This movie is a critically acclaimed french film which was directed by Christophe Barratier. It was co-written by Barratier and Philippe Lopes-Curval, it is an adaptation of the 1945 film A Cage of Nightingales.
When the boys of the French country-side were misbehaving, they were sent to a boarding school called Fond de l'Etang. This school believed in the punishment policy in which the children would suffer for the consequences that they made. It came to the point where the teachers weren’t waiting for the lesson, but better yet for the next mistake that the children would make. Since the approach of beating the children for the problems they caused didn’t seem to have a working effect, the principle, M. Rachin, decided to get another teacher to join the faculty. The Teacher tried new methods when dealing with the children, because he didn’t believe in abusing children for disciplin. He starts a chorus, and has the children sing in it. It turns into a success and the children become very pasionate about the chorus.
We both enjoyed the movie because of the message it sends and we have grown attached to the characters because we witness them get out of their comfort zone, which demonstrates character development.
Personal Rating: 8/10 imdb Rating: 8.1/10 Rotton Tomatoes Rating: 9.7/10
"You'll see a little girl, with brown hair, lots of knots. She didn't like to brush it. You tell her I found her red shoe. She was so worried about that red shoe. And it was under the bed the whole time."
- Doctor Ryan Stone, Gravity
Gravity Critique
Gravity
is a fictional space drama film about two astronauts who are hit by space
debris, become lost in space and attempt to come back to earth. The movie was directed, written
and produced by Alfonso Cuarón. The main character is an astronaut named Dr.
Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) who is a medical engineer and she was on her first
space shuttle mission aboard the Space Shuttle Explorer. She is accompanied by
veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). During a spacewalk to fix the
Hubble Space Telescope, Mission Control in Houston warns the team about a
Russian missile strike on a nearby satellite, which has caused a chain reaction
forming a cloud of space debris. The debris hits them and they are lost in
space. They also lost all communication they had with Mission Control. They are
fending for themselves on a scarce supply of oxygen and are trying to find
their way back to any space station.
This movie truly portrays the
emptiness and loneliness of the vast universe. Even while filming, Sandra
Bullock was by herself. She couldn’t see the cameras and the crewmembers. She
was in a black box, suspended by wires, acting completely on her own. Her only
connection to the real world was through an earpiece. This is a parallel to how
her character is in the movie. In the movie she was completely alone floating
through space and her only connection to humankind wasthe connection to the Houston Space Center,
which was lost for the majority of the movie. The fact that she was alone in
real life was shown in her acting. You could tell through her body language and
her facial expressions that there was no one around her and she felt lost. It
was truly lonely. And as watching, the viewers start to feel alone with her.
They start to feel the extreme silence that there is in space, and the complete
emptiness that there is in such a large universe.
The special effects that were used
in making this movie was so stunning, for some parts of the movie, I forgot
that it wasn’t actually filmed in space. Every little detail seems to be
correct. Even the physics behind everything is pretty accurate. Editors spent 4
years bringing Gravity to life. Most of the shots in the movie are entirely
CGI, apart from Sandra Bullock. The images are so crisp and lifelike, that even
without the intriguing plotline, I would still pay to see the movie.
The main theme in this movie is
loneliness. And the idea that even though people surround you, you are
inevitably, alone. The extreme loneliness that there is in space really helps
enunciate the fact that humans are alone, and even if you surround yourself
with people, they are also alone, even when they are with you.
I really enjoyed the movie, and
strongly recommend it for everyone. Whatever genre you are most interested in,
this movie will appeal to you. The film looks and
feels so real you have to remind yourself virtually everything on screen
doesn't actually exist.
"I'm a high functioning sociopath, do your research!" - Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Conon
Doyle’s original fictional characters, detective Sherlock Holmes and his,
arguably, only friend Doctor John Watson, were taken out of the 19th
century and placed into the modern 21st century London to solve crimes. It is
not easy for a director to take such a well-known series of novels and turn it
into a present day drama series, but the show impresses audiences worldwide by
depicting London under a very favorable light and is sharp, intense, and keeps
you on your toes waiting for more action to come. What makes this TV series
unique is that each season contains only three episodes and each one of those
episodes is the length of a full movie. This show, unlike other detective
shows, focuses more on the minor details than the overall big picture of a
case. As to the filming, the camera would show what any viewer notices in a
crime scene then comes back to what the trained eye of Sherlock notices by
focusing on the tiniest details. While the characters deal with intense moments,
the theme song plays in the background,carrying a tone of suspense and drama, to mark the significance of the
moment.
Unlike
other series, this one creates a strong bond between the evil character and the
audience leaving you saddened when he is killed off. Every small detail has
relevance to the plot and by the end of an episode the viewer is able to
connect all the dots that run in logical sequence to the climax and yet is left
wondering about how strange things happen. After Sherlock throws himself off a
tall building and lands head on to the concrete sidewalk having obviously
passed away, he is unexplainably reborn ending the season with powerful
questions.
Even
3 years after the last episode was aired, people are as excited for the series
to continue, as they were when the first episode was released. I personally
love the show for all the reasons above and being an avid TV viewer, I find it
superior to most other series available on air.
Will
Sherlock’s death be explained? How does John Watson deal with the death of his
best friend? And I cannot help wonder, after Sherlock returns, will things ever
be the same again?
Personal rating: 8/10 IMDB rating: 8.5/10 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853728/) Rotten Tomatoes rating: 88% "The difference between Django Unchained and my other films is that it follows one character on a journey." -Quentin Tarantino
Django Unchained
Critique
Django Unchained is a movie set in the
south of the United States of America two years before the civil war at a time
where racism was at its peak. It revolves around a black slave, Django (Jamie
Foxx), who gains his freedom by going on a journey as a hit man working for a
white, German, bounty-hunter, Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) and in the process
finds his wife who was separated from him to be sold as a slave. The film
describes society of that period and includes many scenes of violence with an
underlying comic tone.
The setting plays a major role in this film and
marks a notable variation in Tarantino’s usual urban settings. Not only does
the film show magnificent landscapes and vast beautiful scenery, which adds a
major esthetic element, but also it seems to recreate all physical appearance
of the period that it portrays. The ranches, the towns, and the costumes are
all vital to the plot and add credibility to the story.
In line with Tarantino’s usual character
depiction, all actors display the expected craziness, lunacy, and violence,
which alternate in their behavioral pattern. Django -the main character- is a
mixture of rawness and determination, while Doctor Schultz is brave and smart.
Yet, in the scene where Django finally comes face to face with the 3 wanted men
that are the reason of the separation between him and his wife, he loses his
temper and snaps, taking out his gun immediately and shoots ⅔ brothers dead,
causing the irk of the doctor. Similarly in another scene, the brave and smart
Schultz was caught in a conflict yet overtook a whole town by shooting the
Sheriff causing chaos.
The film is consistent with Tarantino’s reliance
on showing increased violence and in this specific movie’s case, it is not so
much an excess as in his other movies because that period of history in the
United States was characterized with mounting violence. Tarantino himself says,
in one of his interviews, that Django Unchained deals with “everything
that America has never dealt with because it is ashamed of it”.
In my opinion, this movie was a great
inspiration to directors to bring back history not sugarcoated and not modified
to please audiences. If looking for a film that includes violence at a certain
level with a historical backdrop and not devoid of comic situations is what you
want, then Django Unchained is the movie to watch.
"I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really -- I was alive."
-Walter White, Season 5 Finale
AMC’s Breaking Bad is the highest rated television show of this year, as recorded in the Guinness World Records of 2014. It revolves around an ex-chemistry teacher who was diagnosed with cancer. In fear of leaving his family with no support, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), teams up with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), an ex-student, to produce and sell crystal meth. Of course, that was just the beginning. Five seasons and ten Emmys later, the show is coming to a sad end. Unfortunately, it has to end sometime, especially if your main character is a ticking time-bomb.
I think it’s safe to say that the second half of the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad held the most stressful and intense episodes of the show. Just as always, the show has separated itself from the norm of how television shows are usually made. When it comes to camera angles, background music, make-up, or plot line, Breaking Bad has always been different. The show doesn’t busy itself with dramatic misplaced close-ups or typical background tunes. There have been some who say that the show is very heavy and hard to follow because the filming is not what they’re used to. Breaking Bad is full of single shots of the characters without switching through camera perspectives. The sound effects played during the dramatic climaxes are simple single-noted beats to get your heart thumping in rhythm. Also, the make-up and the physical portrayal of the characters are other factors as to why Breaking Bad is unique. In this show, it’s very rare to find a character looking their best. Unlike most Hollywood productions, the characters hair, face make-up and clothes, accurately portray the severity of the situations they’re in. In the big picture, the creators do their best to make the show look realistic and not very Hollywood.
There have been many arguments as to how the plot line is controversial by romanticizing a drug lord and his life. I, however, disagree. The show does quite the opposite. It doesn’t illustrate Walter White as living an easy, rich, life without consequences. It actually shows the severity and horror behind dealing with drugs and crime. Personally, I think the show is giving off the right message because despite Walter’s millions, I would not trade lives with him for even a second.
With one more week and one finale left, the whole Breaking Bad fanbase is on edge. Will they let Walter’s cancer get the best of him, or will they make his drug past come back and bite him in the behind? Or, just maybe, they’ll let him live? Personally, I’m more concerned about Jesse, many’s favorite character. How will the show leave the kind-hearted, innocent, pressured young man in the end?
V for Vendetta is a film set in a false reality where England is ruled by an oppressive government, and it’s about a terrorist named “V” (Hugo Weaving) whose main task is to empower the people and overthrow the regime. The film is based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore. “V” is a freedom fighter attempting to stimulate a revolution against their fascist government. Evey (Natalie Portman), a working class girl, gets entangled in V’s mission and ends up bringing an end to the government, and a start to the people.
This movie brings attention to the truth of how corrupt government and politics are. While politicians lie to hide the truth, this movie is a lie to exhibit it. This idea is brought up throughout the movie. The idea that artists use a false image to hide what they want to say, which in turn allows them to say it. It shows us that art is normally a metaphor for something real. The reaction the public had to this movie, further proves the point. Many political activist groups have interpreted this movie as a symbol of the oppression of the government. An activist group called “Anonymous” sport the same Guy Fawkes mask that V wears in the film when they appear in public. This movie has become an allegory to the resistance to political and economic oppression.
The cinematography of this movie is interesting because it is very dark and gloomy which relates to the story and the characters in it. Most of the light comes from the fireworks/explosions that V sets off whenever he is attacking parliament, and it symbolizes the fact that authority reigns in the dark, and we can only fight back to find light. Another aspect of symbolism I found interesting was that in the movie, whenever the chancellor would speak to the government workers he would be projected on a giant screen showing that he is greater than everyone, but when we meet him in real life we realize that he is the same as us, the people. This illustrates the fact that we are all equal and there is no one greater than another.
I personally liked this movie and I think many people should watch it. It is captivating, and the acting is magnificent. I enjoyed it and I think others will too.
