Moon: 'Cause not every film can be what you expected

I know a lot of people who loved this movie. I know a lot of people who described the film in this way: it’s about a man who is sent on a three year mission to the moon with no company other than a talking computer (voiced by Kevin Spacey) and two weeks before he’s scheduled to go home, he finds another version of himself. Which one is the real Sam and be sent back to Earth? If you’ve heard of this film and heard it described in this way, start questioning the people who told you that. Because it’s just not the truth.

Here’s what true: we have Sam, the sweet, harmless hero who is nearing the end of his three year mission on the moon, and is uber excited to get back to his wife and young daughter on Earth. We have GERTY (which must stand for something really smart-sounding), the computer who cares for him. We have a crash while out on a mission. Sam wakes up and is told he is too weak to go outside, that a rescue mission is on its way, and Sam tricks GERTY into letting him go outside, where he discovers another version of himself. What we don’t have is them discussing which is the “real” Sam and who gets to go back to Earth. Because the secrets they discuss are MUCH bigger and more interesting than going home.

To say that this film didn’t fulfill my expectations of it would be an understatement, but that’s hardly the fault of the film. It’s the fault of the advertising. Because when you advertise a film in a certain way, people are going to expect the film to play out in that way. In this case, I expected to see a bloodbath, killing-to-survive fight to break out between the two Sams, and the one left standing was the one who got to go home. You know how many fights the Sams get into? Exactly one. And it’s over one Sam not wanting to stop working on his model town long enough to move it out of the way.

To say that I didn’t like the film would be a lie, though. It was well-made and the acting was phenomenal, especially coming from Sam Rockwell, who I mostly think of as the villain in The Green Mile. I think of him as an actor who doesn’t have too much variety in his talent. This was a different role for him, one that I was able to really sink my teeth into and take seriously. It was a pleasant change of pace to see him take the spotlight for once, and I enjoyed his performance quite thoroughly. And because this wasn’t at all what I was expecting to be, I was surprised by the twists and turns that the film made.

As with most movies, I didn’t feel quite satisfied by the ending. With a lot of films, I feel like there is always so much build-up that the ending is always a letdown, and Moon was no exception to this feeling. The way that the film was playing out led to so many different possibilities of where it could go in the end, and then to have everything work out so well (sorry, spoiler alert!) for Sam in the end, was kind of a disappointment. I know that Hollywood loves a big, fat, happy ending, but the struggle to find that end could have been more challenging.

In general, I think this is the type of film that space and futuristic nuts would enjoy, and it’s worth checking out.

Mindless entertainment gets Adjust-ed

Sometimes I have to go see movies with my parents. Movies that my parents want to see. And sometimes I dread the choices that they make, but I’m a good daughter (most of the time) so I swallow my pride from time to time and take a trip down to the local St. Albans theatre to appease them. Being forced to go home and sleep on the couch for two days over spring break, my mother decided she couldn’t have my brother and I hanging around the house anymore, and sent us off with our father to the movies to give her two hours of peace. Which meant that since my father was paying, he was always choosing the movie. Which meant I was going to see The Adjustment Bureau despite my desire against it.

The amazing thing is that I liked it. My brother liked it. My dad hated it from the moment it began until the moment that the credits started rolling. He sighed and he groaned and he got up several times to use the bathroom and refresh his popcorn. He whispered snarky remarks and insisted on switching seats so he could sit in the middle and whisper comments to both his children. He was, to put it lightly, not happy.

But I was engaged. I wanted to know what happened. The movie was primarily set-up. Introducing us to David Norris’ (Matt Damon) life, introducing us to Elise (Emily Blunt), introducing us to the Adjustment Bureau, introducing them all to each other, and so forth. The whole movie was setting us up for one single scene (that I won’t state for those of you planning to see the movie, which you should) that never came. It just…didn’t happen.

The last five minutes left me with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Extreme dissatisfaction. And shock that the scene I was waiting for the entire time never came. The last five minutes of this film were quite possibly the most unsatisfying five minutes of any movie I’ve ever seen. Certainly it wins some sort of award for cop-out, just-kind-of-stops ending. I was so mad after those last five minutes, I could hardly talk on the car ride home. I definitely didn’t want to talk about the movie.

But then I let it sit for a couple of days, and I went back to it. I enjoyed the first 85 minutes and that should not be negated by loathing the last five. It’s an interesting story. It’s engaging. It held my attention. Often times I judge movies that I see in the theatre by the number of times I checked the time on my watch. During The Adjustment Bureau, I checked my watch exactly zero times. That’s no small feat for a movie to do.

Overall, I was impressed with the movie and I highly recommend it. It’s not the type of movie that’s going to change the world or the watchers view of the world, but as I’ve said before (and even if I haven’t, I’m saying it now), there’s something to be said for a little bit of mindless entertainment. This is the quality kind.

Little Red Riding Hood, you sure are(n't) looking good

Growing up, Little Red Riding hood was one of my favorite tales. I used to make my mother read from a worn, dog-ear paged hardcover edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales (although she was Little Red-Cap then) almost every night before, and the story of Red's encounter with the wolf was always my favorite one to hear. So needless to say, I was quite excited when I began to see trailers for Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood. Little did I know was that she was complete destroy a classic.

In theory, the movie was okay. What drew to me to it was that it seems interesting to me to take an old classic and turn it on its head and adapt it into something the audience hasn't thought of before. The problem with this particular retelling is that the audience did think of it. Five minutes into the film, the Wolf's human identity becomes obvious and the point of the movie, the village's effort to figure out who among them is really the Wolf, begins to drag on for an hour more before Red finally figures out what the audience has known all along. At least there was a little throwback to Grimm's tale when she fills the Wolf's stomach with stones.

And then there's the trouble with the biggest subplot, the love triangle. Mainly, Red (Amanda Seyfried) loves one boy (Peter played by Shiloh Fernandez), who presumably loves her too, but her mother has already betrothed her to someone else (Henry played by Max Irons). Problem. The problem is that the movie begins too late in the romance of her and Peter because when the movie begins, he's already trying to break up with her to appease her parents. We're never shown why she loves him and we spend more time getting to know Henry than we do Peter, so we're left wondering: why are you desperate to be with this guy who just dumped you?

Both guys are equally good-looking and prove to be equally important in helping her out with the Wolf, so why chose one over the other? The storyline just isn't flushed out enough to matter and I've never been the type of girl to just accept that she loves him because she loves him and there isn't anything more to it. Maybe that's a flaw in me. Maybe it's also a flaw that I think the movie should have spent less time with the two boys and more time worrying about the Wolf and keeping his identity a little less transparent.

It’s a film worth seeing if you enjoy the classic tale and are interested in seeing a movie you don't have to think about. If you're looking to be entertained without being intellectually challenged, this is the movie for you. Because this is one film that isn't going to test your mind at all. And it's one that's good for a laugh. Just wait until the end when Red is walking up a snowy mountain and the train of her red cape is about twenty feet too long. Just wait.

My Oliver Twist obsession turns to addiction.

Every since I saw Oliver Twist performed at the Flynn last weekend, I've been on an Oliver Twist kick. That's what I do--when I find something that I like, I become obsessed. This week it's Oliver Twist, and next week it will probably be the Academy Award results or I am Number Four after I see it with my father on Wednesday. Anyway, my recent obsession with Oliver Twist led me onto Netflix (which I also just started subscribing to and am also pretty smitten about), where I stumbled upon a little film called Twist, which was a modern day retelling of the classic tale set in Toronto. If you think this sounds interesting, stop thinking that immediately, because the novelty wears off well before the film ends.

The characters all remain generally the same--you've got the Artful Dodger, now just Dodge, who finds Oliver on the side of the street and offers to take him in (for a price, of course). There's Fagin, who in this story plays the pimp to the younger men's hustlers and junkies, Nancy, who works in the local diner, and her husband, Fagin's boss, Bill Sykes, who is never shown in the film, but whose presence is always looming. The difference lies in the subject matter. In case you didn't quite catch it, this story depicts the boys (young men, rather) as hustlers and Dodge as a heroin addict, who Oliver is completely taken with immediately despite his cruelty and emotional absence.

The issue with the film is that you don't care. Dodge, the character that the story follows, is despicable. He's mean, violent, and manipulative without the benefit of having charisma or a single positive trait to gain your sympathy. The only positive trait he has is that he's played by Nick Stahl, who would give a great performance just standing there. Even that isn't enough. Nancy is a pathetic excuse for a woman and the audience can't understand why she won't leave Bill because we don't see him to tell if he has a positive trait or not. Fagin is just Bill's puppet and Oliver is just Dodge's. All of the characters only behave and exist because of their fear of what Bill will do to them if they rebel, but the audience is never brought into that sense of fear.

And then there's ending, which I won't ruin for anyone who may want to catch out this film just for the laughs. But I will say that it's like the filmmaker (Jacob Tierney wrote and directed it) didn't know how else to end it so he threw in every dramatic stereotypical element that makes up a film and called it a day. This is definitely a case of when subtlety may have been the better choice.

Black Swan. Or, why I'd rather stick to The Swan Princess.

I like Darren Aronofsky, but I have no interest in ballet or watching Natalie Portman act crazy for two hours, so I wasn't going to see Black Swan, but my Reviewing class required seeing it for the first assignment, so I reluctantly went. I had even watched the Golden Globes in preparation, and was actually pretty excited to see it given the number of awards it was nominated for (four, in case you were wondering). I usually agree with most of the nominations, but sometimes I just don't get it. Guess which category Black Swan fell under.

While I was in the theater watching Black Swan, I was tremendously bored through the first half. I must have looked at my watch ten times in the first hour to see how much time was remaining before I could go home, but once they started the actual performance of Swan Lake, I thought it picked up and I was willing to say by the end that I thought it was okay. I went home, told my roommate about it, told my best friend, called my brother and talked to him about it (because he had already seen it), and as I kept talking about it, the more I realized that I didn't like it.

I thought it dragged on and on endlessly, which is an amazing accomplishment for a movie that isn't even two hours long. Most of my gripes are with the beginning, and my main issue is timing. It takes one scene to establish that Nina (the main character) is shy and reserved. It takes one scene to demonstrate that Lily (the adversary) is the opposite. It takes one scene to demonstrate that Nina thinks Lily is trying to sabotage her, and one more to show that Nina may just be crazy. It doesn't take an hour. So the first half was especially slow moving and it didn't need to be.

Another issue I had was that the characters said things that were already clear to the audience, but weren't that realistic to a conversation to make it acceptable that they were in the movie anyway. For example, towards the end, Nina's mother says to Nina that the role in Swan Lake is changing her. The audience has already been watching the change take place for over an hour, so there was absolutely no need for the mother to announce this like it was a sudden revelation she had. I could give more examples, but I don't want to spoil the movie. I don't like movies that treat the audience like they aren't intelligent, and this film did just that. If I want to be treated like a six year old, I'll go watch Nest Family's The Swan Princess, not Darren Aronofsky's rendition of the same story.

So, my opinion is that it’s a beautiful movie that appears alright on the surface, but is very flawed upon closer inspection.

The Fighter: horrendous title, amazing film

There are very few movies that I like. There are even less that I love. And when I love a movie, I really, really love it and will defend it to almost any length. The Fighter was one such movie.

I have a list of celebrities that I would kill my own mother to converse with.(Okay, not literally, please no one call the cops on me.) I refer to them as the "top five" and I have a poster of each hanging on the wall of my bedroom. They are as follows, in order of importance to me: Russell Crowe, Vin Diesel, Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper. Now let's take a moment to think about the actors in The Fighter: Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. I was in love before it started.

While the amount of eye candy was high for the film, that isn't why I loved it. It was honest. It was heart-breaking. And while it was about a man who was a boxer, it wasn't about fighting. It never lost sight of the real story: the struggle to separate yourself from the people and things that are holding you back in pursuit of your dreams. In the case of Micky Ward, flawlessly acted by Marky Mark himself, he faces an internal struggle about whether he should ditch his drug addict brother Dicky (Christian Bale) as his trainer in an effort to further his boxing career, or whether his family is more important than a job.

As if this were not enough to fuel the story along, throw into the mix his cannonball of a mother, Alice, and his opinionated sisters, of which there are seven, and the girlfriend (Amy Adams) who comes along to try to convince him that his family members are all scumbags and even gets into a fist fight with one of them, and you've got yourself a wonderful film that is sure to be nominated for a couple of awards.

I've read a lot of reviews of this film that have said that it's an inspirational story of a man finally catching a break, but I'm not sure that's quite right. I think it’s the story of a man finding his inner strength and the courage to stand up to his family and demand that he finally get the respect that he deserves. I think it's about a man who learns to stand on his own two feet and cut the ties from the brother that he's legended. It's also about his brother letting him become his own man.

Like I said, it's not often that I find a movie that I love. But when I do, it's a true champion. It's even less often when I can't find anything bad to say about a movie, but I have nothing bad to say. This is a film that everyone should see. Regardless of whether they like boxing.

Childhood just got a little less cuddly

Last weekend, I went to New York state with my parents and brother to go Christmas shopping at the outlets and while my brother and I were enjoying the pool at our hotel, we took a walk down Nostalgia Lane, and it made me realize that sets my childhood apart from a lot of other people I know.

When my brother and I were little (me a lot littler than him since he’s seven years older), our parents did not care what we watched. And I mean, did not care one bit. Their motto was that if we were old enough to turn on the channel or put in the movie, we were old enough to watch it. And in their mind, there was absolutely no distinction between an animated film and a cartoon. As a result, I have never seen Barney, Sesame Street, or Blue’s Clues. Even as a child I had good sense enough to watch something else.

Also as a result, I have an interesting collection of films that characterize my childhood. This is a list that I would like to share since it’s surprising to me that number of people who have never seen, or heard of, any of these films. And you really should watch them if you have not.

!) The Flight of Dragons
In a world where humanity is turning to logic over magic, Carolinus the green wizard decides to build a shield around the magical world to preserve it for all eternity. Ommendon the red wizard and Carolinus’ brother (and appropriately voiced by James Earl Jones) stands in his way, so Carolinus must call for a quest to steal Ommendon’s red crown and the source of his power. The quest is led by a man named Peter Dickinson (who is also the author of the book that the film is based on, and voiced by the late John Ritter), who is the first man to come from both worlds or science and magic. He is joined on his quest by a dragon, a knight, a forest elf, an undead world, and an archer in a series of delightful and horrific episodes that he must endure throughout his journey to face Ommendon.

(Peter Dicksons' first encounter with a dragon.)

2) The Last Unicorn
Alright, so I know a lot of people who are familiar with this film, but it is more than worth mentioning for those of you who are not. This is the tale of a unicorn who hears a rumor that a great bull had rounded up all the other unicorns and shepherded them into the sea, and she is the last. This leads her to leave the comfort of her forest and embark on a quest to find and rescue the others. Accompanied by a wizard who inadvertently turns her into a human and a forest thief’s wife who has lost all hope in the world, she must save the others before the bull entraps her too.

(The unicorns running from the red bull.)

3) Wizards
Similar to Flight of the Dragons in that it tackles a similar magic vs. technology theme, this is a tale set in a post-apocalyptic world where a wizard named Avatar must save the world from his evil twin brother, Blackwolf, who likes to confuse his enemies in battle by projecting films of Adolf Hitler speeches. Avatar is also joined by a promiscuous elf queen, a vengeful and short-tempered elf soldier, and an assassin named Peace who is struggling to break free of Blackwolf’s mental conditioning. This is definitely one of the more adult films that I watched as a child, and the message is much more powerful than I was able to handle as a child, but now that I’m older I have a much greater appreciation of the film I enjoyed so much as a child.

(The assassin, Peace.)

4) Watership Down
I’m going to assume that everyone has seen, read, or heard of this film. I think it’s safe to say that this is a movie that traumatized everyone’s childhood, but in case I’m wrong, I will say this: it’s about bunnies dying. Bunnies drowning, bunnies getting shot, dead dead bunnies. And there really isn’t anything else to say about it.

(Yes, this was the necessary photo.)

5) Dot and the Bunny
A mix of animation and live action footage (much to the vein of Wizards only far less disturbing in nature), this chronicles the tale of young Dot on her adventure through the Australian outback. Dot makes a promise to a mother kangaroo to find her lost joey, and an orphaned rabbit overhears this and pretends to be a kangaroo in order to get a mother. This is a much less violent and adult-content film than the others, but it does have a bittersweet quality to it: Dot can’t stand the bunny and tries to abandon it at every turn, and the rabbit is all alone having no parents or family of its own.

(Sorry this picture sucks, there wasn't a lot out there!)

So, as you can tell, I was pretty into quests as a child. I was also into obscure films that you can’t get on dvd now (but are well worth busting out the vhs player for), and that I probably shouldn’t have been watching as a child. Maybe it explains a fair amount about the person that I ended up becoming. Or maybe not. You decide.

Whatever you do, check these films out if you haven’t already seen them.

The Social Network: the good, the bad, and the downright despicable

It has taken me a long time to write this review because it has taken me a long time to decide if I liked it. I'm not even sure now, and it's been about three weeks since I saw it. I think it was a good movie. I can see why a lot of people would like it. I think it's going to be nominated for a bunch of things, and probably win a bunch more. It was well-made and entertaining, but I'm not sure that I liked it.

I love Facebook. Don't get me wrong, Facebook helps me to waste a lot of time that would be better spent doing homework or thinking about what I'll do in six months when I graduate or doing anything productive, really. So I'm grateful to Mark Zuckerberg for creating Facebook because I really enjoy it. Do I want to watch a movie about it? That's debatable.

Here's my problem with the film. Mark Zuckerberg was a jerk. His friend, Eduardo, was a tool. And I don't know anyone who can bring themselves to care about Justin Timberlake, regardless of what he's doing. There wasn't anyone in the film that I cared anything about. I was glad he got sued. I was glad that he ended up paying a bunch of people money. I thought he deserved it. I was only hoping that someone would sue Justin Timberlake too, and him, not the character he played.

I felt bad for the girlfriend. Not only did she have to deal with him being an asshole while they were together, but then she had to deal with him being an even bigger asshole after she got up the good sense to dump him. No one should have to read about themselves on the Internet. I'll admit that I've thought about posting unflattering things about my exes online before (in high school when I was much less mature and had much more time on my hands), but I haven't because that is just cruel. I really believe that break ups are personal and private things and should only be discussed between the two people who are breaking up with each other, so I could feel for her when she had to read about her bra size on the Internet because no one deserves that.

What I liked about it was that it didn't apologize. Mark Zuckerberg wasn't portrayed in any sort of positive light, and his character didn't make any apologies or justifications for his actions. He never admitted that anything he did was wrong. He even said to the Winklevoss twins in the film, "If you were the inventors of Facebook, you would have invented Facebook." The lawsuits just seemed like a minor inconvenience to him. He ignored the proceedings and simply moved forward with Facebook. I can respect that. A motto that I've lived by for a long time now is: no apologies, no regrets (respectfully borrowed (read: stolen) from popular Showtime series, Queer as Folk), and he certainly fits the bill.

Now that I've taken the time to write about it, I think I liked it. I've certainly spent a lot of time talking about it, so that must mean something. If I hadn't really liked it, I wouldn't have thought about it again after leaving the theater. And it made me cry I was so mad, and I hate crying. So, that's worth something.

All and all, I say, go see for yourself.

James Spader and forbidden treats

When I was a child, my mother forbid me from three things: watching Jaws anywhere but in a movie theatre, choosing vanilla ice cream when chocolate was an option, and watching anything found in my aunt’s movie collection. As a result, I have never seen Jaws, I always choose a twist creemee, and I have a strange infatuation with the movie Secretary. It was the one movie in my aunt’s collection that I would have watched had it not been forbidden (because my mother is a terrifying woman who I would still never dare to cross). I’ve had a crush on James Spader ever since I first watched Pretty in Pink. But I never really thought about the movie much because it seems pointless to think about something you can’t have.

The other day, however, I was in Border’s scavengering the movies with my friend, and I stumbled upon it in one of the aisles. Conveniently enough, I happened to be house-sitting for the director of my major for the week, and he happened to have Internet at his house, which meant I could find it online and not have to pay a cent for it. At a month away from twenty-one (23 days, actually), it seemed like it was finally time to experience something that was forbidden from me.

Let me start off by saying that my mother was in the right for forbidding me from it, and that being said, I think it was worth the wait. It wasn’t by any means the best film I’ve ever seen, but it did have personality. MTV was justified in nominating Maggie Gyllenhaal for “Breakthrough female performance” (but also probably justified in not giving it to her). It was a quirky little film about two people who were destined to find each other, and better off that they did. Throw in a little dominance/submission and the appropriate shame subplot to go along with it, and you have yourself a film. Having watched a less than crystal clear version illegally, I don’t feel the need to run out and buy my own copy, but it did leave a lasting impression on me. I wish everyone could find their match in such a way as the characters in the film did.

This leaves me to wonder what other treasures my aunt had in her collection…

If there's one thing I love, it's a good book

I want this blog to be mine. I want it to be more than a Capstone project, more than an academic endeavor. I want this blog to be a piece of my heart and soul, and showcase my writing capabilities. That being said, I want to start off by sharing something that I love: Bret Easton Ellis. And let me warn you, I am going to get carried away.

He first captured my heart when I stumbled upon The Rules of Attraction (the movie adaptation of one of his books) at the local movie store. Seeing James Van Der Beek of Dawson’s Creek star as such a dark and brooding character captivated me, and I had to read the book that the film was based on. As much as I enjoyed the movie, I enjoyed the book more (as it normally goes). I was mesmerized from the first sentence to the last sentence. His crispness. His simple language. His lack of characterization. His use of dialogue. I had to have more of it.

Using the school’s computer (because my parents didn’t get one until after I had left for college), I researched the author during lunch so as to not get in trouble for using the computer for non-school purposes. I went back and read his first novel, Less Than Zero, which to this day is my favorite of his works. The way that he used pop culture to include the audience in his scenes, and the passive way that his narrator relayed the horrific things he was witnessing was startling and amazing to me. Unfortunately, the movie adaptation of this one didn’t capture the magic.

Then came my encounter with his most famous work, American Psycho, which is a cult classic if I’ve ever heard of one. I have to begin by saying how much it upsets me that 90% of the people I talk to about this novel never even knew it was a novel. All they know about is the movie, which I cannot speak against given my devotion to Christian Bale. That being said, the movie is better. So much better. I read it junior year during English class when we were reading Huckleberry Finn for the thousandth time. I hid it behind the school’s worn copy of the book I was assigned. It both terrified and thrilled me. As much as I wanted to recoil and put it down, never to return to it again, I couldn’t put it down. The star character and narrator, Patrick Bateman, drew me into his world of executions and murders, and I’ve never been the same.

The Informers, a collection of (sort of) inter-connecting stories, held my attention long enough for a first read-through, but never brought me back to it a second time as with the previous novels I had read. Ellis maintained his distant and passive voice, but being told from so many voices made it hard to connect to for me. I’ve never seen the film.

Senior year of high school, for Twenty Century Literature, my final assignment was to choose a twentieth century author and write a paper (and give a presentation on them). I chose Bret Easton Ellis, obviously, and part of the assignment was to read one of their works and include a review of it into our paper. At this time the only novel I hadn’t read of his was Glamorama. It is almost unmentionably bad. The worst character from The Rules of Attraction makes a comeback as the star character and narrator, and it did nothing to captivate me. He was just as unrelatable and annoying in this novel as he had been during his appearance in the previous one.

Soon after that, Lunar Park was released with very mixed reviews. I must say it confused and terrified me. Starring a character named Bret Easton Ellis who had written all the novels with the same titles as the real Ellis, but not being autobiographical in narrator, it was hard to swallow at first, but before long, I found myself engrossed in the story. I read it one night when I was alone in the house, and my parents were on vacation. I loved it, but it gave me nightmares for a week.

This morning I woke up, poured myself a stale, lukewarm cup of coffee, and marched my behind down to Barnes & Noble because Bret Easton Ellis’ latest book, Imperial Bedrooms, was released today. And let me start of my review by saying, he’s still got it.

The book is the sequel to his first novel, Less Than Zero, and tells the story of what became of the novel’s main characters, Clay, Blair, and Julian, twenty year after the original novel’s release. Filled with the same sort of pop cultures that made me fall in love with the first one, it succeeded at making me feel like I have been palling around with the narrator, Clay, all these years.

There were, of course, some surprises (Blair married Trent!), but also the strange familiarity. Clay remained the passive narrator more content to let things happen to him than to take action, and Julian remained the helpless friend, in a way.

Only towards the end did I find fault with the new novel. As the story’s climax grows nearer and nearer and Clay becomes more aggressive, he began to lose some of his Clay-ness and become more… Patrick Bateman, the homicidal narrator of American Psycho. In fact, when the prostitutes enter the picture, I had to flip back to the cover to double check what book I was reading. But I love American Psycho, so I really can’t complain.

All in all, his new book was fantastic and Bret Easton Ellis still holds my heart.

Capstone: summer plan

I must say that I was not expecting to have to update this blog anymore with Capstone thoughts, but since it seems that the blog, the Capstone, and I are going to be engaged in an academic three-way for a little while longer, I will try to make the best of the situation. That being said, I should give the update about what the hell it is I’m doing (because I have decided at long last).

As I said in my proposal, I have always avoided writing about myself. It makes me very, very vulnerable, which is something that I loathe being. But I made a promise to myself to make my Capstone challenging. To me, the best writing is the stuff that is hard to write. It’s the author’s bare bones on the page (or screen in the case of a blog). It’s standing naked in front of a room full of your closest friends and having them point out your flaws. I realized that the only way for me to become a better writer is to leave my comfort zone and write about things that I thought I never would. That’s why I’ve chosen to write my Capstone about my brother, whose drug addiction tore my whole world apart and destroyed my family.

Where I stand in my thinking about the Capstone is this: I need to start writing. Memories fade with time, and mine are no exception. I’ve kept a diary throughout my life, but I was careful never to mention my brother because I was afraid of my parents finding them and getting angry with me for writing it down. So as it stands right now, the only things I have about my brother’s addiction are the only that are in my head. So I really need to start jotting down notes and making a timeline of events before everything begins to blur together any more than it already has. There is one person, my closet friend, who knows all the tales and all the heartbreak that I have endured because of this, so she is the one to talk to about getting everything straight. That girl has a memory like an elephant, so I know she’ll be able to correct any mistakes that I may make in my timeline.

I also know that I need to talk to my parents about this Capstone before I’ve finished the thing and everyone in my senior Professional Writing program is reading this story, and it’s too late to tell them, or warn them, or whatever. Because if I write the honest truth, no one in my family is coming out clean. We are all guilty, and we will all be villainized in some way. I mentioned to my mother, off-handedly, once that I wanted to write my Capstone about my brother, and she simply said, “Absolutely not.” Case closed. I know I won’t ever get their approval, but I need to at least get them out of denial about me writing it. And I need to accept for myself that they don’t approve and probably won’t ever read it. Like I said before, the hardest things to write are the most worthwhile. (I hope.)

Once I get those two things out of the way, I know that I need to start tackling the list of resources that I made for myself in my proposal. They are mostly movies, which should be easy to watch given that I am dating the biggest movie buff I have ever met, who would be more than willing to sit down and watch a couple movies with me. (He might even (il)legally download for me.) I was asked an interesting question by one of the professors in charge of the Capstone: am I planning to make this story into a script? That is something that I need to consider, I guess. I had planned to write a standard non-fiction piece, but since I am watching so many movies to prepare for writing it, maybe I should write a script.

Basically I have a lot to figure out before I have to start writing this beast. But luckily, I have the entire summer to think about it before any actual work starts. So, I am going to take these next few months and plan out what I want to do. Maybe even make an outline of what it will look like. And I’ll see what happens from there.

Wish me luck. I’m going to need all that I can get.

Hello again, it's been a long time

I just recently moved into my very first apartment. As I was unpacking, I came across all the diaries that I’ve kept during my life. I had no idea where they came from, so like the child that I still am on the inside, I called my mother. The saint that she is had found them when she was packing up underneath my bed for me (I was too busy throwing a temper tantrum to my father, I’m sure), and she thought I might find them amusing. And amusing, they were.

So the day I moved into my apartment, instead of unpacking or doing anything in the realm of productive, I sat down and read through fifteen hardcover notebooks that were preserved with love in an old shoebox, and I reacquainted myself with my former self. It’s amazing the things I had forgotten. Crushes whose names I had long since spoken, people who seemed so important to me at the time, people I thought I couldn’t live without, people who were forgotten over time. I read those diaries and I felt I was meeting a whole new person. So, in honor of that person that I found, I am going to do something that I haven’t done since December 3, 2006: my top five’s.

I am not much for playing the “favorite” game anymore, but apparently I used to be. My favorites were all over the place in those pages. So, for old time’s sake, here I go:

Actors:
Russell Crowe
Vin Diesel
Mark Wahlberg
Christian Bale
Bradley Cooper

Movies:
All Over The Guy
Catch and Release
Heights
Labyrinth
The 24th Day

Books:
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
A Separate Peace – John Knowles
Dear John – Nicholas Sparks
The Neverending Story – Michael Ende
Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis

Songs:
Iris – The Goo Goo Dolls
Existentialism on Prom Night – Straylight Run
Undisclosed Desires – Muse
Wait – Something Corporate
Walking By – Something Corporate

TV Shows:
Queer as Folk
Dawson’s Creek
OZ
Heroes
Sex and the City

I just spent the last hour thinking up that list. The consensus I found was that my top three choices were always solid and easy to make, but then I started to get unsure as the list got more towards the bottom. This is why I avoid the “favorites” game—it’s so damn hard to just pick a couple things that I love.

I’m done school for the summer now so I plan to do a lot more writing. If any of you nine followers are still with me reading this thing, I can assure you that there will be less academic posts and more fun ones to come shortly. I, of course, don’t have the Internet at my new apartment, but I am working out a plan to sell my soul to the devil in order to check Facebook so I’ll be around.

<3

Spring Break Movie Mania

Spring Break was last week, so what else was I going to do but go to the movies? I'm from St. Albans; there aren't a lot of options. This time around I managed to squeeze in three theater trips, and it's safe to say that I had mixed reactions.

Alice In Wonderland

I am a huge fan of the Alice books (Wonderland, Through The Looking Glass) and I love "The Jabberwocky" even more than that. I knew it wouldn't be as good. I knew I would disappointed. But it's Tim Burton, so like pizza, I thought that even if it was bad, it was would still be pretty good…Not so much. To say that I hated it would be a bit of an overreaction, but to say that I enjoyed it would be a lie, as well. It was okay, and it's difficult for me to use such a tame word.

The actress who played Alice, Mia Wasikowska, was charming in a polite way, the Chesire Cat maintained the coolness that I remember from watching the Disney version in my childhood, and Anne Hathaway was flawless as the White Queen. But everything else fell a little (just a little) short of my expectations. The Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch were not childish villains, but they weren't as frightening as the poem makes them out to be, and the Mad Hatter was quite possibly the sanest character in the film.

It was disappointing to see Tim Burton, known for eccentricities, take such a wild tale and create something so flat. This is the first Burton film that I don't want to watch again, and I've had to watch Big Fish several time to recover from the heartbreak.

The Crazies

Let's be honest: the only reason anyone in their right mind would see this film is because of Timothy Olyphant, myself included. The previews looked decent, but from them, you could tell that it wouldn't fall under the terrifying category, but it wasn't really supposed to be funny, either. The one thing I can say about it is that it was a joke. The only thing scary about this movie was that I left feeling like the events of the movie (which I wouldn't ruin for those of you silly enough to watch it like I did) could actually happen. In my hometown. As much as I hate my hometown, it was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

Shutter Island

I didn't care so much about this film, but it was my last night home until May and my father really wanted to, so I agreed. What's a free movie? And it was one of the best decisions that I have made in a long time (which, admittedly, may be kind of sad).

There isn't much to say that wouldn’t ruin the movie for those of you who haven't seen it yet (and you should), but I will say that I went into it thinking that it was about something completely different than it's about. When the movie started I was so lost that I remained lost until the big twist (which is fairly obvious about a half hour in the film) at the end, at which point I understood what lost me before, but gained new things to get confused about.

It is safe to say with this film that you'll want to watch it a second time. Which I plan to as soon as possible.


Now that I'm back at school it becomes a little more difficult to keep up with my movies, but I'm giving it my best shot and will have more to say soon. Until then, farewell, World. <3

I'm not as much of a movie buff as I thought.

Due to a certain boy, I have been watching a lot of movies lately. I always thought I had seen a lot of movies. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. This boy has seen A LOT of movies and he (mostly thankfully) has made it his mission to overload me with film. Let's review:

A Clockwork Orange - My favorite book of all time. I was scared to watch the movie because I knew it couldn't live up to the book. I was not wrong. I thought it was okay. I'm certain that I would have really enjoyed it had I not read the book beforehand, but I had such high expectations going into it that it was impossible to not have been disappointed. Maybe I'll try to watch it again sometime since I know now not to expect too much.

Y tu Mama Tambien - This is not one I want to linger on for too long. I am still trying to forget that I watched it. Let's just say that this is not a first date movie, and I learned that the hard way. Why, you may ask. There is a lot of graphic sex, which is fine if you're expecting it, but I was not and I found it a little off-putting to be honest.

True Romance - I have a soft spot for Quentin Tarantino. I had never seen this little gem and it's hooky, but I rather enjoyed it. What can be better than falling in love with a call girl and killing a bunch of people? That's right, nothing.

The Ten - I loved this, but I suspect that I stand alone. It was funny and weird. And very, very silly. I appreciate a little bit of silly every once and awhile, and although this did take the silliness a little bit over the top once and awhile, I was okay with it.

Blow - We only got through the first hour or so because there was something wrong with the audio, and I fell asleep during part of that hour, so I've got to give this one another look. We didn't even see Penelope Cruz, so I've got to return to this.

I know that there must be more than we've watched, but they must not have been very memorable. And there is a growing list of movies that we still need to watch, which include but are not limited to: Trainspotting, Reservoir Dogs, Boondock Saints, The Rules of the Game, Jackie Brown, and Inglorious Basterds. Stay tuned, I have more to critique soon.

Good morning, Starshine!

Hello world. My name is Trish. I'm a twenty year old girl with a head full of dreams and random movie facts. Before I jump into it, I want to introduce myself properly. My mother always told me that first impressions are everything.

Let me start off by saying that I'm not much a writer. Well, I'm not one for sharing anyway. I have a bunch of stories that I started with a lot gusto that has since faded away and about a million ideas about stories I have yet to start. Sometimes I write a piece that I want to share with the world. Other times, meaning most of the time, I don't, but that's okay with me because I mainly write for myself.

The best inspiration comes to me from dreaming, so I suggest you all do it a lot and keep a dream journal (even though you may feel like you're back in grade school keeping a diary.) Other than that, I jot notes down for stories in the margins of my notebooks when I don't want to pay attention in class and I tell elaborate stories to my friends.

Now that you know the writer I am, I can get to the point.

I'm much more of a reader. I always have been. I read shampoo bottles and ketchup labels. I read recipes that I'll never try to prepare. I even put the closed captions on my TV and read movies. I love reading. It's what I want to do for the rest of my life--just sit out on the beach and read until the end of time.

This is a blog about reading primarily, and writing secondarily. I don't know how much of a reviewer I am, but I plan to find out by starting this little guy and seeing what happens. I figure the worst case scenario is that my computer will spontaneously combust because one of my reviews is so poorly written that the computer can't stand to have it saved onto it, and I honestly wouldn't be that surprised. Those of you who have met me known that all forms of technology are out to get me. That being said, please have your fingers crossed that nothing bad happens to my brand new desktop and I will try to keep my reviews brilliant.

Get ready, World, here I come!