W.E. (2011) Review

 A couple of weeks ago I watched  Madonna's W.E. It was magnificent, breathtaking, and alluring. It is basically about the story of Wallis Simpson and prince Edward -aka David, to his close friends. It also shows the story of Wallis Winthrop, a woman named after and obsessed with Wallis Simpson in 1998.

To be honest I've never heard of Wallis & Edward's story before watching the film. I haven't seen The King's Speech yet either. Now, I'm hooked. I want to know everything about Wallis and prince Edward, I want to read about their lives before, while, and after the were together. I find their story fascinating to say the least. I think I'm going to order their correspondence letters book and their biographies.

As to the film itself, it is pretty AWESOME. I mean the costume design is just perfect; the clothes are to die for and the hair and makeup is spot on.

 
And the casting is spot on, as well. I mean, they could pass as siblings.

In the film, there is a scene in which Wallis is on a yacht with prince Edward and he presents her with a tray. She lifts the lid and finds a beautiful silver cross with the most beautifully cut stones you've ever seen. He actually gifted her several which she wore in a beautiful silver chain bracelet. Madonna wears a replica of it.

 

To tell you the truth, this film has now become one of my favorites -as if you haven't guessed that already. The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, although there were a couple of transition frames I hated. The pacing of the film wasn't too slow or too fast, it was very smooth and evenly paced, which I like in films. The colorful scenes weren't overwhelming, and the scenes that lacked colors weren't depressing.

As for the story of 1998's Wally Winthrop, it is very predictable. We've seen her story a million times and more, but we've never seen the decisions made by the influence of a dead duchess.

final rating: 5/5

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I first read The Perks of Being a Wallflower in mid 2011, and since then I've read it around 6 times. That's how much I love this book. It is also one of my favorite top 4 books, and I'm a really picky reader. It's one of these things that push you from being a teenager into being a young adult. If you haven't read the book yet,  I highly recommend you do.

When I read about the book coming out as a movie in 2012 I was so excited. When I read that the author, Steven Chbosky will write the screenplay and direct it, I was ecstatic. Then, when I read about who was cast in the movie I was practically jumping off walls.

 Let us start with Logan Lerman, the perfect Charlie if there ever was one. He fits the description perfectly because he has that blushing shy kid thing going on, and he looks really young. I'm a bit biased though, because I think he's the best actor to play anything and everything. He is very Charlie-esque.

When I first read the book I imagined Patrick as a very young, dark haired, and skinny version of Matthew Gray Gubler. Instead, they cast Ezra Miller. How do I begin to describe Ezra Miller? "Scene Stealer" is what comes to mind. Ezra Miller took the movie and made it his own. Every scene he was part of, he was dominating. I absolutely loved his performance and his persona, 5 starts for this guy.

I was a bit unsure about Emma Watson being cast. I adore her, but when you read about Sam you don't really think an inexperienced actress can really capture the essence of her character. Emma Watson proved me wrong. Her performance was strong, emotional, and spot on.

Nina Dobrev and Paul Rudd were both splendid, and so were the two cast as Alice and Bob. I still have mixed feelings about the girl who played Mary-Elizabeth, but I think it worked out well.

The one person who I just couldn't accept was the kid that played Brad. He was everything Brad isn't supposed to be, in my mind anyway. I pictured him to be less kid-looking, and more typical TV jock.

The movie itself was excellent. Although my two favorite scenes from the book were cut off the movie adaptation, it was still well put together and well executed. I liked how they cut out family holiday reunions, as they weren't really essential to the story. Another thing that was cut out of the movie which made it better was all the talk about the books Charlie reads over the course of his freshman year; the mention of a few book titles and essays was enough to understand the magnitude of what those books meant to Charlie without it being overwhelming.

I loved the first tunnel scene, it was emotionally perfect. I loved how the emotions and feelings were transferred to the audience. Charlie put to words what he put to writing to his friend in the book, saying to Patrick, "I feel infinite." Emma Watson's facial expression and body language was just so very "Sam".  Here's a Nylon video in which Emma speaks about the tunnel scene.

Another scene that I loved and made me cry like I'm watching 50/50 all over again was the scene in which Charlie has a breakdown after graduation and calls Candice at her party. Boy, was that great. Logan Lerman  crying into the phone, Nina Dobrev telling her friend to call the police and give them her address. It was everything this part could be and more. Also, Nina dobrev, you have proved you are the cover girl of pain .ltd. We love you.

The only thing left to talk about is that I'm waiting for the director's cut to surface because I can't get enough of this beautiful creation.

Final rating: 5/5

Half Nelson, Ryan Gosling, and teacher movies

Anyone who knows me knows that I love those inspiring teacher movies. Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, Akeelah and the Bee, and The Ron Clark Story are all movies I have to watch whenever they are on.

A week or so back I watched the 2006 film Half Nelson. It was everything you want out of a movie and more.

This is what the film's wiki entry says: The story concerns an inner city middle-school teacher who forms a friendship with one of his students after she discovers that he has a drug habit.

The title had me confused for the entire film. Nelson is not the name of the character played by Ryan Gosling, and so I googled it, turns out it is a wrestling move. 

Definition for half nelson:

Web definitions:

a wrestling hold in which the holder puts an arm under the opponent's arm and exerts pressure on the back of the neck.

The most outstanding thing in the film would have to be Shareeka Epps's performance. She was strong yet vulnerable, portraying the role perfectly. I also loved how believable she acted, sounded, and even looked. You could see the emotions in her eyes, something not a lot of young actors can convey.

Another great thing about the film is the perfect, flawless, and amazing dialogue. I just loved the half-witty jokes, and half-engaging conversations. I have no idea how the writer(s) managed to keep the dialogue between the teacher and the student in the context of that relationship yet still make it friendly. A tip of the hat to the fine sir.


To be honest, I didn't want to watch the film because I thought it would be a romantic relationship, and frankly after watching Pretty Little Liars and Daydream Nation I don't want to see anything of the sort again. Books of the Young Adult genre keep throwing or thrusting the teacher/student relationship into everyone's faces, and it is becoming annoying. After I saw that 
this wasn't the case in Half Nelson I became very excited to see it. 


Ryan Gosling's performance was impeccable. I loved all of his scenes; he brought life and depth perfectly to a character that required much of that. His character was also filled with great contrasts that worked in harmony which he portrayed that perfectly. 

If you needed anymore reasons to watch this film; it has small history facts, a spot on soundtrack, and two cats. I know!


Final rating: 5/5 

Katy Perry's Part of Me 3D Review

I went to the theater with my best friend to watch the Katy Perry movie. I went there expecting to see some stuff about following your teenage dream, making it big, and other Hollywood nonsense. The movie was anything but that.

The movie starts with video clips of Katy's fans speaking of how she influenced them to be better people or saved their lives, which was a very dramatic start to a documentary about a pop star to be honest. After that they started with an onstage performance from her latest tour and then it went back and forth from the present tour and her beginning as a musician.

I am a mild Katy Perry fan, I like some of her songs and music videos, and I think she has a great makeup artist and hair stylist and that she looks really pretty when she's not busy looking like a Barbie doll from the future.

 vs.

 The movie's soundtrack was genius. The whole thing is almost divided in chapters and each chapter begins with Katy preforming a song on her tour, for example the song E.T would be performed and then the part abut meeting her ex-husband Russle Brand would come up. The song selection was great, and was really fitting for the sections. A tip of the hat for the person behind that in the production.
(I also learned that Katy Perry is the only artist to have 5 singles from the same album as number one on the charts, which is good for her.)

Another thing I liked about the movie was the fact that it was raw. I obviously know many of the things were scripted or cut in editing to make them sound different, but I'm referring to the lack of makeup and fashion fiascoes backstage. I know Katy has a history of posting pics with no makeup on twitter but it was still cool.

I also liked the funny and childish parts in the movie, such as the meet & greets and concert admittance lines. I also loved the scene in which the "band & crew?" were in a water park. I thought that was pretty good entertainment.

My favorite parts of the movie:

a) Katy Perry's sister, Angela, who is an older blonder version of her, which was freaky and cool. She's always taking care of her sister and actually gets married at the end which was super cute.

b) This awesome cafe Katy went to in Japan. You have your drinks in a room of cats! (I know!)

c) Katy's grandma. I just love old people and she's so funny.

KP (about herself and her siblings growing up): "We turned out pretty fine."
Grandmother: "As far as I know..."

She also lives in Vegas, four for you Katy's grandma. 

Something I am still not sure how I feel about is the parts about her marriage and relationship with her ex-husband. Everything was so intense with clips of her crying over texts from him after he filed for divorce. I don't know, I felt like that was something private that she shouldn't share.

The worst  part about the movie was the 3D. Frankly, the only things in 3D were the opening credits, some paper confetti at the end, and some 3D edited with photoshop pictures, exactly like the ones on tumblr. If it wasn't in 3D it would have probably been better, but they've got to get money in somehow.

Overall, it wasn't a great cinematic experience per say, but it was good entertainment.

Final rating: 2/5

Persepolis: a Review

per·sep·o·lis/pərˈsepəlis/

A city in ancient Persia, northeast of Shiraz. It was founded in the late 6th century bc by Darius I. This is the story of Marjie, her family, and the Iranian nation Islamic revolution. First of all let us discuss the graphics; I for one loved the artwork and the fact that there weren't many frames per second so the film went a little slow, which was great. Modern day Marjie is in color while her flashback are black and white, a movie culture cliche, yet it went very well with the storyline. The second thing I want to talk about is the star of the movie. Marjie is really easy to relate to. Okay, not everyone thought they are the next prophet and that they could talk to God while growing up, but we all thought we had some secret special power that no one else can posses or access. One scene I absolutely loved was after the Shah's regime fell, Marjie smuggled a Bee Gees record into school to show off in front of her friends. Another girl wanted to show off as well and brought out an ABBA record. "What? ABBA they SUCK!" Of course, sh grew up right into a punk phase, wearing what qualified as punk shoes in the 80's, which was a pair of Nikes. She wore a "PUNK IS NOT DED" jacket over her hijab and jelbab. Four for you, Marjie. You go, Marjie. Another scene I loved was the introduction of the martyr's assembly. It was very powerful. They cleverly showed the audience how those actions do not represent all, but a few who are in position to force those actions on others. Marjie is sent off to Austria to study in a French boarding school, she gets mixed up with some crazy crowd. When she gets home she starts having an identity crisis and sees a psychiatrist, who then proceeds to diagnose her with clinical depression. After being diagnosed with depression she falls into nothingness for a while, then makes her huge comeback by singing Eye of the Tiger. I know. I KNOW! The whole film is filled with little witty remarks and jokes, and there is no wonder as why it was nominated for the best animated film Oscar back in 2008. My favorite character would have to be the grandmother. She's fierce, strong, funny, witty, sassy, and fills her underwear with tiny flowers everyday to smell "nice and fresh". Could this film get any better? Final rating: 4/5

The Dark Knight Rises: a Review.

Warning: this post contains spoilers.

The most anticipated film of the year finally hit theaters in the middle east on august 17th. I didn't see it until Monday, the 20th.

The movie's director, Christopher Nolan, and the production company, Warner Brothers, released very little, if any, information about the movie itself. With 4 trailers showcasing nothing but fight scenes between Batman and Bane, Bruce Wayne walking with a cane, and Anne Hathaway in a mask, you wouldn't know what to think about the movie. Well, except for expecting AWESOME things.

Let us start with the new faces in the cast; Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mathew Modine, and Juno Temple.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of Joseph and Juno. Joseph's appearance in the trailers was very insignificant in comparison to his role in the movie. I was sitting in the theater thinking, "Who needs a Robin when you've got THIS guy on your side?". I've heard a rumor that Christian Bale refused to do the final film if a Robin was involved. Well, we all know how that turned out.
Juno Temple's role was a tiny supporting character as the apprentice of Selena Kyle, The Catwoman. Now, Juno has every independent film director falling head over heels for her after great performances in Mr.Nobody, Cracks, and Dirty Girl, but as of now, every major film production company has fallen for the charms of Temple.

Although Mathew Modine did a very good job playing Foley, I feel that his character was very disposable, as I grew very tired of that role being repeated in every crime or action movie.

To everyone who thought Anne wouldn't make a great catwoman, did you guys SEE that?

As for Tom and Marion, WOW. First of all, I wasn't sure Tom Hardy could pull on such a huge role, but my doubts have been cleared 3 minutes into the movie. Unlike most, I didn't find his muzzled voice funny, but sad. I felt sad for Bane. Hardy's role was about inflicting pain and fear onto others. He did that while wearing a mask. A MASK. You couldn't see 3/4 of his face yet you felt his expressions.

Am I the only person who actually knew that  Ra's al ghul has a daughter but thought, "Cool, they changed the story to fit the film." and then was, "I shouldn't have fallen for that!" Genius!

In terms of special effects and gadgets; aside from the bat and the atomic bomb, this movie was more based on the physical confrontation and characters development. The thrill came from -as Bane would say it- the soul, instead of the body.

I was sitting on the edge of my seat throughout the entire movie. Surprisingly it was more of a tear-jerker than I thought. The scenes between Alfred & Bruce were just heartbreaking.

The ending was great. The scene where Alfred sees Bruce & Selena together after he pretends to die is just..  EPIC.

Everyone says they want another film, but I don't. This trilogy is perfect the way it is.