Image source: IMDb
Image source: Toronto International Film Festival
August 14 / 17
Hello…hope everyone had a good and resting weekend. Saw Annabelle: Creation Saturday and I wasn’t disappointed. This is a prequel and better than the first Annabelle film.
Creation takes place twelve years, 1955 after a doll maker, Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife Ester (Miranda Otto) lose their only child, a daughter named Annabelle ‘Bee’, to a horrible accident. They decided to open their home to a nun and several orphaned girls. Everything seems to go well, that is until one of the girls discover the dollmaker’s crafted dolls in a forbidden bedroom …..opening a sinister entity.
You shouldn’t be in that room……
Produced by James Wan (director of The Conjuring and Insidious films) and Peter Safran, director David F. Sandberg ( Lights Out) takes the lead in this prequel. Of course this time we get the real story of how this creepy doll got its start.
What I like about this film and The Conjuring films is that you really don’t need a whole lot of blood, gore, and guts to make it scary. What makes a good horror film scary is the unknown. You know that feeling you get when you walk down a somewhat dark hallway, you feel the hairs standing on the back of your neck and on your arms, you get anxious….You get the picture. With this film, you get that sense.
Sandberg doesn’t disappoint with the whole gimmicks of what a good horror film needs. Does this film show too much? Nah, not really. The plot may be somewhat lacking, though. You’re trying to fill in the holes of the whole film, but again you get the backstory about the doll and how it all ties within The Conjuring universe.
The film topped the box office by $35 million. In all fairness, Annabelle: Creation is just what you need if you’re looking for a good scare. A really good scare.
Annabelle: Creation – B
Hope you enjoy your Monday, be blessed.
Image sources: the-line-up.com and variety
July 27 / 17
Picture yourself at the park enjoying the scenery, minding your own business, just enjoying the day. That changes completely when you see a woman half-naked, disheveled, but the face is just not right. There is no smile, no anger, just no emotion…She’s slowly walking towards you. The other people in the park don’t even know she’s there, that’s because they don’t see her, but you do…..
This is the premise of It Follows. Confused? Well, you shouldn’t be. This supernatural horror film is different from films that you’re used to seeing. It keeps you guessing and you want to know more.
Jay Height is your average college student. Everything is going well in her life. She has her family, her friends, her health, and now a new boyfriend name Hugh. The pair ends up making out in his car after a date. Everything is fine, but Jay’s world changes for the worse. She learns from Hugh that she inherited a curse, all by having sexual intercourse. He tells her that an entity in the form of someone she knows or a stranger will pursue her and she is the only one who sees it. Doesn’t matter where she goes, this entity will follow her and kill her. Once she’s dead it will pursue the person who passed this curse to her, her boyfriend. All she has to do is pass it along to someone else.
It knows where you are…..
Interesting concept. What is this entity? Where did it come from or how did this start? Those are the questions that you’ve probably asked yourself. Some critics have interpreted this film as a parable about STDs, AIDS/HIV. Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell he explains:
“I’m not personally that interested in where ‘it’ comes from. To me, it’s dream logic in the sense that they’re in a nightmare, and when you’re in a nightmare there’s no solving the nightmare. Even if you try to solve it.” Mitchell said that while Jay “opens herself up to danger through sex, sex is the one way in which she can free herself from that danger … We’re all here for a limited amount of time, and we can’t escape our mortality … but love and sex are two ways in which we can – at least temporarily – push death away”. – Wikipedia, Rawson-Jones, Ben (2015-03-08). “Exploring the horror of It Follows: David Robert Mitchell interview”. Digital Spy & Lyne, Charlie (2015-02-21). “It Follows: ‘Love and sex are ways we can push death away’”. The Guardian
Trust is another subject that you see in this film. After what her boyfriend tells, her, at this point Jay is struggling to trust others, even her own family, and friends. You get the sense that she’s also struggling with other issues within herself. Not only is there a fear of trust, but also the fact of being intimate with someone is something else altogether.
Again, we don’t know where this thing comes from, no motive, not even a face. That is what makes this film stand a bit. The film may lag in the middle, but it definitely has some jump and tense moments. You feel for the main character and what she goes thru. You feel the need to protect her just as her loved ones do.
It Follows has a unique formula that stands out and makes the viewer even more curious or more cautious.
It Follows: B
image source: Slash Film & FilmGrab
July 5 / 17
Hello and Happy Wednesday! It’s good to be back in the office. Found some really great opportunities for you guys courtesy of Contest Watchers. Here are a few to choose from….
cred: contest watchers
Image source: CEEweb for Biodiversity
Image source: unknown
If you’re interested in entering one or all three, just click on the official sites for more information. Hope you enjoy the rest of your Wednesday, be blessed. Lots more tomorrow!
featured image source: download-wallpaper.net
June 5 / 17
Wonder Woman…..The amazing Amazon’s story is finally on the big screen and it was good….We follow Diana’s journey from her island home Themyscira, where her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielson) is queen. For those of you who are true Wonder Woman fans, you know how this island paradise came to be. The Amazons were created by the gods of Mount Olympus to protect mankind from Ares, God of War. Diana wants to fight and be a great warrior, but her mother is against it, thinking that Ares is long dead and won’t return. Her aunt, General Antiope (Robin Wright) thinks the opposite and believes that her niece needs the training. By the time she’s a fully grown woman, Diana is already a warrior. Things get interesting when a plane crash-lands near the island. Diana saves the pilot, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) from the wreckage, but is followed by the Germans. Diana is clearly willing to fight Trevor’s war, World War I that is, thinking it’s the Amazon’s responsibility to fight. She goes with Trevor into the world of man to fight in the Great War.
Gal Gadot…ready for battle as the Amazon Princess.
Gal Gadot brings humor and humanity to the role as the 5,000-year-old Amazon. Danny Huston as the German General Erich Ludendorff, Elena Anaya as Doctor Poison, and the rest of the cast balanced out well with their performances.
Connie Nielson as Queen Hippolyta…Robin Wright as General Antiope.
Director Patty Jenkins brings a fresh perspective into the world of Wonder Woman. There are some touching moments in the film, especially between Gadot and Pine. We see a woman who is willing to do the right thing, but clearly, she has a lot to learn about how this world works. What I like with both DC and Marvel is that these heroes are not afraid to show who they truly are, even though they have their own share of flaws. You get that here with Wonder Woman. So do I think the film gives her story justice? Yeah, I me thinks it does.
Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorff….Elena Anaya as Dr. Poison.
I also think that we finally get to see a solo female superhero film with all the bells and whistles that it deserves. Is it perfect? No, but I’m happy with how the film turned out and I can’t wait to see more about this cultural icon.
Wonder Woman: A+
featured images: Forbes, IGN.com, Wallpaper Abyss, Comic Book &
May 30 / 17
There comes a time for every creative person…artist, writer, musician, or photographer, when our creative train makes an unexpected stop. For a writer, people call it writer’s block, an artist, I guess it’s artist’s block. Whatever it’s called, you reach a point where you’re just plain stuck.
This is where it’s time to do a creative revival. How do you do that? Well, there are many things you can do. I can tell you how I managed to revive mine.
Take a trip to a museum, a concert, art or music festival. This helps your brain to take in all the creativity that other people put out. You get inspired by how that artist created that piece of work, the story behind it, and why they created it. Musicians get inspired to write that great song. Going to a movie also revs up some creative juices. It takes a creative village to put a great film out there. A good trilogy always gives inspiration to some great ideas, right?
A weekend trip also clears and revives your head. Your brain needs a breather from all the day-to-day stuff that our brains deal with 24/7, all year long. Just to clear out the stress and anxiety. Not only that, but you’ll also feel more relaxed and more in tune with yourself.
Creative disruption is another good way to revive. I always find that rearranging your workspace or just cleaning your house is a good way to reevaluate your creativity. You may just find a short story you thought you threw away, the one you thought was a waste of time writing? Maybe it needs something different, something new. Or what about that sketch in between some books you found? Something good can come out that, right?
Like I said, there are many things you can do to get out of that artist or writer’s block. Trying new things like a class, workshop, even networking, the list goes on and on. Once that happens, then you’re ready to pick up where you left off.
featured image: WallDevil
May 22 / 17
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’–Percy Bysshe Shelley
It’s been ten years after the events of Prometheus….the year is 2104, a colony ship, the Covenant, carrying 2,000 colonists plus a thousand embryos, are heading to Origae-6. The ship suffers some major mishaps, but they continue to stick with the mission. That changes when they pick up a signal from an unknown planet. Acting captain, Christopher Oram (Billy Crudup) decides to investigate, thinking that this planet could be better than Origae-6, but Daniels (Elizabeth Waterston), thinks that’s a bad idea. A group of people, including Oram, Daniels, and Walter, an upgraded synthetic android (Michael Fassbender) lead a group to explore the planet. Once they land, they find David, also played by Fassbender, the lone survivor of the doomed ship Prometheus and face unimaginable horror.
The horror begins….
I don’t know where to begin, but I will say that Alien: Covenant is a true sci-fi horror film. Ridley Scott took his gloves off for this one. Remember, this a sequel to Prometheus and the one question we were asking is did Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) ever reach her destination to find the Engineer’s home? You get that answer in Alien: Covenant. We explore a bit more about the evolution of the infamous alien Xenomorph, which looks even more menacing, along with a new even deadlier creature. You want gore? Scott gives you just that. It really brings me back to 1979’s Alien. We’ve been on this ride before, but the film gives you a few twists. While Prometheus was a bit of a failure, this film isn’t.
The characters were pretty well written, including that of Daniels, but Waterston’s portrayal of the character is a far cry from Ripley. Like Ripley, she wants to blasts those parasites into space. Fassbender has double duty with androids Walter and David. He never fails to bring a character to life and he does it with ease.
Walter (Michael Fassbender) land to explore an uncharted planet.
After seeing all the Alien films, I’ve noticed a continuing theme. Creation and destruction…the consequences of that creation. In Alien: Covenant, not only you see the monster, but who the real monster is and I think it’s something of a subject for Scott. He still has a few more tricks up his sleeves and hopefully, we will come full circle
The crew of the Covenant….ready to head to a new home……
Enjoy the rest of your Monday, be blessed!
featured images: slash film, avp galaxy, scified, and 20th Century Fox
