After the Dark

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 Being the Best

7

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Plot: A philosophy class' final is to decide who will live and who will die in a three different hypothetical apocalypse situation. There is also a romance between two of the students who are the best in the class and the professor tries to pin them against each other. This movie is great for making you think but also has lovely humorous moments. I found this movie very entertaining and interesting and recommend it to others.

Characters/Actors:

Sophie Lowe playing Petra: The only issue I had with this movie is the acting; Ms. Lowe is the main character in this film and she is the main culprit. The way she portrayed her character was soft and submissive, something that makes her character suffer. Since she is the smartest in the class and ends up being the leader and I found her attitude annoying. She just wasn't assertive enough to be a real leader. She also has to face a tug-of-war scenario and she does not give a single care about it and I felt that she could have given some emotion there. 

James D'Arcy playing Mr. Zimit: Mr. D'Arcy plays his character well. Mr. Zimit is a jerk of a professor who loves to stir the pot and make a bad situation even worse. He's also got a secret which we find out at the end between him and Petra. I thought his performance was well done.

Bonnie Wright playing Georgina: Ms. Wright's character is not a pivotal person in the film but loved her character. Georgina has the most leadership out of all the students and is very smart. Ms. Wright also has a soft voice but is assertive enough to tell off Mr. Zimit. I wish that Ms. Wright played Petra instead.

Music: The movie uses lots of brass. It was used well and I enjoyed it.

Cinematography/Camera Work: The movie appeared to be in high definition. The colors and lines were sharp. They also used slow motion often in the film but I thought it was used well. Good work here.

RECAP:

The movie is entertaining and it looks nice. I felt that Ms. Lowe was not assertive enough but the other actors do a fairly good job. The reason I did not rate it higher is because I would laugh at how ridiculous some of it was or how awkward. There is a scene where they have to decide who will repopulate the human race, and it is a serious discussion, but I couldn't stop laughing. I would recommend watching it and hope you enjoy this film.

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Mommie Dearest

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 Being the Best

4.5

Courtesy of Buzzfeed

Plot: This is the story of Joan Crawford and her abusive relationship with her daughter Christina Crawford. It starts when Joan Crawford adopted Christina up until Joan dies. I was told that this movie is pretty traumatic but I was surprised. There was a lot of mental abuse but the way it was described to me was that Joan Crawford beat her kids often, but there was only one case of that in the film. It is hard to watch but most of the time it was infuriating. I also found that it lacked the brother's side of the story. He also lived with Joan Crawford but his abuse was not documented in the film. Many people have watched this film and I have even heard the term, "Her mom as a real 'Mommie Dearest'." It does have relevance in our culture. It is based off the novel with the same title.

Characters/Actors: 

Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford: I thought that Ms. Dunaway was overacting. She characterized Joan Crawford in a way that seemed so fake. It almost felt that she was trying to be one of those bad 1950 actors. It was uncomfortable watching her because she was so borderline cheesy the entire time. Whenever she delivered a cruel line, I never thought that she delivered it well but thought about how Joan Crawford really said these things. I felt that Ms. Dunaway was more of a middle person. She told the story of Joan but did not embody Joan. 

Diana Scarwid as Christina Crawford: Ms. Scarwid did a pretty average job. I liked her acting performance more than Ms. Dunaway's as she seemed to try to really imagine how it was. I could sense her trying, though. It wasn't completely believable but wasn't awful. 

Mara Hobel as Young Christina Crawford: Ms. Hobel was by far the best actress in the film. Her grasp on the emotion of the film was much better than the other's. I could have been because her real innocence as a child could be seen in her portrayal of Christina. I was impressed with how intelligent Christina was and how she understood fairness, even if the adults around her did not. Spot on performance here.

Music: The music used many violins and brass which added to the drama. It's not iconic in anyway but does it's part well.

Cinematography/Camera Work: There were several errors I noticed in the movie that just made it seem sloppy. It's ironic because Joan Crawford was such a neat freak (emphasis on freak). I remember specifically in one scene where a waiter hit a glass of pop and it almost fell off the table. The fight scene was also done poorly. Everything seemed so fake as well. When I saw the house in the movie my first thought was, "That's a nice set." I did not think, "This is a nice house." I also hated the make-up on Ms. Dunaway, mostly for her lips. Joan Crawford had these strange thick lips but to hide that Ms. Dunaway didn't have the same lips, just added more lipstick. Not convincing. The camera work was fine. It had good angles, close-ups, and distance shots that worked nicely.

RECAP:

Camera work was done well but everything was pretty bad. The only good acting came from the young Christina and the music did it's part. I think this movie is good to watch to understand that even picturesque family's have dark stains and how abuse works in a family. 

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Dear White People

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 Being the Best

5

Image courtesy of http://cool-whipfree.blogspot.com/

Plot: The story takes place at a prestigious school and focuses on four African American students. The movie talks about the ways that black people are oppressed, how racism still exists, and how black people react to a dominant white culture. I was glad to watch this film as I wanted to learn this perspective. My wish for this film was that it would have been more hard hitting. I was under the impression that the movie was about Sam White's radio show but it ended up being about a racist party at the end of the film. The movie could have been more hard hitting if they could have focused more on day-to-day racist actions than the party at the end.

Characters/Actors of Note:

Tessa Thompson playing Sam White: I think Ms. Thompson did a wonderful job with the character Sam White and found it believable until later (which I will get to). This character was fire and brimstone about equal rights and I loved it. She was the character throughout the film explaining how black people are oppressed at her school (and our everyday lives) and how others reacted to it. Halfway through the film we find out her true nature and how she is so overbearing because she is covering up this truth. This disappointed me as she was such a powerful character at the start. The acting was good the writing was not. 

*Note there were many other characters in this film that were written to demonstrate a point. They seemed flat though and not note worthy.*

Music: The music was new and up-beat. Sometimes it seemed to go well and others I found that it stuck out to the point of distraction. It would make for great music on your own Itunes but perhaps not this film. There was one song that they play repeatedly and I hated that. So it had good music but not fitting.

Cinematography/Camera Work: The definition in the movie was nice and it looked crisp and clean. The problem was the choppiness. The movie would intermediately cut off to a bright colored background with black letters. It drove me NUTS. It took me forever that it is supposed to be chapters from Sam White's book, in fact someone had to explain it to me. These cards also cut-off the flow from the film. So the movie looked choppy and it was probably solely due to these cards.

RECAP: 

Music was excellent as a soundtrack but not fitting for the film. The look of this film was nice except that it was chopped up to bits by those cards. Ms. Thompson was by far the best actress and the others were flat. The biggest flaw was the writing. This film had the chance to hit everyone with the facts that African Americans are facing oppression in small ways almost everyday. That chance fell through when they focused on a racist party and let their leading lady become passive towards the end. I appreciate this movie nonetheless and thought it wasn't too bad. 

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