CHANGELING.

I know this is normally a day for DVDs Or Death!... but I'm going to skip that this week in place of something magical. Yes... a movie review! I saw it last night... felt like sharing. So here you go!

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When you have a Clint Eastwood-helmed picture, you know you’ll probably get at least two things out of it: great acting and depression (seriously, this man needs to make a comedy or something). Changeling is about a lot of things, but it starts when Christine Collins’ (Angelina Jolie) son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith), disappears. For months the LAPD looks for him and finally find him in a whole other state. Unfortunately, according to Christine, it’s not actually her son. And no matter what she says, neither Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) or Chief Davis (Colm Feore) will do anything to help, and actually say that she’s crazy and making up lies. But when Detective Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) stumbles upon a seemingly unrelated case, things start to line up together and, with the help of Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), Christine will do anything in her power to get to the bottom of things and find her son (assuming he’s still alive).

Now this was a long movie, but it didn’t feel like it dragged at any point in time (except maybe the beginning, but that was needed to set everything up). It actually held my interest all the way through up until the Return of the King-style ending, wherein it felt like the movie just kept jumping further and further along, never wanting to quit. But in the end, it all added together for a really good (albeit slightly depressing) experience.

The best thing this movie had going for it was the acting. My goodness, was this movie acted well. From the big names of the film (Jolie and Malkovich), to the supporting roles (Donovan and Kelly), and even to the barely-in-it roles, this movie was acted phenomenally. Amy Ryan, despite the very few scenes she was in, stole every one of them. After the great job in Gone Baby Gone wherein she held a good chunk of a movie, to the great job she does in this, wherein she’s only in a few scenes, you can really tell she’s heading for the top.

The next thing to bring up would be the look/feel of the movie, all brought together by the direction of Clint Eastwood. The movie felt very 1920s, from the clothes and houses to the cars and speech styles. It was quite believable and done very well. The camera work also stood out to me, though there were a couple interesting choices that I might not have stuck with in the end (a few scenes where the camera was stuck behind John Malkovich’s head, leaving for an awkward angle/shot).

There really isn’t much else I feel I can say about the film. It’s one of Angelina’s best that she’s done, and I think one of Eastwood’s best, as I, for once, actually don’t feel it would be overrated. The only thing I might have done would to have changed the title, as the only thing the movie had to do with mythological Changelings was a switched child—and that whole plot of the movie wasn’t even the only focus. Halfway in, the movie changes completely with a new added plot, and it starts becoming more about something else entirely (but then brings it all back to the switched boy… but still). Great performances. Great story. Great film.

Royale With Cheese

The Student Teacher Chronicles: Week Ten.

It's no more Mr. Nice Guy (Or something like that). Yup... this week I've finally lost it. And on top of that, a couple of my students (one of which I’ve known since before student teaching anyway because I’m friends with her mom) saw me and a friend at the movies the previous Friday, so they were all hounding me about if she was my girlfriend (which she’s not), blah blah blah, and the one girl I knew ended up telling her mom that we were dating (because her mom and my friend work together, as I used to work with them both). So that caused all sorts of randomness and chaos. Anywho, onto the week.


Monday

This day was a bit off to me. It was a teacher workday thing, so there was no actual class. And because it was the end of the 9 weeks, grades were due by 4 PM. However, I had to deal with a department meeting the entire morning up until lunchtime that was completely and utterly pointless and a waste of time (and I wasn’t the only one who felt that way). Then after lunch, I ran some copies for class the next day, I typed some stuff up, and I put in grade/conduct stuff into the computer for the 9 weeks. That was about it for the day. However, my mentor teacher was sick, so her mood was a little off. And when she’s not in a super mood, neither am I (if you know what I mean). So I left that day feeling pretty upset (though I had no reason to feel that way, I don’t think… it’s just how it goes about).


Tuesday

This day was much better than the previous. My mentor teacher, though still sick, was in a much better mood. I didn’t really do anything first period (though one of the students did tell me “You’re not our teacher!” and I was like “Uh… excuse me?”). Second through fifth periods did quite a bit, as well. They continued on with their vocabulary again. After that, they got back their essays and a personal editing log so they’ll have to go back and further edit their papers. They also got their next homework assignment for the week (starting speeches now for homework to prep them for the next 9 weeks, so they’re getting “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Should be fun. That speech, though not the entire thing, is pretty hardcore with all the fire and eternal damnation kind of thing). Oh, and I also got to go and watch another teacher’s class for a few minutes while she ran down to the nurse real quick to pick something up. It was only for a few minutes, but it was still pretty cool. And then sixth period, I introduced them to the Shakespearian Sonnet.

However, due to some stuff that happened in sixth period, I got a bit of a talk (though not a bad one) from my mentor teacher. She said that one of the things I need to work on, especially for my upcoming two weeks solo (as she’ll have to re-take over afterwards), is not getting off-task along with the students. We’re all pretty friendly with each other, and we all get off task into different conversations sometimes, but the difference between my mentor and I is that she knows when to stop the conversation and get them back on task, while I get carried away with the conversing. But she also said it wasn’t completely my issue, as it had a lot to do with how the room was set up and how that created certain dynamics within the classroom. So starting seventh period conference and after school, we re-arranged all the desks and stuff to make a better structured class (because she had the desks set up in a cross-fire style, which leads to a lot more talking). So we moved all that stuff around and then set up some more seating charts for each class, and we’ll just explain them as it being a new 9 weeks, so we decided to freshen things up a bit by changing things around. She also told me she usually does this anyway, so that’s cool.


Wednesday

Besides having to deal with negative reactions to a new seating chart in every class period, the first half of the day was boring as heck, because my mentor teacher did practically everything. I just kind of sat back and tried not to fall asleep. But then during the second half of fourth period, after lunch, she had me pick up on stuff and start going over the grammar portion of the work we did today. So for fourth and fifth period, I did that. Sixth period just continued to work on their poems. However, my mentor teacher also got progressively sick as the day went on, becoming more and more ‘blah’, as it were. So during seventh period conference we had a grade-level meeting, which ended right before school let out. And then after school, she went through everything I’d need to know for the next day because she decided to set up a sub for the next day because she didn’t feel as if she’d be able to come in on Thursday (and that threw her off even more, because she hadn’t stayed home sick since her first year of teaching in which she had pneumonia). So we went through all that together and then left for the day. And that was about it for Wednesday (oh, and I did get one girl to tell me not to stand so close to her desk because it creeped her out and she felt all paranoid. That was interesting).


Thursday

So this day was yet another day I got the entire class to myself with a sub sitting in the background due to my mentor teacher not being there. First period, my AP class, went alright. However, this one girl is really starting to piss me off. This is the same girl who told me I wasn’t her teacher at the beginning of the week. But now she told me something even more extreme than that. Because I don’t do a whole lot with AP (because my mentor teacher does most of it, due to you having to be specially qualified in order to teach AP), I often don’t know answers to the questions they ask me… even though most of the questions they ask me always deal with some specific format or whatever that my mentor teacher wants of them, and they always decide to ask ME instead of HER for whatever reason. So today, however, without any provocation or anything, and without even me not knowing anything (because I actually knew what I was doing this time), that one girl comes over to me toward the end of class and was like “So are you ever actually going to know anything in here for once?” I was so set aback that I couldn’t even say anything. I just stared at her before the bell rang and she hurried out the door.

And then second through fifth periods had a lot to do. They started with their vocab word of the day, then moved on to a MLA bibliography form for books (broken down to super easy), and then finished out with more work book stuff for grammar. Second, fourth, and fifth periods drove me crazy. Though, during this process, I finally found the correct tone and look for my “teacher voice” and “teacher face” (respectively). Yeah, I got them to shut up (at least for a few minutes, anyway).

And then third period scared the heck out of me because we had a lock down drill and nobody had told me about it, and they didn’t announce it beforehand as a drill. But that went fine. Ironically, though, I had just been talking to another student about this book I’m reading (Battle Royale), because he saw the movie version, and it’s about a group of fifteen-year-old Japanese students who are taken to an island and have to kill each other off until only one is left. About two minutes after we talk about it, they start the lock down drill, so that was ironic.

And I had this one guy in fifth period (the same one I always bring up) who kept freakin out all day, coming by continuously, waiting for my mentor teacher even though I kept telling him she’s out for the day, because he really needed to talk to her.

And then sixth period was just chaotic as usual. Oh, and Crazy Girl, at one point, told me to be quiet, so I was like “excuse me? I can talk if I want to. I’m the teacher.” To which her response was “No you’re not.” “Oh yes, I am.”

So yeah… that was my Thursday in a nutshell. They (with the exception of third period and half of sixth) have basically pushed me too far now. It’s no more Mr. Nice Guy.


Friday

My mentor teacher was back, better, and in a pretty good mood. I told her all about the previous day, though I had massively cooled down since it had all happened. But she had a talk with the one girl from first period, who then apologized (which always makes me feel awkward), as she thought she was just joking around. My mentor teacher pretty much took care of the rest of first period. Second through fifth period my mentor teacher sat back and let me continue with everything (which was nice). We just continued with vocab and grammar and all that good stuff. Then sixth period I introduced a super easy type of poem (just one word used visually… it’s called a Concrete Poem). Seventh period conference had a lot of grading in it… then after school was used for planned the next week (as well as a few change-of-plans for what I’m going to be doing during my two weeks solo). I was out of there by about 4:45 or so. Overall, a pretty good day.

Page-To-Film: Battle Royale.

Well, I haven’t done one of these in a while (technically this will be the second one, even though the review for Blindness was similarly written). The last time I did this, I reviewed the short story and film versions of Rashomon. This time, I’m taking yet another Japanese story and film: Battle Royale. The book, which came out in 1999, was at first highly controversial, though it quickly became a huge hit, making all the best-seller lists. The very next year, it began being translated into a series of graphic novels/mangas, and, within that same year, became a movie. From what I’ve read, all three are different from each other, but I have yet to experience the mangas, so I couldn’t tell you for those. However, just by experiencing the book and the film, I can agree that they do have some pretty big differences.

But let me first start off by discussing what the story is about (first the book). The story is an allegory for the transition of teenage school life into the cut-throat world of Japanese business. In an alternative future where America is a third-world country and Japan has become a massively strict dictatorship, the government has set up a program in which one class of fifteen-year-old students is chosen to participate in The Program, which sets them in a deserted area and forces them to kill each other off until there is only one left. Shiroiwa Junior High School Class B has just been selected to be the next class to participate. They are put on a small island that has been evacuated from all inhabitants. Each of them (all 42, with 21 males and 21 females) has a metal collar around his or her neck wherein it can be detonated if they start to do something against the rules and/or government, if they try to escape, or if they get caught in a Forbidden Zone—areas of the island that are announced with the newly dead every 6 hours that are forbidden to be in after that point in time. Along for the ‘game’ is Shuya Nanahara, a young boy who lost both his parents and just wants to get out alive with all of his friends; Noriko Nakagawa, a young girl who gets injured early on and struggles to stay alive and innocent with her secret crush; Shogo Kawada, a mysterious new transfer student with a scarred-up face and an interest in both Shuya and Noriko; Hiroki Sugimura, a sweet boy who just wants to find two different girls; and Shinji Mimura, a friend of Shuya’s that is incredibly popular and incredibly smart. And then there are the more sinister of the bunch, including troubled female Mitsuko Soma and insane psychopath Kazuo Kiriyama. The rules state there can only be one survivor, but Shogo insists he can help get him, Shuya, and Noriko off the island alive. The only issue is that they have to wait until they’re the only ones left… if they can survive that long.

The book was absolutely amazing. It’s now one of my favorite books. A lot of people, as I’ve read, have some issues with the English translation, but outside of a few typos or missing words here and there, I found no real huge issues. It’s not incredibly descriptive in the scenery or action/violence, but I think the point was more in that it was actually happening instead of every minute detail of the occurrences. Though it did get confusing in the action at times, especially toward the end when there’s a big car chase. I had a very difficult time trying to picture what the heck was going on. And unfortunately, all of that is cut from the movie, so I have no visual reference there, either.

The only other thing of note from the narrative would be the narration itself. It’s interesting in the way that the book switches from third person to first person interchangeably, allowing for the reader to see inside a specific character’s mind at that moment. So at one point you have a third person narrator, then out of nowhere it’ll start in with ‘I’ with first person. Though it never got confusing, at least for me, because each section really focused on one main person at a time. And that’s another great thing about the book; it had an incredible character focus. Each and every one of the 42 students had a background and a story to go with them. Most of them were interconnected either as friends or enemies or even secret crushes (and there were numerous).

And unfortunately, this is where the movie brings its first major issue. Obviously, it can’t focus on 42 different characters like the book can, but it didn’t even keep the same kind of feel for some of the characters. Shogo, who was my favorite character in the book, was much less mysterious and much less cool in the movie than he was in the book. Hiroki, who was another one of my favorites, had much less of an importance in the movie than the book, and he also lost his best character quality because of his lack of screen time—his unstoppable devotion. And the mystery of why he was hunting down the second of the two girls was played out much more in the book, though I do think the eventual scene that occurs was done quite well in the film. Shinji’s character was reduced to almost non-existent, Shuya became incredibly whiny, and any and all background or explanation for Kazuo was just left out. Mitsuko, however, was done rather decently, and a scene that’s in the director’s cut (the version I watched) that helps explain to those who haven’t read the book a bit about her past (though it is altered quite a bit) isn’t in the normal version, which would be disappointing to those who don’t watch the director’s cut. On the upside, although they changed the teacher/director character completely from the book to the film (it is not a former teacher or any of that in the book), I like how they added more humanity and even some pity to his character in the film. There was more depth to that character in the film than in the book.

But I think the biggest issue with all of these character changes came from trying to turn a 600+ page book into a two-hour movie. And while those two hours moved by incredibly fast (didn’t even feel like two hours), the whole movie felt like how the first fifteen-to-twenty minutes of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire went (200 pages of book crammed into that tiny period). It had a lot of tiny bits of information of characters and scenarios here and there, and those were always fun to catch as a reader of the book, but it still left out or altered too much. For instance, the huge explosion and the scene that leads up to it at the end of the movie occurs around the two-thirds mark of the book… not the climax. And the final showdown with Kazuo was incredibly lame in the movie in comparison to the book… not to mention because of its incredible alteration, one of my favorite (and one of the most powerful, I think) lines in the book wasn’t in the movie. I don’t want to list all the alterations and discrepancies between the two works, but I will list one more major one that was left out: the anti-government and rock-n-roll stuff. That all played such an enormous part of the book, and besides one scene where you see Shuya playing guitar in a flashback, there’s no mention of it whatsoever, and that also took away from the power of the ending, making it more cheesy because it didn’t rely back on a major theme.

Now, I didn’t hate the movie. I just felt that while the book had a more powerful feeling behind it, the movie was reduced to almost nothing more than a common action movie. But looking at the movie as a movie instead of an adaptation, it was pretty entertaining. It wasn’t super gory or anything, and the blood was more along the lines of Quentin Tarantino (you can tell it’s fake, and it’s in excess at certain moments to make a point). The action was pretty good, though the character development (even looking at it from a non-adaptation standpoint) could have used some work. As I said, at least in the director’s cut, the teacher and Mitsuko’s characters were handled pretty well. Noriko was similar to how she was in the book (she’s more of a symbol than anything), though the danger level of her survival is much more suspenseful in the book (the book plays up on her initial wound and possible infection from it much more than the movie, which takes roughly one minute to tackle that whole issue). Shogo could have been done a lot better. He’s not shown enough to where you can get a good sense of his character before the big end reveal. And Shuya… he seemed to be more of a prop in the movie than anything. The other major characters, such as Hiroki and Shinji, were dwindled down to mere plot devices. And I think with a lot of the stuff the writer of the film tried to put into the movie version might confuse some of the people who hadn’t read the book version, because there were some things that were brought up or shown but never explained.

One last thing to bring up is the music (and the cinematography). I figured, from the book, the music would be some old school rock songs, but as that whole theme was removed from the film, they used a lot of classical music or orchestral music. And I have to say, for the most part, I really enjoyed that choice. Though some of the time it was too much and took me out of the scene, but overall, I really liked how the music was done for this film. That just really struck me as something to mention, as I don’t bring up music often enough in film reviews. And to touch on the cinematography briefly… nothing special, though the scene toward the end with the fire after the explosion was pretty cool looking.

So I suppose a final verdict should be called for. For the book, I’d highly recommend it. It really is an amazing read. Therefore, to use my movie rating scores, I'd give the book the following (rating title - no pun intended):

Royale With Cheese

As an adaptation, I give it the following score:

Feed Me, Seymour!

As a film, ignoring the original source, I give it the following score:

I Am McLovin!

DVDs Or Death!

Haven't done one in a while, so let's get at it. DVDs Or Death!

Zombie Strippers.

Brief Synopsis: Like Snakes On A Plane, I Think The Title Is Clear Enough.

Comments: Jenna Jameson + Zombies + Strippers? Doesn't that sound like a recipe for success! Well... at the very least, it'd be B-Movie fun. That is, if it hadn't just been done... by Robert Rodriguez... in Planet Terror. Or if you replace zombies with vampires, you could compare it to From Dusk Til Dawn or even Devil's Den.

Viewing Option: T.V.

Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Brief Synopsis: Again... Read The Title.

Comments: Purposefully skipped it in theater... that can only mean one thing!

Viewing Option: Skip (or T.V., possibly).

Kitt Kittridge - An American Girl.

Brief Synopsis: I Really Think We Need More Inventive Titles.

Comments: See previous movie's comments.

Viewing Option: Skip.

The Student Teacher Chronicles: Week Nine.

So yeah… not much happened this week… at all. This is probably the shortest installment I’ve written thus far (and probably about as short as it’s gonna get).


Monday

Not much to say about today. I did some reviewing over what I taught Friday for first period, and then they did a timed writing for the essay. Second through fifth period just continued to work on writing their own essays. Sixth period got a bunch of papers and stuff back and just worked on poetry. Second through sixth periods all got papers to let them know what assignments they’re all missing and need to turn in. From seventh period conference and on through after school, we just did a bunch of grading. That was pretty much it. It was a relatively good day, over all. The only negative is that I really dislike teaching first period because it’s an AP class, and I feel stupid and that they’re all smarter than I am on this stuff (because I hadn’t even heard of a lot of this, so teaching it makes it very difficult). After school, I even took the quiz they had to take today, and I averaged in pretty close with what most of them got (I got a 44), though some of them did better. Yeah… didn’t help much; yet another reason why it’d be beneficial to get that eighth grade position. Anywho, otherwise, it was a good day.


Tuesday

Yet again, not much special happened today. First period finished up more timed writing. Second through fifth periods continued on their essays for their last day to work on them in class. I left toward the end of fifth period for Jury Duty (which was super easy and quick), but I knew all sixth period was doing was a Vocab test, so I didn’t really miss much. Yeah… that’s about it.


Wednesday

You guessed it… not much happened. First period I graded the Vocab tests that sixth period did the day before while I was out. Second through fifth periods were turning in essays and taking a huge Vocab quiz that mixed all three units thus far, so the whole time I was basically grading tests and getting those back to them. Sixth period we started Haikus, which were insanely simple, and they finished up other poems and such. Seventh period conference and after school… basically all I did was a bunch of grading. I got out of there about 5 PM. Like I said, not much happened.


Thursday

First period I focused most of my time on cutting/pasting and laminating for different pictures for sixth period. Second through fifth periods worked on various different tests (and/or homework or essays) depending on where they were at in their work. In sixth period, we discussed simile, metaphor, and descriptiveness in poems. We read sample poems and then I gave a new assignment wherein they randomly picked different pictures (which I had laminated for class sets) and where they would have to write a poem about that picture using descriptive wording, simile, and metaphor. After that class, there was a bunch of random/fun running around and a bit of grading.


Friday

Alright, so what happened on this day? Well, I didn’t really do anything first period. Second, third, and fifth periods I took students to the lounge to help them go over their Post-Test answers so they could understand what they did wrong. Fourth period I entered some information onto a chart that my mentor teacher asked of me. And a couple of the classes, I also helped to finish up essays. Sixth period my mentor teacher left because she had to go to an ARD meeting for her son, but that was fine. Oh, and every period, each student had to dance to get into the room, so that was really fun. A lot of people didn’t want to do it, but we made them do it anyway. The only time it really backfired was fifth period when these two guys got all moody about it and refused and just sat down in the hall, which, in turn, made my mentor teacher upset about it, so it was just a bunch of mess. Anywho, I went to the Pep Rally after that and participated in it, in which I did a Tug-O-War on the Teacher Team against the Juniors (and the Seniors faced off against the Sophomores). The Seniors and Teachers won, so we faced off against each other, and the Teachers won again (and that same crazy/funny AP that I’ve mentioned before ran in and grabbed the rope to help us out, as well). We all got prizes. However, the Principal also participated, and he broke his wrist in the process (though continued participating, I believe, which shows his dedication to the kids!). But then there was an ambulance and stuff that had to take him to the emergency room. But anyway, I did a bit more grading and then left relatively early (before 4). And that’s about it.

My Current Top 50.

So Fletch over at Blog Cabins posted his Top 50 favorite films and challenged other movie blogs to do the same. So here we are. It's always difficult for me to create a Top List of my favorite films, mostly because it changes all the freakin time (either because I find a new great movie or my mood changes and I find I like one movie more than another at that current time). So anyway, I'm going to now attempt to list my CURRENT Top 50, which could probably change anytime in the near future, but here you go. I tend to call my favorite films those that I can re-watch over and over without getting tired of them, not necessarily films that are cinematic genius or classics. I might still really really like those films, but I don't watch them all the time, which is why they don't make the list (though there are a few on this list that I don't watch all the time, but I do believe are so amazing they have to be on the list... just to be contradictory).

By the way, these are not in numerical order from most favorite to least favorite. They're just the films in my Top 50 (getting a Top 50 was hard enough... I'm not gonna put them in order. In fact, they're going to be in alphabetical order instead). Anywho, here it is:

11:14

12 Angry Men (either version)

12 Monkeys

28 Days Later...

28 Weeks Later...

Aladdin

Bang Bang You're Dead

Big Fish

Billy Madison

Chasing Amy

Clerks II.

Clue

Collateral

Cube

Dog Day Afternoon
Dogma

Equilibrium

EuroTrip

Feast

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Hot Fuzz

Inside Man

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Leon
Little Shop of Horrors (1986 musical)

MirrorMask

Moulin Rouge

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

Napoleon Dynamite

Office Space

Oldboy

Pan's Labyrinth
Pitch Black

Saw

Se7en

Shaun of the Dead

Spaceballs

Stranger Than Fiction
The Big Lebowski

The Faculty
The Fifth Element

The Last Samurai

The New Guy

The Princess Bride

The Rundown

The Truman Show

Tremors
Tremors 2

V For Vendetta
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Five Days Of Saw: SAW V.

I'm getting it in with about 10 minutes to spare! But anyway, here it is. Again, if you haven't seen the previous movies, this one is spoilery.

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So you know how the plot synopsis for this movie was so bare-bones and everybody thought it was because they didn’t want to spoil anything? Well, the truth is that that’s about as basic as you can actually put the plot, as it’s freakin complicated otherwise. Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) has ‘survived’ and moved on from the end of Saw IV (the trap portion of the movie, not the autopsy portion, which is actually never even referenced in this film), and has set himself up to be the Jigsaw case’s savior and be a big hero, even though he’s the new bad guy. The only snag is that Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) has survived and is on to much more than Hoffman likes. So meanwhile, while Hoffman is chasing after Strahm, who is tracing the steps of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his past victims, another game is going on in which five individuals (including Julie Benz and Meagan Good) have to go through a set of rooms and face a set of traps, one by one.

There’s a new director in town, and it does show a bit. There are no fancy camera tricks, transitions, or editing techniques, which is really sad (well, maybe one or so, but that's about it). In fact, there’s even a bit of CGI, which is totally out of the Saw realm. So the usual Saw feel with the cool camera and editing tricks was gone. However, it wasn’t completely bad. It still worked for what it was.

One big negative aspect, however, belongs to the plot. Everything about the movie was either predictable, obvious, or an overall ‘duh’ moment. Most of the revelations or twists in the Saw series are mind-altering experiences that tend to blow you away. Not this time. The twist isn’t anything massively important or mind blowing. It’s just kind of there. And any of the other revelations were so easy to figure out it’s like they weren’t even trying to hide it like the others did. Hell, the opening game lines for the five people practically spells it out for them (and I knew it right away), yet when they figure it out, it’s like some huge ordeal. I don’t know if it’s the movie that was predictable or that it was just the way the story was unfolded that made it too obvious. Maybe a mix of both. Oh… and the thing with Jill was just weird… but I figure that’s something that’ll be explained in the next one.

On the subject of the traps, some of them were pretty cool. Like the trap that introduces the five people was quite inventive, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Most of the others (for the few there were), were somewhat lame, though. Imaginative, sure, but lame.

Yet again, though, the continuity saves the film. This film pulled what it did with the last couple and has just totally gone back to the first, second, and third films and re-shown stuff that fit in so smoothly it was like things were filmed simultaneously. I just loved how everything was connected and how everything just worked together so that a lot of things made even more sense than they did before.

The acting was another notable positive, especially from Tobin Bell (as always). The entire scene/first flashback between him and John/Jigsaw was so amazingly well done… I don’t think there’s any way it could have been done any better. Tobin Bell really is a saving grace of this series. If it weren’t for him and what he and his character brings, these movies would be flat-out terrible.

So after a year of waiting, all I’m doing now it waiting for the final chapter of the series. This one was alright, mostly due to the flashback stuff/continuity that it holds. I was a bit upset that it never referenced the whole autopsy scene (even though that’s what the last movie ended with). But who knows, maybe that scene happens after the events of Saw V, as well (I doubt it, but it’s possible). They referenced Dr. Gordon so much and hinted so many things that I could have sworn it was coming this time around, but alas… maybe they’ll end it with him to go out on a bang. Unfortunately, in order to get there, we had to do this one. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the best of the series, either. I bet like one of the previous movies, it’ll grow on me after numerous viewing… but until then... yeah. The tagline of the movie was “You’ll never believe how it ends.” Yeah, and I really couldn’t believe it ended like that. It could have done better.


I Am McLovin!


The following segments involve spoilers:

Questions Raised Thus Far:

- Who the heck was the guy in the drill-to-the-neck trap and what did he do (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon (Saw)?

- As such, now that we know he turns survivors into apprentices, will he do the same with Dr. Gordon (after all, the -surgeon- in the video at the beginning was -limping-); Also, now that we know survivors can also be re-gamed, will Dr. Gordon just be used for another game (Saw II and Saw IV)?

- What the heck happened to Danny Matthews (Saw II)?

- How is Obi connected to Jigsaw, as he helped him gather all the people into the house, and as he's seen running in a flashback near John and a woman (Saw II and Saw III)?

- What is that key to that was around Amanda's neck (Saw III)?

- What the heck was in that box given to Jill (Saw V)?

Questions Answered Thus Far:
- Does Jigsaw just let Amanda go live her life now that she survived?
(He turns her into his apprentice)
- Does Adam just die of starvation, dehydration, and/or blood loss?
(Amanda kills him via suffocation).
- What's with all the pig stuff?
(John was obsessed with Chinese New Year and made his first victim during the Year of the Pig).
- What the heck happens to Detective Matthews now and/or is he still alive?
(He escaped capture, was re-captured, and kept alive to be used in one final game, wherein he died).
- Who is that woman in the flashback?
(John's ex-wife, though then-wife, Jill)
- What was in that envelope that Amanda reads?
(No specifics, but we know that Hoffman wrote it... according to the director, that's all we need to know).
- What happened to Jeff after the end if Saw III?
(He was shot by Agent Strahm immediately afterwards).
- What was with that wax-coated tape?
(John swallowed it so that it could be found during his autopsy in order to begin a new game with Hoffman).
- What happened to Jeff's daughter?
(Hoffman brings her out to safety).
- Is Agent Perez still alive?
(No).
- Was Rigg being set up as a new apprentice and/or is he still alive?
(No... because he's dead).
- What was with that box of glass in one of the flashbacks?
(It was for a 'trap' and/or safety case for Strahm)
- What happened to Agent Strahm since he was locked in the room with Jigsaw's body, though we know Jigsaw is eventually found due to the autopsy?
(He found a door, got put in a trap, saved himself, and was found by the police, along with Jigsaw's body).

Five Days Of Saw: Saw IV.

Yup... you know the drill by now. If you haven't seen the previous three, consider this spoiler-town.

----------------

When I first saw this one in theater, I really didn’t know what to think about it (except quite a few negative things), mostly due to its confusing and overly complicated nature. Like the others, the movie picks up right where the previous left off with John/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) getting an autopsy. Then it flashes over to a couple other guys in a coliseum-type place, chained together, one with his eyes sewed shut and the other with just his mouth sewed shut, who are to fight to the death (because they can’t seem to work together). Then there’s the story of Detective Rigg (Lyriq Bent), the only one left on the original team who is still alive/active. He’s been recruited to play the next Jigsaw game, which is to have him think/act like Jigsaw thinks/acts in order to save the still-alive Detective Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), as well as the captured Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). Meanwhile, Special Agents Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Perez (Athena Karkanis) are trying to find Rigg and stop things once and for all at all costs, including questioning John’s ex-wife, Jill (Betsy Russell).

Again, like I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, the best things about this movie are the camera work/editing and the continuity (and Tobin Bell’s acting). Not only does it connect things/people back to Saw 2 and 3, but it continues to explain countless things about John’s history, from the clown doll to the pig obsession and even more on how he became the way he did. I haven’t seen any other horror/thriller series that’s put this much backstory and time into their villains in order to make them so deep and involved. You can’t say Jigsaw is a shallow villain, because every little detail about him is explained, every little psychological tick is explored.

The other characters aren’t as deep, unfortunately. Sure, Rigg has been around since the second movie, but he hasn’t ever had this much screen time before now. More of his psychology was explored, though, but nothing beyond the surface level.

And while I loved the story and character depth this film portrayed (because this one was almost entirely about story and characters over blood and traps), the part that messed everything up for me was the twist ending(s). I’ve always said a twist can either make or break a film, and this one nearly breaks it. First of all, there were two main twists, and one of them was highly predictable. The other twist wasn’t even plot related, but instead chronologically/development related, meaning that there were no clues or anything to help the audience along. And by the time you realize what’s going on, you still have no idea. I was confused for so long after I saw the film for the first time and had no idea what had just happened. That’s not a good thing.

However, the movie continues to grow on me with every viewing. I focus more and more on the character depth and story development instead, and I also understand the ending, so it isn’t as annoying as it was the first time I saw it. If I would have reviewed this last year when I first saw it, it would have had a much lower score. But now that I’ve seen it a few times now and can review it with a more opened mind, it’s gonna be relatively higher than it normally would have been. For that reason, and that reason only, it’s getting the following score.

I Am McLovin!


The following segments involve spoilers:

Questions Raised Thus Far:

- Who the heck was the guy in the drill-to-the-neck trap and what did he do (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon (Saw)?

- As such, now that we know he turns survivors into apprentices, will he do the same with Dr. Gordon (after all, the -surgeon- in the video at the beginning was -limping-); Also, now that we know survivors can also be re-gamed, will Dr. Gordon just be used for another game (Saw II and Saw IV)?

- What the heck happened to Danny Matthews (Saw II)?

- How is Obi connected to Jigsaw, as he helped him gather all the people into the house, and as he's seen running in a flashback near John and a woman (Saw II and Saw III)?

- What is that key to that was around Amanda's neck (Saw III)?

- What happened to Jeff's daughter (Saw III)?

- Is Agent Perez still alive (Saw IV)?

- Was Rigg being set up as a new apprentice and/or is he still alive (Saw IV)?

- What was with that box of glass in one of the flashbacks (Saw IV)?

- What happened to Agent Strahm since he was locked in the room with Jigsaw's body, though we know Jigsaw is eventually found due to the autopsy (Saw IV)?

Questions Answered Thus Far:
- Does Jigsaw just let Amanda go live her life now that she survived?
(He turns her into his apprentice)
- Does Adam just die of starvation, dehydration, and/or blood loss?
(Amanda kills him via suffocation).
- What's with all the pig stuff?
(John was obsessed with Chinese New Year and made his first victim during the Year of the Pig).
- What the heck happens to Detective Matthews now and/or is he still alive?
(He escaped capture, was re-captured, and kept alive to be used in one final game, wherein he died).
- Who is that woman in the flashback?
(John's ex-wife, though then-wife, Jill)
- What was in that envelope that Amanda reads?
(No specifics, but we know that Hoffman wrote it... according to the director, that's all we need to know).
- What happened to Jeff after the end if Saw III?
(He was shot by Agent Strahm immediately afterwards).
- What was with that wax-coated tape?
(John swallowed it so that it could be found during his autopsy in order to begin a new game with Hoffman).

Five Days Of Saw: Saw III.

Again, spoilers ahoy if you haven't seen the previous films.

----------------

I always felt Saw III was one of the more simplistic to explain in the series, but after seeing it yet again, this time with a review in mind, I’ve realized how complicated it actually gets. This movie picks up right where the previous left off (like… exactly), where Detective Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is trapped in the bathroom. Then it switches over to show a few other detectives, including Detective Kerry (Dina Meyer), Detective Rigg (Lyriq Bent), and Forensic Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) are investigating a new supposed Jigsaw victim, thinking it could be the missing Detective Matthews. But then they aren’t even sure it’s Jigsaw, but instead maybe a copycat, because there would have been no way for the victim to have survived. Enter at least one more (really cool) scene with Detective Kerry, then switch over to Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), a doctor with apparent husband troubles. Well, she gets kidnapped and set up by Jigsaw/John (Tobin Bell) and Amanda (Shawnee Smith) and is told to play a game, which is to keep John alive long enough for yet another person to finish yet another game. Enter Jeff (Angus Macfadyen), an alcoholic who lost his son to, ironically, a drunk driver that didn’t get (according to Jeff) the punishment he deserved. So all of this plays all together while, simultaneously, we are entreated to flashbacks that further explain John’s history, Amanda’s history, and some other things from the first Saw movie.

First I have to talk about the continuity. Love or hate these films, they have some of the best freakin continuity of any film series ever. It’s almost as if each film were done at the same time or with everything in mind, when none of that is true (the only things they had in mind while filming any of these were dealt with things in Saw 3 and 4). But there is some seriously amazing continuity and explanations, which is one reason I completely love this series. It’s not about the traps for me, really, but about the story and the characters and how everything fits together. It’s all like a big jigsaw puzzle (pun intended), with each movie adding another piece to the overall puzzle.

Anyway, about this movie specifically, my opinion is that it’s a few notches below the first. It concentrates more on plot and characters than traps and gore, though there is some intense stuff. It’s more like a mix of the first and second, with heavier influence from the first. Unfortunately, the twists (sans one) were all incredibly easy to figure out. As for the traps themselves, only one of them has ever bugged me, which is the freezer trap. There’s no way she can get into the state she got into like that in such a short amount of time in the predicament she was in (to be vague). It just seemed way too fantastical for me.

Otherwise, the only other comments I have are with the camera and editing again. It’s some really cool stuff. There’s more quick shots like in the first one, and there’s some more one-shot transition scenes, which are really awesome (for instance, toward the beginning, there’s a crime scene area where the camera hangs out around in and goes through, then it goes down the room, through the hall, and ends up in a house and in a bathroom to show Detective Kerry in the bathtub, even though she was just at the crime scene. According to the commentary, she had to run backstage, strip her clothes, and jump into the bathtub in that whole quick bit, just in time for the camera to see her already in the water. Brilliance). So yeah, it’s not as brilliant as the first one, but it’s one of the better ones in the series thus far (in my opinion).

A Keanu 'Whoa'

The following segments involve spoilers:

Questions Raised Thus Far:

- What's with all the pig stuff (Saw, Saw II, and Saw III)?

- Who the heck was the guy in the drill-to-the-neck trap and what did he do (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon (Saw)?

- As such, now that we know he turns survivors into apprentices, will he do the same with Dr. Gordon (after all, the -surgeon- in the video at the beginning was -limping-) (Saw II)?

- What the heck happens to Detective Matthews now (Saw II) and/or is he still alive? (Saw II and Saw III)

- What the heck happened to Danny Matthews (Saw II)?

- How is Obi connected to Jigsaw, as he helped him gather all the people into the house, and as he's seen running in a flashback near John and a woman (Saw II and Saw III)?

- Who is that woman in the flashback (Saw III)?

- What was in that envelope that Amanda reads (Saw III)?

- What is that key to that was around Amanda's neck (Saw III)?

- What happened to Jeff after the end (Saw III)?

- What happened to Jeff's daughter (Saw III)?

- What was with that wax-coated tape (Saw III)?

Questions Answered Thus Far:
- Does Jigsaw just let Amanda go live her life now that she survived?
(He turns her into his apprentice)
- Does Adam just die of starvation, dehydration, and/or blood loss?
(Amanda kills him via suffocation).

Five Days Of Saw: Saw II.

Warning: This review contains some spoilers, mostly only if you haven't seen the first one yet.

----------------

What happens when you take a good premise and add a new director/writer to its sequel? In my opinion, you get one of the weakest installments in the series. Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is still on the loose, though not due to a lack of trying from Detective Kerry (Dina Meyer), Detective Rigg (Lyriq Bent), or Detective Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg). This time, however, Jigsaw’s newest victim brings Detective Matthews to the forefront, teasing clues in front of his face until he decides to come and find him. And when he finally does, Jigsaw reveals not everything is as easy as just taking him in. In fact, in another room are some security monitors that show a select group of people locked inside a dilapidated old house including previous victim/survivor Amanda (Shawnee Smith) and Detective Matthews’ son, Daniel (Erik Knudsen). The people in the house have three hours until the front doors open; unfortunately, they only have two hours to live with a deadly neuro-toxin coursing through their bodies, though the antidotes are spread throughout the house (within various traps). But if Detective Eric Matthews wants to see his son again, all Jigsaw wants him to do is sit and have a little chat. It’s too bad the detective has a bit of an anger issue and finds that a bit harder than anticipated.

As I said, I feel that Saw II is one of the weakest installments in the series thus far. And when most people think of the Saw films, their minds always seem to think more along the lines of this movie than the first. The reason for that is because this movie deals more with the traps and gore than it does with plot and character. Each character in the house, with the exception of Amanda and to an extent Daniel, is a very flat character with no real given story. Detective Matthews is at least somewhat complex, or else he would be had he not continually resorted to violence over and over again and had no real character growth (though, technically, that’s the entire point, so I can’t really fuss on that). I think the only reason the movie is still enjoyable is because Leigh Whannell stuck around as a co-writer and executive producer/advisor (I believe former director James Wan stuck around as an executive producer, as well).

And even though this movie is far more disturbing/bloody than the previous, its traps are still only few and far between. All the traps shown are really just the opening Venus flytrap, the gun, the furnace, the needle pit, and the hand trap (and in essence, the house itself and its inhabitance could also be considered traps). The only one to show any blood are the first two and the last one (and the coughing caused by the toxin, but that’s nothing), and even those are relatively mild due to zippy editing. Though there is a bit of weaponry used, too, but still…

And speaking of editing, this movie still does it very well, even with a new director. In fact, this new director makes use of even more interesting camera transitions and whatnot, where an actor can start on one set and end up on another without the camera cutting. I know he tries to do it at least a couple times in each movie, and I think that’s really cool. However, on the brief subject of music, I think the Saw theme wasn’t used to its advantage here and was used in the wrong spot of the film.

And then there are the twists. There are three of them in this movie, and I remember figuring out two of the three in theater. The one that I thought was the cleverest (because it’s the one I didn’t figure out) was the one involving Daniel, but I won’t go into specifics, just in case.

I know I’m speaking quite negatively about this one, but I don’t hate it. The acting is good, especially with Tobin Bell. He acts circles around everybody else in the entire series, and I think the whole thing would fail epically without him. I just think that the movie should have focused more on character and plot, like they did in the first film, instead of focusing on the traps and gore. Fortunately, there was a Saw III to fix this up… but until then, I was stuck with Saw II.

I Am McLovin!

Other reviews:
Here is a review by a fellow blogger who shares my sentiments (and more) on this film. Be cautioned, though... his review is a lot more spoilerific than mine, as it's along the lines of a comedic summary: Invasion of the B Movies: Saw II.

The following segments involve spoilers:

Questions Raised Thus Far:

- What's with all the pig stuff (Saw and Saw II)?

- Who the heck was the guy in the drill-to-the-neck trap and what did he do (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon (Saw)?

- As such, now that we know he turns survivors into apprentices, will he do the same with Dr. Gordon (after all, the -surgeon- in the video at the beginning was -limping-) (Saw II)?

- What the heck happens to Detective Matthews now (Saw II)?

- What the heck happened to Danny Matthews (Saw II)?

- How is Obi connected to Jigsaw, as he helped him gather all the people into the house (Saw II)?

Questions Answered Thus Far:
- Does Jigsaw just let Amanda go live her life now that she survived?
(He turns her into his apprentice)
- Does Adam just die of starvation, dehydration, and/or blood loss?
(We know he dies, but are unsure how).