Noises In A Quiet World

  For today’s film review I’m going to be discussing ‘There Will Be Blood’, Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 western epic. I was initially told about this film by a friend and despite their praise for the film and the acclaim it had received critically I was sceptical about watching it. I was convinced that this film would be pretentious and overly self-indulgent but regardless I decided to watch it. However, after watching the film I can wholeheartedly agree with the positive consensus for this film.   ‘There Will Be Blood’ tells the story of Daniel Plainview (played by the legendary actor Daniel Day Lewis), an ambitious Oil Prospector who expands his operations into a small Californian town. This places Daniel at odds with Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a young preacher who condemns Daniel’s actions throughout the film. Whilst this idea is somewhat simplistic on paper, the film turns the concept into a unique and thrilling experience. The characters in the film are a joy to watch an...

  Quentin Tarantino is often considered to be one of the greatest directors of our time, if not the greatest. His films span many genres and feature exciting stories told with sharp dialogue and gorgeous cinematography that makes them enjoyable to a wide variety of audiences. Whilst I have not watched all his works, the ones I have were all exceptionally good. With this in mind, I had high expectations for his latest film, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ (2019) but unfortunately these were not met.   One of this film’s biggest issues for me is its story, or more rather the way it tells it. The film is set in 1969 Los Angeles and focuses on Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a 1950’s western star who’s fallen out of favour, and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) as they navigate a changing Hollywood. Along the way the duo become wrapped up in the actions of the Manson Family and the lives of their neighbours, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and director Roman Polanski (a br...

  As someone who has loved superhero films for a long time, it is impossible to ignore how great Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’ is. These films have been praised endlessly for their story, acting and dark tone. By this point it feels that any more discussion about them wouldn’t bring anything new to the table. However, today I want to explore something that I feel is often overlooked about the films. How their take on Batman/ Bruce Wayne (portrayed by Christian Bale) was the perfect hero for his time.   Before discussing this, I think it is important to briefly explain the history of Batman films why the trilogy exists. In 1989 Tim Burton directed ‘Batman’, followed by ‘Batman Returns’ in 1992. These two films were met with a lot of praise for their dark, gothic tone and are seen as largely responsible for making Batman into a more serious character compared to his 1966 TV series counterpart. Despite this, Burton stepped down as director after ‘Batman Returns’, ...

  As someone on the Autistic Spectrum, portrayals of people with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) in film and television have always been important to me, particularly those characters with Asperger’s. Like many groups I always want to see my community represented in a fair and accurate way. However, there is a long history of autistic or implicitly autistic characters being under used or misrepresented in the media. Today I will be exploring these types of characters, both those that I consider harmful and those that I consider positive representations, to show how they have evolved over time. By doing this I hope to be able to suggest what can be done to continue to create interesting and accurate autistic characters into the future.   For many people the 1988 film ‘Rain Man’ is likely to have been their first exposure to an autistic character.  In this film Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) learns of the existence of his brother Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman) who has inhe...

  For what is to be the first in my series of film reviews, I have decided to start with the film I watched most recently. This film was Stanley Kubrick’s controversial 1971 crime film ‘A Clockwork Orange’.  As a fan of films and TV with psychotic characters that focus on delving into their twisted mind (American Psycho, The Talented Mr Ripley, and the Hannibal Lecter franchise to name a few) I went into the film with high expectations and when it finished, I felt that for the most part these expectations were met.     To briefly summarise the film without spoiling it, the narrative focuses on Alex  DeLarge  (Malcom McDowell), a young sociopath who enjoys nothing more than assaulting innocents (except maybe classical music). After being apprehended for a particularly heinous crime, Alex is made to watch violent and horrific imagery in hopes of scaring him away from future acts. Whilst the film is most associated with its earlier scenes where we get to see A...

 If you were to have told me a few years ago that I'd be starting a blog, I'd probably just look at you in confusion. Now, I'm  more excited than ever to start one and share my ideas with the world (or at least the people that happen to find this). I felt it would be a good idea to start this blog with a brief overview of who I am and what this blog will contain. To start with myself; I am an 18 year old with a diagnosis of Asperger's. As such, I am a quiet individual (hence the blog's name) who tends to avoid people outside my own small social circle. However, I've always wanted to be able to share my interests with a larger group of people, which is why I've started writing this. As for what I plan to discuss, my main focus will be on media, particularly films, TV and occassionaly music videos, where I will be analysing and reviewing them in order to increase awareness of the products I enjoy (or dislike). I also plan to talk about living with Asperger...