Archived from my old Xanga blog:

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.- Thomas Jefferson, 1823

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I really liked this movie. I was very impressed. I had worried that Spielberg was going to turn Kubrick’s vision into some kid’s movie with corny lines. Thank god, there was actually only a handful of them in the whole movie. This was one of those films where I felt like I was transported into another dimension, where I felt fully submerged in the story and the world it existed in. It was very beautiful.

Janusz Kaninski is an excellent cinematographer as always. His love for light has produced some absolutely heavenly scenes filled with haze and grain that he is so good at using to enhance the beauty of film. Sometimes I forget how much richer and alive things look when shot on film as opposed to digital video…

The story was very interesting. It was sometimes disturbing, and I really liked how very different the second half is from the first. Jude Law was a very convincing robot, and Haley Joe Osment was incredibly endearing. He used to annoy me, but his fantastic transition from robot to real boy (in demeanor) verily changed my mind about him.

It did get a little slow during the beginning of the last third of the film (it’s a 2 and a half hour film), and sometimes I would wonder if the film was about to end. In a way, I thought this would have been cool because it really would have left the audience feeling weirded out and unfulfilled, hehe. But, the strange twist at the end. Rather, the great leap at the end was very interesting and very cool. I was quite touched by the plot, being a sci fi fan. The questions of robots and artificial intelligence, and a world that produces advanced versions of this was a great setting to introduce ethical issues. This film also gives this strange sense of being a mix of a hundred other stories. There were times I felt I was watching “E.T.”, whether from the constant moon theme, or the John Williams music. Besides the obvious, Pinnochio, I also caught strange reminders of “Bladerunner”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, and “TRON” believe it or not!!! Ask anyone whose seen this flick and they will probably relate to you at least three other films other than the ones I just mentioned that they were reminded of by this film.

If you have the patience to overlook the slow part, then watch this movie. The strange plot, moral issues, and beautiful cinematography will sweep you away into a different world, and you leave the theater either feeling good, depressed, or at least a little dazed. I really enjoyed this movie. It’s nice to see things that sway from Hollywood formula, especially from Spielberg. It’s definitely worth 4 stars.

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I had the strangest dream. It was horrible actually. I dreamed that the world was about to end and I had forgotten to call my mom! Now, I have this terrible feeling she’s dead or something. I tried to call her, but her cell isn’t working, and her machine picks up at home. I feel weird.

It was a long dream. First I just felt the impending sense of doom for this guy who was half a movie character, and half Rudy! HE had gone out to repair some stuff, and I told him not to go! Or maybe I hoped he wouldn’t. The world had ended, but there were stll alot of people and they were always working to repair what had been damaged. He climbed this tall beam to get to this strange  part of a building where there were no walls, only steal beams, although they sparkled like emeralds. On this level was a concrete flooring of some sorts and a huge slope of metallic rafters as if in some kind of theater. I knew it was a movie theater. He pushed a big steel box down the rafters till they picked up momentum and slid the rest of the way down on their own. I got nervous when he did this because I felt that he was going to trip and fall then, but he didn’t.

He worked on some wiring from a box and a flickering movie image began to play. It projected right into open air like a hologram and was bluish. For some reason I was thinking MI:2, maybe because IRL I had told Rudy about how I saw it at the Mann’s just that night. I don’t know if he died or not. I also remember some strange scene where there was some sort of child who liked to sneak around and play and I tried to find her inside this weird giant sea rock that was dried out, full of big holes and put on display in a backyard like my abuelito’s long ago. Too weird.

BIG SHIFT IN SPACE AND TIME: Then I was hanging out on the streets with Rudy and there were quite a few people outside just celebrating or something. It had a New Orleans feel to it, even though there wasn’t much partying. We passed a closed gift shop and I felt disappointed for some reason. I told Rudy I wanted a book. So we went to a library. It was so busy there, and the floors were strange. There would only be a few sqare feet of floor, then the level would sink up or down one step so the level was weird throughout the room. I had a dream in a library very similar to this one before. I felt this sense of urgency at the library. I realized the world was ending in an hour and I was trying to get everything done I had hoped to before the end. Why hadn’t I remembered the world was ending sooner? I was shocked to remember I hadn’t called my mom! I rushed with Rudy across the street to my “house” which was a houselike 2 story apartment guarded by a big barred gate. I struggled to open the gate with a key. As we walked briskly down the curved path towards the house, Rudy asked if I lived in the little house on the left that had a giant door and looked like a fire station. I said yeah, not paying attention, then corrected myself and said no, explaining I lived on the 2nd story of the big apartment bldg. So when we got inside the apartment there were all these people there that I didn’t know! Did I live with them? I don’t know. It was horrible I was trying to call some friend, maybe Kathy Trinh, and I think I said bye to her finally but only after I had to wait for the old man in the living room to finish his call. For some reason I knew EXACTLY when he would finish cause I picked up the phone and ther was a dial tone. When I did, this fat mexican boy (maybe my age) walks in, sees me on the phone and goes “damn!” and stomps away. Guess he needed the phone. I think I may have shrugged “sorry” to him. After I called Kathy I thought maybe I should call my dad. I don’t know WHY. I wanted to save my mom for last. I had realized when at the library that she was probably trying to call me all day and frantic. I felt terrible, but I still wanted to save her for last! I tried to call my dad next, but I heard the voice of Rudy’s cousin Christopher on the line! I hung up the phone. Then after a few seconds of desperation I picked it back up. Maybe Chris knew I was anxious cause he told Lauren (who is Andy’s girlfriend not CHRIS’ girlfriend, but she was Chris’ in this dream) that he had to go do some things and he hoped she didn’t mind if he hung up. She said “Well of COURSE I mind.” But I guess he did anyway, cause I hung up the phone, picked it up a few seconds later and there was a dial tone. I was about to call my dad when I looked over at Rudy who was a few feet away writing down the lyrics to a song on the computer. It was weird cause on the screen was a picture of an aged brown music sheet and he was humming the tune of “The Sound of Silence” so I guess that’s what he was writing the words to. I told him i couldnt believe he was doing that during our last minutes alive. He said he wanted to have the prfect song when the end came. I guess he had the CD too? So then I try to call my dad but I get this weird alarm sound, a constant buzzing like an alarm clock. NO, like a security breach, or emergency alarm. I go “NO!” and try to call again but it doesn’t work. I figure his line is not working so I call my mom, but I get the same alarm! NO!!!!!!!!! The phones are down ALREADY? There’s still 50 minutes left to live! I can’t get a hold of her! What’s worse, she was probably calling me all day, and now we’re both going to die not talking to each other again; this can’t be true! Oh why did I wait this long to call her? How could I FORGET?!?!? NO!!!!

The thought was so disturbing that it woke me up. I felt horrible and very dazed after that. I still feel weird, I tried calling all her numbers but to no avail. I fear the worst. I hope she’s not dead.

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This was an absolutely amazing movie-going experience for me! I saw it yesterday, Wednesday, which was opening day. I cannot even begin to explain how exciting it was during the first opening scene! Such beautiful landscapes! Aki’s first closeup is stunning, revealing the intricate detail of her lifelike face. In fact the entire movie is so real that I had to keep reminding myself that these characters were not real actors. I nearly cried from the movie’s beautiful opening. It may also be that I hadn’t seen a movie since “Spy Kids” so it was great to be back in a theater. Plus, I was in a brand new Ultra Star with excellent sound. But the visuals were absolutely mind bending!!!

Anyone who likes fantasy, sci-fi, animation or cool plots, go see this movie! It’s beautiful! I felt stupid for wanting to cry, especially because I didn’t know why. But, my boyfriend felt the same way about it. It was just so spectacular, I felt as if I was witnessing history take place. The CG actors are so real! I can’t stop gushing about them. I also liked the music, and the plot was great too! Although it didn’t follow the old Final Fintasy tradition of spells, and medieval themes, it did mix science with spirituality. It was pretty deep for a “cartoon.” I was so glad that they didn’t cast the voices to sound cartoony either. That always is a dead giveaway that what we are witnessing isn’t real. During the first 20 minutes I couldn’t keep whispering to my boyfriend how amazed I was that it was CG animation (much to the annoyance of his diehard FF fan brother)! Aki’s movements were so graceful and lifelike. Her sunspots, freckles, and fine lines added so much reality to her. Her mentor, an aged scientist, looks even more impressive with his wrinkles, and spotted bald head.

The story was great, dealing with phantoms within us (symbolism, yay), ghosts, and other worlds. It was quite an original plot. I only have one qualm which gives this movie a 4.5 instead of 5 stars:

It was too Americanized! I can understand that this movie was meant for the United States market because it would make more money that way, and that is why the dialogue is in English and dubbed to Japanese to play in it’s homeland (instead of vice versa). But, all the American cliche’s of cheesy catch phrases during action sequences and corny one liners just KILLED the movie right in the middle of it! Although the movement, facial expressions, and general look of the animated cast are magnificent, they still look fake when dialogue is added to their moving mouths. This could well have been avoided by making this a more visual movie, and staying away from too much dialogue, which wouldn’t have been hard with such an image based story such as this one. However, towards the middle of the movie, the dialogue is riddled with horrid punchlines, and generic cliches that totally destroyed the magic spell that had enveloped me during the mesmerizing beginning.

The magic began to return towards the end, but never quite reached the level it was at during the movie’s opening. This is because the middle was so pumped full of American formulaic blabber that reminded me too much of so many bad action movies I’ve seen. If only Square Pictures could have avoided this! The film was so beautiful otherwise! At least the dorky lines in the game were funny! This was just distracting!

Otherwise, though, this film was visually fantastic! The sound was also amazing (thank you, Skywalker Sound)! The entire imagery is so beautiful it will blow you away. This is, by far, the best computer animated movie of all time!

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Archived from my old Xanga blog:

Summer school has kept me quite busy. I have a pretty confident feeling I am going to get an A in both my Interpersonal Communication, and Recording Techniques classes. It was a bit overwhelming only because each course was only 5 weeks long. I learned so much from both subjects. I really enjoyed them…

The first session of Summer School is over, but I still am going to take English second session, so no Summer Vacation for me . I am trying to get in a Dance or Phys. Ed class too for fun, but it’s sort of hard. I am trying to fit it into my schedule without taking any time away from my Fridays ONLY because there is ONE Friday on which I MUST go to San Diego Comic Con!!!! I may just take Modern Dance, and miss that Friday morning class on July 20th. It’s worth it, hehe.

More later. Too busy lately

OOOH! another thing. I am so into Ebay now! I bought a Super 8mm camera a few days ago! Finally, I can start working with film! I also bought some Star Wars memorabilia and shirts, yay! If you use it, I am registered as Michelle_Kenobi! Anyway, deeper posts on the way once I can get a break

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