Reviews

I was really excited about watching this movie. Growing up, Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies. It was so magical and ahead of its time. It even brought me happiness watching it as an adult. My mother always enjoyed watching it and singing along with my sister and I. I just watched Mary Poppins returns and all I can say is I'm so disappointed. I love Emily Blunt as an actress but she did not live up to Julie Andrews. The songs were not catchy and the story was not as interesting. I felt it more baby-ish, anyone older than 8 would not be amused. Additionally, I did not feel like Mary Poppins taught the children anything in this movie like the previous one. Mary Poppins had not only told the children what to do before but shown them and snapped her finger to change something. Mary Poppins' suitcase in the original movie was a highlight but in this one, it was barely given any significance or "magic". In this installment, she was merely here to entertain. Also, Meryl Streep's role was so pointless and rather a waste of a storyline and song. The special effects were beyond disappointing as well. From 1964 until 2018, movies have evolved so much but the effects on this new installment have not progressed much since the 1964 movie. It could have done so much better, from the songs, the costumes, the storyline, the special effects, all of it. It actually ruined my view of this story. I was bored halfway through the movie and almost fell asleep. Last but not least, the ending, the changing the time, why did they do the whole ladder climbing scene if Mary Poppins could have just flown to change the clock? They could have either continued the climb or she could have done it from the first place. If you are a big fan of Mary Poppins, do yourself a favor and refrain from watching this movie.

Time of the Gypsies was a good movie to watch because of its different genres, ranging from comedy to tragedy. It is not a movie I would normally want to see but I'm glad I was able to watch it.

The movie is about a young innocent boy named Perhan who is in love with a girl called Azra. He leaves with a powerful man, Ahmed, who makes money off of crime. Perhan is a boy of magical power who then adapts to the ways of Ahmed. He makes money and comes back to his town to see that the love of his life Azra, is pregnant. However, he still marries her as promised even though he believes the child is not his own. Unfortunately, Azra dies while giving birth to who may or not be Perhan's son. Perhan had been promised a house from Ahmed that he did not get and had lost all the money he had saved up and therefore plans for revenge against Ahmed. He succeeds in killing Ahmed and his brothers only to be killed himself. The movie ends with a powerful scene in which we see Perhan's body in the coffin and his "son" stealing the coins off his body. This questions us as to whether he is Perhan's actual son or Perhan's uncle's son. This is not the point of the movie however, the point is to show us how simply a young man's life can be changed. The movie is cyclical, it starts off with Perhan being an orphan with magical power and ends with young Perhan being the same way. It shows that even though all this went on, there will always be innocent boys like Perhan and criminals like Ahmed.

The movie gives an outlook to how the other half lives. The movie contains magical realism and approaches it in a realistic way. It shows real life situations with tragedies yet a touch of comedy. It is definitely an interesting movie that I enjoyed watching.

The Other Conquest is a movie concerned with the conquest that went on in the 1520's between the Spaniards and the Aztecs. The movie approaches the Aztec's perspective on what went on during the Conquest. The question behind is; how can you assume your cultural identity after conquest?

The movie is set around Topiltzin, the son of the emperor Moctezuma, who survives the massacre of his people. He is then captured by the Spaniards and his life spared because of the Conquerer Cortes' mistress (Topiltzin's sister), Dona Isabel. He is first tortured, then given a new name and put under the power of the priest Friar Diego, who teaches him the ways of the Spaniards. He is being forced to fall behind their ways and follow their beliefs, including the Virgin. Topiltzin fights to keep his cultural identity and battles to resist the Spaniards' beliefs. As the movie goes on, I couldn't tell whether Topiltzin was actually going by their beliefs or whether he was faking it. I guess that is the point of the movie; we see Topiltzin battle to keep his own standards. However, the movie ends with him "conquering" their power over him, he proves that he was faking it and that he will never let go of his Aztec nature.

The movie was so powerful and the time pacing was incredible. It kept me going on, wondering about the choice Topiltzin was to reach in the end. I guess what the movie is trying to convey is how the people being conquered are treated, how they are evoked their rights and forced onto a new belief system. I think most countries have been through this, they have been conquered and set new beliefs that we never really question because they went on hundreds of years ago. This movie, however, gives us an outlook to question the conquest of the Spaniards. Even though I am neither Mexican nor of Christian belief, I thought the movie was incredible and gave me a new outlook on history. It is a must-see.

Come and See is a very powerful movie, it affected me deeply.

The movie starts off simply with a young 12 year old boy wanting to join the battle against the Nazis. He was excited to be part of the movement, to be able to fight for his people, his face expressions were so unbelievably positive as he left his village. As soon as he reaches camp, reality strikes him. The first bomb is hit and Florya is left speechless, stunned, and the look in his eye changes. The movie then follows Florya as he travels back to his village only to find his people brutally murdered, only he is blind to that. That is when the most powerful scene in the movie occurred, being only 1.5 seconds long, it affected me deeply; the bodies of his family and the people in his village. However, Florya does not notice, he keeps moving and experiences so many traumatizing moments that leave him out of his mind. Another powerful scene was when Florya arrived to a village just as soon as the Nazis arrived to. We see the poor innocent children with their parents being put into a house and burned to the ground, loud screams were all that was shown. We see the Germans laughing around as if nothing was going on while the expression on Florya's face is so strong. Florya, even though being psychologically bruised still moves on to join the soldiers against the Nazis. He picks up his gun, with the strongest look in his eyes and shoots a picture of Hitler. He shoots and shoots while we see shots of Hitler's laugh backwards. Florya sees a shot and shoots. The point was for us to see the gradual change of Florya from an innocent 12 year old boy to an innerly scarred human being. The movie ends with the a change in time to the winter, with snow falling as a symbol of hope. The movie is so vivid and disturbing yet we are given hope in the end because the scene of snow meant the time period when the Nazis were taken down.

Come and See shows us the reality of how war really is, that it has been going on since then and is still going on now. I have seen so many movies about World War II but never more powerful and expressive than this. It is a must see and will keep you hanging minute by minute.

Luis Bunuel does a great job in portraying a surrealistic approach with a hidden meaning. The movie goes about showing things that could possibly occur in real life but are unexpected due to social standards. The point of The Phantom of Liberty is to convey why we have certain standards and values, one of which is why we judge a book by its cover. He wanted to break social order and approached this idea in a strange yet smart way, with going about one story to another. What made the movie so unique was that it did not center around a set of characters but quickly moved on from one person to the next. The plots or "tableaus" Bunuel shows us are treated in a fast timely manner but their meaning affects us in a huge way. The movie made me wonder as to why we have certain values; why do we go about judging a man as a pedophile because he is simply talking to a young girl? Why do we see certain things as right for adults yet wrong for kids? How invisible are children to their parents? Putting it into a simpler way, why do we see our standards and values as the right things and not the other way around?

Yes the movie is too absurd at times but that is what makes it so interesting. I enjoyed watching as each story that came across was even stranger than the previous one.