and boring/doesn't hold my attention.

8. Favorite Directors?
M Night Shyamalan, Alfred Hitchcock, and Quentin Tarantino are some of my favorites.

9. Who are your favorite actors and actresses?
Joaquin Phoenix, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Seth Rogen

10. What are 3 important films for people to see?
The Sound of Music, It's a Beautiful Life, Into the Wild

11. What is your oldest favorite film?
Psycho

12. Whats the best movie you've seen that's been released in the past 2 years?
Interstellar

13. What are the next 5 films on your queue?
Sinister, American Ultra, Boyhood, Amy, Irrational Man