Avatar.
If you haven’t heard by now the biggest movie of the season is finally out. I went to see it earlier today at the earliest showing because all the 3D I-max showings are completely booked almost all the time. Avatar is well known because of the technique used to film the alien characters. Instead of using makeup or CGI they decided to use real people and just put the magical touch on them with the technology. The face expressions and body movements were 100% real which made the characters more personal.
The movie was great from start to finish. The storyline is very good. All the culture of the aliens is very detailed. The plot of the movie is humans going to a different planet because they found some new resource they want and need and are trying to negotiate or kill the natives of that planet in order to get the goods. I really recommend watching it in I-max 3D if not then try the best quality you could find. The movie is a bit long so make sure you eat before you start watching it.
Yasser
Paranormal Activity.
It seems like in the past few days and weeks I keep hearing more and more people talk about this movie, Paranormal Activity. Everyone keeps saying that is very scary and you won’t be able to sleep well at night. I love horror, scary, gore movies so I couldn’t let this one pass. I went last night to see it and the movies was pretty packed surprisingly. The movie itself was not as scary as people made it seem.
The plot is a couple in a house that is haunted by some ghost or demon. The guy is trying to capture it on tape and record sounds to determine what it is. The whole movie is filmed on a handheld camera which reminds me of The Blair Witch Project right away. The movie itself is quite boring for many parts but once the creepy part is about to start, you can hear people crawling in their chairs. I do understand that the movie could be quite scary for some but for me it just didn’t do it. I suggest to go watch it in the movies because once it hits your T.V. it will never be creepy anymore.
PS: This movie is not based on a real story. Everyone in the movie is an actor.
Yasser
Funny People.
I am a big fan of Adam Sandler’s work, he always delivers funny movies and he has also showed he could do more serious movies like Reign Over Me. Funny People was a mix of both of those worlds. The movie had its classic Adam Sandler funny moments but it also had some “serious” parts were it got more serious. The name of the movie went perfect with it because the list of comedians in the movie was priceless, most of them were just on the screen for a minute or so but that was enough for them to crack a joke. I definitely recommend this movie but don’t expect a hilarious silly movie but more of a funny movie that is not really a comedy per say.
Yasser
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
I usually never go to see movies on the first day they came out but a couple of friends convinced me to go see Harry Potter on the Wednesday it premiered. I have slowly become a Harry Potter movie fan because there movies are unpredictable for the most part and keeps you in this world of mystery where you always want to find out “what else can they do?” Before I saw the movie I did read some reviews saying that the movie wasn’t what they expected and that it was ok. I do understand why a lot of people said that, I don’t blame them, the Harry Potter movies have set the bar pretty high for every next movie that comes out.
With that said, I think The Half-Blood Prince was a very good movie, another great success for the Potter movies. It is not the best I have seen of his movies but none the less it was still a good movie. The movie is very dark with a lot of dark magic and discovering things from the past that helps explain more why things are happening. We also see the characters keep growing into newer situations. What I like the most about these movies is that it is like one long book, you never loose trail or things don’t change much, it is always going forward and leaves you keeping wanting to know more. I think people should definitely go see this at the movies if they have time, it is worth it.
Yasser
Public Enemies.
The long awaited movie Public Enemies finally came out. The trailers captured everyone’s attention in showing Johnny Depp back on the screen on an old style filmed about bank robbers. The movie was actually not as great as I thought it would be. It lacked some more action through out the movie. At certain points the movie seemed to drag but would always come back with something interesting. The story was quite interesting and kept you a bit curious about the characters but not enough to keep you motivated throughout the whole movie. It was definitely not as good as I expected it to be. Because of everything previously said I would suggest to skip this movie and rent it when it comes out or catch it on HBO one day but there is no need to go watch this in the movies.
Yasser
Drag Me to Hell.
I am a huge fan of horror movies but everyone knows that only one out of ten movies that come out classified as scary or horror are good, the rest are a joke. With Drag Me to Hell I expected a very corny movie that would be full of nothing and a few spooks but I was very wrong. The movie moves along at a good paste and tries to scare you from the start with little things and big things. The story line of the movie is good, keeps constant and somewhat believable. The whole movie is full of disgusting scenes that at some effect to the creepiness. It isn’t very bloody at all which maybe explains why it is PG-13 but it didn’t need blood to do the job. I recommend to go watch this movie, it is a fun movie to watch at the movies.
Yasser
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
I was a big fan of Night at the Museum when it first came out in 2006. I thought it was pretty funny and very educational at the same time. When part two was announced to come out I was a bit excited over it, thinking that it will be the same or better. Unfortunetly Battle of the Smithsonian didn’t live up to what I expected. The movie was not as funny and the story looked a bit more rushed which meant you needed to see part one in order to get some of the jokes and some of the story. Robin Williams is such a great actor and comedian and they barely used him during the whole movie, he could have added a bit more of fun factors and jokes. The educational side of the movie was still there which is very good. Overall it wasn’t a bad movie but it wasn’t a success either. This movie is not worth going to the movies for, you are better off renting it when it comes out on DVD.
Yasser
How To Do A Film Analysis.
It seems like the two film analysis that I have done became very popular among readers so I will teach how to quickly do a film analysis of any movie you watch. There are different categories or things that you can focus on to analyze a movie but I will only mention the easiest ones.
Colors
The easiest thing to find in a movie is color patterns. The use of the color red usually means love, sex, passion, anger, blood, death. Depending on the movie you will notice. But this isn’t always the case, the director might use the color in a different way or have little or no meaning. In the movie Do The Right Thing by Spike Lee, he uses the color red to show heat. You could take as an example the movie The Sixth Sense which uses the color red a lot in the scene where the kid and the mom are in the kitchen (near the start of the movie). Some movies might use a combination of colors and are used to set different moods of characters throughout the movie. Next time you watch a movie focus on the colors used and if they have a specific meaning to the movie.
Camera Angles
Camera Angles are a bit more complicated to understand and see. A low camera angle makes someone look taller but more than that it makes someone look important, superior. It is usually used with main characters of action movies. Sometimes a big villain might have a low camera angle to show how big he is. On the other hand, a high camera angle gives the meaning of not too important, if it is zooming out then they are usually loosing importance. Always pay attention to something that is in the frame for more than two seconds, it usually means something important that will have a meaning latter on in the movie.
Motion
Motion is a very tricky case because the camera usually moves a lot but in same cases it does have a special meaning. When the camera is moving away from a person (usually from a top view) and makes the object/person smaller and smaller it means that the person is getting less important or is getting lost, usually something negative. Zooming into somebody gives importance to the that picture, the director wants you to see details so pay attention to them. If a camera moves 360 degrees around a person/object, it usually means change, something is changing or is about to change. Mostly used when someone realizes something the camera does a 360 around the person. Typically in society everything goes left to right, it also applies to pictures. Most scenes you will see will have people walking left to right for the most part, if things are moving from right to left then it is something odd happening. Same way you would consider something is happening if people are moving away from the camera and not towards it.
These are some simple tips of things to look at when analyzing a film. There is a lot more thinks to take into consideration and some are far more complex than others. I might publish a second part to this.
Yasser
Wanted.
I just came back from watching what should be the number one movie of this summer, so far, Wanted. Ever since the first trailer where they started curving bullets I had been interested in watching this movie. The movie didn’t disappoint me. It was everything I was expecting and more. If the writers of Matrix would of thought of some of these ideas then there would of been almost no space for innovation. Angelina Jolie did a great job doing what she does best, playing a character that can kick ass and has an attitude. I love how they used slow motion to make everything suspenseful, it wasn’t just bullets flying around but every bullet was extremely important.
Even with all the shooting they made sure to include small fight scenes. One of them reminded me a lot of Gangs Of New York when the butcher fights the kid but everything is foggy and he keeps getting slashed without seeing where the attack is coming from. This movie is great and fully recommend it to everyone. I’m very glad Michael Bay didn’t direct this because we all know where that would of led….
Yasser
Wall-E.
I finally managed to get some time and make it to the movies to see Wall-E. When you go to see it make sure you arrive early enough to see the mini movie before the actual movie because it is pretty funny. The whole movie was full with emotions, wall-e is a robot that can feel and express almost any emotions to others. I must admit that it isn’t as funny as I thought it would be but none the less it was still a great movie. Pixar did it again delivering what might soon become another classic animated movie. Go watch it, it is very fun to see.
Behind the great movie there is a very common idea of the future. It reminded me of the horrible movie Idiocracy that I was forced to watch. It seems that most people think that because of technology and people getting used to getting as comfortable as possible we will eventually get so lazy that we won’t be able to do much and gain tons of weight. In some way I do agree with this idea and some could argue that it is already happening. We could either blame the fast food or we could say that the reason people are so over weight in these years is because they’re so comfortable with everything. People spend so much time in front of a T.V. or have cool new gadgets that makes life easier and at the same time making you more lazy.
I believe people need to find a way to learn how to use technology but at the same time keep in mind that for every gadget that prevents you from doing “extra work” it also means that now you will be burning less calories a day. And because of this you should find a new way to burn those calories, either by going to the gym or doing some other activity. In the end it is all about doing simple things that add up to small work that help you burn calories.
Yasser
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