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Best film of all time, I think not

Maybe it was because I went into this film with exceedingly high expectations, knowing it has been recognized as one of the best films of all time, that I did not particularly like it, and I say this coming from a pure entertainment aspect.

Overall, I found the film to be long and disengaging with respect to the characters, especially regarding Mr. Charles Foster Kane. I simply didn’t feel the story enough behind Kane, didn’t really build up the sympathy required by an audience member to put myself fully into it, which produced a lacking force when it comes to my opinion on it. In the end (literally), I just didn’t feel sorry for Kane. If I did, I think I would have enjoyed the film more.

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A social stance on Proyas’s “The Crow”

One year after the brutal murder of Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and girlfriend Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas), Eric is brought back from the grave by a crow, a legendary creature that it is told can shatter the barrier between the living and the dead to bring back a life for the sake of love. The crow aides Eric in a righteous mission of vengeance as Eric seeks out the perpetrators of his and Shelly’s death.

“The Crow,” directed by visionary Alex Proyas, is set in the slums of an unnamed inner city where the sirens of police cars feel incessant and the flashing of red and blue lights is commonplace. Various gangs bully the city’s inhabitants for greed and mere amusement. Homeless people litter the streets and police patrol in fear. Children desperately search for food while their parents spend what little money they have on drugs such as cocaine and morphine.

This film is strewn with blatant depictions of big time social issues, including poverty, gang violence, homelessness, child abuse/neglect and drug addiction.

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A film for all time: Kubrick’s genius in 2001

Wow. Certainly, that word sums up Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” in the most concise manner possible, and perhaps the best. The American Film Institute voted it number 22 on its 100 Years, 100 Movies list. And though it’s definitely an oldie (released in 1968) and many find it boring for its long sequences of silence, sometimes strange sounds and mostly the non-verbal portrayal of the vastness of outer space, the film is a true masterpiece that has influenced all forms of media; from movies like “Star Wars” and TV programs like The Simpsons to impacting the way we as people, we as the human race, we as living creatures, we as people of the public sphere, foreign to the realm of space, feel about what it would be like to be there, out there in space. The film also influences the ideas about where technology might take us in the future and even our personal beliefs about the origins of life. Truly, this film has been a breakthrough for it all.

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