MYST Post #3: 96 Minutes

While just scrolling through Netflix and trying to find something to watch, I decided to take a different turn and watch a movie that I probably wouldn't have ever watched. So immediately, I went to get my computer and went to www.rottentomatoes.com and the critics scored it higher then the audience with a 47% and the audience with just a percent lower with a 46%. And then I was like OK this is the website that allows lenience, let's see what Metacritic has to say about this movie. And Metacritic says that the critics likes 51% and the audience likes it 6.9 out of 10. So I was like why not just watch the movie and find out for myself how good or bad this movie really is.

In this movie, the main characters are Carly (Brittney Snow), Lena (Christian Serratos), Kevin (J. Michael Trautmann) and Dre (Evan Ross). The movie starts off as all of these characters in the car and Lena is shot in the cheek and Carly and her are sitting in the backseat while Dre is driving and Kevin is in the passenger side. The only people that are worried about what might happen to Lena is Carly and Dre. Kevin could care less about Lena, all he was trying to do was highjack a car in order to get into a gang which by him stealing a car, it would be his initiation. The movie then flashbacks to all the events prior to them ending up in the car ride in which Lena was shot in the cheek. Dre starts off his day going to school and his teacher telling him that he's going to graduate and that he only has to pick up his cap and gown. Dre, then meets his girlfriend and he surprises her when he says that he's actually graduating and he says that he's going to hang with his buddies from when he was younger. And of course, she suggests that he doesn't and he comes to hang out with her and celebrate, but he insists that everything is going to be OK and that he wants to hang with them.  The movie then shows, Kevin waking up and instead of trying to go to school, he just starts playing a shooter game and then his mom walks in, and he asks where she's been and she swears at him and says to mind his own business. The scene then switches, and shows Lena waking up in bed with the guy she believes likes her but through his actions and the way he talks to her shows the he evidently doesn't feel the same way and that she's only a one-night stand. He then leaves to go take a shower and she gets up and looks at his phone and sees a text from another girl saying that she can't wait to

see him tonight. She then gets up, gets dressed and walks to her house across the campus. She then talks to her friend about what happened and her friend promises that tonight, they'll go and have the time of their lives and forget about what happened with the guy. The scene then switches to Carly, when she walks into class and then she is debating a case (because she is in lawyer's school) with another classmate and the teacher stops them and states that on Monday they will resume where they left off and Carly and another student walks off together while discussing what they will be doing this weekend. The scene then switches to Kevin and Dre walking away from their "friends" with Kevin stating that he's going to get into the gang one way or another and then Dre telling him its not worth it. It's then nighttime, and you see Carly parking her car, and then walking into the club and then you see the Lena and her friend walking into the club. After that scene, you see Dre and Kevin getting off a bus and Dre telling Kevin that he's going to go to this college once he graduates and Kevin then says why has they not allowed him into the gang and Dre says because I asked him not to and Kevin goes crazy and says I'm stealing the car right now and he sees Lena and Carly walking to Carly's car and Kevin pulls out a gun, takes Carly's keys and then throws them to Dre stating that he needs to drive. Everyone gets into the car except Lena and Lena is begging that he spare their lives and Kevin keeps the gun at her face and says "get in the car". He then shoots her in the cheek and then Carly grabs her and lies her down in her lap. They all get in the car and soon enough they are arguing whether to go to a hospital or to keep driving. And then Carly thinks to grab a piece of paper and writes with Lena's blood "Help, Call 911". She then takes the sheet and puts it up on the window and no one notices it until one lady sees this a moment too late because then Dre decides to turn another way and stop at the gas station at Kevin's request and Dre tells him to get what he needs and get out. At this moment, Kevin goes inside the gas station and tries to buy alcohol and the man says he has to have an I.D. to buy it and he calls him son afterwards and Kevin has a flashback of his stepdad calling him that and he tells the man not to call him that and the man continues to call him that and Kevin shoots the man. Dre hears the shots and at that moment Carly decides to open the door but is forced to close it once Kevin runs out of the gas station. They drive off and Dre states that just because Kevin has the gun doesn't give him the right to shoot others and Kevin said he did it because he was hungry and the man kept calling him son. They then stop at an underpass and Dre tells them all to get out. They all obey with Carly helping Lena because she is losing lots of blood and she really needs to get to a hospital. Dre tells Kevin he's going to shoot the girls and Kevin says "Can I do it?". And Dre says this isn't a game Kevin, and Kevin gets confused and they start to argue and Carly takes this chance to run and Kevin turns around sees that she running and says "Hey girl!" and takes the gun from Dre and shoots her in the head. Dre and Kevin then run to the car and speed way leaving Lena and Carly there to die. Dre drops the car off and wipes his prints off saying not to tell anyone and Kevin walks and away and then Dre walks away to his house. In the next scene you see Carly getting up, and running in the streets to get someone to help and see stops at one house with a light on and the people just turn the lights off and she decides to run in the streets and one car stops and he tells her get in the car. Of course, she's scared but she relents and gets in and he takes her to a hospital and she tells them that

her friend, Lena is in an underpass and needs help. Once they operate on her, the man who saved her tells her that her friend, Lena didn't make it. She then tells him that Lena, was going to graduate in two weeks. The next scene shows Kevin walking up to the gangsters and telling them what happened. Through their hand motions and actions, you could tell that they weren't going to let him in and that he's stupid for killing someone. The next scene is shown when Dre is in jail and Carly is coming to see him and she tells him that was he did was unforgivable and that whole night he could've done something to stop what happened. She then states that she tried to forgive him but couldn't because he ruined everyone's life that night and that she hopes he rotes him jail. The movie ends with her driving "towards her new life".

This movie was a bit fast-paced and things happened so quickly that you could barely keep up with what happened next. I don't like how the movie ended because it ended up with Dre in jail and Kevin getting nothing. Yes, I understand that Kevin was 16 and Dre was 18 but Kevin did the most damage with shooting 3 people, killing 1. Yes, Dre should have done something like go to the hospital but he was trying to save a friend from getting in trouble as well as maybe saving himself because he would

be guilty by association and aiding a criminal by law. Dre should've gotten in trouble but punishment ultimately should've been given to Kevin he did the most damage and you do the crime you have to pay the time, I don't care how old you are. Based on the degree of which he did the crime, he deserves to be tried as an adult and sentenced. This still does not exclude Dre, because he could have done something to stop these events and minimized what happened to him. But I don't know, maybe the law enforcement did something to Kevin but in the movie it's not shown so I have to right to say what did and didn't happen

The main scene that stuck out in my mind is when Dre is sitting in jail thinking and he has this little sharp object, carving little pictures and words into the wall. This scene stuck out to me because he's thinking back to all the oppurtunities that he had to stop what happened that night but he was either to dumb, stupid to try to stop it or he was trying to save a friend. And honestly, I think that he feels very bad about what happened and that he didn't mean for any of this to happen but Kevin could care less about what happened to the girls, he'll continue to live his thug life and try to act tough and bad. But Dre really did not deserve for this to happen to him to all happen.

I give this movie a 3.5/5 stars. I would definetley reccommend watching this movie because it kinda stirs emotions in you and makes you think about if you were in this same situation what would you do. 

Trailer:

Formal Film Studies: Teenage Movies in the 1980's

Although teenage movies today has sex and scandal and murder and sometimes they might even have

 the typical teenage drama where a girl likes a guy and she thinks he does not like her, when in reality he does. But no one era, can compare to the 1980's era of teenage films. I happen to love this movie era because the movies meant something, there was always a message even if it was goofy or serious

the messages meant something to people. This era was full of love and hate and in some cases there was a murder and kids had to take a journey to find the missing body. But still, I think that people can grow to like them and like the messages behind every story even if it's little and you don't quite catch the meaning until you're thinking about it. But for the sake of time and sanity, we will look and discuss three movies: The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bullers' Day Off.

In all the movies, the style is some what the same and some what different. In The Breakfast Club, they happen to all be in detention and they seem to grow closer as the detention goes on and they find to like each other, even though they know Monday morning when they see each other in the halls, they are not to speak because they come from a different clique. In Pretty In Pink, the boy likes the

girl, even though they come from different social classes, that hardly matters to him because he really likes her and nothing can change that not even a social class. These two movies happen to be the same in style and they way the story is told. They both share a story about class differences or clique differences. In one standpoint it shows that class differences do not matter and that even if you're from a different clique it can work out but then it shows after the time together that can go away based upon people's opinion of who should be with who. And in Ferris Bullers' Day Off, when they decide to ditch school and go have fun in the city and they know that they have to make this day count because this is the last time they can ditch because if caught Ferris will have to do another year of high school and Cameron and Sloane will get suspended. These three movies differ because they each have their own message behind each movie and they convey about the love of each other and they say yes you can have fun but you can't ditch school while doing it, or you can't be together because he is rich and you aren't, or he's a rebel and you're a princess, so why go through the trouble of even thinking about being with him.

The messages in two of the movies were the same while one was different. In Pretty In Pink and The Breakfast Club, they have similar messages. The messages for both of them were yes you can be together even if you aren't from the same social class or from the same clique. And both directors (John Hughes and Howard Deutch) made sure to include this factor into the movie, so that the audience understands this message. In The Breakfast Club, towards the ending, the teens state: "So what about Monday, will we be talking to each other and saying hi?". Of course, the right answer

would be yes, but unfortunately knowing that to talk to each other while with their clique would be out of the ordinary and would mean possible exclusion from their group they state: "No". And in Ferris Bullers' Day Off, the only message is to have fun and if by ditching school, and almost getting caught means having fun then do that. These films influence the culture because it teaches teens that you can like each other and be from different social classes or cliques or that you can have fun by ditching class with their friends. This last message in Ferris Buller is negative about the values that people teach their kids and it says yes you can have fun but you should ditch class and then once you're done you can make it home and still not get caught and get in trouble by your teacher. In Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club the message is positive and it says you can be with anyone and it does not matter whether or not you're in the same social class or not. This is very important to the fact of public perception because people can argue that these movies are important to American values or not.

These movies have no real political views or mentions something political about them. The only movie that mentions war, is Pretty in Pink when her dad talks about when he was in war and afterwards when he meets her mom. And due to the fact that her dad and her live in the bad part of town and they aren't really financially supported because her father does not have a job. Maybe that has to do with the economic part of the government. During the 1980's, there was a failed U.S. rescue attempt to save hostages in Tehran, John Lennon was assassinated, Mount Helen erupts and Ted Turner establishes CNN. None of these connections are purposeful and there is no none connection between the film and the content of political views. 

In the movie The Breakfast Club, the quote that stuck out to me the most was most definitely when Andrew says "We're all pretty bizarre, some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all." This is very important to me because, it makes me look at everyone in my own life differently. Such as the fact that, I have my own likes and dislikes and sometimes when I see someone different then me, I might comment or smirk because they have a different taste then I do. Or maybe the fact that they're aren't as fortunate as me, and I will pity them and feel bad and maybe say, "If I had money, I'd give it to

them." I tend to not realize, that everyone has their own troubles or worries in their life and that they don't need me to make it worse for them by snickering or making fun of them. Or how I shouldn't pity another person because, I would not like for someone to pity me. In Ferris Buller, the quote that made me think is when Ferris says "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around once in a while, you might miss it." This means a lot to me because, I truly never think about others around me unless they have any significance in my everyday life. I don't seem to think oh that person is happy or that person is sad. I just don't care unless it effects me or someone I care about. I guess we all have something to work on. And the last quote from Pretty in Pink was said by Andie she states "I just want them to know that they didn't get to me." I guess all high school students can say this, but once I graduate all the people who said I never could, or all the people who wasn't there to help me to that point, I really couldn't care less about and tell them that it hurt sometimes to know that they didn't care enough to stay or that I wasn't worth it, but hell, they aren't worth the trouble anyhow.

1935 Movie Project: The Talent Show

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, needs fruit and the fruit tree that they normally get the fruit from is no longer there. They see a poster for a talent show, and to their surprise the winner of the talent show gets a big basket of fruit. So by working together, the friends join the show and they sing and dance and they think that they might lose. But, they win just by a landslide and they get to take the fruit to their tree house and they enjoy the fruit together as pals. This movie would have worked well in 1935, because there was still the Great Depression going on, and the children especially needed

something to make them happy and not feel so down about their situation and/or just keep them occupied and not getting into trouble. Also, the fact where people needed up building from their situation and they wanted hope and maybe a cartoon might have done the trick. There was no important message or underlying meaning behind this cartoon, the cartoon was made for kids and maybe even for people who has it rough and just needed a good laugh or cartoon to cheer up their situation. The genre is Animation and Kid-Friendly. We chose this genre because it was the easiest and the children would most likely find this cartoon amusing and they would really enjoy seeing something to liven up their day. We chose to do The Walt Disney Company to produce this movie because the cartoon characters that are being used, are from this specific company and we could not have used these cartoon characters and chosen MGM. For one, MGM did not produce cartoons and two they did not use these characters because they did not have the legal precedent from The Walt Disney Company to use these cartoons. This would be on a nationally scale and the scale would fit perfectly with the studio because Walt Disney Company was

well known then and they would have a better pay out in the end if it was shown nationally then shown just in local movie theaters. The cast and crew was an easy fit and find. The cast was the 4 original characters, that Walt Disney had created and they were easy and not too hard to find. The crew as well, to be honest not needed because this was a cartoon and really we did not need lightning technician or a stunt man because it was a cartoon. In reality all that was needed was a director and people to voice the characters which was Walt Disney to voice Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse voiced by Marcellite Garner and Donald Duck voiced by Clarence Nash. The Hays Code did and it did not effect our movie because it is a cartoon and in cartoons there is no violence or bad language. However, on the flip side it did effect our movie because, even if we wanted to choose a movie where

there is violence and some bad language we could not because that was against the Hays Code. The technology we are using is Technicolor because instead of just doing this cartoon in black and white, we chose to use color to make the movie more vibrant and the cartoon exciting. We were always going to do a cartoon, but we disagreed on what the whole story should be about. I think that if I were working alone, maybe I would have done like a little party or sleepover or something to celebrate about to make the kids happier and show that even they can have fun while living in their certain circumstances.

MYST POST #1

After choosing between watching this movie and The Giver, I finally relented and decided to watch this based on everyone saying how good of a movie it was. And to my surprise this movie did not disappointed and it was excellent. Before watching it of course, I looked on its rating on Rotten Tomatoes.com  by critics it was given a 73% which the average rating would be 6.6/10, as for the audience 84% liked it and the average rating was 4/5. Of course, these ratings actually heightened my expectations for the movie because usually the critics are wrong in their ratings and the audience usually likes the movies. So of course I'm choosing and looking at the ratings and it's 10pm and I'm like OK time to watch the movie.

While watching the movie, the main characters Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed

Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis), went to Vegas for a bachelor party for Doug turned horribly
wrong because they are all hungover, they have someone else's baby, a tiger,  Stu has a tooth missing, and most importantly they have lost Doug the groom about to get married in a couple of days. And of course, they go on this adventure, trying to remember what happened the night before. They

eventually return the baby to his mother, who's a stripper, also to find out that Stu has "married" the stripper the night before. When they go back to the hotel, Mike Tyson is there waiting for the three to explain how they have his tiger. Of course they have no idea, and Tyson demands that they bring the tiger back to his house. Afterwards, they are on the highway, and Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) and his guards force them to pull them over and tell them that exchange for "Doug" they have to give him his
$80,000, that was lost in the swap of Alan's purse and Mr. Chow's. So they go back to the villa, and try looking and then they can't find the purse, so they gamble playing blackjack and win $82,000 and they meet Mr. Chow and they get black Doug. So in the mist of everything, black Doug mentions something about how ecstasy should be named something different and how it shouldn't be called roofies. And Stu, realizes finally that they left Doug on the roof last night on top of his mattress as a prank that they did to him back when they were younger in camp. They find Doug and they realize that they need to hurry and get home to the marriage that they are already late for. Of course, they make it and they are dressed and Doug gets married with Phil being his best man. Before the ending, Stu finally tells his girlfriend Melissa (Rachael Harris) that he went to Vegas and how mean of a person she is. Also, Alan finds the camera with all the "dirt" they did in Vegas and they agree that they look at these pictures once and then they delete them.

 

The film was not at all fast-paced, or jerky. All the parts fit perfectly with each other, without one part the movie would make absolutely no sense. The storyline is presented when the movie first comes on, when Phil calls calling Tracy and almost telling her what happened and then it starts off from earlier that day before. The time is perfect because the editors cut it off right before Stu tackles Phil and then they go get Doug. Without this part, the audience more than likely wouldn't have gotten pulled into the movie as much. I know that this part really did leave a good start to the movie and it held my attention. Also, the soundtrack was amazing. The songs that played during the movie went perfectly with what was happening in the movie, and the songs were pretty catchy and I liked them.

The main scene that stuck out to me was when they were about to leave Vegas and go back home and then right before they left Stu saw his "wife" and he went and talked to her. And he asked, "So what are you doing next weekend, because if it's nothing, I want to come back and take you to dinner." This was my favorite scene because it was cute and lovable and she was also sweet and nice and she said "Of course, you can come". I just really loved this scene, because Stu was so used to being

bossed around by his girlfriend and doing what she says and wearing what she wants him to wear and not making his own decisions sometimes. And in this scene, I'm sure he finally figured out that his girlfriend was not the nicest and that he deserved much better then Melissa.

This movie was excellent and I rate it 5/5 and I would definitely recommend people to watch it for a good laughs.

TRAILER:

Review of the Reviews

Looper was about Dystopian city in America where time-travel in the year 2047, and is used by crime bosses to eliminate those who the bosses choose to kill. "Loopers", which are assassins paid with silver bars strapped to the people that they kill. One the last encounter, Joe encounters his own "loop" and he ends up escaping and Joe must find his "future" self or his future is on the line.

This review was mostly about how Joesph Gordan-Levitt did not look anything like Bruce Willis and how the movie setup was smart. The movie  then it went on to say about how the movie was good but confusing and how it went on to say that the movie was a good suspense thriller but it ended up becoming confusing. The tone was eccentric and exciting along with the point that maybe the movie would be worth watching but could get confusing and maybe at some point you might not want to watch it anymore. Overall the review shows, that its a suspense thriller and you can't wait to see what happens. The review focuses on mostly the plot and the characters. The plot because it doesn't really tell you much of what happens but it says that the way the city looks, is dingy and dirty and that the scenes that were shown might be realistic and might happen. The characters weren't very real. To say the least, the characters didn't look anything alike and they should choose actors that look alike.

This review started off to talk about Bruce Willis briefly and then started to state things about how the female actor in the movie Emily Blunt didn't get the right role in the movie. The whole tone of the review was negative and then it says that the movie was sexist and how they didn't show and give her the right roles. The structure was mostly how the movie built up about how the actors Bruce Willis and Joesph Gordon-Levitt looking nothing alike and then instead of a transition to the next paragraph it just jumps to how the reviewer did not think that Emily Blunt played the correct role in the movie. The other most definitely focused on the characters and the parts they played. He said that for the actor Joesph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis doesn't look anything alike and they would've gotten actors who do look alike.

"The first film in four years from "Brick" and "Brothers Bloom" writer-director Rian Johnson, "Looper" is a smart suspense movie" I like this movie a lot. Even though, the first time I saw it, I was a bit surprised and then it was like you were sitting on the edge of your sit waiting to see what happened. I haven't seen any other movies by this director before, but maybe the other movies he's had isn't as good as Looper but may be worth a shot watching.

"I found myself dreaming of the days when Willis would take a rest from Die Hard–ing to do character cameos of unexpected depth and pathos". This quote in itself was funny because I totally agree that Bruce Willis is trying to relive his Die Hard days but just not accomplishing that in this new movie. Maybe he should think about retiring, because to be quite honest he had only a little relevance in the film and the characters were so different, that I figured they could just be seen as opposite people instead of the same person. 

This review  would be more convincing to a reader or at least for me. The whole review is much more positive and it shows that the movie does have errors but still doesn't downgrade the movie from as it says its a "B-grade movie". The review was by far the best review about the movie that I've read. He doesn't talk the movie up to be the best movie, he points out the errors and what would've went wrong, but overall the review stated that it was a "suspense thriller" and "definitely worth taking a look at".

While writing a review for a movie, I would most definitely pay attention to how the plot and the characters worked together. Also, the conflicts and themes about how did that play a major role or only a small role. Did the movie make any sense, if not what could've went better or is the director well known or is this his first attempt to make a good movie. Were there the actors famous and well-known, if so did they act their best part or if not, are they any good at acting or are they a flop. And just overall, was the movie any good and worth seeing.

Film Intro Survey

1. What is the first movie that really made a strong impression on you??
--Inception made a strong impression on me because his determination on not giving up to get home to his kids. Although it really confused me that in the end, the spinning top made me think that he really was in a dream.

2. What are 3-4 of your favorite genres??
--Horror, Mystery/Thriller, Fantasy,Comedy

3. What are 3-4 of your least favorite genres??
--Documentary, Biography, Western

4. What are your five favorite films??
--The Breakfast Club, Storm of the Century, X men: First Class, X men: Days of Future Past, Wreck-It-Ralph, Tangled, Looper, Gone with the Wind, Ferris Buller's Day Off

5. List three characteristics of what you consider to be a good movie??
--Plot, Music, Characters

6. What are some of your least favorite movie??
--Frozen, The Last Airbender, The Son of Rambo, Cinderfella, Gravity

7. List three characteristics of what you consider to be a bad movie??
--Plot, Music, Lighting

8. If you have any favorite directors, who are they??
--Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino

9. If you have any favorite actors/actresses, who are they??
--Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Everyone from the cast of The Avengers

10. List three films that you consider important films for people to see??
--The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buller's Day Off, 10 Things I Hate About You

11. What's your oldest film??
--Gone with the Wind

12. What's the best movie you've seen that's been released in the past 2 years??
--Wreck-It-Ralph

13. What are the next five films on your queue??
--Boyhood, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smuag, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Purge 2