Tag: movie

Hero?

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Photo Credit: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

Today is Crazy Friday at my school. This week, the theme was Superhero Day – which meant we had to dress up as a hero. Today at breakfast, my friend asked me if minions were heroes. I started laughing, and said no. She said she asked because she wanted to wear a minion costume. However, after a few seconds I realized that minions are superheroes, because in the movie they saved the moon.

The definition of “hero” on Google is “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” When you think of it this way, Minions are heroes.

Many other things are heroes too – not only characters on the screen, but also heroes around me. For example, my friends save me everyday from my boring life, Jack the Cat saves me from being too stressed, and my family supports me and gives me love. I appreciate all the heroes out there, and I hope I am one too.

New Ideas For Halloween

beetlejus

Every Halloween there seems to be a myriad of Wednesday Addams, Wes Anderson characters and cats. This year, why not try something different

Instead of being Wednesday Addams try Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice.

Her costume is fairly easy.  You just need a black dress (you can even find this at a thrift store), a floppy black hat and black shoes.  Add some dark makeup and you’re done!

https://i0.wp.com/cms.myspacecdn.com/cms/x/13/44/103013-sgg-beetle-400x.jpg
credit to myspace.com

Rather than being a Wes Anderson character like Suzy and Sam from Moonrise Kingdom, try being a camper from Wet Hot American Summer.  These costumes are fun and easy.  All you need are 80’s teenager basics, and these are easily found at American Apparel.  This is a great group costume too.

https://i0.wp.com/static01.nyt.com/images/2015/07/19/arts/19WETHOT2/19WETHOT2-articleLarge.jpg
Credit to the New York Times

Then comes the infamous cat, the costume teenage girls tend to gravitate to every year.  Lets try to leave the cat in the past and go with some cute woodland creatures.  Foxes and deer are oh so cute and make awesome costumes.  You can wear a cute and comfy dress and put on some makeup and you’re ready!

https://ovsjournalists.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/82b6b-diy_animal_ears.jpg
credit to Brit and co

Bubba Gump.

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Speaking of restaurants in the United States, “The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company” stands out as one of my favorite. I love it not only because I am a seafood lover, but also is because of the interesting background. The “Bubba Gump Shrimp Company” is a seafood restaurant chain inspired by the 1994 film, also my favorite movie – “Forrest Gump.”

The first Bubba Gump restaurantt opened in 1996 in Monterey, California by Viacom Consumer Products. The Bubba Gump restaurant is named after the film’s characters Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue. In the film, Bubba suggested the shrimping business and ultimately Forrest pursued the idea after Bubba’s death in the Vietnam War.

The restaurants are fairly popular throughout the nation. And by September 2010, thirty-two Bubba Gump restaurants operate worldwide. I am not sure about people’s motivations of going to Bubba Gump, but as for me, I mistakenly thought that the restaurant was the real one in the movie.

The menu at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is primarily associated with shrimp dishes, but also offers a variety of other seafood. One main focus of the culinary style is Southern and Cajun cuisine, as the main characters in the film came from Alabama.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was really thematic – full of the quotes and posters from the movie. The waiters also ask questions about the movie.

I enjoy the restaurants with certain themes. They provide the customers various feelings and experiences besides just eating their meals. Such restaurants can always easily build profound impressions and make people want to return. This is actually a great strategy!

Never Fixed

indigoshellLeave a comment

In Journalism class, we watched Shattered Glass. Or most of it, anyways. I was having a terrible, awful, no good, very bad day, so it heightened the suckage of the movie for me.

Well, it wasn’t a bad movie really. It followed the, slightly antagonistic, days of Stephen Glass, and appeared to be a lovely movie at first. Stephen Glass seemed to be charming, witty, awkward, and an easy to talk to person. He was a journalist and was loved by his co-workers and boss, Michael Kelly. After a strange “punishment” of circling commas beheld the crew, Michael tried to defend them and ended up getting fired.

Their new boss, Chuck Lane wasn’t too hot for Stephen. Or at least lacked the bond that the last boss shared with the workers.

One of Stephen’s stories was about a teenage hacker, how Ian Restil hacked into the company Jukt Micronics’s computer system and how he became a hero among other hackers.

Guess what? The whole story was total bullcrap. Whoaaaa plot twist of the century.

Ugh.

Anyways a reporter at another company, Adam Penenberg at Forbes Digital Tool, got suspicious and researched the company. Him and his co-workers discovered an amateurish website for Jukt Micronics and nearly no evidence that any of the story actually happened whatsoever.

Aaand Stephen Glass is suspended. For two years.

That’s about where we left off in the movie. In reading of the movie’s Wikipedia page, I discovered that Stephen had admitted that 27 of his articles were fictional in at least one part.

I can understand the pressures of writing, I can. Our school’s journalism program is pretty intense, and, even as a rookie, I’ve found myself one or a few times thinking “maybe I’ll just pretend this happened…”

I didn’t though. I did my best to stick to the truth, however boring or difficult the truth may be. If Stephen had made up one of his stories, maybe two, I would’ve been a little more forgiving towards his character. But no, he had to make up 27 different stories and that is just ridiculous and weak.

The Intouchables

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

When I mention the movie “The Intouchables” to someone, they most often hear “The Untouchables.” While I hear good things about “The Untouchables,” I’ve never actually seen it, and I’m sure it couldn’t even compare to “The Intouchables.”

“The Intouchables,” which is a French film, came out in 2011. It follows the story of a wealthy paraplegic man in search of an assistant. During his interviews, a man storms in and adamantly requests him to sign a paper saying that he applied for the job, but didn’t get it, in order for him to receive unemployment. It is obvious that Driss comes from the lower-class, spends much of his time in the streets, may have a questionable past, and a poor work ethic. However, Philippe, the man hiring, takes to the fact that Driss has no sympathy for his condition. He doesn’t treat him as an invalid or an outcast. He treats him as he would anyone else. Philippe decides to hire him, despite warnings from people close to him.

What ensues is a comical friendship, where both men learn from each other. The dynamic duo breaks all the rules that have been set for paraplegics. Driss teaches Philippe how to live again, despite his condition, and Philippe teaches Driss about the rewards of giving one’s all to their work. The two push each other to be the best they can be, despite the internal and external flaws of each man.

The film is based on a true story, and is simply amazing. It is definitely one of the better movies I have seen. The filming was very well done, and the characters provided laughter at every turn, even at times coaxing out a tear or two. I watched this movie over the summer with my dad, and at the end of it, we looked at each other and said “wow.” There is really no other way to describe this movie. I’m surprised by how few people have seen it. It is definitely on my list of must-sees, so if you haven’t already, go and rent it as soon as you can. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Monsters!

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This summer, a movie called “Monster University” was fairly popular. I watched it with my friends, my family three times in total. And I still love it.

Monsters University is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures.It was directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae.

If you have seen the “Monsters Inc.” you would then be really familiar with the two main characters – the one-eyed goblin Mike and the fuzzy blue scare-master Sully.

“Monsters University” told the story of the two monsters as students attending Scare U. The movie began with a brief prologue of Mike as a young monster. He studied hard and finally got accepted into his dream school – the MU. Mike believed in everything said in the books but lacked talent. Sully, on the other hand, got the gift of scaring ability. The story mainly showed how these two monsters learned from each other in order to achieve their goals and eventually became friends from enemies.

My personal favorite part from the movie is how different types of monsters have their own features and all their expressions are vividly portrayed.

The movie is both comical and meaningful. From the movie, people can not only find amusement, but can also discover some life lessons, such as how to communicate and treat others appreciation and honesty.

However, I am not really trying to dig out the very profound meanings from this movie, because it is still produced as an entertainment cartoon. I just found that each monster kind of represents different kind of people.

Well, human beings do look better.

Rush

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

On Saturday night, I went to see the movie Rush. Going into it, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a movie that focused solely on car racing. But the movie exceeded my expectations in every way.

Rush is a movie that focuses on the rivalry during the 1970’s between Formula 1 racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The film does a phenomenal job of creating three-dimensional characters who push each other to the breaking point, and at times, to the brink of death.

The filming of the movie was very well done, as was the soundtrack, the combination of which turned the races into intense and extreme moments, even for the audience. The actors fit perfectly together and managed to re-create a time and a lifestyle that we would never be able to experience for ourselves.

I was thoroughly impressed by the movie for many reasons. It was definitely one of the better ones I have seen this year, if not ever. Rush was very well done.

Kevin, Kenny, and Nicholas Cage

indigoshell3 Comments

We had missed our flight.

What a way to start the first day of camp, eh? Arriving at 10pm in the dark gives a great first impression.

I had pulled an all-nighter as our flight was at 4am, which was a very stupid thing to do. I felt like death while waiting for the next plane to fly.

I was grumpy. I’m sure my little brother was too.

The car ride was awkward because everyone but my little brother and the driver was asleep.

I remember waking up and groggily stepping out of the car. The first thing I remember from the camp was a startling loud cry of a very, very familiar bird.

It was a peacock call.

All over camp, wandering freely, were peacocks. I was told that the peacocks roaming the main part of camp were called Kevin and the ones that stayed near the Animal Area were called Nicholas Cage.

During nighttime Kevin would hop up waaay up there in a pine tree, startling children walking underneath whenever they make a nighttime call. I had made a little game out of it; trying to find Kevin whenever he was in a tree. He was usually camouflaged too well among the branches and leaves but sometimes I would see the little jitter of his tail feathers.

The Animal Area was what it was called: an area for the animals of the camp. What we called the “Bird Aviary” housed many different species of birds: peacocks, pigeons, silkie chickens, and a lionhead rabbit.

The most valuable peacock we had was a half albino, half normal peacock, and he was settled in the Aviary. Prince Charming and his Princess, two albinos, were also in the Aviary.

When I was in China I grew up hearing the calls of peacocks day and night.

Most people wouldn’t expect there to be peacocks in China but for some reason there was a hotel that had peacocks in it.

Being at camp and hearing Kevin and Nicholas Cage cawing all the time brought a slight feeling of nostalgia.

After my five out of six weeks of camp was up I was told that the peacocks were actually called Kenny.

Why had nobody told me this earlier?

I had been calling them the wrong name for five weeks? But even the counselors called them Kevin!

I still call the peacocks Kevin. Old habits die hard.

UP.

eternity1030Leave a comment

“Thanks for the adventure. Now go have a new one.”

– Ellie

I watched this movie three years ago, and I was moved by the exciting adventure of a flying house.

Then I watched the movie last year, and I was moved by the interactions between two generations.

Last night, I watched it again. And I discovered a part that I’ve ignored for a long time – the memory between Carl Fredricksen and his wife Ellie.

The film “centers on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell. By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America and to complete a promise made to his lifelong love.”

I did not realize that the memory was really playing a big role throughout Carl’s entire life.

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Joyeux Noel

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

Years ago, I remember watching a French movie about war. In all honesty, that’s about all I remember, except for this one scene in the middle of a snowy field with an officer in blue standing in the middle. The actors spoke in French, and being fluent in French myself, I followed along as best I could. What I didn’t quite catch, I would refer to the english subtitles in order to interpret.

Because I was so focused on understanding what the characters were saying, I missed a lot of what was actually happening in the film. I do remember that it was amazing though.

This week in A.P. World History, we were assigned group projects. My partners and I were assigned a prompt asking us to compare what our textbook told us about WWI to the song “Christmas in the Trenches” by John McCutcheon. As I listened to the song, I suddenly realized that the scene being set by the singer was one somewhat familiar to the movie I had seen years before, Joyeux Noel.

This week, my research has helped me to understand why that movie was so amazing. I had no idea that it was reenacting the Christmas Truce of 1914, where soldiers on a battlefield during WWI called an unofficial truce for the holidays.

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