Stand by My Review | A Culturalist Film Review of Stand by Me

Hello and welcome to my final Action Project for the class Ollywood. In this AP I reviewed the film Stand by Me with a culturalist lense. A culturalist looks at the importance of culture in a film and how that affects its viewers. In this final unit, we have been discussing post-production elements like editing, musical score, and foley artist work. You will hear more about those elements and how I rated them in stand by me. There is some language in the sound clips that could be considered offensive. Listener discretion is advised.



Transcript
 Be advised. This film review contains sound clips from the film with vulgar language. You've been warned.

 The movie stand by me is a film based off the book The Body by Stephen King and directed by Rob Reiner. This is a culturalist film review done by Tymony.
Stand by me is a cult classic and many who watch it say they related and found themselves within the movie.I, however, did not. But let's talk about the film's’ impact before we get into my cultural gripes and misgivings. The film contains a ragtag gang of white kids from a small town all of which have some type of domestic issues at home which gives them the perfect excuse to be able to disappear for two days with no worry.

We open the film with an older Gordie portrayed by Wil Wheaton reading a newspaper with a rather disturbing headline. He begins narrating and we see the group smoking cigarettes and being extremely foul-mouthed. We are now introduced to Christopher portrayed by River Phoenix, Vern portrayed by Jerry O'Connell and Teddy portrayed by Corey Feldman. Vern tells the gang that he overheard his older brother and friend talking about a dead kid that they had found in the woods. This is where our adventure begins.

 A piece of the film that I think really had an impact on the boys watching this film when it came out in 1987 was the fact that each of the boys were brought to tears at one part. They were shown crying but were never made fun of for it, instead, they were comforted by their friends which were really refreshing to see in a late 80’s boys film I use quotations. The acting in this movie is so incredibly well done especially by the children actors. You can forget the teens and adults in the movie, none of their characters stuck out and they blended all together. But the work done by these 12-year-olds was really nothing to shake a stick at The scene where Christopher tells Gordie that he deserves smarter and better friends than him. I found the maturity in Christopher's character sort of off-putting at first but when you tie it into his character's background, it makes sense and gives him depth.

 The film uses no CGI which makes sense for the type of film and also the time it was made. However, one endearing yet disgusting scene makes me chuckle and this is the scene where Gordie tells the story of an overweight boy and how he gets revenge on the town. There is vomit… a lot of it. But it is quite obviously coming from a hidden hose and not the actors. This scene also is very intentional in not having any filters over it so you know that it is a story, not a dream. While also having a brighter look highlighting it from the other real-life scenes. music.

The score was made up of songs that you would hear on the radio in 1959 from rockin' robbin to Yakkety Yak this film really puts you in the 50s groove. Ending it all with the films namesake stand by me. The film used effective sound effects to the point that you wouldn’t even realize they are there. Thank the foley artist Rick Ash for that! Now, would this film hold up if it came out in 2019? No. There is no cultural diversity in this film and in today's world that is the first thing people look for in a film. Also the constant use of the r-word, this would not make it very far.

 Truly I think we do need something like this in today's world but to be able to make a move like it did in the 80’s we’d have to see more diversity. By saying that I am not saying the legitimacy of the film is lesser what I am saying is that this movie played to the narrative as whiteness being the default. In a 2019 remake, we would have to see something that a-lines with what Americans see not necessarily what they are comfortable seeing. A remake would also take a revolutionary stance if it included people of color. Since you don’t see many boys of color insensitive, harmless and playful roles. So is Stand by me a good film? Yes! A film I would keep in my repertoire? no. but don’t let my opinion keep you from watching this great film. It's one to watch actively though constantly giving you a reason to feel weird about getting older and experiencing grief.

All sound clips from the film Stand By Me Rob Reiner 1986
Bazelon, Emily. "White People Are Noticing Something New: Their Own Whiteness" nytimes.com
The New York Times Company, 13 June 2018. Web
15 Jan 2019

The Ebert To My Siskel | Film Review

Hello and welcome to my second action project for Ollywood! In this unit, Production, we went over effective acting for a movie and how a director and actors jobs could go hand in hand to create a great film. For this units test, we created 30-second nanofilms which were unedited short films that we presented to our class. In this action project, My partner GR and I reviewed the film Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg in the style of Siskel and Ebert two iconic film critics from the '80s. I hope you enjoy!

 

All images were captured from the film Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg.

A Tale As Old As Time- A Critical Analyzation of Beauty And The Beast

Hello and welcome to my first AP in my Elective Humanities course, Ollywood.
Ollywood is a film class that teaches us to critically analyze movies as well as looking at the pre-production, production, and post-production elements of a film. In this unit, we looked at the screenplay of Jaws and acted as storyboarders creating a storyboard before even seeing the film. After this, we went real-world location scouting going to Wacker drive and getting pictures to storyboard an Indy teen film. In this action project, you will be reading my critique of Disney's Beauty and the Beast 2017.

Captured from the Film "favorite scene" 2017

Beauty and the Beast is a Disney favorite where we follow a fable with a moral when stripped down to its bones. The movie is set in France around 1740 and the majority of the movie takes place in the Beast's fantastic castle. This movie teaches to look at a person from the inside out as we see the main character, Belle, do many times. The movie is sweet and when looking at it from a perspective you can even see some political or societal messages, such as the townspeople blindly following Gaston. The movie is extremely immersive with its use of 16th-century clothing and architecture. Overall the movie has some serious moments but has a feminist message and sweet, lovely overtones.

Belle (portrayed by Emma Watson) finds her way into the Beast's world when her father's horse leads her to the castle where she takes her father’s place in the dungeon. The other occupants of the house are other people who were turned into pieces of furniture and other household accessories when the witch hexed the beast.
They are very kind and take a liking to Belle because she could have the power to lift the curse and turn them all human again. So, they let her out of the dungeon and give her a suite as well as invite her to a dinner. Even though the household items treat her so well, Belle is too frightened by the beast and tries to run away.

When the Beast runs after her he sees her being attacked by wolves, which he fights off for her. Of course, he is injured but Belle tends to his wounds and they end up bonding over their mutual love for books and Shakespeare. The two slowly fall in love. Meanwhile, her father has tried to get the townspeople to help him find Belle but they laugh and turn him away due to his old age and poverty they called him “ Crazy old Maurice.”
But a man named Gaston (Portrayed by Luke Evans) decides to go with him because he thought that if he saved her she would fall for him even though she has said multiple times that she is disgusted by him and his narcissism. They tie Maurice up to a tree when they think that he has led them on a wild goose chase and tell the townspeople that he is insane and a liar.

This movie is inspired by a French-fairytale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in the 1700s. Which brings me to the believability of the set dressings and the costumes. The beginning of the movie is set in Belle’s small town. It is full of well, townhouses that appear very old and natural for the time. There are horses being used as transportation for the people of wealth who are highlighted by gold buttons and embellishments on their coats. Most notably Gaston who has a high bumped ponytail as well as a clean-cut classic looking red coat with those embellishments. The poor people of the town had dirty clothes that hung from their bodies and messy uncared for hair. In my opinion, both the stage dressing and costumes were incredibly believable and allowed me to be immersed in the film even more.

Our protagonist is Belle, is a very loving and kind-hearted character, as well as one of the only literate people in her village. Because of this, she has become a very strong woman who isn’t easily persuaded by anyone. Belle will do the best for herself and her loved ones. A quote from the film that perfectly describes Belle is “There must be more to this provincial life” I chose this quote because, this shows that Belle wanted more, and she always fought and looked for more in her life.

Our antagonist is Gaston, is a narcissistic and one track minded character. After feeling tired of the ladies that threw themselves at him he became attracted to Belle. Gaston is looked highly upon by most of the villagers because of his looks and “heroism.” He is extremely manipulative of the townspeople. A quote from the movie that perfectly depicts Gaston is “You are the most beautiful thing alive, nobody deserves you” He was speaking to himself. Gaston is favored in this town and held so highly because he is the closest thing that the town has to a prince. The townspeople feel a need for some powerful figure to look to since the majority of the town is so poor. The women of the town want to be able to marry rich so that they can (temporarily) escape their problems.

To conclude, one of my favorite scenes and that is the ending scene where everything is resolved. In this scene the dialogue is simplistic and almost a monologue since Belle is just talking to an unconscious Beast. Belle cries and pleads that the beast doesn’t leave her and that she loves him. Once she says those words the screen is overcome with bright yellow streaks of light while we see the transformation of the beast into a handsome man. Emma Watson does a fantastic job of keeping love in her eyes the whole time showing that no matter what he looked like, Belle would always love the beast.