The movie I chose to do was the Lego batman movie. I decided to do this movie because I thought that it was the most interesting out of all the options. The director of this films name is Chris Mckay. I think the best scene in the film was when Batman saves Robin from blowing himself up. I think Batman gave the best performance because he was the main character and he was also a good fighter thinker and strategist. Although I think that this was a good film I do not think that it is the best one i have ever seen in my life. I don’t think the film was a bad film so it wasn’t the worst film either. If I was to give this movie a grade I would give it a 80. I don’t really know to much about the director who made this film but I don’t hate the film. I think it was enjoyable and funny to watch. If I was to rate this film on a scale from 1 to 10 I would give it a 7. The writer created 5 interesting characters.

This film is related t the directors other films because some of his other films are lego. It is different because it has different characters in each movie he makes. I predicted a few things before the writer revealed them to me some of them were obvious and some were a little harder to figure out. The emotions that I felt while watching this film were the same as the way batman felt. He felt the need to be alone so I could relate to him there. But overall the film made me laugh get excited and have a little fun.

Batman was acting a little out of the ordinary because in all the other films that I have seen him in he has always been serious about everything he does no matter what is it. I was absorbed into the film because it was a very interesting one and I liked it because when I was a kid I used to play with legos so watching this movie was like nostalgia for me.

The lesson that the movie was teaching was not to push your family or people that are trying to help you away. It was also teaching you how not to dwell on the past because in the movie batman thought he could handle everything on his own but had came to realize that it was going to take more than him to defeat all the villains and save Gotham City. There was one part in the movie where batman was fighting people with his newly adopted son robin and non of the villains could touch them because they were moving so fast. Another part of the movie I would be comfortable talking to a friend about was when robin snuck into superman’s fortress and stole a weapon that could open up a portal to a prison where all the super villains were held. In my opinion I think this film is good enough for you to sit and watch and be entertained because it wasn’t bad but at the same time it wasn’t a highly rated film when it comes to people liking it and I think the same way.

Overall the movie was about how batman was lonely and didn’t have a family. But he also had a fear that if he did get a family that something bad would happen to them. But as the story progressed he had adopted a son and started to spend time with him. After that he met a woman who was trying to help him bring Gotham City back together. He also had some fear of her getting hurt to and his butler Alfred was gonna join in to to help stop the crimes in Gotham City. At one point in the movie batman’s fear got the best of him and he sent them away. But after realizing that he needed them he got over his fear and started to accept his new family.

Gavin Hood was born on May 12 1963, and is currently 55 years old. He is a South African producer and filmmaker. He is also best known for writing and directing Tsotsi. A movie about a hardened thug who shot a mother in her car but little did he know that she had a baby in the back seat. He took the baby out the back seat and cared for it. This baby would be the way back to his humanity. This movie also earned the Academy award for best foreign language film.

Gavin has also directed films such as X-men origins, Eye in the sky, Wolverine and Ender’s game. Gavin started directing when commissioned to make some short educational dramas for the South Department of Health or (SADH). His very first commercial short film was the storekeeper. Gavin Hood also had a hand in directing movies such as Traitor’s Heart, Human Timebomb, In Enemy Hands, In Desert and Wilderness and Official Secrets. Gavin also studied law at the University of WitWatersrand before he opted to follow his calling, traveling to the US and studying film at UCLA. Gavin thought he found his big break when he written a script called A Reasonable Man. The producers who took interest in the story were wanted to move the setting from South Africa to America because of the film’s content. He wanted to direct it himself if he was being forced to direct it in America. But this made his opportunity disappear. The Reasonable man was inspired by a court case about a man killing a baby because he thought it was possessed by a demon.By 2003 Hood had established himself in the filmaling community as a talented director.

Thor Ragnarök 

I choose to do Thor Ragnarök as my movie for this assignment because I feel as though it will be easy for me to break down and explain what happens in the movie, while also relating it to the real world. At the start of the movie Thor was locked up in another dimension with a fire demon named Surtur. He told Thor that he was going to destroy Asgard because it had been foreseen in a prophecy and because of his hate for all of the Asgardians.Thor had to fight a dragon and all of Surtur’s henchmen at the same time while trying to find an exit. He barely escaped alive because the executioner would not open the Bifrost. The Bifrost is a beam of light that comes from the sky and takes whoever summoned it to Asgard at light speed.  

Upon arriving Thor finds his brother Loki disguised as their father Odin and asks where he is. Loki is the god of mischief and likes to meddle with other people he is also Thor’s half-brother. Odin is there father and king of Asgard. Loki takes Thor to earth where he says Odin is and a mysterious portal sucks Loki into an infinite fall. There was a note left in his place and there was an address on it. Thor decided to follow the direction on the note and ended up at the house of doctor Steve Strange. Doctor Strange explained to Thor that Loki was a threat to earth and that he needed to be removed. They talked it out and Thor asked if he knew where his father was Strange said he did but that he did not wished to be disturbed he teleported both Loki and Thor to where Odin was. 

When Thor and Loki looked around trying to figure out where they were, they found Odin on a cliff standing looking out into the ocean.  Odin was very happy to see both of his sons alive and well, but he had very bad news to share with his sons. He told Thor and Loki that he was dying and that there was a threat to Asgard that would be a result of his death. He described to both of them that the goddess Death their sister and firstborn was coming to take over Asgard and every other realm in the universe. Shortly after telling his sons about the danger they were soon about to face his body turned into golden dust and drifted towards the ocean. Thunder clouds appeared and the sky got dark and death showed up. Both Loki and Thor suited up and were ready to fight. 

Thor threw his hammer at death, but she stopped it and shattered it like glass with her bare hands. Once Loki saw that they were no match for her he called on the Bifrost and Thor and Loki were both teleported while they were in the Bifrost death had followed them and knocked them both out of the Bifrost, causing Thor to fall and wake up into a trash like wasteland. He was captured by aliens and tied up. But then a woman showed up and took Thor from them but had electrocuted him and brought him to the grandmaster. 

The women that rescued and captured Thor was a Valkyrie a fearless warrior clan made from females of Asgard. She did not like Thor at the beginning but as she started to work together with him, she became fond of him. She brought him to the grandmaster the ruler over the realm that Thor was stuck in. 

He was going to put Thor in his arena to fight for entertainment and guaranteed his freedom if he could defeat his greatest champion. They placed a shock collar on him so that he would not be able to fight back. He saw Loki and asked for his help but found out that Loki was working with the grandmaster. Thor was then thrown into a prison like room where other prisoners of the arena were held. When it was time for Thor to fight, he found out that the champion was The Incredible Hulk. Thor was excited and tried to persuade hulk not to fight him, but he had no choice but to. Towards the end of the fight Thor was going to beat hulk but they shocked him with the collar they put on him and it made him unable to move giving hulk the win. 

Hulk and Thor were still on good terms after their fight and started working together on how to escape the grandmasters realm. Thor tricked the Valkyrie into coming into hulks room and talked to her about the way Asgard used to be and what has happened since she left. Meanwhile on Asgard Death and the Executioner were trying to find the people of Asgard so they could locate the sword to the Bifrost. Heimdall was hiding all the people of Asgard in a cave like structure to protect them from death. Heimdall can see everything in the universe and was the old gatekeeper of the Bifrost.   

Death had resurrected all the dead Asgardian soldiers and her wolf from the dead to help her conquer Asgard. Thor Hulk and the Valkyrie had come up with a plan to escape and they needed one of the grandmasters ships to do it. Loki showed up at just the right time to be included in the plan to escape. Thor and Loki made it through all the guards and to the grandmasters ship. Loki tried to betray Thor but Thor was ready and had put a shock collar on him so he could not cause any harm to the plan. Hulk the Valkyrie and Thor were all in the ship and were halfway to the portal to leave the realm they were stuck in, but other ships soon followed them and tried to stop them. Together Thor and Valkyrie destroyed all the ships and made it through the portal. They landed on Asgard and Thor sat on the throne and caught death attention.  

Thor was very powerful but no match for the goddesses of death. When Thor’s guard was down, she stabbed him in the eye and was about to kill him. Then Thor got serious and struck her with lightning which knocked her out for a couple of minutes. Hulk fought her wolf and Valkyrie fought the undead army and just when they thought they were about to be finished off, a ship with all the prisoners from the grandmaster’s realm loaded all the Asgardian people on board. Loki joined in the fight and so did the executioner. They tried to come up with an idea to defeat death and finally came up with destroying Asgard and her with it. Loki went into the treasure vault and got Surtur’s helmet to fulfill the prophecy. He put it into the flame of eternity and Surtur rose up and started to lay waste to Asgard death started to fight him but Surtur swung his sword and broke the foundation of the realm along with death. 

The strengths of this film were keeping it audience entertained and satisfied. 

This film can be used as entertainment rather than teaching a lesson  

Thor Ragnarök is appropriate for all kids and adults  

Jahseim Merritt  

For this assignment I am going to focus on Kevin Hart because in my opinion he is one of the best comedians to ever do it. I think this way because he went from winning amatuer comedy competions at clubs to staring in movies. Some of the movies he has been in are Central Intelligence, Night School and Jumanji.

Kevin Hart is a well known person and comedian with multiple awards like BET award for best actor, kids choice award for favorite funny star and MTV comedic genius award. Kevin Hart is looked at as funny to me any many other people because he has a childlike sense of humor and in some of the movies he plays in that I have went to see, he can say something and be serious about it and everyone would laugh at him. His humor is so stupid its funny and when he does something that is stupid the audience in the movie theaters loved it and could not stop laughing at him. His facial expressions play a big part in his ability to make people laugh as well. Just his facial expressions alone is enough to make me cry while laughing. I chose kevin Hart because he has lot of potential when it comes to acting and comedy and can even make you see comedy from a different light with his personality and his natural talent to make people laugh.

Jahseim Merritt

The actor that I have chosen to talk about is Denzel Washington. I made my decision to talk about him because I think that he is  one of the greatest actors in the world. The way he expresses himself in his movies is great and he has lots of talent when it comes to filmmaking. I think he is worthy to be recognised because he has a way to get his audience’s attention when he acts it is also very believable. I read chapter 5 “Acting: a natural way of life… or is it” and I found some useful information. In the chapter it said that “if an actor stays true to their world (in physical appearance, facial expressions, speech, movement, and gestures) throughout a film, then one could say he/she has provided a clear illusion of believability”. Denzel Washington is very good at pulling this off as I watch his movies I am always seem to think that whatever he is doing in the movies has happened in real life due to his acting skills.

Denzel washington is one of the most famous actors in the world. He also has many awards from all the movies he’s starred in or been in. He has received two golden globe awards,a tony award and two academy awards. Some of the movies that he is the main character in are The Book of Eli,Malcolm X and He got Game. No matter the movie Denzel Washington always seems to impress any audience with his acting skills that he has acquired over the years.

I think that just his acting skills alone is enough to getbhim to be noticed. That and he has countless movies that he is in suggesting that he has lot of experience when it comes to being realistic and nonrealistic. He has the facial expressions, the tone of voice, the look in his eye and the mentality of the character that he is acting out.  “Great actors share the parts of themselves that most people keep hidden.” I believe that this is true because if an actor is not giving his or her best when performing then he or she is hiding something That might make the way that they play the character better. These are the reasons that I think Denzel Washington should be recognized because he works hard to give the audience something to look forward to when they watch his films.

         Jahseim Merritt

The story-poem I choose to do did not have a title But it is about how a Cherokee Indian talks to his grandson about how there is a battle between you going on between two wolves inside of everyone. This reminded me of a ying and yang relationship one side being evil and the other side being good. I think it is very important because it can pertain to real life.

The conflict of this story is what is the purpose of his grandfather telling him this story about his inner parts.

The characters in this story where the grandson the grandfather and the two wolves who symbolized good and evil. In the story it said that in order for a wolf to win you must choose which one you want to win. The boy was having trouble deciding which one wins.

He came to a resolution and asked the grandfather how do you let the right one win and he said you must feed the one you who you want to win. I think this story should be animated to sow the wolves and how they play apart in describing the story.

“An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son , there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger ,jealousy ,greed ,resentment ,inferiority ,lies and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth.” The boy thought about it, and asked, ‘’Grandfather , which wolf wins? The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

The movie that I decided to watch and write about was 12 years a slave. The reason I picked this movie was because it would be pretty easy to explain. At the beginning of the movie the main character (Solomon Northup) was a free black man living in New York.It was stated that he had been free all his life and had a wife with kids one son and one daughter. They were a happy family until one day two white men came up to Solomon with an opportunity for him to show off his musician skills.

Solomon unaware of the danger that was ahead of him went with the two men. They pretended to be very friendly to him taking him to dinner,giving him money and complements. As the night went on Solomon began to feel ill and got sick when he woke up he was in a cell with chains around his wrists and ankles.

There were two white men who came in the room and as solomon tried to explain to him that he was a free man he was insulted being called a racist name. One man beat him on his back until the blood was showing. This made solomon very angry as he was angry with himself for trusting the white men who were being nice to him to make him let his guard down.He was put in a yard and later on a boat to sail to there next location. Solomon got picked by a nice slave owner who didn’t really beat his slaves. In a way he was fair because not all slave owners were like this back in times were there was slavery.

He had talents no other slave had so he was special and he was treated with respect by his master. One day he was sold to another slave owner who was very rude and assumed that he could own people and do whatever he pleased with them. This made Solomon very angry because he could not stand this kind of behavior so he endured half of his twelve years  as a slave on his plantation. But after he was at his lowest point he met an abolitionist from Canada who had told him he could make him free again. This changed Solomon’s life forever. This was a very eye opening story for me. It made me think about all the things that I had to myself and it reminded me of how easily it could be taken away.

The person that I choose to interview was my grandfather.I choose to interview him because I knew that he would have decent knowledge on film and that I could get some good information from him.His name is junior and he is 80 years old. He currently lives in the city of Shelby he is an african american man with a very good mindset and personality.

He told me when he was young he didn’t watch movies/film to much because he was always working and had to take care of his family but when he did get a chance to rest he didn’t mind watching a film or two. He said he liked going to the movie theatre to watch movies with his friends because it was more entertaining and enjoyable that way. I asked him did he ever go to drive in movies? He said he liked them because he got to spend time with his family while watching a film. He told me one of the best movies that he watched at home was The 10 Commandments.

Our conversation about movies went on for a while before I asked him the next question. My next question was did your outlook on movies change over the years and what do you refer to watch now compared to when you were younger? His response was my view on movies has changed alot from when I was younger. He said he liked action movies with fighting/combat and that he didn’t like movies without it. Another question that I asked him was where do you like to watch your movies now? He said he liked to watch his movies from the comfort of his house because it was to much trouble to leave the house just to watch a movie.

My next question was do you prefer the movies from when you were younger or do you like the movies that our generation watches? He gave me a variety of reasons why he liked this generation’s movies better. The first reason is because of how many options you have when it comes to what you watch. He also liked it because there was more that one way to watch a movie it could be on a DVD, a gaming console Netflix,Hulu and so on. He continued by saying if you really wanted to watch a movie to find it you wouldn’t have to search very long and you would find it in a reasonable amount of time.

The third reason he gave me to why he liked more modern day movies is because of the better screen quality and resolution and that the colors on the screen were getting more vibrant and easy to see. He explained to me that this made the movie even more enjoyable to watch and made his experience n even more enjoyable one. I concluded our conversation by asking him what were some movies from this generation that he like that fell under his category of movies that he liked to watch. His response was Die Hard and X-men these were two of his favorite movies because he stated earlier that he loved action/fighting. The movies that he mentioned had nothing but the action and fighting that he liked.

I like all kinds of film Comedy,action,adventure,drama and many more. But the one thing that I do not like when it comes to film genres is horror or demon possession type movies. I dislike these types of movies for multiple  reasons. One being because of the jump-scares I really don’t like those because when I think about them the thought never goes away.

Its like I can remember exactly what the person doing the jump scares looks like and that can be a very disturbing image for me at times. These thoughts tend to stay with me for a couple weeks after I have watched the film which is why I have decided that horror movies are not for me. This is my version of film baggage. My family once wanted to rent and watch a movie from a redbox I was ok with this sudden change of events until I learned that we were going to be watching horror films I immediately changed my decision because I just do not like horror or possession type movies. I would express this as negative film baggage.

This is because I am my own person at the end of the day what I find interesting and what I find boring or pointless is what I think about it. It is a sense of individualism. That night I was upstairs playing a video game while the rest of my family was watching the horror film. I am only 15 years old at the moment but I have watched plenty of movies and I have enough experience to know if the movie is good or not. Movies that I think are good consist of Night School,Deadpool and Rush Hour. I like these movies because they are funny  

And very entertaining to watch. All of these movies are a good example of what I think is positive film baggage.

My name is Jahseim Merritt and I am currently a student at Cleveland Early College High School. I am from New Jersey and moved to North Carolina when I was three. I live in a city named Shelby and one of my hobbies is watching movies/film. I have many interests in film such as movies like action, comedy, and suspense. What entertains me the most about action movies is fighting and drama. I also like to see how movies are filmed from multiple angles. For example in Marvel’s Black Panther the main character was fighting his opponent from one perspective while they were falling down a hole and from another prospective I saw that they were falling and fighting while his allies were fighting enemies on an open field.

I also like DC movies they are filled with the same or just as much action as Marvel movies. Some of the DC movies that I like consist of Batman VS Superman,Man of Steel and The Dark Knight.

I also like movies that are funny because I like to laugh and when the characters have a good sense of humor it makes the movie more entertaining to watch. Some of the jokes that the characters in the movie tell can make any audience burst with laughter this is what I like most of all about the movies that are made for comedy purposes. when it come to comedy movies I like Central Intelligence,Night School and Grown Ups.

I like to watch movies by myself or with my family. when I watch movies with my family I feel like I get a better watching experience from the film i’m watching and comedy films have a big part in that. I prefer to watch films in my house so I can be as comfortable as possible I also enjoy eating while I watch a film. This prevents me from having to go to a movie theater and paying for the film and snacks. My favorite movie directors are Tyler Perry,Kevin Hart,Chadwick Boseman and Dwayne Johnson. These are my favorite movie directors because they are very good at performing and acting out their parts in the films that they play in. All four of them have been in countless movies some of them have even been in movies together. I am very excited about taking this class and I am curious to know what I will learn from it.

2/2/19 Jahseim Merritt