Alien

The movie Alien is unique in such a way that the movie goes from being a science fiction movie to a horror movie in the middle of the film. The horror aspect of the movie is quite apparent through the various filming techniques that are implemented throughout the course of the film. The director of Alien chose to use a very dark set when making this movie in order to add the horror aspect of the film. In addition to the dark sets the directed uses cuts or pop ups of the alien in order to scare the viewer. The use of close-up shots of the alien was also used in order to scare the viewer.

The alien and the humans in the movie are portrayed in the same manner. The reason I say this is because “it attacks the rest of the crew because they threaten its survival (Mullhall 18).” The alien and the humans both have the instinct of survival that is why they are trying to destroy each other over the course of the movie. Another similarity exhibited between both species is in the way of how they reproduce. This is apparent in the film when Kane “is impregnated with an alien fetus which his body then brings to term and labors to bring forth into the world; he undergoes a nightmare vision of sexual intercourse, pregnancy and birth (Mullhall 20)”.

Throughout the movie the use of music is not present for the most part. The reason I believe the director chose to not use music in the majority of the film was because it actually made the movie more suspenseful and added to the viewers feeling of fear. The lack of music made the viewer pay more attention to the dialogue of the movie and also gave the viewer the feeling of how alone the cast of actors actually were. The score of the movie goes along with what the actors are doing. A perfect example of this is “the suddenly deadened soundtrack and sequence of overlapping dissolves that chart Hurt’s emergence into conscious awareness seem to mimic the mode of that emergence (Mullhall 16).” Music is present in the movie at the very end of the film when Ripley finally destroys the alien. I believe that the use of music represents mankind’s victory over extraterrestrial beings.

Works Cited

Mulhall, Stephen. “Kane's Son, Cain's Daughter.” On Film. London: Routledge, 2002.

12-32. Print.

Scott, Ridley, dir. Alien. 1979. Twentieth Century Fox, 2009.

Thompson, Kristin. "Alien." Storytelling in the New Hollywood. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. 283-306. Print

Critical Blog on Dr. Strangelove

Dr. Strangelove

The movie Dr. Strangelove is “the most shattering sick joke I’ve ever come across [and] at the same time, one of the cleverest and most incisive satiric thrusts at the awkwardness and folly of the military that [has] ever been seen on the screen” (Kubrick). This movie came out in the height of the cold war and was meant to ease the tension of its viewers. The use of comedy in the movie was very dark in my opinion making a joke out of what could be the end of mankind, but “comedy can be more realistic than drama because it takes into account the bizarre” (Kubrick). The movie was shot in black and white, which I believe played into the movies dark satiric comedy very well. The way the movie was filmed gave the viewer the feeling that they were there through the filming technique of point of view shots. The movies score was not as prevalent as in other movies that I have seen, but there is one scene where the music set the scene. The best example in the movie where music sets up the scene takes place at the very begging where they are on the plane. The music cues in and makes the viewer feel as if something big is about to happen. The music sets up the pilot’s speech about how they were going to complete their mission no matter the cost. Another filming technique that was used during the course of the film was the use of extreme to medium close-ups. The use of extreme close-up shots in this movie were set in place to show the dominance of the character, this is apparent when the commander is talking to his second man in charge in his office. Overall in my opinion this movie is the starting point in film history where a movie takes a very serious situation and portrays it through the use of comedy.

Works Cited

Kubrick, Stanley, dir Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and love the Bomb. 1964. Columbia Pictures, 2009.

Stillman, Grant, "Two of the MaDdest Scientists." Film History. 20(2008): 487-500. Web. 24 Aug. 2009.