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(01/30/19 3:24am)
M. Night Shyamalan is the king of the long-con, waiting nearly 20 years to complete a trilogy series with Blumhouse Productions’ latest release, “Glass.”
“Glass” is the final movie in the trilogy, following “Unbreakable” (2000), and “Split” (2016). The series features characters related to a train derailment in the first movie and creates origin stories where everyday humans develop unique gifts.
“Glass” spent too much of its runtime delving into the details of the two previous films in the trilogy, leaving me feeling lost as to what the actual plot of the movie was going to be.
But, considering how long-awaited this film was, it felt, well…messy.
The film took nearly half of its 129 minute run-time to reveal the main plot, so for many viewers, myself included, I was left a little lost as to where the storyline was headed. It seemed like hours had passed before viewers were given any insight to what the actual storyline was.
Most of the scenes were fairly vague, leaving much to the imagination. They were mostly cut short, quickly switching and jumping from scene to scene. At times, the film was just hard to follow. Truthfully, I got a bit bored waiting for something interesting to happen.
The movie was just painfully slow. The characters spent most of the movie in isolation from each other, allowing little to no interaction between any of them until the final half-hour of the movie.
Viewers received basically no action until the final fight scene, if you could even call it that. The dialogue was also shockingly irritating. It seemed a bit dry and lacking.
In the aspect of character development, there was little to none. If you didn’t already know the characters’ stories from the past movies, you received little to nothing on their origin. Most of their background came from Sarah Paulson’s character as Dr. Ellie Staple, a psychiatrist specializing in patients who believe they’re superheroes. She sat Dunn, Price and Crumb all in one room to talk about their “disorders.”
All those things aside, I can shed some positivity on this well, train wreck. For all the messiness of “Glass”, the scenes were shot beautifully. The angles for the monologue scenes were undeniably outstanding, especially those containing Dr. Staples speaking with or about her patients. The fight scenes had some insane angles that actually made them pretty enjoyable. Shyamalan’s directing and intriguing angles saved the not-so-good film and actually made it somewhat enjoyable.
Overall, this movie seemed more like a sequel to “Split” rather than a final piece to a three-part puzzle. It sprinkled a bit of “Unbreakable,”-- just enough to call it a trilogy, but it mostly gave McAvoy an opportunity to give us one hell of a show by playing 24 different personalities. Although I’m not sad to see this trilogy conclude, I am sad to watch McAvoy’s outstanding character come to an end.
Rating: 7/10, mostly for the shooting techniques.
(11/16/18 1:51am)
My mother, who has always been a music lover, introduced me to Queen at the age of six. I remember being so small and excited when she taught me how to do the “stomp, stomp, clap” of “We Will Rock You,” so as for the recently released “Bohemian Rhapsody” movie, I was quite literally hanging on the edge of my seat.
First and foremost, a round of applause to Rami Malek, who played Freddie Mercury and did him every bit of justice. Malek killed it. He had so much passion in playing his character, and it shined through in every scene of this movie. He portrayed not only Mercury’s raw and passionate rock side but also his sensitive side, both of which aren’t easy to replicate. There is no other actor who could have played this role any better in my opinion.
And of course, another round to Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello and Gwilym Lee, who all played the other members of Queen so well.
The music, to no surprise, was astounding. According to an article by Thrillist Entertainment, Malek’s voice was not used in the songs, but rather the vocals were a mix of Mercury’s studio recordings mixed with the vocals of a Canadian singer, Marc Martel, whose voice has an uncanny resemblance to Mercury’s.
Either way, I was amazed by how great the tracks sounded. During the duration of the movie, I was highly anticipating each and every song and performance. In this area, this movie did not disappoint.
In addition, the ending scene, which almost exactly replicates Queen’s Live Aid performance in 1985, was the closest that I’ll ever get to a Queen concert, and for that, I give my sincere thanks to the producers, actors and the rest of the movie creators. It truly was astonishing and felt as life-like as a movie concert could, even down to the audience’s participation.
As for the storyline, I was not a fan. I know this story was a hard one to tell as Freddie Mercury was a legendary individual whose one-of-a-kind authenticity will likely never be matched. It is even more difficult to fit a story of someone’s life and career into a two-hour movie, but there was just something wrong. It was like something felt missing. The movie just felt messy. They never focused too much on any topic, whether it was Mercury’s sexuality, the band’s arguments or Mercury’s relationships with others. They gave a slight tease, then left it alone.
Most of the movie was spent following Queen creating and producing their albums and performing various songs, which I wasn’t upset about, but nothing ever got deep enough to make me feel any sort of similar emotion to the characters, truthfully. I would have rather them left out certain aspects of the movie to better focus on the ones that truly mattered, like Mercury’s discovery of his sexuality or the truth as to what happened during the band’s supposed break-up. There were just some scenes that, to me, were nearly pointless and could have been left out to better portray other aspects of Queen and Mercury’s story.
However, my greatest disappointment was the fact that the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” was never played in full. The movie, lasting a whopping two hours and 13 minutes, couldn’t use six of those minutes to play one of Queen’s greatest and most famous songs, not to mention the fact that the movie is also named after the song. Although most of the song was played during the movie in various spouts at random times and the Live Aid recreation had about three minutes of it, I just wasn’t pleased.
All in all, I’m glad I got to see a little into the life of Queen and Freddie Mercury and hear some of their greatest hits. Seeing the story of a band I’ve loved since a young age was exciting, and I am glad I got to experience it. However, I’m not sure if this is a movie I’ll likely rewatch, but hey, “Another One Bites the Dust.”
(11/05/18 3:52am)
I’ve never been more excited about a movie until I heard that Lady Gaga was starring in one where she actually gets to use her voice. I packed my snacks and my drinks, and I hit the theater unprepared for what was to come.
“A Star is Born” stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, two singer-songwriters with incredible voices who meet in a drag bar and instantly fall in love.
The opening scene features Cooper’s character, Jackson Maine, rocking out on his guitar on a huge stage in front of thousands of people. This scene immediately roped me in, and my eyes were glued to the screen for the next 2 hours and 14 minutes.
The acting in this movie was phenomenal. Gaga blew her character out of the water, and I am so captivated by how far she has come in her acting career. Every emotion her character felt was conveyed so perfectly that I felt every single one of them with her as I watched.
Although the tracks were pre-recorded, Gaga’s singing was unmatched. I’ve never heard her voice so pure and true in any of her albums the way it was in this movie, and I have a feeling it had something to do with how in-touch she was with her character. I applaud Gaga for her outstanding performance.
Cooper’s portrayal of his character was also beyond compare. There’s something about those baby blue eyes and long hair that make me fall in love with every character I’ve seen him play, and this one was no different. But all of his past movies like “American Sniper” and “Silver Linings Playbook” have nothing on this one. This character is arguably my favorite of his so far. I’m confident that no other actor could have outdone him.
The story line was also beautiful and wonderfully illustrated. I was at the edge of my seat the whole movie, and I was holding my breath every time Jackson got a little too drunk.
The ending, however, was beyond heart-wrenching. I was bawling my eyes out through the last 10 minutes, and honestly for half the ride home, but you didn’t hear that from me.
“A Star is Born” hit my heart in all the right ways. I laughed, cried and felt every other emotion there is. The acting, the story line, the songs- they all hit home for me. This is definitely a movie I would watch over and over again, and you can bet I’ll be purchasing it on Amazon Prime or whatever outlet I can as soon as possible. The soundtrack is already downloaded on my phone, and I’ll be listening to it on repeat for the next two weeks.
So ladies and gentlemen, grab your popcorn, candy and your tissues and go see this movie immediately. You won’t regret it.
(09/18/18 6:20pm)
After two years, Mercer graduate Faiz Aly is now self-publishing his second non-fiction book.
According to Aly, “One Humanity” is a self-help book containing philosophical ideas shown through essays, stories and dialogues, published through his own marketing agency, Aly Media.
“It is a collection of strategies to help you deal with whatever life throws at you,” Aly said.
Although he always knew that he wanted to write, his inspiration for the subject of the book came from a philosophy class taught by Mercer Professor Creighton Rosental, where he was fascinated by the philosophers Aristotle and Socrates.
“It’s really interesting to see what their statements and values hold in 2018,” Aly said.
The title, Aly said, was inspired by his belief that although race and religion set people apart, humans can put these differences aside and come together as one to push humanity forward.
“We have so many races and cultures, but we can be one humanity,” Aly said.
Aly said his biggest support and inspiration come from his daily viewing of TED talks.
The book is priced at $9.99 through both Apple and Amazon, and 100 percent of proceeds will be donated to the American Heart Association.
“As someone who was born with a heart disease, and can go through treatments to stay healthy, this is my way of giving back to all those who financially cannot be treated,” Aly said.
One Humanity is set to release through both Apple and Amazon on Sept. 21, but pre-ordering is available as of Aug. 31.