Jersey Shore

     So right now I'm sitting here watching the whole first season of Jersey Shore and its not half bad. I'm starting to see the attraction to the show. The only complaint I have is that the show and the drama can become mundane at times. The characters are all dynamic so that makes the show just that more interesting to watch. So I think I might just stick around and watch season 3. I recommend it to all.

”Review of “Kirikou and the Sorceress”

           The film that I reviewed was “Kirikou and the Sorceress” by Michel Ocelet. I originally saw the film about 10 years ago at home; though I just recently saw Kirikou on December 1^st on YouTube. YouTube has the film in its entirety in seven 6:30 to 10:00 minute clips. The first time I saw the film I was by myself so why change? I prefer seeing films by myself when I review and critique them. This allows me to shut out any outside influences that may skew my review.

                When I originally saw the film I wasn’t watching it to receive any type of meaning, although after watching it again I have picked up something totally different. The film originally grabbed my attention because it was an animation with all African characters. The film starts off in a West African country (possibly Nigeria). The scene begins within a hut where we see a young African woman who is in the middle of giving birth. Right from the beginning we hear a voice within her belly telling her to bring him into the world. The mother doesn’t obey but in return says “a child who can speak from inside his mother can bring himself into the world.” Kirikou is then born by his own emission. He then proceeds to washing himself.

                In my opinion this film tried to portray many themes. The one prominent theme that I concluded that was relevant to the movie was the one that pertained to men. Throughout the film the director gives the audience slight hints to what the film is about. Ocelet uses the evil Sorceress as a key to discovering the ultimate meaning of the film. The audience gets the idea that the Sorceress is just an evil woman but as the film rolls on it becomes clear that she was just a woman scorned. The film was trying to portray that after a woman has been treated wrong after so long she can become scornful and angry. Once Kirikou came into her life he was the boy to break the mold. Once Kirikou released her from her infirmities it was evident that she was a good woman underneath all of the hatred. The Sorceress was an icon used to show how cataclysmic it can be to have scorned a woman in my opinion.

                As a film the storyline was quite successful. The film has a charismatic beginning, middle, and end. The plot is thoroughly designed and the view can fully define the goals of Kirikou. The acting was also convincing to me as a viewer. I was convinced that the Africans in the animation were disenfranchised. Ocelot choose to give the film a flat two dimensional look as opposed to the trendy three-dimensional one.  For this is the reason why the film may have looked older than what it really was having debuted in 1998. Aesthetically the animation could have been better but I think the film did a great job in plot aspects and character dimension that made up for its shortcomings.

                   I enjoyed this film and I believe “Kirikou and the Sorceress” did a great job in conveying the many feelings of the African women. I would recommend this film to anyone who is looking to see a symbolic African animation although hardcore anime lovers may not find the drawings to be appealing.                                   

Creativity Pt. II

Hello again everybody. In the first portion of Creativty I discussed creativity as having the ability to create. Creativity is formed in the mind and can thus be transfered to paper. Often times people may come across writer's block. A simple way to overcome writer's block is to take a break and listen to music. Music has been known to inspire people to do many things.

Creativity Pt. I

 Merriam-Webster defines creativity as the ability to create. So to be able to create means to be able to form or make something through a physical process or a psychological one. With that being said creativity can come from thoughts that we have at the present time or may have had in the past. Dreams are an awesome way to harness your creativity. One night when you decide to go to sleep try keeping a pen and notebook beside your bed. As soon as you wake up record everything you can remember from your dream. Who knows you may come up with a great idea for your next screenplay or novel.

Skyline Movie Review

Hello everybody. So I just came from sitting through Skyline. Remember how I was saying that the film looked like it could have been on the Syfy channel? Well it wasn't too much of an upgrade. The Strause Brothers should stick to doing special effects because that aspect of the film was fantastic. The thing that made Skyline bad was the fact that it had no plot. No I shouldn't say it didn't have plot (every film has plot), the plot just wasn't well crafted in my opinion. Skyline had decent action bits. I would give the action scenes a rating of 3 out of 5. I suppose I was just hoping for too much from this film. I was expecting to see something similar to District 9 or Aliens vs. Predators and this film certainly didn't deliver that in my opinion. I would furthermore give acting a 2 out of 5. The dialogue didn't seem appropriate for the film and was too unrealistic.Whether you are a hardcore sci-fi person or just someone who wants to go out and see a good movie I would not recommend Skyline for a good view. Though if you don't mind spending hard earned money on a film that is not good and will leave you with a dropped jaw..... though not for the fact of its cleverness but for its horrid acting and predictable out comes then Skyline is the film for you. All in all Skyline left me poorly dissapointed.

Skyline

This weekend is the premiere of Skyline. I must say for a film whose physical production only cost $500,000 and has a total budget between $10-20 million the movie looks very well aesthetically speaking.Peculiar lights drop upon Los Angeles and begin drawing people in like moths. From the looks of it you have your typical aliens wanting to destroy the human race. There is just something about this film that is crying out to me that it belongs on the Sci-Fi (SyFy) channel along with the other movies that could not quite make it to the big screen. That is not to say that the movies on SyFy are not good movies with good plots. That is just to say that one can tell when a movie didn't quite have the right mechanics to make it to theaters. Brothers Strause are the two who directed and produced the film. Throughout their career they have been known for their special effect work being linked to films such as the Nutty Professor, Titanic, 2012 , The Incredible Hulk, and Fast & Furious. I look forward to attending the premiere of Skyline.

Look for my review of Skyline.

Due Date Movie Review

Ok I saw Due Date on Saturday around 9:30 p.m. so don't blame becase I just didn't feel like putting the review up at 12 midnight. Ok so in the movie you have Robert Downey Jr's. character trying to get to Los Angeles from Atlanta for the birth of his first child. Downey by fate comes across the vibrant Zach Galifianakis and due to issues on a airplane they must travel by other means. The movie was what you would expect from director/screenwriter Todd Phillips whose work include Road Trip, School for Scoundrels, and Hangover. Due Date was funny because of the two contrasting characters in Downey and Galifianakis. Many will compare this film to John Hughes 1987 flick Planes, Trains and Automoblies. If I had to gives this movie a score for comedy it would be 4 out of 5 stars. Many will enjoy that compatibility of Galifianakis and Downey. I would have to give acting a score of 3 out of 5 because although clever and wonderfully create Galifianakis's character is some might be deemed him to be too unrealistic. Overall this is be a movie you will want to add to your collection.