Children Of Men

Children Of Men


8.4


At first when I saw the title Children Of Men, I thought it was just a typical horror flick. But then when I heard how good it was ( It was 2nd ranked by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone as one of the best movies of the last decade) I thought 'Yeah I should give it a try. Let's see how it is'.

Children Of Men takes place in 2027 and it has been 18 years since the last child was born. Now he then got killed and London bureaucrat Theo (Clive Owen) seems to cared since he used to be an activist for an unknown cause. Now, England is being controlled by British police and the government turns totalitarian with its policies on illegal immigrants. The immigrants also known as Fugees come in great numbers to England. Not only that, all of the world women's are infertile so there were no kids born between 2009 and the year the film is set.

Theo is asked by his ex-girlfriend Julian (Julianne Moore), the leader of The Fishes, an anti government organisation with a set of beliefs on human rights, to help an African refugee Kee to escape from England to the Human Project so she can be able to look after her unborn baby. Julian is killed afterwards and when Theo discovers that the Fishes' were responsible for Julian's death, he decided to bring Kee along with Fishes member Miriam themselves to a boat.

Children Of Men looks similar, in a way, to District 9 released last year. They're both set in the future and it's kinda has the same concept. Both have issues with immigration and racism. Even though District 9 focused on aliens, Children Of Men focused on humans and it is anything apart from science fiction.

The movie's cinematography and direction from Alfonso Cuaron (he directed Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkerban) is so gritty with an idealistic screenplay from Timothy J Sexton.

Clive Owen brings in subtlety towards his character. You would want to care for him as well as the pregnant Kee. Julianne Moore puts in a nice performance as well as Michael Caine who suprisingly plays a hippie with his posh accent.

Interestingly, Cuaron has the camera around in one take making it one scene held for a long time while things are still happening. This takes the film into and around the edge even when the film is put as an experiment. But unless you can handle it while watching, you're more likely to get sick because many scenes are shot hand held.

Cuaron takes the plot into more ideas as we predict of facing a crisis on illegal immigrants and infertility. One thing is that when Kee gave birth, the baby is a symbolism of hope during one scene where the Fishes and the British military are in conflict. This also takes up rebellion, as the Fishes show how violent activists are when are taking on the government over issues affecting them.

When Australia is facing a problem with our overpopulation, and just recently a Chinese dissentant who is a human rights activist is awarded the Nobel Peace Price, Children Of Men's main focus is human rights. Whenever you look in the background you see guards treating migrants as dirt and mostly putting them to death and it promotes this awareness through the mass media as you'll see slogans such as 'Report Illegal Immigrants' everywhere.

So is Children Of Men is as perfect as it should be? Quite not. I think it would have been better if Julianne Moore (I have to admit, I never seen her in film before) and Michael Caine had more screen time instead of just dying. That would have been character development had their characters never been killed

Children of Men is a futuristic movie with a difference. It is all about to keep the survival of a person holding the key of the endangered human race. To say that a science fiction needs ideas to keep us entertained can be an exagerration, but Children Of Men is one of those movies in the genres that has many ideas that will keep us in grips.

Zodiac/American Beauty reviews

Zodiac


8.5

In Australia, we have some of the most horrific crimes we ever heard about. Some examples include the Melbourne gangland war from 1995 to 2004, the assassination of John Newman in 1994 and the backpacker murders by serial killer Ivan Milat.

But in America it is less slightly horrific than here. The most horrific crimes I've heard about were Charles Manson and his killings near Hollywood and the assassinations of famous figures like John F Kennedy and John Lennon. But the most horrific crime I have heard of was the Zodiac Killer.

Zodiac is based on the most unsolved case in America of several murders by a serial killer calling himself the Zodiac. When a couple get killed by him in the late 60s, then another afterwards, the Zodiac sent letters to the San Fransisco Chronicle telling them who he'll kill next. It's either in two ways: one is by using several codes encrypted by everyday symbols, the other is in his handwriting.

Here you got three people covering the story - the Chronicle's writer Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), political cartoonist and single father Robert Graysmith (Jake Gynlenhal) and San Francisco detective David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo). In this movie, it follows the case of the Zodiac killer and each of the three characters investigating it and not to have come close to solving the mystery that has been almost more than 30 years old.

Zodiac is a film noir directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, S7ven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and it is immensely dark. To tell that it's a film noir, Fincher gather all of the elements of that certain genre including minimal lighting, the cynical attitudes of characters and the recurring motifs such as the gunpoint symbol. Fincher directs this so boldly, many fans of him including me would be impressed.

The plot is instantly clever given how the Zodiac killer gives clues like letters with ambiguous symbols and handwriting characters find it hard to solve. And it goes around putting around twists nailed.

And yes, Fincher has a gift of putting dialogue that's almost idealistic. In one scene, you might hear people talking on a radio and commenting about the media publishing articles that boasts crime and promoting it.

The plot divides itself into three parts. One is the killer's instincts on how he would do such murder, the second was based on David Toschi investigating and then Robert Graysmith getting huge interest on the case, he wants to write a book about it. However it would take two and a half hours to figure out the case and the dialogue can be indigestible to comprehend.

Performances are tops. The three actors Gyllenhal, Ruffalo and Downey Jr. all deliver huge charisma. I'm not quite sure what was Downey's purpose, but as a hard cynic crime reporter, he is fine.

This was 2007's most underrated movie and sure it may not have been Fincher's masterpiece since Fight Club, it is an instant thriller. Zodiac might have been better if it has a different target audience.

PS - I'm looking forward to seeing Fincher's latest movie The Social Network.

American Beauty


10.0

Well, I just discovered my favourite movie that everyone loved. My all time favourite movie was a little movie starring Anne Hathaway called Rachel Getting Married. This time it's American Beauty

It seems fair that 1999 is a great year for movies to end off the 20th Century. We seen The Matrix being released and we actually enjoyed it as well as other great movies like The Green Mile, Being John Malcovich and the sequel to Toy Story. Let's hope 2010 was better than 1999.

In American Beauty, Kevin Spacey (is awesome!) plays Lester Burham, a middle aged husband who is totally despised by his wife, Carolyn (Annette Nenning in her sublime performance) and his daughter Jane (Thora Birch). Burham suffers from a mid-life crisis often working at a cubicle of an advertising agency where he get shunned. To succumb his depression, he has sexual fantasies of Jane's best friend Angela (Mena Survari) in which both girls has absolutely nothing in common. Jane gets uncomfortable with this while Lester's marriage with Carolyn is about to collapse. When Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) and his father (Chris Cooper) move in as neighbours, attitudes towards Lester changes as he about to face death (which he just said at the beginning).

IF there was a film so risque and provocative that had crossed many boundaries of sex, American Beauty is it. This flawless movie that is blackly funny describes how the life of the American is not what it seems to be when you look at him in the face. It is part of his image so he cannot embarrass himself with other people when he's having troubles in his life around him.

The rest of the movie is beautifully directed by Sam Mendes. Mendes usually give out symbolism in this movie so we can understand the underlying themes of the movie. Almost every shot has like a motif that we can learn from. The first shot of American Beauty establishes a part of what the flawless American suburbia looks like. The dialogue and plot written by Alan Ball is incredible, clever, original and analytical as it is so engaging to the audience for a first time screenwriter doing his bit for film.

The characters are almost vivid as we look into a family whose lives are miserable because they couldn't fit in or just bored with their lives. Performances are the career best for both lead actors as well as the whole cast including Thora Birch who are ridden with angst over the people who surrounds them. Mena Survari kinda reminded me of a dream projection I had with of Scarlett Johansson, but her role is almost provocative as her character of a hypocritical schoolgirl lying about her sexuality so she can get the attention.

Lester Burnham is a prisoner of his own life. He hates his job, a falling out on his marriage and is almost manically depressed. His personality is almost tragic as he attempts to liberate his life, in which his wife wouldn't allow as he tries to be open with him, forever with unsurprisng twists. Spacey nailed that character so perfectly and Burnham sound honest and pessimistic about his existence. His wife Carolyn has a thing in common with Lester. She is also manically depressed and also hates her job as a real estate agent that leads to an affair with her competitor. And Annette Bening is really nuance in this role.

The music and art direction of this movie is almost sharp. The setting looks so quintessential, it makes the film's imagery believable at first but then comes to a point where it was the opposite because of the characters.

American Beauty focused on the attitudes and fears of each character. And you will learn something in this movie. But the main moral of this movie is that you can't count on anyone but to yourself.

This movie is inspiring, entertaining and is a movie that defines a generation.

What a genious!

Tolerance and Troubles

You know... while I was writing my blog about how I was being dissed by the whole school for watching Inception and while the movie The Social Network is getting a lot of buzz, I have to admit...

In memoriam to Tyler. We should respect him for his well being and to who he is

I didn't know about the death of Tyler Clementi, an 18 year old undergraduate from New Jersey until now. It was on the news and when I heard the whole story I was so shocked. He committed suicide when his roommate posted a video of him having a sexual encounter with another man. The video streamed on the Internet and after wards he jumped off a nearby bridge. This then follows with three suicides of schoolboys around 13 to 15 because of their possible homosexuality.

Now not only was I shocked, but was disgusted by the fact that this method of bullying was done by cyber bullying and the cause of this was homophobia. It's stupid to make fun of people and putting them down because of their race, religion and especially their sexuality. Seriously, I can't believe that stance against gays would become so painful and destructive.

It seems that there are many ways to bully. And one of the most powerful method is to cyber bully. Currently, there are more than a billion people using the internet and having greater access. Unfortunately, the greater the access, the greater the chance to be bullied.

When you put in gossip about the victim's character, you'll know you risk harm towards your victim and to  yourself . Either way the consequences are almost harmful. Victims will be let down and will end their life at any chance.

We have two lives in our existence. Our human lives and our life on the Net. Did you know that once you do something on your internet life, you'll risk doing something horrible towards your life in reality. If you put up a picture when you're sexually active, you get to be emotionally put down by a pulp and almost close to the edge of ending your real life.

The perpetrator of Clementi's death was his roommate and without going into any detail, he put up these streaming videos in the Net because he was intolerant to the fact that Clementi was gay. He should not only be charged with the invasion of privacy, but also murder.

Shouldn't homophobia be a crime as well? More of a hate crime. I mean what is it with America and its behaviour towards gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender. Two years ago, they passed a legislation in California to adopt gay marriage. But then a group of religious and conservative people brought that down with Proposition 8. What is it with America. They have an African American President. Why can't people with opposing views against gays be tolerant towards them? These people never harm Jesus or any religious figure. We should encourage equality to every level of character each person has. Whether it's your race, your sexuality or your religion, every character should be respected by others.

I have a friend who is an open lesbian. I respect her sexuality and everybody else has. We shouldn't have signs that can tell that a person is gay. Whether one person of a certain gender does the opposite of his gender, it simply prejudice.

Now in here, we are thinking about how everybody surrounds you are intolerant towards others. The reason why everybody called my favourite things are gay is because they won't tolerate me and wants me to do the same as everybody else. The worst thing about it is that it makes me react by hurting people and turning myself into something I'm not. My school tormented me for watching Inception because they think it was stupid with no proof and to make me miserable.

Why can't we tolerate people of who they are. You're not the Man, you're not someone who tells you what to do because they like you. Why do you put down people because of the music they like. It's not hurting you. My favourite bands never hurt anybody or anyone else. Even my movies. It doesn't harm you. I'm afraid that people who never tolerates anything towards character... they're just scared. They are cowards who never cares about anything, but to themselves


So in conclusion, I want you to think about how who you are would benefit to everyone. If we had ended segregation, encourage multiculturalism and let everybody from another place enter your place, think about equality.

And if you don't agree with me, anyone who is religious, think about Jesus because he tolerates everyone around before he died for us for the cross. Intolerance should be made as a sin.

Here's to you, Tyler.

Why Inception is ridiculed at my school and it will do the same to The Social Network

You know what. Honestly, my favourite movie of 2010 is Inception. Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo Dicaprio. But then I find out something ridiculous and totally unpredictable. Everybody at school (and I'm going to tell you what school am I but it's under WSHS) hated this movie. They either seen it and hated it or just didn't see it and hated it. All from the trailer.

I went over to the At The Movies website, went into an article for Inception wherr David and Margeret gave it 4.5 stars each. If you want to see the whole review, click here

But when you look down, surprisingly some of the comments were mixed. People say they enjoyed it, but there were some comments down to zero stars saying it's the worst movie ever made. "It's illogical and I hate that". Here's one example:

Name: nick

11 Aug 2010 6:25:46pm

Rating: 

Too much.

No subtlety.

Obvious, predictable and pretentious. Characters were cardboard cut-outs. Main plot device (getting Fischer to break up the company) was uninteresting and not worthy of the over importance placed on it by the film. Multiple dreams in dreams != complex stroyline.

When Cobb says "He'll go into Limbo, a world of pure subconscious" I couldn't help laughing, that was the line of too much for me 

although, the idea of the Totem is very clever.  

Seriously, these comments can be anyone who went into the movie and just wanted corrupt the website. But the truth is, these comments can be people from my school. Well, it can't be because nobody at my school actually watches the show where it was reviewed since it was aired on a public broadcasting network and...

Whatever. My school would ridicule me for watching Inception during the school holidays and not watching Grown Ups which they called it the funniest movie of the year. it woud have been said by breakfast shows. I wish they would have the proof to tell me that it was the dumbest movie made. But all I get is Leonardo Dicaprio is a bad actor. Look, whatever that is, these are just stupid reasons. 


For instance, the scene where Joseph Gordon Levitt floats on gravity. That looks cool since there is minimal CGI used and the fact is punching a guy within zero gravity is awesome. The gravity brings Inception into a really climatic stage. Somewhere, I tried hard to find many themes. But I can find two: dreams and manipulation. Manipulating the mind into finding or searching a memento by their dreams. That was Cillian Murphy's role in here. 


I really hate how people think of this movie and it's not fair to be slack to a movie when they never seen it. And I get pretty angry when I am being tormented for watching a really smart movie. These kids made me miserable. Besides I'm not a teacher, I'm a student at this school and I suffer that.


Well I'm not going to judge kids watching this movie based on their intellect, but the fact is teenagers would never get this movie. They'll never understand movies when they're an adolescent. They never wanted to be challenged by filmmakers. All they want is action. Inception supplied that. Teenagers want hot girls in their movies. Well... Inception put in Marion Cottilard, but I'm not quite sure if she's actually that sexy. But yeah. They like Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen beause they had all of that despite the fact that it lacks a story, there's no logic and it has the worst directing ever by Michael Bay! But I have to admit, I actually enjoyed that movie.


Now I wonder what will happen when The Social Network will come out. I think I would experience the same thing when I watch The Social Network, because they've never heard abourt rumours that Hollywood is making a movie about Facebook. IF they seen the spots on TV, they will get it but they won't see it. But if I seen it, I said it was great, they'll torture me with "that's movie gay".


The Social Network is getting universal acclaim currently receiving a 97% rating. The reason for this was because of the charismatic performances, beautiful cinematography, dark direction by David Fincher and witty dialogue from Aaron Sorkin.

But I'm not quite sure whether my school would see this because I just don't think they would go to movies that are really good. Try to ask a teenager had they watched There Will Be Blood. Chances are 1 in 10. They are unlikely to see that movie because the movie's really small and relies on word to word marketing.


The Social Network looks like a very small movie. It deserves all of the critical attention and once its released, it will beat many other films that were quite dull like Let Me In (which I think was a bad idea to remake this movie when the original was pure genius). 


But this wasn't the only movie I'm worried about of what people think. Next week, I'm coming back to school and movies releaased that week are Resident Evil 4, The Town and Cyrus. I wouldn't be watching Cyrus becuase i thought it would have been predictable movie about a middle aged man meeting a single mother of a 23 year old son. 


I'm going to see The Town, directed and starring Ben Affleck by the time its released. It's a box office success and also a critically acclaimed movie. I should think Ben Affleck must retire acting and do directing. He's like the next Clint Eastwood. The trailer was absolutely gripping and it might possibly be one of the most underrated movies of 2010. So that's why I wanted to see this movie. And I also like crime dramas situated in Boston.


But apparently, I'm not quite sure if the school had known anything about this movie. As far as it goes, I'm a 100% sure that the majority of the school is watching Resident Evil. I wouldn't want to watch that movie because it looks like The Matrix with a zombie set.


So as far as it goes, people would want me to watch the dumbest movie ever like they tell me to listen to the dumbest music ever and not letting me listen to my own music because they think is gay.


Back to The Social Network, and it's ironic that the majority of school use Facebook and will tank this movie since again they've never heard of it or they wanted to hurt me for watching really good movies.


Honestly I like being different to the whole school, but when I talk about what i like, I feel totally hurt and I feel miserable because they're totally ignorant, intolerant hypocrites. These people at WSHS do not tolerate what I like and it seems that as far as this go, I would go ahead calling everything they like gay.


Look, I don't know what it is about my school hating the movies I like, but apparently it might be the fact that I like The Hurt Locker over Avatar. Nobody in my school actually seen The Hurt Locker, but at least they heard that it won this year's Best Picture Oscar. The whoe school had seen Avatar and called it the greatest movie of all time because they have seen it in 3D and enjoyed the movie made $500 million for its special effects.


I'm getting tired of my school making fun of me and picking on me for the stuff I like. I can't talk about Inception because they hated that movie. I can't talk about Scott Pilgrim since nobody heard about it and if I talk about it, they will tease me for it. And if I talk about THe Town or The Social Network, they'll say "sorry, but we hate your movies". 


So if I don't talk what I like, my life would be isolated and boring. And yet this school makes this boring.


I wished everybody cared about my movies because I wish people would tolerate what I like instead of saying they're gay without any reason. Because they ignore me when I said Justin Bieber is stupid to listen, and said bad things about my favourite bands Muse and Radiohead as well as Linkin Park. Or which actress I have a ccrush on. Nobody cares if I fallen in love with Scarlett Johansson or Anne Hathaway. But everybody cares about Megan Fox and she couldn't act a single cent. Now I'm almost on the verge of being virtually ignored by everybody. I didn't want to have attention, I didn't wish that people would see me as a smart person. But I wish people cared about my views.


But these are the movies I would like to see and I hope my mates at school would care and understand what are the things I like:

• The Town
• The Social Network
• Tron: Legacy
• The King's Speech
• Black Swan     

The life of Kid A

First of all, one of my favourite bands is Radiohead. A group of 5 people from Ablington School in Oxford in England who meets together to form some of the best music in this modern era of music where grunge turns dead and makes itself look country, Britney Spears and many Disney label artists took over and brainwash our filthy minds and make them so messier. Today our mind was not yet cleaned when a 16 year old idiot squashed our rage with his song reffering to an infant and girls get swooned by them

Anyway, back to Radiohead one of the greatest bands never listened to by the mainstream because of the first paragraph mentioned and in this article we say..

Happy Birthday to Kid A.

I'm not talking about a kid who is named after the first letter of the alphabet. I'm talking about the fourth album made by Radiohead that was recorded at the beginning of the millenieum and really divided fans of the band. So, it's been ten years since this album was released and we still think Kid A is a classic in the alternative rock genre. IT has been named Album of the Decade (the 00s) by Rolling Stone Magazine, Pitchfork beating out other classics such as The Strokes' Is This It, The White Stripes' Elephant and Jay Z's The Blueprint.

What's interesting is that it's been a year since I've bought it and it's only for $9.99 when I first started liking Radiohead. Most of the teachers in my school liked this band while kids are just morons to know about them.

Pre Kid A


Radiohead in the 90s was much difficult to hear. Their debut single 'Creep' became an instant hit unexpectedly in 1993 while Nirvana and Pearl Jam were must listen bands. These bands form grunge and it's bringing alternative rock to the mainstream where the lyrics and tone much range around angst and adolescence.

'Creep' was a radio hit in Israel and despite this success, Radiohead was shocked to learn about that and suprisingly for any music artist they were angry because that single had gave them too much pressure into recording.

When grunge turns itself into the grave, the band recorded their second album 'The Bends' and again they were stuck in the middle of a breakthrough genre in England called Britpop with popular bands such as Oasis, Blur, Primal Scream and Pulp. The Bends proved to be a success that spawned hit singles like 'High and Dry', 'Fake Plastic Trees and Street Spirit. It was critically acclaimed because of Thom Yorke's (the lead singer) falsetto voice.

But much success came with OK Computer, their follow up of The Bends. It was an album that like a best selling novel spawned many allegories. There were many themes towards angst, consumerism, social isolation that were inside each song. It might also comment on the politics of England when Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister of UK. OK Computer is still considered one of the greatest albums of all time.

The birth of Kid A


Recently Linkin Park an album called A Thousand Suns where it was Farewell Nu Metal and changes their music completely. Kid A was like that. It was a complete change in style for the band in which Radiohead mostly preffered that option. Whilst recording, Yorke suffered from writer's block and attempts to fill ideas to songs recorded in the studio.


Kid A was influenced by many genres outside of rock. Jazz, electronica and classical were the main influences. And during the initial release, Radiohead had avoided traditions of each musician. The band didn't release a single, the lyrics were so abstract and 'amazingly' these principles actually work because of unique marketing that involved animated 'blips' shown here.


The album was neither a concept album nor a pop album. It looks like an album with audio filled with abstract paintings that will question itself into what each song would mean. It might be an arthouse album and even though Radiohead never had said about its imagery, it was an album that would divide many listeners of music and many of the band's fans.


Kid A was then released to critical acclaim with Pitchfork Media rated this album 10.0/10, a rare rating for the publication who never done this before to any album reviewed to the site. The album went Platinum (+70000 units) in Australia and was a best seller.







Review of Kid A


Rating: 5/5


Kid A may have been a sudden change for Radiohead, but when I was starting out to like Radiohead, Kid A is almost a beautiful album. It sounds like a soundtrack or a score of a really eerie movie and it's almost visceral to say Radiohead is working towards being one of the greatest bands of all time. Radiohead nails the music with influences from jazz, techno and krautrock that creates such a head trip to the album without a touch of Jonny Greenwood's guitar. 'Everything In Its Right Place' and 'How to Disappear Completely' shows off its true angst, while 'The National Anthem' make itself look epic. Not everything's changed in the album. Thom Yorke's falsetto vocals is still intact despite the distortion of his vocals in the title track. Kid A proves to be a state-of-the-art classic by saying to itself 'I can make my own music' without pulling to the finger to the mainstream society...still listening to dopey artists.


Best tracks:

• Kid A
• The National Anthem
• How To Disappear Completely
• In Limbo
• Idioteque

Post-Kid A

Since Kid A, Radiohead had been recording albums by this style. Their follow up Amnesiac is the follow up to Kid A and had still been successful with their experimental use of music. Later, they released Hail To The Thief where it was influenced by politics. But these two albums still divide fans on whether this style of recording would work for them.

But Radiohead returned back to their roots with their recent album In Rainbows where it was independently recorded. It can sell for any price to download on their website even for free. It was critically acclaimed for being so chilled and at the same time, its lyrics were so seductive.

Radiohead will likely to release a new album any time soon,