Into the Woods [film review]

★★★★1/2 

STORY 4/5

WRITING 4.5/5

ACTING 4.5/5

MUSIC 5/5

CINEMATOGRAPHY 4/5

     Stephen Sondheim is known well mostly for his musical, Sweeney Tood, which gained an even further significant amount of fame after the Tim Burton adaptation starring Johnny Depp. That's actually all that I've ever seen from Sondheim up to this point, so that was my standard for this film as I entered the theater. And I have to say, this exceeded my expectations so spectacularly and bested Sweeney Todd so extremely that it is the most surprisingly excellent film I've yet watched in the year 2015.

     Sondheim's lyrics are just as creative and entertaining as they've ever been before and they're sung by such talented actors that the film is livened twofold, with both great music and great performers. Meryl Streep is the lead of the film and she, unsurprisingly, does not buckle beneath the weight of being the connecting element of four stories. Her performance is both terrifically comedic and wonderfully dramatic at times. She sings the lyrics in their proper broadway fashion, loudly and boldly. 

     The film's humor is absolutely irresistible. At times when it seems as if the filmmakers have erred somehow and that they've gotten too cheesy or overdramatic, it turns on itself to mock itself in its own cheesiness, most excellently exemplified in a song called 'Agony'. Two princes (brothers I believe) muse on their loves, Cinderella and Rapunzel, speaking of the 'agony' hey feel being apart from them. They try to best each other in levels of agony. "Agony! Far more painful than yours!" one prince explains. One prince rips open his shirt to reveal his abs, and the other rips his wider to show more. It's hilarious. 

     But as the film progresses into its third act, it takes a very different course in both its story and themes. Whereas previously comedy would have entertained the audience, we now come to know more and feel more about the characters. The film becomes something of a study of morals, and in some ways displays some rather Biblical themes (at least in the way that I see it). It studies how people should always do the right thing, and think on the ways that their actions will affect the next generation. It's actually rather emotional.

     This musical was a fantastic surprise. I expected something good from Sondheim, but everyone, both in cast and crew, delivered splendidly. Rob Marshall's experience with musicals, from Chicago and Nine, clearly comes in handy, as does Depp's experience from Sweeney Todd (he sounds here very similar to the way his character in that film sounded. I would recommend that everyone see this, it's a truly rewarding film musical experience.

Big Hero 6 [film review]

★★★★1/2

STORY 3/5

WRITING 4.5/5

ACTING 3.5/5

MUSIC 4/5

CINEMATOGRAPHY 4/5

     I was going to start out this review by stating that not in the past five years (would be longer but there is a film such as Fantastic Mr. Fox) has there ever been a film with as great a level of humor and emotion in an animated kids' film, but then I remembered Ernest and Celestine. And I thought better of it. But anyway,  Big Hero 6 is still an absolutely tremendous, consistently hilarious and enjoyable film. 

     I'll knock out the primary problem with the film first: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. The only developed character is Hiro, and to a lesser extent Baymax (the robot). There is a side group of about four characters who play a big part in the film, but have zero character development. The villains are also hollow shells. But nonetheless, the film is able to get some great emotion out of scenes concerning them. Despite the lack of true character in Baymax, the viewer still feels an emotional bond to him by the end.

      With that out of the way, I'll discuss the comedy. The comedy is absolutely irresistibly riotous, great laughs at a minimum of every five minutes. Baymax is the source of much of the comedy, his lack of character being a great source of it. He puts up with all of Hiro's antics as he is a robot, and it is such a joy to watch. This is by far the best animated film I've seen this year, and would recommend it to all my friends. Unfortunately this is the recommendation that is most likely to be heeded, unlike my recommendations of Gone Girl, Frank, and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The Giver [film review]

★★★★

STORY 4/5

WRITING 3.5/5

ACTING 4/5

MUSIC 3.5/5

CINEMATOGRAPHY 3.5/5

     I'm still trying to figure out the primary critiques of this film as I'm writing this review. The Rottentomatoes summary states that it doesn't explore the themes of the book well enough. This is hardly a good critique, as critics aren't supposed to review a film's quality as an adaptation, but as a film. Now, a decent critique that could be made of The Giver is that the story has been done many times before. It's your classic dictatorial world civilization, featuring a rejection of emotion, art and any and all true quality of life (yet all the citizens are living happily in their blindness somehow). We've seen this, to some extent, in Fahrenheit 451, Equilibrium, and to a much lesser extent, in City of Ember. But, pointers has to be given to this one, as it its basis was written before all of those except for Fahrenheit 451. 

     Even more pointers should be given to this film for the cinematography and Jeff Bridges' unsurprisingly tremendous performance. Though he is the greatest among an otherwise mediocre cast (with another exception of Meryl Streep), he performs brilliantly and livens up the film a great deal.

     Some could call this film manipulative, and I would agree. It is rather emotionally manipulative, but aren't most films that try to be emotional at all? It emphasizes what makes life life, what makes one do more exist. As I said before, yes it's been done before. Sure, it's ridiculous to think that this could ever happen, but it's simply an exaggeration of a realistic possibility, done to stress the idea.

     Yes, it's unrealistic in more than one way (both in terms of an unrealistic civilization and in the fact that it's factually unrealistic in that a motorcycle falls of a cliff and makes it down safely), yes it's old news. But it's still effective, and a decent adaptation (or so it seems, I myself have not read the book), and I consider it a good film. 

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For [film review]

STORY 2.5/5

WRITING 2/5

ACTING 3/5

MUSIC 3/5

CINEMATOGRAPHY 3.5/5

     The first Sin City film is widely viewed as one of the best tributes to the comic book format. The visuals are some of the most celebrated and adored of the genre. The black-and-white with the seldom emphasis (the meaning of which I have still not deciphered) on certain flashy elements is both eye-catching and uniquely entertaining. 

     Robert Rodriguez now follows up that critical success with a similarly colored, similarly gory, sexy and unrealistic graphic novel adaptation, now with some new characters, some new cast members portraying old characters, and several new stories. Unfortunately, the critics are right here: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For does not match the impact and memorableness of the predecessor. 

     Though the cast is absolutely spectacular (specifically Joseph Gordon Levitt, who fits into the town with terrific charisma and style), the stories are tired, uninteresting and too similar to those of the previous film. It crosses the line from reference into imitation/copying. Many lines from the previous film are repeated, specifically those spoken by Rourke's character. The invincibility of the Roarks becomes boringly repetitive, and despite the unrealistic violence and all-too-common dismembering, it's all so very tiresome.

     I was really looking forward to this film. I was hoping for a continuation of the previous stories, rather than unrelated stories, prequels, and unnecessary uninteresting follow-ups. Levitt's story is easily the most intriguing, but it does not make up for what is lacking. 

So, I'm just getting back in the rhythm of reviewing again. I've now left Letterboxd, and thus have given up on No-Rewatch November, and am rewatching to my heart's delight. I'll begin reviewing films more soon, and they'll all be posted on here and none will be posted on Letterboxd. 

On Leaving Letterboxd

You may have noticed a ten day absence from me if you know me from Letterboxd... well I've essentially left the site. I've decided to spend less time online, and also, the community has become rather negative towards my life as a Christian. Not to pinpoint or accuse, but specifically, reviews of God's Not Dead have been especially... offensive, really. Often, when people on Letterboxd review that film, they do not restrict their criticism but then begin accusing Christians in general and then joke about hell. I know that is how much of the world is, but it's not what I want to be around.

I'll still have my Letterboxd up, so that my reviews will remain, and I'll still be able to use my lists and such, as those have been very very useful (especially my current scheduled watch list). But I won't be posting reviews on there anymore. Instead, they'll all be here.

Peeples [film review]

STORY 2/5

WRITING 2.5/5

ACTING 3/5

MUSIC 2.5/5

CINEMATOGRAPHY 3/5

     This is pretty much Meet the Parents. In oh so many ways. It's just a whole lot less charming, due to both the lack of originality and the lack of restraint the film has. Meet the Parents was cheap and nothing close to a truly quality movie, don't get me wrong. But it was fun, it had a killer cast (Ben Stiller was okay) and it was pretty funny throughout. The same could not be said for the sequels, but it was still pretty good. This is not nearly as good.
     This film also has a rather spectacular cast... first of all, we have Craig Robinson, who gained his fame primarily through the tremendous sitcom, The Office, and has been a consistent sensation on the screen. Then there's Kerry Washington, who, though I've only seen her in one other film (guess), I've been able to notice some fantastic acting in. The rest of the cast is nothing more than decent really, but they all serve up acceptable performances.
     Unfortunately, the film just does not know where to stop with the murphy's law theme, and because of this it makes many comedic missteps. There's potential, but it's wasted. It ends up just being a mediocre unofficial remake of Meet the Parents, unfortunately. It's funny at times (all of the most comedic scenes involving Robinson performing the comedy. The scenes where he observes the comedy are less successful), so it does have its moments. But in the end it's forgettable as heck.

The Confessions of a Modern Day Christian

Note: This has nothing to do with film (unless you consider that this subject has something to do with everything,  and thus is distantly related to the subject of film)

I'm a Christian. And Christians face trials often... the greatest in my life are those I've gone through the past few months... really the past year. 

First of all, my parents are separating. I've been oddly emotionless about the whole thing... I've been exposed so often to the idea that kids think it's their fault that I've known not even to consider it. So I didn't. The wall between them had been growing for a while, and financially it eventually took quite a toll, so they are currently in the middle of a divorce. 

Secondly, a family of five recently moved into our house, which was already housing five people. So we've now got ten people in a house with five bedrooms. It's not quite cramped, as there is a lot of room outside of the five rooms, but we've been adjusting to each other's lifestyles. It's been rather difficult, especially, for my mother, who has a rather high standard of cleanliness for the house. 

Thirdly, after this family moved in they began helping with the farming part of our property... next to our house is a large field, normally taken care of a farmhand named Bill. He recently was fired (he wasn't doing the best work). So, the new family began taking care of the farming, and did an excellent job. This doesn't sound like a spiritual trial quite yet, I realize. But then, my mother's brothers (hehe, rhymes) and sister arrived, and began interfering in everything. I'm not sure of all that happened, but I believe they wanted the new family removed from the house, they took my grandmother from the house to live with them, and it's taken a giant toll, again, on my mother.

I realize that thus far, these trials seem to be more on my mother than on me. But I've often been put in the middle of these issues, questioned on what I think of them, and the house is often filled with an atmosphere of stress.

But here's the real killer, at least for me. Recently, I've been taking college courses through Running Start. It's a good choice for a person of my age, and will help me to earn an AA when I graduate from high school. I've been earning the requirements for both graduation from high school and the earning of the AA, and most recently I've taken up Western Civilization.

As can be expected, with more and more professors as well as students being atheists these days, I've been taught evolution. I'll admit, I've been temporarily led astray from my faith on more than one occasion during this study. But during this study, I've realized that I've not only been under attack from the devil for this time, but for years. The devil's been slowly working into my life, making me question parts of the public opinion of Christian faith. It's true, much of the general idea of Christianity (that we are against 'cussing', that we shouldn't even look at nudity at all) are wrong. True, I'm against blasphemy. But there's nothing wrong with watching film with these things, and as long as you don't offend someone or speak hatefully, there's really nothing wrong with cussing, again, as long as you don't blaspheme. But I've been questioning more and more aspects of Christianity, and have gotten even to the point of scoffing at Christians on Facebook who uphold their faith, which I've come to realize, is what I should do. 

See some of the ideas I'm being taught make sense. But of course, Christianity makes more sense, and solves all the problems with evolution, all the holes. It solves where the universe came from (I slightly agree with the idea of the big bang, but disagree with the popular opinion of what came after). It really seems as if Christians are under attack in today's academic... and even general... society. Which is really rather ironic, as homosexuals claim that they're under attack from Christians, and that we should all mind our own business. Those who have been accused of discrimination are now being discriminated, in a way. 

I've been having to balance this education with sources I trust, sources that lift my spirit and uphold my faith. The thing is, logic tells me that God clearly exists. He's present all around, and there are signs of his masterwork all over. But part of my brain tells me to reject the idea, for some odd reason.

That's rebellion, and the devil I think. No offense against atheism and evolutionists, but those ideas, to me, just seem to be a worldwide rebellion. We've known for a long time that people don't like being told what to do, but it's often best for us. Being told what to do doesn't stop benefiting us after childhood, as is the general idea. It continues throughout our lives, and if we followed God's words our society would be a lot better.

Now, I've often pondered the idea that the reason I don't want to give up the idea of God is that I don't want to potentially be sent to hell. That's possible, sure, and I really don't have enough spiritual strength or experience to refute this claim right now, other than the fact that I truly believe it's the Holy Spirit holding onto me with all it's might, making sure I don't permanently leave the flock. 

Atheists may mock my words, they may try to tempt me to leave my faith. You may say I'm ignorant, and that all these 'facts' disprove the existence of my God. But I'll continue to at least try my hardest to stay strong in my faith. Hopefully, by the end of this course, through prayer, and reading the Bible (as well as The Screwtape Letters and 'Gravity: True for You but Not for Me), I'll emerge an even stronger Christian. If you're a Christian going through the same trials, I sympathize with you, and I pray for you (please pray for me also, as I'm going through what you're going through). If you're an atheist reading this, I love you, and I also pray that you find God. 

I know it may seem nonsensical to post this on my film review page, but it's my one existing blog, and I already have three (THREE!) followers on it, so maybe the word will get out faster. Also, in the intro to my blog, I believe I stated that I'd be posting film reviews, film rants and such, and 'anything going on my life'.