Evanescence

Evanescence is the band no one would guess I listen to. It's the "Find the one that's different" in my music collection. As a general rule I don't listen to that style of music, and the first two times I heard their songs I was totally not interested. No, what brought me around was the lyrics. Song lyrics in a friend's chat status that so completely impressed me I had to hear the song.

You don't remember me, but I remember you.
I lie awake at night and try so hard not to think of you.
But who can decide what they dream? and dream I do.  - Taking Over Me

The song starts with piano, effectively catching me off guard with the drums and electric guitar that start mere seconds later. But by then I'm already trapped... her use of minor, chord changes, and harmonies is a feast for the ears. In fact, often the rock elements add to the song, rather than get in the way by being distracting. And, of course, Amy's voice is gorgeous.

I was thoroughly snared when I heard the song "My Immortal." The version I heard had no drums or electric guitar at all, putting it in the class of songs I usually listen to, and allowing me to become completely captivated without having to subject myself something I usually didn't like at all. In fact, I loved this song so much that I later went on to do a harp cover, successfully imitating the piano part through most of the song. It's the most accurate reproduction of a song I've ever done. There was nothing I wanted to change, or improve on, so the arrangement is virtually the same.

For a whole summer I listened to Evanescence while delivering pizza. I had only one album by them: "Fallen." Finally one day I ventured onto Youtube to see if they had written anything else, and I discovered their demo album "Origin." "Origin" is still my favorite album of theirs. I wish it were easier to get copies of. Many of my favorite songs are from there; "Field of Innocence", "Listen to the Rain", and "Lies".

And then, oh then there was my science fiction novel, recently re titled "The Justice Project". I was doing massive revisions at the time I rediscovered Evanescence, and so that was all I listened to for a solid months while I revised. Somehow, by the time I reached the end of the project I discovered that the songs and the tone of her style had somehow engrained themselves into the very fabric of the story.

Please don't be afraid
When the darkness fades away
The dawn will break the silence
Screaming in our hearts. - Understanding

For the first time I had a novel with a theme song. Then I had characters with theme songs. Then I had songs for the ending scene... the final playlist came to a total of five songs. "Field of Innocence"(Kaylee's Song), "Lost in Paradise"(Dorus's Song), "My Heart is Broken"(Dorus's Ending), "My Last Breath"(Kaylee's Ending), and "Understanding"(Finale/Theme).

Other favorite songs include "Like You", "Bring Me to Life", and "Hello". Obviously I got past my usual dislike of rock music, and became completely obsessed. The question is, why? Besides their obvious talent, what makes this group so remarkable, and what do I personally see in it?

Music is a powerful tool, and this band knows how to use it in ways that many never seem to realize. Specifically, the lyrics are absolutely amazing. There are lines that never cease to move me, no matter how many times I've heard them.

I'm so tired of speaking words that no one ever hears.
Is it clear enough that you can't live your whole life all alone?
I can hear you in a whisper but you can't even hear me screaming. - Where Will You Go?

I've never studied the life of Amy Lee, the lead singer and songwriter, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that she writes from her own experience. There is something so real about these songs. They are not proud or self-centered. They are not juvenile demands for attention. They are not shallow or coarse. They are hopeless, heartfelt pleas for help and salvation. They are songs of love and death, of loss and longing. They are so beautiful and so poignantly sad. These are the songs in the heart of every rebellious teenager. They are more than songs; they are prayers. They are the agony in the eyes of everyone who says they're fine; begging you to look behind the walls they've put up and see the truth. They are a final request for something eternal to hold onto.

Now that I know what I'm without you can't just leave me here.
Breath into me and make me real; bring me to life.
Wake me up inside, wake me up inside,
call my name and save me from the darkness.
Bid my blood to run, before I come undone.
Save me from the nothing I've become. - Bring Me to Life

Review: Titanic/Avatar

Joss Whedon may be my favorite Storyteller, but James Cameron is my favorite filmmaker. I've seen two of his films: Titanic and Avatar, and both were breathtakingly beautiful. They may not have had the more original stories, or been the most historically accurate or logically sound films, but you don't realize that when you're watching it. When you're watching one of his movie all you think about is what he wants you to think about, all you see is the beauty of his worlds.

Titanic
There are two reasons why people don't like, or won't watch, Titanic. The first is content issues. The second is the tragedy aspect. We'll deal with the content first. To begin with, it's not as bad as people think it is. My mom, for example, thought that one of the characters was a prostitute, which is not so. The plot, however, revolves around a drawing, and the drawing is of the main character without any clothes on. The drawing is shown several times, and the scene where it's actually made is part of the climax of the film. But, overall, it's cleaner than Firefly.  One girl I talked to said it's not a film for mixed company, and that about sums it up. When I watched it is was with my younger sister, her best friend, and her best friend's grandmother who's house we were staying at.

Now on the other hand, if you're not someone who doesn't like tragedy, you might be very well advised to stay away from this film. I cried. I cried through the entire second half. The story, in a nutshell, is of a young woman named Rose being pressured into marriage with a controlling man by her overbearing widowed mother. Her mother is concerned only with the money she'll get out of the match, allowing her to maintain her place in society, rather than have to face the prospect of working for a living. Rose is dissatisfied with her pointless life of luxery and despairs to the point of being ready to take her own life. She is saved by a witty, penniless young man named Jack who is going to seek his fortune in America. He saves her twice, but his actions put them both into compromising circumstances.

Rose and Jack continue to see each other. He becomes her only friend, and takes her to the lower decks to parties with other passengers of his class. She finds real companionship among the poor, and a meaning to life that she'd never experienced in her own class. He saves, not just her life, but her soul. He teaches her to live, to love, and to give.

Is it sad? Of course it's sad! It's about the Titanic. Everyone dies in the end, and it's long, drawn out, and horribly tragic. I'm told by people who know such things that it's woefully inaccurate historically, and I'll take their word for it. At the same time, though, it shows the reality of what disaster is like, especially when brought about by pride, and how cruel human nature can be.

I've recently heard Titanic accused of feminism. Try as I might I've been unable to figure out how this can be. Feminism is women's desire to take the place of men in society. Titanic is a romance, with no opportunity for that kind of worldview. Rose chooses to take her life into her own hands rather than continue on the path chosen for her, but that's rebellion, not feminism. Her father is dead, and she is unmarried, so she's not even rebelling against a male authority. Rebellion is not always wrong. Choosing to follow Christ when your family forbids it is rebellion also. One might frown upon her reasons for rebellion, but it's not feminism.

Can we get to the good stuff now? I loved this film. To answer the perennial question: if I could choose one film, only one, to study to become a filmmaker, it would be this one. There isn't a single shot, a single light cue, a single line that wasn't carefully thought out and placed to make an impact on the viewers. The cinematography, the acting, everything blended together beautifully. It was amazing. I have never seen anything like it, before or since. I would recommend this movie, in spite of it's content, to anyone who wants to study film. If you object to nudity keep a remote on hand and skip those scenes. There's only two or three, and the rest is sheer beauty.

Avatar
I saw Avatar twice in theatres, first in 2D with some siblings and then in 3D with my father. The general consensus is that it's better in 2D. If there was an award for worldbuilding this film would win, hands down, in film and in literature. James Cameron blends alien with the familiar just enough to create something both amazingly different, and beautiful. Sure, the story is basically Disney's Pocohantis, and if there was a sequel in would involve nuking Pandora from orbit, but you don't think of those things until later. You don't care, because the entire reason you watched the film was for the scenery.

A lot of time, when authors take it upon themselves to invent a new landscape, it becomes garishly different. Stray too far from the beaten path and all you have is strange, not beautiful. We, of ourselves, are not capable of creating beauty. We can only embellish beauty that already exits. Reading "Out of the Silent Planet" made me positively dizzy when I tried to picture the bizarre landscapes the Lewis described. Watching Avatar was simply breathtaking. Everything was bigger, and everything was blue. He used bio-luminescence liberally, and colored everything in blue and purple. He drew heavily on colors of the night, and messed with the laws of physics as only a true artist can do.

The aliens win a prize all their own. Most aliens tend to look either like Vulcans or Moties; practically human or totally weird. The Na'vi strike a nice balance. They take some getting used to, but we can recognize them as people, rather than animals, and they have their own kind of beauty and grace. And by the time you walk out of the theatre you've decided you want a tail of your own.

Content issues for this film are pretty simple; none of the natives wear any clothes. Well, for practical purposes. It didn't bother me one iota, because the aliens are eight feet tall, blue, striped like a zebra, and have tails. Other people think differently, however, so there's a very simple test. Look up any picture of Neytiri and see if it's something you're comfortable watching for three hours, because that's what she looks like for the whole thing.

Then there's the religion aspect. At first you're kept guessing whether or not it's going to turn into some weird new age/mother earth time piece, but eventually we find out it's actually a form of Whovian Science. It may sound like a religion, but there's actually an explanation: the entire planet is telepathic! Now that is downright cool. (My favorite Doctor Who/Avatar crossover is A Moment of Peace. Whovians will enjoy it, even if they haven't seen Avatar, just 'cause the idea of a telepathic planet is cool!)

Music

Have I not mentioned music yet? Both films were scored by my favorite film composer; James Horner. The music for Titanic carries the plot perfectly, and the love theme is enough to make most people cry regardless of if they've seen the film or not. The entire score speaks poetry and urgency at intervals, never completely letting you forget that this is a tragedy, never letting you forget that this is a romance.

The score for Avatar is simply amazing, in my uneducated opinion. The rhythms are unique, the tones are unique, and let's not talk about the key changes! One reason I was really excited to see this film was because I knew James Horner was scoring it, but then I kept forgetting to listen to the music. (Which is a good thing in film, since the music should not be obtrusive.) When I did, however, I was not disappointed. Listening to the soundtrack makes you feel like you're flying. The theme is one of my favorite songs by him, ever. It's one of the few songs I can identify that actually uses a parallel major, instead of the relative. To put it simply, it's amazing.

In Conclusion
Put James Horner and James Cameron in the same film and you're sure to have a winner.
James Cameron may not have the most incredible or unique stories, but he's talented enough to make you not care. Imagine if James Cameron made Joss Whedon's films... I have never heard anyone quite give Titanic justice, and Avatar seems like one of those often underrated films. Hopefully this review served to give a more balanced view to two of the most influential films in the modern history of filmmaking. 

Review: Tron

 Greetings, Programs.

Let's see, where do I start? Tron... I saw Tron:Legacy for the first time on vacation, actually, at a friend's house. I also saw it for the second and third time. The family I was staying with watched it in groups. The parents one night to approve it, the boy the next afternoon because he thought we wouldn't like it, us girls that evening when we insisted we would, and again the next night because the little boys had to go to bed the previous evening. Told from the start it was boring and pointless I and my friends were, of course, determined that it wasn't.

I didn't fall in love with it, to start. I was intrigued, definitely. It wasn't boring, but it was confusing. I theorized that it was heavily based on the original Tron, and that the filmmakers mistake was that the people who'd seen original Tron had forgotten it, and the people watching Tron: Legacy had never seen the original. Ultimately it was the discussion, the confusion and the warnings of boringness that made me really fascinated.

I came home with this otherwise pointless movie on my list to see again after I saw the original. I hunted down the original, and suddenly was converted. Legacy has little to do with the original Tron, although there is tribute after tribute nestled into the cinematography. Somehow, though, I liked both. Tron is old, the graphics are old, and the plot is a little flat. But I loved it. I loved the characters. I loved how noble the character Tron was, I loved how potentially dangerous theology was easily dispensed with.

From left to right: Tron, Ram, and Kevin Flynn

Tron: Legacy did not deserve it's name. Tron isn't even in it. Well, he is but... [spoilers.] I've heard it said that it should have been called Flynn's Legacy, but the how would we have connected it to the original, eh? Anyway, titles aside, Legacy is of interest as a film student, if nothing else. It's as much on the cutting edge of what's possible in film as its predecessor was in its day. The cinematography is startling, as it centers heavily around light. Everything seems made of light and glass, and is blue or orange on black. While this is very unique, it personally gets tiring on your eyes after two hours. A lot of people probably will find Legacy boring. It has a lot of rather long lightcycle chases, and it successfully put my dad to sleep. But the real reason this is one of my favorite movies is the music.

When my friends younger brothers were watching it the next night I originally started out in the kitchen playing go fish. We could just make out some of the sounds from the movie through the wall and on occasion I would life my head and listen thinking "That's really cool music." It's more than cool music, it's brilliant music. It's become one of my favorite soundtracks. You can read more about the music in a review by Aubrey Hansen.

In summary, my favorite character is Tron which makes me very excited for Tron: Uprising next summer.  I think that both movies have equal merits and were brilliantly done. They may not have the most original plot on the block, but they've certainly got a unique premise. And just to prove how much I loved them I made this nice mashup with my favorite (and only) computer game, Myst.

Review: Firefly/Serenity

(This post is dedicated to Luke Alistar, who figured I'd be a fan once I watched 'Serenity' and figured correctly.)

What did I love about Serenity? Everything. The music, the cinematography, the characters, the plot, the jokes, the tragedy... it is a masterpiece of film, and proof of how amazing good science fiction can be. But let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I've heard a lot about the film Serenity, but every time I sat down to watch it I rediscovered that it was the sequel to a TV series called Firefly. Of course, I'd seen and loved Doctor Horrible, and this was by the same director, but I really didn't have time for an entire show, and I really didn't want to see the movie out of context. One day, however, I decided that Firefly was only one season, I should be able to get through it eventually, and I really wanted to see this movie everyone had been talking about.

Firefly was good. Not my personal definition of brilliant, but good. It is unique as far as scifi goes, and has a definite Western flaire to it. It's got a very lovable cast of characters. I was very dubious of it for the reason that the main character, Captain Malcolm Reynolds, is played by Nathan Fillion, who is Doctor Horrible unlovable nemisis Captain Hammer. I thought "Am I going to be able to take this guy seriously, or am I going to think "Captain Hammer" every time I see his face?" It's a testimony to Nathan's acting ability that the two characters have absolutely nothing in common. There is maybe one or two "Hammer" moments in the entire series. They don't even look the same.

When it came down to it, though, I was still only watching Firefly so that I could see Serenity. And as time went on and I got closer to the end I began to be afraid that Serenity would not live up to all I had been promised. I inadvertently encountered spoilers and I was afraid it would be too gory, and not as beautiful as I had hoped. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Serenity was, in a word, beautiful. Definitely on my list of favorite science fictions. Every bit as good as Firefly and, in some cases, better. My one complaint is that the characterization seems to have gotten messed up, but that's because of the time lag between series and film, I suppose. That brings us back to the beginning:

What did I love about Serenity? The cinematography was some of the best I'd ever seen. The settings were incongrous, and really drew your attention to the story. Realism is one of the major selling points for Firefly, and Serenity carried this to it's maximum potential. Planets of peace and harbour were dusty, dirty, and people worked hard. The planet where death waited behind every door was a shiny, ideal science fiction city. The contrast was brilliantly portrayed, both in story and in film.

The story... the story is about the crew of a space ship who make their living on the fringes of the law. The entire system is under the rule of the overbearing Alliance who think they can control people's individual lives. The Alliance is afraid of rebellion, because their rule was won in a war not long past, and there are still those who resent it. The Captain of Serenity, Malcolm Reynolds, is one such who fought against them. And during the course of the movie he becomes ready to fight again.

River Tam

Malcolm's first mate Zoe fought beside him in the war, and she is married to their pilot, the funny and lovable Wash. Their mechanic is named Kaylee, and she can fix anything. A mercenary, Jayne, fights only for personal gain... most of the time. Simon Tam is a young doctor, a surgeon with a brilliant future, who left it all behind him to rescue his sister, River. River is quite possibly my favorite character. Whatever the Alliance did to her it left her strange, unpredictable, and possibly dangerous, not to mention the most wanted fugitives in the inhabited universe.

In short, I loved it. It was violent, yes, but not gratuitously so. And actually, the movie was cleaner than most of the Firefly episodes. It's a brilliant portrayal of realistic futuristic scifi with some of the most incredible characters I've ever seen. We need more films like this. But then, we need more films by Joss Whedon in general. 

Pixar vs. Dreamworks

Cars 2 has been met with an interesting reaction from my peers. Many of them were disappointed in it, claiming it didn’t live up to Pixar’s standard of quality. Some even said it “felt like a Dreamworks film.” For Pixar geeks, that’s just about the worst insult you can give.

- Aubrey Hansen

Aubrey Hansen (check out her blog!) is a dear friend of mine, who's been slowly educating me in the world of animated film. Aubrey is a great lover of good stories, beautiful animation, and wholesome morals. I blame Aubrey for the fact that I've been getting Disney Princess films out of the library to watch. But that's another rant for later...

I have been superhero movie hunting as a result of writing superheroes for Nano. I knew there were two animated superhero movies, and I couldn't keep them straight, and neither was ever at the library when I checked: Megamind, and The Incredibles. It wasn't until after I watched Megamind that I realized it was the Dreamworks film, and Incredibles was Pixar. For a few moments I was horrified. What had I done, falling in love with a Dreamworks film?

See, I am not an animation geek. I am not a Pixar geek. The number of animated films on my favorites list is one: The Swan Princess. I like Gulliver's Travels too, but it doesn't really qualify for favorites. Suddenly the number of animated films I loved had doubled. I watched Megamind five times in the week before it had to go back to the library. I eventually got Incredibles too, but after watching all the Behind the Scenes videos I discovered the actual movie was too damaged to play. It was weeks before I had another chance to watch it.

So the final assessment?

The Incredibles


Absolutely brilliant premise. I love seeing Superheroes trying to cope in an every day world. It was very cute, especially having child Superheroes. I bet my siblings would love it. But, it simply cannot compare with

Megamind: 

"Incredibly handsome criminal genius, and master of all villainy!"

"Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?"

Megamind is Classic Doctor Who (specifically the Doctor/Master relationship) meets Doctor Horrible (without the tragic aspect). It is brilliantly funny, and a bit sad in places too. Unlike Doctor Horrible, Megamind's enmity with Metroman is their version of a friendship, and he gets a happy ending. But it's the only other movie that has ever made me laugh and cry simultaneously. Who would have thought that an alien with a giant blue head could be so... cute?

A lot of people get confused by Megamind. They're not sure what the message of the story is, or whether Megamind really reformed. The "message" is one of my all time favorites in stories and can be summed up neatly:

"It's never too late to do the right thing."

That's the beautiful thing about Megamind, as a character. He tries so hard in the beginning to do the right thing, and learned from negative feedback it wasn't possible for him to ever be popular that way. The second half of the movie teaches him that's not true. It's never too late to do the right thing, and even villains can be sorry and become heroes.

"Did you want to hear me say it? I'll say it. I am sorry."

This review is a bit lopsided, notice? What can I say? I may not be a Pixar geek or an animation lover, I can't discuss the finer points of filmmaking or give a realistic analysis of Dreamworks, but I am absolutely a die-hard fan of Megamind. 

Review: Superman

Every time one turns around these days new Superheroes are popping up. With new movies like Thor, Green Lantern, and Captain America we can sometimes find ourselves feeling a little outnumbered by men of steel. Especially when you're as behind on the classics as I am.

Somehow, the night my family chose to rent Superman I was not at home. I suffered patiently for years thereafter, for having already seen it everyone else wanted to move onto new, exciting films, and Netflix has a grudge against putting anything I wanted to watch available instant view. (This is very similar to the fact that if the local library ever has a movie I want it always vanishes from their shelves the day I arrive to check it out.) That is why I love Spiderman, hate Batman and yet knew nothing about the one superhero you couldn't miss: Superman.

Netflix at long last took pity on me, and I finally met Clark Kent in person. I got to watch Superman, Superman II, and Superman Returns. I started on Superman IV and quickly realized that the reviewers who said the series went downhill were very, very right.

Superman
So the first Superman movie was pretty good. I got rather confused more than once though, but managed to blame everything on the fact that it's a comic book. Clark Kent is a little too perfect, a little too invincible, and not quite bright enough. I didn't quite understand why he needed an alter ego, when everyone knew of his existence already. (Contrary to Spiderman who had to live an ordinary life because he had an ordinary life to begin with, Superman had the freedom to fly around and just be Superman.) I don't understand what he sees in Lois. I've never really liked her name, and she screams entirely too much. And I didn't really figure out what was going on at the end, or why the mere sight of Kryptonite had such an effect on him.

There's an interesting logical problem, Kryptonite is part of the planet Krypton, right? So... Superman's race lived there. So how can it be dangerous? The planet was made of it. If it's that dangerous, no one could live there... right?

Superman II

I actually liked this one better than the first one. The stakes were higher. Dangerous criminals who can equal Superman's strength; there's some real conflict for you. Not to mention they had pretty cool costumes. Superman's decision to give up everything for love, I love that. But... why was that required? It wasn't very well explained why he had to become human. And then he becomes a total wimp. Even without his superpowers he should be able to defend himself.

The interesting logical problem in this one is the final battle at the end. The bad guys start picking on the citizens, and of course Superman should have known they would. So why did he lead them away to some place deserted from the get go? He should never have allowed them to choose their own ground.

Superman Returns
I found out about this one and thought: Aha! It's new. Modern movie standards to the rescue. No stilted dialogue or unbelievable plots. This is going to be good. I was quite disappointed. I did, however, really, really get involved in the scene where he get's beat up by the bad guys. It was... intense. But then the resolution just kind of flopped and the entire thing went back to being lame...

Interesting logical plot hole of all plot holes (and a major spoiler): the child who's supposedly his son could only have been conceived when he was human, which means the child can't be a superhero because of the entire plot of Superman II!

Overall Thoughts
He has the most beautiful name. Kal-el. And what do they call him? One of the cheesiest names ever, Superman. The only person who uses his real name is his holographic parents. Kal-el. Just say it out loud a few times and you'll start to wonder why they didn't use it more...

Despite being a perfect gentleman and the ideal man I really don't like his morals.

There's entirely too much worship going on. Worship of Superman, worship of the government, etc, etc.

When I'm all grown up and rich and famous I want to produce my own version of Superman. In the meantime I must content myself with fanfiction; something I never thought I would ever write.

Fanfiction
(Or what I think the story of Superman should be.)

He has never been truly happy.

He's tried of course, he's pretended. Even as a child something was calling to him, telling him he was different; he would never belong.

He's an alien, so far from home. His world is destroyed, his people are gone, and he is so very, very alone. He struggles to reconcile his past, his culture, with the ordinary world he's grown up in. He's young and ill-equipped, and feels positively inadequate for his position. He's shy and uncertain, and when around the girl he adores he's positively clumsy. He wants to explain, he wants her to help him. He needs her to fill the emptiness he feels, to take away the horrible aloneness, but he can't.

Krypton is gone, shattered into a million million pieces. Parts of it keep drifting down to earth, reminding him of what he's lost. A bit of metal, a few criminals, shadows of his father's name; the father he never knew. He tries to escape it all, to leave it behind. He tries to abandon what the crystal showed him. The world was fine before he came, it will continue without him as it did before.

He is so weak, so helpless. Nothing feels right. Nothing fits. This is not what he had hoped it would be. Even as he realizes he cannot escape who he is he knows that he cannot abandon what he has become. The people count on him, they look to him for protection. He cannot leave them alone now, he cannot abandon them. He has failed, he has betrayed them after giving them a false sense of protection.

He returns to his godship, to the cold emptiness of the stars. He swears he will not abandon them again. He will not betray them. They thank him, they worship him, but he shakes it off. He wishes they would not. He is nothing but lonely, afraid, and empty. He turns away from them, still smiling, and flies off into the night. Only then does he hide his face and weep, giving up everything he loves and desires for duty that has been pressed upon him. He will protect the earth.  

Review: Pendragon

About a year and a half ago I watched all the behind the scenes videos from this film and decided that when I grew up I wanted to be a filmmaker. Since then I've met people who worked on Pendragon and met people who knew people who'd worked on Pendragon and I've felt quite jilted because I didn't get to work on it. And yet, despite all that, I never saw it. The problem with independent films is that you usually have to buy it to see it, and I'm just one of those people who will put off buying something for months, regardless of how badly I want it.

But finally I was at a friend's house who owned it, so we watched it. The funny thing about a well-made movie is that there doesn't always seem to be much to comment on, so it's great fun to nitpick an independent film. It has character, and like most characters it has flaws. A controversial movie or one with flaws tends to be the most popular, at least in the internet culture because there is actually something to talk about. I found more to talk about with Pendragon than I did with any other film I've seen in the past two years. And good or bad, that's a good thing.

ACTORS
The problem with family made films is that family members get the main parts regardless of how well said family members act. Also, because they're family members, it can be a lot harder to teach them to act. Wenneveria had a lot of promise as an actress, but not enough experience. Artose was pretty good. Cadeyrn was the best actor in the film. The acting was one of the biggest giveaways that this was a family made film.


MYTHOLOGY AND RESEARCH
There were several things this film did that I positively loved. The welsh names were brilliant. The research was very well done. All the text was in Latin. The roman history was good. While it didn't follow the Authurian mythology it didn't betray it either. You could see places where you could tell it was based on King Arthur and it's a very good representation of what might have actually happened.

FIGHT SCENES AND CHOREOGRAPHY
The individual fight scenes were very well done, in my humble opinion. The sword dance was beautiful. I thought it was a brilliant way to have a girl in a dress swordfight without having her act in a very unfeminine manner. (Which would both some people, and wouldn't others, all of which is beside the point.) If I ever need a good choreographer I'm going to contact the people who did Pendragon first.


However, the big battle scenes were not good at all. I'm not sure what the difference is in a realistic battle scene and one that looks like a bunch of guys dressing up, but they looked like guys dressing up and standing around in the woods. They would have done much better to only show close ups during the battle or to avoid the battles altogether. The wide shots of the armies were just another betrayal that it wasn't a multi-million dollar budget film.

COSTUMES AND SETS
Artos' mother looked like a Roman general.

I was informed by a costuming expert that everyone of Wenneveria's dresses was from a different time period and none of them were the right one.

Everyone was a little too clean...

The entire army was in blue. You can pull this off in a fairytale film, costuming the army in the King's colors, but not in an accurate historic one. I understand they probably wanted visual confirmation of which army was which, or they wanted to be artistic, and on stage or in a different genre it would have worked, but not this one. Every time I saw them all in blue I kind of sighed in frusteration. That just doesn't happen.

The sets were absolutely incredible. Watch the behind the scenes videos and they become even more incredible.

PLOT AND CHARACTERS
They definitely could have used a better script writer. The story line is riddled with plot holes and the characters tend to be somewhat wishy-washy. In places the dialogue was painfully modern, and in places it was clearly written in an archaic style. I think the script held the actors back more than anything. But overall the plot made sense, Artose had a nice character arc, and I was happy that everybody got to live happily ever after.

THEOLOGY
This was the other very modern element. I didn't have an actual problem with the fact that every other conversation was a sermon... except that it's a sermon from the wrong time period. Arthur was very religious. You can't read through the myths and not pick up a constant stream of prayers and rituals, church services and pleas in the name of Christ. They could have told the same message in a historically accurate way, but instead it sounded like a modern Evangelical church. People back then didn't have the same theological problems, the same solutions to such problems, or the same resources we have now. It was their one area of research I was very dissapointed in.


CONCLUSION
I loved it. It was exactly what I expected it to be. It's not an earth shattering achievement, it's not overwhelmingly awesome and miraculous; it's a very good movie made by a lot of determined and talented people. It was a first film, and it shows, and it shows us all that first films can be incredible. In spite of it's flaws it's a success, and we love it more for not being perfect because we can aspire to the same thing.

Review: Tangled

If you're anything like me you've already read way too many reviews of this movie. Despite the fact that I avoid reviews before I watch a film at all costs this was one case where I simply couldn't get away from them. I kept trying to get the movie from the library, but first other people had it, and then I was busy, and then it mysteriously disappeared... well, two days ago I got to watch it with my cousins.

Firstly, as a general rule I do not like Disney Princess Films. The Little Mermaid was a disgrace to the fairy tale community. We're not even going to talk about the Princess and the Frog. The only similarity between Aladdin and the Arabian Nights was the name of the prince. So when I saw they were making Tangled I couldn't have been less interested.

The main plot of Rapunzel is as follows: An evil witch steals a child, and locks her in the tower. The only way up is by climbing the girl's hair. A handsome prince hears her singing, climbs up into her tower, and they fall in love. The witch finds out, cuts off Rapunzel's hair, blinds the prince, and throws them both out. After considerable trouble the two are reunited, Rapunzel's tears heal the prince's sight, and they both live happily ever after.

Tangled has all the elements that require it to be recognizable as a Rapunzel story. An evil witch, a girl in a tower, the longest hair in the world, and a magical healing from tears. But since the original Rapunzel story doesn't have a whole lot of plot (the girl sits around in the tower weaving a rope ladder) they added to it considerably. But unlike with Little Mermaid, they added to it in a good way. I, the fairy tale purist, loved it. Granted, it was still obviously Disney, but it was good in spite of that.

Flynn is very lovable. Rapunzel is adorable. Maximus is flat out hilarious. Stupid, totally unbelievable, but all the more hilarious for it. Every disney film has it's talking animal sidekicks, and I think part of what endeared this one to me is that the animal sidekick's didn't talk. They just had a lot of personality.

Of course, I can't write a Tangled review without adressing the issues brought up by all the critics...

Rebellion

"This is just a part of growing up. A little adventure, a little rebellion...that's good. Healthy, even." - Flynn Rider

Well, the first thing I'd like to point out is that Rapunzel isn't rebelling against her mother. She's rebelling against an evil witch.  You're supposed to rebel against them. But that aside, the basic principle he's advocating still needs addressing. I had one friend tell me that quote was the only part in the movie she really didn't like, and I agree. If I'd been writing the script I would definitely have put it differently. However... Flynn is telling the truth. Children do need to grow up. And if their parents don't let them grow up (as Mother Goethel did) then rebellion is the natural and, dare I say, healthy result. I'm not going to get into the whole question of kids who's parents won't let them grow up, so I'm simply going to refer you to a simply spectacular series on the subject by Micahel Pearl: Jumping Ship.

Feminism

"When will my life begin?" - Rapunzel

Well, you know, she asks a very good question. She's a girl in a tower with an evil witch who has never seen another human being. Talk about having no purpose in life. Another thing pointed out by a reviewer is that Rapunzel takes the lead, rescuing Flynn from all kinds of dangerous situation. However, Flynn wouldn't have been in those situations if not for her; she simply turned out to be an asset rather than a liability. She's just a girl who knows how to take care of herself, which is admirable. She fights with a frying pan. What could be more feminine than that?

Romance

It's a Disney Princess Movie. 'nuff said.

Conclusion
Possibly the first Disney animation I've ever seen that I actually liked. (Disclaimer: I haven't seen very many, their reputation scares me away.) The music was breathtaking, the character lovable, it was hilarious, dramatic, and tragic. It was more or less true to the story, which is sure to win points with me if nothing else does. The ending was brilliant. And I finally got it from the library so I'll be watching it with all the small ones in a few days.

Review: Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog

This will be my first review, as per the request of a friend of mine who keeps hearing about it. The first time I mentioned Dr. Horrible was in my post Tragedy, Comedy, Dramedy, where I compared Doctor Horrible and Doctor who while analyzing the potential for tragedy in fiction. Comparing is one thing, actually reviewing is something else.

My first encounter with Doctor Horrible was another friends status message: "Doctor Horrible is taking over the internet!" I watched the video she linked to (go on, watch it) and instantly had to know more.

What I found was a musical, science fiction-steampunk short, made for Internet on a shoe-string budget during a writer's strike. If that isn't awesome enough, the movie was also brilliant.

Plot: During the first five minutes of the film we learn several important things. Dr. Horrible is a villain. He's also very bad at being villainous. He has a serious crush on a girl named Penny who he sees every week at the laundromat, and his nemesis is a hero called Captain Hammer. Dr. Horrible's goal is to get admitted to the Evil League of Evil but his admission heist is thwarted by Captain Hammer, inadvertently causing him to meet Penny.

Theme: What differentiates a hero and a villain? Doctor Horrible is a villain by one set of standards. He's a mad inventor who plans to take over the world, has an almost Scrooge like view of the human race, and has the thoroughbred of Sin as his role model. Captain Hammer is always saving the world whenever Doctor Horrible makes an attempt against it, and that automatically puts him in the class of hero. But apart from that Horrible has all the traits we admire in a protagonist. When he's not a villain he's an ordinary guy with friends. He's in love with Penny, but he's very respectful of her. He wants to give her the world and let her rule beside him. He abhores killing, and talks about solving humanities problems by taking out the government rather then simply dealing with symptoms. By contrast Captain Hammer has no morals, is a lustful, wanton man who isn't against hurting other people just to get back at Horrible. While there will always be some who think he's "cool" for that type of behavior the majority hate him for it, siding with the so-called villain.

Music: The music is absolutely incredible. The songs are pretty short, but then so is the entire film. (Only 45 minutes.) Doctor Horrible sings of death and despair in duet with Penny who's life and songs are filled with hope and compassion. Captain Hammer is self-serving and arrogant. The counterpoint is perfectly arranged, and the music and lyrics match moods in a way few musicals acheive. The music is absolutely one of my favorite parts about this film.

Will I let my little brother watch it? A lot of reviewers don't rate content issues, and I know of a few who seem to only rate content. There's nothing that makes me more annoyed then to sit down to watch a movie with my siblings and discover that I should have watched it by myself first. I wouldn't let my siblings watch this one for the simple reason that Captain Hammer, the so-called hero, repeatedly makes vulgar jokes about Penny to enrage Horrible. They're very effective at making us hate the character, but not exactly the kind of vocabulary you want young kids picking up. It's surprisingly clean otherwise; no violence, and not a lot of swearing that I can even remember.

Reviews

It was recently suggested to me that I should post reviews on this blog. My first thought was "Why on earth would I do that?" but almost immediately afterwards I thought, "Well why not?"

I never read reviews. Well, I almost never read reviews. Well, I never read reviews for things I haven't seen. Or I try not to. Sometimes I don't succeed. The reason why is thusly: I see a new movie coming out. I don't care. I won't even remember the title, unless it gets mentioned to me multiple times. But if I let myself read a review... or two... or listen to friends talking about it, or get sucked into a discussion, I get curious. "Is it really as good as they say? Could it possibly be that lame? And what's it really about?" Before I know it... I'm watching a movie I never had any, any interest in the world in seeing!

But, that's the point of reviews, isn't it? So the question I have to ask is: do reviews meet the vision and purpose of the Idea Factory? The answer is yes. Many Ideas come from movies and films, both good and bad ones. Not everyone can watch everything, so there needs to be some guide of what to watch. Reviews help provide this, and spread awareness about worthwhile ones. On top of that it gives me a chance to carry on about what I love and hate in what I read and write, and everyone always wants to do that.

And that is why I'm going to start writing Reviews. (With a capital R. Because everything important is capitalized in the world of Ideas.)