MYST #: The Lego Movie

The other night I was babysitting and the kids wanted to watched the Lego Movie and I was happy to oblige because 1) that would make me a terrible babysitter and 2) I'vebeen wanting to see the movie that goes with that terribly annoying but terribly catchy song.

This film is about a legoman (?), Emmett, who is a pretty average guy with a construction job and a day to day routine. He thinks he has many friends, but in reality no one really knows who he is. One day, he meets a girl and she leads him on this journey because he is the “chosen one.”

 I can definitely see how this movie can represent contemporary film mainly because of the technology that is prevalent throughout this whole movie. The movie looks so “real” and even though it has been created with a computer. One of the best examples is any part of the movie that included water. When Emmet (Chris Pratt) is taking a shower it works in the same manner that real water does. In another scene when many of the characters are in the ocean, their submarine begins to fill with water, and again it looks so real. Then as the scene cuts to above the ocean, the waves are moving as real waves do, yet it was Lego's. Throughout the whole movie, I was just amazed.

I always talk about the acting in my posts, but it’s a little different for a movie like this. From early cartoons, the actors had to really use their voices in order to express the emotions of the characters because the faces couldn't show much. As time has progressed, along with technology, the ability to make animated characters show more emotion has evolved. In this movie, that was definitely the case, however, the actor’s ability to use their voices too added a lot to the effect. Chris Pratt character’s humor reminded me of his character in the Office, Especially the part he told Wyldstyle and Vitruvius about his double decker couch. I was surprised with all the big name actors that voiced in this movie like Will Arnett, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Elizabeth Banks. I thought it was funny the dynamic between Superman (Tatum) and Green Lantern (Hill) because it had a lot of similarities to their relationship in both 21 Jumpstreet and 22 Jumpstreet movies (clip). I like the nice touch they did by adding Shaq into the mix and him voicing himself.

One big praise I have for this movie is that it’s a good, genuine kids movie which I feel is missing these days. There will be one here and there, but collectively there are not very many being released. I feel as though adult movie/ mature audience movies are dominating the theaters anymore. I guess it’s good for adults, bad for children. But really, this movie can be enjoyed by all audiences. It is funny to anyone of any age.

In one of the opening sequences when Emmet is getting ready for the day, it seemed to me as though that was making fun of society. Here’s what I mean. He has a set of “rules” he follows, and to me it seemed to be commenting on society’s way or at least a select group of people who are always going with what they know and never changing. Once Emmet steps outside to the bustling city, people and traffic are moving in a much synchronized way, again just going with their routine.

The rating I give this movie is a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I had to take it down for that song. Now, excuse me while I try to get that out of my head. 

MYST #5: Howl

This weekend I watched the movie Howl directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. I had seen it a few months ago thought it looked interesting, but then I forgot about it. So, this weekend when I was looking for something to watch, I came across it again and there you have it.

This movie is about the poet Allen Ginsberg and his literary work Howl. Ginsberg is played by James Franco. There are many other well-known actors in the movie in supporting roles - such as John Hamm and Bob Balaban- but no one is as big of a role as Franco. The film moves through 3 main sequences. The first is Ginsberg telling the story of his life leading up to when the writing of the poem took place. Within that, we see the stories being acted out. For example, as Ginsberg is telling the story of him and his friend spending time together one day, we see that scene as it is narrated. Another sequence is a cartoon depiction of the poem as it is read by Franco. The last sequence is a trial. The poem was controversial because it and was actually put on trial because of obscenity pertaining to illicit drugs and sexual references.

Franco did a really good job playing his role. I had never seen him in a role like this before (previously I had seen him in the Spider-Man films he did with Tobey Maguire and Flyboys to name a few). I always think of him as more of a comedy actor, but this was not that. I don't know what Ginsberg was like, but it seemed as though Franco really got into character and Ginsberg was anything like Franco portrayed, then he did a great job. I was surprised at some of the other actors that popped up in this movie. I was not expecting any of them. To start, Jon Hamm played the defense attorney. I have only ever seen him in Bridesmaids, but I know he has been very successful recently with his role in the TV series Mad Men. In Howl, I do give him praise for the performance he gave. Bob Balaban from the Grand Budapest Hotel, the Monument Men, Moonrise Kingdom, etc. played the judge at the trial. I thought he, too, gave a good performance in his role.

One of the best cinematic elements that was in this movie was the cartoon depiction of the poem as Franco narrated it. I thought is was a very cool element and a different from what I was expecting. It also was not just a boring cartoon, but rather very detailed with color and how the pictures moved. A lot of times, those parts made me think of Tim Burton films in how they looked. Another thing was the use of color versus black and white while Ginsberg was recalling his life moments, which is pretty typical in many films. For example, in one scene, he is talking about one of his friends and their relationship. As it shows him sitting in the chair telling the story, it's all in color, but when it shows the flashback, it's black and white.

There is one thing that I wanted to point out about this movie, It is small and may be a bit nit picky. When Franco is reading the poem, the voice he uses is very odd. He places emphasis in weird places, and it was a little annoying. It also was different then how he spoke for Ginsberg in the interview, so I thought it was a little interesting.

When it comes to the rating for this movie, it is a little difficult. I say that because I think to really enjoy this movie, you have to have a great understanding of poetry and Ginsberg, which I didn't. With that being said, I couldn't appreciate this movie as I think it is supposed to be. From my point of view, I give this film 3 out of 5 stars.

MYST Post #4: The Nanny Diaries

Over the weekend I sat down to watch a movie. I wasn't looking for anything in particular. I browsed through the popular movies on Amazon and found The Nanny Diaries starring Scarlett Johansson. This film is about a college graduate, Annie (Johansson), who has a degree in business and anthropology. She doesn't have a lot of luck finding a job, and one day she meets a New York mom from the upper east side looking for a nanny, and that is where her adventure begins.

To start, the acting in this film was pretty good. Going into it, I thought that it could either be good or really bad, but it did not disappoint. I was not too familiar with her work before; I had seen her in Lucy and although I didn't particularly like that film, she gave a good performance for the role. Another familiar face for me in this film, was the New York mom, Mrs. X, played by Laura Linney. For her, I had previously seen her in the British film Love Actually. In this movie, she played her role very well. Since her character is a very privileged woman from the upper east side, her role included being very stuck up and arrogant, and she brought that to the part very well. Randomly, Alicia Keyes was also in this film as Annie's friend. Her part was rather small, but she did do an acceptable job. I didn't know she ever acted in any films so I was surprised with that.

One of the recurring themes that was addressed in this movie was money and happiness. There are two or three occasions when Johansson's character mentions it, whether it be to her friends or mom. It is shown the most through Mrs. X and her husband. They have a lot of money and live a very wealthy life; they have vacation house in the Hamptons, Mrs. X goes shopping all the time at the most expensive stores, they have a great apartment in a prestigious neighborhood, they have maid, a butler, and a nanny, but their marriage is not good or stable, given that Mr.X is cheating on his wife. Through all they say and do, it is clear they are not happy, and that addresses the idea that money can't buy happiness.

There are a few interesting things added into this movie that I was not expecting. I thought that it would be a very plain movie in that there wouldn't be any special camera angles, etc. Yet, when I least expecting it there were. In one scene, Annie takes the little boy out to go to a museum. They are walking up the stairs coming out of the subway with the camera focused on them. As they walk up the stairs, the camera follows them as they walk behind it, so when they are on the other side the camera is upside down.

In another scene (spoiler alert), Annie gets fired while they are vacationing at their house in the Hamptons. As she is riding away in the car, the little boy that she took care of and whom she developed a close bond with started running behind the car yelling for her. The camera shows her in the car for about 3 seconds then flips to the boy running for only about 1 seconds. This progresses for a few shots before it finally stops with the little boy stopping and falling to the ground, crying as the car leaves his view.

On other interesting thing is how Mr. X is introduced, The first two times he is shown in this film, his face is hidden. For example, the first time Annie sees him, he walks into the apartment and picks up his son. As Annie is watching the interaction, she is trying to see is face, but his son is blocking his view. I thought this was how it would be for the rest of the movie, that his face would never be shown. However, this did not happen, and I thought it was interesting how that changed.

One thing that I liked about this film was the ending. While part of it was somewhat predictable, there was one thing I was surprised about. Once Annie gets fired, I thought they Mrs. X would realize how silly it was, and they would repair the relationship, and Annie would get her job back, but it was not that way. Instead, Annie moved on with her life.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie, It had a lot more surprises than I thought it would. For the rating, I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

MYST Post #3: Boyhood

This movie has been on my list for awhile. It got a lot of praise with the awards and critics, and because of those positive reviews, it went on my list. Not only that, my friend had watched it and said strongly recommended it. So, today I decided to watch it (and I also needed another MYST post). 

Boyhood follows a boy, Mason, through his life over a period of 12 years. Through this, the viewer gets to see the challenges he faces, the people he meets, and just his life. I really enjoyed this movie. It was not what I expected it to be. If you're thinking I'm meaning the fact that it is a progression of twelve years, I'm not. I knew that. I thought there would be more action in it and more climatic events. But there wasn't. Yet, in some way I still really enjoyed and would be glad to watch it again sometime when I have a lot of free time. The only is I didn't realize it was so long! 

Anyways, what I felt was so good was the realness of the dialogue and how natural it was. The conversations were very real, and it didn't sound scripted. It is very similar to the scene we watched from On the Waterfront (1954). The conversation between the two characters was very relaxed. Likewise, in Boyhood the situations always play out in a very real way. There is not fluff or perfection. It's just life. In one particular scene, Mason is collecting some of his art that is on display when a lady approaches him and asks about his plans for college. His response are rather short and not very exciting. To a viewer, it may awkward and very boring and you may feel like something big should happen. But if you think about that conversation in real life, it would play out very similarly. Also, there was some subtle humor in it that I enjoyed. I would prefer something with humor in it than something sad any day, so that added a nice element to the dialogue to keep a lighter tone overall. 

The cast in this movie did a very good job. To start, Patricia Arquette stared as Mason's mother and  was fantastic in this film. She won many, many awards for her role as a supporting actress, not just one, but many. I was not familiar with her work before, but after seeing this film, I am definitely interested in see some of her other work. She is going to be the star in the new series CSI: Cyber, so maybe I will check that out. Ethan Hawke was another one that stood out. I had this idea that he would be in this film a lot more than he was. He was Mason's biological father that was not married to his mother, so by default he doesn't get to see Mason all the time, but I still thought he would have more appearances. When he did, however, I really liked his character. He was this kinda cool dad, but still really cared about his kids, and he was funny. Like Patricia Arquette, I was not familiar with his work, but I really enjoyed his performance and am interested in seeing what else he has done. One of the other characters that I took a liking to was Samantha, Mason's sister played by Lorelei Linklater, or the director's, Richard Linklater's, daughter. This was her first big film, and she did a nice job with it. Her character throughout the whole film was fun to watch because she always had some funny or witty remark. In one scene right at the beginning of the film, she throws a pillow at her brother while he is sleeping and wakes him up. Only then does she start singing a Britney Spears song and dancing. It was something a sister would do, and in the entire film she was always making remarks about her brother. Without a doubt, she nailed the sister character. 

The way the film progresses through the years was done so well. There was never a lot of attention drawn to it; for example, no words appeared on the screen to say "the next year" or "one year later", but rather, it just happened. Another nice element of the progression is the fact that you get to see multiple characters develop and mature and learn. The mom (Arquette) we see first as a struggling single mom, trying to raise her kids. Though she struggles throughout the whole film with marriages and money, there is still a maturity that happens. Samantha and Mason's biological father (Hawke) starts out as their somewhat low life dad that turns into a responsible, married family man with a wife and another child. Samantha starts out as a little girl and turns into an adult in college. Mason goes through the same. There is a central focus on one boy, but it's not overly emphasized and through this the viewer is able to pay attention to all these different characters and their struggles and what they face in their lives. 

For this movie, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. If you are looking to watch something really excited, then I would not recommend this, but if you want something more relaxed (and have a lot of time) then this is a great movie! 

MYST Post #2: Believe Me

In somewhat of a time crunch to get these posts completed, I sat down the other night to watch a movie. I logged onto amazon instant video to see what I could find. I had no particular genre in mind that I wanted to watch. I checked out the "recently added" list and came across a drama/comedy movie called Believe Me (2014). I watched the trailer and decided it looked good enough. 

The movie chronicles four college students who take on fake roles a missionary workers, working for their non-profit company to help get fresh water to kids in Africa called "Get Well Soon." To break the story down a little bit, Sam, the leader if you will, finds out that with only one semester left of college, his scholarship has expired, and he now has to come up with $9000 that he doesn't have. He soon gets the idea to poise as Christ-driven guy who just wants to help people in Africa. With a few parameters, he enlists the helps of his three other friends. They soon meet a guy who is the leader of ministry that travels around the country spreading the word of Jesus. He enlists the helps of the four guys that come to be known as the "God Squad", and with them they do 28 shows across the country over the coarse of three or so months.

This movie exceeded my expectations. I thought it was going to be pretty stupid, and the comedy would be cheesy and not funny. However, there were multiple occasions I laughed pretty hard. There are some comedy films I have seen  that I would prefer over this one, but it didn't disappoint me.  I feel that a major component of this movie was making fun of Christians and religion. Although I am religious myself, I found it pretty funny and didn't take it too seriously. I definitely think there are some people who would not be able to take it very lightly and would be offended.

The main actor is Alex Russell. I was not familiar with him previous to seeing this movie, but he has been in some bigger films including Carrie (2014) and Unbroken (2014). I thought he gave a good and convincing performance. If I attended the meetings he talked at in the movie, I think I would be convinced. The friends in the movie are played by Miles Fischer, Max Adler, and Sinqua Wills. I have never seen Fischer in anything, and there was nothing that he has been in that I'm familiar with. He did give a good performance as the friend that is just focused on his cut of the profits. Adler I had seen in a few episodes of Glee that I watched, but that was awhile ago so again his acting I was not all too familiar with. He played the, for lack of a better term, stupid friend. For the part, he did a good job. I mean, it's not too hard to mess that part up. Wills I was a little more familiar with. He was in a show that I used to watch, however this role was very different. In this movie, he played the more logical, let's-do-the-right-thing friend. Like Russell, he gave a good, convincing performance. One actor that I want to mention that appeared in this film was Nick Offerman. I knew him from Parks and Rec, and I thought he was very funny in that. I have also seen him in We're the Millers, and again he was good and that, kind of creepy, but good. In this film, he plays a drunken administrator at the college that the boys attend, and for his five minutes he was in it, he did a nice job.

One thing that I noticed was the when the title was on the screen. It came in big, bold white letter and as it faded, the "lie" in believe stayed around for a few seconds. Also Sam, the main character, tells a story twice about a lie professors tell their students on the first day. His point to this story is that people need to be lied to in order to instill hope. Right from the beginning, lying is emphasized and sets the stage for what the movie is going to be about. A cinematic element in this film is the lighting. When Sam is on stage at the events talking about God and his charity, the way his face/ body is lit, gives him a look of honesty and goodness.

Being on tour with Christians and being surrounded by Christians all the time, the guys knew they had to blend in. They came up with a plan that each day they would all do research and come together at night and teach each other what they learned about how Christians behave and what they typically do. One scene that was particularly funny was when Sam was teaching the other guys about worship and prayer. He talks through some worship "stances" and some key words that Christians use in their prayers. Please, watch for yourself.

For a rating of this movie, I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. While the comedy was good, there were still a few flaws, for me, that I didn't like. For example, when the people started finding out about the guys plan (there should be no surprise here) I didn't like how the story unfolded after that. Because of this, the ending was also a little weird.

Formal Film Study: Last 3 Oscar Nominated Polish Films

For this film study, I was interested in foreign films. I have seen a few French films and really liked those. At the Oscars, a Polish film took the award for best foreign language film, and that piqued my interest because it would fall in the foreign category but would be something different. Going off that film, I decided to watch the last three Oscar nominated Polish films. So for this project I watched, Ida (2014) directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, In Darkness (2011) directed by Agnieszka Holland, and Katyn (2007) directed by Andrzej Mularczyk. 

Ida is set in 1960 and follows the story of a young girl who was raised Catholic in a convent, Right before she is about to say her vows to become a nun, she finds out she has one living relative, her aunt, which she did not know about. While visiting her aunt, she finds out that her real name is Ida (growing up it was Ana), she is actually Jewish. and her parents were killed during World War II. Her and her aunt then set out to find out the truth about the death of her parents. (below)


In Darkness is  the true story of a Polish sewer worker during WWII who, for payment, hides a group of Jewish people for fourteen months in the sewers from the Germans after they invaded Poland.

Katyn is based on the mass murder of 22,000 Polish army officers and POWs that were killed in the Katyn forest by Soviet forces after they took over Poland. The movie profiles four fictional families who try to uncover the truth about their loved ones death because they were fed false information about who really killed them.

One of the most obvious similarities and biggest "discovery" of these three movies is what they are based on: World War II and the Germans. Each of them show a different type of story, but all with a common factor. Culturally, this shows just how much of an effect that part of history had on their country.  By showing the different types of stories, these movies touched on all the different people that were affected. Ida shows how the kids of those that were taken by the Germans were affect even after the war was over. In Darkness showed one the the most noted with the Jewish and Katyn showed how the Polish armed forces were affected and their families. Poland played huge role in the war and the fight among many different forces. These movies show that this is something they hold on to, and will forever. They are all directed by different people, and that in itself demonstrates the importance of this event for them. This time in history is something the world will never forget, and for Poland especially it will always stand out because they were almost a puppet to the greater forces during that time.

One of the other things I noticed across all three films was the emphasis on religion. In Ida, she had been raised Catholic, but there is a struggle between her and her aunt because her aunt is still Jewish. Neither of them really understand each other's views. In Darkness, the sewer worker, Poldek (left), is a Catholic man and as far as religion goes, doesn't have to fear German persecution, but the people he is helping have a different story. Unlike Ida and her aunt, there is no push and pull between the two religions in In Darkness, but instead Poldek is just being a good man and helping out good people given their circumstances. Katyn is the one that differs the most. There is a heavier emphasis on the Catholic religion, without any mention of Judaism. All the Polish soldiers appear to be Catholic, therefore all their loved ones left behind are Catholic. A few times as well, a priest is seen blessing those who have been injured. This factor in all the movies suggests that in general, religion is very important in Polish culture regardless which one it is. Furthermore, during those times, religion is what got people through the hard times. I also think that for the first two films, the movies are trying to convey the idea the even though the two groups have different beliefs, there is this one thing that unites them and is part of both their histories as one country.

Looking away from the culture aspect of these movies, there are some interesting style elements in all three. To start, color was used differently in these films. Ida stood out the most because it was all black and white. I feel this was done because of the time period it was set in. Also the whole movie was very sullen and quiet, so it seems as though the color fit with the sound of the movie. Both In Darkness and Kaytn were in color, but the palette was very neutral to darker colors. The use of that fits with both the stories very well because they were both very dark and depressing.

Sound was used very interestingly in these films. In Ida, there was rarely music. When there was, it was very quiet and the source of it was a radio or some type of music player controlled by the characters. For example, Ida and her aunt were in the car a lot when on their journey, and the aunt would turn on the radio. Similarly, In Darkness used more music, but it was background music to help the mood, and like the other, it was very quiet and was not focused. Katyn was different because it used a lot of background music for the mood. However, I feel like the music did not always match what was going on. In one scene, one of the characters finds out her husband's name was not on the death list, and despite this great news, the music was very mysterious and creepy.

Some smaller editing things I notices were shots. In all three movies, there were a lot of close ups on the characters. They were rarely ever far away from the character that was talking or of focus for any given moment. Another thing more specific to In Darkness and Katyn (right) was the close ups on the deaths. In the former, two of the main characters killed a German soldier by beating him, and after  the camera really focused on not only the solider but the wound and blood. In the latter, when it showed all the Polish soldiers being killed, first the camera focused on the face and emotion of each soldier (because they were all killed one by one) and it stayed there while the Soviets shot them in the head. One thing I picked out in Ida was a transition that was particularly different than was expected. After their excursion, the aunt became very depressed and ended up committing suicide. From my experience when a character dies in a movie, it usually cuts to the funeral. In this particular movie, the funeral did not come until a few scenes later.

After viewing all these films and being overwhelmed and depressed, I decided to look at some of the numbers to see what others thought of these films. On Rottentomatoes.com all three got good reviews from the critics: Ida with 98%, In Darkness with 88%, and Katyn with 92%. The audience for Ida and Katyn felt a little different towards them, almost a 20% difference for both, while In Darkness only had an 8% difference in scores. Overall, though, all three films made big impressions are everyone, and offered stories that are strong in many people's memories and will last forever.

1930s Movie: "Gatorman

Our story follows a group of teens who are counselors at a summer camp in Louisiana. On the last night of the camp, they put their campers to bed and decide to go out and have a good time. They go out on the lake and start drinking alcohol. Soon they decide to go swimming. When the main character, Johnny jumps into the lake and disappears, and becomes Gatorman, and the only way he can reverse this is if he finds a new victim. This movie is designed purely for entertainment. There is not underlying message we want to convey, but rather something that the audience, more specifically teens, can enjoy.

Our movie is a horror movie. We chose this because it was a popular genre in the 1930s. Many of the horror films in the 1930s dealt with the monsters as being the antagonists (i.e Frankenstein, Dracula). That is why our story contains a monster-Gatorman. The director we chose, James Whale, works for Universal Studios and directed Frankenstein. He is also said to be one of the greatest horror film directors of the time, and that is why we chose him.

We have chosen Universal Studios for his movie because they do a lot with horror movies. Also, they have one of the best horror movie directors, James Whale, working for them. The scale of this production is big because, like mentioned, horror was a popular genre, so we want this to be a big production and one that will attract a lot of attention.

For the cast, we chose actors employed by Universal. Our main male actor, Boris Karloff who starred in Frankenstein, has experience with horror movies and with our director. Our main female character, Lilian Bond (right) who stars as Mary is one of the bigger names with Universal so we wanted to cast her. The supporting actress, Valerie Hobson who stars as Nancy, is another big name, and by having her as well, we hope to attract more people. Our focus for this movie is in costume/makeup for obvious reasons. Since we have a monster, the makeup will have to be intricate. To help us with this, we chose Max Factor for the makeup artist. He is a leader in the industry, doing work for many different films and studios. We believe that would be able to help us pull this off.

We decided to use color technology because that is the popular technology for the time. It's new and people respond well to it, and we want to attract as many people as we can to see this movie. The Hays Code affects a few different aspects of this movie. Because there will be a level of romance between the two main characters, we have to be careful not to show it too in depth. Also when the characters go swimming, they cannot be shown undressing. The alcohol is part of our story, which according to the Hays Code is acceptable. One other thing we would have to be weary of is the death. If our monster kills people, it cannot be shown in detail on screen, therefore we would have to hint to it.

If I were on my own with this project, I probably would not have done a horror movie because I'm not a fan of horror films. Possible options would have been gangster or comedy. With this change, I would have chosen a different studio to accompany the genre so I would have different actors as well.