A Psycho Review (mini review #4)

Final review! Whoo!!

Since the 60s this movie has been terrifying audiences with it memorial score and classic scenes that have been parodied and adapted over and over again. This movie is of course is Alfred Hitchcock’s horror flick, Psycho. Psycho has not only set the bar for all future horror movies with the creeds that it creates, but still remains scary today.

Making a horror movie in the 60s was hard work as society was still trying to hold onto its values and morals even though this was a time of drastic change. Hitchcock was not allowed to show Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh getting stabbed in the shower. Even a scene of a woman in a shower is scandalous enough! And then he had to go in and add the first toilet flushed on screen in there two! It is simply outrageous! The nerve of some people.

It is a little known fact that this movie today is seen as being groundbreaking, but back then it was a very rude movie. What with that king women being killed like that and that poor man and his… issues. If a director were to make this type of film today, it would not sell, as a horror movie because compared to today’s horror genre this is a little kitten. But what makes it so scary to audiences?

For starters, the score is terrifying and combine that with the silence of the shower scene, and you’ve got a surprise jump scare with music out of complete silence. The combination of these things will make anyone jump. It’s terrifying!

 Next we look to the female heroine. Merion is a perfectly ordinary workingwoman of the 60s with good morals and tasteful style. But everything is not so perfect if you look closer. Merion, as seen on the poster, is half naked and the first scene that the viewer sees of her is in her underwear. Merion is also impulsive. Stealing the cowboys’ money to be with her boyfriend is completely illogical and stupid. Man, she would make a really bad criminal in the real world. A silhouette then kills her. DUN DUN DUHHH!!!

But that was only the first 30 minutes or so. After Merion is out of the picture, quite literally, the plot revolves around Norman, the motels owner, as he tries to cover up the murder while Merion’s boyfriend and sister  looking for her.

Norman is arguably the most interesting character of the whole movie. For one, he’s crazy and dresses up as his mother to keep the memory of her alive. My social science geek is coming out yet again, but Norman pulls you in and you are forced to be interested in him. He is very obviously sexual repressed as whenever someone ignites that interest he kills him or her. Norman is also very tense whenever he is talking to Merion or the boyfriend or the nameless sister. And can we just all take a minute to admire the imagery of this scene because it is amazing.

The biggest plot twist of this movie is that Norman is actually the killer and he dresses up as his mother while committing the murders. P.S, the mother is dead to boot. Norman is so interesting that there is a show called The Bates Motel that revolves around him. I love this movie because of Norman and the imagery that surrounds him. Because of the score. Because it still is terrifying and because it set the bar so high for todays horror movies. I change what I said earlier, today’s horror movies are the kitten, this film is the big daddy cat that your weird aunt owns and that you know is plotting to kill you. You know the one. 

I give this movie ten giant bongs from The Cabin in the Woods out of ten.

Here's a trailer for a movie made about Hitchcock and the making of the film: 

Hers's the trailer for Bates Motel, the show based off of the movie and of the character Norman Bates:
 



And finally, a little happy valentines card that everyone wants to receive.

Resto Memento Review (mini review #3)

Here we are. The third review. I could really write anything, but following my theme of plot twists, I’m going to review the biggest plot twist movie that we’ve watched in this class; Memento.

*I apologise to all of those who though I was writing about HP and this fabulous spell that only comes up once throughout the whole movie series! But alas, I must stay within the rules of the project and review something that we’ve watched in the class. Unfortunately. I'm looking at you Edwards!*

So Memento. This film came out in 2000 and was the first of many Christopher Nolan films that are full of plot twists on top of plot twists. The film follows Leonard as he attempts to find his wife’s killer. But the first of many plot twists appears when the film has two streaming time lines at once; one in colour and one in black and white, with the colour timeline going backwards and the black and white going in chronological order. This modern film noir plays homage to the genre with shadows and low camera angles to boot. Not to mention all of the creepy tattoos that our main man Lenny has.

In attempt to give some content to this review, I will *try* to summarize the movie. So this guy Leonard has short term memory loss and in attempt to combat this, he write everything down and has tattoos all over his body that help him find his wife’s killer. He knows several things, including the killers name, licence plate number and that he is a drug dealer. So for the entirety of this movie, Lenny runs around with this guy Teddy as the viewer gets constantly more confused as time goes on.

Flash forward to the ending and PLOT TWIST! Teddy is an under cover cop and Leonard has already killed his wife’s killer, but he forgot about it. But PLOT TWIST AGAIN, Leonard then kills Teddy for not telling him about it and leading around in circles for the past year looking for a guy that is dead. After Leonard learns this, he writes down Teddy's licence plate number. PLOT TWIST AGAIN! Leonard is able to remember to kill Teddy long enough to lead himself back to Teddy later on. What?! 

So this leads the view to question what Leonard actually remembers or if his condition is fixed and he’s just lying to himself to keep the chase that he loves so much alive. Mind = blown!

This movie took me forever to figure out! I think that if it wasn’t for those two story lines playing at once, I would have got it. But then again, part of what I loved about this movie was trying to figure out what is going on and coming up with different theories on how it will end. Again, continuing with the theme of plot twists and thought provoking movies with these reviews, this movie falls right into this. No there is no Jim Carrey in it, but everything can’t be about ground breaking Jim Carrey movies. Sadly.

A lot of people didn’t like this movie understand this movie and because of this, they didn’t like it. But again, this movie makes you think and wonder about how much people actually understand and what they make themselves forget in order to keep that chase alive like our man Lenny.

I feel like I’m making no sense, but then again, this movie doesn’t make a lot of sense when you first watch it.

I give it 9.8 PLOT TWISTS  out of 10 MINDS = BLOWN

 Here is the trailer:

The Truman Review (mini review #2)

Again with the Jim Carrey movies! The Truman Show was released in 1998, however, unlike Eternal Sunshine, The Truman Show does have those slapstick lines like "and if I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.” I’m going against by saying this, but this is a Jim Carrey Comedy that I actually like.

The plot is so fantastically simple, but it greatly reflects our media based world that we are creating. The movie follows the life of Truman who has a seemingly perfect life. But wait, there’s more! Every second of Truman’s life is actually documented on a 24 hour television show, called The Truman Show… hence the name. This has been going on all of his life without him noticing anything!

It’s only after a series of unfortunate events, that Truman realized that his is in fact, on a television show. 

This films deals with the idea of how we construct our own reality and why we shouldn’t play God. 


The creator of the show, Christof,

no not that Christof, this one, 

handpicked Truman as a baby to star in this television show. Christof is essentially playing God and if we didn’t learn that doing this was bad from Frankenstein, this film helps to relay that theme.

For a seemly simple plot line, I do find that this movie does have a hidden depth it to. To me, the movie is a statement about how much we rely on the media and the creator of that media to construct our daily lives. By this I mean how a content creator or the content itself is able to create this false reality where everything is perfect. Sometimes so wickedly perfect. Lets take this Britney Spears music video for example. 

I was still a kid when this video came out and it taught me that high school is this amazingly fun place where I will always get the guy and there will always be time for random dance breaks while wearing cool sweat pants. But unfortunately, this is not reality. As much as I wish! Media has the power to change and alter how we think and perceive things and I think that is the biggest message that this film is trying to convey.

I think this really reflect today’s Western world as we at the point were to some people, the construction that the media creates, is more important then actual reality. Like Eternal Sunshine, this movie made m look at how much beauty I am taking from the little things that other people may not be able to have, like the means to convey my opinions to you.

 

Also, maybe my social science geek is showing, but this would be an awesome case study. You could chart Truman’s development and specifically change his environment for things like if you wanted him to be raised with a British accents because why not? So you would build up this fake world around him and then when he is introduced to the “real world” see what kind of psychological effects that is has on him. Maybe I’m just looking to in depth in this. But hey, I’m over the word count!

I give this film 4.5 psychological disorders out of 5.

Here's the trailer: 
 

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Review (mini review #1)

Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind (2004) was directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman. It follows the life of Joel played by Jim Carrey and Clementine played by Kate Winslet and their attempts to fall in love. This tumblr-tastic movie only gains more popularity as the years go on because every time that you watch it, you find out something difference. When I first watched it, I thought "What the Voldy is going on?", but once you understand it, there is a subtle beauty that you are able to find in everyday life.

*Warning: the following contains major spoilers. For the purpose of the blog, everyone has seen the movie so therefore, they aren’t really spoilers!*

So the movie starts off with boring Joel as he goes through his daily boring life. But plot twist! He doesn’t get on his normal train, but instead grabs a train to Montauk.

Whilst there he meets a girl (big shocker there). But surprise surprise, fast forward to the day previous and he starts forgetting all about this amazing girl who he’s fallen in love with! What? This is when the movie then hops off of the romantic drama genre train and takes a full blown dives into the world of philosophical movies.

As it turns out, there is a machine that can erase the memories of loved ones. Clementine erased Joel, so Joel in turns, erases Clementine. But something goes wrong. In attempt to erase said memories, he relives them and comes to the realization that relationships are not supposed to be perfect and his relationship isn't worth forgetting. But does forget it anyways. In the end, the viewer realizes the circle of their relationship; they met at Montauk, have this classic perfect relationship, have a falling out, break up, and erase the memories of each other.

Personally, I loved this movie. Maybe it's just me being a teenage girl of tumblr and falling into all of the stereotypes that come along with it. But I think that anyone who cannot see the value in this movie is stupid! Again, I am a girl and this movie is incredibly confusing, but you cannot walk away from it without appreciating the little things that you one day will forget.

Eternal Sunshine is an amazing movie that breaks the mold of all Jim Carrey movie by not having those slapstick “comedy” lines that makes everyone over the age of 12 want to pull their hair out! Yes, it does have those moments of the classic romantic genre, like that they always end up together, but Gondry is able to put his own spin on it that really makes you think. Plus, all the plot twists with all of the feels!

I give this movie 10 tumblr cats out of 11.

Here's the trailer for all you curious cats: