✩ Movie recommendation : The Nightmare Before Christmas ✩

✩ The Nightmare Before Christmas ✩

Hi Charlie! In honor of Halloween (35 days) and Christmas (91 days) (that is just an excuse to share with you this wonderful movie..) I will be sharing with you my favorite movie that I watch on both of these special occasions. Before you start reading, I want you to know that I'm not writing the full story. I'm only writing the start of the story and why you should watch it. I'm basically giving you a recommendation, not a review! Also, this is my first ever movie recommendation, so I'm sorry if it's a bit weird or incomplete, I'll try my best to improve! Anyways, enjoy my wayyyy too long blog article on the masterpeice that is "The Nightmare Before Christmas"!

✩ Introduction┊ ˚➶ ｡˚

Let's start off with the "boring" information before moving onto the story! "The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 disney stop-motion animation directed by Henry Selick, (Yes, the one who also directed another amazing stop-motion animation "Coraline".) and originally written by Tim Burton.

Tim Burton actually wrote "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as a poem in 1982 before it finally became the animated movie that we know and love today. 

You can listen to the original poem narrated by Christopher Lee here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbPCwc_Cdz0

✩The Storyline┊ ˚➶ ｡˚

For those who don't know the amazing movie that is "The Nightmare Before Christmas", let me give you a synopsis that will hopefully make you want to watch this amazing movie! 

The story starts like this.. In a secluded town that is named "Halloween Town", we meet our main character, Jack Skellington, who is a living skeleton ; Sally, who is a living ragdoll and the rest of the town's residents who are all monsters from different popular fairytales like witches, mummys, vampires... 

Sally✩ 

Some of Halloween Town's people...✩ 

In this Halloween Town, everyone works to get ready for the Halloween holidays, with Jack Skellington being some sort of leader. But one day, during the preparation for the Halloween holidays, Jack suddenly feels bored of having to always prepare for the only holiday they always prepare for : Halloween. 

So, Jack decides to take a quick stroll in the woods of Halloween Town, before stumbling on 7 odd looking trees, which were actually doors. And each door is shaped like a traditional holiday item. These doors will actually lead to 7 different towns with each tree/door representing different holidays : Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's day and... Christmas.

Jack, obviously intrigued, will enter the Christmas door and will discover Christmas Town. A town where everyone prepares for  their only holiday, Christmas. Once leaving Christmas Town after visiting it, he will come back to Halloween Town and decide that he wants to prepare for Christmas. Except nothing goes as planned and even Sally tries to persuade him into not creating his own "Christmas" holiday because of a bad gut feeling...

How will Jack prepare for Christmas when he has never done it before, how will Sally intervene to stop Jack and his not so good idea and what is going to happen next?... You will only know if you decide to watch it!

✩ Why should you watch it?┊ ˚➶ ｡˚

We're now moving onto our last section.. WHY SHOULD YOU WATCH THIS AMAZING, PERFECT, BEAUTIFUL MOVIE?... Hmmm....

- Well, first of all, as I said in the beginning, it's my first time writing a sort of résumé which means that it's probably not good and definitely does not do the movie justice. So if you want to see what the movie is REALLY like, you should go and watch it right now! 

- Secondly, this movie has amazing visuals. You can pause literally any scene and there'll be a lot to analyze and look at. Also, the clay-ish sort of style the film has is very unique! Please take a look at the opening scene of the movie to see what I'm talking about. It's visuals and unique style is undeniable, indescribable and quite eerie/creepy (especially during the opening scene)! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8NeYGphFyk

- Thirdly, THE MUSIC!!! It wouldn't be a Disney animation if there weren't any songs. The music in this movie are either fun and catchy, or gloomy but in a good way. Here's my favorite one from the film "Sally's Song". It's very raw in emotion, I just love it, I wish it were longer! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rivTGBzBMM 

- And lastly, to conclude this way too long blog, the people worked really hard on this movie, so why not watch it? I mean, you're already reading this blog, might aswell just watch it and see the masterpiece that this movie is for yourself!

Anyways.. That's all I have to say. Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon!

Bye Charlie! ✩

 Movie review: Barbie movie

Hi Charlie!

I went to see the Barbie movie this summer and I absolutely loved it. It touched me and reminded me of when I was a little girl and played with my Barbie dolls. At the time, I didn't know about patriarchy and gender inequality.

“ Stereotypical” Barbie, who lives in Barbie Land, is kicked out of the country for not looking like a perfect-looking doll. With nowhere to go, she leaves for the human world and seeks true happiness.

I loved this movie because it acknowledges the unrealistic physical proportions of Barbie who are making young girls feel insecure about themselves while still celebrating her role as a feminist icon.

Indeed, the Barbie dolls came with a lot of different jobs which weren’t for women at the time. For instance, the astronaut Barbie which came in 1965 even before there was a woman in NASA's astronaut corpse.

I also think that the movie’s star, Margot Robbie is a great casting choice because of her appearance but also because she finds just the right balance between satire and sincerity. I also think that Ryan Gosling was truly Amazing in this movie.

I loved how funny the movie was while still treating important matters like feminism.

An example of  that is when Barbie is learning about the patriarchy because it shows how ridiculous and unfair it can seem to someone who has never heard of it before. It is also meant to realize that we are so used to this sexist society that we are almost “accepting” that this is how it is. 

So seeing Barbie fight so hard for something that seems so basic in the real world is really eye brightening.

I also think that, on the contrary of what some people might think, it was a realistic movie in a certain way because the speeches about how women need to fit in unrealistic and impossible body criterions and can’t do anything without being judged by men is sadly very true and very relatable.

I think that Greta Gerwig, the director of the movie, perfectly incorporated a touch of feminism in a very humoristic movie. This was also the case with her adaptation of “little women”  which was a very feminist movie too with impactful speeches and different points of views from women at that time but without the touch of humor in the Barbie movie.

Hope you enjoyed this article!

Lou 

Movie Review : Little Women

                

                                          Movie Review : Little Women

Hey Charlie ! I watched the movie "Little Women" a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. So today I decided to talk to you about it and give you its presentation and my opinion.

ALERT : this review contents spoilers so be aware of it and don't read it if you don't know the story and don't want to be spoiled.

 

"Little women" is a romantic and dramatic movie, released in 2019 and directed by Greta Gerwig, the film director of the new and famous "Barbie". Its principal actors are Saoirse Ronan - the American actress who is also in a few other movies of the screenwriter like "Lady bird"- Florence Pugh, Emma Watson and Timothée Chalamet (just for this amazing cast you should absolutely watch it).

  This movie comes from the novel of the same name written by Louisa May Alcott and published in a single volume in 1880. Indeed, it was basically produced by the author in two parts published in 1868 and 1869 that were immediate commercial and critical success. The story follows the four sisters of the family March : Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in their adventures, secrets, arguments, love stories and emancipation. 

I really enjoyed this movie, kind of fell for it so much that I sometimes needed to stop my watching because I was emotionally down or really frustrated (this movie is extremely frustrating, I swear). It's probably the sign that I appreciated it and was really into the story even if I'm basically a really emotional watcher or reader who cries for almost every single sad moment in a movie or book… But I still think that I particularly liked it. (SPOIL) The death of Beth really hurt me, even if we can actually guess it from the beginning of her sickness. Furthermore, I had been spoiled her death in a "Friends" episode (the best serie ever, by the way) so there wasn't really a reason to be surprised or shocked, but as I said I'm a good audience… I loved Joe so much, I found her smart, powerful and rebel and was so sad and frustrated when she didn't end up with Laurie… On the contrary, I kind of hated Amy which I found superficial, mean and uninteresting. 

However, a few days ago, I had a debate with two BFI's friends about the movie and they both told me that they hated Jo because she wanted so much to be different from the other girls and played with Laurie's heart, making him believe they could end up together and then refused. On the other hand, they said they really liked Amy, that she was the only one aware that she needed to make a rich marriage to live a good life and defended all her mistakes (from my point of view) by the fact that she was young and angry. I really hadn't even thought of this kind of opinion about the movie (for me, everybody should love Jo and hate Amy, it was the only possible way to think) but I really meditated and finally found some truth in their arguments. I'm actually pretty disappointed about this new way of imagining this story but I'm sure that I would never see and rewatch this film with the same eyes…

I hope you enjoyed my review !

See you soon,

Rose :)