Review of Freedom Writers

C+, Needs Improvement.

The true story of a young teacher, Erin Gruwell played by Hillary Swank, in an inner city school who learns to be a better teacher by inspiring her students to be courageous, happy, and to see the error in their violent ways by teaching them to express themselves through writing. A touching and socially important message that has unfortunately been told millions of times before and was unable to bring anything new to the audience watching it. We are only truly touched by this story when we are reminded that it is based on actual events, otherwise it seems like old news that has been pumped out over and over again by Hollywood.

Hillary Swanks performance could only be described as “meh”. Apparently she is only truly talented when it comes to playing boys or socially awkward people. Her performance reminded me a lot of my teachers in high school: ambitious and important but overall pretty boring and dull.

The back-stories and the performances of the students I found to be quite interesting. April Hernandez was beautiful as Eva and I really believed the transformation that her character went through. There were some parts of the plot that bothered me though, I found the situation with her husband predictable in a bad way and I felt like it was an aspect of the story that was not totally seen through by the filmmaking team. They put it in for the sake of putting it in and it did not get the respect it deserved. They should have left it out completely or better developed the idea and the emotions surrounding it.
It was overall a decent story, but I wasn’t thrilled or moved to tears. The acting was good but the characters were way too typical, each one was very classic and had been done before thousands of times. It would definitely be good for children (maybe middle school aged) to watch and it wasn’t a total waste of my time so if you feel like being entertained for a little with a good ol’ fashion “inner city kids get their lives turned around” movie, then this one should get added to your list of ones to watch.

Overall (Out of 10): & 1/2

Review of Notes on a Scandal

A Brilliantly Disturbing Love Affair.

This movie sets itself up as being about a teacher/student sex scandal, a story I was glad to finally see a movie about, but then they entered in a whole new twist that I certainly wasn’t expecting. When Barbara (Dench) befriends the new teacher Sheba (Blanchett) they form a friendship but neither one of them were ready for what would happen next.

This film showed you a very creepy and disturbing side of Judi Dench that I was totally not anticipating to see. I was surprised enough to see her Casino Royale and then in a role like this I was totally blown away, she is really redefining the place for older women in Hollywood. She was brilliantly disturbing and I felt like she gave me a breath of fresh air!

On the flip side I found Kate Blanchett’s performance pretty dull, and not very passionate. I didn’t believe that her character would do any of the things she did in this film, most certainly not befriending someone like Barbara. Her “love” for her student was not fully felt by the audience and therefore we had very little feeling for her when her life came crashing down.

I found the plot and story to be very interesting, but I was overall not enraptured with this film. The movie was pretty slow moving with mostly unrealistic emotions and an overall predictable ending. I was glad to see this story portrayed in such a way but was disappointed by becoming kind of bored by it. I did not appreciate that the “sexual preferences” of the main character were kept rather vague, and I think had we know more clearly we could have connected more deeply. I was uncertain if she was a lesbian, or just looking for a really good friend. I suppose this was meant to add to the creepiness of the film but I don’t believe it achieved this.

One thing I did love about this movie was the way it made me think more about my “friends”. It showed the audience that people aren’t always who they seem and everyone can have their secrets that no one may ever know about. Who knows what you’re friends are writing about you right now?

Overall (out of 10):

Review of Apocalypto

An artistic portrayal of those in the beginning.


So let’s all just take a moment to forget that that strange, strange man Mel Gibson directed this movie and let’s just look at it as a movie shall we….

Ready? Okay.

In a film where the actors are not particularly famous I feel there is even more of a chance for the audience to become connected to the film, where as when one is constantly referring to the main character as “Keanu Reeves” instead of Bill, or Neo, a certain believability is lost. That was on thing that benefited this film. With a very ethnic feel, the film was suspenseful and lively but it really didn’t strike me as an awesome piece of cinema.

I found the beginning rather slow paced, and the ending too fast in comparison. I found the “jungle running” very repetitive and thought that the bad guys would have probably given up a long time ago. Although perhaps I am underestimating the Mayans in their thirst for revenge. I found the violence a bit overdone, but nothing we haven’t seen before or won’t see again. While the beginning was slow, I don’t think it took enough time for us to really care about the characters before we were already forced to fear for them.

In the above statement, I am however only assuming they were Mayan because it was never specifically mentioned in the story line. The only reason we knew was because sometimes in the subtitles it would say “Yelling in Mayan” or something like that. If it would have been in English (as many films set in foreign places often are) there would have been nothing in the dialogue to let us know who these people really were, other than jungle natives. But perhaps they planned it that way.

A lot of this film was rather unrealistic, I’m not sure that those are the kind of huts the Mayans really lived in, or that’s really what they would have killed for food, but it’s unrealistic ness was done in a very artistic way, which made it overall…an okay movie. I did find myself really concerned about the family in the well and hoping they make it out okay, but the ultimate end of the movie was totally unexpected (and not in a good way) and seemed very deus ex machina, something totally unrelated that they just conjured up to end the movie.

I do recommend you see this film if only to expand, in some ways, your cultural and cinematic horizons. Don’t look at it for history project research of course, but watch it to get a better understanding of who was living here before us as well as to expand your list of “not in English films”, they really can be quite good.

Overall:

Review of Pan's Labyrinth

Finding a Fantasy world in the unkind real world.

Me encanta esta pelicula! Es unas de mi favoritas! Shall I do the whole review in Spanish? No, I’ll spare you the pain.

Pans Labyrinth was an absolutely hypnotizing film with a spectacular balance of fantasy and reality, brilliant special effects and a powerful story. I loved the little baby plant thing, and when it was burnt it almost made me cry, the screams of pain were heart wrenching.

I can’t say I’ve ever seen a movie that took place in Franco Spain, but for a movie that wasn’t really about that, I would say it still gave us a feel for what that time may have been like. It gave historical information in a non-“history channel” kind of way which allowed the viewer to become more a part of the story enchanting story.

In general child actors annoy me, I however found Ivanna Baquero endearing and I thought she was a perfect guide for our journey through the labyrinth (this may have been solely because she wasn’t speaking English). I really felt for the poor child throughout the whole movie, she had the misfortune of being brought in to a cruel world and her only salvation was the world in her mind. I wanted to wrap her up and take her home with me, and let her know everything would be all right. In the end it unfortunately was not all all right, but the journey was certainly entertaining! Ah, the ironic world of movies.

Working at a video store in the middle of hick town many people are wary of renting this particular one because quote “I don’t liake to hafta read ma movays”. I however happen to watch ALL my movies at home, whether in a foreign language or not, with the subtitles on. (That way I make sure I don’t miss a thing). This one just also helped me brush up on some of my Spanish! So do not fear the Labrinto! Embrace it!
While reading some other reviews I found that many people did not like this movie because it did not meet their “expectations”. No, it is not a movie for children, nor is a pure science fiction movie built on fantasy and special effects. I don’t believe it was ever intended to be so. I can easily see where children would be frightened by it, and where a LOTR fan would be disappointed if they thought it would be anything like it. So, go see this movie, it was beautiful, but just expect an interesting movie, with a touching story and nothing else.

Overall:

Review of The Fountain

Eternity indeed.

The Fountain…I’m not even really sure I could accurately tell you what this film was about. There was probably all sorts of symbolism in it that went over my head, and while I’m not adverse to symbolism, many movies use it in quiet beautiful and powerful ways, when it’s used so…randomly, and seemingly without rhyme or reason as the fountain did, the audience is lost and therefore the movie loses any potential it had to really effect it’s viewers. I quickly became bored and confused by this movie. The main idea behind the film is a quest for immortality and trying to find eternal life, which if I’m not mistaken, in the end we realize is never truly possible.

Hugh Jackman’s performance was elevated only by the skill at which this films’ costume team pulled off some terrific looking outfits. I think he portrayed the part of a hopeless husband rather well; his crying was usually very believable, but the creepy bald guy and the practically mute Spaniard were dull and much too vague to connect with.

While I love Rachel Weisz in many of her films, Constant Gardener is one of my favorites, I however felt that her sickly, present-day character was fake and annoying, but the way she pulled off the Queen of Spain was quite beautiful. Well-spoken and emotionless, much as you would expect a queen to be. While roles such as these I am sure are a dream for any actor it seemed to me that they clearly focused more on one character than another and left us wanting more from their performances all around.

The Fountain just confused me, I feel that the purpose of film, in general, is to connect with the audience, and when filmmakers use their stage only to express their inner thoughts in completely vague and emotionally vacant ways, the audience feels abandoned and that’s exactly how I felt. At the end of this film I was confused and bored, no connection was made.
However, this film did achieve one common goal of film. It made me think…just harder than I would like. It raised questions of immortality and eternal life, a common quest of human beings since the dawn of time. It questioned life and death and made me think about them more than I normally would. While the special effects were brilliant, particularly at the end, the substance wasn’t there to back it up. Movie history can not be made on special effects alone.

Overall:

Review of The Painted Veil

Cholera rips through the country while deceit rips apart their marriage.

The Painted Veil depicts a British couple’s ups and downs (mostly downs) during a cholera epidemic in China. The beautiful cinematography and shot composition during this film were brilliant enough to distract the audience from Edward Norton’s lack luster attempt at an English accent. While it really wasn’t very believable, you got used to it as the movie went on. This tragic story fiercely pulled at your emotions from all angles, there were times when I felt that Edward Norton was a complete monster, but by the end, the story gave the audience what we needed to really feel for him and even more so for his desperate and lost wife. The Painted Veil had all the elements of a classic story of adultery, redemption and re-connection with an end that took a turn for the worst just as you thought it was getting better. But the time period and setting in which it took place was really what set this movie off from so many others like it. While I think the film could have used a Chinese perspective to help us feel more from the side of the down trodden Chinese, throughout the film they were portrayed mostly as people who are too superstitious to know what’s in their own best interest. The character Colonel Yu, played by Anthony Wong-Chau Sang , was quiet the interesting character, he had a very fascinating background and personality but the director John Curran did not develop this character for its entire potential, and I think more character development for him would have taken The Painted Veil to another level. If you are in the mood for a tragic romance The Painted Veil should most definitely top your list, but if you are easily annoyed by fake accents and think women’s rights are for sissy’s then perhaps you’d be better off skipping over this one on the shelf. Supported by a brunette Naomi Watts’ terrific performance The Painted Veil is an emotionally powerful tragic romance that takes the audience across the world to learn the lesson of forgiveness.

Overall (now out of 10):

Review of The New World

Originally Reviewed May 20, 2006

This was basically about the "true story" of Pocahontas and John Smith. Not your Disney version. Although, I think this is one time I would have preferred the Disney version to whatever sort of artsy drama we would call this. John Smth and Pocahontas meet, they fall in love under bad circumstances, John has to leave, Pochahontas becomes Europeanized and marry's another guy. (They never said this other guy's name OR Pocahontas' name ONCE throughout the whole movie I don't think) Eventually the married couple moves to England where Pocahontas is treated like royalty. John comes to visit her, and they realize that they can never be together. She stays with her husband and son, but soon dies. The End. This whole movie was very predictable I think, and SO VERY SLOW! There were only about 3 lines of actual dialogue the rest of the movie was either in this vague sort of symbolic voice over or just represented visually like in the way she looked or he looked in their eyes. Even though Pocahontas knew English perfectly by the end of the movie you wouldn't have known it, because there was so little speaking. I was really waiting for them to start singing "Paint with all the colors of the wind". But it never happened. It certainly would have brought the beat up a little. This movie had absolutely zero happy/exciting/slightly upbeat parts. In order to feel the lows one must feel the joy, but this movie really did not allow us to do that. I think this movie really had the potential to tell a really awesome story, but it let me down. The movie was beautiful cinematically, the scenery was really great (I don't know how they found some of those beautiful landscapes in today's world) and the camera angels were usually pretty interesting (I had to think of something nice to say) but, I don't know anything more about Pocahontas or John Smith now than I did before. Don't rent it. It will bore you to tears. Unless you are doing a project on the subject for school it is totally not worth it.

Overall Rating:

Review of Transamerica

Originally Reviewed July 30th 2006

This is really one of the best movies I have seen in a VERY long time. No matter what your feelings are, on the subject of transgender and such, I don't think anyone could see this movie and not be touched in some way by the intriguing story this movie tells. Not only did I love the struggle of the main characters which I thought was portrayed very well, but I also enjoyed the little sub-stories of all the people they met along the way. I loved this movie because it simply told a beautiful story beautifully. I don't think it left anything out, or did it give too much away. They could have easily had some really un tasteful sex scenes, but they didn't, and that's what I like. It didn't leave me hanging (well, it did a little, but in a good way) and it didn't go on forever. This was not a money hungry movie made simply for the fact of attracting idiots to the movie theater. It was made to tell a story, and that's what makes great movies. I mean I totally understand the money mind set, and I don't hold anything against anyone for it (I may even find myself working on The 40-year-old Virgin 2 someday. God Forbid). Nor does a low budget and small viewing audience always guarantee a superior movie. But Transamerica hit the nail right on the head. And if you ever get a chance I recommend you ALL see it. This one will most definitely be added to my all time favorites for sure.

Overall Rating: (Get it lambs, and I'm Mary...Get it? Get it?)