Suicide Squad (2016)

"We're bad guys, it's what we do."

 

*Spoilers...do not proceed if you have not seen the movie yet.

 

I would be lying if I said that I went into the theater to watch Suicide Squad without any preconceived feelings. I already had a horrible taste in my mouth with this new DC universe after watching Batman vs. Superman. Low to no expectations was what I went in with, but I was sincerely hoping that I would be pleasantly surprised. I wanted to walked out after the credits and say, "WOW! That was so much better than I thought it was going to be. They proved me wrong." Instead I walked out saying, "I liked it better than Batman vs. Superman, but it was as bad as I thought it was going to be."

 

The more that I thought about the movie, the more I realized that my dislike for it really steams from the lack of these DC movies to really tell their characters story in a catching way. There was not enough character development for me to feel invested in these villains and actually care about what happened to them. Their backstories where short cutaways as Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) pitches her idea about this Suicide Squad at a dinner in a restaurant. It was maybe 15 minutes long. This was only enough time for me to feel any sort of real connection with Deadshot (Will Smith) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie).

 



Warner Bros. has really dropped the ball with this entire DC universe. They are trying so hard to do Marvel has done with Avengers, but they don't seem to recognize that Marvel started this whole universe development back in 2008. It has been almost 10 years of movies to get to where they are with the Avengers. Warner Bros. throws together Batman vs. Superman and we are all supposed to understand this world and really feel like we are invested in an understand the characters. I have to be honest, when Waller was talking about metahumans, my brain went more toward Marvel first before I remembered that those are not the same characters.

 

They are accelerating the storylines with "files". So many freaking files. Apparently that is how everyone gets information in the DC world. Batman learns about the further members of the Justice League because of a computer file and then gets more information on them through files bestowed to him by Waller. We also learn about each of the member of the Suicide Squad as the members of the military flip through their files. Files, files, files, files, and more files.

 

The best way to really do these beloved comic book characters justice would have been to take their time through a few different movies. They could have easily given these high profile villains their own movies. People would have went to see them. An entire movie highlighting Harley Quinn and the Joker would have made a killing at the box office. I would have definitely enjoyed a movie around Deadshot. It was clear that he was a lot deeper of a character than just a man who kills people for money. The way that Marvel developed the Avengers, Warner Bros. could have easily develop the Suicide Squad. That would have been a really refreshing take on the whole super hero world. We always focus in on the heroes, I would have really enjoyed seeing the other side of things.

 

They also didn't sell me on the fact that we really needed to go to this extreme with the suicide squad yet. There was all this talk about the metahumans, but we only really had 2 movies with Superman. I didn't think that was enough to convince me as a movie goer that we needed to grad for these deplorable villains and throw them back out into society.

 

There where so many times throughout the movie that I turned to my boyfriend with a questioning look and said to him, "I am a bit confused as to what is going on..." The conflict was just so bizarre. The machine thing that the Enchantress is creating and then these sudden boil faced creature things... I had no idea where they came from. It wasn't even clear to me right away that the Enchantress was attacking the entire army. You don't really GET that. They also defeated the this godlike creature and her magic machine pretty simply...a bomb destroyed it. That is it. Blah. Too easy.

 

The one positive thing was most of the acting and casting was on point. I thought that Will Smith was a wonderful choice to Deadshot. His relationship with Harley Quinn was heartwarming. It helped to show Deadshot as a strong father figure, and Harley as the broken girl in need of love. Margot Robbie did a good job as Harley Quinn. Her character intrigues me. Viola Davis annoyed me as Amanda Waller. She seemed to be the playing the same type of character that she plays in How to Get Away With Murder. There was only one person that did not sell their character to me. That would be Jared Leto and his Joker.

 

I am sure that I am going to be attacked for that comment, but he really did not to anything spectacular in this movie or with that character for anyone to convince me he did this character justice. The Joker didn't have much of a place in the story line except for his role in turning Harley into Harley. The marketing team made it seem like he was part of the Squad, but that wasn't the case at all. That let me down a bit. His Joker seemed to try and channel Heath Ledger's Joker at times. It just didn't work. He tried to do a more psychotic Joker. It didn't work at all. A good friend of mine, Steve, (whose opinion and knowledge about comic books and these universes I greatly respect) said that the relationship they portrayed here in the movie between the two is not anything like their actual relationship. He said that the Joker is not anywhere near devoted to Harley as she is to him. The movie made it seem like he cannot live without her. They hinted at the fact that he owns her with her doggie collar with his name on it, but unless people where really thinking about it, they may not pick up on that.

 

Overall, I would probably wait to see this when it comes out on DVD. David Ayer really dropped the ball on this one. That was a surprise to me considering I loved End of Watch and Harsh Times. He also had in hand in Training Day and Fast and Furious. How he helped to shape those movies, but put this out I still have not been able to wrap my head around. A huge let down and two strikes against DC on my count. Even if they make new "back story" movies with these characters, they did it wrong and it is just a money thing in my eyes. They needed to focus on establishing a long lasting film franchise instead of just throwing things out there to jump on the bandwagon and make the instant money. Comic book fans are always going to be there. There is no reason to rush their stories. Take the time. Get it right, and you will had gold.   
 
 
 

The Walking Dead

"We've been praying together. Praying that God will save our town. Well, our prayers have been answered. God will save Alexandria because God has given us the courage to save it ourselves."

 

 

I was a little late jumping onto the Walking Dead wagon, and like most of the awesome stuff out there (and I hate to admit this) my younger brother was the one to pull me in. After the midseason premerie episode I felt compelled to write about what I feel really makes this show so freaking amazing.
"No Way Out" was one of the best episodes of any television show that I have seen in a long time. Everything that you wanted was there. You had the action, the sorrow, the triumph, loss, humor, blood, love...anything that anyone could want was there. One of the things that I really loved about this particular episode was that it brought the focus back on the walkers. It reminded us that they were a very real threat still. This was an important reminder for me because I have been telling people for awhile now that the walkers are kind of a secondary thing. The show isn't about walkers. They are there of course, but the real danger lies in the people who are left alive in the world after everything has gone to hell. This is the case for sure, but I think that we maybe all had forgotten just how dangerous the walkers can really be. Remembering that these things can essentially destroy an entire town in the matter of a few hours was a really terrifying thought. As viewers we had all gotten quite comfortable with being afraid of the people and killing a few walkers along the way. "No Way Out" slapped me in the face and pushed me down the stairs reminding me that the people in the world are one threat, but that the walkers are still there and just as dangerous to any new way of life as ever.
I was so happy to see everyone in Alexandria rally behind Rick and take a stand against the walkers. They made that decision that they would try to fight back no matter what. The best way to deal with the situation is not to hide in their houses and hope that everything goes away, but to take a stand and to take a stand together. It was the moment that both sides, our group and the Alexandrians, realized that if they didn't join together that they would all die alone. There is still hope left in the world.
Last weeks episode was equally as important as the season premiere. While there wasn't quite as much heart stopping action; that episode was there to help begin to develop foundation for what is coming next. Our people are starting to feel comfortable and at home for the first time in the show. They have a plan. They have food. They feel safe. It was the right time for Rick and Michonne be together for sure. That was really the first moment I feel like they both were able to put their guards down and relax. Neither one had to worry about taking watch or making sure a walker was coming to eat Judith. It was a moment of new normal. 
As an English major and language arts teacher, the story nerd in me comes out hardcore with this series. The writing for each episode is just pure brilliance. They have taken what Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard have brought to life in the comic book world and shaped it into something that makes me wonder what I did with my Sunday nights before Walking Dead was on. Each week presents a wonderful piece of the Walking Dead puzzle. I say that because recently I went back to the start of the series and watched season 1. I was blown away to see just how much the story has grown and the characters had developed from the time we first met them on their way to Atlanta. Each week our characters grow and change in a world that is so unforgiving, and even those so called "filler" episodes are another important pieces to this puzzle and these characters live.
My favorite character in the entire series is Daryl. Yes, he is sexy and I would follow that man to the ends of the earth, but that isn't the only reason why I love him. I feel that Daryl is probably the character who has done the most growing throughout the story so far. Going all the way back to season one, when the gang of guys were holding Glenn captive and Rick told them that they had to go and save him, Daryl wanted to leave him behind and said that it was everyman for himself. I thought that his character took a full circle when Beth was being held by the people in the hospital. He was not going to leave anyone behind and was going to do whatever he could to make sure that he got her home. He has become a true protector of his family, and will do whatever he can to keep them safe. I know that he isn't the only character to have grown over the course of the series, but for me; he is the one that really has taken what has happened and grown from it. Not just become hardened toward the world because of it.
So if you haven't had the chance to check out this show yet. Do it. You won't be disappointed at all, and if you are.... then I seriously will have to reconsider our friendship.... Just Kidding, but you will be the first person I throw in front of the walkers one day when the end of the world occurs!

Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

"As long as there is light there is hope."

 

 

This was probably the most anticipated movie of the year. Hell it is probably the most anticipated movie of the last 10 years, and this is coming from a person whose favorite movies of all time involved a hobbit, a ring, and a wizard. I even had to jump onto the excitement of another Star Wars movie. Even if you are a person who does not really enjoy going to the movie, you have to appreciate the hype and the pure joy that this franchise has brought to millions of people. If nothing else, a person cannot ignore the fact that these movies changed the face of cinema. The original three films completely revolutionized the way that special effects in film was done, and because of those renovations it would be safe to say that this became the groundwork for the special effects that we see on the silver screen today.

I am not a person who jumps up and down and says, "OMG, STAR WARS IS THE GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME." I won't argue with you about which was better, Star Wars or Star Trek (although I do love Chris Pine). That being said, please do not attack me with whatever I have said about this movie. There are some things that I may be incorrect about in regards to the Star Wars Universe, and I do no know Episodes 1, 2, and 3 very well at all (this is because I absolutely despise the way those films where done and I hate them). Any comments that I make here are based off of my two viewings of this movie and my own thoughts and opinions. All that being said, if you have not been to the movies yet to see this, stop reading this right now. Go to the movies. Watch it. Then come back and finish reading. Go ahead. I promise I will be here when you get back.

J.J. Abrams, writer and director, really took this franchise and revitalized it in a way that I think George Lucas wanted to do with Episodes 1, 2, and 3 but was unable to. He was able to really bring a new story, with new characters to life but still not lose sight of where all of this started. He told the story in a way that, I believe, has created a entire new generation of Star Wars fans who will tell their children about the time they waited at midnight dressed as Kylo Ren just to see the next chapter. He took beloved characters and story lines from the original and allowed them to play a part in this new story without overshadowing the new characters and their own journeys.

In my readings around the internet, I came across a lot of people who were complaining that the whole movie was just the entire first movie retold. I would have to say that I agree with these people in the sense that the movie contained similar story elements. This story,at its heart, is just like every other story of this origin. It is the classic good vs. evil story. There is the light and there is the dark. The story has ALWAYS been the struggle between 2 dark lords and the Jedis. The Empire, the Sith, and the One Republic has always been trying to destroy the Jedi. This is just how the story goes. They are always going to have something that they build to try and destroy the enemy. It is the way the story goes. I know, I know they had a death star thing...Listen.... that weapon was HUGE. That thing made the death star look puny and stupid. They took the basic design to the death star, and like anything that failed to work the way you wanted too...you improve on it, and they did. At a very large scale. Every story in the world has already been told. Everything we watch and see is just a new variation of  a story that has already come before it. I also have this to say....it is just that a story for you to enjoy...so do that....enjoy it.

It was also a story that I thought was told really well. Watching it a second time I was really able to appreciate the little things that the writers put into the story that really shows me just how great of a story teller these people are. The struggle that Ren goes through for the first 3 quarters of the movie is really was done well. He mentions that he can feel the pull to the light. It is there and he is trying to ignore it and push it away. I didn't think that it was an accident that Poe says, "As long as there is light there is hope," when they are trying to destroy the Death Star on steroids as I like to call it. I felt that this was really more of an illusion to Ren more so than what was going on with the sun. This made even more sense to me watching the scene between Ren and Hans. The actual shot itself shows Hans bathed in light approaching Kylo who was in the dark, literally. As they are talking and Ren tells Hans that he needs his help and he gets ready to hand him his light saber, it isn't until the light from the sun puts Hans into complete darkness that we see Ren grab the saber and end Hans's life. I really believe that up until that moment there was still hope. I believe that he still could have come back from the dark and returned home, but it was that moment, that choice he made to take his father's life, that extinguished any light that he may have had left. I really thought that was beautifully shot.

I also felt that there was a nice balance between serious story lines, comic relief, and action. It allowed you to really believe in the characters and start to relate to them. There are always times when we have felt alone and abandoned. How many times did you want to escape from something that people forced you to do? Everyone at one time in there life wanted to runaway. It made the characters real and made you want to route for them.

The actors did an amazing job. They were a group of actors who I hadn't heard of before this movie. I thought that was the right way to go for casting because you were able to go into the movie without any preconceived notion about how you thought a particular actor was going to portray a character. It was all brand new. Daisy Ridley, Rey, and John Boyega, Finn, I thought had wonderful chemistry. They reminded me a lot of the unlikely pair in college that just found their way together and didn't realize that they were becoming friends until it already happened. I thought that their chemistry was natural and didn't feel forced at all. I also loved Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. I thought that he played the angry young dark lord really well. He is still learning, but any person who can get shot and punch themselves in the wound while STILL fighting is pretty bad ass to me. Oscar Issac as Poe was great too. He was a character that I loved right away and was one that I would want to be friends with. I thought that he and Finn (Boyega) had great chemistry as well and you really bought into their friendship. The original cast, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and even Mark Hamil came back and took their roles back as if nothing has changed. The world moved on, time went by, and it changed all of them. I thought that they played their characters just as they would be. And I cannot forget about Andy Serkis, the king of parts played behind the CGI. He was fantastic as Snoke (or as I like to call him creepy alien guy). A movie can have the best script in the world but it really is up to the cast the bring it to life.

I had no major complaints about this movie at all. There are many reasons to take a few hours of out of your day to sit in a dark theatre with some popcorn. One of the main ones being to just be entertained. This movie did not fall short of that at all. I laughed, I cried, I jumped, I walked out of there excited to see the next one! To me that is in the win side. So, if you haven't seen this one yet go to the theatre and take the time to see it on the big screen. This is one you will want to say that you saw with the surround sound and all the big screen digital screen glory. May the force be with you. Or not if you prefer the dark side. In that case, may you control the force in all its wonderful dark glory! And if nothing else BB8 was so cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREDICTION

After leaving the movie yesterday with my brother and watching it for the second time, I formed a really bizarre and out there theory. I don't necessarily believe this completely but I thought it was an interesting spin on things and I decided I wouldn't be upset it if this was true. OK- so most of us can agree that we believe Rey could every well be Lukes's daughter. Most people I have talked to also think that the story line could possibly go that she is the great Jedi that we have been waiting for. This call can be backed up with how she was able to control the force without much training. I also believe this to be a strong possibility, BUT I also think that this is to easy.

SOOOOOOO I thought that this special Jedi we all are waiting for could very well be Finn. Now I know that is crazy, but hear me out. Finn resisted the conditioning from his stormtrooper training. Now this isn't training that he had just gone through, this is something he had been conditioned from since he was really little. He just made the decision and snapped out of it. Then if you notice during that same fight scene...as Ren is getting back onto the ship, he looks right at Finn. A short time after that he tells Snoke that there was an awakening and he felt it. I think that the awakening is Finn snapping out of the conditioning. There was nothing that we were shown with Rey that would constitute at that moment in the story and awakening.

I think that she is Luke's daughter and he sent her as far away from anything to do with Jedi's as he could because he was hoping to keep her from turning to the dark side just as Kylo did. He knows that she has Vader in her as well, and he does not want to see her do to the dark side. She would be just as strong as Klyo because she is Luke's daughter anyway. That would explain her strong control of the force. It makes sense too...one dark...one light in the same family. But I really think it would be a nice twist to the story if Finn was the great Jedi we have all been waiting to see!

 
 
 
 
 
 

Lost

This isn't my normal movie review, but this is something that is near to my heart and has been heavy on my mind. Please keep reading, please feel free to share, give suggestions, get involved...anything...because I am to the point in which I don't know where to turn, and I don't know what to do.
For anyone that doesn't know, I am a middle school teacher and have been for the last 7 years. I teach 7th and 8th grade special education language arts. I love my job. It is crazy. It is stressful. It takes up so much of my time that if I put it all down on a time sheet it would amaze you. It is expensive. It is rewarding. I became a teacher because I love to help people. I thought that the best way to do that was to start when people are young, maybe be a sense of guidance before they made the mistakes that I learned from already. My hope was to encourage kids to learn. I wanted them to know that even with the limitations that they may have, or the struggles that they face with learning; if they really put in the work, if they really tired, they could do anything at all they wanted. I was here to help and inspire them. I swore I would never teach to a test.
I started like any young teacher starts. I had fun and interesting ideas. I stayed to late. I decorated my classroom with bright colors. We talked about the quote of the day because I love quotes. We read books that made my cry and laugh in class. The kids had fun. I had fun. They were learning.
I never have gotten away from that, but as the years have progressed society has begun to tell me that I am not good at my job. I am being told that I have to be better. I am being told that it is my SOLE responsibility to make my students learn, and that they all learn the same. I am now being told that my job depends on how my students preform on a standardized test.
My students are below grade level. They are not at 7th and 8th grade reading levels. Some of them are closer to the 3rd and 4th grade levels. I have a few that are even lower. They struggle with reading comprehension. They don't have the tools to write a good sentence let alone good paragraphs. They struggle and that is ok because it was my job to fill in those gaps. It was supposed to be my job to slow things down for them. I was supposed to be able to give them those foundations that they missed along the way and begin to push them to their own personal limits and then show them that they can do even better then they ever thought possible.
This is no longer a possibility. Over the last two years, a new evaluation system has been put into place for teachers. The math and language arts teachers in middle school now have their final end of the year evaluations based off of their students scores on a standardized test. There is no consideration taken for students in the special education programs and students in basic skills classes. Each students is tested and this score gets figured into our evaluations at the end of the year. In our district, we just received our scores from last year. My student's scores put me into the 1 category for that part of the evaluation. I was not the only one in my department because the reality is that our students do not test well, and they are not taking a test that is on their level at all. This effected my final evaluation for the year. I was now a partially ineffective teacher and will need to have an action plan put into place for this year. OH! I forgot to mention. I was also teacher of the year last year. All in the same year I was teacher of the year AND partially ineffective in the classroom. There is something wrong with this system.
We are being directed by the high powers that be to teach to these tests.
We are being told all the time to take precious class time in labs to practice taking these tests. We are not teaching our children. We are telling them HOW to take a test. There is no critical thinking involved. There is no love for learning being facilitated. I have never in my life felt more lost. My time was cut in half this year. I went from 90 minutes of class time to 45 minutes. (I feel that 90 minutes is perfect for a language arts class. We are teaching two completely different skills and that is a hard thing to do in a 45 minute time frame with students who are slower learners and need extra time for things.) I was told that this was done so that I could mirror a general education classroom.
I feel like a brand new teacher this year. I have had to change everything I have done over the last 7 years. We haven't been able to play any fun games. I haven't been able to plan any fun events. This is because my students move slower. It takes them double the amount of time it would take a general education students to complete something like a simple essay or a simple worksheet. I have not been able to work on the writing basics and the parts of speech because I am told that is not in the core content curriculum standards for 7th grade. I have to teach right to the standards...even though they don't have the foundations to even begin to work on those standards.
I am lost. I am torn between doing things that I KNOW worked for my students, and doing what I am told I have to do in order to keep my job. Things and activities that I know helped give them the foundations that they needed and helped them to really start to enjoy reading and writing. I feel like am failing my kids. I don't know what else I can do. This is one of the most frustrating things I have ever come across.
Parents are demanding that teachers be held accountable. The lawmakers, in order to appease parents and get their votes, are making laws to hold us accountable by testing their kids. Parents then in turn say that their kids are not learning and that there is too much testing. This is a horrible cycle and it needs to be stopped. We need to pause, hit delete, and start from scratch. Much of what is happening now is due to poor understanding and misinformation on all ends, and you know who suffers from all of this? The kids. I sometimes wish that people could spend one week in my job.
I wish that they could work the 14+ hour days, put in that extra time on the weekends and during the holidays, work through a time when it is supposed to be your vacation, no be able to take a vacation, spend your own money so that you can do your job, and in the end take home almost half of what you make on paper. I don't do what I do because the pay and the benefits are spectacular. I would probably make the same amount of money if I worked in retail.  
Now please do not misunderstand me. I am in no way says that teachers should not be held accountable, and that tests be should not look at as a TOOL. I feel that if this continues on the path that we are on there is going to be no turning back soon. Education is becoming a business. There is no place for that in education, and if I hear one more person tell me that it is just the way things are I am going to freak out. Just because that is the way things are doesn't make it right, and it does not mean that it shouldn't change. I do not want to sit by and watch the public education system turn into a business venture. I do not want to watch as it becomes and avenue for people to get their name out there in the world so they can feel good about themselves. I want it to be a place to inspire the minds of tomorrow. I want it to be a safe place where kids are excited to go and where they grow.
I just don't know what to do to fix it. I cannot just keep doing what I am doing....because just teaching my kids isn't working anymore. I am not able to....if you have the answers.....please.....guide me....help get me out of the fog I am in because the reality is....our children's futures depend on it.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1

"It's the things we love most that destroy us."

I has been three years in the making and we only have one more year left before the Hunger Games movies end and Katniss Everden's story has finally and completely been told. Like most of the franchises today that are based on a book series; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is the first of the two part series that took the final novel and split it into two. While I do understand that from a corporation point... this was purely a money making scheme; I love that they did this because this allowed the screen writers and the producers to take the novel and really tell the story well.

It has been about a year since I have read this novel, but from what I remember, this movie followed the book almost to the word. There were many things that they took from the books word for word which is always a good thing. Mockingjay was never my favorite book in the series. I always found it to be confusing and boring. That being said, thinking about this chapter in Katniss's story, I may have to rethink my position on this book. 

Mockingjay picks up right where Catching Fire left off. Katniss and the rest of District 12 have taken refuge in the secret underground District 13. Katniss is trying to heal mentally and District 13 is trying to make her the face of a revolution. They want to use her to inspire all of Panam to rally behind them and turn against the capital. Katniss becomes angry when she learns that Peeta and the other tributes where taken by the capital and there is not much known about their fate at the time. 

Katniss has become another pawn. This time rather then being used by the capital to keep peace. She is being used by District 13 to inspire an uprising. I thought that the juxtaposition between this movie and the first one was done in a wonderful manner.Once again, Katniss enters this game in an effort to save someone near and dear to her heart. This time she is trying to save Peeta and the other tributes. She entered the 74th hunger games in an effort to protect the life of her sister. She intended to decline the role of the Mockingjay, until she realized that she could use the position in a away that would allow her to keep the people she loved most safe. That was all that Katniss ever wanted, those around her to be safe. I found that the entire story could be summed put beautifully when President Snow says, "It's the things we love most that destroy us." It is the things that Katniss love that causes her the most pain. The reason she entered the games, the reason that she never wanted to truly hurt Gale, the reason that she could not see Peeta suffer, the sole reason she began the Mockingjay-all of these things steam from love. It is also love that causes a major change in Peeta and what causes him to turn on her. It is important to remember that love and hate can be so closely related that many times they cannot be separated. 

One of the most powerful scenes is when the President of District 13, Julianne Moore, is addressing the people of District 13. She is talking about the Mockingjay and of Katniss. The President calls her out to be shown in front of the people and raises her hand in the air as the people cheer. This is exactly what happens to Katniss at the reaping when before she heads to the capital to take part in the games. I thought that this was a very telling moment and showed the audience that Katniss is STILL in the games and the stakes are even higher now. 

I thought that this part of the story really focused on Katniss trying to find herself. She was still trying to find her voice. I believe that it is in these pages (moments in the movie) that she begins to realize that she has a voice and she can make a difference. One of my favorite quotes, "The only necessary thing for the triumph of evil is that the good people do nothing," popped into my head about halfway through the movie. Katniss has never thought very highly of herself. She has been acting on the sole purpose of protecting the people that she loves. She has not realized that she has a great power to unit a nation and the change the things that are wrong with the world. There had been many moments through the earlier novels in which she really thought about leaving and hiding and just staying low and out of the way of the capital. It is here that she begins to see the power that she has to change the world. As scary as it is, she needs to find her voice. She struggles in the beginning when she is being told what to say in the promos. Katniss shines when she can just be herself. 

Mockingjay: Part 1 did a wonderful job of setting up the final chapters in the story. The next movie will be a wonderful and heart wrenching journey into the center of the capital, but it will be with a stronger and more sure of herself Katniss. It will be with a Katniss who sees who she is, what power she holds, and one who begins to understand that sometimes there are things that are bigger than yourself that you are a part of. 

If you are a fan of the books, you will be very happy with what they have done with this movies. It was a great adaption. I recommend taking a trip down to District 13 and become part of the revolution!

Interstellar

 

 

"We've always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible."

 

 



Christopher Nolan has done it again. He has restored my faith in the movie industry. He has reminded me what it is that I love about the movies is not at all dead, but alive and well. It is because of this that I saw it fitting to dust off my keyboard and get back to one of the things that I love most- talking about movies. This was a great film to start again with. (I have only watch the movie once.... I will be watching it again....and then probably changing some things only because there was sooooo much to this movie. I am sure that I missed something)
Like every Nolan film, this movie was nothing more then another trip into the human psyche. This time he gives us a glimpse into one the most common and instinctual human needs- survival. That was the heart of this movie. At it's very basic, the story centers around a small group of astronauts attempting to save the human race from extinction.
It is set in the future, I would say maybe 60-100 years based on a conversation between John Lithglow's character and Matthew McConaughey's character. The world has reached a point in which we are being ravaged by these terrible dust storms. These storms have caused many deaths because of all the people breathing in the dust. Earth has begun to turn on us. Our plants keep on dying. Every year a new crop fails to grow. You get a sense that the population has decreased drastically. Nolan does a great job showing us this without telling us.
McConaughey's  character, Cooper, is a former pilot who works on a corn farm with his two children and their grandfather. The movie opens with him having a nightmare because of crashing his plane. We are given a sense that Cooper is much more then a farmer when he takes his children on a case of a drone plane to gather parts. During a meeting with his daughters school teachers, we learn that there is no need in this world for the technology that we use and take for granted everyday. Not one person in this movie had a cell phone.... NOT ONE. There were no computers, no video games, no medical equipment..... NOTHING! Our job as humans is to try and grow food so that we can survive. The need for all of those things that we say are "necessary" is not there. It was an interesting thing to have to think about. At a government level, their answer to helping the human race to survive was to make sure that there are enough farms and farmers to keep to population well fed. A major shift in what we see today.
The opening sequence of the film, like all of Nolan's, was significant. A shot of books on the bookshelf and his daughter, Murph, waking Cooper up about the ghost in her room. I won't talk about what I think about that right now, I'll wait until I know more people have seen the movie. However, the books play an important part in the message that Christopher was trying to get across through the movie. Food is not the only necessary part in our survival as a human race. Knowledge is just as important. There was so much physics in this movie, I wish that I was able to comment on all of the science stuff, but I am not a very science person so I cannot tell you that I even have an understanding of everything yet. I have to watch it again.
Cooper happens to find NASA's hidden underground work station and learns about a mission that they are ready to take. We learn that there have been 12 astronauts sent out into space, another galaxy, to find a new planet that we can survive on. Each astronaut had settled on a new planet, and this new group of explorers was to go out and collect them and their data. Cooper and Amelia, Anne Hathaway, end up with two other men on this mission into the new galaxy while Amelia's father, Micheal Cane, stays behind to try and solve an equation that would get the human population off of earth. If that fails, the people on the ship are instructed to start a new colony using fertilized eggs to ensure the survival of the human race as a whole.
Cooper makes a promise to his daughter Murph before he leaves that he will come back for her. He does not tell her when he will come back, but he promises her that he will return. One of the most interesting parts of this movie was the idea of time and gravity. For those up in space, time is moving at a much slower rate then on earth. Years are passing on earth and it seems like hours and days up in space. Murph has trouble dealing with her father being away. She never even told him goodbye, all she wanted was for him to stay.
This promise to his daughter is what drives Cooper's survival instinct out in the great unknown. He wants nothing more then to get back home to his daughter. Amelia talks to Cooper about the other astronauts  that are waiting on the other planets to be picked back up. She tells him that they all had no families and no attachments. Her father believed that this would be important and allow them to focus on the mission at hand rather then about surviving and getting home to their families.
The group arrive on one of the planets to find one of the scientists, Mann, that had been sent into space years before. He wakes up in tears at the sight of another human being (something that he thought he would never see again). He tells the group that the planet is livable down near the surface. They begin to set things up to start the colony and return home when Mann turns on Cooper while they are out exploring. Mann has lied about all of the data in order to get someone to just come and rescue him. He gives a speech about survival and how we will always fight for it. Even without human attachment, Mann wants nothing more to make it out of this alive, but at what cost. He has no human attachments back on earth, therefore he has nothing to fight for except his own survival. The one thing that Professor Brand thought to be the most essential part for his explorers, turned out to be the most damaging.
While Cooper is influenced by his love and desire to return home to his children, all of his decisions are based on their survival-Not his own. He went on this mission so that they would have a new place to live. It is with this that Cooper is able to make the sound decisions that he does rather then the rash ones in a simple fight for flight manner. He has known his entire life that his actions have consequences for the people around him. Mann only ever had to care about himself. How can a person who has only cared about themselves, ever truly be able to make the decisions necessary to save the entire human population?
I also loved that Nolan did not put aliens into this movie.....I have said before, and I stand by this even now, Aliens are just a copout way to explain the things that are occurring in a movie. Nolan uses the science of black holes and our basic understanding of how they are to work in order to explain what happens throughout the movie. There are no aliens or "they" as Ameila refers to them throughout the movie. It is us and always has been us. This is explain by that folded in half explanation of a black hole and how time is folded against itself....or at least that is the best why I can explain it.
Christopher Nolan does what he does best, and that is bring the movie full circle. There is nothing in this film that was there by accident, and that is what I love so much about watching his movies. I highly recommend taking the 3 hours out of your day and sitting down to watch this. It was brilliantly acted and well shot. The silence when they where in space at times made my skin crawl. You could almost touch the silence it was so thick. It really gave you a sense of what it would be like if you where to end up in space one day.
I will be watching the movie again and then editing this jumble to thoughts, but these where my initial feelings on the story and movie. I loved it. Get lost in space today. It's well worth the journey.
Surviving is built into us as a natural human instinct. This movie touched on the different types of survival instincts. It looked at a person who saw beyond what was in front of them. A person who thought about the survival of the human race as a whole, an sacrificed and lied to all of the people around him because he could see the bigger picture.

Why Should We Continue to Talk About 9/11/01?

Today I talked to my Language Arts students a little bit about why I discuss September 11, 2001 every year with all of my classes. I am not a history teacher by any means (although I get to play one this year! lol), but the significance of this day is not lost on me or anyone else in America. As the years go by and the younger generations become older....it is more and more apparent to me that we need to continue to discuss this in our classrooms and with our children. Today I told my students that I like to discuss it with them because the world on September 10, 2001 and the world on September 11, 2001 at 8:46 am..... is a completely different world. One of my students then proceeded to ask me, "It is?" That caused me to stop for a few moments....with those two simple words I feel that the importance of continuing to talk about what happened on that day 12 years ago is apparent.
We always talk about learning history because if you don't know history we are doomed to repeat it. I think there is something more to it than that. I think that the importance of learning history is to understand and appreciate the world that you are a part of today. The things that happened just yesterday are shaping the world we will wake up in tomorrow. This event effects so much and has shaped the country with live in more than I can wrap my own head around. I truly believe that it is so important to the younger generations to understand and to learn.
There is not  a better way to learn about history then from the people that lived it, and we ALL lived that day. Each and everyone of us has our own story and how it effected us. They can learn from US. There are not many historical events that can be taught by so many primary sources. Not only can we all share our stories, but there are so many videos, so many new stories, so many things that our children has access too to learn about and to help them to understand. I cannot think of any other historical event that has been more documented then the attacks on September 11, 2001. It is so easy to go and watch the breaking news reports from that day.
This is not to say that I think that this is more important than say WWII, Pearl Harbor, Vietnam, Korea, but this was the first and only time that we were attacked on our own soil while we were not engaged in a war. Military was not the target here...it was US it was the civilians. We were the targets and we were the tools. All of the other major historical events that we discuss in history are wrapped around war and our military. This does not fall into that category. This was different. This opened our eyes to the idea that we are all vulnerable and we are not necessarily all safe. That was an ignorant thing to believe.
We need to continue to remember, now because it is time to teach the younger generations.... to show them what hatred can do, to show them what a truly united nation looked like, to show them what kindness is, to show them what strength is, to show them what self sacrifice looks like, to show them fear, to show them that no matter what.....there is always recovery and there is always a way to overcome.
There is so much to be learned from the events that occurred on that Tuesday 12 years ago. I it is something that I will always teach in my classroom and as the generations get younger and younger.... I will make sure that my lessons evolve to support them. I will always light my candle...and one day when I have children of my own...we will talk about it and light the candle together....because We Won't Forget.