Maybe it's the fact that Danny Boyle is my favorite director ever, and it could be the fact that India has always fascinated me but it's most likely that Dev Patel is kind of really awesomely British and enchanting but I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it. This film based on the novel by Vikas Swarup is truly amazing.
I mean granted when I was twelve I didn't understand half of what was going on but now that I do, the feelings are stronger. The scenes that these actors play was an incredible portrayal of agony, love and honesty. An honest young man goes on a show to get the attention of his lost love, Latika, that he's been infatuated with since he was a child. A young cast of actors that hardly anyone in North America new about come together in a staggering tale of a young boy who faces a series of difficult decisions and hardships to end up in one of the most random of situations: Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
Through a series of canted angles and harsh lighting suspense is crystal clear, however; when it comes to Latika there is always a light that shines of her.
Also, a dance number at the end never hurts.
~Love
Anna
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Review.
Hello people of the internet, it's Shaena! Today is Wednesday, October fifth and I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog featuring Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, a failed super-villain with a crush on Penny (Felicia Day), who happens to be dating Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), Dr. Horrible's arch nemesis. Dr. Horrible has two goals in life; to get Penny, his crush from the laundromat, to notice him, and to be accepted into the Super League of Super Evil.
This has quickly become my favorite musical, for a couple reasons; the acting is brilliant, and the director (Joss Whedon) is one of my favorites. Not to mention the hilarity of the entire film, the awesome ending, and the fact that Neil Patrick Harris stars in it.
Nathan Fillion, not a very well-known actor from my city (Edmonton, Alberta), shines with the way he portrays the unintelligent, dashing Captain Hammer. He also starred as Mal in the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly, also directed by Joss Whedon.
Neil Patrick Harris. What can I say? The broadway star's voice is appalling if you hadn't heard him sing before, and the acting is amazing.
Before this film, I hadn't seen Felicia Day in anything, but I can't say I was impressed. She did a good job, but it could have been better. Her voice was beautiful, but her acting was really the only weak point of the film in my opinion.
I'd suggest this movie if you're a fan of musicals and if you really just want to lighten up!
Sunday, 2 October 2011
The Secret Life of Bees
TypytypytypestupidthingsbecauseIdon'tknowwhattosay. OH HI THERE! It's Anna trying to find out what to write hmmm. *Thinks for three hours*
1964. Begin with a teenage girl about to turn fourteen, Lily (Dakota Fanning) she accidentally killed her mother and she lives with her abusive father (Paul Bettany) and their coloured housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson). Through a series of terrifying events Lily eventually gets fed up with her father and with Rosaleen she discovers the home of August (Queen Latifah), June (Alicia Keys) and May Boatwright (Sophie Okonedo), three sisters (of the coloured variety) who take both Lily and Rosaleen in.
Each one of the actors brings something different. Whether it be experience, inexperience or you know, actual talent I still enjoy it. To be honest I think that they are a talented cast and that does make the movie exceptional.
The plot however was a step up from the acting. A little white girl runs away from her dad (well that part not so much) goes to a house full of black women and essentially becomes a part of their family. Really the plot line between May and the rest of the characters is especially significant. She isn't supposed to be the center focus but she becomes like that.
I really hope that no one expected this to be REALLY good quality because I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll add to it later.
1964. Begin with a teenage girl about to turn fourteen, Lily (Dakota Fanning) she accidentally killed her mother and she lives with her abusive father (Paul Bettany) and their coloured housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson). Through a series of terrifying events Lily eventually gets fed up with her father and with Rosaleen she discovers the home of August (Queen Latifah), June (Alicia Keys) and May Boatwright (Sophie Okonedo), three sisters (of the coloured variety) who take both Lily and Rosaleen in.
Each one of the actors brings something different. Whether it be experience, inexperience or you know, actual talent I still enjoy it. To be honest I think that they are a talented cast and that does make the movie exceptional.
The plot however was a step up from the acting. A little white girl runs away from her dad (well that part not so much) goes to a house full of black women and essentially becomes a part of their family. Really the plot line between May and the rest of the characters is especially significant. She isn't supposed to be the center focus but she becomes like that.
I really hope that no one expected this to be REALLY good quality because I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll add to it later.
The Secret Life Of Bees: Analysis.
Hey everybody! It's Shaena and today when Anna and I got together to watch our movie, we also decided that for every movie we watch together, she'll do the review and I'll do an analysis. For the movies we watch separately, there will still be both a review and an analysis, usually in separate posts.
Today we watched The Secret Life Of Bees, starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Sophie Okonedo. Anna will tell you the rest of the plot, but I'm here to discuss the real meaning of the film. I suggest you don't read ahead unless you've seen it already!
The film opens with several quick but very well done perspective shots from inside a closet (internal framing seems to be a big part of the composition of many shots in this film). We see a child's hand pick up a gun that was flung toward her as her father beat her mother because she was leaving him. The resonating shot that we don't see, but definitely hear, as an older Lilly Owens awakens makes us understand that the child shot her mother, not knowing what she was doing. This scene, along with the narration, provides the basis of the film; that Lilly does not know who she is, but she knows that she killed her mother when she was four and that thought has haunted her for her whole life.
Enter T-Ray, Lilly's abusive father. Later on in the film we see how the death of Deborah Owens (Lilly's mother) has affected him. Personally the realization of how much he loved her didn't make me feel any warmer toward the bastard--he makes Lilly kneel on grits as a punishment.
To me the best part of the beginning of the film was when Lilly caught a bee to show T-Ray, and we later see her let it out of it's jar and it crawls away slowly and lethargically. I feel that the symbolism behind the bee (and the other thousands of bees in the film) is reflective on Lilly's idea of how wonderful her mother was and how much she loved her. She caught the thought and kept it and nurtured it, but T-Ray told her that her mother ran away from them, and when she came back she was just coming for the rest of her things. Lilly had kept the idea that her mother had come back to get her so they could run away together, but afterwards it got twisted and she didn't believe it anymore, so she let it go; similar to when she let the bee go. When Lilly and Rosaleen arrive at the Boatwright sister's farm, the bees there reconnected her to her mother and that wonderful idea she had of her.
All in all, I wouldn't call this a coming-of-age film, but it has the same idea; Lilly was able to find herself in the things she found at the Boatwright's place; the picture of her and her mother that August had, the notebook Zach gave her (in which she wrote the story), and the black Mary statue in the parlor.
Speaking of the things Miss August says Deborah Owens left when she stayed with the Boatwrights, when August offers Lilly the mirror I think is a scene layered with metaphors and meaning. When Lilly refuses to take the mirror and look into it, I think she's refusing to accept the idea that she's just like her mother and August knows her better than she knows herself.
The book this film was based on was written from Lilly's perspective, and at the end when you hear her final narration, you see that she wrote the entire story in the notebook that Zach gave her. This makes the viewer think of how much she's grown since meeting Zach and how much he influenced her--by literally giving her the power to write about her experience.
I hope you enjoyed this analysis and remember to email us if you have any suggestions or if you disagree-we love to hear from you!
Today we watched The Secret Life Of Bees, starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, and Sophie Okonedo. Anna will tell you the rest of the plot, but I'm here to discuss the real meaning of the film. I suggest you don't read ahead unless you've seen it already!
The film opens with several quick but very well done perspective shots from inside a closet (internal framing seems to be a big part of the composition of many shots in this film). We see a child's hand pick up a gun that was flung toward her as her father beat her mother because she was leaving him. The resonating shot that we don't see, but definitely hear, as an older Lilly Owens awakens makes us understand that the child shot her mother, not knowing what she was doing. This scene, along with the narration, provides the basis of the film; that Lilly does not know who she is, but she knows that she killed her mother when she was four and that thought has haunted her for her whole life.
Enter T-Ray, Lilly's abusive father. Later on in the film we see how the death of Deborah Owens (Lilly's mother) has affected him. Personally the realization of how much he loved her didn't make me feel any warmer toward the bastard--he makes Lilly kneel on grits as a punishment.
To me the best part of the beginning of the film was when Lilly caught a bee to show T-Ray, and we later see her let it out of it's jar and it crawls away slowly and lethargically. I feel that the symbolism behind the bee (and the other thousands of bees in the film) is reflective on Lilly's idea of how wonderful her mother was and how much she loved her. She caught the thought and kept it and nurtured it, but T-Ray told her that her mother ran away from them, and when she came back she was just coming for the rest of her things. Lilly had kept the idea that her mother had come back to get her so they could run away together, but afterwards it got twisted and she didn't believe it anymore, so she let it go; similar to when she let the bee go. When Lilly and Rosaleen arrive at the Boatwright sister's farm, the bees there reconnected her to her mother and that wonderful idea she had of her.
All in all, I wouldn't call this a coming-of-age film, but it has the same idea; Lilly was able to find herself in the things she found at the Boatwright's place; the picture of her and her mother that August had, the notebook Zach gave her (in which she wrote the story), and the black Mary statue in the parlor.
Speaking of the things Miss August says Deborah Owens left when she stayed with the Boatwrights, when August offers Lilly the mirror I think is a scene layered with metaphors and meaning. When Lilly refuses to take the mirror and look into it, I think she's refusing to accept the idea that she's just like her mother and August knows her better than she knows herself.
The book this film was based on was written from Lilly's perspective, and at the end when you hear her final narration, you see that she wrote the entire story in the notebook that Zach gave her. This makes the viewer think of how much she's grown since meeting Zach and how much he influenced her--by literally giving her the power to write about her experience.
I hope you enjoyed this analysis and remember to email us if you have any suggestions or if you disagree-we love to hear from you!
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Heyhihello
Hi! This is Anna, the other half of Four Thumbs Up. I really haven't any idea what I should say, at all. Hmm. Mostly, I love film. It's a medium that is so diverse and there are so many ways to make films and watch and interpret them, much like poetry, but you don't have to read it. Movies like Big Fish that have open ends in places and let you figure it out and create your own in your brain. It's something that is REALLY good for FanFiction. But my favourite films, the ones I remember every line to are mostly 80s films, for instance; The Breakfast Club, Say Anything, Pretty in Pink and Can't Buy Me Love.
Other extra little tid-bits of information I felt that you need. At school I am a part of the Citadel Theater Club (a club of 40 kids in my school who just go watch plays once a month so maybe I'll do a review or something. Also, I am in the Improv Club because it's a party there AND the big one, I am a part of the nine people in my school who get to go see High School Plays for free and then review them for like, three days later. ANNNND it's awesome, we've yet to begin. Anyway, enough with my theater geekiness.
So how this is probably going to go is Shaena and I will collaboratively write a review on Sunday and then alternate Mondays and Wednesdays. Cool? Awesome.
Hope that the next post goes up tomorrow. BYEBYE!!!! <3 Anna Banana
Other extra little tid-bits of information I felt that you need. At school I am a part of the Citadel Theater Club (a club of 40 kids in my school who just go watch plays once a month so maybe I'll do a review or something. Also, I am in the Improv Club because it's a party there AND the big one, I am a part of the nine people in my school who get to go see High School Plays for free and then review them for like, three days later. ANNNND it's awesome, we've yet to begin. Anyway, enough with my theater geekiness.
So how this is probably going to go is Shaena and I will collaboratively write a review on Sunday and then alternate Mondays and Wednesdays. Cool? Awesome.
Hope that the next post goes up tomorrow. BYEBYE!!!! <3 Anna Banana
Hi there!
Welcome to Four Thumbs Up, our film critic blog! My name is Shaena and my colleague's name is Anna. We're two high school film students from Canada who really like getting together to analyze movies and short clips, as well as make our own short films and videos.
Usually when we post a review it will be both of us posting together, but sometimes it will just be me or just be Anna. We post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays of every week. If you want to suggest a movie for us to watch, you can email us at fourthumbsupfilm@gmail.com and we'll get to it as soon as possible. If you disagree with one of our reviews, you can email us at the same address and we'll discuss it!
You can follow me on Twitter, @DeathOfANight or Anna, @AnnaLafreniere. We hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as we enjoy running it!
Usually when we post a review it will be both of us posting together, but sometimes it will just be me or just be Anna. We post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays of every week. If you want to suggest a movie for us to watch, you can email us at fourthumbsupfilm@gmail.com and we'll get to it as soon as possible. If you disagree with one of our reviews, you can email us at the same address and we'll discuss it!
You can follow me on Twitter, @DeathOfANight or Anna, @AnnaLafreniere. We hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as we enjoy running it!
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