Burton’s Alice is unexpectedly pleasant

The March 5th release of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was highly anticipated. I must say I was excited upon going to the movie theater to see it in 3D. The movie turned out to not be what I expected, but I still enjoyed it.

For the most part, I didn’t find the 3D effects all that impressive. It didn’t do much other than enhance the already stunning visual effects. However, there were those moments when it got really cool. The coolest 3D effects were with Chessur, the talking purple cat who has a habit of randomly appearing and disappearing. There was one moment where I felt like that cat was right in my face.

I saw the beloved, old animated version of Alice in Wonderland as a child, but I can only vaguely remember it. What I do remember of that version is that it was another happy Disney classic. I found Tim Burton’s version darker and a little more mature. In his version, Wonderland is known as Underland. Alice is not a child, but a 19 –year- old woman in Britain. She falls into the rabbit hole that takes her to Underland while at a boring Victorian party.

When she goes to Underland, Alice meets a lot of different characters, some more loveable than others. Johnny Depp is one of my personal favorite actors, and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance as the Mad Hatter. I don’t think anyone better could have been cast for the role. I also enjoyed the Red Queen, who was played by Helena Bonham Carter. She was evil in a comical way.

While I personally enjoyed this remake of Alice in Wonderland, I couldn’t help but think how a small child seeing it in 3D would feel. I noticed a few scenes that I felt children would find scary, especially in 3D, when it almost feels like you’re in the movie. I feel that Tim Burton could have turned it down just a notch, since it is a Disney movie a lot of children will see.

While this interpretation of a beloved Disney story may be a little darker, it is overall a pretty good movie. It’s something people of all ages can enjoy. You don’t even have to see it in 3D to see all the stunning visual effects.

Issue 7 Caboose

Movie Releases

In Theaters:

Cop Out

Feb. 25

Alice in Wonderland

March 5

Stolen

March 5

She’s Out of My League

March 12

Our Family Wedding

March 12

Remember Me

March 12

On DVD:

2012

March 2

Where the Wild Things Are

March 2

Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

March 9

Up in the Air

March 9

CD Releases

March 2

Smoke and Mirrors

Lifehouse

My Best Days

Danny Gokey

Jason Derulo

Jason Derulo

Permalight

Rogue Wave

March 9

Plastic Beach

Gorillaz

American VI: Ain’t No Grave

Johnny Cash

Battle of the Sexes

Ludacris

Broken Bells

Broken Bells

Live Shows

Murat Centre

Harry Connick Jr.

Feb. 28

Flogging Molly

March 8

Norah Jones

March 13

Purdue University – Elliott Hall of Music

Kid Cudi

March 26

School Events

Faculty Night Live

Feb. 25

Spring Play

March 4-5

Show Choir Invitational

March 12

Orchestra Concert

March 16

Prom

April 23

Caboose: Best of the Rest

CD releases

2/2

A Chorus of Storytellers – The Album Leaf

Smoke &Mirrors – Lifehouse

Body – Jamie Foxx

2/9

Soldier of Love – Sade

Thug Motivation – Young Jeezy

2/16

Raymond v. Raymond – Usher

Constant – Story of the Year

2/23

Everything Comes and Goes – Michelle Branch

New Amerykah, Part II: Return of the Ankh – Erykah Badu

Of Men and Angels – The Rocket Summer

Live Shows

ES Jungle

A Skylit Drive

Feb. 10

Murat Egyptian Room

Killswitch Engage

Feb. 21

Jack’s Mannequin

Feb. 24

The Emerson

Get Carried Away

Feb. 5

Conseco Fieldhouse

Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy

Feb. 6

Cirque de Soleil: Alegria

Feb. 11-14

Northside News Cafe

Pholly

Feb. 13

School Events

ACT Testing

Feb. 6

ISSMA
Feb. 6

Academic Success Night

Feb. 12

Winter Formal

Feb. 20

Faculty Night Live

Feb. 25

Orchestra Concert

March 16

Sci-fi Avatar makes a splash at the box office

The hype for the newly released sci-fi thriller, Avatar, is well worth the hubbub. Maintaining a high standard was definitely on the mind director James Cameron as he was spending the movie’s $237 million budget.

The story begins in 2154, with the introduction of a Marine, Jake Sulley. His identical twin brother had been chosen for a series of experiments on the planet Pandora using a surragate to gain an extremely rare metal that is very valuable on Earth. Jake’s brother dies right before he is deployed to Pandora, and Jake is sent in his place because he has the same DNA as his brother, conserving millions of dollars and an otherwise wasted avatar.

Avatar is not only about great adventures on an unknown planet, but a love story that comes about after Sulley “becomes one” with the native Pandoran people. When the humans want to destroy the natives’ home, Sulley comes to their rescue, “betraying his own race,” leading to one of the best battle scenes I have ever witnessed in a movie.

This almost three-hour film will keep you wanting more, and by the time it is over, you won’t even realize how long it really was. The special effects are to die for, especially in an IMAX theater. You really feel as if you are on Pandora with Sulley. Then again, it’s difficult to catch a showing of the movie in the IMAX 3D, at least in Noblesville. The Hamilton 16 IMAX has continually sold-out almost every single showing since the movie’s release over a month ago.

In its first three weeks after opening, Avatar grossed over a billion dollars and is currently at $1.7 billion, beating Cameron’s other big hit, Titanic. Cameron commited ten years of his film-making expertise to this well-rewarding flick. Almost anyone 12-years old and up with fully enjoy every second of the “blue people.”

Image from www.mi9.com.

Disney’s latest is something different

After watching The Princess and the Frog, I was a little befuddled. Yes, befuddled. Isn’t it supposed to be a Disney movie? It wouldn’t be surprising if the viewer forgot this fact. Where’s the majestic castle setting, the 100% happy ending, the Barbie-pretty princesses, the guy falling all over himself to win the affection of the girl? Not in this film, apparently, and I find that a marked improvement.

In a throwback to classic children’s films, it’s not computer-animated, but an actual hand-drawn cartoon, the only one from Disney in six years. Most other aspects of the film, however, are markedly nontraditional. Black voodoo winds its way through the plot, demons and “shadow creatures” haunt the protagonists. The heroine is African-American (a first for Disney), the characters actually have character, and the ending is surprising.

In early 20^th century New Orleans, young Tiana works long overtime hours in hopes of founding her own restaurant. This is not your typical princess, and actually not one at all. She is a driven young woman who supports herself, and opts to work instead of just asking her wealthy best girlfriend for the cash to start her business.

A wealth-less prince, looking for a cash-laden girl, arrives in the city. He runs astray of a black magic man who dabbles in voodoo and leads him down a treacherous path. This conceited prince plus a headstrong girl wouldn’t usually add up to anything good, and it ends up that they both are transformed into frogs and are on a quest to get their humanity back.

Into the swampland they venture, guided by talking fireflies, seeking white voodoo priestess Mama Odie in hopes of help. Instead, they get mystic advice from the blind, eccentric woman who lives in a tree, keeps an anaconda for a pet, and brews up gumbo in a bathtub. Sounds reliable, eh?

After attempts at thwarting by the voodoo master, who sends out shadow demons conjured by the devil, Tatia and Naveen manage to get back to the city and find out how to become people again. Their plan fails, and in the process, their beloved firefly friend Ray dies by footstep. They resign to be together, even if as frogs. But of course it’s not over yet…

Although hard to predict, the ending turns out to be happy, sweet, a bit sad, and unexpected. What happened? Well, I didn’t—and I’m not going to—tell you everything. Watch it yourself. Or, if you’re too lazy, Google it.

The Lovely Bones stays true to its name

In Susie Salmon’s heaven, she sees the things she loves about Earth. In the trippy movie interpretation, this means a world where different biomes meet; the beach, the forest, and the mountains are all within feet of each other. However, despite the beauty she is subject to, she can’t get Earth off her mind. In fact, rather than embracing her afterlife, she spends her days in a gazebo, gazing down on her family. She is trying to speak to them, to make them realize the truth. The truth is, Susie was murdered.The Lovely Bones, a novel by Alice Sebold, has become a modern classic among young adult fiction aficioniados. It tells the story of 14-year old Susie Salmon’s rape and murder by her neighbor, and the unexpected beauty that comes of it.

I was apprehensive about seeing the film version, which was directed by Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. With the outstanding success of his book-to-film translation for LOTR, I was sure his newest attempt would be great. However, most critics panned it. They observed that Jackson focused too heavily on the visual imagery of heaven, and not enough on the story.

Although I certainly see where this opinion roots from, I give Jackson credit for doing the story justice. The novel is so long, it would be next to impossible to include every detail. The most significant parts were emphasized, and the story flowed well. The beginning was tragic, the end bittersweet (by the way, that comment won’t spoil the movie for you), and Jackson did a fine job of portraying that. Even if I hadn’t read the book, I believe I would have understood and appreciated the story.

On top of the story’s execution, the acting was top-notch. Stanley Tucci’s turn as the dollhouse-obsessed, balding killer, George Harvey, was fantastic. Even in parts when I expected how Tucci would act, I was still just as creeped out as if he were standing right in front of me. As the viewer, you nearly become Susie and her family members. You empathize with her cry for justice and feel their fear, which certainly speaks to the respective actors’ portrayal. Susan Sarandon is perhaps the funniest character in the movie, as Susie’s wild, sarcastic grandmother.

In the movie, much like the book, the scenes flashed between the events on Earth and Susie’s experience of heaven. Jackson’s picture of heaven was beautiful, but some of Susie’s transition between earth and heaven was amped up visually, which I could have done without. However, I can’t criticize Peter Jackson much. The man’s talent for making a movie a magical, out-of-body experience is certainly clear.

I was happy to go in with low expectations, because The Lovely Bones exceeded them. The powerful story is paid its due. The movement from overwhelming grief to supernatural peace is so well explained, as a viewer you feel those same emotions. I believe that to be most important.

Cormac McCarthy’s modern classic goes through film revival

First came the book…

Hannah Davis

davis.hannahc@gmail.com

A week after school started, I walked on over to the library and picked up The Road. I’d heard about from just about every literate acquaintance, so I thought it must be a safe choice to fulfill my A-option needs for Mr. Kenley’s infamous creative writing class. (If you aren’t aware, a student is required to read at least one book to earn an A, even if he received perfect scores on every assignment.)

In short, it’s a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a nameless father and his young son through a landscape apparently destroyed by an unknown, possibly environmental disaster. Little life exists. The setting is extremely bleak: the sun is obscured by a layer of ash so thick that the pair must breathe through masks, and plants are incapable of growing. What’s left of humanity has been reduced to groups of thoughtless, violent beings. Eventually, the father succumbs to an injury and dies, leaving the boy alone on the road. Three days later, however, the grieving boy encounters a man who has been tracking the father and son; this man, who has a wife and two children of his own, brings the boy to join his family.

There are not spoilers in this review; there aren’t any real shocks in the plot. The story meanders through dusty wastelands and sweet exchanges between the son and father, but there are very few actual events that take place. The two only meet a few people. Circumstances only change a few times. The story itself is composed of a series of observations, of self-reflection, and of revealing descriptions of the environment. It’s a stark work, and McCarthy likes it that way.

McCarthy, who believes there is no reason to “block the page up with weird little marks,” almost completely excluded punctuation from The Road. Stylistically, it suggests that the story with an urgent point of view, as if punctuation is too arbitrary to bother with. It’s cold. Harsh. Grey, even, if I can use “grey” to describe a novel. The story itself, because it is so bleak and barren, is effective.

It cleanly conveys the hopelessness and despair of mankind in a world of decay and violence.  Readers with a little insight can assume that McCarthy has not only succeeded in writing a memorable novel, but in making a social statement, too: there’s imminent doom in the perpetual mistreatment of our world – both societal and environmental – and the fragile infrastructure that holds it together.

Perhaps the importance of that message is what carried McCarthy into a successful (albeit drawn-out) movie deal — it took three tries to get it into theaters.

…And then came the movie

Sarah Boyum

boyum.sarah@gmail.com

In a world where the sun doesn’t shine, the remaining inhabitants cling to a sad existence, and predators lurk, good guys are hard to come by. A father and his son, traveling through this post-apocalyptic world in search of food and shelter, are likely candidates for this good guy title. Weighed down with a shopping cart of supplies, a gun with two bullets, and haunting memories of life before, the travelers search for the coastline and some ounce of humanity in the desolate landscape, always “carrying the fire.”

Directed by John Hillcoat, written by Joe Penhall, and based off the novel by Cormac McCarthy, The Road chronicles the journey of a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee), fighting for survival. The world they roam is in shambles; what caused this destruction is left ambiguous, leaving it up to the viewer’s imagination. The landscape portrays ransacked houses, rusty cars left by the wayside, singed cities, and rampant forest fires,  skeletons of a civilization.

The scenery, gray and hopeless, sets the tone for the story itself. The father and his son follow the road in hopes of reaching the coast, a possible haven. Food is scarce. Cannibalism and bandits are not. Where humans are scarce, predators account for much of the population, leaving the father and his son left to “carry the fire,” the last few good guys left.

The two bullets in the gun are meant for the father and his son, just in case they need to hurry death along. There are worst fates than death, the father recognizes.

For all the darkness, this film has soft moments where the characters catch a break. But the viewer waits with bated breath for the next disaster that will send the travelers back into harsh reality.

The underlying story involves the absent mother (Charlize Theron). Her role is important, despite her lack of physical presence. Rarely is she actually mentioned, and when the son asks, the father encourages him to forget her. But still, the father dreams in flashbacks. These scenes play out better times: her pregnant belly, soft features asleep on the green grass, her fingers moving across the piano keys. Also, when the world’s collapse first begins, the father remembers her anguish and suicide pleas. She is the one who tells them to go south before she disappears herself.

In the midst of this darkness, the son keeps asking for reassurance of this good guy status. No matter what, he needs to know they’ll always good guys, never eat each other, no matter how hungry.  While the son clings to this innocence, the father wields his gun, always on guard. He knows the reality of their situation and tries to prepare his son for a day when he’ll be traveling the road on his own.

Besides a story of “what if this happened…,” The Road shows a father’s fierce love for his son and the hard decisions he makes that no parent should ever have to consider. This powerful movie is worth viewing. It shows real, raw emotion, something many movies fail to include.

Information from www.nytimes.com

Photos from www.covershut.com

Top Ten Holiday Movies

In the spirit of the season, the Mill Stream staff took a  poll of students’ favorite holiday movies. These ten came out on top.

1. Elf: Comedy comes to Christmas in the form of this 2003 film starring funnyman Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, a human who’s grown up an elf in the North Pole and leaves his home to reunite with his father in New York City.

2. A Christmas Story: All 9-year-old Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is “an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time” in this 1983 Christmas comedy.

3. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Comedic disaster after comedic disaster strikes Chevy Chase’s Clark Wilhelm “Sparky” Griswold, Jr. during this 1989 holiday installment of National Lampoon’s Vacation film series.

4. It’s a Wonderful Life: Frank Capra’s 1946 perennial holiday favorite brings audiences the story of George Bailey, a man contemplating suicide, who gets a Christmas Eve visit from a guardian angel who, through flashbacks of Bailey’s life, shows the difference Bailey has made in peoples’ lives and his community.

5. Miracle on 34th Street: Filmed first in 1947, this feel-good holiday classic tells the story behind a New York City Macy’s Department store Santa who leaves the city wondering whether he’s the real deal or not.

6. Four Christmases: Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star in this 2008 romantic comedy in which their characters try to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day.

7. White Christmas: A 1954 classic, this film stars Bing Crosby and features the music of songwriter Irving Berlin, famous for the title song “White Christmas.”

8. The Santa Clause: This 1994 movie stars Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, a man who finds out he’s bound by contract, a “Santa Clause,” to become the big man himself after unintentionally putting on Santa’s suit.

9. Charlie Brown Christmas: Bringing audiences Charles Scultz’s beloved Peanuts characters, this animated television special touches on the idea of over-commercialization and true spirit of Christmas through the eyes of football-headed Charlie Brown and company.

10. How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Based on the Dr. Seuss children’s book of the same name, this animated television special gives viewers the story of a soured grouch who tries to keep Christmas from coming in Whoville.

New Moon won’t disappoint

New Moon is the second installment of the insanely popular Twilight saga. Like any other dedicated fan, I anxiously went into the theater sporting my T-Shirt that features a picture of the Twilight character Jasper (one of my personal favorites). My friend had already pre-ordered our tickets, something we didn’t end up regretting. We went to a matinee, so I wasn’t expecting too much of a crowd.  I was shocked at how crowded the theater was. Once my friend and I got our tickets and our popcorn and candy, we had to wait in a long line just to enter the screening room where New Moon would be shown.

In New Moon, we rejoin average American teenage girl Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) as she enjoys life with her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (as played by, hold your screams ladies, Robert Pattinson). When Edward’s perky, psychic vampire sister Alice Cullen (Ashley Green) decides to throw a party for Bella’s 18th birthday, she is forced to agree to it against her own will.  The party, as attended by Edward’s whole vampire family, is going well until Bella gets a paper cut while attempting to open a present. She begins bleeding badly, and nearly gets attacked by Jasper Hale (Jackson Rathbone). Out of all of the members of the Cullen clan, Jasper is the one with the least experience resisting human blood. Thankfully, Emmett Cullen (Kellan Lutz) was able to save Bella from Jasper.

This incident leaves Edward realizing how easily Bella could get hurt, or worse, while in the hands of vampires. He and his whole family decide to leave Forks, Washingtion to keep Bella out of danger. In a very emotional scene, Edward tells Bella “It will be as if I never existed.”

However, Bella is left heartbroken without Edward. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that she can “see” Edward while doing reckless and stupid things. She eventually gets 2 motorcycles and convinces her childhood friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) to help her fix them up. They quickly bond as they work on the motorcycles together, and Bella’s discovery that Jacob’s a werewolf adds the supernatural back into her life.

After a vision leaves Alice thinking Bella’s dead, Edward takes matters into his own hands and leaves for Italy to end his life.

In Italy, there’s a vampire clan called the Volturi. They sort of “rule,” if you will. While they may seem like they mean to do nothing but help keep the peace by keeping the existance of vampires a secret from humans, they’re really evil. Although they refuse Edward’s request,  he doesn’t stop there to follow through with his plan. But in a turn of events, just when it seems all is lost, Bella appears in Italy and the two are reunited. The movie has a very “to be continued” ending, as well as the formation of a love triangle between Bella, Edward, and Jacob.

I must say I was very impressed with New Moon. The special effects are much better than they were in the first movie. There is only one word I can think of to describe the werewolves: huge. While I am personally more of a vampire girl than a wolf girl, I’m still astonished at how big the wolves were. It was also cool when Bella kept “seeing” Edward. Very nice special effects there. To shoot the Italy scenes, the cast and crew of the movie actually went to Italy, and the scenery in the film was a real highlight.

It’s true that there has been a lot of hype surrounding New Moon, but I believe the wait was well worth it. Any true Twilight fan will not be disappointed.