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I’ve been sick these days, and since i have the movie in my computer, i watched it again. I just want to say that when i first watched it, i felt it was excellent, but after going through all the movies, i cann’t say that it’s outstanding, but it’s sti…

In response to Alyssa: I also saw the bias the cinematography emphasized, as it showed Mexico as dirty and dingy, while California was saturated in color and seemed bright, crisp and romanticized. I also commented in my blog about the daughter’s friend…

A very powerful film and entirely different from last week’s Three Amigos to say the least.
It truly does expose so much of the futility inherent in the "War on Drugs".
As long as there is demand, there will be supply, and as long as there is no control over drug through legalization then there will be extreme measure taken resulting in the death of loved ones. The border crossing was almost humorous in how ineffective it was at stopping the flow of drugs, and for good reason with massive amounts of traffic passing through every day. At points the film verged on documentary, and achieved a further sense of realism through the handheld camerawork. Furthermore, the amount of unending levels of corruption within police and military in Mexico was unbelievable yet scary in its depiction. It’s hard to believe that this film was even made considering how slanderous it is regarding the american political system and the groups of leaders who talk talk talk but are ineffectual at doing anything.
Soderbergh bathes the two stories in different colour palettes evoking a simplicity towards the issue but at the same time quite the opposite. The futility of those who are trying to serve justice and the pain they endure (Don Cheadle’s character for instance) reminded me of the maddening plight for justice in Touch of Evil.
It would be interesting to hear a Mexican reading of this film as it seems to place Mexico in a less concerned state regarding drug trafficking, unaffected by it and also given up to the reality that is the trade. 

I thought this was a really good film. It was completely biased towards the Americans, but it was still a good film nevertheless. The reason I’m saying it was biased towards the Americans is because the Mexican government and military seem to be corrup…

Hey everyone,I just found this interesting article and photoset on the Mexican drug war which also have some strong similarities with the movie.Enjoyhttp://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/mexicos_drug_war.htmlhttp://matadorpulse.com/whats-going-on-in…

This movie was a great one to watch. As well as other movies we have watched in class, it showed the take on an issue by the Mexican and American side. It was great that real life organizations were used to describe problems in society in relation to…

What I noticed most about this film, and perhaps one of the few things which I didn’t like about it, was the cinematography in the sense of its colour. I know there must be a division of which kind of formula was used in each setting etc, but it was st…

I have seen Traffic previously, but for some reason I don’t remember having such a difficult time watching it, as I had this time. The subject matter is also very relevant especially today with the drug wars taking place right over the border. I thin…

One aspect of this movie that I found interesting occurred in the first couple of scenes. There is a definite contrast in the level of organization between the Americans and Mexicans. In a way, it seemed ironic. The Mexican cops knew where the drugs…

May I say, first of all, that I find it interesting watching this movie on the same day that I was reading on BBC about the U.S. intensifying border control to fight drugs.
I was really bothered by the coloring of Mexico (in a sickly yellow) and the northern cities (in blue).  It contributed to the […]

This is my second watching Traffic and like the first time I really enjoyed it. What I find to be really interesting is the many different stories going on at the same time; you have all different sides of the drug trafficking problem being brought to …

I thought “Traffic” was a pretty decent movie. It tried to do a lot with one topic, and in some ways, it really executed its point well, and in others, because it was trying to do so much, it glossed over getting into any sort of depth with any one cha…

This was probably one of my favourites this term. Thinking about it, it was pretty similar to Touch of Evil: US and Mexican authorities attempting to solve a problem, corruption, etc.This movie provides many interesting perspectives on the drug war. …

This was probably one of my favourites this term. Thinking about it, it was pretty similar to Touch of Evil: US and Mexican authorities attempting to solve a problem, corruption, etc.This movie provides many interesting perspectives on the drug war. …

I do not agree with a lot of the comments made in the article “You are Alright, but …”. For example when the author says that the sex scene between the black american and Caroline dehumanizes him because his face is not shown. I think that the way th…

I thought this movie was really funny. It was very interesting how they made fun of all of the aspects that are normally present in western movies. Everything was exaggerated and people seemed to see things that were completely out of place as normal…

In response to Hudson404: It was interesting how the women were portrayed in vast contrast with those women in previous movies we have watched. I think this, in fact humanized the villians because El Guapo talks about his emotions and his inability to …

It has been a long time since I have seen The Three Amigos and I really enjoyed it again! It kind of brought a lighter side to the films that we have watched so far as many of them centered on difficult themes. I find that this film was the comedy vers…

This movie was funny but something someone said in class got me thinking. This movie is about three amigos that believe they’re in a show, because of a silent movie that shows them as being heroes. Now… they’re Americans. Carmen actually states that …

Racking my brain again…Recalling all of these movies i’ve watched up to now (including Traffic) concerning Mexican culture, tradition, and custom, i have a vague feeling of the existence of a significant margin b/w the first 7 (Que Viva Mexico is cou…

Three Amigos!
Comedy!
…for kids?
So much death, and yet such juvenile humour. Martin Short had the only distinct, interesting character so he stood out to me as the funniest of the three. It seemed like the film had been hastily edited down to a more reasonable time thus sacrificing the comedic timing necessary for the jokes. Either that or children need some sort of accelerated physical joke telling to keep them interested.
Anyways, regardless…
A film like this can easily be dismissed as "fluff" or unworthy of any academic discussion, but I think there are some interesting elements to the film that stand out.
The most noteworthy for me was this double removal of a film within a film, and the clear portrayal of the assumed actual reality as totally synthetic and ridiculous.
Immediately, during the old fashioned black and white film, we as the audience recognize Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short as famous comedic actors. We then see the Mexican audience watching these three actors as if they were action stars, or strong, manly actors (This reinforced by the German who idolizes Ned). Of course, we know this isn’t true at all and that sets up the humorous misunderstanding that drives the plot. 
Then, Steve, Chevy and Martin leave Hollywood for Mexico, and we never hear their actual character names as the actors who play the three amigos. They continue to call each other by their stage names.
It’s almost as if some fantastical reality has been set up where the Three Amigos escape the confines of the cinema and go to Mexico where they eventually discover that they truly are the Three Amigos, and yet all this is shown to us the audience within a film.
It reminds me of a children’s comedic rendition of David Lynch’s "Inland Empire" where the actor can never escape their act.
Even furthermore, I am tempted to read the entire film as a sick, hunger and desperation induced hallucinated adventure by Steve Martin’s character who so distraught about losing his job invents this story in his mind. That would be one way to justify the absurd "real" singing animals, bush and the invisible swordsman.

I am not a fan of Steve Martin.  At all. Nor the other main actors (the other two amigos) in this movie, based on the types of movies I know them to usually be in.  When we started the film and I saw the cast, I thought I was going to hate it.  And at […]

When I was around twelve, I recorded this movie off of the Disney channel on TV like I did other with a lot of other movies. I really liked this one though, I thought it was funny, I liked the music in it and I watched it a lot. Now it’s really hard …

I think this is going to be one of the harder blogs to write, considering I can’t really take much of this movie seriously.Seeing movies like this with Steve Martin in them make me really sad because he has the ability to be a very funny, talented man,…

I did not know anything about this film previously. Therefore, when I first heard the title, I thought it would be another one of those cliche Western movies. Instead, it was a refreshing change from the films we have seen previously, especially as of …

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