Mini Review #5 - Memento - Ironically Memorable

Memento

        In my opinion, Memento was a good movie. I usually enjoy mysteries, so I really enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on and what would happen next. The backward, flashback-like format was very confusing, but this just made it more fun to try and predict things. It was so engaging that it bothered me to have to wait a day until I could figure out what was going to happen. I love stories, whether books or movies, that make you think, and understanding Memento took a lot of brainpower. The idea of the film was also great. Having a guy that can’t remember events from just minutes ago was really cool and allowed for all sorts of interesting scenes. There were hilarious scenes like when the hotel manager tells the protagonist, Leonard, that he is charging him for two rooms because he won’t remember anyways, and intense scenes like when Natalie screams insults at Leonard but he can’t find anything to write it down with so he forgets and kills Dodd for her.

WARNING - THIS CLIP CONTAINS A LOT OF BAD LANGUAGE

The movie’s story may be disturbing, confusing, and violent but it certainly isn’t boring. Another great aspect was the twist ending of Leonard actually having lied to himself to go after Teddy, and the explanation that he had killed his own wife. I was not at all expecting that so it made me rethink the whole movie. I love endings that mess up everything you thought before. It was very exciting and afterwards I wanted to go through the whole movie again to pick out all of the clues leading to the truth. Overall I thought Memento was a wonderful mystery movie with a great plot and unexpected finale.

Mini Review #3 - Not Worth 50 Cents

50 Cent - “In Da Club”

        I dislike this song and its music video immensely. The song is bad enough on its own. I personally can’t stand rap because it sounds like someone mumbling inappropriate nonsense to a repetitive beat. To me, this is exactly what 50 Cent is doing. I can barely understand what he is saying and the few words I do catch I wish I hadn’t. He also repeats the same two lines over and over again which quickly gets irritating. The song isn’t catchy either. I don’t like a lot of other songs like “Call Me Maybe” and “Teenage Dreams” but they still get stuck in my head. “In Da Club” doesn’t even manage that. The morals expressed in the song and video are also horrible. 50 Cent states, “I’m in to having sex, I’m not in to making love”. That’s a terrible and heartless thing to say, and is not an honourable moral to live by. The video is also 80% provocatively dancing women with very little clothing on. That is giving girls a bad image and not something I particularly want to watch. I don’t think 50 Cent should be promoting morals like this. Lastly, I find the music video ridiculous. It is based around 50 Cent being a specially designed ‘artist’ created by a team of scientists. This idea could have been interesting (even though I don’t know what the scientists were thinking) if the video had consisted of more than him working out and partying with half-naked girls. There are maybe four shots actually involving the scientists. The partying and working out doesn’t even make sense because if he is supposed to be a manufactured singer, then why does he need to be incredibly muscular or good at sitting down drinking alcohol? I suspect this is because he wanted lots of shots of himself without a shirt on and an image of being a ‘fun’ guy. The irritating music, disgusting morals and annoying video all combine to make me loathe this song.

Gross and unnecessary.

Mini Review #2 - Edward Scissorhands - A Cut Above the Rest

Edward Scissorhands

            I loved Tim Burton’s film Edward Scissorhands. Burton’s style of darkness mixed with fantasy and humour is always odd yet entertaining, and Edward Scissorhands is no exception. Edward is kind of scary with his scissor-hands, all leather outfit and abnormally pale face, but he is also funny and lovable. The settings also follow Burton’s style. Edward’s castle is creepy and shadowy, but is also fantastical and funny with giant machines that make heart-shaped cookies. This mix of darkness and absurdity is very weird, but definitely enjoyable. Burton’s personal style makes the film more interesting. The plot is probably the best part of the movie. Placing an anti-social teenage guy with massive scissors as hands into an overwhelmingly suburban area is a hilarious twist. A leather-clad guy interacting with gossipping, pastel-coloured women is ridiculous in a good way. The story isn’t just funny though. It is also adorably romantic when Edward falls in love with Kim and heart-wrenching when everyone turns against poor Edward. The film is filled with unexpected twists like when Edward accidentally cuts Kim’s little brother or when Kim’s ex-boyfriend confronts Edward with a gun. In my opinion this film combines comedy, romance, horror and action to make an incredibly fascinating story. Edward is also a large part of why I like this movie. He’s so adorable with his innocent lack of social skills, and is hilarious when put in new situations. All he wants to do is make friends and help people, and that is cute to watch. Particularly great scenes with Edward are when he is incredibly focused on picking up and eating one pea during dinner, when he freaks out on the water bed, and whenever he smiles.

Edward makes this movie even better because he is such an innocent and lovable character. Overall, I love Edward Scissorhands because of its ‘Burtonesque’ style of creepy fantasy, its captivating plot, and adorable protagonist.

Mini Review #1 - A (Not So) Innocent Guy

Batman: black and white - An innocent guy

No normal guy looks this scary.

        I really disliked this comic book. First, the main character is extremely irritating. He thinks he needs to do something horrible in order to prove that being good feels better. He decides to kill Batman and then compare that feeling to being nice. This is ridiculous. No ‘innocent guy’ would ever consider cold-blooded murder. Killing Batman would mean increased crime in Gotham because innocent people will have no protection. He talks about murder like there is nothing wrong with it. He just wants to try it out and can go back to being good afterwards. That isn't how it works though. I think that if you have killed someone you are stuck being evil, particularly isfthe victim is innocent. This guy is wrong and evil but won't accept that, and that irritates me. Even if the character did have a point about trying out good and bad (which he doesn't) he should do something smaller that does not involve the murder of a celebrated hero and innocent people killed by unrestricted super villains. With a crime like stealing or kidnapping someone (then releasing them after) he would still get the feeling of badness. His stupidity irritates me. Another reason I don’t enjoy this comic book is the art style. I may be biased due to my familiarity with beautiful, elegant manga drawings, but everyone in this comic appears old, ugly, and exaggerated. The main character looks really creepy, which does not at all fit with his title of ‘an innocent guy’. Everyone also has exaggerated facial expressions that make them look both ridiculous and terrifying. Even Batman, who should be a strong, admirable hero, looks disgusting and wrinkly. The ugly art style is too distracting to even allow me to focus on the plot. 

Batman's chin is weird and he looks about 60 years old.



Finally, the panels are way too crowded. It is too difficult to focus on what is going on. This can be seen in the panels below:

The two bottom shots are absolutely chaotic. One includes Batman, multiple computers, a dinosaur, a giant coin, the Bat-mobile, and a bunch of bats, all stuck inside a cave. The picture ends up looking like a large black mass instead of something cool. If this was in colour it would be even more distracting and crowded. I find that this confusing layout takes away from the story because I’m overwhelmed by so much happening in such a small area. To summarize, I can’t stand to read “An Innocent Guy” due to the idiotic protagonist, ugly art style and crowded format.

Mini Review #4 - Frankenweenie - Shockingly Good

Frankenweenie (Original)

        I enjoyed the short film Frankenweenie a lot. Much like Edward Scissorhands, the amazing dark yet whimsical settings were courtesy of director Tim Burton. Great sets include the foggy pet graveyard and the attic with the crazy contraption (including live fish and lightning) used to resurrect Sparky. The sets are dark and weird but also very captivating.

2012 version of the attic contraption - very similar to the original

Next, I liked the main theme expressed in the movie. The film focused on the idea that being different or ‘weird’ is a good thing. Sparky tries to fit in after having been brought back to life, and his owner, Victor, even has trouble fitting it. Both characters are actually really nice but are distrusted because of their strangeness. I like this theme because I completely agree that being weird isn’t a bad thing. I’m a bit different and most of my friends are, so I see nothing wrong with it. I like that Tim Burton conveys that through his film. Finally, I loved the ending of Frankenweenie. It ended happily with everyone working together to revive Sparky, and he even got a girlfriend. I can’t stand endings that don’t tie everything up, so I’m thrilled that the end was so neatly wrapped up. It’s also hard to hate a happy ending, and the reunion between Victor and Sparky was absolutely heart-warming. Frankenweenie’s excellence is due to its ‘Burtonesque’ settings, great theme, and happy and conclusive ending.