This blog serves as a public forum for you to post your reactions to a broad range of texts--from Shakespeare's really uncomfortable early play Titus Andronicus to Alan Ginsberg's "obscene" poem "Howl" to the latest album from Kendrick Lamar. The conversation revolves around notions of cultural influence and how popular "products" get us to react to them and to the things they endorse.
Watching “American Hustle” was very confusing at first because there were so many different storylines happening at ones and different identity changes from a Miss Amy Adams. But overall, I thought the movie was fantastic. There was so much wit and coning involved, which made it difficult to understand but enjoyable to piece together. I guess if there is a moral to this story it’s either to make sure who to trust or just not to trust anyone in general. I say this because I didn’t know who was trying to scam who, who were the good/bad guys, who were really in love with one another at first. But in the end, it was easier to figure out. It seems that it was the con-artists versus the government officials, even though they were working together. I believe that the whole time it was Irving’s and Sydney’s plan to screw over Bradley Cooper and the IRS, because I believe that people like that don’t change (until the end of the movie) until something drastic happens. That seems to always be the case in movies like this; you can’t believe anyone but yourself. If I had to really pick a good guy and bad guy side, I’d say that the cons (along with Carmine Polito) were good and the IRS was bad. The reason I determined this was because although what they were doing was bad, they did it to make a living, to survive. And people like Carmine wanted to help, but didn’t really know he was accepting bribes. That group wanted to help out themselves and their community, but people in the IRS didn’t see it that way and wanted to take them down.
I think American Hustle was an interesting movie because depending on which character you focus on, it could be like you are watching an entirely different movie. If you focus on Christian Bale, you are watching a movie about how messed up people act in order to get ahead economically. In order to expand his illegal loan business, he depletes all of his morals and scams people while cheating on his wife. He really changes his whole life on a whim in order to adjust to the constantly changing circumstances. He changes his friendships, intimate relationships and overall game plan. This reduction of morals really started when he was little and broke windows so his father’s glass company could do better. While Christian Bale’s story is about economic corruption, Jennifer Lawrence’s story is about feelings of isolation and emotional abandonment. Her husband is too busy screwing around with illegal practices and other women to meet the needs of their relationship. Therefore, Rosalyn really acts out. Amy Adams holds a story about getting by, similar to Christian Bale, but also more about manipulation. She uses both her mind and her body to sway the opinions of people and also has mastered changing her game plan on a whim to meet changing circumstances. I thought it was interesting that so many different stories were occurring simultaneously based on different internal issues.
I thought Amy Adams's character was the most interesting in this movie. I thought that when her character, Sydney, was faced with a man that could give her a new identity and a new way of life she became Lady Edith from England. She immersed herself so completely into character that she essentially became only Edith to Ricky played by Bradley Cooper. The act of becoming a completely different person to create the ultimate con was something that was unique to this individual screenplay. The writers of this script essentially had to create two different characters and Adams was able to blend them seamlessly in the movie. At first the movie did not really make sense to me because I questioned why anyone would fall in love with a con artist that had a wife and child back home, but dynamic of the other woman and the woman scorned was the most dynamic relationship in the movie. The character of Lady Edith seemed to be the type of mask that one would put on and grow so accustomed to that it became part of the person who wore it. For the majority of the second half of the movie, Sydney did not exist and Amy Adams was only using a British accent and introducing herself as Edith. The ending of the movie seemed justified because the viewer seemed to be rooting for the con artists even though they were so dysfunctional, flawed characters. These characters seemed real to the audience and essentially, they won in the end. This is just another version of a “happy ending” but not in the traditional sense because the FBI or the typical good guys did not win.
The first thing I have to say about the movie American Hustle is that Jennifer Lawrence is very pleasant on the eyes. Basically she’s gorgeous and anyone who doesn’t think so can never talk to me. Back to the movie, it was good but the beginning was hard to follow with the different story lines going on at the same time. With the different characters changing identities, keeping all of the characters straight was difficult at first. I personally love movies with con artists and seeing all of the different jobs and scams that they try to pull off. It was difficult to tell what was real and what wasn’t. It seems like everyone was scamming each other. The only people that the characters could trust were themselves. With all of the scamming going on, the morals of the characters started to go out the window. Each person was just trying to get rich and stay ahead economically of everybody else. There was almost no legal activities going on during the whole movie. The cons in a weird sort of way were kind of innocent. They were trying to make a life for themselves and some were just trying to survive. The IRS and FBI didn’t care that these people were trying to survive, to them they were just doing illegal activity and owed money to the government. Overall this movie was pretty good and I enjoyed it.
American Hustle was a great movie, at first I didn’t think it would be my cup of tea but I actually really enjoyed it. I like movies that try to portray the bad guys as people with good hearts and the people of the law as the true corrupt people. The ending caught me by surprise I thought everything would go wrong and somebody would end up killed considering the con people were getting mixed up with really dangerous people. It definitely was one of those movies that keeps you on your toes. Jennifer Lawrence had the most pointless and annoying role in the movie but I guess her character was there to stir up all the drama. I would definitely watch this movie again, I give it 5 stars.
Watching “American Hustle” was very confusing at first because there were so many different storylines happening at ones and different identity changes from a Miss Amy Adams. But overall, I thought the movie was fantastic. There was so much wit and coning involved, which made it difficult to understand but enjoyable to piece together. I guess if there is a moral to this story it’s either to make sure who to trust or just not to trust anyone in general. I say this because I didn’t know who was trying to scam who, who were the good/bad guys, who were really in love with one another at first. But in the end, it was easier to figure out. It seems that it was the con-artists versus the government officials, even though they were working together. I believe that the whole time it was Irving’s and Sydney’s plan to screw over Bradley Cooper and the IRS, because I believe that people like that don’t change (until the end of the movie) until something drastic happens. That seems to always be the case in movies like this; you can’t believe anyone but yourself. If I had to really pick a good guy and bad guy side, I’d say that the cons (along with Carmine Polito) were good and the IRS was bad. The reason I determined this was because although what they were doing was bad, they did it to make a living, to survive. And people like Carmine wanted to help, but didn’t really know he was accepting bribes. That group wanted to help out themselves and their community, but people in the IRS didn’t see it that way and wanted to take them down.
ReplyDeleteI think American Hustle was an interesting movie because depending on which character you focus on, it could be like you are watching an entirely different movie. If you focus on Christian Bale, you are watching a movie about how messed up people act in order to get ahead economically. In order to expand his illegal loan business, he depletes all of his morals and scams people while cheating on his wife. He really changes his whole life on a whim in order to adjust to the constantly changing circumstances. He changes his friendships, intimate relationships and overall game plan. This reduction of morals really started when he was little and broke windows so his father’s glass company could do better. While Christian Bale’s story is about economic corruption, Jennifer Lawrence’s story is about feelings of isolation and emotional abandonment. Her husband is too busy screwing around with illegal practices and other women to meet the needs of their relationship. Therefore, Rosalyn really acts out. Amy Adams holds a story about getting by, similar to Christian Bale, but also more about manipulation. She uses both her mind and her body to sway the opinions of people and also has mastered changing her game plan on a whim to meet changing circumstances. I thought it was interesting that so many different stories were occurring simultaneously based on different internal issues.
ReplyDeleteI thought Amy Adams's character was the most interesting in this movie. I thought that when her character, Sydney, was faced with a man that could give her a new identity and a new way of life she became Lady Edith from England. She immersed herself so completely into character that she essentially became only Edith to Ricky played by Bradley Cooper. The act of becoming a completely different person to create the ultimate con was something that was unique to this individual screenplay. The writers of this script essentially had to create two different characters and Adams was able to blend them seamlessly in the movie. At first the movie did not really make sense to me because I questioned why anyone would fall in love with a con artist that had a wife and child back home, but dynamic of the other woman and the woman scorned was the most dynamic relationship in the movie. The character of Lady Edith seemed to be the type of mask that one would put on and grow so accustomed to that it became part of the person who wore it. For the majority of the second half of the movie, Sydney did not exist and Amy Adams was only using a British accent and introducing herself as Edith. The ending of the movie seemed justified because the viewer seemed to be rooting for the con artists even though they were so dysfunctional, flawed characters. These characters seemed real to the audience and essentially, they won in the end. This is just another version of a “happy ending” but not in the traditional sense because the FBI or the typical good guys did not win.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I have to say about the movie American Hustle is that Jennifer Lawrence is very pleasant on the eyes. Basically she’s gorgeous and anyone who doesn’t think so can never talk to me. Back to the movie, it was good but the beginning was hard to follow with the different story lines going on at the same time. With the different characters changing identities, keeping all of the characters straight was difficult at first. I personally love movies with con artists and seeing all of the different jobs and scams that they try to pull off. It was difficult to tell what was real and what wasn’t. It seems like everyone was scamming each other. The only people that the characters could trust were themselves. With all of the scamming going on, the morals of the characters started to go out the window. Each person was just trying to get rich and stay ahead economically of everybody else. There was almost no legal activities going on during the whole movie. The cons in a weird sort of way were kind of innocent. They were trying to make a life for themselves and some were just trying to survive. The IRS and FBI didn’t care that these people were trying to survive, to them they were just doing illegal activity and owed money to the government. Overall this movie was pretty good and I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Hustle was a great movie, at first I didn’t think it would be my cup of tea but I actually really enjoyed it. I like movies that try to portray the bad guys as people with good hearts and the people of the law as the true corrupt people. The ending caught me by surprise I thought everything would go wrong and somebody would end up killed considering the con people were getting mixed up with really dangerous people. It definitely was one of those movies that keeps you on your toes. Jennifer Lawrence had the most pointless and annoying role in the movie but I guess her character was there to stir up all the drama. I would definitely watch this movie again, I give it 5 stars.
ReplyDelete