New Things

Alrighty, so it is now fairly official that I have a new blog, and I'm very excited about it!!!! Check it out: 

www.thedreamlifeofisabellafrye.wordpress.com

I am just switching everything up now. This isn't exactly a blog, but I explain that in my first post / the "About" page. Also, sorry Blogger, but Wordpress looked so awesome and new... And that theme I have is pretty crazy, am I right?

SO YEAH if you like reading fiction or you like how I write LOOK AT MY SHINY BRAND SPANKIN NEW BLOG BECAUSE I LOVE IT A LOT. Thanks, friends.

A Change of Heart

No, this is not the title of a movie that I watched (although there's apparently a comedy coming this year by that name). This is me saying goodbye to this blog.

Wait, what?

Yes I know it's a bit of a turn-around from me a few weeks ago when I said I would be writing every week, but it turns out I've pretty much lost interest in reviewing all of these movies, and kidding myself and telling myself to write new ones every week will eventually just bore you as I become more and more disinterested with what I'm writing. No bueno. So yes, I am actually saying goodbye, though I may keep writing once in a while if I'm dying to say something about a movie. This certainly won't be once a week.

Confession: I had no direction when I started this blog, but all I knew was that blogs about an average teenager's life and blogs about every random thing are usually pretty unsuccessful, so I focused on movie reviews to give it direction. The reality is, what I really like writing is fiction, so I'll be doing just that -- in a different blog. I will be writing a collection of short stories in a blog format. I honestly have no idea if this will work yet, but I'm pretty excited. I'll provide a link as soon as it's made.

I apologize to all my loyal fans (hi Mom and Dad).

It's Kind of a Funny Story

What's up guys, I'm back and it hasn't been months of waiting. Whoo! Also, I'm going to officially try to write a new post every Tuesday. Just announcing that so y'all can yell at me if I start slacking off.

So today, I will be reviewing a little movie called It's Kind of a Funny Story, based off the book with the same title, which is about a boy who checks himself into the hospital's psychiatric ward after having suicidal thoughts. He has no background trauma or terrible circumstances; he is simply depressed. He's in one of NYC's top high schools and is in the middle of writing an application to a prestigious program that is giving him a lot of stress and making him think about his future in a very pessimistic way. In the end, (spoiler alert of course), he makes friends with the people at the psych ward who teach him that his life isn't so bad compared with theirs, and that he has enough control over his life to be happier, inspiring him to write a book and help other teens like himself. He also meets a girl and they start dating at the end of the movie, though that one didn't need a spoiler alert.

Fun fact: The author of the book, Ned Vizzini, wrote two episodes of Teen Wolf and co-wrote a book with Chris Columbus, director of the first two Harry Potter movies and Home Alone. The more ya know.

The cinematography in this movie was unique, but scattered. There's a theme of Craig's illustrated "brain maps" that plays into a couple of short animated scenes when he discovers his love for art, but then there's also a scene with still images and narration here, shaky cam with saturated color there... I feel like these are all techniques that can be found in separate movies one at a time, making this feel like a mish-mash of experimental editing, which looked cool but ended up looking like a lot of people worked on this editing. The editing in these separate scenes reminded me of Juno, Super 8, and Mean Girls, which, as you can probably imagine, was confusing.

The story for this film was solid. It was good, even. The characters were all well-developed, and most of the actors portrayed them well, and the conclusion was your typical happy-go-lucky everything worked out ending. It just felt like something was lacking, like all of the puzzle pieces fit too perfectly. I've heard it from other people too -- it's difficult to get emotionally involved in this story. The story ironically felt unrealistic, which would make no sense considering the context: Author Vizzini spent five days in the adult psychiatric ward just like the main character, Craig, and claims that "It's Kind of a Funny Story was based on my real life and is 85% true." For the purposes of this review, I will be considering the value of the storytelling rather than the author's presumed life. It also adds a happier note to the ending of the story if it remains a work of fiction that is not completely based on Vizzini's life; Vizzini unfortunately committed suicide December 2013.

There's a bit of dramatic irony involved (depending on how much you sympathize with Craig) when Craig's psychiatrist quotes the "Serenity Prayer," saying, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." Craig is immediately confused and thrown off at first, while this is clearly pointing toward his overabundant self-pity that gets in the way of the healing he came to 3 North for. It's hard to see the good in everything when you look toward unchangeable external forces to rule your mood. In the end, he's guided by his fellow patient and friend Bobby, who shows him that his life is worth living and the stress he is feeling is under his own control.

I honestly think that this is an exaggerated version of what happens to a lot of teens or pre-teens. Some people have a period of time in their life when they can't or don't see that their situation is not nearly as bad as it could be, and until they have something else to compare their life to, it can seem as if the world is ending. To clarify, I am not talking about people with clinical depression but rather people like Craig's friends in the film who talked about sometimes having "that depression thing." While it's normal to have a wide range of emotions that do reach some pretty low points, it does not mean that everyone "sometimes" has "that depression thing." I accept the word "depressed" as a valid adjective for a feeling that everyone can get because of its common use, but depression itself is something entirely different. Sorry, tangent. Anyway, the thing is, it's ok to have that realization when you find out that your life isn't so bad and you may have been overdramatic about something. It's part of growing up, and hell, if it doesn't happen when you're an adult, then you're either an extremely happy and optimistic person (congrats) or you learned something new that day. I'd say that's a good thing. Sorry, more tangents. Moving on.

I honestly have to say I don't recommend this movie. It's good, but not great. A lot of Ned Vizzini's work has been criticized for just this, which I feel bad about, but honestly, there are better movies out there. Go watch American Hustle (if you haven't already); I'm reviewing it for next week and according to some extremely prestigious awards, it's supposedly pretty good. I must warn you beforehand -- I am indeed a Jennifer Lawrence fan so there may be bias.

I apologize if this post was chaotic. If Craig were to draw a brain map for me right now, it'd be just as scattered as everything else about this post. It's finals week here, so forgive me, damn it.

Send me movie recommendations! Nothing is going to stop me from watching American Hustle before next Tuesday, but I'll watch whatever you have for me after that! :)

Attack on Titan

What's up guys, it's been a while. I also don't know whether or not I should refer to my audience as plural anymore, because who reads this? The world may never know. (Just kidding I can see how many views I get per day huehuehue)

So I haven't really posted anything simply because I've been too caught up doing real life things to watch much TV or see any movies... Which is weird because before coming to college I totally had the impression that I would have all of this glorious free time when I could just do whatever I want. Alas, I am a slave to procrastination... and the game 2048.

God bless Easter break, though (I'm sure He does), because I've been able to get back into some Netflix binging. Now I usually avoid anime (except for any movie made by Hayao Miyazaki), but a few of my friends insisted that I watch this series called Attack on Titan. It was either that or a horror movie, so I was definitely in favor of the anime.

Turns out, it's not a bad show at all. I'm usually turned off by all of the exaggerated reactions and unrealistic plots of anime shows, but Attack on Titan is a completely different style and atypical type of anime that seriously got my blood pumping. I'll warn you, folks, this show is a heart-wrenching tale of woe; if you're a masochist and watch other shows (or read other books) like Game of Thrones, then this is the show for you. God, I love Game of Thrones.

So the plot revolves around these three main characters: Eren, his adoptive sister (and kinda bride-to-be) Mikasa, and Armin. These characters live in a dystopia during what looks like the Middle Ages, and they live a rather humble lifestyle. They live within the confines of a giant wall, however, keeping their world apart from that of the outside, which is crawling with gigantic beings called Titans that can be up to 60 feet tall and have the single terrifying objective of eating humans. They also look like lumpy baby-like men. While this is mostly terrifying, it sometimes amuses me. Then they start eating people and it gets awkward.

Eren Jäger (or Yeager) is a strong-willed character who wants to be the most able soldier in the military to kill all of the titans and avenge the death of his mother, which is gruesomely shown in the very first episode. Mikasa Ackerman is basically the silent but deadly badass who constantly keeps Eren out of trouble when he is unable to be level-headed (which is 99% of the time). She also happens to be the only human left with Asian ethnicity (she's a halfie like me!), which the show doesn't explain to any kind of satisfying extent (yet). Last but not least is Armin, who is the brains of the group. While watching the show I actually got annoyed at a friend who could not stop talking about how useless he is. I happen to value wits, and so do the characters on the show who miraculously live through at least a few episodes because of those wits. As a rule, you should definitely always appreciate people who save your life.

Within the first few episodes, the show even pulled a Red Wedding on me, only without the wedding since no one has time for frivolous things like that in a world where people are too busy avoiding being eaten. This show is literally just very depressing. I swear I'm not a masochist. I am a very happy person... who just likes watching unhappy shows.

Fortunately, this show is not only depressing but also very intriguing.The character development is fantastic, though for reasons I can't say lest I spoil all of the fun... Though I will say that each character is pushed to their limits, and I'm not even talking about just the main three characters. The minor characters are just as real as Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, who sometimes have even more complex characterizations than the main trio, which is as refreshing as it is painful because you must know that they have a 75% chance of dying a miserable, quick, and undignified death.

The realism in this show also annoys the hell out of me, but in the best way possible. I'll give you one example without spoiling too much since I've already mentioned how everyone just dies all over the place: There's a scene where titans are chasing after a tired group of soldiers carrying back the bodies of the dead. These guys are super fast and they're hungry for human flesh, so rather than being heroes and simply magicking their way back home with the bodies safe and sound, they very purposefully dump the bodies of some of the most elite soldiers in order to save their own lives, having some serious psychological effects on the soldiers who were expecting to give their friends a proper burial. It's just things like this which make every moment of this show all the more painful and all the more glorious.

Have I mentioned I'm not a masochist yet? Good. Ok. So what are you still doing here? Go watch the show!

Just kidding, I'd also like to take this opportunity to mention that this blog, while it used to be a mish-mash of very random things, will basically consist of reviews of shows and movies and various other media now. If I've got something urgent on my mind that I think the world should know then I'll spill it, but usually my urgent thoughts are about TV shows and movies anyway.

If you have a movie or show suggestion, please leave a comment below! I will watch ANYTHING YOU SUGGEST (within reason) and I will review it, whether I like it or not. Hopefully this will provoke some more controversial comments out of me since so far I've basically liked everything I've reviewed. Things that do not count as being within reason: Barney, Justin Bieber music videos, porn. That escalated quickly. Have a nice day, folks.

DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN

I couldn't hold it back any longer. My obsession for Frozen must be made known. Now.

I honestly had very low expectations for this movie for the longest time. I saw the trailer for it with Olaf losing his nose and Sven eating it (for those of you who have not watched this yet, Olaf is a snowman, and hence he has a nose made of carrot, not flesh), and it just didn't look very appealing. I even dismissed the post I saw on Facebook with Idina Menzel singing a sample of one of the songs since I didn't know that she was actually voice acting a prominent role. The point is, I didn't pay attention to it until I started hearing the hype.

Oh my lord, the hype. It was everywhere. I was basically shamed into watching it because I'm not a free-thinking soul who can live without getting all of the mainstream references. I was calling a group of friends, and one of them kept saying (or singing), "Do you want to build a snowman?" I had no idea what he was referencing until I asked him, and at that point, I just said, alright enough, it's time to watch the damn thing.

So Frozen is about two sisters, Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel), who rule over Arendelle as estranged orphans. Elsa, the eldest, has the power to create ice (hence the title), and is so traumatized by a childhood accident that she blamed herself for, that she hid away from her sister and everyone else, only to find her power would grow out of her control. After the secret of her powers gets out, she escapes to the North Mountain and becomes a bad-ass bitch so she can create her own ice castle and finally be "free," leaving behind a kingdom in a "real howler in July." Anna goes after her with her new buddy Kristoff the ice deliverer to attempt to bring summer and her sister back to Arendelle.

Spoiler alert from now. Sorry. Guess you'll just have to watch the movie. >:)

May I just say: there was so much troll humor in this movie it killed me. The entire problem with this movie started when Grandpoppy tells Elsa that her powers are to be feared, failing to mention that the only way to control it is to be open about it and love, which doesn't really work out. You almost tricked us with your feigned wisdom, but you're just a troll. Stop with your trolling. Anyway, there wouldn't be a movie without that so I suppose I should be grateful. Also, when the troll priest dude says, "Do you, Anna, take Kristoff to be your trollfully wedded..." That KILLED me. So your favorite line was, "Some people are worth melting for?" Cool beans, but honestly, how can you beat being trollfully wed to someone you just met by actual trolls? My happiness derives from the fact that I often use the expression "trolololol," by the way.

THE MUSIC. There's a reason why the title of this post is in headlines. I have been listening to the soundtrack of this movie nonstop for the past few weeks, which is truly unhealthy, but I just can't stop listening! I had the same reaction of basically everyone else at first: "Wait, Kristen Bell can sing? Kristen Bell can sing really well? What?" It was obsession thereafter.

There were so many Broadway stars in this movie, it's no wonder they're comparing this to The Lion King. Speaking of which, my father likes to tell me I watched The Lion King at least forty times as a kid, so at least my tendency to obsess over musical movies is not a new thing. Fun fact: even Kristen Bell has been on Broadway. She played Becky Thatcher in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (there are clips on YouTube) and sang in the revival of "The Crucible" with wait... Liam Neeson? There are just fun facts everywhere. Thank goodness I have IMDb.

Idina. Freaking. Menzel. Ohmotherofbabyjesus. Her voice, in my opinion, has actually gotten stronger than when she was on Broadway, which is ridiculous and probably the result of computers and recording technology, but I was listening to the "Wicked" soundtrack and the Frozen soundtrack back to back, and it just sounds stronger in the most recent one. Menzel packs a powerful punch to all of her performances, but the song "Let It Go" was simply perfection. Sorry, Demi Lovato, you cannot sing the same song as Idina Menzel and expect me to like it more.

Confession: I actually do like Demi Lovato's version (it's an awesome song for working out), but still not as much as the movie version.

Oh gosh, look at the time. I've gone a full half hour without listening to "Let It Go." I thought there was something amiss. And with that, I leave you with the strongest recommendation I have ever given: See. Frozen. Now. Now. Now.

Stuck in Love (the movie, not real life)

There need to be more movies like this one out there. Now, I have to say I like this movie for very selfish reasons; usually I like a movie because it's believable, the characters are well-written and well-acted, and if there's a nice soundtrack, but this movie was special because of its Canadian title Writers. I'd like to think I'm an aspiring writer... when I'm not busy studying, eating, sleeping, or playing Candy Crush. Regardless, I just want all of these people to be in my life, flaws and all. Also, any story about writers inspires me to go write, hence this blog post's existence. Also, when I found this on YouTube (yes, it's on YouTube, so go watch it now; there are no excuses), I felt like an idiot because a few months ago, I had looked for it EVERYWHERE, and couldn't find it. The internet is an elusive creature.

Stuck in Love is a movie tracking the intertwining but very different stories of four different family members: William Borgens, a published writer (Greg Kinnear), Erica, the ex-wife who married a younger and rather more muscular man because she's played by Jennifer Connelly so she looks like she's 10 years younger than she actually is and it's totally fine, Samantha Borgens, a college-aged, soon-to-be published writer who's a bit promiscuous (Lily Collins), and Rusty Borgens, Sam's sweet and innocent baby brother (Nat Wolff).

From the very beginning, it's pretty clear that this family has some issues. Sam, who is a "realist" and hates the idea of love, makes it very clear that she does not communicate with her mother because she feels betrayed ever since her mother left her father for another man. This dynamic in and of itself creates tension within the whole family since everyone else still somehow stays in contact with her. The dad, William, is still clearly in love with his ex-wife to the point where he takes great pleasure in watching her fight with her new husband from their window, which is a bit creepy. The runt of the family, Rusty, is still going through that unfortunate high school phase of extreme bouts of awkwardness, and has that equally unfortunate but fitting hopelessly romantic outlook on life and girls. Basically, each member of the family receives some kind of advice to step out of their comfort zone and explore life a bit more, all in the context of lots of writing and lots of partying.

Yes, it's a feel-good, cheesy movie. Yes, I absolutely still love it. OH MY GOD I just realized the director of this movie, Josh Boone, also directed The Fault in Our Stars. How. Did. I. Not. Know. This. I just became doubly excited for TFiOS. Holy crap.

Honestly, one of the things that made this movie so much better was the cast. Had this movie had mediocre actors, I would 've been very upset. From the perspective of acting in general, I just love it when there are those perfectly natural looking scenes when there are so many people talking at once to no one or anyone and it's not just lines from one person to another. There's a scene like that in Super 8 where there are six kids sitting at a diner having a million conversations at once. I love it. It bumps movies up a notch in my opinion, and to quote my brother, it makes it "real." Yes, he watched it. Guys, take note; it's not a chick flick.

I wasn't a huge fan of Logan Lerman, but I guess it's only because I feel like it was Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower playing the character Louis because honestly, can he play anything besides an awkward kid with family issues and a love for obscure books and music? I can't decide if I want him to go play some badass character or if I want him to just keep playing awkward guys for the sake of not finding out if he's bad at being a badass. Also, I didn't like his character in the movie in general. Louis was needed but not needed... his only hold on the plot was the fact that he is inexplicably in love with Samantha Borgens even though she is clearly not his type. Pretty much everything in this movie was believable, but Louis's existence seemed very forced. With a bit more back story, that could've become something I'd be ok with.

I was, however, a huge fan of the soundtrack of this movie. God damn. I'm listening to "Between the Bars" by Elliot Smith as I'm writing this and I may or may not have had a mini scavenger hunt for all of the music. It's definitely a genre of music that not everyone will enjoy... but it's pretty chill and more importantly, it perfectly portrays the swinging moods throughout the film. One might call it obscure. Hang on and let me go get my Ray-Bans.

So all in all, I absolutely definitely recommend this movie. Just gave it 9 stars on IMDb and heard my brother tell me to tell everyone else to watch this movie. The fact that he said that combined with the fact that I listened to my brother adds up to gowatchthismovienownownow. Like I said, it's on YouTube (for now). There are no excuses.

Speaking is a good thing.

So I'm doing some serious college-level procrastination here on a Sunday night because I feel like I'm still stuffed from the last three Thanksgiving meals I've eaten (three days in a row, not three years in a row). I should probably look over this political science presentation, but you know what? We all already know that China and North Korea have authoritarian governments. Hopefully. If you didn't know that, please refer to a New York Times near you. Or the internet. The internet is a wonderful creation.

While at college, I've learned a few things. First, that the college experience is like one big culture shock. Living with someone completely new and expecting to get along, making new friends quicker and becoming besties in months... It's expected of us but challenging nonetheless. The other thing I've learned is how some people live thinking that speaking up for yourself and for others is something that requires perfect timing and circumstance. I had never really experienced this kind of thing outside of cheesy American comedies and dramas, where I found it peculiar that a character would struggle so much over telling someone the truth, no matter how large or small the consequences. They'd always wait for the "right moment" or just make excuses until the truth came out in a horrible way that they hadn't anticipated, snowballing into the climax of the movie.

Don't get me wrong, I get when it's hard to say something when there's a lot at stake, but if you're just avoiding the subject for the sake of avoiding the subject, that's cowardice. I just read an article in the New York Times about my aunt and uncle who married five years ago, and they described their relationship as one that works because of communication. Everything is talked about. Some things may be argued over but at least they're out there.

In my own family, bluntness is a requirement. My dad grew up thinking debates were relaxed everyday discussions, while my mother thought the opposite, but regardless, debates are a regular thing. For some, this might make it seem like my household life is stressful or annoying, but I honestly miss it so much here at college where passive aggressiveness is the norm (I unfortunately do not exclude myself from such behavior) and there's no such thing as putting an issue out in the open to talk about. I've been in multiple situations where people have wanted to bring up an issue, but they don't because they're afraid of what comes next. There are times when things can end badly, but honestly, it's better to end something than to drag a horrible situation out. I have heard too many stories of how relationships (between friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends) ended because he said that she said that their neighbor's dog said that something happened when it didn't and then miscommunication after miscommunication ruins everything when it would have been so much easier to cut the crap and talk.

So people - most books and movies may create expectations about the awful shit that goes down when you actually talk directly at a person, but there are so many other books and movies that are about what happens when you don't speak. Like the book/movie Speak.

Got a problem with your friend? Talk with them about it. But more importantly, talk about solutions to that problem so it doesn't end terribly like in the movies. Got a problem with your enemy? Same thing. I'm going to cringe as I impart this little tip... Sometimes it's good to speak before you think. Too much, that is. Speak about your stress, don't stress about speaking, and all of a sudden your speaking will be stress-free.

I'll see if I come up with anything less ranty soon.