MYSTIC RIVER (Clint Eastwood, 2003)

When we lose someone we really love and need in our lives we do not pay attention to reasons, we just desire the guilt to suffer at least the same as you, or the same as tour relative did. However, anything will not give you back this person; neither the prison nor the assassin death.



When we are victims, when children, of any kind of abuse or something, we are likely to commit this kind of things as well when we have grown up. However, as we have been so hurt, we will probably try to avoid others to suffer the same pain. But ours is for life, and if anybody believes us, what can we do? What do we have?



Other people are more fortunate. There are people in the world who fight so others can be quietly and in peace. Their decision for becoming this help for society may have some special reasons or not but, being a good and a noble man has, sooner or later, its advantages.



Excellent element of suspense which keeps the viewer wondering WHO. Those events happened off-screen are more important because they reveil the name of the assassin. Besides, the use of lights and shadows is greatly developed and contribute to the creation of expectancy over the spectator. In some way, it makes me remember Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008) in the excellent use of shadows in order to announce the spectator that something is wrong. Moreover, the use of an exact and similar scene in two occasions provokes a common knowledge that something wrong is going to happen in the sencond time.
-The First time that the car disappears throught the street Dave (Tim Robbins) is going to suffer abuses while the second time he is going to die.

In my opinion, everything is wonderfully linked and the movie is really well thought and represented. Furthermore, the job of actors is fantastic, especially that of Jemmi (Sean Penn).

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird, 2011)

The strength of the special effects convert this movie into one full of action and surprises. On the other hand, how different elements are interconnected create a great movie, really well thought. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is with no doubts, the best character of the film, not for being the protagonist but for the story around him, which is completely discovered at the end.



Besides, as in all the Mission Impossible movies happen, the intelligence of the agents is near to irreality. However, it is a consistent and necessary element for this kind of movie.

The treatement of editing is wonderful and it is the reason why this film is so exiting and fast. As shots are incredibly short, actions take place very rapidly.
On the other hand, it is a common knowledge the vitality that sound in this movie has and provokes. Here you can listen to the famous tune this movie is charaterised for.



It contributes to the creation of suspense and nervious, which at the same time constitute clear important elements for the development of the plot. They, together with the action, special effects and Ethan Hunt personality are the best and the most characteristic ingredients not only of this movie but also of the other three.

TOUCH OF EVIL (Orson Welles, 1958)

At last, everybody pays what it does, although those things carried out have a kind of justification or not. There's a time and a place for everything. That's why Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) finally dies, because he's not been a good person or citizen and life has punished him. Even though it is a black-and-white movie, mise-en-scène in terms of lightning is quite important. I don't mean that black-and-white movies are bad in terms of mise-en-scène but it is a fact that has surprised me, I don't know why! Anyway, the excellent use of shadows allows the spectator to wonder during the entire movie what's the next. Hence, shadows provide an expectancy and suspense which is also supported by the importance of the offscreen elements, quite common as well in this film.



On the other hand, meanings transmitted implicitly are very relevant for the development of the movie because actually, those things that can be deduced by the viewer are even more important than those which can be seen onscreen.



By the way, this is not the kind of film I admire the most but I must admit it is a good movie, especially because it achieves the spectator to be evolved in it.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (Andrew Dominik, 2007)

From my point of view, this movie is quite weird. It is a biographical story about a man, Jesse James (Brad Pitt) who killed many people during his life, creating an image of himself as a brave man. Finally, this man is assassinated as all his victims were and the only reason is: fear. The man who kills him, Robert Ford (Cassey Affleck), has done it because he was afraid of being killed by him.



Firstly, it seemed to me that it was not Robert but his brother Charley (Sam Rockwell) who killed Jesse, but apparently it was Robert. Even though he was also looking for the reward, it was impossible for him to deny that he missed Jesse James. Therefore, he was not proud of his assassination.
Besides, people did not support him, which demonstrates that people don¡t usually accept assasins.

Althoug at first, it seemed to me that this is the biography of Jesse James himself, it is not. This is the biography of Robert Ford, his assassin.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (John Madden, 1998)

Love is the inspiration everybody needs, even the great William Shakespeare. This movie deals with a period in which Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) couldn't write. But he suddenly meets a young Lady (Gwyneth Paltrow) and falls in love with her, who is also in love with him. They start a relationship secretly, since she is going to get married with another man, altough she does not love him at all. Besides, the young Lady, by desguising herself as she were a boy achieves the possibility to play the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.




Yet, they will have some problems with the authority and the theatre will be closed as well as the company will be forbidden. However, they find out the solution although it will not follow exactly what the law establishes.

DEAD POETS SOCIETY (Peter Weir, 1989)

If you do not live your dream, probably you'll be dead in life. Because everybody has the right to have dreams and fight for them, and of course, everybody has the right of seeing their dreams to come truth.
In addition, Science can have many utilities and probably people who study science will be have a better job and better income in the future but, literature allows us to think and to feel. “We don’t write poetry because it’s cute, we read and write poetry because we are members of the human race; and the human race is full of passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering: these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love: these are what we stay alive for.” It's like a metaphore of what the life should be for us. Literature allows us to live other lives and dreams do it too. So literature, is a dream as well as a dream can be literature.



The literary component in this movie is obvious and wonderful. However, not only literature but also philosophy and values make the dialogues richer, since the defenses made in this film as well as the way in which they are made compose a really impressive script which keeps the attention of the viewer during the entire movie. The latin idiom "Carpe Diem" constitutes a fundamental part of the movie, the philosophy that all the students follow, trying to live their lives and to become what they really want. Nevertheless, not all of them can achieve it and not all of them can overcome the difficulties life prepares for them. That's why this film is a really emotive one, which takes advantage of the fact that the characters are teenagers in order to move, even more, the spectator.



Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) will be the most moving character since his story makes the viewer to feel identified with him and to suffer at the same time he does. This is a good key the director probably used in order to shock the audience, since the effect that children or teenagers can have over the audience is not the same as those of an adult. Besides, the person of Neil itself and his dramatical end, transmits to spectator how unfair the life can be. Even though he is one of the
best students and one of the most concerned with his must, he is not allowed to be
happy. The end of this character, one of the two most moving moments of the movie, is not going to be discovered here. The way to know it is seeing this great touching movie :)

Here I leave for you the moment I like the most from this movie. And the most moving as well!

ROBINSON CRUSOE (Rod Hardy and George Miller, 1997)

This movie is based on the novel by Daniel Defoe which tells the adventures of a shipwreck. I've watched this film in order to motivate myself to read the novel and I am absolutely convinced to do it since I love the story very much. It is similar, in a way, to the movie Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis, 2000) played by Tom Hanks. In fact, I have read that it was based on the novel by Defoe.



I specially like the character of Friday. I think it is necessary in the story because it teaches many things to Robinson (Pierce Brosnan) as well as beinf his salvation. In some way, he represents the wild part of Robinson, although it is Friday who is afraid of Robinson and not vice-versa.



On the other hand, the presence of Friday at first and the way that Robinson refers to him can make us to think in the problem of slavery in U.S. as well as in the colonization. Actually, the story of Robinson Crusoe is, in some aspects, a story about colonization.