Blindness

How would you describe yourself? White, Black, Man, Woman, Thin, Fat, Tall, Short... ok now how would you describe WHO you are? Not visuals or physical attributes, just as a person. The characters in Blindness were forced to find out who they were when the population of the world goes blind. Vision creates barriers in our world, yet also opens doors and when we can no longer see all that’s left are your characteristics, actions and the way you convey your love for others. This epidemic left the world not in darkness, but in white.

The plot was extremely unique and yet with disturbing moments resembling zombie films. The characters had to survive in any way they could and so there are scenes of brutality, murder, uncompromising guilt and shame, and instances of extreme fear. This film had a rollercoaster of emotions and captured each moment uniquely through interesting compositions, off kilter and divided frames. There was a mixture of low and high angle shots, and slanted and out of focus camera work, giving the audience a feeling of confusion and going blind.

Blindness really portrays the fear of disease and panic by successfully taking aspects from other survival and epidemic films such as Schindler's List, Day After Tomorrow, Outbreak and Shaun of the Dead and rolled them into one heart-pounding, uneasy film. Although the film used aspects of other films in its genre there were scenes of disturbing pandemonium, which I have never experienced in film before. There were parts, which the action escalated and with the excitement, fear and chaos emerged a score that consisted of dissonant noises including a high pitch squeaking that sounded as if air was being released from a balloon. This score really helped to heighten the tension in the most extreme moments.

Blindness had original subject matter set in situations that had not yet been portrayed on film, however it is not for a pleasant night at the movies. This film is disgusting, disturbing, and sometimes shameful in while portraying the behaviors of desperate human beings, but it was exciting from beginning to end. In technical aspects of film, it was well made. So if you are up to it, forget the popcorn... just see it.

Finding Neverland

Peter Pan is the story of a young boy who finds a far off land in which you never have to grow one day older, but when he meets a young woman who gets older by choice, living her life the way everyone does. He has to suffer through seeing her change; meanwhile he becomes helpless and alone. Although a children's tale, Peter Pan has many underlying concepts which adults can relate to; the fear of growing old, losing the ones you love, and the responsibilities and rewards of growing up. But the most important aspect of Peter Pan is the power of the imagination. Hook, made much later with Robin Williams, is a favorite version of this tale where he learns to be in the moment and not waste a second of his children's childhood. The image of time in these tales is paramount, what is time? How do we get more of it? Is it worth the sacrifice of the ones we love, to live forever?

Peter Pan was an escape for children and adults everywhere, but what about the man behind this unthinkable notion of time and space, the man who decided that a child's mind and innocence would be preserved and their minds be expanded into a world that some people never enter... imagination. James Barrie was the original writer of the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, who he fashioned after the Llewellyn Davies boys, and had its first performance in 1904. In Finding Neverland, Johnny Depp plays James Barrie, who in the film is writing a series of flops and then he begins to spend time with this family of four boys and begins to become inspired by their energy and eagerness for play. Kate Winslet plays the single mother of the four boys. Dustin Hoffman the Theater manager, agrees to put on this play, but is very skeptical of its crocodiles, Indians and fairies.

The film is absolutely wonderful; it delves into the importance of doing what makes you happy and surrounding yourself with people who inspire you. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet are phenomenal together and apart. Their relationship on screen is so sincere and loving, it’s a wonder they haven’t been in a film together before. The four boys are wonderfully adorable, including the young Freddie Highmore, who has recently appeared in August Rush and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (also with Johnny Depp). Freddie and Johnny have a connection that is uncanny.

Besides the fantastic acting and a timelessly adapted story written beautifully different from the other versions, the film has moments of overwhelming emotion paralleled with a beautiful score by Jan A.P Kaczmarek. Finding Neverland does an excellent job of creating a world in which you are immersed and it is easy to care wholeheartedly about the characters. The film also has moments of love and sincerity, inspiration and comedy. Uniquely, Finding Neverland also reveals the events that led to certain aspects of Peter Pan as experienced by James Barrie, such as where the idea for Hook's character came from, how he thought up the dog for a nanny, and the exact moment he envisions the boys flying through the air, when they are simply jumping on their beds.

Finding Neverland is one of the few films that is impeccably made, tells a beautiful story, and yet teaches you something about what's important in life, makes you cry, but still manages to make you laugh at the same time. So butter your popcorn and remember what its like to be young and discover where your imagination has been dying to take you...

Deception

Sex, explosions, mistaken identities, and plot twists... sounds like the beginning of a great movie, and with an amazingly creative and secretive title like Deception what could we, the audience, possibly expect besides sheer edge of your seat excitement and moment to moment surprises? How about a horrible mixture of bad acting, conventional dialogue and back-to-back clichés dating back to every thriller made before it.

Deception had a predictable plot interspersed with scenes that looked like they were straight out of other films. How many times have you seen and unknown killer in black hit a man from behind after he enters an empty hotel room... just by a show of hands... that's what I thought. Deception was a formula not a film. It was as if, someone had seen a bunch of thrillers and decided he wanted to make one, so he compiled all the plot points and twists he had seen in other films and rolled them into one.

Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman are two actors who when placed in a film with a well-written script and original ideas can perform very well, however in this film they both flop. Hugh Jackman was terribly unconvincing as the cold-blooded killer. I am a strong believer in not typecasting an actor and letting them reach their full potential, like Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Jack Black in Margo at the Wedding, however it felt like at any moment Jackman was going to break into song.

Overall I would say if you smell something burning... it’s the popcorn. If you want to see a thriller, Hard Candy is one I will recommend, with Ellen Page before her due date in Juno, playing a teenage girl lured in by a child predator. This film will knock your socks off, including a twist you won't see coming... see how bad clichés can be?