Journal 6: Features to Die For

     “The Walking Dead: Complete First Season: When Featurettes Are More Plentiful Than Brains”, by Evan Sawdey covers the special features available in The Walking Dead season 1 special edition DVD package. While not necessarily about the show itself, I find it interesting how the review focuses in on its audience. Sawdey begins by revealing the hype that the show got when announced to air, as it was based on a popular comic book. He goes on to talk about the positive reviews it got and that other show writers on AMC began to take action against it. He then stats that the director, Frank Darabont, was fired, and that this could be good for the show. The remainder of the review focuses on the featurettes present in the DVD package. He considers the majority to be interesting and worthwhile, focusing particularly on the hour long documentary narrated by the cast of the show. He concludes by saying that the special features do not contribute to the story, they give meaningful understanding of how the film was made. While I have not seen the following seasons of The Walking Dead, and cannot review them myself, I have heard good things about it, and so Sawdey could be correct. I have, however, seen the first season, and loved it. The special features examined by Sawdey sound intriguing, giving fans many reasons to make the purchase.

Journal 5: A Sequel for Fans Alone

      In “Silent Hill: Revelation 3D” by Nathan Rabin, it is reveals that the movie spent a lot of time explaining the story from the original film and the sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D. Rabin goes on to reveal that Adelaide Clemens is perfect playing the main part and then reveals the background to the film. He believes that as a sequel to a film based on a video game, it holds too true to that nature. He claims that the film is too broken up, and the scenes tend to work more like episodes. As a fan of groundbreaking horror films, and those with interesting stories, I loved the original Silent Hill. Because of that, this sequel struck my eye at first glance. Unfortunately I have not seen it, and this review gives me less reason to. As a horror film based on a video game, Silent Hill relates quite closely to the Resident Evil film series. As these films continue, they tend to move more from horror movies to video game adaptions themselves; and so it seems to be the pattern in this mini-genre. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D appears to have a similar pattern of going from horror to action. With the exception of people with a hatred for video game sequencing, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D has an appeal to those who enjoy action horror films.

Journal 4: Talented Comedian in Unfamiliar Territory

      “Louis C.K./Fun” by David Sims touched on a somewhat disappointing Saturday Night Live Episode. Sims spoke of how excited he was to see this particular episode with Louis C.K. hosting. He revealed that C.K. had no experience with sketches, but was chosen as a man of talent to perform under unknown elements. He said how C.K. appeared awkward during the majority of the show, and didn’t pull off as many sketches as Sims had hoped for. He explained how the beginning was good, the middle was uneasy, but the end was perfect. He considered the episode as a good one, but not the exciting one he was hoping for. I have never been a big fan of Saturday Night Live, aside from the best of compilations, and I did not see this episode; so attempting to judge the episode myself or compare it to others is out of the question. However, I am a major fan of Louis C.K., considering him one of my favorite comedians. Watching his stand up comedy is always a riot, and so imagining him doing any comedy show seems fitting for him. However, as Sims stated, C.K. performing on a sketch show seems rather, well, sketchy in itself. He has the talent to pull something like this off, but I can see it being difficult performing some of the unusual or parodical sketches. As for the ones he wrote, Sims revealed him doing quite well, and this has inspired me to look into his performance.

Journal 3: A New Beginning

     “The Faceless: Autotheism”, by Dean Brown provides an intriguing review of the Faceless’ new album, Autotheism. The author begins by reflecting on how the band has reunited after a 4 year period following their previous album; and how this will affect their future content. He then goes on to reveal that the album has changed from their previous works, going from “the hyper-technical death metal” to a genre more familiar with Between the Buried and Me. Brown comments on how previous fans may be put off by the first song, Autotheist Movement I: Create, which has a more typical rock sound to it. He goes on to state that the songs progressively change and at one point sound very similar to their old sound. Brown believes that the end of the album makes it sound as if The Faceless are about to find their niche. As an avid fan of The Faceless, I am excited that they have gotten back together, and although I have not heard their new album, this article has gotten me excited to check it out. I truly enjoyed their previous work and I could not compare them to any other band. This article makes it seem as if they have begun to entwine many band specific sounds in an attempt to find a new sound. I am also a fan of Between the Buried and Me, and I am curious as to how these two bands could mix their sound. In any case, I am excited to find out exactly what The Faceless’ new sound could be.

Journal 2: A Turning Point

     Inception is a movie that focuses primarily on action, yet offers an interesting twist, in the form of dream worlds. This concept of dream invasion is important to understand the direction of the film. One scene that helps to explain this concept is of Fischer’s realization of being in a dream, from 13:26 to 14:35 of disk two. This entails Cobb using the Mr. Charles tactic on Fischer and convincing him he is in a dream. He uses the shift in gravity as evidence and reminds Fischer that he has been trained to detect false dream worlds. When told this, the subconscious individuals look at Cobb. When Fischer accepts it, they look away, and he asks Cobb to get him out. There are some interesting aspects of the audio and visual cues during this scene. One aspect is the music. Although it is intended to be loud from the shift in gravity, due to the van turning, it is apparent that ominous and intense music begins playing as soon as the heads of the subconscious beings turn. This music then shifts to a less intense sound as soon as they return to normal habits. Another of these aspects is the camera zooms. During each angle on Fischer, the camera is either zooming in or out. It zooms in while he is trying to understand his situation and determine whether he is dreaming or not. It then begins to zoom out while he is accepting the fact that he is dreaming. This scene is important in this movie because it is the turning point in the inception of Fischer. It is where Fischer begins working with instead of against the dream invaders.

Journal 1: Inception-A Movie to Inspire

      Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, was one of my favorite films to date and is so for one main reason; the plot was philosophical. Typically, the formal elements of a movie invoke a response in me. That is not to say that the cultural values of the movie are not important, they merely have a less positive response in most cases. All of the lighting, sounds, and designs of the movie work together to enhance Inception and make it a more brilliant work of art. The acting in this movie is phenomenal and kept me on my seat. The way in which the movie was edited, switching from the different levels of the dream state held another captivating affect. The plot of the movie, was however, the most important aspect in deciding to love this movie. It had a similar feel to Andy and Lana Wachowski’s, The Matrix. The plot left you wondering what was next at each stage. This end of your seat affect is only effective if you answer the questions that typically manifest. An example of this was the beginning of Inception. You are left wondering what the beginning scene was all about throughout the movie, only to find out the importance and meaning of it near the end. This is done in a way that leaves you questioning without distracting you from the rest of the movie. This is but one of the important aspects of plot in a movie, but gives reason why Inception is one of the best films of its time.