(Movie) A Reflection on Mirrormask

For those of you who know me, you know that Neil Gaiman is the biggest inspiration when it comes to all things literature.

And thus, I went to watch Mirrormask while I ignored my golden rule.

'Go in there without any expectations.'

So without further ado, here are the stats.

Story:

Mirrormask tells the story of Helena, the daughter of circus folk who believes that the grass is greener on the other side. She copes with her whirlwind life by drawing bizarre and wonderful creatures.

After her mother falls ill, she throws herself into drawing. Helena even goes up to the roof of the dodgy apartment complex she now lives in to draw.

Eventually she falls into the world of her drawings and goes on an epic adventure to find the Mirrormask, an artefact that can take her home. Throughout the adventure Helena learns that she has to take responsibility for her actions and becomes a better person for her journey

Visual/Lighting: As this movie is all about dark and light, real and fiction, the movie handles it brilliantly. You can see within the first 20 minutes the transition of the bright, colourful night-life to the dull, drab life of regular people. The visuals for the fictional characters is both remarkable and larger than life. I found myself laughing at the comical, yet noble gorilla/penguin hybrids, the miniature sphinxes and the various other characters that inhabited this bizarre world.

Sound: This aspect was subtle and added to the overall feel. However, sometimes it was so subtle that the silence said more about the scene than sound ever could.

Final Verdict: In light of all this praise I have given this movie, you would think I'd give it 6 out of 5 stars or something of that nature.
However, for all its good points, I found it really hard to keep my attention on it. With that said, it has a lot of rewatch value. Ultimately, I give this 4 out of 5 stars.

(Book) A look at the Wave, by Todd Strasser.

Never in my life would I expect to read something that would have changed my perspective so drastically. How looking at something one way can actually look completely different when you look at it differently.

The book is a fictionalised account of true events based around a social experiment from California.

Ben Ross is a history teacher who wants to show the students of his high school an in depth insight into Nazi Germany. He creates a cult type society that presents itself as equal, but like its namesake, it becomes to big for itself and, like the Third Reich it is based on, must crash and fall.

The style of writing, though simple, makes its point and that's what makes the overall message hit so hard. It draws you into the idealism that is at first presented. You are hooked within the first ten pages and seeing it through to the end has its emotional payoff.

This book is a perfect example of the corruption of idealism. How taking equality and distorting it can have disastrous effects on not only your immediate friends and family, but on a larger scale too.

I have rated this book 4 and a half stars out of 5.

It's available for e-download and in bookstores, both independent and not.

(Movie) Oh hi [insert character name here.] A look at the Room.

This is not what I had in mind for my first movie review.

In any case, here it goes.

According to Oprah Winfrey (and I wholeheartedly agree with her in this case,) the word No is a complete sentence.

Now, while I could sum this review up with said word, I find it would be unprofessional of me to do so.

With this in mind, here are the different aspects of movie that I look for before giving the final verdict.

Story/Dialogue: For those of you who have not witnessed the Room, the story goes like this - Johnny is a banker who lives with his fiancée Lisa in San Francisco. Over the period of the movie, Lisa cheats on Johnny with his best friend Mark as she is no longer satisfied with Johnny. The story is filled in with unrelated subplots, like Lisa's mother having breast cancer or Denny taking drugs. The movie slowly spirals out of control until Lisa leaves Johnny and Johnny kills himself.

In terms of dialogue the Room tends to tell rather than show a lot of its content. Additionally, the dialogue is filled with unrelated topics and things people would never even think to say,

For example:
Mark: Who's your client?
Johnny: I can't tell you that, it's confidential.
Mark: Come on, just tell me.
Johnny: Never mind that. How's your sex life?

(Whether I want it to or not, this exchange will always stick with me.)

Cinematography: Visually, this movie isn't all that much to look at. Most of the sets were built rather than being shot on location and the lighting was average at best. The movie also contained a lot of unnecessary stock footage. Seriously though, why would you include Alcatraz for any other reason other than to show that the setting was in San Francisco? Was it to show that the Room was just a prison? A prison of the mind?

Sound: Sound was consistent in the picking up of dialogue, except for the cafe scene. The backing tracks for the sex scenes were terrible, in that they were set higher than necessary. It took away from those scenes (Not that there was anything great about them. Let's be real, Johnny looked as though he was penetrating Lisa's stomach. This is why sex education is important.)

One final note: What is up with dubbing people's lines? The voices didn't match up to a lot of the character's lips.


Overall: This movie is a prime example of the overreach of ambition. The final budget was around 6 million dollars and was self funded (allegedly.) The movie was shot in both 35mm and High Definition and both cameras were set up on a rig that required two crews.

One Star. However, if you are an aspiring film maker, screenwriter or even a novelist, (This was originally a 500 page book before it was adapted for film. Even as a script it allegedly had worse dialogue that some of the actors claimed was 'unsayable.') I would suggest watching it as a study of, 'What not to do when it comes to making movies.'

(Book) A look at 'The Slow Regard of Silent Things' by Patrick Rothfuss.

This is my first ever blog review and I have to say I'm pretty excited to be writing it.

This is partially due to the fact that I love writing.

But the main reason is that I'll be reviewing a book by an author I highly respect.

The story follows Auri and the days leading up to a meeting with 'him.' If you have read Mr. Rothfuss' previous works, 'him' requires no such introduction.

I must admit as I picked up the book, it felt heavy on an emotional level. This small, 30,000 word novella was so FULL to bursting with secrets and hopefully a few answers.

Before I go any further, I want to establish that Auri is my favourite character and as such a story purely about her was more than enough motivation for me to go purchase the book.

When I got home and opened it, I found myself somewhat discouraged.

The first sentence I read from the author is,'You might not want to buy this book.'

I found myself at war with my feelings to continue further. Who in their right mind tells you that you might not want to buy their book? That's either an incredibly dangerous marketing gambit or the author doesn't have a lot of faith in his work.

But as a writer myself and general troublemaker, I ignored his advice and kept reading.

and I am so very glad that I did.

This book can be summed up with a perfect (albeit paraphrased,) quote from Sherlock Holmes.

"The little things are infinitely the most important."

Rothfuss has taken a character who is seemingly unknowable and put her in a story that in any other book, would not quite work.

He has taken a broken character and tilted her at a different angle to show the audience that she is not less because she is broken, but more.

I also feel that, through her beautiful and bizarre understanding of the world, which feels like an mixture of Alchemy and Feng Shui, she betters understands herself.

and it works.

I'm giving this book 5 stars.

Not because I respect the author and not because I kept reading even though I'm usually prone to getting distracted.

Originally, I was going to give it 3 and a half for the self deprecating author's note at the beginning. (Seriously though, please don't do that again. It felt wrong. Like an out of tune piano or an unfinished piece of music.)

But because he has taken something broken (or what I believe he thought was broken,) and poured gold into the cracks.

Making it more beautiful as a result.

So thank you, Mr. Rothfuss. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Auri.