Requiem for a dream

MONDAY NIGHT. Some serious bonding went down in the DFTV fam. Aww yeaah! What a week for bonding troops. We had dinner at Harriet's kitchen (hells kitchen eat your heart out) with some sweeet beats on the go, and then settled down to watch Requiem For A Dream. Only Harry and I had ever seen this movie, so i insisted the rest of the crew see it as its such a cult classic and was excited to hear what they thought of it.

Watching the movie again, i realized just how much i love it. It delivers such a powerful message and 'really makes you think' about the reality and consequences of addiction (especially drugs.) Addiction is such a huge issue and sometimes i feel like it can be a bit overly used and typical if you may, but Requiem For A Dream really is a fantastic portrayal of the realities and consequences of drug abuse.

The movie follows Sara Goldfarb, her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion and best friend Tyrone as they all battle with addiction in order to achieve their perception of happiness. I love the fact the movie features characters of all ages who suffer some form of addiction and self-delusion and don't just focus on the typical teenage stereotypes, for instance Sara Goldfarb, who is an elderly widow. In the beginning, she has a slight addiction to the TV, until she recieve's a phonecall telling her she is about to be on a TV show. She then becomes obsessed with dieting in order to fit in to a particular 'red dress.' Thus, she goes to a doctor where she receives dieting pills, which she soon supplements for food and begins her downward spiral of self-destruction.

The movie touches on the effects in which drugs can cause on relationships, as we see Harry and Marion deeply in love at the beginning until they start to dwell more and more in to drugs and Harry basically forces Marion to sleep with some old perv for money to buy more drugs. From this point onward, we know its basically over. This is a pivotal moment in the movie, as we realize that the characters all care for drugs more than they care for one another, at the start Harry is not even comfortable with Marion going out for dinner with this creep, and now he is demanding she sleep with him for some money. PIG.

Personally, i think this was such a heartbreaking moment, as i cannot imagine these lengths in which some people would go to for drugs.

When Sara continues to take her drugs, striving to fit in to the red dress, she suffers from horrifying hallucinations which eventually drive her to insanity. She is then forced in to a mental home where she undergoes horrifying electroconvulsive therapy after many failed attempts of rescuing the person she once was.

The way in which the characters satisfy their addictions is especially creative, as we never actually see them physically take them. It is conveyed through a mixture of visuals featuring physical effects such as pupils dilating and sound effects which i found especially creative. However, this starts to deteriorate as the characters lives crumble. When we witness Harry's arm which is badly infected and black, i thought i was going to spew mountains. I don't think ill ever get used to that scene or convince myself 'its only make up.' The disgusting part is, he can actually still inject in to it, no matter how spew-worthy it is. AWFUL! I just knew his arm was going to get the chop.

The absolute worst part of the movie is when Marion has to prostitute herself for heroin, and gets involved in some disgusting orgy infront of all these farm animal men. Personally i feel worse for her, because she is literally degrading herself in order to get drugs. Some may say they feel worst for Sara as she was given these drugs from a somewhat professional doctor, and didn't know any better. But, thats my very point. Marion knows exactly what she's doing, and has to live with the shame of it all. I can not BEGIN to imagine ever doing that, the scene alone makes me want to cry, mixed with the theme song, it is so powerful and upsetting.

The film has a beautifully thought out ending, as we see all of the characters curl up in the fetus position, naive and deluded in their own sense of loss and agony. Harry, alone in a hospital bed has come to terms that he has not only lost his arm, he has lost Marion. Marion curls up with her score of heroin, a deluded smile on her face, not coming to terms with the ways in which she had to get it. Tyrone is alone in prison, dealing with the loss of his friend, drugs and freedom. Sara is an absolute nutter now in her wee mental room, dreaming she is still on her game show and deluding herself that Harry and Marion are successfully married.

The theme song for this movie has to be one of the best i have ever heard. (On par with Jurassic Park, dun dun dun!) It is so full of emotion and encapsulates the power of the film and its message. Its a beautifully written piece of music and fits in perfectly with the tone of the movie.

Overall, Requiem For A Dream has to be one of the best films ever in my book, and i think it carries such a strong message and warning to the dangers of addiction in which we all face. It has some beautiful scenes (such as the one in the picture) that are thought out so well and are very moving.

Wow, this post has ran on way longer than my 'quick blog entry' and if i don't stop now ill bore your brains out. Even more. SO, after last nights fun filled crayola crayon event, i better be hitting the hay in order to get up fresh as a daisy for some Blade Runner at tomorrows screening. CHAO FOR NOW. x

DISGUSTED

I would just like to quickly state how much of a JOKE the x factor is. It doesn't even deserve capitals. In fact, its not actually the x factors fault, its the publics. WHY the hell are john and edward still in when raw talent like Miss Frank are being voted out? Its ridiculous. I don't know why the judges are complaining so much, they let twincest in. If they came to their senses and realized that they cant sing for s*** then maybe poor Miss Frank would have lasted another week. I think they were truly fantastic and would love to see them continue their music career, but typical with x factor, we probably wont hear from them again. I am devastated that these poor ladies were voted out, i would like to state that i DID in fact vote for them and wish them all the best, i hope to see them soon!

xoxo

Thats right. I'm not done yet and I'm never going to shut up. Ha, really I thought that all I ever blog about is films so i should really slip in a cheeky wee blog about classes and life at the academy of fuuuun. So far we've had about 2 weeks of proper classes, and they have been great. First of all, I really love scriptwriting classes with Richard! Its so good because i've not had proper writing classes in so long, and considering my english teacher completely ignored me all through fifth year, its been so great to explore ideas and to have a proper purpose to write for. I love all classes as a matter of fact, even if the tech fundamentals does make me quite nervous when the big cameras come out!

Already i feel challenged in class, talking about what programmes we love and why. And ill admit, i do feel like such a stereotypical bimbo sometimes when saying that i love 'Gossip girl, 90210, Desperate housewives' etc, and i do think sometimes i wish that i could say i love deep and meaningful documentaries, but then i would just be lying to impress people, which is not me. I love these programmes because i feel i can relate to them the most. They focus on my age group, and the main themes are the situations I face on a daily/weekly basis. I love the Hollywood sense of escapism they give off, and if i want to watch Gossip girl to feel like i'm a little rich kid living in Manhatten, i'm going to do that. These programmes are what 90% of the young people i know watch and we are the target audience.

Im really open to learning about new movies and other peoples favorites, and I'm already taking out DVD's from the library which my classmates have recommended. Tomorrow i plan to watch 'Monster' starring Charlize Theron which Sam kindly recommended, and it looks so good! (I just hope it doesn't encourage my over active imagination, all i seem to be watching are serial slashers, I think my mums getting worried) But ill no doubt blog about it soon.

In one of our screenings i was actually so surprised at how much i enjoyed the Godfather. I had once before been forced to watch the first few minutes of the movie by an 'old acquaintance' and demanded we put it off because it wasn't my thing. But when we watched it on Friday, i really enjoyed it! I can see now what all the hype is about and i think it deserves its great reputation. As Andy said, it covers all the themes there is to cover in one movie, and it is fantastically put together. Again, I'll no doubt blog about it soon, watch this space!

Overall, I'm loving the course so much and all my amazing classmates, i cant believe how well we are all getting on, its great. Thumbs up for DFTV! x

RAWR,

To kick off my over-exciting weekend, Friday night consisted of again sitting in petrified ALONE watching Jurassic Park and eating grapes all night. A lot of grapes. (Like a box.)

Jurassic Park was one of the three DVD's I took out from the library and since it was the tamest of the lot, it took one for the team. I had seen Jurassic Park 'back in the day' and although i hardly remembered it, i knew i loved it for some weird reason.

The moment i put it on i realized why. This movie is so amazing i want to watch it again and again and again. I LOVE the music and i absolutely must go back to Florida, it is so exciting and takes me right back to my childhood. I love all the characters, the plot, the special effects, the music, everything. The actors all give a really great performance considering they are running away from nothing/computer graphics the whole movie, and i generally felt the tension and panic they portrayed as they ran from these bad-ass dino's.

The dinosaurs are so realistic looking, they look like they have stepped right out of the lost world and not a computer programme.

In one of the scene's where the huge T Rex (I think) is about to make a feast of the children is amazing. When the young girl Lex shines the light on the dinosaur, you just want to eat her just for being so insanely stupid. What a ridiculous thing to do, the suspense was killin' me. KIDS!! When the dinosaur then massacres the jeep and the only thing between the children and the beast is one measly piece of glass/plastic, i thought my heart was going to swell out my belly button.

I especially loved it because it wasn't your usual scary as in serial killers/ghosts etc, it was just general suspense and fear of something bigger and better than us. The whole idea that these dinosaurs were manufactured really showed how unnatural and wrong it is, to create a life that should not have been created is playing with fire. This point of view is portrayed through character 'Ian Malcolm' who predicts that Jurassic Park will not work, as certain things just cannot be controlled by man, in this case, dinosaurs. However, the doctors manufacturing the dinosaurs insist they have taken precautions to try and control them by ensuring they are all female, therefore unable to breed. Ian Malcolm disagrees with this and simply states that 'Life finds a way.' This is later proven right as we find that the dinosaurs have managed to reproduce and are becoming increasingly out of control.

However, the one thing i would criticize is how easy it all apparently looks to create and contain dinosaurs, when really I'm sure this would be either impossible/illegal/unrealistic. The way that they are so calm driving around next to these huge killers is beyond me. I think if this were to happen, there would be men armed with guns and weapons; yet, would a gun actually kill this huge machine? Probably not.. But thats the beauty of this movie. Its not a documentary. Its not supposed to be realistic, its about a theme park of dinosaurs. It was created to be a part of our imagination, not our present or our future. You want a movie about dinosaurs? You got a pretty damn good one. You want a deep and meaningful movie about character relationships and dramatic storyline's, go watch the Godfather.

Overall, Steven Speilberg created a fantastic movie which i feel has every element to a classic, its entertaining; easy to watch; exciting; nerve-wracking and at points, funny. I am happy to see that there are many other Jurassic Parks and i will have to give them a watch to see if they are as good as this one, fingers crossed peeps.

R-Patz

Hello hello. Tonight fellow friends, i attempted to go and see Couples Retreat, only to find there was some problem with my Cineworld card, aww. Unfortunately it wont be ready to use until Saturday, therefore no Vince Vaughn for me tonight troops. (Shame..)

SO.

Me and Steff decided to head back to my lair and watch The Blair Witch Project. All i can say is the film ended, Steff left, and my mum went out. Thus, I am alone. I may as well live in a shack in the woods, I'm THAT scared. I've made a few dashes too and from my room, (when i say dashes.. i mean DASHES) checking for strange twiggy things in the process. So far, none have appeared, but i have had to crank up the tunes and get Desperate Housewives (new episodes from America, YES) on the go to ease my over active imagination.

Anyway, i better start writing in order to forget about the many murder possibilities lurking at every corner. I thought this movie was actually really good, and I found myself googling it to see if it was a true story and if the footage was real. The actors gave a really convincing performance and I could really relate to their situation. (Not that i've been hunted in the woods by a creepy spirit/witch/killer, but you know.) I thought it wasn't actually THAT scary until the last half hour when the girl finds the other guys teeth or heart or whatever form of human organ that was.... SO spew-worthy. I think this movie was successful in terms of getting the fear going, as we never actually see a physical being. Its all about the fear of the unknown, which is ten times scarier than Saw. It preys on the psychological aspect of our fear and this is what really creeped me out.

I thought some of the scarier scenes were when they 'turned off' the video cameras and it was just sound, it really shows you how much of a huge part sound plays in implicating fear. However, I didn't really understand the last part where they essentially die, and one of the characters is just standing in the corner. I didn't really see the significance of this but I'm very happy they didn't show us some fake ghost creature or anything, and even though it was slightly confusing it was effective. I mean, mixed with her screams and the camera falling, i was serious code-red style scared.

After watching this film, i now realize the fuss some people make when camping. NEVER AGAIN, shall i step foot in a tent in the dark without bodyguards. A lot of bodyguards. It was amazing to see how simple the movie actually was, yet it was its simplicity that made it so terrifying. Fear of the unknown is one of mans biggest fears and The Blair Witch Project certainly plays on this.

I should probably try to get to sleep but sadly I'm still too scared to move, especially after writing this, I've actually had to hide the DVD cover. Oh, and the picture of R-PATZ really has nothing to do with this blog at all, i just couldn't face anything other than his lovely face on my lovely blog. Thankyou and goodnight.

You knew it was going to happen...

I LOVE YOU ^

Holla at me bloggers. I thought i would grace you with a short and snappy ode to movie - lets face it - you all seen it coming. First of all, id like to state how truly gutted i am that Mr Ledger the ledge is not with us today. If he was, i think we'd be engaged after this movie. (Cause its that easy.) Thats all I'm saying.

I thought this movie was fabulous and i loved absolutely everything about it. It was a perfect getaway from my everyday life and just what i needed. Some may say it 'wasn't deep and meaningful', and had 'no real story line', but so what. Go watch Titanic, peasants.

The magic was portrayed fantastically through an amazing cast and brilliant special effects, with what i thought was a lovely little story filled with creativity and dare i say it..imagination. Lily Cole gave a convincing performance and managed to prove she's not just a pretty face, much to my surprise. The only thing I could criticize was the fact she's supposed to be sixteen, which is a bit far fetched in my opinion, and feel they should have changed it to eighteen.

I was happy to see Jonny, Jude and Colin (i speak in first person because of my close relationship with the boys.....ha) step in for their late friend Heath, and feel they performed an amazing role and managed to stay in Heaths character and accent well, especially Jonny Dept. HAWT HAWT.

I thought the graphics were brilliant for inside the imaginarium, really vivid and dream-like. Another bonus was the costumes, which were beautiful, especially Miss Cole's little numbers.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and thought Heath Ledger gave a fantastic performance, and Hollywood will sorely miss him. It pains me that i will never get to work with such an amazing performer and may he rest in peace. ♥

Donnie Darko

Hello. Firstly id like to say i HATE macbooks, itunes, or anything to do with apple. An Apple is a fruit. Not a laptop. Yes, i may be a little bit upset because YES, my new little white mac book took the liberty of deleting EVERY song on my ipod, which i have been building up over the course of the year. My heart is breaking. Thankfully - i've kept most of my songs on my trusty windows vista, however the thousands i stole from old acquaintance's....lost in space my friends. Lost in space.

Anyway, moving on after that short explanation of my heartbreaking, gut wrenching weekend, lets get down to business. Its been an eventful few days in terms of movies, as i've had plenty of spare time due to my horrific throat infection (no, before you ask, i don't think its swine flu) to lie all day watching films till my hearts content.

For starters, i kicked off my movie marathon with Donnie Darko. Initial response - WHAT. THE. HELL? Before i watched this, everyone was saying, 'Oh its so confusing, you'll have to watch it a few times to REALLY get it.' However, quite frankly i think i could watch this movie until I'm blue in the face and i still don't think i would get it. However, thats okay. Some movies get away with being confusing and i think thats what COULD have made this movie half good.

However, I felt like it was too long winded and just a bit overly-weird. Like some of it just didn't make sense! What was the significance of 'Frank' sitting in his room at the end looking quite distraught with drawings of the creepy mask everywhere? No clue. Thanks to wikipedia, we are told he is actually Elizabeth's (Donnie's older sister) boyfriend. Was there any mention of this in the film? Or had i already fell asleep by this point?

Snaps again for my amazingly good google skills, I have discovered that Donnie made the conscious decision to go back to his bed and prevent the disasters in which he predicted. BUT...if the end of the world was coming, wouldn't it still come, if he was dead or not? Its not like he created it. Or did he? AHH! I would generally be grateful for a Donnie Darko expert to explain all of these questions to me (and my mum, as she took some time out of her usual chick flick movies to watch this with me and is completely bewildered, asking 'Have you asked any of your filmy people to explain it yet???' every five seconds.)

I must say, apart from the fact i didn't have a clue what was going on, i was really intreuiged by the movie. I think i wanted to like it. The mood is conveyed nicely through the use of dark and pale blue's, and at certain points the cinematography was great. (Great being the only word i know to describe it....yet. My time will come people, my time will come.)

Overall, I generally think that writer/director Richard Kelly decided to try out smack and write a movie all-in-one go, and I honestly cant come to a decision if i liked this or not. So i'm not going to. Yet.

WATCH THIS SPACE.

Up up and away

Hello hello, i thought its about time i blog my brains out again before the busy week ahead. So creative beginnings ended (and what a shame that was) and we had our first class with Adam on thursday. It was so good to stop 'GIVING BIRTH...TO CREATIVITY..' and just relax a bit more, rather than feeling really stupid most of the time.

The class with Adam was really interesting and it got us all thinking about how much TV influences society and vice versa, and i really feel that the media in general has such a huge hold over my life, which is pretty sad actually. YES, its true, i do sometimes think im in gossip girl and think 'what would Serena do?!' I need to get a life.
Moving swiftly on..today we had our first class with Richard which i was soo nervous about because i spent hours on my short story and i was really worried we would have to read them out loud, and if i were to do that my story would lose its 'indolence' as my mum would say, so yeah, thankfully we didn't have to and all was good. I really loved the class and was surprised at how quickly all the ideas just kept coming at us from all different angles, i could hardly write fast enough. I especially loved when we had to introduce each other, and me and Murray showcased our finest Hollywood voices. I still laugh when i think of Murrays..' When Julia Martin landed on planet earth.........' and the comment about Rob Pattinson which i wont get in to detail about..haha.
Overall ive really enjoyed the classes so far and im so happy! I keep hearing my friends already like, 'I HATE UNI!' and im soo thrilled im not one of them, i absolutely love it and theres no where else id rather be. (Awww.)

Up 3D
Friday evening i went to see UP 3D with the suit, and it was fabulous. I thought it was so sweet and really think it deserves its name as the best animation ever made. It had the perfect combination of aww's and ahhh's, and i think it has something for all ages. The beginning was the cutest thing on the planet and i really enjoyed watching the two characters fall in love and grow old. It was nice to see the way in which their relationship was portrayed, as the innocence of children shone through. I always think its lovely when i hear the way children are so naive about love and relationships, especially when my five year old cousin Jamie tells me he wants to marry 'Chin Chin' because he 'likes her furry boots and pretty pink coat with fur in the hood!' Bless! (Little does he know that twenty years from now sadly Chin Chin's pretty pink coat wont be enough to make them live happily ever after, but maybe im just an old synic in the corner.) ANYWAY, back on track.
UP was hilarious and the humour appealed both to the young and old, and it was great to see everyone sitting with their 3D raybans on laughing away till their hearts content. The only thing i could complain about was that when you took off the glasses, the colour was much more vibrant and pretty. Ofcourse the glasses made it appear duller because they are tinted, but ive never noticed it as much in any other movie.
But thats really all i can say bad about this little gem of an experience. I would 100% recommed this movie as it was a sweeet little getaway to a magical world where you can stay forever young. X

Surrogates

After a LONG day of creative beginnings, we decided to leave behind our washing machine impersonations (shame) and make the most of our unlimited cards and went to see Surrogates. I was really looking forward to seeing this movie as i thought the advert looked really action-packed and exciting.

However, im now thinking the advert appeared more exciting than the movie. It was one of those movies where i was like, yeah this is good for the time being, but ill probably never speak or think about it again. It reminded me far too much of I, Robot (minus the lovely Will Smith might i add) and it was fairly predictable. For a while i was sitting thinking, when is this going to start? It wasnt until it actually finished i was like, okay so what exactly happened then?! Dont get me wrong, it wasnt exactly boring i-want-to-leave material, just not as good as expected.
I think the story was fairly weak and there was no real suspense or excitement throughout. The idea probably had more substance than the movie, and I think with a bit more work it could possibly have improved if it went in a few different directions. I thought the 'weapon' used to kill the surrogates was pretty cheesy to be honest, it looked like something out of the Teletubbies. And the green goo that oozed from the surrogates, i did not appreciate people. Along with the fight scene which i thought was really cheesy again. It reminded me too much of aliens or Ghostbusters and for a feature film i feel these angles could have been reworked and made a little bit more modern, keep up guys.
However one thing that gets a thumbs up is the way they managed to differentiate the surrogates from the humans, with some good old photoshop or whatever is used (again im not going to embarrass myself and pretend i know YET) but i felt that the surrogates really looked flawless and god-like, almost like the ultimate being. The actors playing surrogates managed to play a convincing role as they all looked like something from the Sims with their facial expressions and jolty movements.
As for the music side of things, which i feel is a crucial part to any movie, i dont even remember there being any music at all! This was a huge let down, but maybe I just wasnt paying enough attention. All in all, if there was music, it must have been weak because nothing seemed to jump out apart from one song in the end credits which doesnt even count.
Thinking back on the movie, it could be a good representative of the vanity of the human being, as we all seem to reject the fact of getting old and heaven forbid.......wrinkles. As the humans realise they can create a better, more beautiful version of themselves, they hide out in their little lairs with their wires all connected in and never show face to the outside world. Its all a bit perverted to be honest and it really got me thinking like, imagine this actually happened?! Ofcourse we would all love to make an idealistic version of ourselves, but would you really want to go out and talk to some suave surrogate and then find its a fat sweaty old man controlling it? No thanks. I think ill stick to wrinkles. (Dont quote me in 20 years.)
In conclusion, for a Bruce Willis film, it seemed weak and almost like a call of desperation on his part, but it was enjoyable for the time it lasted and thats about it, i forgot what happened almost the second i left the cinema. Thankfully its the LAST day of creative beginnings tomorrow so we can hang up our hot dance moves and fried mars bar impressions and get to some real classes on thursday! THE END.