Kiwi Film Review: Cloud Atlas

IMDB: 8.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 66%
Roger Ebert: 4/4 stars
What The Flick: 6.3/10 (The average of 3, 7.1, 7.1, 8. Clearly would have been higher if Christie hadn't lost her mind.)

Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Braodbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae,  Ben Whishaw, Keith David, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant.
Written by: David Mitchell(novel), Tom Tykwer(screenplay), Andy Wachowski(screenplay),, Lana Wachowski(screenplay)
Directed by: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Release Date: 26 October 2012
Described by IMDB as: Everything is connected: an 1849 diary of an ocean voyage across the Pacific; letters from a composer to his friend; a thriller about a murder at a nuclear power plant; a farce about a publisher in a nursing home; a rebellious clone in futuristic Korea; and the tale of a tribe living in post-apocalyptic Hawaii, far in the future.

Finally, a new science fiction movie with a great story, great acting, and great overall theme.

I'm not even sure how to begin with this film. I don't think I'm going to go into too much detail, because I want everyone to see this film, and I don't want to ruin it. Also, lets be real, I'm not really sure I could properly explain it. I guess when it comes down to it, its a possible answer to the question of "is there an afterlife, and if there is, what is it?" I guess this movie comes down to being about reincarnation... even though I don't believe in this, I try to keep an open mind so that I don't ruin the film for myself. Its funny, because even though that was the message they were trying to get across, what I got was to never let injustices happen, and to stand up when you see something horrible happening. That one person can make a change in the world if they just have the courage to do what they know is right.

It basically takes place in 6 different times and places.

• Pacific Ocean in 1849
• Edinburgh, Scotland in 1936
• San Francisco, California in 1975
• United Kingdom, 2012
• Neo Seoul(Korea), 22nd Century
• Sometime in the distant future on another planet

I have to say I really liked all of the different times and places in which this film took place. All of them were very interesting and quite inspiring. Some of them were uplifting and others quite heartbreaking. I think my favorite may have been the 1849 storyline, though all of them were great.. Jim Sturgess was charming and uplifting in his gradual fight against slavery. Tom Hanks as an evil doctor was equally as interesting. I also really enjoyed the Neo Seoul Storyline in the 22nd Century. The story of another sort of slave having the courage to stand up against a regime. Doona Bae was amazing. She has so many strong subtle scenes, very impressive.  I don't think there was a single storyline that wasn't excellently executed.  I also really liked that in each world/time/place one of the lead actors was a main character.

The acting lineup could easily be the most impressive I've ever seen. There were even a few "supporting actors" that I had no idea were even going to be in this (Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant). All of the acting was fantastic, I think that Tom Hanks plays the most different characters in this film, so impressive. Although, Halle Berry also had quite an array of characters as well, my favorite probably being her character in the "distant future, another planet" storyline. Great costume and story in that one. Although, her 1970's storyline was also great where she stands up against a big company when she suspects they're doing something that would cause huge problems for the people in the surrounding area. Ben Whishaw's character in 1936 was very enlightening and charming, with a love filled story, and a heartbreaking ending. It was really beautiful.  Jim Braodbent was also brilliant in this film. His 2012 storyline was also filled with love and regret. The seniors home breakout scheme was hilarious and delightful.

The music played a big role in this, and I have to say it was really great. I will definitely download the soundtrack. The Cloud Atlas Sextet was really quite beautiful. I feel like if this film doesn't get an Oscar nod for makeup I will be shocked. There were so many times I could hardly tell who the actors under the prosthetics were. Really great work.  

In Roger Ebert's review, he stated that this film was "one of the most ambitious films ever made" and I have to agree. I've seen that thusfar this film may be a "100 million dollar flop." I really, really hope not. It was a fantastic movie, and even though its pushing 3 hours in length, at no point was I bored or did I feel as if it was being dragged out. I think that can be attributed to the fact that it was constantly cut up into chunks to keep 6 story-lines running smoothly.

I'm going to give this film a 9.5/10. Its seriously that good.

UPDATE: November 10th

I ended up seeing this film again a few days ago, and I felt the need to ad an update. This film is really worth seeing twice, you get so much more information.

Its much more clear how the stories are linked together than it was the first time. I was also able to see more of the characters who were in each setting. I didn't notice Ben Whishaw in the "2012" storyline until the second time, and I didn't notice Hugh Grant in the "Neo Seoul" storyline until the second time either.

I also wanted to add how much I love the 1936 storyline. I had forgotten how much I loved it when I was writing my first review. It was definitely the one that touched me the most, I just loved the love story between Robert Frobisher and Rufus Sixsmith there was so much passion in it, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Even the second time I watched it, it ended with me in tears and inspiration. I definitely still recommend this film to anyone who enjoys movies at all. 

Halloween 2012

This may have been the most successful halloween to date. Definitely since I've been in St. John's anyways. 

On Sunday 2 of my friends and I carved some pumpkins (pictures below) and then I had a few other friends over for a pot luck where I made some Taco Cupcakes . We then watched Hocus Pocus (Best Halloween movie ever) and then ventured to my other friends house to watch the Halloween episode of Once Upon A Time(because I don't have cable).


Here is my Jack Skellington pumpkin :)

Jack Skellintgon, Cheerful Pumpkin, and The Tardis

Pumpkins and their creators

All of the party people

Kiwi Film Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

IMDB: 8.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Roger Ebert: 3.5/4

Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Dylan McDermott, Nina Dobrev, Kate Walsh, Paul Rudd, Joan Cusack
Directed By: Stephen Chbosky
Written By: Stephen Chbosky (Novel & Screenplay)

Release Date: 28 September 2012
Described by IMDB as: "Based on the novel written by Stephen Chbosky, this is about 15-year-old Charlie (Logan Lerman), an endearing and naive outsider, coping with first love (Emma Watson), the suicide of his best friend, and his own mental illness while struggling to find a group of people with whom he belongs. The introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors, Sam and Patrick, who welcome him to the real world."

Wow, just WOW. The only thing that I didn't like about this movie was that I hadn't perviously read the book. I think I can seriously add that to the list of regrets in my life. All I knew going into it was that some kid had no friends, but then did have friends. But there were so many moving parts to this movie I don't even know where to begin. Its about so many different things; suicide, depression, love, abuse, loneliness, mistakes, and just growing up in general.

In the beginning you see how Charlie(Logan Lerman) is alone, and wants nothing more to just have some friends. From the letters he's writing to an anonymous person you know he's had some problems in the past but its not until a little later that you start finding out what they are. Seeing him sit alone at lunch, is just so sad. When he finally meets Sam(Emma Watson) and Patrick(Ezra Miller) everything starts turning around (or so you think). I went into this thinking it was going to be an uplifting happy film about finally finding friends and all of your problems going away, but I quickly discovered this was not the case. It seems like everything starts coming out in that first party they go to together after the Homecoming dance. First when you find out about Charlie's(Lerman) best(and only) friend killing himself, and then about Patrick's(Miller) secret affair with the most popular jock in school, Brad(Johnny Simmons).

After this it starts being happy-go-lucky again for the most part. I mean there's that whole "I'm in love with this girl who's a year or two older then me and who happens to be dating jack-ass college guys" thing going on, but thats a manageable situation. Then when you find out that she was molested by her fathers boss at age 11, you have that moment of "wtf?" but it ultimately ends in Charlie having his first kiss with the girl he's in love with (Watson), even if it can't last longer then that night. Honestly, that whole "secret santa" night was just so sweet, it just showed how much he cared about all of them, and how they cared for him. 

I loved the love of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in this film, the last time you see it its sort of like his final "coming out" into the school. Which leads me to that dreaded Mary Elizabeth(Mae Whitman) relationship. I felt so bad for him for that entire part of the movie because you know he's just too nice to have done anything about how much he didn't want to be there. I couldn't even watch when they were playing "truth or dare" and he kissed Sam(Watson) instead of Mary Elizabeth(Whitman). You just knew it was coming and couldn't bear it. When this basically (and understandably) ruins his relationships with his friends the movie goes back to being unbelievably sad for this poor kid.

Poor, poor Patrick. Honestly, you sort of get the feeling from the beginning that something bad is going to happen with him and Brad, because they say from the beginning that if Brad's dad ever finds out, he'll kill him, but the thought of a father ACTUALLY beating the shit out of his son is so unreal to me that I sort of forgot about it until it actually happened. Then to be torn down infront of the whole school while Brad stands by? Horrible, so, so sad.  Thankfully Charlie redeems himself by saving Patrick from an insane fight of which he blacks out and remembers nothing. 

Finally, Charlie and Sam have that one perfect night together, where they both know exactly how the other feels. Unfortunately this is EXTREMELY short lived by the fact that Sam is heading off to College the next morning. At this point Charlie completely breaks and ends up in a mental hospital for the summer.

Obviously the saddest part is when you finally realize everything thats happened with "Aunt Helen" throughout the whole film basically boils down to the fact that she molested Charlie when he was a kid. The only thing I didn't like about the movie was that I felt as if it wasn't really fully explained in the film. I mean, I dont think it was necessary to have exact details, but if you weren't paying enough attention you could have easily missed the part where you actually find out. In the end Charlie gets help, and figures how exactly what he needs to survive in life. 

I loved every moment of this film. Its seriously the best movie I've seen in a very long time. I need to go buy the book tomorrow and just read. I will be a complete mess the whole time, but it will be a great experience. I want everyone in the world to watch this, because its so many different things that I think it has something for everyone. 

I'm giving this film a 10/10. I've never given this before, but I just can't get past how amazing this film is.

PS. Who the heck is he writing all those darn letters to???

Kiwi Film Review: The Shining

IMDB: 8.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd.
Written By: Stanley Kubrick(Screenplay), Stephen King(Novel)
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick


Release Date: 23 May 1980
Described by IMDB as: "A man, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining". The father, Jack Torrance, is underway in a writing project when he slowly slips into insanity as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel's ghosts. After being convinced by a waiter's ghost to "correct" the family, Jack goes completely insane. The only thing that can save Danny and his mother is 'The Shining'."



Well, its close to Halloween so I decided to bite the bullet and confront my scary movie fears head on. I was forced against my will to watch Paranormal Activity 3 last weekend, so I figured if I could live through that, I could probably handle a classic Kubrick like "The Shining," and boy am I glad I did.

Such a classic in every way. I mean give me a break, Jack Nicholson is unreal in this movie, although, the kid who plays Danny(Danny Lloyd) is almost equally as impressive. He's so creepy its unreal! I had no idea why this movie was called "The Shining' until I started watching, but its actually really cool. I liked that the kid has his "special ability," really adds to the story, which most scary movies do not do well enough. Unlike most other scary movies, at no point is this a happy family, I like that. From the beginning you know there's a troubled background; ie, Jack (Nicholson) "accidentally" hurting Danny (Lloyd), and his alcoholism. 

There are just so many creepy scenarios about this movie. The fact that they're alone, or that they're completely isolated in the middle of nowhere for so many months. The two twin dead girls who keep appearing in the beginning definitely don't help the creepiness. Or probably more importantly that the kid is possessed by some weird spirit thing. When he talks as Tony, his voice is so creepy! "REDRUM!" I can't imagine having the ability to do that when I was his age. Its really too bad that this was the only real movie he did, because I'm sure he would've become even more impressive with age. But clearly the creepiest part is Nicholson himself. I mean, when he finally loses his mind and goes completely apeshit? Amazing. I was waiting the whole movie for that classic "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" line, and when it came it was so good.

I feel like I would've been not really interested in ever being friends with Stanley Kubrick, because he has a seriously messed up mind. After watching A Clockwork Orange, and this movie, its unreal how much violence was in this man's mind. Although, in his defence, both were based on novels, so not entirely his fault. Also, both were AMAZING films, so I'm not complaining. I finally understand why this is such a classic. Finally a horror movie that is so much more then that. Its actually an interesting story where I was wondering what was going to happen the whole time.

This movie is great for anyone who loves movies, but scary movies in particular. Definitely a great halloween movie. No cheap scares in this one my friends! So, I give this one a 7.5/10. So damn good.

New Blog Header

As I promised earlier I created a new header for my blog. I felt like it was serious need of a facelift and thats what it got. Even though you can clearly see it above I figured I'd post it anyways for future reference. I'm actually extremely happy with it. As you can see its a pretty similar

Here she is:

New Business Card Design

Well, since its been about 10 years since my last update, I thought I'd finally add some design to my blog, which seems legit since I'm a design student. I spent most of the night on a new business card concept. 
I'm actually quite impressed with my work on this one.

Take a look:

I'll try to be back with a new movie review ASAP. I've seen a lot of great ones lately so I'm sure I'll have a bunch all at once. I'll also have a bunch of photography posts in the next few weeks. Now that I'm back to school and a schedule, I promise I'll have more updates! Also, keep an eye out for a new look for the blog!

Penelope

So I'm just noticing I haven't done a blog post in over a month, and today that's going to change. I've actually started a bunch of movie reviews  but just haven't found time to finish them. Today I'm thinking I'll do a post about my favorite kitty; Penelope. The day before I left to come back home for the summer I had a photoshoot with Penny and it was so cute! But first; some background story.

Around April 22nd my roommate Natasha and I were fed up with our mouse infestation, so we decided it was time to get a cat. I'd always been a cat lover, so this was more of an excuse to get a cat in our house. Unfortunately, my mom is afraid that if I get an animal while I'm still a student, she will somehow become responsible for it, which is ridiculous, so she completely forbid me from having any financial responsibility for this cat. But, I still wanted to be part of the process, so we went to the SPCA looking. We found this beautiful little short haired white cat named "DRU" in the first room we went into. We knew then she'd be ours, but we had to wait 2 days for the SPCA to figure it out.

On April 24th we got the call and went to pick her up. They told us she is between a year pr 2 years old, and that she was a stray from Bell Island. I expected her to be not-so-friendly because of the fact that she was a stray, but it was quite the contrary. She is the friendliest cat I've ever seen! She loves nothing more then a good cuddle, and she's always waiting at the door for me when I get home.

Needless to say, I miss her quite a bit. Anyways, here are some pics from the photoshoot. Enjoy!

Kiwi Film Review: Prometheus

IMDB: 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Roger Ebert: 4/4
What The Flick: 7.2/10


Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce.
Written By: Jon  Spaihts, Damon Lindelof
Directed By: Ridley Scott


Release Date: June 8th 2012
Described by IMDB as "A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race."


Holy mother of god. This movie was amazing. I'm really regretting not writing this review last night because I  know I'm going to forget some things I meant to write about it, but I'll do the best I can. I was going to try to write this without spoilers but I don't think thats possible. 


I want to start with talking about how this film fits in with Alien. For 99.9% of this movie I was trying to figure out how exactly this  fits in with Alien. Honestly, it still sort of doesn't in my mind, but for the most part it does. They were actually VERY smart with how much they showed in Alien and how much they didn't because of the lack of technology they had at that point. As far as I can remember you didn't really see any details of the planet itself, just the ship and the aliens. Now, that the technology is in the right place they were able to make an astonishingly beautiful planet. The parallels were pretty clear in the film, *SPOILER* first off the robots. Even the fact that they're both beheaded and talk. If I were him I'd want to redo that actually because it was so badly done in Alien, when we find out that Ian Holm is a robot because his head has been ripped off, but he can still talk. Obviously we know David(Fassbender) is a robot through the full film, but he's still beheaded none-the-less. Also, clearly the ending of both movies are entirely the same. everyone else being killed and the lead, strong, female lead, Elizabeth Shaw(Rapace) being the only one left. This one is a little different because she's forced to rely on David (Fassbender) Even the part where she thinks she's safe in her ship and then PSYCH you actually have to beat the final alien. I'm very happy with the final scene when we see how the Alien alien is created. Very cool.

Now for the things I enjoyed about the film (besides the things above). First of all, Ridley Scott pretty much never disappoints. The cinematography was absolutely beautiful. All of the scenes while they're in space, travelling to the planet are beautiful, especially when you first see the planet. The moon they land on is also beautiful, but not quite as breathtaking as the planet you see when they arrive. The CGI was amazing and the special effects over all were great. The acting is also fantastic in this film. Michael Fassbender absolutely killed as David. The scene at the beginning when he's going around the ship alone and he's riding a bike and spinning a basketball on is finger and carelessly shoots the ball and it lands in the net, was absolutely perfect. It truly showed how un-human he is. It was a perfect scene to describe him without actually having to explain it. Brilliant idea. He looked super robotic the whole time, and his acting was just fantastic. Guy Pearce was also awesome, the only reason I even knew it was him under all of the prosthetics was because I knew he was in the film.Noomi Rapace was also fantastic, as was Charlize Theron. I thought the "engineers" were were super interesting looking, just human-like enough to "believe" that we could have come from them. I thought that was a really interesting, different idea of our origin.


There were a few things that I felt could have been better explained, but I felt that most of them can be passed as "that can be explained in the next film." Most of the problems I had were pretty much what Shaw was looking to ask the "engineers" when she went to find their home planet.


Overall I'll give it an 8.5/10. Seriously was such a good movie, a must-see for any sci-fi lover!

Kiwi Film Review: Signs

IMDB: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Roger Ebert: 4/4 Stars


Written & Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Pheonix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin


Release Date: 2 August 2002

Described by IMDB as "In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a five-hundred-foot crop circle is found on the farm of Graham Hess, the town's reverend. The circles cause a media frenzy and test Hess's faith as he journeys to find out the truth behind the crop circles."


I actually heard horrible things about this movie, but it wasn't too bad. Definitely not as good as The Sixth Sense, but not M. Night Shyamalan's worst. I quite enjoyed it. It had surprisingly good visual effects for 2002, although they made a smart move by never really having the Aliens in full view, that definitely made it a bit easier for them. I think Abigail Breslin has to be the cutest child actress of all time, and she was a great actress. Its hard to tell if she did it on purpose, but she's sort of creepy which kind of added to the film's eeriness. Also, I had no idea that Culkin played the little boy in this movie until this time.  I liked that the film was actually about spiritual believe, and it being questioned, the whole "aliens attack" thing was just sort of another part of the story. I thought that even though he kept it pretty safe with his depiction of the aliens themselves, the water being their kryptonite was a pretty original and interesting.  I actually really liked that.


Now for the things I did not like. I really didn't like how quickly the aliens were defeated. There was basically no suspense at all, once they figured out that the aliens were, in fact, going to attack, it was like they were attacking for all of 5 minutes, and then they were defeated. I did like that they thought they'd won, were about to celebrate, and then PSYCH alien took the asthma kid, but even that problem only lasted  all of 2 minutes. And then they just won, and thats it? Oky doky then.

Over all I really did enjoy this movie. I wasn't really big on the whole "believe and faith" aspect, but once past that it was alright. I'll give it a 6.8/10, if its on tv on a sunday afternoon (which it always is) watch it. 

Kiwi Film Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

IMDB: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%
Roger Ebert: 3.5/4


Stars: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron.
Written by: Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, Hossein Amini
Directed By: Rupert Sanders


Release Date: June 1st 2012

Described by IMDB as "Snow White is the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen. Unable to tolerate the insult to her vanity, the evil queen decides that Snow White must die. The queen sends a huntsman to kill Snow White. However the huntsman finds himself unable to murder the innocent young woman, and instead ends up training her to become a warrior capable of threatening the queen's reign."


Well, I walk away from this movie with very mixed feelings. There were things a loved and things I absolutely hated. I'll start first with the things I loved. This film was visually beautiful, and the special effects were great. I thought it was super impressive that they managed to make full grown actors to look like dwarves. Although, I have to say that I don't really understand their reasoning for that one. Its hard enough for little people(is that the politically correct terminology?) to get good jobs, especially ones where they aren't wearing stupid costumes where you can't even see their faces; they can't even get jobs of the 7 dwarves? Its definitely possible to find 7 funny, good actors who are born for the part, so to speak. Besides all of that, I did think the effects were impressive and I enjoyed all of the actors. Also, Chris Hemsworth was cast PERFECTLY. He is so damn attractive! I could've watched him all day.


Now for the bad. As much as I love Charlize Theron and her acting abilities, she was crazy in this movie. Well, I guess that's a little harsh. She was good through most of it, and I thought her accent was good. She looked and sounded super strong, but every now and then she'd go completely over the top, like way too much. Her shrieking was unbearable, and she was just too intense over all. However, her bad acting was nothing compared to Kristen Stewart's. She was the exact same as she is in every role; dull. I'll give her credit that she did seem to be improving a bit, but she's just not believable as Snow White. They made her as beautiful as she could me, and she really was pretty, but "fairer" than Charlize? I don't think so. I think the casting on this one was very much off, and I don't understand the rationalization for her. The fact that she meets the physical description doesn't mean she should get the job. I'm not British so I can't make this statement knowing I'm 100% right, but from what I could tell, her accent was awful. Also, I just didn't find her strong enough as a character. In this re-telling she's supposed to be strong enough to rise up and take back the kingdom, but I found her only partially believable in the scenes where she was trying to be that person. Again, bad casting on that part.


Also, even though I enjoyed the story, there were SO many far fetched ideas. I know its a movie, but even if you accept the dark magic and the ability for the Queen to suck the souls out of young girls, or the fairies and the enchanted forest, the amount of luck that Snow White(Stewart) has is completely ridiculous. Really, you come out of a sewer and find a perfect, gentle, white horse? AND you know how to write it perfectly despite the fact that you've been locked in a tower for the last 10(ish) years? Thats super great for you. I can accept all of the rules and situations that are set up in the film but thats just one example of something thats a little far-fetched even in the world it takes place in.


Overall I feel like I generally enjoyed this film, but as I stated above it had some pretty core problems. I think the beauty of the film made up for the problems quite a bit. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't buy this film, or go see it again in theatres, but I didn't regret seeing it, so I'd recomend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy/adventure films. I think I'll give it a 6.5/10, that seems fair.