When Harry Met Sally

In spite of, or perhaps even because of, “When Harry met Sally” follows a lot of the romantic comedy clichés that are present in most romantic comedy films that are made in these days. Some of the examples of the clichés that are present are the cynical friends of both Harry and Sally, who end up getting married themselves, as well as taking place in New York City, which the movie brings attention to at one point when Harry says that “I live in New York City. There are eight million people living in this city, why shouldn’t I run into my ex at one point.” Finally, it contains, or perhaps created, the cliché of the final sprint, when Harry is running desperately towards the New Years Eve party and Harry has finally realized that he loves Sally and wants to be with her, a cliché that is still present in romantic comedies even in this day and age. As for whether “When Harry met Sally” is actually a good movie when compared to romantic comedies from this time, I would say that it was much better than most current romantic comedies because, while many parts of “When Harry met Sally” is very clichéd, it also contains a lot of originality and shows it with interesting characters and real drama that is lost on most romantic comedies that are more contemporary that rely more on ungrounded, unnecessary, and unrealistic “hilarity” to provide comedy. I believe that “When Harry met Sally” has more than withstood the test of time, and has actually become an ever greater film.

Sherman's March

The only thing that I can think of that would be the reason that people want to see a Sherman’s March, a film about Ross McElwee rather than Sherman’s March, is that they are drawn to the absurdity of it. By its absurdity I do not mean that the film itself is absurd, but rather that in the author’s own guilt of filming events of his own life, and then trying to tie them into events that occurred during General William Sherman’s March to the Sea which was what he was meant to be documenting. I do not mean to attack it by pointing out its absurdity, but rather show the film for how strange and bizarre it is. It could be argued that almost anyone could make a personal documentary about their personal insights and exploits and philosophy. However, along with that it must be said that most would fund such a documentary to be a huge waste of time, as most are not interested in the thoughts and adventures of others. Some people however have lives that most audiences would appreciate watching, and thusly it would be fine to watch a documentary based on their adventures and thoughts, because, isn’t a feature film very much the same, as it follows a protagonist on their adventures and follows their thoughts on what is happening on their adventure. In the end, it all boils down to how interesting the audience will find the subject’s life, and his thoughts on it.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The film, “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a rather difficult documentary to assess. Both because of its creator and its main content it is difficult to tell what the true purpose of the documentary is. One the one hand, it is not very difficult to perceive this film as an attack on Thierry Guetta from Banksy, because of Thierry’s rise from obscurity into stardom because of Banksy’s and all of the other “street artists” help, as well as because of Thierry’s merely doing street art for gaining fame like Banksy, his idol, and for amassing wealth. One the other hand, the film could just be recounting the life of Thierry and how he became a street artist. I find myself drawn more towards the thought of this as an attack on Thierry though, as this area is more emphasized, at least from my view. I trust the film, at least in the sense that I trust that the events that were portrayed were accurate, and that most of the interviews done with the artists were true and honest, despite the film being created by Banksy. The film’s strange composition feels awkward, and while some might see this as Banksy’s manipulating the film to turn the audience to his opinion, I see it more as an honest expression of Banksy being unfamiliar with a camera, showing how he is attempting to create a film, even if he is not a film maker. It’s like he said when he saw “Life Remote Control”, Thierry made a film, and he’s no expert.