Marat's Thoughts

  The man in the picture is Greig Fraser, who is the only cinematographer I can name, but his work is so exciting to me. He's gained prominence recently from his work in massive shows and movies such as The Mandalorian, Dune, and The Batman. I didn't watch Dune so I can't speak on it, but I would like to compare the differences in cinematography between The Mandalorian and The Batman.  The Mandalorian uses the Volume a lot, which I think is a really cool technology, but unfortunately I feel like it kind of stifles potential in terms of cinematography. I have watched all of the live action Star Wars shows, including the currently releasing Andor, and now I can usually spot Volume shots when I see them. Luckily, Andor doesn't have nearly as many as Obi-Wan and the previous shows did, but the point is that Greig has had a lot of experience shooting with it. Basically, the Volume is a dynamic background that can project environments built in Unreal Engine 5, or other softwa...

  Yeah I have no idea what was going on in this movie, but it was entertaining regardless. Guillermo del Toro managed to engage me into a plot that I couldn't quite wrap my head around. Maybe part of it was the language barrier but I watch anime sometimes so I'm used to reading captions, but the mystical elements were confusing. I loved the ability though, just create a door anywhere you want. It reminded me a little bit of the portal gun in Portal, which is a far superior ability because then I can choose where I go, but it's fine. Her doors are cool too.  Anyway, I want to mostly talk about the monster thing that is in the picture. Also a little bit about Faun, the ram/bushy/masked thing that tells Ofelia what to do. I'll talk about Faun's design first, and based on my description you can probably tell I have no idea what he was even supposed to look like. He was less interesting to me. But this thing in the picture, whatever the hell that is, is awesome. The setu...

  Get Out was really good. I definitely could see where the conversation about Jordan Peele being an auteur comes from, and I would have to agree that he is. I haven't seen any of his other movies so I cannot compare between them, but I felt like this film was just different from other ones that I have watched. Even through how some of the more fantastical elements like the hypnotism were portrayed, as Daniel Kaluuya was in some sort of negative space. Everything felt grounded and like it was taking place on our Earth.  That's horrifying to think about in the context of black culture right now and how much oppression they still face in society. Just the fact that I believed that there could be white families out there doing this to black men after watching this movie, and even if there aren't, the underlying meaning still rings true. There are definitely lasting systemic issues that are designed to lure minority cultures into a false sense of security, when they're actu...

  The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou was not my cup of tea in terms of film, I'll be honest. It was okay, and I did think there were parts that were funny, but I tend to prefer more engaging stories. I understand that it wasn't supposed to be super serious and dramatic, but I think that it just wasn't for me. I did like the use of color in the film, I enjoyed the brightness and contrast-y backgrounds in shots. I also liked that some of the film was on the water, I feel like I enjoy boat scenes in movies and I should watch more of them, but I just don't see it that often.  I do find it a little hard to suspend my disbelief about boat scenes though, and I think that was one of the things that unconsciously bothered me about this film. I didn't feel any stakes at any point throughout the movie, and so I lost interest quite early on that was never able to be recaptured. I always believed that Steve would find the shark, and that the hostage rescue mission would work out, ...