We Were Children

I recently watched the movie, We Were Children on the APTN website. This was probably one of the saddest movies I've ever watched in a really long time. While also being a documentary, this movie was able to get across a very important message, the problem with residential schools. Residential schools is a problem that affects us as Canadians. This type of injustice happened on Canadian soil and what makes it worse is that Christians are also part of this. I as a Catholic have always believed in the religion and what it teaches me but seeing what those priests and nuns did, it hurts me. Residential schools were created to "kill the Indian in the child" by teaching them English and refusing to allow them to do any Aboriginal practices. Through residential schools, people aren't being treated as humans and are being forced to be someone they're not. I as a Catholic Canadian feel ashamed as this was done by people who are just like me. I am really happy to see that most of these schools are gone but if they still exist, I wish they can be get rid of immediately.

This movie focused on two survivors, Lyna and Glen. They both experienced residential schools yet still being able to come forward and share their stories. I like how the director let the people tell the stories themselves yet have visuals for the audience to understand better. If the movie was just done by actors then it wouldn't seem as believable but with the occasional cuts of the real people being interviewed, that made the story that much more believable. I am really dissapointed that something like htis happened on Canadian ground and I hope that more people could learn about this issue and stand up for it.

Summer Movies

With the summer season coming up, I can't miss out on some of the most anticipated movies! The first movie that I look forward to watching is The Hangover Pt. 3. Since this movie has already been released, there's nothing better than a little comedy to start off the summer! The Hangover series has always included some of the wackiest jokes and scenes that would have you begging to see more. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one looking forward to this film. As stated in the Rolling Stone article, "the laughs in the first hangover felt so good." The previous hangovers have never failed to dissapoint me and I'm really looking forward to get a good laugh out of this one.

The second must watch movie on my list is Man of Steel. That's right, Super Man is back! It's been a while since we've seen Super Man have his own solo movie and I can't even explain my happiness. I've been waiting for this day to come and I can't believe that it's finally here! The new Super Man is definately an imporvement am I right ladies? He's no longer the man with a jumpsuit and underwear on top but a hunky man of steel! The Rolling Stone article says that director Zack Snyder is taking his cue from the producer of the Dark Knight Trilogy and I agree that it may be true but that doesn't mean that the movie is going to be similar. In fact, I am really looking forward to the changes and new traits of Super Man.

Conundrum

This years art show was really successful in my opinion. Everything was really nicely put together and I liked pretty much all the art pieces.

The first art piece that really stood out to me was the light bulb artwork created by Truc-Lam Tran. When people think of the word art show they usually think of seeing paintings, drawings, statues, designs and films but when do they think of light bulbs? The artist really thought out of the box and created stunning art pieces. Her pieces were simple yet so detailed that even till now, I am still troubled by the reason behind her art pieces.

The second art piece that really stood out to me was the design booth created by Mandy Chan. When I first walked into her booth, I felt like I was in a store. The placement of all the creations made me feel like I was shopping for a bag. She did a really good job in designing her booth so that it all centres around her one theme of the ocean and sailing. I really like the uniqueness of her booth that still leaves a strong impression on me even till now.

The third art piece that stood out to me was a film. This film was titled "Some Kind of Movie" and was created by Gr.11 students under the name, CommunityLocker. This film stood out to me the most as the way they incorporated all different types of genres of film into one movie  was very unique and interesting. They were really able to show the different genres really well and even though it was confusing at times, I guess that's why the art show was called Conundrum! 

Crush the Skull

In the recent short film that I watched titled "Crush the Skull" directed by Viet Nguyen and produced by Cherry Sky Films, I can see how dialogue portrayed the characters. The boyfriend, Austin was played by Chris Dinh and the girlfriend, Steph, was played by Tara Perry.This was a short thriller film that I found on Youtube about a young couple stranded in a deserted highway after their car broke down. They meet a suspicious looking man who offers to help fix their car. While they are waiting, they start thinking about movie scenerios which lead them to the assumption that this man may be a serial killer. They argue for a bit when the man interupts them and Austin who due to the shock, accidently sliced the throat of the man with a pocket knife, thus killing him. The couple feel the guilt and horror of accidently killing a good man but as they walk towards his truck, they notice something. Sitting in his truck was a dead body and weapons which implies that the man was indeed a serial killer and that the couple actually saved themselves.

Through the dialogue, you can tell that the couple was very loving. They had a few arguments at time but it always ended with one of them saying they're joking. The dialogue of Steph showed that she was a playful and energetic girl. She had a wild imagination and even implied movie scenerios into her dialogue. The dialogue of Austin shows that he's a quiet and gullible guy. He listened to whatever his girlfriend said and believed her words. He was nervous when told to confront the man and instead just said stuff that showed that he wanted to back out. The man on the other hand had suspicious lines. His dialogue was cut short with very little words making him more mysterious. The dialogue played a very important part in making the characters. Each of them had specific lines that that shows the personality of the characters. Dialogue is very important in developing a character as shown in this short film, Crush the Skull.

Peluca and Napoleon Dynamite?

The first and most obvious difference in the two films was that one was in black & white and one was in colour. This changes the effect of the film as even if the characters are the same, the time period seems that much more different which causes the viewer to have different thoughts on the film. The character of Napoleon Dynamite is exactly the same in both of the films. He has the same look and personality that hasn't been changed. Something that had changed was the storyline. Peluca was obviously shorter which may be why the storyline was changed for the official full-length movie. However, it makes sense for the story to change as the original story in Peluca was not detailed enough to last for an hour yet still keep the attention of the audience. Changing the story for Napoleon Dynamite was a good choice made by the directors by adding more conflict and characters.

Peluca as a short film was definately very well filmed. The filming was simple while still being able to tell the story effectively. The audio and video quality was amazing and saying that it was a low budget production makes it all the more amazing. Although I would've liked it in colour, I think the black and white added a very special retro effect to the movie. I think the producers of Napoleon Dynamite was hooked by the character of Napoleon Dynamite. The producers probably saw the potential this character had and how much more they could create out him. The directors of Peluca created the very interesting character of Napoleon Dynamite in which probably caught the attention of the producers who saw so much more potential and decided to create this movie.