Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) Trailer

This movie is shorter compared with the recent movies on screen. It’s only 105 minutes. However, it fits the perfect screen time of movies. The movie is exciting both in visual and sound. I walk out of the cinema feeling satisfied with the story. And I immediately research the types of ape. I find that apes are different from monkeys for which they have no tails.

The 3 Act Structure
This movie fits perfectly the 3 act structure. Let’s look at it in details.
The first act is the exposition of the premise. The main character, Will, is introduced in a lab. We quickly understand that he’s a scientist. The exposition is integrated into the story when Will is pitching to the investors about what their research company Genesis is doing. It is well executed as there is a montage of a conflict between an ape and a lab technician. This adds excitement to the story. The first Act ends when the investors reject to invest and that the lab is a mess after the conflict.

The second act starts when Will takes the baby ape home to look after. He treats it as an experimental subject for the cure of his father’s illness. There are many winkles and reversals in the middle. There is a physical conflict between Caesar, the ape which Will takes home, and his neighbour; conflict between Will and his supervisor; emotional conflict of Caesar as he wants to win the attention of Will over his girlfriend; physical conflict of the sanctuary keeper and Caesar; physical conflict of Caesar and the other apes; conflict of Will and the sanctuary supervisor; conflict between the apes and the Police, etc.

The third act is very short. It starts when James takes a Police car and follows Caesar to the red woods. James wants to bring Caesar home but Caesar refuses. He says, “Caesar is home”. The movie ends with a twist that the pilot who lives next door to James caught the virus. This buries a time lock for a sequel.

There are not much catchy phrases. However, all dialogue serves its purpose as it moves the story forward. Characters don’t sit and talk. There is no scene in a restaurant. Instead, they act and talk in the elevator and corridor. There is no repeat of information, which is seen by the audience, by one character to another. So the movie is precise. None of the scenes is boring. Everything is integrated into the story.

To conclude, this is a highly recommended movie with great plot, cinematography and CG animation.

Interests in Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Furniture Design, Animation, Motion Media Design, Painting, Guitar, and Air Riffle...

I have to admit that I have so many interest. So many interests that I don't have time to became an expert in each interest. My strengths are learning fast and good at doing research.

Scanning a prospectus, I find that I have interest in many programs of study. To name a few:
- Architecture (I bought several books on architecture and landscape architecture)
- Interior Design (I attended classes on interior design)
- Graphic Design (Is it about photoshop editing?)
- Furniture Design (I think it's cool if you can design a designer's chair)
- Animation (Pixar is the holy grail)
- Film and Television (From screenwriting, directing, cinematography to editing, I have learnt so much!)
- Motion Media Design (A big hit today?)
- Painting (I'm good at oil and acrylic painting)
- Guitar & Drum (Learning guitar can help me to compose music for my films)
- Air Riffle

I just need more time! Going to focus in one of these!! \( 'v' )/

Movies & Music are inseperable! I'm Not There. (2007), Walk the Line (2005)

After my first guitar lesson, I found myself fallen in love with Rock’n’ Roll. I found some of the songs on the top 500 of Rolling Stones Magazine.


Like a Rolling Stone


In My Life


Like a Rolling Stone
In My Life
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Hotel California
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Staying Alive
Walk the Line
Stairway to Heaven

And I bought some biographical movies, namely, I’m Not There (on Bob Dylan) and Walk the Line (on Johnny Cash).


I'm Not There (2007)


Walk the Line (2005) Trailer


I quickly scan the biography and discography of some legend bands and singers, including Bee Gees, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, etc. I am interested in who influence them, and how they can fully develop their talents. Their stories are inspiring.

I believe not all people can start to develop their talents when they are young. Some people are not able to find their talents at all. Of course not everybody can be a rock star. But if you know what you are interested in and what you are capable of, you are already very fortunate. No matter how hard it takes, go for your dream.

Believe in yourself. And don’t look back.

The Tree of Life (2011)

The Tree of Life (2011) Trailer

Reading movie review before watching the Tree of Life definitely helps a lot in understanding the movie.

I have really high hopes before watching this movie. I know there are many beautiful empty shots. The director wants to talk about family, life and universe. Part of the reason I want to watch the movie is Brad Pitt. I like his performance in the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

This is the first time I eat nachos while watching movie and it is the weirdest experience. Most of the time, it is so quite in the cinema. No dialogue, no sound effects and no background music. I can hear the crunchy noise of me eating nachos. I have to eat cautiously between scenes. All of a sudden, there is a loud noise of engine running and the screen shows Brad talking on the phone. Then I quickly grasp the chance to eat nachos. Though the images are stunning, 15 minutes of empty shots can be cut without losing its meaning.

It has an uncommon movie structure. We can’t easily tell what are Act I, Act II and Act III. The pace of the movie is slow in the beginning. It becomes more exciting during the conflict between the father and the sons. The Mother’s character is too “naive”. Her role in the family is only to play with the children. She didn’t teach them at all. Responsibilities of parenting go to the Father. Thus, the Mother symbolizes love and care while the Father symbolizes harsh and punishment. I believe that parenting is the responsibility of BOTH parents.

There are some doubts in my head when I leave the cinema. Did they mention that Sean Penn is Brad Pitt’s grown up son in the movie? Which of the three sons has died? I guess it is the youngest brother who died as there is more depiction of him and his eldest brother. Are the people on the beach all dead? Is it a beach in heaven? The director has not explicitly given the answer. I can only judge by my experience with other movies.

It would be better if the Tree of Life is a novel or a book of poetry. The director wants the audience to think. But as a movie, it has a predetermined pace, unlike a book which the readers could choose when to think if they want to. Some audience may find the footage of the universe too long while the depiction of the family is proportionately too little. Sometimes, I do feel like I’m watching National Geographic or that I went to the Space Museum.

In conclusion, the movie is for sophisticated viewers. The only time the audience laugh is at the end of the movie, where they are shocked by how the movie suddenly ends. “Seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith” is too big for general audiences. If it is a student’s experimental film, he would be commented by his teacher, “Much cry and little wool.”

Darn! This is what I want to produce!

Highly Recommended Books on Filmmaking

Preparing for my road to Hollywood, I've been doing research, reading books and surfing blogs. The information I get in the past five months is tremendous. From university programs, to screenwriting and photography, I must say that I'm a much better candidate.

Books I recommend are:
- From Reel to Deal by Dov Simens
- Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodriguez
- Essentials of Screenwriting by Richard Walters

Blogs and website I recommend:
- John August
- Scriptmag

Break a leg!

Life is Biutiful?

Biutiful (2010) Trailer

This is one of the movies that thoroughly translates the title of my blog: Movie Moves Me.

Biutiful is about a man, Uxbal, struggling from the dark side of living before his death. It talks about redemption, love, and helplessness. The background of Uxbal is complicated. He's a coordinator of police and drug dealers. He's a middleman of human trafficking. Yet he builds a relationships with some of the illegal immigrants.

His wife has bipolar disorder which she would hurt their children. He loves her and wants to fix their distorted relationship. He and his children moves to live with her again. But not for long, she can't control herself and hit their son. Uxbal is angry and disappointed.

He tries to bargain a better living environment for the Chinese illegal immigrants. He buys them heaters. However, the low quality heaters kill all the people in a locked basement.

He has super power of communicating with the dead. But he is too late that the Chinese nanny passed away and couldn't hear his apology.

He wants Igre, one of the illegal immigrants' wife, to look after his children. She gets the money and tries to get away.

The whole movie is dark. It takes time to absorb the heavy food for thought.

Is life beautiful? Apparently the director wants to say "No".

The beginning of the story seems awkward. But when you continue to watch the movie, you'll find that it is carefully planted by the director. And the ending echoes with the beginning.
It's brilliant.

I'm inspired to write a story on a desperate accountant. Even though the situation would not be as bad as Uxbal, but money, sex, lie and murder are inevitable.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009) Trailer

I recently reading Dov Simens' From Reel to Deal and Syd Field's The Foundations of Screenwriting.

I watch this movie because it was introduced in a local newspaper. The story is about Alice being kidnapped by two men, one of which is her boyfriend, and how she can wittily escape.

For the first half of the movie, it all took place in a room where Alice was locked and tied on a bed. The way she escaped at first was mainly due to her boyfriend Danny's guilt. Alice need to do number two. Danny turned away on her request and Alice took advantage of the moment and grabbed the gun. Alice was in charge. Danny was so scared that he took off his mask and told her his identity. He said that after getting the $2 million ransom, he would getaway with her. She reluctantly agreed and went back to bed as if nothing happened while the other kinapper Vic was coming back.

Another time when Vic was gone, Alice seduced Danny to bed. She cleverly tied him to bed by the handcuffs. She called the police but she didn't have the key to unlock the door. Danny who is still naked yet locked up on the bed used his foot to suffocate Alice. (Lucky his leg is long enough!) Alice fainted and Danny was in charge.

Vic came back and soon found out what happened. Alice had told Vic that Danny would took all the money and getaway with her. Vic was so pissed because he and Danny were lovers at prison. (Such a shocking relationship! But the screenwriter has carefully ploted their relationship in earlier shots) Vic kept his shirt on until they went to collect the ransom.

In the woods, Danny found that there was no money in the hole. Vic said that the hole is not for the money, it's for Danny. Then he chased and shot Danny. Vic had control now.

Vic continued to finish his job by transporting the money to another car and burning the van they used to kidnap Alice. Then he tried to kill Alice to finish things off. Suddenly, Danny appeared and he shot Vic. Alice hopping that Danny would release her from the handcuffs but he refused to rescue her. He went away and took all the money. The is the Oh-My-God per Dov Simens.

Luckily, Danny used his last breath to pass the spare key to Alice. But he died while passing the key to her and the key dropped on the floor. Alice was so devastated. This is the Oh-Shit plot. The turning point is that she was able to grab the key on the floor with her toes. She unlocked herself and is free finally. She walked out of the abandoned building like a zombie.

The last Oh-My-God plot is that she found Danny was dead on the car. COD was the wound shot by Vic earlier the day. At last, Alice is the one who took all the money. What a surprising ending.

After watching the movie, I realised that there are minimal locations, namely, the room, the woods and the abandoned building. There are minimal actors, only Alice, Danny and Vic. The conflict in the story is mainly put through by dialogues. And the dialogue is good. I checked that this is the first feature film by the Director. Then I realized that this is the kind of first feature film that would be produced. The plot has to be simple, minimal locations, low budget, yet dialogues and conflicts are great.

I hope I can write such a great feature someday.

Don't You Want Somebody To Love? Plus: A Single Man (2009)

Jefferson Airplane: Somebody to Love


A Serious Man (2009) Trailer


A Single Man (2009) Trailer

Listening to the song Somebody To Love in A Serious Man (2009), I'm writing this review on A Single Man (2009).

It is said that the movie is Tom Ford's , the director, personal story. I think filmmakers' creative input some kind or another must come from personal experiences. I agree that life experience is crucial to story-telling.

The story is about a middle class professor's, whose homosexual partner has just died, decision to kill himself by the end of the day. The story is mainly about his internal conflict. However, the side casts have some influence to his decision. Charley, his best friend and ex-girl friend partied with him that night and had a discussion about their relationship. I thought the plot would be about euthanasia, but I was wrong.

On the way to home, two men approach him at different circumstances. One is a man from Madrid outside a store, the other is one of his student. They both flirt with him in a subtle way. And you can't help to think: how come he has so many romantic encounters in a day?

He's mourns the death of his partner, and is very hysterical and depressed. Would he commit suicide by the end of the day?

Spoilers below:
I think the ending is brilliant. That's how you get an Oscar nomination. If the story ends with him burning his will, it would be too plain. Instead, the twist lies when he chooses to live, he died of a heart attack. It's so out of control and ironic.

Ending this way would leave some kind of regret and makes the audience think. It's meaningful.

Every angle is planned, from the way he opens his drawer, picks up his pistol, packs his suitcase to the lining of rifles and alcohols on the wall behind. I think the director is a perfectionist. He's obsessive with perfection would easily lead him to depression. That's why he came up with such a topic.

To conclude, the simplified formula of Oscar nomination = Psychology (life & death instinct, childhood ==> complex internal conflict of characters and meaningful of life) + unresolved ending

See you next time!

A Step Closer to Hollywood

I'm getting closer to Hollywood!

I'm going to take a class on screenwriting. Hopefully can learn the basics of writing a great story. I plan to write at least 2 to 3 screenplays to put into my portfolio.

Cheers!

Movies Update - New York, I Love You (2008), Nine, Eat Pray Love (2010), The Social Network (2010), etc.

I bought a bunch of VCDs today:


New York, I Love You (2008) Trailer

- New York, I Love You
- Nine
- All About Eve
- That Touch of Mink
- A Single Man
- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
- Death Proof
- P.S. I Love You

Watched a lot of movies recently but no time to write my reviews.

Eat, Pray, Love (2010) Trailer


The Social Network (2010) Trailer


- Eat, Pray, Love
- Life As We Know It
- The Social Network
- 127 Hours
- Wild Target
- Despicable Me
- Machete
- The Kids Are All Right
- The Other Guys
- The Town
- Animal Kingdom
- The Romantics
- No Reservations
- Twilight: Eclipse
- Salt
- Killers
- Chole
- Iron Man 2
- Kick Ass
- About Schmidt
- Sex & the City 2
- Kill Bill
- Exam
- Pulp Fiction