In The Birth of Big Air we learn about the life of Matt Hoffman. He was the first person that ever tried to jump really high off a quarter pipe for BMX. He broke the world record for both the biggest quarter ramp and the biggest air. He broke 20 feet of air multiple times. In this documentary we followed his progression as a BMX rider. Matt was revolutionising the sport of BMX before the X games were even invented. He had over 100 concussions and he has broken almost as many bones as Evil Kenevil. Matt quit BMX before the mega ramp was invented and when it was he had to ride it. He wasn't trying to win the competition he just wanted to ride. His friends always said he built the sketchiest ramps in the world. He also knew how to give himself stitches.

I could really pick out the different aspects of cinematography during this film. There was great B roll and I could notice the rule of thirds. During the interviews the people being interviewed would be moved from right to left to balance the shots. The producers actually had real footage of Matt riding his bike. They had the specific events on tape. That way whenever the people being interviewed would say something about an event that happened, there was real footage of Matt as B roll. They interviewed many people for a long time and some people probably didn't even make it into the film. Matt's wife only had about 30 seconds when she was in the film. The only things she talked about where how they met and one of Matt's big falls. They also interviewed the surgeon that Matt used and he only had about ten seconds of film. This just shows how much work really goes into making a good documentary.

    I would recommend this film only to certain people. If you like extreme sports and good tricks I would want you to watch this film. Also you have to be able to watch people take really bad falls and almost die. There were many parts were even I would say, '' That looked like that hurt".

     When Addie's mother dies her aunt and uncle were supposed to be responsible for the nine year-old girl. But when she had no way to get to their house that chore fell upon Moses' shoulders. They traveled together through Kansas making money. At one point Moses spends a lot of money that was left to Addie in her mother's will. Addie holds him to it and makes him pay back every penny of it. They would go from house to house selling deluxe edition Bibles. Moses soon found out about Addie's natural ability to sell and drive a hard bargain. She as smart. At one point she looks into one of the customers' houses and sees that they have a lot of money. Addie then drives the price of the Bible up by 200% almost. Along the way the two get into some trouble. At one point they get caught for bootlegging. Another time during the movie Addie has to get rid of Moses' new girlfriend, Trixie. These are all bumps along the road which doesn't seem to end for Moses.

    The acting in this movie was very interesting. There were a few times when Moses would talk and I couldn't understand what he was saying. He would talk so fast but I don't know if that was part of his character. The young girl that played Addie was smoking at one point in the movie. There didn't seem to be any stunt doubles in the movie. There was a scene where Addie was sitting on top of crates in a moving car. The crates and Addie almost fell off the car. I never saw a point where they would have cut the film to put in a double for that scene. Even the more minor parts of the story were good actors and actresses.

    The way the movie was actually filmed was entertaining. It was interesting to see how they might have filmed something back then. During the whole movie there was a lense glare in the center of the screen. I don't know if that was a post production error or if it was even intentional. Even back when this movie was made I could notice keying lights. Also a lot of the movie was filmed in a car driving. It looked to me that they were using some sort of green screen. This movie was filmed in the 60s which might have been late enough in time to have green screens. I also noticed a lot of cuts. At one point there was a break in the 180 rule. It was during a fight scene. The camera cut from one side of the fight to the other side and it was a little confusing. There was not much music in the background and that is what made me lose interest. But they did have music during important parts.

    I would recommend this movie only to people who have to watch a black and white movie. Even then I am sure there are better movies in black and white. The movie was supposed to be a comedy but I never laughed once. I guess the humor would have been fitting for the time it was made in. If you are looking for a funny black and white film, this is not the one to watch. The whole storyline is very interesting but it comes to an abrupt stop. It almost seems like they rushed to finish the film. 

    In the movie Jaws, the chief of police Brody, is having a tough time keeping a shark problem contained during the fourth of july weekend. The city council did not want to close the beaches because of the shark and that is why more people were killed. When Brody heard this he was on watch all the time with all of the island’s police members. There were three victims by the time he himself set out with a shark hunter and shark scientist to kill the thing. They encounter the shark way off shore and lose it the first time. But when it comes up a second time they get the shark. There were many people terrified of the shark before it was dead.

    During the movie there were many things that were amazing. In particular one of those things was the acting. In this film the actors were amazing. It was a great aspect that Brody was afraid of water. THe actor playing Brody did a great job of acting like a cat almost near water. Also the people being attacked did a great job of being terrified when they are dying. Also when the characters are comparing their scars and getting into an argument is very real. Then the one guy tells the story of the USS Indianapolis. That is a very interesting part of the film that reveals a lot about the character. Overall the acting was outstanding.

    There were also a lot of great special effects with the shark. At one point you see the shape of the shark and you can see the mouth close around the guy’s leg. Another cool thing is how you can see the mutilated leg under water. Also when you actually see the shark it looks very real. It is amazing how they showed the size of the shark in the movie. When Brody first sees the shark’s head he says his famous quote. “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”  Another time when the shark comes up on to the deck and eats the boat captain the blood is very realistic. The coolest special effect is when the shark gets blown to pieces and there is blood and water and parts of the shark in the air.

    THe camera techniques were by far the most amazing thing about this movie. It was a completely different way of filming. The director used the camera to show the point of view of the shark. That gave the film a more scary look. It is cool to see the shark swim through the water. Also it is cool to see the view from the helicopter going over the beach.

    This movie was well directed and well acted. This was an amazing movie. It’s too bad the next two sequels weren’t that good. This movie was a revolutionary film that originally could have been a horror movie. 

    In the movie Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson shows us the love story between Suzy and Sam. The movie takes place on a small island. The two kids have their own problems. Suzy goes “Berserk” and  her family thinks she needs mental help. Sam has no family. His parents are dead and he is an orphan. He also has a hard time finding friends. He is also a die hard Khaki scout. Which is a boy scout. Sam and Suzy run away together to find their own life. They had been planning their escape for almost a year. As they are missing the police, parents, and scouts are searching for them. It is quite the adventure.

    The camera work is very interesting in this film. Wes Anderson definitely has his own way of filming things. He is always breaking 180 but in a good way. He also uses a lot of pan shots. He breaks 180 at one point by going in the middle of a room and panning to each of the four rooms around him. At one point in the movie he pans down a floor so you can see what is going on in the basement. Wes also has something in the middle of the shot that is straight up and down. That is something that is very specific to him. Also all of the shots are very saturated. That means all of the colors are very distinct. All of the settings were weird colors as well. He also did a few shots where there were people talking on the phone and you could see both of them. It was like they were sitting at a table talking to each other but with a wall between them. At the end of the movie you see Sam’s painting of the cove and then the shot fades into the actual cove. Another thing is how the letters are presented. Each note would be read by the voice of the writer and as they are reading he would pan or cut to the words being said.

    Wes Anderson is also big on cheesy effects. The first time you see this is when the arrow flies and you see it go through the air. The way he did that is by having an arrow attached to the camera and panning from left to right to make it seem like it’s flying. He also did a quick flash of scissors so you didn’t see the kid get cut. Also when the dog has the arrow in its neck the blood is very fake and old fashion. Also the explosion when the Khaki scout leader saves the other scout leader is very fake. And when the scout leader is jumping over the river the effects are very cheesy because the river was about ten feet wide.

    Some more things a noticed about the camera work were the way the movie was filmed. There was almost always track being used. For instance when you see the campground for the khaki scouts. The track must have been 100 yards long. Also at the table scenes when people were sitting eating, no one would be on the side of the camera. That way you could see that there was someone gone and also so no one had their back to the audience.

    I did like this movie a lot. It was a very cool way to film things and I learned a lot. I really liked all the cheesy effects because I like to think of how I would do that. I would recommend that everyone sees this movie. 

In the movie The Raid, a group of police officers go to try and arrest a crime lord. When they start the raid on the building everything goes wrong. The crime lord offers any resident in the building a free lease if they kill the cops. So when all but a small group the officers realize they aren’t going to get backup. The mission wasn’t an official mission and it was for personal gain of one of the lead cops. The majority of the movie is filled with cops fighting their way to the top of the apartment complex in which the crime lord is in.

One of the major things that stood out during this movie was the fight scenes. Considering it was the focus of the movie you would expect the fight scenes to be good. Each punch and kick was as real as it could get. People were getting thrown into walls and out of windows. The actors were all highly trained Martial Art fighters. So they were used to real combat so it was that much easier for them to fake it. There were many points in the movie where I thought to myself how could they do that without actually hurting the other person. There must have been hours spent rehearsing the fight scenes which were highly choreographed.

Another thing that impressed me was all the special effects. A lot of the time when people use muzzle flashes they look very fake. In this movie I was surprised at how real they were. Even when the guns went off in the dark the light would flash to light up the whole room as well.  The blood was very real too. And every time someone got stabbed it looked as real as possible. There would actually be puncture wounds. It was even more real when one cop had to dig out a bullet with a butter knife. Also when one of the criminals was stabbed in the hand, the effects were very real. I also liked the break away doors and windows. I loved the part when one of the machete guys stabbed through the wall and barely missed killing the main character and cut his cheek.

I really liked this movie. The movie was a great combination of thrill and ninja fight scenes. If you like seeing somewhat bloody fight scenes I would recommend this for you.

    In the second film of the Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, the director continues the storyline of Thomas and his friends from the Glade. After escaping the Maze thomas and his band of friends are rescued by an unknown force. That force turns out to be the same one that put the group in the Maze, WCKD or Wicked. Wicked is an organization that is trying to find a cure for something called the flare. The flare is a disease that basically turns people into zombies. The reason Thomas has been captured by Wicked is because his generation has the cure in their blood. The cure can’t be manufactured so Wicked is harvesting the cure from the whole generation of teenagers. Once thomas finds this out he escapes with his group and try to find the resistance to Wicked. Towards the end of the movie one of the kids gives Wicked their location so they can be recaptured. Throughout their journeys the clan encounters anything from zombies to crazy mobsters.

    The Scorch Trials was surprisingly well filmed. After the first movie there wasn’t much to expect cinematically. My favorite cinematic moment of the film was when one of the members of the group got infected. He knew he was going to become one of the zombies so he took the gun and told the others to start their journey again. The six remaining members are walking on top of a sand dune at the golden hour, in single file, and they have a good amount of space between them. When they hear the gunshot they all stop on a dime at the same time and for about ten seconds you see the six silhouettes standing motionless. Also there was one time when the group was running away from the zombies through a hallway. As they were coming towards the camera, the camera went towards them while bobbing. This made it seem like the viewer was running towards the group as they ran towards the viewer. At another time there were two characters talking to each other about one being taller than the other. The camera angle was set so you would see that the one character was actually taller. Now if they are actually that distant in height in reality might not be true. But the camera angle made it seem that way in that scene.

    Another amazing quality of this film was the special effects. The whole film takes place in an old city that is covered in sand. There had to have been a lot of editing to make the city look real. There were even two buildings leaning against each other. This place is not possibly real so the editors had to make it seem as real as possible. The characters also ran through a lightning storm and the special effects there were amazing. There was lightning touching down all around the actors and one even got struck by lighting. He wasn’t actually struck but the special effects made it look like he did. Even when you see him after there is smoke rising of his burnt clothes. The makeup for the zombies was incredible. The only thing that resembled a human in the creatures was the shape and the fact that they stood on two feet. The zombies’ faces were so messed up that they actually looked like animals. The only special effects that weren’t that impressive were the explosions. The explosions were just clouds of smoke mixed with sparks. There weren’t any large clouds of orange flames like a real explosion. But over all the special effects were astounding.

I really enjoyed this movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone that enjoys relatively good action and adventure films with a great story. There are even a few parts that are intense and will make you jump. If you like those aspects in a movie watch the Scorch Trials.