Coen Brothers

I have seen many of the Coen Brothers films, and I would easily admit that they are my favorite directors/producers of all time. I love the fact that in nearly all their movies, I am always taken aback by some twist or loophole that I would have never expected. A prime example of this is in Burn After Reading, It involves Brad Pitt in a closet. I was never expecting that to happen, and it was very startling. Another example is Llewelyns death in No Country for Old Men. He was the supposed Protagonist, and in 90% of the movies made in hollywood, the protagonist or "good guy" doesn't die. The manner in which they let him die, offscreen by mexicans, not even Chigurh really threw me off when I first saw it. Another device of the Coen's that I like is their way of characterization. It's always done in the first 10 or 15 minutes, which allows us as the viewers time to ponder and pick over the plot while its happening, the absense of characterization from the bulk of the movie really makes the plot stand out and seem more important.

Altman Effect

After watching The Long Goodbye and The Player, my interested in Robert Altman, as a director, was piqued. His style.. the dingy pallet, the ever moving camera, the way the characters talk to one another, how many characters there are, the way they are developed. All of those things made me want to see another Altman Film, Now I haven't gotten any of his movies from Netflix yet, But i plan on seeing Gosford Park and A Prarie Home Companion, two of his most recent films.

You are not your job.

After watching Fight Club for about the hundredth time, I can still safely say it's one of my all time favorite movies.

Fight Club is more than defensible. It is an excellent film that raises some interesting questions about the nature of man and his relationship to the world he has made. It does not abandon thoughtfulness in its pursuit of the adrenaline jolt. It's a brutal, yet honest. It speaks clearly against consumerism, monologued by Edward Norton a few minutes into the movie, and later by Brad Pitt's character, Tyler Durden. Pan over Project Mayhem, dozens of men working to achieve enlightenment, and Tyler Durden is their preacher, he states: "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." This is a perfect example of the main theme of the movie, anti-consumerism.

After seeing several of Fincher's other films, I can safely say that this movie is exactly in his style. Neo-noir stylized cinematography, poetic dialog, non-digetic voice overs, etc. All of his other films have employ the same style, which isn't surprising at all.

Brad Pitt also plays the same arrogant, cocky hipster that he plays in his other Fincher movies, The contrast between his character in Se7en and his character in Fight Club are almost nonexistent. They have the same mannerisms, same way of speaking, and same attitude. This isn't a bad thing, as I feel that that character has not been overused yet.
There are many cuts from storyline to emphasize different points, such as when The Narrator(Edward Norton) narrates to the audience, while the action that he is speaking about goes on in the background. This happens quite frequently and gives us a physical representation of his words.
The theme in his movies are very similar as well, encompassing character(s) that are estranged from the world, and centralizing the movie around said character(s) internal struggles, battling for their sanity.
My points are elaborated more thoroughly in this review: