Zombieland (Part 2)

Sci-Fi is a genre that deals with imaginative ideas or futuristic science. It usually explores potential scientific consequences or innovations. Although it seems similar with fantasy, it is unrelated as Sci-Fi usually has at least a little science based fact or theory. Sci-Fi may not seem obvious in this movie as it is about zombies, this is because many people usually depict Sci-Fi as modern or futuristic based. Sci-Fi appears in the film in terms of the storyline or plot of the movie told by Columbus. Sci-Fi is used in the film as they said the zombie apocalypse started 2 months after a man took a bite out of a burger that was infected with mad-cow disease. Besides that, Sci-Fi is also used in the world of zombieland as in the form of extinction or apocalypse.

Action films are films that the main character has to go through a series of challenges that includes violence and combat. It also features a hero struggling against the odds, for example, life threatening situations which risks the life of the hero. Zombieland is an action film because it features 4 main characters that survives through the zombie apocalypse. Zombieland also made a variety of types of heroes as could be seen in the movie the 4 different personalities in the 4 main characters. In zombieland, Tallahassee is shown as a typical "One man army", similar with Rambo in other films. This could be seen as Tallahassee has a cold blooded nature, a daredevil, and hardcore as he kills zombies mercilessly throughout the movie. Columbus is the "accidental hero" in the film, he is the nerdy and smart type of hero. This could be seen in the film where Columbus becomes the hero in the end as he faces his fear to save Wichita. Wichita is the "Femme fetale" in the film, this could be seen as she is smart, quick, instinctive, sexy and dangerous. In the movie, she could be seen as always the sexy one, baiting Columbus and Tallahassee into their traps to manipulate them. Lil' Rock may not look like what a hero figure looks like, but she is actually one of the types of heroes. Lil' Rock is depicted as the young, smart and daring character in the movie as she works alongside with Witchita throughout the movie.

Roadfilm is a genre that shows the main character going on a journey or road trip that alters their perspective on their daily life. Zombieland is a roadfilm because it is a story of Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Lil' Rock coming together on a journey to pacific playland. This journey also changes the nature and perspective of the characters that makes them bond together and forge a friendship. This fulfills the genre of roadfilm as it is about traveling and showing characters being stuck together which causes a bond to happen between them.

Zombieland ( Part 1 )

After watching Zombieland (2009) which tells a story of Columbus trying to make his way to Ohio after a zombie apocalypse infected the world. On his journey, he teams up with Tallahassee, Wichita and Lil' Rock as he learns that although losing his family in Zombieland,  his gets a real family which actually is his friends as he battles together with his friends to survive in the world full of flesh eating zombies. The genre that are in the film are Horror, Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi, Action and Roadfilm.

The Horror genre that is in the film is in the unnatural category, this means it is usually about ghosts. vampires, zombies, alien and so on. Unnatural category usually poses a threat to our normal life, it usually also means a threat that threatens the civilians. The threat is usually in forms like body mutations or creatures that can alter a normal human body. Moving on about the film, horror genre is used in the film here as unnatural category simply because the movie is about zombies. Zombies is not normal to our lives or civilization therefore it is considered as an external force, zombies also infect other people by turning them into zombies by using their bites or scratch, this also means zombies could alter a normal human body.

Besides from horror genre, comedy genre is also widely used in the film, the types of comedy used includes Slapstick, Dark comedy and Parody. Slapstick comedy is a style of comedy that involves exaggerated physical activity that  exceeds the boundaries of natural physical activity.  Slapstick comedy is used in the film. For instance, at the starting of the film, as Columbus talks to us about the set of rules he came up to keep himself alive, one of the rules was "Buckle your seat belts" where they showed the scene of the women speeding off from all the children that are infected as she bangs into a truck causing her to fly out of her windshield as skidding across the road with a trail of blood. Dark Comedy is comedy that makes humor out of serious or disturbing matter. Dark comedy is used in the film where they say the first people in the world of zombieland to go are the "Fatties", they even showed the scene where a fat person running across a field being chased by a zombie and lastly being eaten by it. Parody is a work that makes fun of the original work, Parody does not mean insulting the original work, but more of honoring the work by humor. Parody is used in the film where they are high on weed and reenacting Ghostbusters, they show whichita looking at the ceiling calling "Harry, harry is on the ceiling" while Tallahassee and Bill Murray running out with the vacuum cleaner trying to suck the ghost.  

Romance genre is basically about romance, which is love. Although this movie is about zombies, a love story exists between Columbus and Wichita. This could be seen in the end of the movie where Columbus gets his happy ending. This is shown in the scene where Columbus finally gets to save Wichita in Pacific Play-land from the zombies and she finally accepts him into her life by kissing and telling him her real name which is "Krista".

Requiem to a dream (directors cut)

After watching the movie "Requiem to a Dream (2000)", I feel that the movie had manage to hit its purpose on being a psychological drama film. This is because the film hits me psychologically by showing me the negativity of taking drugs and a life of a drug addict. It also shows me the effect on drugs on the characters mentally, the pain felt by the characters in the film is clearly shown to the audience.

The editing used in the film is montage, which is the usage of fast cuts and arrangements of short videos to give the meaning of something. This is used in the film to show the process of taking the drugs by showing short shots like the fire being lit, the money being rolled up, the drugs on the table, water boiling, blood cells in the vain and lastly pupil dilating. The short videos itself would mean nothing, but with clever editing and placement, it gives the clear meaning to the audience.

Besides that, the composition used in the film further boosts the effect of the film. For example, the close up shots in the film enhances the psycho effect in the film, especially scenes of the character's mother "Sara Goldfarb" going crazy due to the effect of the drugs. Furthermore, the time lapse effect in the film enhances the message in the film. Instead of just filming the effect on drugs on the people, time lapse enhances the effect as people can be seen doing the same things repeatedly.

The Mise-en-Scene of the film is very good, especially the make-up of the characters which shows they are pale from all the drugs, their lips are slightly purple instead of red, their body is skinny and unhealthy, their clothes are dirty and tattered. These boosts the effects of the film and clearly hits the audience with the drug addict lifestyle. The make up of the part where Harry Goldfarb takes his arm out to show the wound from the drugs is cleverly used as it disgusts the audience, it also shows the pain that he has to go through from the drugs.

In conclusion, i feel that this film is a very good film as it is very eye-opening and educational as it shows the negativity from the effect on drugs. This film shows the mental state of the characters and make it feel like i am really there, experiencing the situations felt by the characters. I find that no other films could do as good as this film in showing us the lifestyle of the drug addicts.

Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki

After watching Spirited Away (2002) by Hayao Miyazaki, I am still surprised and amazed at his film although watching it many times. I am amazed at the details that are in the film, it shows how much hard work and time is needed to produce it. The details in the film are not only in the main characters, but also in the background of the scene and the sub characters that are not even important.

Besides that, the creativity of the film is outstanding. As people usually visualize spirits as scary stuff and usually in a form of ghosts, Hayao Miyzaki imagines otherwise, showing us that there is more than just what we could imagine other than just ghosts. For example, the cricket spirit is depicted in the film in the form of humans in kimonos, river spirits are depicted as dragons, the radish spirit is depicted as a fat radish looking creature wearing a hat and whole lots of other spirits that we may not imagine.

The film itself contains a lot of moral values, as one of the moral value that is clearly shown in the film is greed kills. This starts off at the beginning of the film by showing Chihiro's parents being arrogant and greedy, this is shown by Chihiro's father greedily taking all the food and proudly saying he has credit card and cash. They later become pigs because they were too arrogant to listen to Chihiro. Another example is the character "No Face" using the power of greed to catch spirits as his food or to do its bidding. This is clearly shown in the film as he offers golds to the characters which they could not resist and then eats them. Chihiro however, contradicts this by showing she is a humble, kind, honest and frugal character. The film uses her to show that being humble, kind, honest and frugal will keep her out of trouble and will be safe in the end. For example, although "No Face" offers her food and a lot of gold, she refuses and kindly turns down the offer. And after all "No Face" had did to her, she is still kind and forgiving towards it, this is shown by her by letting "No Face" following her to find Zeniba, she also offers a seat for "No Face" to sit beside her.

This film also shows the environment is in trouble caused my mankind. In the film, they show that the river is getting polluted by showing the "Stink god" which is actually a river spirit covered in rubbish and dirt going to the bathhouse to clean himself. It clearly shows the audience about seriousness of the pollution by showing the characters helping each other to pull all the rubbish out of the river spirit. The film clearly show the seriousness of the issue by showing the huge pile of rubbish being pulled and poured out onto the floor.

In conclusion Spirited Away is a very beautiful and meaningful film from Hayao Miyazaki. Besides from all the moral values that it could teach the audiences, it also educates the people on the seriousness on the global issue which is pollution.