Mike Giuffrida

I’m Mike Giuffrida and I’m taking film and acting classes. Last week, we had one of the most interesting sessions since I started going to school here. Our professor, who also happens to be a renowned cinematographer discussed two films that changed modern cinema forever. First off, he mentioned Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” and how the history of film could be halved before and after this masterpiece came out. “The Godfather” not only defined an era, it also stood head and shoulders above any film created before or since. Our professor mentions only two other films that come close, “Citizen Kane” and “Gone with the Wind.” However, unlike “The Godfather,” both “Citizen Kane” and “Gone with the Wind” aren’t nearly as beloved, and haven’t stood the test of time with film going fans.                     Image source: mentalfloss.com The second movie our professor mentioned was “The Matrix.” He mentioned that the Wa...

Image source: wordpress.com I’ve always believed that there were two films in Hollywood history that defined and divided eras. The first was Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece, “The Godfather,” and the second was the Wachowskis’ pride and glory, “The Matrix.” While it’s easy to see why “The Godfather” has the impact it has on the film industry, “The Matrix” isn’t given enough credit. “The Matrix” is a pioneering film of sorts, and probably the most stylish action movie ever made. It is science fiction, philosophy, fantasy, action, adventure, suspense, and thriller all rolled into a film shot with such grace and brutality that almost every other action movie that came out in the decades that followed strove to copy an element or two from it. Image source: empireonline.com The cinematography and color palette of “The Matrix” was so thick that it was virtually impossible to stylize any other film with a green-ish theme without calling it a copycat. Joel Silver, the...