Movies, Bridal Shower, and Papers
Whew! Week 2 was crazy! My future daughter-in-law's bridal shower was this past Saturday, so I spent part of the week prepping for that, but we also had two papers due in school with movies to watch, research, and critique.
I'm going to share what we've watched in backwards order, because we just watched a movie so fascinating I can't wait to tell you about it!
Hugo
2011
Written by: John Logan and Brian Selznick
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz
"Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton." ~
This story took many twists and turns - one of the most delightful movies I've ever seen. Of course, it left me in tears, too, but that's okay.
In week 3, we're learning about
. The author of the book, Bruce Block, discusses story intensity, and after reading Block's Story Structure, I can almost see Hugo on the following type graph that Block has in his book:
The abbreviations are:
Exposition
Conflict
Climax
Resolution
Hugo provided the ups and downs in this chart, and the intensity continued to increase with every minute.
I highly recommend both the film and the book. (Hugo is currently available on Netflix for live streaming or on DVD.)
We had two papers due Sunday, one on
Citizen Kane
and one on
Vertigo
. After studying and researching the films in depth, my earlier reservations about them (
and
) are gone. I now have a great amount of respect for the talent and ingenuity that went into both of these movies. I still think they're odd, but my appreciation for them has grown exponentially.
Tim and I finished all four seasons of
Blue Bloods
and can't wait for the fifth season to begin later this month. One of my assignments for this week is to write five loglines for potential episodes of a current TV program. I'm going to write mine for
Blue Bloods
. I already have one idea, but now I have to figure out the others - and come up with original ideas they've not done before.
After we finished
Blue Bloods
, we began watching
Veronica Mars
. My BFF said it was like a modern day Nancy Drew, and being a Nancy Drew fan (of the original series) I looked forward to it. The "modern" part is what gets me, but once I got past that, it's an okay series.
It's interesting though - as I compare the different shows we've watched recently, I realize two things: 1) I'm not the target market for some of these shows; 2) there is a HUGE difference between
excellent
TV and
good
TV, not just good and bad, and it doesn't have to do with ratings. If anyone doubts that, just look at A&E's ridiculous decision to cancel
Longmire
, one of the best TV shows currently on the air, AND their #2 program behind
Duck Dynasty
.