Movie Pictures

James Cagney and Mae Clarke in 1931's Public Enemy. We tend to think of early films as pretty twee and this is mainly down to the limitations imposed by the Hays Code. The code was in place from the 1930's right up to 1968 but was followed to various degrees. Originally intended to protect the morals of the American public it was actually self-imposed to avoid even harsher codes being applied by other groups.

The scene below is still quite shocking to look at in it's portrayal of casual domestic violence. And especially when you concider it was made in 1931. They had the balls, talent and willingness to make serious, hard-hitting films that tackled serious subjects in a grown up and honest way but to often their hands were tied.

"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycle!"


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The start of "Arrival" (Not to be confused with "The Arrival"):

I wasn't gone on Bladerunner 2048. Thought it was just a bit too cold for me. But I did love Arrival.

I loved the framing of the movie: The rectangular motif that seems to run through it. How the opening shots of Amy Adams' window is so similar to the window through wich they view the aliens, to the whiteboards with all their notes at their command centre.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it: Don't get me wrong, I don't sit in a cinema stroking my pointy beard . I just like good cinematography: Even a terrible film can look beautiful (Sometimes style-over-substance). But certainly the house window and viewing window similarity must be intentional.

The Ladykillers.

I see Heat (1995) has been mentioned already, but there is so much more to it than the action sequences. It's also an examination of the isolation that "professionals" can feel when their "jobs" are too complex or intense to be related to everyone else.



"I am alone. I am not lonely."

For some reason I keep thinking of Eyes Wide Shut: I haven't seen it in several years, so it may be time to watch it again.

I enjoy the Marvel movies to various degrees. Some of them I like a lot: Thor Ragnarok, Iron-man 3, Captain America Winter Soldier. Some, not so much: Thor 2, Iron-man 2.

But, cinematography-wise they have all been pretty safe. Even Thor Ragnarok. It makes sense: They are all part of the same universe and they want to keep a consistent tone (I saw someone describe it as the world's most expensive TV series).

When Sony announced that they were making a Miles Morales Spiderman movie but it was going to be animated I thought "Crap, it's just gonna be a straight-to-DVD movie of the week" Then it came out that the guys who did 21 Jump Street and Lego Movie were involved...... and then the images started coming out and oh God did they look pretty: The comicbook look complete with thought bubbles and sound effects (When a guy gets hit by a bagel you can barely make out that it says "Bagel" instead of "bonk" or something when it hits him).

The animation style was beautiful. The soundtrack has a pulse and the voice casting was perfection.

Below is when Miles finally fully embraces his abilities. The camera movements really gave a sense of height and freedom that NONE of the previous Spiderman movies could convey.

Anyway: Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse:

I really enjoyed Interstellar. Like all of Nolan's films, it looks amazing. For all the spectacular space footage I also loved the images on Earth. The film really showed a dying planet effectively, The dust storm during the baseball game and the aftermath was brilliantly done. It was just a case of "This is the world now" (Something we are beginning to see now ourselves).

Anyway. Interstellar Dustorm aftermath.

There's two movies I watched when I was a kid that scared the bejaysis out of me and a couple of scenes still do.

I saw 'Jaws' first when I was about 6. There were numerous scenes that imp rented themselves on my little mind. One of which is below.



'Jaws', of course is choc-a-bloc with horrible images. But that one struck kid me. The man's "terrible high pitched screaming" and the sheer size of the shark's head is truly terrifying, especially to such young eyes. How 'Jaws' was ever considered a PG movie is beyond me.

The other film I first saw when I was around 12 and I still consider it to be the greatest zombie movie ever made, if not the greatest horror movie ever made. George Romero's 'Day of the Dead' received a lot of negative feedback in 1985 when it was first released, because people were expecting another 'Dawn of the Dead'. But, to me, the third film of Romero's living dead series is, easily, his best effort. The film is littered with great moments and Tom Savini's gory effects have never been bettered. His practical effects are a showcase for his ingenuity and there are tons of images that I could post to demonstrate them. But, one image in particular that always struck me was at the beginning of the film. It's not one of the gory scenes that come later in the picture, but it always sent a shiver up my spine for some reason.



The majorette zombie has always creeped me out, as does the brilliant opening scene of the film, where the protagonists are calling out to see if there are any survivors in Fort Myers, only to be greeted with the moans of hundreds of corpses as the come from out of every corner toward the sound of Miguel's voice over the loudspeaker.



One of the most chilling openings to a film I've ever seen.

Wombatman wrote: »

Could go on all day..........

Can you or somebody name these movies for me please?