Thursday 17 September 2015

Chronicle




Yes I saw Fantastic Four, the new one (Actually I have seen the 4 movies already, yes the 1994 made by Roger Corman too) but I’m not going to make a review of it, why? Because What can I say about it that has not been said yet, the movie is horrible and should never have been green lighted.

But with that in mind before watching Fantastic Four I watched “Chronicle” the movie that convinced people that Josh Trank could make a movie, so I think my review should be for this movie because is his “opera prima” that’s Latin for his best work (if you take it literally means first work, but we will stick to number one work)

So why Chronicle was so acclaimed and Fantastic Four so terrible? Did power go over his head? Did everything got out of hand because of the big budget? Or, and this is my point of view, he just plain suck and doing internet videos is his “non plus ultra” (Latin for “the best that can be achieved” Look at us using Latin twice already, I feel so smart and proper)

So without any more I give you the review of:

Chronicle

The movie starts as any found footage starts, someone setting a camera (So we start with the wrong foot) and the guy setting it have problems with his father (Seriously can this be more cliché?—Uh now we use French—) Well the movie moves along but if you pay a little attention you might see that there is no plot for the movie, is just like a bunch of internet videos all mashed up together. If you don’t believe me just make this little exercise, watch any scene of the movie and think “would I get the plot of the movie if this were the first scene?” The answer is always yes. The character of Michael B. Jordan is totally useless for the plot, the guy appears in the middle of the story then dies and it has no impact, also the character of the girlfriend is also irrelevant, just happens to be there.

So you might get what I’m trying to say, this movie is poorly written and the visual effects are fine for a youtube video made by some random guy with his friends but this was a studio film and the effects were made by people that earns their living by doing this. There is no character development in this series of videos (I refuse to call it a movie any more) even the gimmick of being found footage doesn’t work if you know a little of a camera, which is, the image and resolution changes from one device to another. When the camera gets destroyed and he gets a new one, it should have been a change on the image like in “The Wizard of Oz” or in “Oz the Great and Powerful” (God save us I’m referring to that movie as a good example) but no, is always the same image, same resolution, same frame rate, same filter, not even the format changes from fullscreen to widescreen to “tallscreen” (that’s when a person records with his/her phone in a vertical way) Who would know that and iPhone has the same picture quality than a TV station camera?

I'm almost sure that Sue Storm was added on post production and re-shoots
 
The point is that all the signs where there if you just look, but people watch it as they watch a viral video, so it got popular and then forgotten, but also shows all the problems Josh Trank have as a director and a person, because let’s see, Daddy issues, yes in Chronicle and in Fantastic Four, not knowing how to  handle a story, Chronicle has no story and Fantastic Four is horrible, not knowing how to work a female character or an actress Chronicle is totally irrelevant  and in Fantastic Four looks like he keep her out deliberately (is like this guy hates women or something). To me I think is a little better a director like Michael Bay (Man am I using Michael Bay as a good example, this guy is in trouble) that puts sexualizes women and put stock characters on the films because at least he us using female characters, and let’s face it lots of people uses stock characters and some have been applauded by it, cough True Detective cough! So it might not be the ideal to sexualize anyone but that is better than just set them aside and try to ignore the fact that the title demands you to put Sue Storm on the film.

As I said, sexualize Sue Storm is not ideal but also let's remember that some women actually like to cosplay lie this.
 So am I willing to watch another movie of this guy? Hell no, Do I hope he gets another job? If is as far from a film it can be is OK with me. That man deserves a restriction order from the film industry.

Thursday 10 September 2015

Concussion or how to change a story to be more likely to get an Oscar.






I haven’t seen the movie, because it is not out damn there is not even a proper poster of the film but I’m almost sure I’ll not watch it unless is an Oscar nominee and my brother make me see it.

Why the aversion to a movie about the one thing I watch the NFL for? Well because it is less accurate than the documentaries about disinformation you like so much.

This movie follows a doctor from Kenia that he by himself brought the attention of the world to the biggest problem of the NFL, Concussions. The problem is that it wasn’t him. Yes he was part of the team that work on that but the one that actually started all was a college football player, professional wrestler and Harvard graduate Christopher Nowinski. As the saying goes “Nobody learns on someone else’s head” I suppose this makes a little more sense in Spanish, any way this guy got his fair share of concussions while playing football in high school and college and decided to see how far this would go so started to research, and start gathering a team to help him among them the guy from this movie Dr. Bennet Omalu.

So there was a team but it was Nowinski who was the face of the movement, he was the one that went to the houses of the players and ask their families if he could perform an autopsy on their recently deceased loved ones. It was Nowinski who wrote the book that made everybody turn to the NFL and not only that but also show that even in the kids games there are concussions, no matter how strong are the helmets. And yes it was Nowinski who faced the NFL in press conferences.

I think people is not ready for a white guy to be the good guy much less a wrestler Harvard graduate

 But I know is way more interesting to write the story of a man who came from Africa and exposed the evil corporation because he believed in the American dream, than a white Harvard graduate that saw the problem because he was affected by it. That is no Oscar material, maybe if we make him stupid but not full retard now that is something I can sell.

If you are interested in the documentary to see all the team working on it is called Head Games and is on Hulu and Google Play. 

Fan Fiction




A big part of my life on the internet I heard of fan fiction or “fanfic” but most of the time it was just Mary Sue stories or sex fantasies and that is never fun, at least for me.

But then I started to think on a plot in “A song of ice and fire” that happens during the events of the books but develop in the sidelines, sometimes it mix with the characters but others follows its own path, and I liked enough to start writing it.

But first I liked to start with a story of a what if, because in the third book “A storm of swords” there is a part that is two paragraphs but I think it could be a little adventure for more character development. If you don’t know what part is when Arya and the Hound spend some time in a village when going to the Eyrie, is a way to show that Arya still have a conscience and she can feel remorse for some small acts. I think that gives a little more light to Arya that needed one break from just walking and watching people die, because no matter how awful the world is around you can still find a reason to smile and see that not everything is lost.

Is a shine of hope for Arya’s chapters and I think it would worked nice there, but I wrote it so of course I’m going to like it. But what do you think?

My first Fan Fic
Here is the story if you want to read it, and leave a comment/review on the story, I’ll appreciate it a lot.

Monday 7 September 2015

To Fly or being Invisible?








This is a question for you, if you could choose only one power, to fly or being invisible, what would you choose?

Is as you imagine it would be, fly like Superman or with wings and you choose how to be invisible, just you or also your clothes, is just a simple question.

Try to remember which one you have chosen because it says something about you.

Well you can see that they seem like very dull powers and almost all popular superheroes do that and maybe something else, but here is just those two.

Well a friend asked me that question and I don’t know if he was thinking in what I’m thinking right now but to me is a very simple psychological experiment that tells you a lot about a person, why? Well stay for a moment and I’ll tell you.

I don't know why but invisible people are always so stylish.

First let’s take on invisibility. This ability tells a lot of a person just by choosing it over fly because, for what can this work? Well spy is a big use for this, to listen to other people what they say about you at your back. The idea of seeing the true self of others without having to earn their trust. A way of interaction without having to interact, and that is the whole point in this ability, to stay away of everybody until you know it is safe, the idea is to know the terrain before jump.

The second point for this is for mischief you can do whatever you want without repercussions, just like in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (if you haven’t read the book do it, is short and is a good insight on human psyche) in that book Dr. Jekyll transforms physically but his mind remains the same, but he thinks that looking different he can do whatever he wants because that other face will take the blame.

So as you can see if you have chosen invisibility tells that you don’t like to show yourself to people until you feel safe and after the others have shown their true self.

If life didn't gave you wings you build them and show life who is boss.

Now let’s take on fly. To fly is an action that can only works as see and discover, see the rooftops of buildings, see how the people behaves but as a whole, because from up there, there are no faces, genders, races, just people. But also puts you on the spot, everybody will look up and see you. If you misbehave whit it everybody will know it was the flying person. So this choosing is the one of people how always show their face and go head first to know people.

So now you know one simple question that will make you know a person faster without that person knowing that you ran a fast “psych eval”

Also now you know a little more about yourself.

Until the next time I have something to say.

I would take fly any time over almost any power, with wings, I love wings.