Les Chorsites

Nay Hinain

Diala Esreb

Les Choristes

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.

Gravity

Diala Esreb

Gravity

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 was  the 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.

Sherlock Holmes

Nay Hinain

Personal Rating: 9.5/10

IMDB Rating: 9.3/10 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582)

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97% 

"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 19^th 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?