QUARANTINE.

Ever since I saw [REC], I've been highly anticipating this movie. Now that I've finally seen it, I can review it... sort of. I'm going to do something different with this review (and possibly a little lazy). Because the two movies are practically the same (hell, even the setting looks exactly the same), with only a few differences, I'm going to paste my review for [REC] and make a few commentaries on it to see whether or not things have changed (the exception is the movie summary, which is the same, but with different actor names in the parenthesis, and a couple different character names). To avoid confusion, I’m replacing the name Pablo with [Scott], who is the cameraman in each respective version.

Quarantine is about a young television reporter, Angela (Jennifer Carpenter), and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris), who are filming a night in the life of the local fire station. She teams up with two of the firemen, Jake (Jay Hernandez) and Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech), and discovers how firehouse life is actually quite boring on average. But when they get a middle-of-the-night call to an apartment complex about an elderly woman giving blood-curdling screams, Angela, Scott, and their firemen acquaintances make their way to the building. However, upon reaching the place, they discover something else much darker than they were expecting is happening. The elderly woman bites a policeman and one of the firemen, and the entire complex suddenly find themselves in the middle of a government quarantine with no explanation as to what is going on or why. But all they know is that there are two dying men who need to get to a hospital and a very sick little girl with a fever. And everything slowly becomes more and more chaotic from there.

[I have to say, this movie was intense. It started off kind of slow, but once they reached the apartment complex, the pace picked up considerably before dropping off for a little bit, and then hitting hard again non-stop to the end. My adrenaline was constantly pumping, my heart going fast, and I even jumped a few times.]

This still holds true. In fact, the fire station stuff seemed to be even longer in this version, though there was a lot more comedy this time around to get through it. However, whereas the original bounced in pace, this one never really slowed down much after it hit the apartment complex.

[However, one of the movie’s major downfalls is that it focuses primarily on the intensity and not the characters. The only characters I really had any kind of feeling for were Angela and [Scott]. There are a few introductions to characters during the middle slow part of the movie, but not enough to really get a good feel for them. You know they’re just there to raise the body count. The movie would have been much better had they extended the incredibly short length of the movie (it clocks in, without credits, at less than 80 minutes) in order to focus more on character development.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this movie is shot in a similar fashion to The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, and Diary of the Dead (except it was out before the latter two). But as I said, it didn’t have the same character focus that, say, Cloverfield had. I didn’t care about [Scott] in the same fashion that I cared about Hud. But enough about the characters.]

This was remedied slightly in this version. However, while Quarantine does have the brief interview section that the original had, it’s much shorter and doesn’t get around to all of the people within the complex, making for even fewer times to get to know the other characters. But on the other hand, I felt for the fireman Jake and the policeman, as well, which I didn’t feel in the original version. Also, the cameraman Scott (Pablo in the original) is actually shown quite a few times, unlike in [REC], where he’s not shown at all. I felt this made for more of a personal connection, letting us at least see him a couple times (like with Hud in Cloverfield).

[The visuals of the movie are really good. There are some cool shots and angles, and quite a few less-is-more approach shots, in which you only see quick glimpses before the camera pans away, or you only hear noises. There are some great uses of the camera, as well, such as the night vision and the camera light (much like in the subway scene of Cloverfield). Though there was a rewind/fast-forward sequence that didn’t make sense, because as far as I’m aware (though I could be wrong), you can’t record yourself rewinding and fast-forwarding.]

My favorite scene from the original (the upper window into medical room sequence) made it into this version, so that made me really happy, though I think it was filmed better in the original. Also, I was incredibly happy with the fact that the one scene goes toward the whole rewind/fast-forward scene (just like in the original), but then doesn't show it and just cuts to the next scene. It's like they listened to me on that point! Overall, I think the camera work was pretty equal to the original, though this version didn’t mind showing more gore and whatnot, and it never cut away as quickly.

[As for the zombies, they look really creepy from what you see of them (like I said, quick glimpses). Though they’re almost more like The Infected from the 28 _____ Later films, except I would moreso argue that these are actually zombies, unlike the ones in those films. The origin of the zombies is somewhat attempted to be explained, but isn’t fully done so, which I think is nice. Movies that try to explain their monsters sometimes end up hokier than they would have been otherwise. Instead, it leaves it more up to speculation.]

As I said, you do see a lot more of them in this version, though only by a little bit. And here’s where I have my biggest comments. The entire explanation was changed for this version, and I find that very intriguing. In the original, it was a very religious explanation from what was shown, which was very little. In this version, a lot more explanation into what was going on was given, and it was totally scientific instead. So I think the switch from religion to science in the adaptation from Spanish to American is highly interesting. And because of this switch, the zombies are totally different. They start like something from one of the 28 ______ Later films, but then become more zombie-like (with the whole dead and coming back to life thing, which doesn’t happen in the aforementioned films). But they still act more like The Infected, and the reasoning isn’t too far off from those, either. So it’s really odd, but it works.

[The acting is done really well, mostly from the lead actress, [Jennifer Carpenter]. I really didn’t notice many (if any) parts that really brought me out of the movie due to poor acting.]

I’d have to change this up for the new version. Jennifer Carpenter started to get really annoying towards the end. Her constant freaking out and screaming and whining started to really bug me. There was also one poorly acted part from the main police officer. Otherwise, the acting was well done. I’d say the best performance went to the man behind the camera, Steve Harris.

Overall, it had some parts better than the original, and some parts that the original did better. I’d still recommend both, but for a few different reasons. I think they build off each other. Though they end exactly the same way, and the trailer does, indeed, completely ruin the movie. I mean… completely. Other than that, it was a pretty intense movie, and I was pretty engrossed by it the entire time. So yeah… fun stuff.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

The Student Teacher Chronicles: Week Six.

Alright, because nothing of importance is coming out on DVD this week (except The Happening, but I can tell you what I plan on doing with that movie right now--skip), I'm going to replace this week's DVDs or Death! with the Student Teacher Chronicles. And I won't lie: it is a long one. So I'm gonna stop rambling now and get to it. Hope it's enjoyable.

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As you will soon see, this was a very long week in a lot of different respects. As this is a really long post, I won’t bore you with an introduction. Let’s just go at it.

Monday

So said last week that I had one of the worst days thus far. Well, I guess I spoke too soon, because this day really vied for that title. Because the copy machine was broken (again) the previous Friday, no teachers were able to make copies or anything for the next week. And because the English department is really heavy on students having copies of stuff (whether it be homework, tests, or papers for notes), this was a real setback. So before school even started, I began making copies for the regular English 3 classes. It took me until halfway through second period before I finally had everything done. And of course, my mentor teacher really likes to color-code certain things, and, of course, the copy machine just loathes colored paper (because the dye makes it thicker or something), so it’s always jamming. That was a fun experience. Luckily, I haven’t really done much with first period yet, and my mentor teacher wanted to work with second period because they’re about a half-day behind due to this thing they had to go to the previous week.

So for the rest of second period and about halfway through third period, I was punching holes in about 90 different packets of information; however, the hole puncher dislikes, you know, actually making full holes. So after each one, I had to pry out the back ends of these packets to get all the holes clear and open (and they weren’t just dangling from the hole, they were barely even cut. I think I nearly got paper cuts underneath my fingernail). And while I’m doing this, I’m trying to listen as my mentor teacher goes over all the information with the third period class, because I hadn’t been given all this information over the weekend so that I could prepare for how the heck to teach it (in other words, I didn’t know what I would have been doing).

So then fourth period comes, which my mentor teacher leaves completely to me. But fourth period… I was about to strangle them. They wouldn’t shut up, no matter what. I raised my voice, I was stern with them, and even other students tried to get them to shut up, but they refused. I could barely do anything. But this isn’t even close to the first time we’ve had trouble with fourth period. So after school, my mentor teacher and I got together and made a brand new seating chart, and she also said that she was going into “Def Con 3” mode. There’s so many rules set up now for that period it’s crazy. Hopefully it works, though.

Fifth period was a lot better, and my day started getting better from this point on. Sixth period, Creative Writing, was fun as always. I didn’t have too much planned for the day, so it was kind of an impromptu lesson. They wrote their warm-up journal entries (which they’re starting to like much better now), and the prompt was something along the lines of “If you could hear the thoughts of the student(s) sitting next to you, what would they be?” And I had them write it in a stream-of-consciousness style. I then had them all read them aloud and we had to guess who they wrote about, so those were really funny (some even wrote about me, even though I’m not technically a student).

The other thing we went over was something I came up with on Sunday. We had talked briefly at the beginning of the year about publishing material or getting a website to put their prose/poetry up onto. Well, I found something on Sunday that was really awesome. It’s a Wiki (think Wikipedia). However, this particular Wiki site had a special for K-12 teachers. If you were a K-12 teacher and using it for school/classroom purposes, you could get their “Pro” package, which is usually between 5-50 bucks, for free. So I signed up for that, which comes with unlimited pages, up to 2 GB of space with up to 20 MB information upload at a time, no ads or pop-ups, SSL Security, and a bunch of other really cool stuff. So we’re gonna create different pages for each semester and one for every student in the class, so that each student gets his/her own special page to post up their short stories/poetry/plays for the class, and they’ll even be able to write their own author’s bio to place in their section. They all really loved this idea.

But after sixth period was over, the day started sinking once again. I had to go make yet some more copies of stuff for the regular classes, yet again with colored paper. But this time it was even worse: the machine would literally (no hyperbole here) jam every minute, if it took even that long. I could start coping something, go to sit down, and it would jam, only for me to go and fix the jam, close the door, and start it copying for about 30 seconds before it jammed again. Once, upon fixing the jam, I got this black ink slathered over my hand, so I had to go wash my hands… and while I was washing my hands… yup… it jammed again! It was really annoying, but my mentor teacher needed it to be on these yellow sheets of paper (because they were to go in yellow folders for their writer’s handbook AKA ‘the yellow pages’).

The we went down to pick stuff up from her box, only for her to stop a big argument/near-fight between these two or three girls, then get into her own argument with another teacher about something that turned out to be completely moot anyway. By the end of the day, I finally got some notes about things I’d need to know for later in the week (because she is not going to be there on Wednesday and Thursday, so I’d be in the room with a sub who gets to sit and do nothing but watch me teach… and will get paid for it, while I won’t). And then I finally got out of that school about 5:20 or so. And not to mention, during all of this, it was “Frickin freezing in here, Mr. Bigglesworth” (also known as very cold). Needless to say, by the time I left, I was quite tired, ready to commit an act of violence, and pushed ever so closely to the borderline of that which is known as “breaking down.”

And that was my (exact epitome of a) Monday.

Tuesday

Still a long day, but not a bad one like the previous day. Oh, and let me preface by saying that during the entirety of the first half of school, we were all overwhelmed by fresh paint fumes, as the custodians or whoever decided to paint the bathroom right next to our classroom during school hours, so the entire hallway was drowning in (and/or getting high off of) the smell. So during first period, I worked a lot on the webpage for Creative Writing, as I wasn’t really doing anything with the class. Then second through fifth period, they worked on a pre-writing exercise for a warm-up (except for second period, who is still a bit behind, so they warmed up with what we went over the previous day with all the other classes) before moving onto their big unit Post-Test. Oh, and fourth period totally flipped out with the Def Con 3 thing, but it worked out (for the most part).

Sixth period (Creative Writing) didn’t do a whole lot, either. They worked on their warm-up journal entry, and then took their vocab test (which is so totally easy that it’s ridiculous, mostly because of the way my mentor teacher sets it up on how to do it). And that was about it, really.

I got a lot of grades into the computer, so that was good, especially since grades are due yet again this week.

After the class was over and we went into seventh period conference (and on past the end of school), we did numerous things. We worked on creating a key for the Post Test. Then we went to a faculty meeting with Mr. Chapa in the cafeteria, which was only about 10-15 minutes and about fingerprinting. Then we went back and figured out the objectives for each question on the Post Test, which was awfully confusing, but we got it. Finally, my mentor teacher went over all the stuff I’d need to be doing with all of the classes (minus sixth period, which is totally up to me) for the next two days, as she’s going to be gone, and I’ll be stuck with a sub in the room and teaching all of the classes (talk about being pushed into the deep end with that first period AP class). But I’m not really worried. It should be relatively easy to get through. Though, yet again, I didn’t get out of there until about 5:20 PM, which is why it was another long day.

Wednesday

I bet you’ll never guess… another long day! This day was crazy hectic. My mentor teacher was gone, so I was doing everything myself (though I did have a sub in the room, but she just seemed to make things a little worse than they had to be). First period was insanity, because they decided to have questions about things that my mentor teacher didn’t tell me about. She told me what they had to do for today, not about what they had already started previously (which I wasn’t sure of because, as I said, I was working on other stuff the previous day). So everybody in the first period was acting like lost little sheep as if my mentor teacher hadn’t explained to them anything about what they were to be doing, which I know isn’t true. So here they are asking me questions about stuff I have no idea how to answer because I wasn’t informed on it, and the sub is sitting back like “I know how you feel.” And then what they were supposed to be doing should have only lasted 10 minutes, but it lasted half the class, so I had to speed everything up to try and catch up, as they needed to be at a certain point by the end of Thursday. But I did catch them up to where I thought they’d need to be, which was good.

Then second period, I got thrown for a loop, as well. As I’ve said before, they’re a day behind. So I start doing one thing, but a student tells me they’d done it already. So I move on to the next thing, and another student tells me we’re supposed to be doing this other thing, so I’m confused as to what the heck is going on. Finally we get it all figured out (even though they were a day behind, things got switched around and it was all weird). Then they finished up the Post-Test. Second through fifth periods did their brainstorming activities and then finished their Post-Tests.

Third period was awesome as usual. Fourth period did pretty well today with their punishment. I had to get on them once or twice, but it was never awful. They were actually very good. Fifth period was fun. I was all over the place and answering a million questions, but I really felt like I had built a bunch of relationships with students that I previously hadn’t had. There’s even this one girl who is, for lack of a better term, ‘ghetto’, who was relatively quiet and had some learning difficulties, but we’ve recently started building this relationship, and she’s been a lot cooler and easy-going with me, which is really good. But then there’s this one group of guys that never seems to shut up, so during the Post-Test, when they wouldn’t stop talking, I was play-threatening that I’d bring over a chair and sit right next to them if I had to. They started saying stuff like “Oh I bet you won’t,” etc., so I did. And they stopped talking. It was great. And if any others wouldn’t stop talking, I’d go over and sit on their desk real close to them, and they’d start freaking out (bubble invasion). It was more funny than anything, but it worked.

Though as I said, the sub would make situations worse because she would over-react to stuff. For instance, this one guy had this new hat he wanted to wear and put it on. Well, the sub got on him all stern-like about dress code and threatened to take it up. The guy started getting really defensive and upset, so I walked over, had the sub walk to another area, and had him calm down by telling him he’d keep the hat but just not wear it. He was fine after that. And there was another situation in the same class where this guy and the girl next to him were talking or whatever, and the sub’s involvement nearly made it out into this big argument. Again, I had to mediate and calm them both down pretty quickly, which wasn’t very hard once the sub walked away.

But then sixth period, I had those who had their short story rough drafts (which was almost everybody) pair up and switch stories so they could peer-review. The class had an uneven number, so I reviewed one student’s story. And this is one of the students who mostly talks or sleeps instead of doing anything. It wasn’t complete yet, but I was extremely surprised at how well it was written. There were a ton of spelling and grammatical errors, but the level of imagery and writing style shown underneath all that was stunning. He seriously had some imagery that amazed me, and there was even one moment in the story where he used a mix of… I believe anaphora (repetition wherein the beginning of each phrase is repeated) and asyndeton (when a list of items does not have any conjunctions like ‘and’ or ‘or’). Very high stylistic choices on his part, and I honestly don’t think he knew what he was doing at any more than an emotional level—in other words, I don’t think he knew what those stylistic devices were or that they have specific effects on the reader… but I think he did it for the rawness and sound of the usage, which is what made me even more excited for him that he could even feel that within a piece of writing. Anyway, I also went around and told everybody what assignments they had yet to turn in so I could get grades in for the six weeks by Friday.

Then during seventh period conference, we had a grade-level meeting about all the Post-Tests, which basically turned out with us saying “everybody did horribly… let’s push back the next unit and continue focusing on this stuff.” Then after that, we had a Department meeting, which lasted about an hour. Though I did find out that while the Assistant Principals did their walkthroughs for the different subjects and had both positive and negative things to say about each subject, they could not find a single negative comment to say about the English department and really felt that, unlike in other subjects, the English teachers really felt involved and devoted to their subject and craft. So after that was over, I basically just left. I left a little before 5 on this day, so it wasn’t as late as the other days, but was getting there.

Thursday

Pfft… you’ve already figured it out by now.

Today was just plain awful. I should have seen the signs when I found out before school even started that one of my student’s dad killed himself the previous night (she won’t be back in class until next week, though we’re gonna have to prepare the period for her return and on how to act… luckily it’s third period, and they’re all great).

First period was fine. I just split them up into two main groups and had them read and answer questions together.

But then came second period. I wanted to strangle this class (not all of them, but a good portion). So after the vocab warm-up which was reinstated on this day, I tried to do a mini-lesson on the Planning stage of writing an essay (in other words, creating an outline), but that didn’t work out so well. The so-called ‘mini-lesson’ turned into a full-out lesson because 1) nobody was understanding, 2) nobody would pay attention, and 3) one guy kept back-talking me to the point I nearly wrote him up. I finally (thanks to a suggestion by a student) drew an example on the board, and everybody quickly began to understand it. Then in the last fifteen minutes or so of class, I let those who needed to finish up their Post-Tests do that, while others either worked on their homework or the brainstorming/outlining. I eventually had to flip on the lights, but even that didn’t work as well as it should have.

Third period did great as usual. Though I did find out randomly that one of my students in this class lives right next to me (and that my dog got her dog pregnant a few years back). Fourth period is doing much better, too, with these rules, though they did start getting a bit rowdy at one point. But overall, they did really well. Fifth period, on the other hand, was similar to second period (but only a smidge better). One guy had to go down to the councilor’s office (mostly because I think he was getting pretty upset with a guy in the class). Then a couple other guys wouldn’t shut up all class. Some others complained that they couldn’t concentrate, too. I eventually had to gripe at them to shut the heck up, and they finally did (which is partially what made them a smidge better than second period). I even tried some of the “People behave to get what they want” stuff, and it was only minutely effective. I mean, it did work, but not completely.

Sixth period, of course, were good. The ironic thing with sixth period is that the two guys that usually do the least amount of work were two of the only guys that were focused and on task (for the most part).

After school, I talked to another teacher for a while and did some venting and attempted relaxing. I also realized around fourth period or so that something wasn’t quite right with the outline format in general. I couldn’t figure out what to put on the main section. But then in talking to the other teacher, I found that what was throwing me off is that it’s almost impossible to write an outline for a Narrative/Descriptive essay, which is what they’re writing. But my mentor teacher demands it, even though I can barely even do it (I hate outlining in general, but add in outlining to something that can barely be outlined… it’s not wonder I had issues explaining it to these kids).

Then I did a bit of grading, though another student came in to finish up his Post-Test, and another student (a foreign exchange girl that’s from my AP class) came in to get help, even though I’ve told her repeatedly that I know next to nothing about what she’s supposed to have done. She wouldn’t take no as an answer, even though she hates the class and doesn’t want to be in the AP class, but she also couldn’t grasp the concept of a rough draft not having to be perfect. I began feeling that anything short of me actually writing the paper for her (which she did ask me to do) would have actually appeased her. I didn’t get to leave until around 5 or so, again.

Friday

I bet you’ll never guess what I’d say right here… but I’m not gonna say it, because I’m sure you’d be able to figure it out by now.

So anyway, my day starts off with me filling in my mentor teacher (who was finally back… hooray!) of everything that happened the previous day (the good and the bad). Then I proceeded to try and make copies all up through first period, because they needed some stuff for over the weekend, and I needed to make copies of other stuff, as well. Unfortunately, the teacher who used the copy machine right in front of me broke it (not intentionally… it just broke while she was using it). And the copy machine upstairs was broken, as well. So then I went to the other building to use that copy machine instead. Of course there’s already this line of people, so I get to wait. Then, finally, the person right in front of me is almost done… when the machine stops functioning correctly. Aggravated, I shimmy (that’s right, I don’t walk… I shimmy) on back to class wherein I inform my teacher what’s up. She pouts. Plans were changed, and they didn’t get the stuff for over the weekend. So then I just kinda work with first period until the end of class.

Then my mentor teacher went to check on the copy machine in our building again, and it seemed to be functioning. So I went to make a whole bunch of copies during second period instead. While I was gone, she had herself a little Pow Wow with second period about how disrespectful they were and all that jazz. I came back and worked with them for the rest of class once I finished all of my lovely copies.

Third period was fine as usual. Fourth period got to get back one of their privileges because I told my mentor teacher they acted so well. I let them be able to go to the bathroom during class (because I knew that was going to be the one to cause the most issues). Otherwise, they were just dandy. So was fifth period.

Before I move on to sixth period, however, I want to explain a little bit about what happened during the regular English 3 classes. Before school I had explained to my mentor teacher that I pretty much failed at explaining outlining, so she, very helpfully, re-went over it with the class in a much better way so that they understood it. But then she also did another thing that she learned at these meetings that she’d been gone for the past two days. She posted a giant sheet of butcher paper up near the ceiling. Then she’d pick two medium/shorter students and give them markers. She’d tell them that it wasn’t a competition and that they had to put a mark as high as they could on the paper without standing on anything or jumping (the most they could do was stand on their tip-toes). So they did that. Then she had the rest of the class stand up and start cheering both of them on and encouraging them as they made second marks, trying to get higher than the first time. Without fail, each student got much higher on the paper the second time around. She would then explain that each student sets this minimal goal for themselves. However, with encouragement from the teachers and fellow students, and working together, they can far exceed expectations if they just tried. It was a really great little thing and made practically everybody feel good.

So on to sixth period. Just like the rest of the classes, I was focusing the majority of the class time on finishing up unfinished work due to grades being due on this day. But I also did a little game to go along with it. In essence, it was the “No Talking Game,” which I knew would be incredibly difficult with this incredibly loud class. I handed out a bunch of marker boards and some Expo markers to everybody. The only way they could talk would be by writing on the marker boards. A lot of people said they disliked it, but I know better. They were all laughing and having fun the entire time. They were just frustrated because they couldn’t actually speak. And if they spoke, they would lose 5 points for every time. I even joined in with them and didn’t speak. I would go around telling people what they needed to be working on by writing it on the marker board, and I would alternate that by just having fun “talking” with the other students.

After school, my mentor teacher and I did a ton of grading, as we had to get everything in by 4 PM. After 4, once grades and stuff were all in, we planned for the next couple weeks and all that jazz. Long story short, I didn’t leave until about 6 PM. But it was a very productive and overall good day. Good way to end the week.

BLINDNESS.

So, I finished reading the book, and I finally saw the movie. And now to compare the two and review both the book and the movie (but moreso the movie). When a man (Yusuke Iseya) suddenly goes blind at a stoplight, an apparent good Samaritan (Don McKellar) takes him home to the man’s wife (Yoshino Kimura)… and then proceeds to steal his car. The First Blind Man’s Wife takes her husband to the eye doctor (Mark Ruffalo), who can’t find anything wrong with the man’s eyes, and also finds it peculiar that the man sees white instead of black, and he relays this peculiarity to his own wife (Julianne Moore). But when all of these people and more—including the Man with the Black Eye Patch (Danny Glover), the Woman with Dark Glasses (Alice Braga), and a young Boy (Mitchell Nye)—with the exception of the Doctor’s Wife go blind, everybody suddenly believes this white blindness has become some contagious epidemic. The government begins quarantining people in a run-down insane asylum wherein they don’t give enough food, medical help, or assistance of any kind, and will shoot somebody if he/she even gets too close to them or the exit. And when a hoodlum deems himself the King of Ward Three (Gael García Bernal) and demands payment for food, the place begins an even quicker spiral into a living hell than it was already on.

I would like to start off saying this: I’m still in awe at how very close this movie stuck to the book. It kept in even the littlest details or tiniest bits of dialogue. Of course, it did cut and change a few things, but most of those changes or cuts made the movie better for it, and were things that oftentimes barely even worked in the book the way they originally were. Such changes were the focus on the downward slopes of the relationships between the Doctor and his Wife, as well as the one between the First Blind Man and his Wife. The book just threw in little disjointed bits here and there, while the movie did a much better job at working with it and building on the idea. They also gave more personality and slightly more screen time to the King of Ward Three (who didn’t even have that title in the book, but it fits just the same).

I don’t want to bore you by listing all the similarities and differences, but I do want to make one big note on a change. The book’s biggest downfall is its third act. For over a hundred pages, it just dribbles on and on seemingly without end about absolutely nothing. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t do this. It keeps in a lot of details from the third act, but cuts out just enough as to where I’m not bored to death. I wouldn’t have minded seeing the old crazed woman at the Girl with the Dark Glasses’ apartment building, but it would have only prolonged the movie’s closure and served little purpose. But still, I was very glad that the movie altered the third act just enough so it would work much better than it did in the book.

However, this also brings up some issues with the film as both a movie and an adaptation. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve read the book or if it’s just as a movie-goer that I have this opinion (especially since this is the biggest issue I’ve read about in most reviews thus far): the movie seems to have lost something in translation. It doesn’t have the same power or oomph as the book does. Perhaps it’s because the book likes to go off into philosophical rants, and a movie can’t exactly do that. However, it might have helped to add a bit more grit and grime to the film. The movie didn’t even touch the disgustingness and grittiness of the book. The asylum and even the streets later on in the movie were considerably cleaner and much less disgusting or disturbing as described in the book. But then again, my sister, who hadn’t read the book, felt it was gritty and disgusting enough as it was, so I could just have a biased opinion here.

So enough on the adaptation level (at least for now), let’s focus on it as a film. Did it work? Yes, I think it did… but only if you don’t go in expecting some Hollywood thriller (like pretty much every person in my theater, from the ghetto crew at the back that left halfway through to the annoying people right behind us) and actually enjoy good cinema and films that make you think. The pace, just like the book, starts off slow and is a slow burn into the suspense and craziness before topping off and then easing back into the slow-paced philosophical stuff.

The cinematography made me smile quite a bit, because it was filmed almost exactly how I would have imagined it to be in my head (not the settings and stuff, but the camera and lighting stuff). It were as if the book gave directions on how to film or light certain scenes, because in reading, I thought things like “Oh, it would be cool if they filmed it like this…” and then, to my surprise, it was filmed exactly like that (and seriously, how often does that happen?). There was a lot of playing with white and black/light and dark, just as there should have been.

The acting was done really well, though my biggest complaint came as quite a surprise. Danny Glover’s acting during a specific voice-over scene (which, again, is exactly how it played out in the book) came off as really fake and a bit annoying. But otherwise, the acting was done very well, I thought.

I also have to take my hat off to the screen writer. I would have thought that making this book into a film would have been highly improbable a task, especially with how it was written. But not only did it happen, but it stayed amazingly close to the book (I’m sure you’re sick of hearing that by now), only to differentiate at the most appropriate times, seemingly where the book had the most issues. However, one issue with the writing was in the characters. In the book, although it had some issues with character development, you still got to know the characters and their different relationships very well. Every character was rather deeply written, especially the Woman with the Dark Glasses, and that seemed to be removed from the film. Same goes with Danny Glover’s character and The First Blind Man, both of which seemed to have much bigger roles in the book. They all became flatter versions of themselves (though the only one I didn’t mind in changing was the Boy, who got rather annoying in the book). However, where the movie lost in depth, it gained in development, so I guess there had to be some kind of trade off.

I’m not sure what else to really focus on here. To me, the movie could have been grittier (though I think it was, and the director had to edit it a lot in order to appease some people. I wouldn’t mind seeing a Director’s Cut). That was my biggest complaint, really, and maybe a bit more character depth and a way to include some of the more philosophical depth that the book had. Other than those things, I thought the movie was great. And if you enjoyed the book, like I did, there’s almost no way you won’t enjoy the film, as it’s a near perfect (not quite, but near) adaptation.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

DVDs Or Death!

I almost forgot (and/or was too busy with... um... stuff) about this... which is ironic considering one of our few titles this week. I'm getting very close to wanting to pick the latter part of the title for DVDs Or Death!

Iron Man.

Brief Synopsis: Weapons Manufacturer Gets Change Of Heart (Literally) And Becomes Superhero.

Comments: One of the best movies of the summer, Iron Man is finally coming to DVD. The only negatives about this movie, to me, were the subpar climax and the female lead. Otherwise, this movie was awesome.

Viewing Option: Buy (like everyone else).

Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Brief Synopsis: Girl Breaks Up With Guy, Then Both End Up In Hawaii.

Comments: It's a Judd Apatow vehicle, but it only got so-so reviews. Didn't see it in theater, but I'll end up checking it out at some point, anyway.

Viewing Option: Rent.

Taxi To The Darkside.

Brief Synopsis: Documentary About U.S. Torture In Middle East.

Comments: Got a lot of recognition, obviously. I've been getting more and more into documentaries lately, so I might check it out.

Viewing Option: Rent or TV.

The Student Teacher Chronicles: Week Five.

Alrighty... here's week five! In case you missed it, I also posted a short review for the movie EuroTrip below this, so this will be the second post for the day. Enjoy! (Oh... and let me know if anybody is reading these or are actually enjoying them. That'd be lovely).

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So apparently I look like I could be a Jedi. Huh. Oh, and my dancing skills are either hilarious (because they’re awful) or make students afraid for their lives.

Anyway, this week was a total rollercoaster of emotions. There was really bad and really good, and it seemed to really alternate throughout. This was homecoming week, too, so everybody was all hyped up and dressing up randomly throughout the week (each day was themed). And as to not boggle down your reading time here, I shall continue forth into that which is… okay, I’ll just start now.

Monday

Homecoming theme: Nerd day.
What I did: I’m already a nerd, so I dressed normally.

Monday was, so far, my worst day. It seriously was a day that made me sit and reevaluate what I’ve been wanting to do with my life. It didn’t start off well. I was up at 6:25 AM, get to the school sometime between 7:15 and 7:25, and as I get to the school and go to make copies of things, but the copy machine is acting up. And then other teachers, once it was working, were hounding the thing for ages printing numerous sets of 100+ page documents. But when I finally got around to being able to use it, either the machine or me kept screwing up, so it was very aggravating. And this is before I’ve even taught a class for the day!

So now I’ve basically taken over completely for second through sixth period (so I’m teaching everything except English 3 AP, which is first period). But things just went poorly. The kids were having issues understanding the subject matter. All they would do was complain on certain other things. It was just mentally straining. However, after each class, my mentor teacher would give me advice (she gave me a whole load on pretty much everything I was doing wrong… and while there were only a couple main things, they were really big things). So with every class, I was able to alter my methods a bit. By the time I reached fifth period, I had it down pretty well, and it went as smoothly as a class that day could have gone, though still slightly rough.

When sixth period (creative writing) came, I had to introduce a new thing for them to do every day. I have these simple journal prompts to help simple writing and such, which none of them are liking too much, but my mentor teacher is pretty much swearing by them (plus I really needed a stable anticipatory set/warm-up for the class). And then they started on new vocab, which, again, didn’t go over too well. We didn’t even finish going over everything by the end of class.

Seventh period was, thankfully, conference period, but the day wasn’t over… oh no! We continued working on stuff until about 4:30 when she let me go for a bit. So I went home for about an hour to scarf down some food before I basically had to turn right back around and go back to Open House. I even had to talk to the parents at one point because my mentor teacher had to go get her son right quick from football practice, and that was rough… mostly because they stared at me like I was crazy and didn’t really say much. So I was doing that from about 6:30 to 8:30. I didn’t get home until about 9, in which I went straight to my room and worked until about 10:30 on stuff I needed to have prepared for the next day before finally going to bed, completely and utterly exhausted (physically and mentally).


Tuesday

Homecoming theme: Blast from the past.
What I did: I dressed so last week.

Tuesday, on the other hand, was a much better day. I was still completely exhausted when I got up and got to school, but things quickly started turning around. For instance, my mentor teacher finally got me started working with the AP class first period. She split the class into large groups, and she worked with one half while I worked with the other. I was so terrified of this because I had, over the weekend, read the work (Maya Angelou’s “Finishing School”) that we were to have read and answered questions on. During the weekend and the previous night after Open House I had gone through all the questions that needed to be answered and did them, but I had no idea if I was right or not, because it wasn’t like some professional key. I had to actually bank on all my learning in English and Lit classes throughout college. Thankfully, however, it worked out really well. In fact, most of their answers were basically exactly the same as mine, so that alleviated a lot of worry on my part. There’s some really smart kids in that class, I swear. But we laughed, we gave answers, and we all got out of it alive… so it was all good.

As for the regular English 3 kids, we continued with the stuff they had been doing the previous day. But this time I used a lot more examples and more modeling (one of the things that was my bigger issues with the English 3 classes… because, ironically, I do everything pretty well in creative writing, but I have trouble elsewhere), so that helped a bit. First we continued going over “Showing versus Telling” in writing, and they worked in groups to write examples paragraphs that they shared with the class. They all did very well here. Then we continued on with grammar and discussing “Object” (as in Direct Objects). A lot of them were having a lot of trouble with this, though. So after I made everything “nauseatingly clear” with how to find a direct object (it must be after an action verb only, etc.), I went through the examples with them all the same, where I’d either ask generally or call on people individually to read the sentence, tell me what the verb is, tell me if the verb is an action verb, and, if it is, what the direct object was. By the end of the practice section, they had it pretty well down and were all answering at once. And if that weren’t enough, my mentor teacher helped me come up with a fun exercise. I made fifteen different sentences and split the sentences into groupings of three, cut each part of the sentence out (for instance, the subject, the verb, the direct object, and any other part of the predicate would all be different slips of paper), and put three cut up sentences in five different envelopes. I then split them into groups and handed out the envelopes, and they were to create sentences (whether the original ones or creative ones—and they had a lot of fun doing the latter) and tell me where their verb was and what the direct object of the sentence was. By the end of the class, they had everything down so perfectly and were so clear on how to locate a direct object, I don’t think any of them should have trouble anymore (at least in the near future).

Then in creative writing, I had to laugh because I gave them a fun little assignment. I asked them to come up with ten completely random words which I wrote on the board. However, they picked some really big and difficult words, most of which the majority of the class didn’t even know. And they only picked up on what I was going to do (or at least had a general idea) when it was too late. I had them take those ten words and then write a one-to-two paragraph original plot summary that required them to use all ten of those words. And because a lot of them didn’t know all of the words, they had to get out the dictionaries and start looking words up, so it was a little bonus there. And any time they asked me what a word meant, I didn’t give any slack and told them to look it up, because they need to learn to rely on themselves and their own abilities instead of being dependent on others (that, and I could barely explain, although I knew what they meant, the definitions of the words myself... but I prefer the other explanation).

All in all, it was a pretty good day (except for back and knee pains). Oh, and the crazy girl I’ve mentioned before is getting a lot better. She still thinks she’s better than everybody else, but she’s getting a lot more tolerable in class, and even interesting to talk to. And all I did was ignore her annoyingness for attention, continue to treat her with the same respect and politeness as everybody else (in a fair way, not necessarily an equal way), and speak to her on her level (for instance, she likes to say “Merry Christmas” as she leaves, so I told her that as she was leaving, and she got all happy and was like “You remembered!”… whatever works, right?).


Wednesday

Homecoming theme: Celebrity day.
What I did: Read below.

This day there was no student teaching due to student teacher seminar.


Thursday

Homecoming theme: Superhero day.
What I did: Hiro Nakamura from Heroes (I’m me from the past… wearing something from previous student teaching).

Thursday was another annoying day. It seems that when my mentor teacher has a bad or annoying day, I’m going to have a bad or annoying day. I’ll feel tense and whatever, and there’s just this damper of an aura around the room. This was one of those days. It wasn’t like that the entire day… but just on and off throughout the day. But anyway, onto classes…

The regular English 3 classes (except second period, who was a day behind) finished up “Showing versus Telling.” I wrote a “telling” sentence on the board and they had to write a paragraph changing it into a “showing” bit of detail. They had a bunch of criteria they had to meet, too, and they were all given a grading rubric on what they could do in order to get certain grades. However, most people actually didn’t want to settle for less than a 100, so we were constantly called over to look at their rough drafts (after they got it written down on scratch paper, they were to transfer it to construction paper, which is to be put around the room).

For Creative Writing, I had those who hadn’t done so yet read their Word Plot aloud and turn it in (there weren’t many left). Then I started a new assignment wherein they would take the character from their short story and pretend they were walking through a mall (even if the character lived in a time without a mall). They were to use description/sensory details (sight/hearing/taste/smell/touch) to describe everything that was going on. It was a relatively good day in this class.

But overall, the day was rather ‘blah’, and, by the end, I felt there was something wrong (and being paranoid, I thought I had done something, but I really don’t think it was me). Oh, and my mentor teacher finally had to give in and give this one student a detention (he’s very GT, ADHD, and he never pays attention or listens when he’s told to stop doing something). And there’s this other girl that gets on my nerves, because her attitude is very “I hate school; I hate English; I refuse to do anything; you can’t make me, either.” But that’s another story…


Friday

Homecoming theme: Viper Pride.
What I did: I just wore a blue shirt… although it was a bit lighter than our blue.

Funnily enough, the first period English 3 AP class pulled a prank on my mentor teacher with the principal. My mentor teacher always jokingly complains about starting talking in the morning, and then gets cut off by announcements, so she just keeps going on anyway. So some of the class went to the principal and gave him an idea… so this morning toward the end of the announcements, the principal was like “*Mentor Teacher Name*… *Mentor Teacher Name*… Are you talking while I’m talking?” It was so hilarious, especially because he paused after each one, so my mentor teacher thought he could really open the channel up to our room, so she was like “Yes” after each time. It was great.

In the regular English 3 classes, they went up to two vocab words for their warm-up in order to finish up their unit for vocab so they would have their quiz on Monday. Some of them then finished up their “Showing versus Telling” assignments, though that’s all second period did, as they were a day behind anyway. But for third through fifth period, we finished up going over the chapter on “Objects” with objects of a preposition, which everybody pretty much got down easily (and there were even students who seem to normally have difficulty with this stuff pick it up very easily and answered a lot). They then worked to do the review section of it for the rest of class.

In Creative Writing, they did the vocabulary review and used the rest of class as a make-up day (to finish up a lot of stuff that needed to be turned in by the end of the day). Amazingly enough, everybody (with two exceptions, though I knew that was going to be the case) turned it in and made perfect scores (or very nearly perfect), which was a vast improvement over the last time I took up their vocab reviews, in which pretty much everybody failed.

Friday was a pretty good day, overall. However, I did have to just break down in a couple classes and shout over them to shut up. I got into a semi-argument with one class (the class with the girl that refuses to do stuff, who was, naturally, one to argue with me) about doing their vocab upon coming into the classroom. The issue was that some students would be done, and others would barely be starting on writing down the word, slowing everybody else down. So I brought that up and got all sorts of back-talk about it, though I think I handled it mostly well. And in two other classes I had to cry out at the top of my voice for them to just be quiet as there was too much talking and too little working and people were asking the same questions over and over because they either couldn’t hear or weren’t paying attention. And then in my Creative Writing class (which is my loudest class), they got very loud, but they still ended up doing pretty well on their stuff and turned most of it in, so that was good anyway. That class is seriously a hoot (yes… I said hoot). It’s a laugh-a-minute.

But really, it was a very long week on the whole. I wasn’t the only teacher who was exhausted by mid-Monday and incapable of fathoming anything else but the end of the week. I seriously hope next week is better, because I really don’t want to have another week like this week again (at least anytime soon, as I know it’s inevitable). On the bright side, I asked my mentor teacher how I was doing now and if I had improved. She said I had greatly improved and have really stepped up and done so much better on pretty much everything I was having trouble with. I think the only thing she said I do now that I need to work on is my filler words during the awkwardness (she said I have a tendency to say “Okay… yeah” when I’m trying to think or process information after I read something or am asked a question). She also said she plans on video taping me teaching, too, pretty soon, so that’ll be interesting. And… I think that’s it for this week.

Stay tuned!

Short Review: EuroTrip.

This is for the LAMB Movie of the Month, but I couldn't find a better way to review this movie than for a short review, so here we are.

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Premise: After getting dumped by his girlfriend and drunkenly sending hate mail to his German pen pal, who he mistakenly thinks is a man trying to get with him, a guy travels to Europe with his friends in finding his pen pal and telling her that he loves her before it's too late.

Starring: Scott Mechlowitz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenburg.

My Reaction: This is seriously one of my favorite comedies. No matter how many times I see it, it never gets old. It has a very memorable and original song, "Scotty Doesn't Know," which really is as catchy as it's meant to be. There's also some great and memorable cameo appearances, including David Hasselhoff and Matt Damon. But it's the Matt Damon cameo that's the most memorable, because he's made up so out-of-character that it's hilarious. In fact, I didn't even realize it was him until toward the end of his scene. I can't say enough about this movie, though because I love it so much, it makes it hard to do a full-out review for it, which is why I took to this format. From Robot-Mime street fighting to "You made out with your sister!," this movie is great.


Royale With Cheese

EAGLE EYE.

So what we have here is a fairly entertaining action movie with some logic issues. After the death of Jerry Shaw’s (Shia LaBeouf) twin brother, Jerry goes home to find his place covered with military things that point to him being a terrorist. Meanwhile, Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) is a single mother via divorce whose son is going on a big train ride to Washington D.C. in order to play the trumpet in a junior orchestra. Then suddenly both of them get calls: Jerry to escape from the FBI, and Rachel to do as she’s told unless she wants her son to die by having the train derail. After them both are military officer, Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson); Defense Secretary Callister (Michael Chiklis); and FBI Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). So the rest of the movie is a big chase scene with cool tech-related things getting them through situations while the mysterious woman’s voice commands them to certain places at certain times. And sometimes they aren’t even alone in their journey.

The coolest part about the movie was the action. A lot of stuff reminded me of the really awesome movie The Game, except with more tech-related things happening. There was a great car chase sequence… hell, there was great everything with the action. But one thing that bugged me about it was that there could be so many different horrendous car wrecks, but only one time in the movie (when it was plot-necessary) did it actually affect any character. They would get up and walk or run around with sometimes not even a scratch.

On the subject of illogic happenings, one of the biggest issues I had with the movie was one that the whole plot rested on: the train trip of Rachel’s son. Seriously, what kind of train ride lasts almost two freakin days? And not to mention in that time span, they only slept once and didn’t have a total body failure from all the running around? I suppose, though, adrenaline could be part of the latter.

On the acting side of things, I think everybody did really well. Shia and Billy Bob were the best. It was so refreshing to see Billy Bob in something that wasn’t a dark comedy lately. And just imagining Shia going from Even Stevens to this is an amazing thought in and of itself, so I commend him there.

The story was a bit out there, though, but I don’t want to go into the story too much, as it could spoil quite a bit. There’s a nice twist halfway through that for whatever reason I didn’t expect. Maybe at one point, but I didn’t follow the trail of that thought. I did like the fact that they made the movie show the bad sides of the government instead of having some underlying theme of patriotism like any other movie dealing with terrorism would. Maybe that’s why a lot of those stuffy, old, conservative critics didn’t care for the movie, eh?

Honestly, to me, the movie was a fun time. Things about the story could have been tweaked a bit to fit better, but otherwise it was a really fun action movie. I could give two movies that I could say “Combine these and you’d have this movie,” but then that’d give it away. Let’s just say one of them is The Game… but I can’t tell you the other until you’ve seen it. And I do recommend it if you don’t mind going out for some action-packed fun and aren’t easily annoyed by logical issues. So yeah… good times.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

P.E.S.T.

Another exciting weekend is upon us! It's time for Pre-Emptive Strike Thursday!

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Title: Miracle at St. Anna.

Pre-Thoughts: I think this looks like an amazing film by a great director. I've also heard the book is amazing, as well, though I haven't read it. Even though I'm not a big war-film fanatic, I'd love to check it out, definitely.

Pre-Score:

A Keanu 'Whoa'



Title: Choke.

Pre-Thoughts: Where the hell has all the advertisement for this movie been? The next big film based on a book by the guy who wrote Fight Club? I've seen a couple different T.V. spots for this, and none of them tell anything about the film whatsoever. This movie is going to bomb completely. I'd like to see it, though, just for the sake of having seen it... but seriously... what the heck?

Pre-Score:

I Am McLovin!


Title: Eagle Eye.

Pre-Thoughts: I think this will be the big one of the weekend. I've already got plans to see it with a friend, so I know there'll be a review up for this either late Friday or early Saturday, so keep an eye out. I've been excited for this movie for a very long time. To me, it just has one of the most awesome trailers I've ever seen. Can't wait for tomorrow night.

Pre-Score:

A Keanu 'Whoa'



Title: Nights in Rodanthe.

Pre-Thoughts: A movie for old people and/or people who like sappy romances with old people. I'd say this'd draw the same crowd as, say, The Notebook, except for the fact that the leads are... well... not Ryan Gosling. And are old.

Pre-Score:

Feed Me, Seymour!



Title: The Lucky Ones.

Pre-Thoughts: Ironic in title... I hadn't even heard of this film up until a few days ago. Never seen a trailer for it, never heard anything about it. Therefore, much like The Women, I can't really give it a pre-score.

Pre-Score: N/A.

2 In 1: Arthur and the Invisibles and Tron.

Can it be? I actually have something appearing during the week? And it’s not a DVDs Or Death, P.E.S.T., or Student Teacher Chronicles? Not only that, but it’s reviewing two movies? That’s right! You’re in for a treat, as I actually have a 2 In 1 for y’all! For this 2 In 1, I’m focusing on two movies wherein both are partly live action and partly computer animation, and where the computer animation kicks in when the main character gets introduced into a brand new world other than the human realm. And both are movies that I had just seen for the first time before reviewing them. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

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Arthur and the Invisibles.

Luc Besson is my favorite writer/director/producer/filmmaker, but when this film first came out, I had a similar reaction to Robert Rodriguez doing Sharkboy and Lavagirl… and didn’t see it. But I recently saw it coming on Showtime, set my DVR to record it, and finally got around to watching it. And I have to say, it wasn’t as bad as I figured. Arthur (Freddie Highmore) is an imaginative boy living with his Granny (Mia Farrow), because his parents (Penny Balfour and Doug Rand) are off trying to make some money. So Granny tells Arthur stories of the adventures of her missing husband, Archibald (Ron Crawford). The latest story is that of the Minimoys, a tribe of incredibly tiny, elf-like creatures that Archibald had found in Africa, and who had offered up a treasure of rubies to Archibald. But when he goes to retrieve the treasure, he goes missing. Years later, Arthur and Granny’s house/property is up for demolition unless they can find some money in two days. So Arthur decides to travel to the land of the Minimoys, who had apparently been transported from Africa to his front yard, to reclaim the ruby treasure. But when he gets there, he discovers that he showed up right as Princess Selenia (Madonna) is about to claim the right to go and slay the evil Maltazard (David Bowie). Coincidentally, both are in the same location, so they, along with Selenia’s brother, Betameche (Jimmy Fallon), go on this wild adventure.

This movie is like mixing Arthurian Legend, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and really any fantasy story that follows Joseph Campbell’s Monomythic structure. The Arthurian Legend is quite literal. The main character’s name is Arthur, and he’s able to pull a sword from a stone when the apparent ‘chosen one’, Selenia, couldn’t. The Monomythic structure is blatantly obvious, as well (though, really, Arthurian Legend follows the Monomyth itself, anyway). There’s the princess/love interest (Selenia), the friend/guardian (Betameche), the mentor (Archibald), the villainous mastermind (Maltazard), and the numerous helpers along the way. And they’re all on a ‘quest’ to find a special item (the rubies) and to slay the villain.

But this is part of its downfall. The movie is a short 94 minutes, but acts a lot more epic than it is. There’s a whole world and mythology behind all of this, and you can really tell this movie was based on a set of books. Unfortunately, not all of it is explained (such as the random appearances by the African tribe, or the stone guardians), and a lot of it comes off as episodic or choppy (think A Series of Unfortunate Events). They go from one location and set of characters to the other, each with its own big sequence, but only long enough for something cool to happen before moving on. In other words, the movie is so focused on the idea of the story and characters than the story and characters themselves. There is no character development or depth. There is no rise from reluctant hero to hero from Arthur; he starts out heroic and ends heroic. There is no build in the relationship between Arthur and Selenia; they’re enraptured by each other from the start, and with absolutely no warning or whatever, they’re suddenly soul mates. The story and characters are about as flat/static as they can get.

However, all of that being said, the movie was still really enjoyable. The parts that were animated looked really great. My favorite simple scene was the part where they go to sleep in the flower pollen. That just looked amazing. But my favorite scene in the whole movie was the fight sequence on the record player. I thought that was quite imaginative and pretty fun. Oh, and even though it was silly, the goofy bad-guy soldiers were great and funny.

The voice acting is something to commend, as well. As I’ve already stated, Freddie Highmore lends his voice (as well as doing real-life acting at the beginning and end), as do Madonna, Jimmy Fallon, and David Bowie (I love this man in villainous roles). But then the movie also has Snoop Dogg, Emilio Estevez, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Anthony Anderson, and Jason Bateman. Though while Snoop Dogg and Anthony Anderson’s characters don’t have too much screen time, they are in my favorite part of the movie (the part that leads into the record player fight). But I think the best voices of the film were Madonna, David Bowie, Jimmy Fallon, and Jason Bateman. You can’t even tell it’s Jason Bateman, but the way he speaks is hilarious. And, as I’ve already stated, David Bowie is just awesome.

It’s sad to think that Luc Besson stated this was going to be his last film as a director, though. It’s not totally true, as he’s coming out with two more films (as director). However, those films are the two sequels to this film, so who knows (though that does make me a bit happy, as they never explain what happens to the bad guy). It was a fun little film and had some good visuals (and some cool music). However, they made it almost too child-friendly by dumbing down the characters and story. Hopefully the next two won’t be as choppy or static as the first, and I know this man can write intricate characters, so I know it’s possible. I’ll go see the sequels, but if they’re the same as the first, it’ll be disappointing.

(And I still refuse to see Sharkboy and Lavagirl).

I Am McLovin!

Tron.

So of course I’d heard all about Tron and knew everything about it (after all, I wouldn’t have been able to get through Kingdom Hearts II sanely without having known anything about it), but I just hadn’t seen it before now. And with a sequel on the way, I figured it was as good of a time as any to check it out. After Flynn (Jeff Bridges) gets all his video game codes stolen from him and fired by Dillinger (David Warner), he begins to hack into their computer system in order to find proof that he was robbed. But it’s not that easy, as Dillinger has created and set up the Master Control Program, which is a security program that is slowly taking over all other programs and becoming stronger and smarter. Meanwhile, Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) has come up with a security program of his own, Tron, that could be used to take down the Master Control Program. But when they and co-worker Lora (Cindy Morgan) try to use Tron and hack into the system, Flynn gets hit by a brand new particle laser beam that transports him into the computer world, wherein he must fight for his life in different video game trials whilst venturing with Tron to take down the Master Control Program.

For a movie with outdated special effects, it really holds together through the test of time. I wasn’t really bothered at all by the cheesy special effects and thought it worked well. And I really can’t wait for the sequel, which should look really cool (though I figure people will react one of two ways—they will either think it looks stupid a la Speed Racer and it’ll flop, or they will be like “OMG TRON 2 LETZ GO!” and be hypocrites because they just finished bashing the stylistically similar Speed Racer).

On the acting level, Jeff Bridges was great as usual. I’m really starting to think this man can do anything (even though Flynn reminded me a little bit of The Dude here and there). Besides him, though, everybody else did alright. The one acting level that bugged me a bit was Bruce Boxleitner as Tron. At his introduction, Tron was almost emotionless. Halfway through, he starts getting a bit bubbly at times. At the end, he’s different yet again. It’s like the character of Tron couldn’t find a suitable personality.

The other low points for me on the movie were strange little inclusions. For instance, what was the purpose of the Bit (the little ball that Clu sends off at the beginning and comes back later on to Flynn for a couple minutes)? It’s set up to be important, but after it comes back, it’s on screen for only a couple minutes, as I said, before disappearing from the movie completely. And then there’s the inclusion of Yori (the program equivalent of Lora). I didn’t even have a clue how the two were connected until I read up on it later and saw that you have to pay close attention during the laser test run toward the beginning of the movie. But even then, how do Yori and Tron know each other? And why did Tron go to get Yori’s help? What was her purpose other than to have the actress show up in the computer world? And it was a sad attempt at a love triangle, as well. At the end, she ends up kissing both guys and without any resolution to that fact?

Otherwise, the movie was fine and fun. There were just those little things that could have been explained much better if the movie were a little longer. I’m not gonna go rush out and buy this movie or anything, but it was an entertaining 90 minutes that I wouldn’t mind experiencing again. And I’m probably going to check out the sequel when it comes out, as well.

I Am McLovin!

DVDs Or Death!

Monday = DVDs Or Death!

Leatherheads.

Brief Synopsis: The Beginning Of Football.

Comments: I'm not a big fan of sports films, and I heard this one isn't even too worth it on its own.

Viewing Option: T.V.

Run, Fat Boy, Run.

Brief Synopsis: A Portly Loser Gets In Shape To Run A Marathon And Win Back Love.

Comments: I really loved this movie in theater, and I love Simon Pegg, so I would really love to own this. And it's about time this came out, too! I've been waiting ages.

Viewing Option: Buy.

Sex and the City.

Brief Synopsis: Big Screen Version Of Small Screen, Estrogen-Filled Television Show.

Comments: Not a fan of the show, didn't see this in theaters, probably won't see it at home.

Viewing Option: Skip.