The Graduate

The Graduate, a 1967 film directed by Mike Nichols, is about Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), a young man who just graduated from college. The night of his party in celebration of his graduation, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), Mr. Braddock's business partner's wife, convinces Benjamin to give her a ride home. When they arrive at her house, Mrs. Robinson forces him to go in with her. She begins to make hints and finally Ben realizes that Mrs. Robinson is "trying to seduce [him]."

At first, Ben is horrified and leaves as soon as possible. However, Ben contacts Mrs. Robinson a few days later and invites to a local hotel. The two begin an affair that Benjamin feels uncomfortable with.

One night Mrs. Robinson makes Ben promise that he would never date her daughter Elaine. But, after much pressure from his parents and a threat of a dinner party with all of the Robinson's, Ben decides to take Elaine on a date. This infuriates Mrs. Robinson but Ben swears that he will never do it again.

Ben takes Elaine (Katherine Ross) to a strip club. She is very uncomfortable and upset. As she sits there, she begins to cry and eventually runs out of the club. Ben follows and apologizes, thoroughly explaining his reasons for acting as he is. Elaine forgives him and for the first time, Ben feels as if he found someone he can really talk with.

Ben returns the next day and takes Elaine out again. However, his happiness is short-lived when he has to tell Elaine about his affair with her mother. When Elaine asks her mother about it later, Mrs. Robinson claims that Ben raped her.

Elaine goes off to college in Berkley. Shortly after, Ben follows and finds an apartment. Elaine is cold towards Ben when she they meet each other. Later she goes to his apartment and confronts him about everything that happened with Mrs. Robinson. He informs her that her mother did not tell her the truth. Elaine leaves but returns later. She and Ben talk shortly about marriage and she says she will consider it.

As his luck would be, Mr. Robinson is waiting for Ben one day when he returns home. Mr. Robinson says that he knows about the affair and will be getting a divorce. Also, he tells Ben to stay away from his daughter.

Shortly after, Elaine writes Ben a note stating that she will be marrying another man. She says that this is best for both of them. Ben disagrees, however, and finds the church that the wedding is in. He runs in a backdoor and finds himself on a walkway above the ceremony. He shouts, "ELAINE!!" and pounds on the glass in front of him. Elaine runs to him just as the wedding is coming to an end. She and Ben fight off her family and flee the church. Together, they board a bus and find a seat in the rear. There's is a look of "What do we do now?" on both of their faces as the credits begin to roll.

There is a follow-up film, "Rumor Has It," that features Jennifer Aniston as Sara, daughter of Jocelyn, the real Elaine.

This film's genres were comedy and romance.

I give this movie a 9.5.

My scale is set up thusly:
10-Best movie I've ever seen
9-Amazingly good
8-Definitely recommended
7-Decent
6-Worth watching
5-Average
4-Fine
3-Boring or uninteresting
2-idea is overdone, too common
1-Terrible, don't waste your time.

I loved this movie. It is definitely one of the best movies I have seen. I loved the humor and awkwardness throughout the film. The characters were well-developed. There was a lot to be learned from each of them. Also, it was interesting to see where the film went. I found it to be hard to predict what would happen next.

works cited: imdb.com

Psycho

We all know the corny thrillers and scary movies that are thrown at us constantly. There are some scenes from thos movies that could almost be considered overdone for how often they appear. But where did the stereotypical scary movies get their ideas?

Psycho is a 1960 directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was the first real thriller based on the book Psycho by Robert Bloch. Bloch's book was inspired by Ed Gein, a serial-killer from Plainsville, Wisconsin.

The film begins in Phoenix, Arizona with Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, and her lover Sam Loomis, depicted by John Gavin. They want to marry, however, Sam does not have the money because he is still paying alimony to his ex-wife. In attempts to help Sam, although he never asks for the help, Marion steals money from her boss that she is supposed to take to the bank. She takes the $40,000 with her on her long drive to Sam's home.

Marion gets lost during a storm and accidentally ends up off of the main road. She stops at a Bates motel, a 12-room lodging, to get a good rest and rents cabin 1. The owner and supervisor Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins, invites Marion for dinner when he discovers she has not had an evening meal. He rushes to his house to make the meal when Marion agrees to join him. While she is freshening-up, Marion overhears and argument between Norman and his mother, who believes that Norman is up to something bad with Marion.

When Norman finally returns, he has sandwiches but says he isn't hungry as he already ate earlier. In the parlor, Marion carefully suggests that Norman send his mother to a mental institution. Norman becomes agitated at first, but quickly recovers. He tells Marion about his love of taxidermy, especially stuffing his favorite animals: Birds. He also admits that he would like to leave and have his own life but he is trapped because he cannot send his mother away. He notes that most people have a trap in their life at some time. Marion recognizes her theft of the money as her trap and decides to drive back to Phoenix the next morning. Marion excuses herself and goes to her room in which she undresses in preparation for her shower while Norman watches through a peephole in the parlor.

While taking her shower, a human figure can be seen through the shower curtain. The curtain is ripped open and the figure stabs Marion to death. The figure has gray hair and a dress giving the viewer the impression that the murderer is Norman's mother. The viewer cannot see the murderer's face, however.

The film is suddenly about Norman. He runs into Marion's room after discovering blood on his mother. He is startled but cleans up the scene carefully. He brings Marion's car to the swamp and pushes it in with Marion and all of her belongings in the trunk.

A private detective, Detective Arbogast is hired to find Marion. He is led to Bates Motel. After questioning Norman, Arbogast is very suspicious that Norman has something to do with Marion's disappearance. Arbogast decides to continue searching for clues after calling Sam and Marion's sister, Lila, to tell them the news. Arbogast goes up to Norman's house to see the mother, but when he reaches the top of the stairs in the house, Marion's killer comes out with the same knife and stabs him. He falls dramatically down the stairs and dies.

Sam and Lila become worried when the detective never returns. They decide to visit the motel and solve the crime. Pretending to be husband and wife, they rent room at the motel. Norman makes sure that he puts them as far away from cabin 1 as possible. They do as much investigating as they can. Eventually Sam has to distract Norman while Lila runs up to his house to search for Marion.

Lila searches the entire tope floor of the house and is unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Norman knocks Sam out when he realizes that Lila is in his house. As Lila rushes downstairs, she sees Norman coming toward the house. She decides to search the basement while he is on the second floor. In the fruit cellar she discovers the corpse of Norman's mother. As she turns around, Norman comes in dressed as a woman brandishing a knife. Luckily Sam comes in immediately after and hits Norman over the head. He is knocked out.

The final scene shows Sam and Lila at the police station. They listen to a psychoanalyst who tells them that Norman was crazy. he had two personalities: Norman and his mother. Eventually the mother overtook Norman and he went completely mad.

This movie was the first of its kind, a real breakthrough in the film industry. I was bored for much of the movie as I had seen most of the ideas from this movie in others. However, this movie was the first to use these ideas, therefore I would give it a 6/10. I liked the plot twists and new ideas. It was creative for its time.

My scale is set up thusly:
10-Best movie I've ever seen
9-Amazingly good
8-Definitely recommended
7-Decent
6-Worth watching
5-Average
4-Fine
3-Boring or uninteresting
2-idea is overdone, too common
1-Terrible, don't waste your time.

The genre of this film is thriller.

Works cited: wikipedia.com

Ben Hur

Ben Hur Podcast

My scale is set up thusly:
10-Best movie I've ever seen
9-Amazingly good
8-Definitely recommended
7-Decent
6-Worth watching
5-Average
4-Fine
3-Boring or uninteresting
2-idea is overdone, too common
1-Terrible, don't waste your time

I give this movie a 9. I found it to be very entertaining. I also enjoyed the historical elements of the film. I feel I could better connect it to the real world. Ben Hur was also a complex character which allowed me to think a little in the movie rather than have everything made obvious.

My Top Ten Movies

My top ten movies in, no particular order, include:

Memoirs of a Geisha
It's a Wonderful Life
Signs
Far and Away
Behind Enemy Lines
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Graduate
The Godfather
Timeline
The Patriot