Tag Archives: Isaac Mathewson

A&E, Isaac Mathewson

Favorite Film Friday: Goodfellas

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By Isaac Mathewson
Written and directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Martin Scorsese has been known throughout the film world for his depictions of brutal and often bloody violence as well as social outcasts who want to make something of themselves even if they have to resort to crime. One of the most famous examples of these films comes from what has often been revered as one of the most influential mob movies alongside The Godfather.
Goodfellas, based on the book Wise Guys by Nicholas Pilleggi, tells the autobiographical story of Henry Hill (Liotta) and his rise and fall from grace within the mob. Robert De Niro plays his boss and best friend Jimmy “The Gent” Conway, Joe Pesci plays the aggressive Tommy DeVito, and Lorraine Bracco is Henry’s wife Karen. The first half of the film, leading up to the Billy Batts (played by Frank Vincent) murder, shows the good aspects of being in the mob and the second half after the murder shows the consequences of living a life committed to crime.
The film, like many of Scorsese’s movies, works like a documentary. It shows the life of Hill, from his eyes, from when he was a kid dreaming of a life of crime to when he is a coke addicted adult who struggles to live day by day to support his family. Scorsese does this in a way to help us understand and even sympathize with the main character.
One of the most famous aspects of this film is the filmmaking. Every shot and camera angle is absolutely stunning, especially in scenes where it shows Hill walking through a building such as a night club with Karen by his side. You get the sense that you have been transported to this time period and that you are there with the characters.
This film is also notable for its depictions of violence. From the opening scene that depicts the Billy Batts murder, you just know that this is a very different film than anything ever done before. The violence is not only very bloody but it is also very brutal. You can feel it every time someone is shot, stabbed, beaten, or strangled. This film really brought violence in gangster films to a whole new level and Scorsese would upgrade the violence in his movies further with Casino and The Departed.
The actors all fit their roles, but the one actor who stands out above all of them is Joe Pesci. His performance, which won him an Academy Award, is well known among gangster film fans all over the world. Although he is only 5’4 and stocky, he has a very violent temper and will kill anyone in cold blood if he feels insulted. Even though he is one of the protagonists, there’s no telling when he will get angry and suddenly turn violent. The most notable example is when he asks Hill, threateningly, how he finds him funny while they’re talking at a night club. It’s interesting how someone so violent and short tempered can be so close to his mother.
Many fans of this film have shown disappointment over the years since its release that it did not receive the Oscar attention it deserved the year that Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves was released. While that movie is no doubt beautiful and is too a landmark in cinema history, I would be lying if I didn’t say that this film really was truly 1990’s best picture. It is not only a landmark for mob movies, but for all films in general and to this day many filmmakers find inspiration in this film. It is one of the best mob movies of all time, as well as one of Scorsese’s greatest achievements.
Features, Isaac Mathewson

Theatre graduates share their plans for the future

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By Isaac Mathewson
At one point, she was a student like any other. She was an actress and was in A Cappella.
Now FC graduate, Marina Hart, who gave a great performance as the lead in Thoroughly Modern Millie, is out of high school and currently in her second semester at Indiana University Southeast.
She continues to be a part of theatre at her school and is planning on majoring in journalism. She also plans on studying dance and music.
Hart continues to look positively at the future, “It is my belief that if you have a passion for anything, you will go far in whatever you do.”
Hart is not the only person who looks optimistically at the future.
Fellow graduate Cain Mathewson, who was also in A Cappella and gave a fantastic performance in Ashes two years ago, is also attending IUS and he plans on duel majoring in Zoology and Music.
“I’ve had a passion for these my whole life and I want to be able to say that I am a good musician and knowledgeable about animals.”
Mathewson is also working on his first novel entitled “Gone and Good Riddance,” a controversial book that he believes will be a critical and commercial hit. He also hopes to audition for movies and be a screenwriter too.
Both of these students said they look at the future with great optimism and that they know that although it will be a lot of hard work, it will be very rewarding in the end. 
A&E, Isaac Mathewson

Favorite Film Friday: Apocalypse Now

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Written and directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper
While Francis Ford Coppola has no doubt gone down into legend as the infamous director of the Godfather trilogy, he will also be forever remembered for all the grueling troubles he went through trying to bring the Vietnam War to life in this spectacular epic. True The Deer Hunter was the first mainstream film to focus on the war, but this was the film that many critics and historians claim truly captured the psychologically destructive nature of that terrible war.
 
The film tells the story of Captain Willard (Sheen), who is sent on a perilous mission into the heart of Cambodia to track down the renegade Colonel Kurtz (Brando) and terminate him with extreme prejudice. Throughout the film, he and his squad get into a series of adventures across the Cambodian river, whether it involves their American allies or their Viet Cong enemies, as they eventually realize the true terror of war. The film is inspired by the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, but it is not a direct adaptation.
 
Any major film buff will know that the troubles the filmmakers went through to make the picture are legendary. Francis Ford Coppola spent three years working on this film when it was originally supposed to take sixteen weeks. First of all, a dispute resulted in the firing of Harvey Keitel in the lead role. Second, a massive typhoon wrecked his set in the Philippines, further delaying production. Martin Sheen had a heart attack on the set and Marlon Brando showed up overweight and had not read the script. Eventually, Coppola went way over budget and behind schedule and had to invest his own money to complete the picture before it killed him. Many of these problems were the focus of the 1991 documentary Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.
 
Somehow, Coppola and his team pulled through and the result is one of the best war films in history. Coppola has famously stated that this film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam and you almost believe it. We get the sense of the war and how it has affected both sides. The cinematography makes us feel the dark atmospheres of the jungles of Cambodia where at any second someone may start firing at you.
 
What really makes this film stand out are the characters. Although some of them are in the film for a few minutes, they are memorable and they have great actors to portray them. Sheen is great as Captain Willard and he shows a great amount of depth and sensitivity that helps the audience understand what it is like to be in the war. Brando plays a chilling Kurtz and he helps us understand how someone can lose themselves mentally during war. There are many other great actors such as Dennis Hopper as the crazed journalist at Kurtz’s fortress, a young Laurence Fishburne as one of the privates who accompanies Willard on his mission, and Harrison Ford as the colonel who gives Willard the mission.
 
The best and by far the most memorable character is Robert Duvall as Col. Bill Kilgore. Although his screen time is only 11 minutes, he is often considered to be the most important character. This is especially shown during the film’s most famous scene where he orders an air strike against a Vietnamese village with Ride of the Valkyries being played over the loud speakers of the helicopters. He allows his men to surf the beach under enemy fire and he gives a monologue about a previous strike he ordered. It is during this scene where he gives the famous line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” His character is different from the others because unlike most soldiers, who were against the war, he absolutely loves war and glorifies it. This scene alone is the heart of the film, even more so then the ending.
 
Many people to this day debate whether this is a pro-war film or an anti-war film. It does have elements of both, but it is really neither. It is a haunting look at how war destroys people mentally and makes us lose all perception of right or wrong. It is truly an unforgettable film and it should be seen by Coppola fans and Vietnam veterans alike. It is the best Vietnam War movie of all time. 
A&E, Isaac Mathewson

Favorite Film Friday: Saving Private Ryan

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By Isaac Mathewson
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Robert Rodat
Starring: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, and Tom Sizemore
War is very complex. It is difficult if not impossible for a film to give us an accurate depiction of war, not just in visuals but also by emotion. If there is any film that came close to giving us an accurate and realistic view of war, both physically and emotionally, it would be this.
 
Saving Private Ryan tells the fictional story of a squad of U.S. Army Rangers, led by Captain Miller (Hanks), who are sent on a perilous mission to find a lost paratrooper (Damon) after his brothers were killed, during the D-day invasion of World War 2. During the mission, they question their orders as they continue to fight the war. This story was inspired by a real life WW2 veteran named Fritz Niland who soldiers were sent to look for to bring home after his brothers were killed, as part of the sole survivor policy.
 
What Saving Private Ryan does really well is depicting the horrors and heartbreak of war, as well as portraying soldiers. Throughout the film, these men fight a war that they do not want to fight and they each question the reason why one man gets the chance to come home and they don’t. However, they know that they must follow orders despite the cost and they will do anything to achieve their goals as long as something good will come out of it.
 
No doubt this film is most famous for is its realistic depictions of combat. At the time, war movies were fairly tame in order to keep an audience, but this film took war movie battle sequences to a whole new level. The first half hour of the film depicts the Allied invasion of Omaha Beach, where it gives the most realistic depiction of combat ever for a movie. There are also several other battles, including a just as intense climatic battle in a bombed out French city.
 
Steven Spielberg does a fantastic job bringing this film to life and putting the audience into this time period. He did this by making it look as real as possible. The actors had to be put under intense boot camp training to make them look like real soldiers and real amputees were used during the opening battle sequence. He also used real tanks and boats from that war.
 
The actors all fit their roles well. Tom Hanks is good, as usual, as the quiet, mysterious captain whose only goal is to do what he is ordered to do. Tom Sizemore is very good as the sergeant of the group, Edward Burns is good as the stubborn private who questions his role and at one point threatens to desert, and Damon is very convincing as Private Ryan himself, who wants nothing more to be reunited with his family. Other actors include Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, Bryan Cranston, and Paul Giammati, all of whom are a treasure to watch.
 
Although many historians may point out some of the inaccuracies of the invasion as well as the absence of other Allies who took part in the invasion, this film is a masterpiece that cannot be missed. It is a salute to the soldiers who died during that war and for veterans in general. It is simply a beautifully made movie.
A&E, Isaac Mathewson

‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ provides actors new opportunities

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By Isaac Mathewson
As FC Theater’s spring production of The Scarlet Pimpernel fast approaches, theater director Robbie Steiner provides news that may interest and excite theater buffs.
As he has already stated, The Scarlet Pimpernel is a classic musical that tells the story of Sir Percy who rescues prisoners from the guillotine during the French Revolution and hides his true identity by disguising himself as a foppish playboy. “The Scarlet Pimpernel has beautiful music and has a funny script,” said Steiner.
For this show, the three leads are FC senior Collin Jackson as Percy, by junior Madeline Coffey as his wife Marguerite and senior Clay Gulley as the main antagonist Chauvelin. Steiner believes that they are fit for their parts and are well prepared.
According to Steiner, rehearsals have been going well so far but the many snow days have been taking away a lot of time and have put the actors behind schedule. However, he has stated that everything will be ready by opening night.
Steiner has also stated that the lead roles are going to be different from any of the other roles that the actors have had. There are going to be scenes with sword fighting in which Gulley and Jackson have been trained to do. Steiner has noted that while the swords are props, the actors are still at risk of being injured.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is set to take place on March 7, 8, 14, and 15 at 7:30 p.m. and March 9 and 16 at 2:00 p.m.