Night of the Living dead (1968)

“The Night of the living dead” is movie directed by George A. Romero and it is about two siblings going to the cemetery; once there they start being attacked by what looks to be a zombie. From there on, everything becomes chaos. Dead people come to life and star looking for human flesh; it becomes a survival situation.

Many people especially horror and zombie fans consider this movie sort of a masterpiece due to it been the first movie to influence later horror and zombie movies. Despite the acclamation for the movie, there are some things that could be said from another point of view. Even though, the plot and theme might seem perfect, there were some elements that threw me and some of the audiences off the intensity of the story. There were mainly sound defects combined with lack of fighting scenes preparation and sometimes extremely overacting especially by the leading actress.

Romero really started something back at the end of the 60s but there were those little technical things that happen to any movie that makes it not achieve perfection. Despite those little problems overall the theme and plot were really interesting perspectives of human life and behavior. The idea at the end that none of the main characters survived was a nice touch, reminding us that sometimes “you can’t save everyone” or also sometimes “life is just unfair”.  

Jaws (1975)

Jaws, a film directed by Steven Spielberg was a mega- hit movie that helped established Spielberg as one of most iconic film directors of all time. The movie is about an East Coast resort, Amity Island, been plagued by attacks on swimmers by a large white shark. If played now probably it would seem as an ordinary subject, but after further analysis, one could say that Spielberg was one of the many that started contemporary American Cinema.

Despite the fact of being a successful box office movie, there are some attributes that make this a great movie to watch. It tapped into the idea of the universal fear of what might be in the sea; the idea of something unknown coming to terrify our world . Further the iconic music that creates a sense of fear, suspense, and intrigue into not knowing when the shark is going to come out is masterfully played. From the beginning to the end Spielberg get us hook into the story all the way to the climax when we actually see the shark and all the way in the end when the heroes win such a great battle, where man beats nature.

In a way you can say that this was a project of a new director, not everything worked out for Spielberg in this movie. This was an experimental process for him and you can somehow see it in the movie; a young director trying to do his first major movie  and a man in the story trying to protect his town against nature. This movie has all the great elements of a great entertaining film, put together in one piece for any type of movie goer that enjoys a great time at the theater.            

Children of Men (2006)

“Children of men” is a political thriller movie directed by Alfonso Cuarón about a nervously plausible future. It’s 2027, and the human race is approaching to an end due to women being infertile. Cities across the globe are in flames, people have lost its way, in a permanent war zone called Britain; smoke pours into the air as illegal immigrants are kicked out and being put into detainment camps. It is apocalypse, people see no future in the world until one day a foreign girl is found pregnant and then the story unravels.

The plot and the theme are outstanding, the theme of” hope” to the whole world with the upbringing of child and the obstacles into bringing that child to life seem to be something that happens every day but it is taken for granted. Hope probably is the most single idea needed right now for society. Despite the theme and plot, the settings looked perfect for conveying the theme, not as apocalyptic but not so civilized either; it had the perfect combination of chaos but also sanity.   

Reading an article and a video about the movie being shot in long takes was astonishing. There are only few Directors that attempt to do this kind of film making, which is really difficult due to being continuous. Nevertheless Cuaron does a great job assembling a cast in a movie that people didn't have much expectations but comes with a powerful message about the struggles of humanity and what it takes to overcome them.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Review (1964)

Dr. Strangelove concerns an deranged United States Air Force general who orders a first strike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. It follows the President of the United States, his advisors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a Royal Air Force officer as they try to recall the bombers to prevent a nuclear apocalypse. It separately follows the crew of one B-52 as they try to deliver the bombs to destination.

This movie is very peculiar unlike any of the work that Mr. Kubrick has done. Looking at a trend of Kubrick films, this one stands out due to its comedic sarcasm about the cold war. Dialogue, the plot, and the outstanding performance of Peter Sellers are the main elements that make this movie a success. Dr. Strangelove was originally to be as serious film about the dangers of nuclear attack, but during the process Kubrick reading the story came-up to realize that the generals as leaders didn’t know what they were doing and decided to make a mock out of them.
Kubrick’s combination of elements from acting to the music and the amazingly sarcastic dialogue makes Dr. Strangelove the black comedy of the century.

Despite all the satire and comedic attributes of Dr. Strangelove, there is a human exploration behind the story, the idea of destruction, or a sense of chaos in life. Both of those sentiments are expressed in most of his films and this is not an exception in this film; an imminent nuclear war, a lunatic general creating that war, and “higher rank” generals trying to decide the fate of millions of people; the whole idea itself seems like pretty serious subject but there is actually nothing serious about it. Nevertheless Kubrick with a clever script but specially Dr. Strangelove himself with his ideas of “breeding” a new population really intensified the most ridiculous situation that you can ever imagine in a war room. Last but not least Vera Lynn’s recording of “We’ll Meet again" closed the movie with two thumbs up.