Thursday, December 24, 2009

REVIEW: Whip It

Whip It
-PG-13-
released October 2, 2009


Directed by Drew Barrymore, this classic tale of small town girl taking a chance on life is vivacious and creative.  
Bliss Cavendar, Ellen Page's (Juno) character is from Bodeen, TX.  Bliss's life is filled with working at the Oink Joint and puffing up her mother's dreams of winning beauty pagents. But she is always dreaming of something more.  Then on a fateful outing to a thrift store, Bliss meets some roller derby girls and a spark is lit.
At 17, not very many of us know where we want to be in 20 years.  All we really worry about is what school we're going to and what we're going to do on the weekend.   So as many teenagers do, Bliss and her friend Pash go the the roller derby tournament, without telling mom and dad.  There Bliss finds her bliss.  Roller derby is just what she needs in her dull life.  Unfortunately telling her parents is out of the question so lies ensue and the repercussions are not fun.  


Why do we all lie about things that make us happy?  Bliss eventually had her happy ending and her family supports her, but if she had not lied, would she have had the outcome she did?  If she would have told her parents upfront, then they wouldn't have let her go.  So in lying about it she hurt her family, but got what she wanted.  It's a hard lesson.  I wish all kids could find something they love and have the full support of parents, but most kids find things that their parents would never support.  Then again, if we don't make our own choices and feel the hard life lessons from them, we would never learn from them.  


This film does have a great moral that many might not see right away.  When you find something you love to do, don't let anything stop you from getting it!!!!  Even with all the pain and heartache, it's still what you love and that makes everything worth it!


I love Ellen Page and I believe she's going to be a great upcoming actress... It would be nice to see her outside of these "charater" roles, to prove that she can stand on her own when it comes to acting.   


Once again check out Wikipedia for more info on this flick.

REVIEW: District 9

District 9 



– R –

Released August 14, 2009

If you do not know what this movie is about, please refer to Wikipedia.  The detail in this description is better then anything I could come up with in a short period of time.


Yes, this movie is rated R, and it is justly so because of the language and gore.  Because of those two facts, many people would truly hate watching this movie.

I loved it!  It was compelling from the start as it was filmed as a documentary.
Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, the film looks back on when the alien ship first arrived on earth in 1982.  Hovering above the city for 3 months without any contact, humans decide to investigate and go up to the ship, but they find an alien race (somewhat looking like what I imagine the Buggers [Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card to look like), who have an insect quality.  Although throughout the entirety of the movie they look less "alien" and more human as we follow the interaction with Wikus (the main antagonist of the aliens, played by Sharlto Copley) who reveals that they are more human then most of the humans they connect with.  
District 9 is the section of land sanctioned for the aliens to live on.  Each of them live in shacks and are forced to live in squalor.  The racism in the film is thick, much like the way the movie was advertised with posters like this.  

As stated before, the film takes on a documentary feel at the beginning where Wikus, Sharlto Copley's character, is in charge of moving all the "non-humans" to a new area called Distict 10, over 20+ years after the arrival of the alien ship.  His job is to retrieve the signatures of the aliens, stating that there will be no resistance.  As the documentary goes on, Wikus is given away as a traitor.
Meanwhile, one of the aliens has been collecting a liquid from their technology for over 20 years.  The collected liquid is contained in a canister the size of two Red Bulls cans long.  So as Wikus searches through all of the homes of the aliens, he finds this canister, disrupts it somehow and becomes infected.  It takes a few hours for him to get the effects, but he begins to change into one of the aliens.  
Now, I have left out a key component of the story.  The aliens weapons are only operational biologically.  Though very powerful, humans cannot use the technology.  So when the government finds out what is happening to Wikus, he is tested and enlisted to be the main experiment.........meaning they are going to dissect him to find out how it works.  Luckily Wikus escapes, only to become a fugitive and find refuge in the part of town he was trying to clean out for his country.  
Wikus ends up helping one of the aliens return to his ship, because Wikus is promised to receive the antidote for his sickness.  But he learns that the alien must first return to his home planet to retrieve the technology and bring reinforcements to transport is kind home.  
So Wikus must wait....... for years to become human again.  

Not only do I love the SciFi element, but the story is very compelling, and yet predictive in parts.  There is a ton of action, yet equal drama to keep you on the edge of your seat.  Beware of the vulgarity and crudeness of language, especially the term "prawn" that is used for the insect aliens.  

The CG element is beautiful.  I love watching movies that look real!  It looked like part of our world history.  I only wish I could meet an alien and see into their soulful eyes.  This element alone shows that the CG element was tastefully done and there should be an award for those who did the animation.  

The moral is obvious, but worthy of bringing up.  Prejudice and racism happens in every country, between many races.  Unless you walk a mile in another's shoes, no matter who they are (alien or not, or even someone of your own family) you have no right to judge them.  
This is one of the main reasons I watch movies.  All of the effects make it entertaining, but the lesson I take from it will live longer than anything else.

I really hope a sequel is made.  There are so many things left unsaid, but sometimes that is the best way to end things.


My thoughts....

It's been a while since I've written and I've been trying to think of anything that I could write about that would keep me writing......... so this is what I've come up with.
Movies.... I love them and want to work on them.  I love sharing my thoughts about them, but in order to be a movie critic, I'd have to watch a butt load of movies I would never care to watch, (like the scary, but unreal ones) and that is unwanted torture that I will never put myself through, so from here on out I will be adding movie reviews to my blog posts.  It might be all I write about for a while!

WARNING: I will write about everything in the movie, so spoilers are guaranteed....

I will also post about movies that I'm excited to see. And I will distinguish each by saying it is a REVIEW in the Title of the blog so you can choose to read it later if you want to watch the movie first.

I know there are not many followers of my blog, but if you are one, thanks for reading!
So here goes.
Enjoy.

Laughing Yet?

Laughing Yet?