I would know you anywhere!

At this point, I've actually seen Alice in Wonderland twice. Once in 3-D at the midnight showing and once in regular old 2-D about five days later. I was going to post about it right after seeing the movie, but I knew I was going to see it a second time and really wanted to finish forming an opinion about the film itself. So after seeing it twice I decided a few things: 1) Disney 3-D is pretty cool, though I am still against the hype. 2) I really liked the movie. 3) Johnny Depp really makes his young co-stars shine on screen.

I knew I was going to have to see it in 3-D, because that's what everyone was talking about because it's the first big movie to come out in 3-D since Avatar made so much money. I've seen a few 3-D films from the old cowboy movies of the 1940s to megablockbuster Avatar, but seriously Disney does it the best. I still don't think it should be an every movie thing, or even advertised as this revolution of a film experience because its not really. Any movie with a great script, a big enough screen and some captivating performances can draw you in ten times better than a tree branch being in your face. With Alice, even when I was watching the 3-D film I wanted to watch it on a regular screen. I knew that the colors, the vivid characters conversations, the playfulness of the movie would not be lost just because I couldn't see certain things pop out. But I did think that the 3-D was better done than even Avatar that was techinically filmed in partial 3-D technology. The interesting thing about Alice is that Tim Burton filmed old school way adn reformatted for the new verison, personally I think I might like that way better but its too early to tell yet.

The movie itself had a story that brought to life I think what many of the people I know are going through today. A real mirror of society almost, funny enough that's what the original Alice did back in 1865 England too. But watching it and listening to the issues that were brought to life on screen, screamed of the half foot in and half foot out moment of many. Alice, a nineteen year old who is pressured into societal constraints breaks free only to not know what real path to take in Wonderland. Actually she spends a lot of the movie convinced she is the wrong Alice, even though the creatures of Wonderland know better they let her be about it. Its a journey to self- discovery, falling down the rabbit hole was a push to movement to finding answers. Recently I did some research on how the art of the depression from photographs, music and film were trying to get society basically just moving again. I was struck by how in Alice everything was about making her move, making her discover, make her understand. Interestingly enough the movie ended with business proposals, ideas of expanding and exploring the real world. Though some of the dialogue was hard to understand in sections, it was delightful. My favorite moment being between Hatter and Alice about her muchness. It was a great thought, having that gumption that part of you that believes in who you are and what you want and getting it. Even if the story is a classic age-old tale that has been told several times and in many movies and countless books, it's something that just never gets old. Also how many times do you get to see it come alive with a floating cat and mad hatter, or an obnoxious queen with an over-sized head? Tim Burton apparently agrees with my take of the film according to Tim Burton in an interview with D23:

What do you like about this version of the story?
What I like about this is that it's more of a personal journey. These are the things that are actually the most important in life. That moment where you make that important choice. Maybe it happens to everybody. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it does a couple of different times in your life, where you learn something, you grow. You know, it's like you've got two sides of yourself in conflict. Emotionally conflicted. And then, when you make that personal growth, it's quite an amazing thing. Quite a strong thing. It's reconciling within yourself who you are, becoming the person you're going to be, a human being. It sounds light, but it's important.

My last point is that Johnny Depp at this point is such a wonderful actor. Such a powerful presence on screen that you would think that he would overpower everyone else especially some of the young actors he shares the silver screen with but he doesn't.  As I really believed in Alice, as Alice I thought about this about how this girl that I had never before was just charming at this character. She really fit into the wonderland, confused and lost when she had to be and brave and independent when the time came. I am definitely going to keep an eye out for Mia Wasikowska. The evidence, of the young Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding Neverland) suggests that Mia might be up and coming. 

Truthfully, I think everyone should enjoy Alice in her Underland and have fun with it. Maybe even read the books when you get the chance, I know I'm going to take a crack at them soon. 

Cue the singing child

This past week, after playing trivia at our local Friday's a few of my friends bribed me into seeing the Crazies. I say bribe because, I'm not a scary movie person. It's not that they scare me, quite the contrary they bore me. The thing about scary movies is that they have all become so incredibly formulaic that it's hard not to already know what's happen when you're the type of movie watcher that I am. Though one could argue that all movies have to some extent become formulaic, as I guessed almost the entire plot of Shutter Island within the first ten minutes too. ((That was a sad disappointment, though the acting of that film is still worth the watch)). But the point is that scary movies formula is just not my cup of tea, I don't care for the high pierced music that signals my heart to beat faster or for the unnerving moment when a little girl starts singing a nursery rhyme. I'm not a huge fan of quick editing cuts telling me to feel nervous, or dim lighting to warn me that someone is going to die. But that's just me, I know plenty of people that don't like the dramas that I so thrive on.

But back to the movie at hand, The Crazies a bribe to go to a movie I clearly wouldn't have ever seen without someone making me. Starting with my favorite part of the movie going experience, I automatically noticed that even all the trailers were for up and coming horror films. The only one that really caught my eye was one that started in a diner, with a young man sitting at a booth which I automatically recognized as Kellan Lutz. I surprised even myself for knowing who the shadowy figure was on the screen but I definitely paid more attention to the trailer itself just because I'm a fan-girl of his. Nightmare on Elm Street is a movie I might invest in and I'm not sure if it's because I support Kellan Lutz or because the trailer actually intrigued me. On a factoid note about the movie itself, Nightmare on Elm Street is a remake of the very first film that Johnny Depp was in, ever. It was the movie that launch a career that has given us such wonderful films as Chocolat, Pirates, Benny and Joon and this weekend's Alice in Wonderland. So if that's saying anything about the potential of the film itself, I might as well possibly check it out!

I don't remember what else was promoted before the Crazies started but once the movie started I was set to dissect it. Before entering the theater this is what I knew about the movie: the title, the poster had a pitchfork and was dark, the trailer had screaming and I was pretty sure it was set in some rural town. That was it, I couldn't tell you who was in it or what I thought it was about or anything else. The movie started and I laughed as cue the vast wheat fields that start every horror film known to man. I'm convinced that the reason I might be afraid of large open spaces of Middle America is because that's what horror films have taught me to fear. The film started with a military styled radar screen that made me think for about five minutes that maybe the movie itself was about aliens. That idea didn't last as in the opening sequence no one died by the hands of some unknown mystery killer. Someone did indeed die, but by the hands of the town's sheriff. That little sequence of events was enough to tell me that this movie was not about a crazy killer, it wasn't some subversive message about rebellious teenagers meeting their demises. No this movie was in literary terms going to be a story of man vs. man, basically. I mean really we could debate that it was a man vs. machine but that would side track me even more than usual.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot itself, even though I fear I might already done so. But in short even though I could guess where the plot was going, the movie revealed itself half way through anyway. So then I caught myself wandering what the point of the film itself was, the journey? The fight? I'm still unclear what the real purpose was, as anyone who sees it might agree with. But at the end I didn't hate it, and I was distrubed by it and I wouldn't not maybe see it again. I enjoyed the film for what it was, I enjoyed the different twist of it not being just a lunatic killer with some vegeance. I liked the fact that it was possibly trying to make a social statement of some sort. I still correctly bet that someone wouldn't die with one of my friends who was convinced that the character would. I still hated the part where classic empty street with one young woman on a bike came out singing. I still got a good laugh out of the jumping and shrieking of the audience that was so involved in the film that they reacted when the music and the lights told them too. But all and in all, I might start giving some scary/ horror films a chance again.

The Lost Boys

I've been feeling like a bit of lost boy myself, well at least in terms of my poor blog updates. My disappearance for the last month and two weeks has not been spent under a rock and away from all creative muses. On the contrary the end of December, the entire month of Janurary and the beginnings of February have brought nothing but creative muses into my world.
Here is a quick review of what exactly has been inspiring me to no end, some of the things I might still write up blurs about but most of them are now receding to far into the past to catch up with all the new things I have yet to experience and consume.


The Week Night Line Up:

• Big Love- I fell into the trap of yet another HBO show. Though I have to say this one drives me less crazy on a weekly basis. It's not like the other shows I have watched that leave you hanging unbearably for a week with cliff hangers and seven unresolved plot points. The great thing about Big Love is the heart of the show itself and the relationships of the family and the individual with religion. I don't think the show's focus is on the negativity or the unexplained aspects of mormons, though of course there is the negative in there. I am really enjoying the mutli-wive relationship that in my head is a modern study of understanding to the stories of Jacob and his three wives (at least that's the way that I relate it to me and my religious and cultural background). I might talk more about this as season 4 progresses, but for now check it out if you have a chance because it's definitely an easy hook to get into.
• Grey's Anatomy - This show is finally in a real upswing again. It might even be getting better than it was it's first season. If you had watched it and stopped, start again. And if you haven't watched it at all, watch a few key episodes or the starter kits and start.
• Castle - The Alyssa Milano episode was great, if you watch no other castle episodes watch that one.
• Psych - is back and I just realized I never got around to writing about last season. 
• White Collar - same problem as poor Pysch above, I watched it because really it's Catch me If you Can as a TV show. So you know, likely there will be more to come on this show in the near future.
• Greek- Is back... I think after the 80s episode I might discuss my absurd love for this show. 

My Bookcase:

• Sookie Stackhouse Novels - I'm on novel number 9 and I wasn't going to write about them until I finished all the books that were already out. Easy, fast and enjoyable reads.
• John Adams - I started reading this historical novel about one of my favorite revolutionaries and presidents. We'll see how I like it...
• Bro Code - Barney is as entertaining on paper as he is on screen my friends. That's all I have to say on that so far.
• Teenager: I bought this just a few weeks ago and it's actually a nonfiction novel on the creation of youth culture in the U.S. I'm more excited about it than I should be. 
• History of Society: I found this awesome old text book in a book store in Pasadena. It's a sociology text book from 1934, that was actually regifted sometime in 1954... (there's a hand written note inside the cover) It's huge but I'm trudging along in it and love it... more to come on that I can promise!
• There are at least four other books that I'm planning on reading soon, or re-reading as the case might be... so you know no worries about books.

iTunes Recently Played:

• Strangely I want to point out how this could have only years ago been titled, in my CD player. Times are changing faster than I think we even notice.
• The Hope for Haiti Digital CD - incredible. If you watched the George Clooney production or not, you should get this CD because aside from donating money you get an incredible collection of work. I just love the collabration of lean on me with three artists, of the moving vocals of Justin Timberlake... just go download it. 
• Hoy Me Voy, a song by Juanes redone with Colbie Caillat. I did not know this song even existed until I was looking something up on Colbie Caillat and realized it had been made years ago. This is one of my favorite Juanes song (a Colombian rocker) and I was thrilled with the reworked english vocals added by Colbie. 
• Recently I discovered new music to me, though old really in nature. I've been listening to The Fratellis, Swayze and Atomsphere quite a bit to name a few. Also Toy Soliders by Eminem, just awesome. I don't know how I missed it before?

On the Silver Screen:

• Sherlock Holmes - I saw this on Christmas Day, of course! And it was everything I hoped for and more. Because really Jude Law brought new life to Watson that I didn't expect. Also Robert Downey Jr.'s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes was possibly my favorite!
• Young Victoria - What surprised me about liking this movie, isn't that I liked the story, but that I liked the creative shots and artistic aspects of it. There's this one shot in particular that really caught my eye that was the opening visual for a fancy state dinner where the camera pans a row of glasses in a perfect row. 
• Avatar - I waited much longer than most people to watch this movie. I was under the impression that it might be getting far too much hype for a project that was James Cameron possibly showing off. I didn't dislike it and I might think that it did deserve its hype. My problem with this movie might now be that for some reason it's bringing up how 3D is the way of the future. 3D movies have existed basically since the creation of  movies (ok, maybe a few years after the creation). And the push for this type of movie isn't because it can really add to your experience (I see plently of 3D movies) but that it makes everyone more money. So please don't fall for this ploy, we do not need 3D TVs. We need to go outside and actually live in the real world more.
• Up in the Air- sad and depressing, though definitely worth it's hype on parts of the acting.
• Dear John - I might actually have to read a Nicholas Sparks novel soon. I have always intended to, just haven't. The striking moment of this movie and love story for me was that this wasn't some military romance of World War II, this wasn't oustide events and emotions that happened within my life time. It was awing. Also I decided that Nicholas Sparks depiction of the love story, the couple might be a great thing to compare to love stories written by woman. So that might be coming up here soon.
• Leap Year - Romantic Comedies can really brighten up any day, as long as you're in the mood for light, frothy and completely predictable. Amy Adams was adorable and her trusty sidekicks of the movie a great pair of shoes and louie v. bag... totally a crack up. It definitely made me want to go back to Ireland though, great scenes.
• I feel like I saw a few more things that I can't even remember now. 

 The Human Story:

• I ran this great contest about status updates on facebook that I intend to write about soon. It has to do with the need to attach meanings and craft narratives from things we don't understand.
• Yesterday, I saw life walk by me on either side of the road it made a great impression on me. Right next to a high school I saw a young couple walking on my left and two young boys riding scooters to my right. Then up a few feet, I saw an older woman in her 30s maybe jogging along and on the other side a man in business attire walking slowly. This story played out for a few blocks, with people of all walks of life walking by me as I was driving. It was really cool. 
• To add to the madness and my insanity of noticing all stories, I have also gone back to school. I am now a student of Humanities,  which is literally the story of humans, the narrative of the very essence of what makes us people. Definitely more on my studies to come!

This weekend watch out for Percy Jackson and Valentine's Day Movie thoughts. But before I leave you, I leave you with this great little article that I found very amusing.

http://www.virginmedia.com/movies/moviegeek/features/everyday-things-never-happen-in-movies.php?ssid=1