Dylan's Film Blog

The holiday season brings in a sense of warmth, joy and the tradition of gathering around the TV bundled in blankets to enjoy Christmas movies. From heartwarming classics to favorites, Christmas films have become an integral part of many families festive celebrations.  Christmas movies hold a special place in the heart of the audience, offering a sense of familiarity and sentimentality. These films have the power to transport us to the winter season, evoke countless memories, and capture the Christmas spirit. Whether animated or live action, Christmas movies create a sense of unity bringing families and friend together to share laughter and cheer.  Must-Watch Christmas Movies: 1. "Elf" (2003) 2.  "A Christmas Carol" (1984) 3. "Home Alone" (1990) 4. "The Polar Express" (2004) 5. "The Grinch" (2000) 6. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) 7. "Santa Claus" (1994) The best and most enjoyable Christmas movie has to be Elf. ...

Cars is an an animated film produced by Pixar in 2006 and follows the story of a talented but arrogant racecar, Lightning McQueen. In race for the the Piston Cup, Lightning McQueen, Chick Hicks, and Strip Weathers, "The King", all finish in first in a three way tie. Another race is scheduled in California is a week to decide the winner. On his way to California, Lightning gets lost and ends up stranded in the forgotten town of Radiator Springs. He ends up destroying the road is sentences to fix the road by the cars of the town. During his time in Radiator Springs, Lightning meets a diverse group of cars including Mater, a tow truck, Sally. a Porsche, and Doc Hudson, an old racecar. He begins to learn the town's history and becomes invested in the cars there, spending time helping everyone of them. He learns the importance of friendship, humility, and helping others. Lightning finally makes it to California to compete in the Piston Cup finale, but is distracted without bei...

Moonlight is a coming of age film directed by Barry Jenkins and released in 2016. The film tell the story of a young African American man named Chiron. It follows a unique style where it is split into three chapters, all of which are distinct stages of his life. The first chapter is titled "Little" and takes place when Chiron is a young boy living in a rough neighborhood. He is constantly being bullied for being different and struggling with a troubled home life as his mother is a drug abuser. In this chapter, he meets Juan and Teresa who act as parental figures for him and offer him support and advice. The second chapter takes place when Chiron is in his adolescence and during this time he begins to come to understanding with his identity and sexuality. He is still struggling with bullies and his drug addict mother, but would often go to Teresa house to spend the night there. We find out that Juan died and that Chiron has not taken to this very well. His friend childhood fri...

Jaws is classic thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1975. The movie is based on the novel by Peter Benchley and is considered as the first blockbuster movie. The story is set in a small resort town, which relies solely on tourism during the summer. A young women is found dead on the beach and Brody (played by Roy Scheider), chief of police, suspects a shark attack, but the mayor reluctant to acknowledge the possibility of a shark attack as it could scare away tourist. As more attacks occur Brody teams up with Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss), a marine biologist, and Quint (played by Robert Shaw), a shark hunter. Together they set out to sea to capture and kill the great white shark responsible for all the trouble and killings. After a long few day journey on the water, they kill the shark, but in doing so the boat is torn to shred and Quint is killed in the process. After watching the film, I thought that Spielberg did a great job creating a movie that could be so ...

Swiss Army Man is comedy-drama film directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The story follows Hank (played by Paul Dano), a man stranded on a deserted island who is ready to end his life when he discovers a corpse wash onto the shore. The corpse, Manny (played by Daniel Radcliffe), has many unique abilities, such as the ability to emit powerful flatulence or farts which can be used for many different purposes. Hank uses Manny and his powerful talent to ride across the ocean until they find an island. The two form a strong but unusual bond, and soon embark on a journey through the wilderness. Throughout there journey, Hank begins teaching Manny about the real world such as show emotions and experiences. While Hank spends countless hours teaching and spending time with Manny, he begins to reevaluate his outlook on life. The movie comes full circle and ends with Hank and Manny passing through the forest where they were stranded and make it all the way to the beach and Manny farts aw...

This past week, we had to create a short film to show the class. We were able to chose any genre that we wanted and the filming process was very open to our imagination. My group and I decided to do a Western short film since it wouldn't be too hard. No one had any prior acting or filming knowledge, so we wanted to go with something simple that is also effective. With the film being fairly short, we thought that doing a standard western standoff would be entertaining. We looked at videos online of western standoffs, so that we could get a general understanding of what is needed to make successful film.  The filming process was very interesting as no one had prior knowledge of what to do. Doing a Western film was not the best idea since we weren't able to shoot in a desert area and lacked an accurate costume and props. I ended up being one of the main characters, and the one to win the standoff. I wasn't very sure of what to do while shooting, so some of the shots don't ...