Joe Leggett's Film Blog

https://youtu.be/elY2Xl-ByA8 Made by Joe, Ben, Meghan, Rebecca and Victoria

The Western is a typically American genre that is based off of its own historical context. The films are usually set in the late 18th century and are in the Western area of North America. They are usually filmed here too. This is because there is a lot of space here and it is cheap. More modern westerns sometimes break this trend by going into more urban areas. This is visible in No Country for Old Men. Western films tend to follow the trend of Cowboys vs Indians or West vs East. Although it has become a lot more complex than that now with more rivalries in motion. Some of which include Train vs Horse, community vs individual and culture vs nature. Most westerns include some sort of a revenge plot which usually leads up to a conclusive gunfight between the protagonist characters. One of the most popular movie scenes of all time is the ending of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which is a showdown between three men. There is a sense of irony to American Western films, the same k...

In No Country for Old Men, there are many iconic scenes with a lot of iconography in them. Two of the most memorable scenes from the film are the two coin toss scenes. These scenes are so memorable because of the mystery behind Anton Chigurh. It is never explained what the meaning of the coin toss is or what it means to Chigurh, which adds to the mystery of the missing narrative which the Coen brothers love to use. In the first coin toss scene, Chigurh is very positive and seems quite happy with himself that he is successfully winning the verbal exchange between him and the shopkeeper. There is a lot of tension in the scene and it seems as though he is thriving off of it. The strangest part of the coin toss is that Chigurh almost doesn't think that it is him that is murdering someone. He claims that the coin travelled years to get to the person on the victim's side. The camera angles in this scene are traditional over the shoulder shots most of the time, but there are occasio...

Casablanca and Do the Right Thing are two very different films from two very different time periods. Both deal with different issues, but both are similar in a sense that the overall meaning of the film is deeper than just the storyline itself. Do the Right Thing inevitably has more advanced camerawork in comparison to Casablanca. The majority of Casablanca is simple over-the-shoulder camera shots and barely any wide shots. Casablanca was very good in it's utilisation of eye-lines when it cut from shot to shot. Do the Right Thing has more flashy camera work and it has traditional Spike Lee-type angles such as the zoom from above one. Similarly, Do the Right Thing has far more advanced editing too. It features a lot of flashy cuts and transitions, whereas Casablanca uses simple editing and doesn't really use any flashy editing throughout, as expected. Both are similar in a sense that they use establishing shots often. A good use of this in Casablanca is when Rick's bar i...

After watching three Spike Lee films, I believe that his directing style remains consistent throughout his films. There are some differences as his films evolve but there are a lot of factors that stay similar throughout, almost as though they are trademark Spike Lee features. In Clockers, Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever, the camerawork is very similar. There is hardly any invisible editing and the camera often sways from one character or point of focus to another. A lot of shots in Spike Lee joints also tend to be POV-type camera angles. I think that this is purposely done to separate Spike Lee's films from being wonderfully edited and looking amazing since there is such a high amount of realism to his stories. In all three films I watched, there is catchy, popular music in them. Lee has quite a reputation for having well-known music in his films, with songs such as Fight the Power-Public Enemy (Do the Right Thing) and Jungle Fever-Stevie Wonder (Jungle Fever). In other fi...

American, born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1957 (aged 60) Film director Parents are named Bill Lee and Jacqueline Carroll Three siblings and a cousin named Joie, Cinque, David and Malcolm All Spike Lee films: 4 little girls-1997 25th hour-2002 All the Invisible Children-2005 Bad 25-2012 Bamboozled-2000 Chi-Raq-2015 Clockers-1995 Crooklyn-1994 Do the Right Thing-1989 Freak-1998 Get on The Bus-1996 Girl 6-1996 He Got Game-1998 A Huey P. Newton story-2001 If God is willing and da Creek don't Rise-2010 Inside Man-2006 Jim Brown: All American-2002 Joe's bed stuy Barbershop: We cut Heads-1983 Jungle Fever-1991 Kobe doin' work-2009 Malcolm X-1992 Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to off the Wall-2016 Miracle at St.Anna-2008 Mo' Better Blues-1990 Oldboy-2013 The Original Kings of Comedy-2000 Red Hook summer-2012 School Daze-1988 She Hate Me-2004 She's gotta Have it-1986 Sucker Free City-2004 Summer of Sam-1999 Da Swee...

There were a lot of talented people in the industry that worked on the set of Casablanca. Some of these being the performers, the director, the sound crew and the costume designers. However, the real main factor responsible for the film is World War 2. The whole film is based on the context of what was going on at the time. With it being made in 1942, the US had not entered the war yet and many saw it (and still see it) as propaganda for them to get involved. There are many references and mid-movie metaphors that are about the war and the film would have never been made if it wasn't for the war. Undoubtably, the performances were also key for the success of Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart was not used to playing a character like Rick but it is fair to say that he nailed it. With his sarcastic tone, his witty jokes and his relatable personality, Rick is a fan favourite in movie history. His chemistry with the other protagonist character, Elsa (played by Ingrid Bergman) is amazin...