This week really hit home hard for me. I had such a great time taking this class and I couldn’t have asked for better classmates. This being my final film class that I’ll be taking at Alfred really makes this so bittersweet. I wish that we weren’t sent home in the middle of the semester because I definitely missed having the class react to everything that happened on screen. It felt like we had our own art house theater there and we got to always hear Dr. Schlegel’s thoughts and stories that he’s got on every single movie. I’m gonna miss it a lot for sure. But that sort of leads into our screening this week. I was lucky enough to have Dr. Schlegel in a few classes before I finally saw “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” so I got to hear his thoughts plenty of times. It really helped actually. This movie was such a love letter to the history of Hollywood I felt like it was made for film lovers. There was so much care put into everything and for a little over two and a half hours, I was transported to 60’s Hollywood. It was so cool. The whole world felt like it kind of melted away while I watched it. That seems to happen every time I watch a Quentin Tarantino movie. I had the same thing happen with the Hateful Eight and Reservoir Dogs. Even though the movie isn’t my favorite movie of the semester, I feel like this was an absolutely perfect way to end the semester. The whole movie dealt with topics that I feel like I’ve spent my whole time at Alfred learning. On top of that, I now totally get how this is a great candidate for a cult movie. It was so cool to see recent history changed by Tarantino. I know he’s done that in the past but something about seeing it so close to modern day is so interesting to me.

I was really curious about the movie after watching it so I looked up some videos on YouTube and the symbolism at the end of the movie was even deeper than I thought. I knew that Rick being invited up to Sharon Tate’s house is clearly Rick being invited into “new” Hollywood finally, an ending that really makes you feel good. Honestly it was nice to see justice delivered to the Manson Family and even thought that’s not how real life was, it was just so satisfying I loved it. What I didn’t really get was that Sharon Tate’s death was sort of the unofficial end of the Hippie Era. It was so cool to see that Quentin was basically not only giving her the ending that she deserved, he was also preserving the 60’s. I thought both Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt seriously killed it in this movie, especially Pitt. I really loved this movie and I’m thinking I should get a physical copy.

Now onto the class itself. I guess it’s time to say goodbye. A lot of the people in this class were people I’ve had multiple classes with, and it’s been so much fun to learn about this stuff with you guys. I’m pretty sure I won’t find another group of people who enjoy movies as much as you guys, so hats off to you. Seriously, you guys made the whole trip way more fun. We watched so many movies throughout the semester, and some have really stood out to me while others not so much. I think the best film we watched this semester is one that anyone who knows me isn’t surprised by at all. It’s The Warriors. I mean, what’s not to love about this movie? It’s just such a jolt of lightning from the late 70’s. It’s the so ridiculous while somehow maintaining a strong (yet simple) story. We’ve got clear heroes and villains, an objective, a chase scene that lasts the whole movie, and a killer soundtrack. What’s not to love? It’s such a simple and pure movie that it’s hard to not like it, especially when it’s set next to some other movies in the class that really make you think a lot or require outside context to understand things like the plot or characters. Not to say that any of that is bad, but sometimes you just want a simple action movie, and The Warriors absolutely delivers. The other movie that I think might be really close to my favorite is Blacula. I thought William Marshall was a serious presence on screen that you don’t see often in movies. I feel like he carried the movie with really powerful and believable acting that is hard to describe but you kind of just know it when you see it I guess? Anyway those were my favorites, now onto my least favorites.

This class had nothing but excellent movies, however there were still a few that I couldn’t fully enjoy. Valerie’s Week of Wonders was just too weird for me. I don’t know, maybe it’s just because I watched it without really expecting much but ended up sort of getting a plot that doesn’t really make sense but that I kept trying to make sense of? It was really annoying that sort of push and pull that was happening with it for me and I couldn’t stand it. Maybe I would enjoy it more on a second viewing, but I’m not exactly in a hurry to do that. The other movie I wasn’t crazy about was Maniac. Look, I know and understand why we had to watch it, but I want you guys to understand; I watched it TWICE. Dr. Schlegel mentioned it in another class and I thought he was recommending it so I watched it only to be like what the hell did I just watch? Imagine being forced to watch it a second time! Yeah, it was not fun. At least there was some context this time and I learned from it. But yeah, those are the movies I didn’t enjoy. But on some level, I guess I learned to appreciate them even though they weren’t my favorite. And I think that’s why I loved taking this class. Thanks for an awesome semester and I hope everyone continues to take film courses!