ZOMBIELAND! (Rec of the Week Post)

Quick Update: I’m in another fight with my WIP right now. We’re giving each other the silent treatment, so I thought I would finally blog, haha.

Song Stuck In My Head: “I Believe In a Thing Called Love” by the Darkness. Such an awesome yet weird song.

My hand really hurts right now. We had one of our “standardized tests” today in school, and it was the writing portion. I’m so used to writing illegibly and all over the place that writing as neatly as possible on lines just gets on my nerves. It doesn’t help that I had a panic attack because in the two pages we have to write on, I started on the second by accident (it shouldn’t matter, especially since I made a note, but until it gets graded over the summer I will never breathe properly).

Anyhow…onto the topic of ZOMBIELAND!



Once upon a time, two screenwriters realized there was a serious lack of zombies on TV. Movies had a lot of them, sure, but what about primetime? Only their pilot bombed. So, with encouragement, they decided to instead make it a movie and release as an independent film. However, with big names from Woody Harrelson to Abigail Breslin signing on, it instead became a feature film. And…tah-dah.

Zombieland is the farthest thing from a zombie flick. Narrated and told in the point-of-view of geeky, shut-in “Columbus”, played rather redundantly by Jesse Eisenberg, it instead follows four survivors of a viral disease gone bad. As Columbus words it, “Mad cow became mad human became mad zombie”.



Columbus lived because he was lonely and feared people, and created many rules for himself, which is mostly small things like avoiding bathrooms and checking the backseat for any monsters. Woody Harrelson’s character, “Tallahassee”, is a tough, badass modern cowboy - basically a polar opposite of Columbus - who makes hunting zombies (and Twinkies, apparently) his main priority, having lost his baby son to the disease. Joining on for the ride is sister duo my favorite actress Emma Stone (“Wichita”) and Abigail Breslin (“Little Rock”). The sisters are cons with serious trust issues, and lived by pretty much playing other guys for what they had, and because they look out for each other.

This not-so-merry band of survivors end up together, and staying together when they realize it can be a good thing to not be alone in this mess. Together, they avoid the zombies and end up saving Wichita and Little Rock in an epic zombie-fest at an amusement park.



There is only reason I need to give to watch this movie, and it is the characters. Sure, their clashing personalities is a laugh, but there is a depth to each one of them that is rarely ever seen in horrors or comedies, as this is both. The movie is pretty much shaped around them, and how they would actually react towards a messed up situation like this. Definitely a rarity for Hollywood films these days (no offense, guys…okay, maybe a bit).

Here’s one of my favorite parts from the film, if you guys wanna watch. It's Tallahassee on the hunt for Twinkies. ;)



So, has anyone else seen it and have comments? If not, then…another time. It’s the first week of the month, so I’ll try another Playlist post. Any ideas for song themes? :) Oh well. I guess I’ll go back to listening to Avril Lavigne (all I’ve been doing the past week or two, with her album out, well, NEXT WEEK!) and see if my WIP will talk to me. Ooooh, hey, American Idol is on…. *torn*

Later!

Inceptionnnnn! (Rec of the Week post)

Quick Update: Drafted this during Friday’s school pep assembly - which I skipped - to eventually not even type it up until Monday night. Oh well. Procrastinators live for the future.

Song Stuck In My Head: Limp Bizkit’s version of “Behind Blue Eyes” by the Who. For a band full of angst-ridden, half-rappers/half-rockers, their cover of the Who was incredibly emotional.

Heeey guys, hope you’re doing above average. So let’s just pretend it’s last Friday, and this blog post was typed up in time. Sound good?

There are various things I love in the world. Many things. Kittens. Goldfish crackers. Diablo Cody. Spoof movies. Skirts with pockets. If I had to make a list the best things in the world, somewhere on that list would be actor Leonardo DiCaprio (also known as “king of the world!”); actress Ellen Page (Juno, Hard Candy, Juno, The Tracey Fragments, Juno, Whip It!, JUNO!); and anything dealing with dreams and nightmares (mostly because they’re something a lot of my writing gravitates around).

Enter: INCEPTION!



Inception definitely deserves the Oscar nod it recently received, and I’m hoping it gets more than a nod. Christopher Nolan, the creator of this masterpiece, gave us an actual film. A movie with an unexpected but incredibly realistic world. Scarred and three-dimensional characters. A mission that goes from simple to complex and could be deadly for many people if it doesn’t end well.

Even better, Inception is one of those rare, modern films that delivered the “oohs” and “aahs” the classics always gave us. It didn’t remake an old film or plot, or rely on special effects. Even more noticeably, it didn’t weight itself down with forced modern lingo and pop culture references galore. After all, those are the easiest way to give a film - or any story - an expiration date.



Best of all, never-won-an-Oscar Leo definitely made the whole professional acting look like a natural instinct. He prevailed in this film. And his supporting cast - including the lovely, aforementioned Ellen Page - fit flawlessly into each role. If you’ve yet to see Inception, then be sure to change that in time for the actual Oscars so you’ll be rooting for it too. Inception definitely could pull of being the best movie of the year…well, it and the lasts Harry Potter installment. Oh, was that good….

Okay, now off to see if I’m in the mood for math homework again. Hopefully talk to you later this week. Until then, be good! And also please don’t catch acute bronchitis, as I did last week. It’s rather horrible.



Later!

REC OF THE WEEK: Stranger Than Fiction

Quick Update: Downloading songs if fun. Except for when the flash drive says "too many videos". Then that's not fun. :/



Over Thanksgiving weekend, I popped in one of my favorite flicks. Ironically, though it is about fictional characters, literature, and a deranged author…it gets facts about us writers very wrong. However, its other details keep it enriching and lovable.

STRANGER THAN FICTION - also known as Will Ferrell’s most serious movie - is a dramedy about a not-so-social IRS agent, Harold Crick, whose life is suddenly narrated by a British author. An author that uses sarcasm and the phrase “little-did-he-know” to reveal that Harold Crick is a character about to die. His lonely and dull existence comes to a halt as he goes on the search for a writer before she can kill him off…much like every other protagonist in her seven previous novels.

One extremely likeable thing about this film is the random, but well-placed, cast. Maggie Gyllenhaal as the rebellious love interest Harold must audit. Dustin Hoffman as a writing professor who attempts to help Harold locate his potential killer. And Emma Thompson as the author whose eccentric attitude about writing battles her self-loathing when she learns Harold Crick is a real character.

Another likeable part is the screenplay. It’s genius, but realistic genius. Emma Thompson definitely gives the narration the soft humorous touch she needs when describing the tedious details of Howard Crick’s life, and the awkward relationship between Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s characters is perfectly scribed.



With its many memorable actors, the movie definitely hits home with the character sympathy. You feel for the guy being killed and the person who’s about to kill him. What could be better?

I guess the main flaw I should point out - as you guys are writers - is its almost comical way of picturing authors. Such as how morbid the author is when it comes to killing her character (going as far as visiting a hospital and asking where the dying people are) or having an assistant (played by Queen Latifah of all people) sent from her publishing company to help her with her writer’s block. Even if it does get some facts wrong, it does capture the fear of an one our kind when the unimaginable happens…our characters being real after all.



Okay, peeps. Another time! Oh, and the new SSF schedule and blog overall will probably show up in a week or so, now that Web Design class is coming to an end. So stay tuned!

For Those Who Enjoy Spoilers: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS!

Quick Update: So guess who nearly dozed off during a math test today because she stayed up till three to watch a movie last night? Yeah, me. Not fun.

My Chemical Romance song of the day: Disenchanted (a sort of soft ballad, but it's lovable anyways).

I'm actually doing a legit review of this certain HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART ONE movie for my journalism class. But, I'd thought I would be a little less dull and a little more fangirl on here.

So obviously, I saw it via midnight showing wiht my best friend, dressed up in my prized Gryffindor robes (as a kid, I dressed up as Hermione for Halloween...three years in a row). And, as any diehard fan of the books and the films would say - "HOLY SKITTLES, IT WAS 100+ ON A 1-10 SCALE OF AWESOMENESS!"

The reasons? For once, things were spread out a bit and not jumping from plotline to plotline. Second, a lot of favorite characters returned that were necessary to be in the movie (i.e Dobby, Mad-Eye, Umbridge). Third, I'd never seen such beautiful effects - I felt like I was int he wrong reality after leaving the theater. And fourth...well, it just was, okay?

So here's some juicy tidbits. Oh, wait, this is required... *SPOILER ALERT!*




- Hermoine gets a character exploration I'm really fond of. The movie starts at the Ministry, with Rufus talking, but then goes to Hermione's house. There, she's walking towards her parents and, most painfully, erases their memories to keep them safe from the wizarding world. Slowly, to add a depressing emphasis, we see Hermione vanish from all her family photos and her walk away, alone, from her home. Later on, when she must "obliviate" the Death Eaters at a diner, she clearly hesitates. A lot of their hiding places are also old vacation spots with her family.

- As seen in a clip in my last blog, Harry does try to leave the Weasley's in the middle of the night. Ron ends up chasing him down, and gives the scarred man a wake-up that it isn't all about the chosen one and that, besides, neither of them would last two days without Hermione.



- After Ron leaves, there's a sweet scene in which Harry and Hermoine are sitting, lost in their own thoughts while listening to music from Ron's abandoned radio. Harry, who hates seeing Hermione so upset, walks and offers her a dance to the corny music playing.

- Dobby's part is lengthier than in the book, so as to make-up for him being MIA in all the movies since the "Chamber of Secrets". He arrives through Kreacher, having helped the bitter elf capture Mundungus Fletcher. His last scenes at the Malfoy's mansion and Shell Cottage also deliver an emotional punch that the book never could.




- As you may have already heard, the "Tale of the Three Brothers" is told in animation. Not like cutesy animation or anything...it's a cross between line-drawing and Tim Burton but it works. The story has more intensity, and a fairy-tale touch to it.

Most of the major scenes that were taken out are: the heartfelt goodbye to the Dursley's (though they show a hesitant Aunt Petunia in the car), meeting Tonk's family as they go straight to the Weasley's, the informative chat with Elphias Doge (though there is a small meet-and-greet), finding Lily's letter to Sirius though Harry roams through his godfather's room, and Kreacher's tale.

Also, Dumbledore's mind-bending secrets are skated over. While Aberforth's name is mentioned and Hermione shows Harry a picture of Grindelwalk in Rita Skeeter's book, his mother and sister are still unknown.



All in all, a lot of the important and most anticipated were in there, and thanks to acting by British veterans, they exceeded expectations. I hope you guys either see it and enjoy it, or have already enjoyed it. If so, what was something new you really liked about it? Or what was a scene you wished they included?

Another time then...

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Review, Pt. Two - Pros and Cons

Quick Update: What a memorable fourth of July I'm having. Female parental and loser boyfriend got in a fight, so I went with said female parental around the block, saw/heard a couple colorful explosions, and then back home it was. Fun. Still, happy Independence day to all, I suppose.

So, as promises, here is the second installment of my opinion on the third installment of the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. (There's a tongue twister).

I decided to go with a overused tactic...PROS AND CONS OF THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE!

I never fathomed how small/short Kristen Stewart was...

Pro: Scenes like Bella and her mother, Jasper/Rosalie/Quileute stories, Bella's proposition to Edward, and the fight scene between Victoria and Edward were kept rather similar and intact to the original book.

Con: Yes, but scenes like, per say, Edward and Bella's note-passing, Jacob accidentally stabbing his hand and Bella's dangerous "fit", Alice's excitement over the wedding, and Jake ditching Forks at the end...nada.

Pro: Half the movie is not just Bella, Edward, and Jacob competing in emo staring contests *cough* Not that New Moon and Twilight were...

Con: Half the movie was instead spent flipping back and forth between short, cut scenes and never quite focusing on just one. Whatever happened to character and relationship development?

Aww...how romantic....

Pro: Pretty much any scene with the Newborns was friggin' amazing. Such as when they were making a mess with their food, or when their heads turned to dust under the grasp of an enemy.

Con: Er...why exactly did Bella CUT HERSELF in the movie? In the book she was about to, she had a jagged rock ready, but never actually CUT HERSELF. Can we say WRIST-SLITTERS!?

Pro: Werewolves forgot their shirts a lot.

Con: Vampires remembered.



Pro: There was actually a part where Bella expressed emotion (punching Jacob).

Con: Well...it didn't exactly last long.... (no offense, Stewart's awesome, just not in the the Twilight Saga).

Pro: Charlie and Jacob's lines had the entire midnight showing audience laughing their intestines out. I.E "And let's face it...you know I'm hotter than you".

Con: Plenty of corny screenwriting as well, enough to fill the bucket of greasy popcorn. I.E "I'm gonna fight for you."

And lastly...

Main Pro: The actors really got a chance to show off their skills. I suppose after their stints with Remember Me and the Runaways, Robert and Kristin at least proved they could act, and were willing to show it off. And, yeah, the fight scene was wicked cool.

Main Con: As always, the atmosphere and screenplay clashed. Honestly, the books are more light and fluffy than dark and full of angst. The first movie was depressing in both screenplay and setting. The second had a light atmosphere...but extremely depressing screenplay. And this movie had the funny screenplay it needed...but there was still some gloomy/angry performances that weren't always necessary. Hint: stop speaking in the monotone every other minute! Much thanks to Robert Pattinson for listening to that for this movie. He was nearly alone though.



Well, hope my opinion angered no one. I still loved this movie, and would recommend it first when deciding which Twilight flick to watch. Sadly, David Slade will not be directing Breaking Dawn *sob* but with Breaking Dawn being split into two films, hopefully the newbie will have common sense to do them right!

Hope you liked this post, and know what to expect of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse if you have yet to see it. Tune in tomorrow for a new post...still not entirely sure of its subject though, actually. Bye!

Yep, I Saw The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, And...

Quick Update: Um..okay, all blog posts have been postponed until now due to A) lack of internet, B) lack of connected keyboard, and C) my own procrastination. Hope no one is too displeased.

So, the theater is dark. A preview for Charlie St. Cloud plays (and doesn't look too bad), my female parental is quickly outside taking one last smoke of her cigarette, butter is pretty much pasted on my fingers, and I'm up at one o'clock in the morning to watch some romantic film called the Twilight Saga:Eclipse. Is it worth it?



...Hell yes.

Okay, so you could say this is a biased review. I mean, there's the fact that I've been part of the fandom since the first flick came out, that I'm a teenage girl, or the blueprints I have of Robert Pattinson's house (totally joking on that last part). But aren't the haters also biased? If they disliked the previous movies, there's a weight that carries onto this film. So maybe a positive review would be nice, eh?

First off, David Slade is brilliant. I only saw a half hour of 30 Days of Night (grrr, had no choice, it was on TV) but there are a couple music videos of his that I love (Stone Temple Pilot's SOUR GIRL and AFI's GIRL'S NOT GREY, to be exact). He did an above average job at bringing a more vampire-ish atmosphere and horror elements to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Scenes - like the opening clip of newborn Riley writhing in agony on the harbor, or the fighting scene in which the Cullens and werewolf pack snap heads clear off the enemy - would have scared original director Catharine Hardwicke silly.

Isn't the Twilight Saga: Eclipse's Xavier Samuel (as Riley) fine? *cough* Um, back to the review.

I personally love how Slade gave the actors more leniency. It's brutal honesty, but in the first two movies characters were pretty one-dimensional and emotionless. Maybe Stephanie Meyer's writing style isn't flawless, but she had at least managed to create more fleshed-out characters (whether Bella is a "Mary Sue" character or not, she did have a sarcastic point-of-view sometimes, and tended to be scared easily, for instance). Robert definitely got in more time to be a rough, protective vampire (see scene below, between Edward and Jacob after Jacob steals a smooch from Bella). If anything, it was Taylor who lacked as much flavor in his one-liner deliveries, as funny as they were. Here is where Edward threatens Jacob (video is not mine):



My favorite part of this third installment was definitely the back stories, and how they played out on-screen. Eclipse is my favorite book in the series, mostly for this same reason. There are chapters that focus just on the histories of Rosalie, Jasper, and the werewolves as a whole. And while not every detail made it in, the dramatics were amazing. We got to see Rosalie take her ironic bride's revenge out on her fiance, Jasper kill newborns for Maria and how much it pained him, and the "cold ones" when they first conflicted with the "spirit warriors".

Heehee, my first funny image of Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Captions are pretty cheap though.

That said, it has its flaws. Kristin doesn't get Bella's torn feelings across that well. Not that we have enough time to see her go back and forth between Edward and Jake (though a part where Edward makes a show his kissing abilities with Bella when the dog's watching). And a lot of the funnier parts seemed to have too much intensity with them. Take the scene embed earlier; in the book, it's a funny and ironic one. Jacob immaturely kissed Bella, and she got pissed in a way only a teen girl could. and there was a string of insults that followed as she had Edward pick her up. And yeah, he got protective, but he also had a funny, CALM monologue about what he'd to Jacob should he ever harm Bella again.



This post is starting to get too long, so I'll put the review to a halt for now. Tune in tomorrow (and yes, I promise tomorrow there shall be a post!) for more pros and cons on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ! For now, other blog posts are waiting to be read!

Oh, and a major thanks to my new followers. I don't now how to repay the fact, except for following you back! :) Hope people reading this enjoyed!