Why are movies so addicting?

So Uni is piling up, but I managed to rent and watch quite a few movies before the work piled in, so here are some of them.


August: Osage County

7.3/10 on IMDB
64% on Rotten Tomatoes
You think your family's a pain? Watch this movie and you'll be filled with nothing but gratitude for them.

This movie tells the story of the most dysfunctional family in the world who are forced into a reunion when the father goes missing. There's drama, there's tension and there's a whole lot of emotion. The plot doesn't sound super interesting, but with the amazing cast (Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch to name a few), this movie breaks your heart. It's hilarious, but in the darkest of ways as it delves into broken childhoods, broken relationships and broken people.

Meryl Streep steals the movie, with Julia Roberts closely following, but it's the intricate sub plots and the characters' complexities that really make this movie. Above all, I loved the concept of life being a long and hard cycle. The film, based off a theatrical play, delves into a mother's brokenness and the subsequent brokenness of her own children. She then recounts to her children, in a rarely intimate moment, how cruel her own mother had been to her, before realising that she ended up being the same.

I loved Susan Wloszczyna's statement in her review for Roger Ebert, ""August: Osage County" rightfully boils down to the fates of Violet and Barbara, both left ... damaged by the events. One will be set free by their encounter, the other doomed to repeat the past."

The movie/play also has some really great quotes, and the ones I liked the most were:

"Thank God we can't tell the future, we could never get out of bed."
-Barbara Weston

"We're all just people, some of us accidentally connected by genetics, a random selection of cells. Nothing more."
-Ivy Weston

"This mad house is my home."
-Barbara Weston
And this one wasn't in the movie (I don't think), but it's still a good one:

"Time wounds all heals"
Ultimately, this was an amazing film, with amazing scenes, amazing emotions, and amazing acting.


Lone Survivor

7.7/10 on IMDb
75% on Rotten Tomatoes
Another movie that I was really looking forward to after seeing one of Mark Wahlberg's interviews.

It's based on a true story about a four-man SEAL team who go out on a reconnaissance mission. They take a route through a forest up in some mountain and all seems to be going well. However, their mission gets compromised when they are ambushed by a group of Talibans. As you can see from the title, only one of them survives.

The movie was really intense for me. I loved the way it was directed because you could really just see every single injury they went through. All the bullet holes and blood splattering was gory, but it wasn't really too forced or anything. And, even though you know the ending (that one man survives, and you can probably guess who that person is seeing as Mark Wahlberg is on the poster), it's still really intense and you want to watch more. You want to see how this person dies and how even does the lone survivor get out of what seems to be a hopeless situation.

Unfortunately, the actual survival bit wasn't as intense as it was in real life. I remember watching Mark Wahlberg's interview where he described the real life guy, after surviving the attack, actually being so injured that he was paralysed form the chest down and could only escape by using a knife to draw a line over his head, crawling over that line, and then continuing this for 9 hours. Just think about that. That's pretty intense. Unfortunately, the movie waters this part down significantly and they spend a lot longer on some unnecessary things that happen after. I would have liked for them to show this, since it feels like an insult to the guy that actually had to crawl for 9 hours if you depict his Hollywood version being able to just walk out of there. I also think it insults the other three men that died, because it gives you the impression that the lone survivor's injuries weren't even that bad.

But I think what's interesting is that it begs the question: What would you have done in that situation? The group was compromised because of their own actions. They chose what they believed was the 'right' option, but it ended up backfiring immensely. I guess what I got out of that was the question, "What would you do?" Under those circumstances, when adrenalin is pumping and you can't think clearly, what would you do?


Moonrise Kingdom

7.8/10 on IMDb
94% on Rotten Tomatoes
So after blogging about The Grand Budapest Hotel, someone commented asking me if I had seen Moonrise Kingdom, another Wes Anderson film. I hadn't, but I did a quick Google of it and it looked pretty good, so I put it on my list.

Now since it's a Wes Andersen film, it was extremely quirky, just like how I expected it to be.

The storyline revolves around two twelve-year-olds who decide to, for about 10 days, run away from home and go on an adventure through the woods. The characters are quirky, the island is ridiculous and the directing is classic. Unfortunately, however, the movie was a bit slow moving; it was only 90 minutes long but I thought one hour had already gone by when it was only 30 minutes in.

Despite that, it was pretty entertaining. There was a lot of quirky humour, paired with a lot of satire and just plain ridiculous situations and plot elements. But since you're not meant to take it seriously, it ends up being hilarious (not as much as The Grand Budapest Hotel though).

I just have one thing that I was uncomfortable with.

The two main actors who play the 12-year-olds were actually around that age during the time of filming. And while they were great (and so was the rest of the cast), it was just a bit uncomfortable to see two 12-year-olds exploring sexuality. This film doesn't follow the tradition of casting people who are quite a few years older than the characters they play, so I just kept wondering how the actors' parents consented for them to do some of these things, which included groping, French kissing, being in nothing but their underwear on screen and yes, even talking about boners.

Other than that, it was quite enjoyable, but I probably wouldn't watch it again.

A Blog on Depression

Hey guys,

So for the past week, since Robin William's death, I've been debating with myself whether or not to do this blog post, but after seeing this article, I definitely wanted to do this. The article discusses how we shouldn't say that Robin Williams and other depressed peoples have died from suicide. What we should say is that they died from depression. Just like how we don't say that someone has died from a 'pulmonary embolism', we say they died from cancer. Because, like cancer, depression is a disease that nobody chooses or wants to have. This article spoke out to me so powerfully about this. Depression is not taken as seriously as it should. You should definitely give it a read; it's very short and infinitely more eloquent than me. Anyway, as a result, here are some of my thoughts on this mental illness.


Number One: Depression is Everywhere
One in five people aged 16 to 85 will experience depression at one stage of their lives. One in five. That's a lot of people. If every household was a traditional nuclear family, that's nearly one person per household. Think about your grade in high school or even a Uni lecture with 200 people. That's 40 people who either have had or will have depression. That's a lot. That's too many.

It may seem like a bit of a stretch, but when you think about it, it actually does make sense, I've had depression on two separate occasions in 2012 and 2013. And I've talked to a lot of people who have had it as well. It's actually very common, more so than I could have ever imagined when I first got it in 2012. Maybe if I knew then how common it is, I wouldn't have rejected the notion of seeking help so readily. But there's a social stigma that hides the fact that depression is so common. Which brings me to my next point...


Number Two: Depression is Invisible
There is no physical thing that we can trace depression to; no lump we can feel and no mole we can see growing bigger. It's a mental illness, and because of that, it's not just hard to diagnose, not just hard to treat and monitor, but it's hard to accept.

Sure, there has been research to show that depression may have a link to how our brains are mapped out, with depressed people having smaller hippocampi than so-called normal people, but it's still very wishy-washy. While some people are genetically predisposed to depression, others get depression from environmental influences or a lot of stress.

It's also hard to determine causality; does negative thinking change our brain to result in depression, or do brain abnormalities result in depression that then causes negative thinking? It's very hard to test these things empirically because it's a mental illness, and everyone has a different reason of cause.

It's sad that some people have to rely on evidence that suggests that depression can be pinpointed to one area of our brain to accept that it is a disease, but that's the reality. It's invisible. And it's difficult to swallow. But that shouldn't mean we should reject it, because...


Number Three: Depression is Real
Very real.

Maybe this doesn't come as much of a surprise to some, but this is really important to me. I was raised by two very traditional Christians who made me grow up believing in God but not believing in mental illness or even the credibility of psychologists. I was raised up by a Hollywood society that taught me that you had to be crazy to see a psychologist, and when you did, you didn't really have a disease anyway because everything would be better after lying on a couch and talking about your 'feelings'.

Of course not all Christians are like my parents, and of course not all movies are wrong about psychologists. But I grew up with the mentality that depression was a stupid excuse for people who were just thinking negatively or being over dramatic. Because I thought depression only came if you were traumatised, and that if you weren't, well there was no reason to be depressed.

Until, of course, reality hit me. Hard. With none other than, ironically, depression itself. I was stressed from HSC, moving churches, my parents' financial issues, not being able to afford tutors and teaching myself absolutely everything (even 4 unit maths). And before I knew it, I wanted to kill myself every single day for five months. I was so confused, and that was why I stopped believing in God.

I couldn't bring myself to keep loving and believing in this so-called all-powerful, all-knowing God who would just sit there while I had thoughts of killing myself. Still now, having gone back to Christianity, I'm more confused than ever. Still I don't understand how this could be so prevalent and real. While I find some sort of comfort in praying or reading poetic psalms, I still question why a God would let this happen. Now I don't have the answers, and I frankly don't think anyone does, but I've come to accept mental illnesses for what they are. I've also come to realise my unquenchable desire and passion to raise awareness for them and to help victims of them. I understand what it's like to go through it, and I can honestly say...


Number Four: Depression Sucks
Now there's a lot of arguments on Robin Williams and any other person who suicides from depression being selfish. That it's selfish to suicide and leave the rest of your family to mourn. While yes, it kind of is selfish, you also need to understand the illness.

It's hard to explain, but when I'm not depressed, like right now, I can't imagine wanting to die, let alone killing myself. But, I used to. Twice. In 2012 for five months and in 2013-2014 for (thank God) only two months.

When you're depressed and suicidal (and of course not everyone who is depressed is suicidal and not everyone who is suicidal is depressed; check the DSM (any version probably)), there is nothing more prevalent than the pain you feel.

Because I can't explain this properly, here is a comparison. There's a plant called the Gympie Gympie thats poison is so painful, that when a man accidentally used it as toilet paper, he ended up shooting himself. It's everything from humorous to tragic, but it's definitely not selfish. Why? Because we understand that the pain was so unbearable that the man had to shoot himself to end it. Or what about the comparison of spies being captured and suiciding before they can be tortured? It's understandable and definitely not selfish because they're given a cyanide pill in the first place. But because these are physical examples, it's understandable. Once you turn to a mental example, it's hard to believe. And I understand that, because, like I said, it's hard to see and hard to accept.

Depression also sucks because it changes who you are. A lot of people say that they loved high school, and despite HSC they had a lot of great memories of year 12. I honestly cannot say that. In fact, I hated school because when I think about school, all I can think of is getting depression in year 12. And even though that was only for 5 months, not even half a year, I can't think about any other thing in that year except for the depression. AND, even when I DO think about it, I can't remember what happened. It honestly was just a huge blur of emptiness, loneliness and crying myself to sleep. While I was at times genuinely happy when I saw my friends at school or when I went out when I had free time, some of the time it was just a distraction, and there was still an underlying ache of loneliness in me that didn't go away. Even if I was happy for one moment, I would come home to realise how truly lonely I felt again. It really sucked, that kind of life, because I can't even remember what I did in those five months. It's as if I had amnesia and those 5 months were wiped away leaving only a faint and blurred dream behind.

Another thing that makes depression suck is that it's a constant cycle. After I survived depression in 2012 I was fine for over another year, until December 2013 when I got it back again. It's like cancer, where's it just a cycle of treatment, then remission, then it coming back. While my second experience of depression was only for two months, it sucked so much because I realised that I hadn't completely escaped it. And I didn't even know why I was getting it. I hadn't been that stressed out; if anything I wasn't even stressed out at all because Uni had already finished, and I was enjoying my holidays. I was so confused, and I had to come to terms with the potential for this to be a chronic struggle for me and a lot of others worldwide to face.


So overall, I guess why I wanted to write this post was because I hated how someone had to die for everyone to take depression just a bit more seriously. I hate how someone had to die for some to raise awareness for depression, for some to donate to organisations that help fund research and treatment for depressed people. I hate how some one had to die for me to write this post. It sucks how in high school you get told to put on sunscreen to avoid skin cancer, wear a condom to avoid STDs or avoid junk food to prevent Type 2 Diabetes, but there's no emphasis on mental illnesses. No education on what they are, how they are caused, what are the signs to look out for, how to help and talk to a friend about it, and, most importantly, that it's normal. And that there's nothing to be ashamed of. It sucks to see people calling depressed people attention-seeking, or selfish, or over dramatic. It sucks that my mum told me she doesn't believe I ever had depression, because when have I ever suffered in my life? It sucks that my mum thinks that psychologists only see crazy and dangerous people so much so that I'm terrified of telling her I've seen a psychologist on a regular basis.

It sucks to see depression so prevalent and yet so invisible, like an omnipresent evil spirit sucking the joy out of Earth. I've realised my passion for mental illnesses and my passion to change the world, and while I understand that there's never going to be a world free of war, cancer and suicide, if I could just reach out to one person or get people to just think about it through this post, then I'm happy.

Top Feel Good Songs

*EDIT 7/8/2014*: moved Circle of Life to 8

Okay I randomly started thinking of all these feel good songs, so I made a list! At first I wanted to do Top 10, but it was so hard so I extended it to Top 20, with 5 Notable Mentions and 5 songs I found difficult to separate between feel good and happy. The difference, to me, is that if I listen to a feel good song when I'm sad, I would be really happy at the end of it. While happy songs make you feel good, sometimes you just aren't up to listen to them

Top 20 Feel Good Songs
1. Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
2. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
3. Some Nights – FUN
4. Vuelie – Frozen
5. Abraham’s Daughter – Arcade Fire
6. Discombobulate – Sherlock Holmes Movie
7. Baba Yetu – Christopher Tin
8. Circle of Life – Lion King
9. We Are the Champions – Queen
10. Welcome Home, Son – Radical Face
11. Flight of the Bumblebee – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
12. Let it Go – Frozen
13. Colours of the Wind – Pocahontas
14. Chandelier – Sia
15. To Build a Home – The Cinematic Orchestra
16. Greyhound – Swedish House Mafia
17. Move Your Feet – Junior Senior
18. We Will Rock You – Queen
19. Who We Are – Imagine Dragons
20. Madness – Muse

Notable Mentions (in no particular order):

Never Let Me Go – Florence and the Machine

The Imperial March – Star Wars

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson

Warrior – Demi Lovato

Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Other Songs That I Found Difficult to Distinguish Between Happy and Feel Good:

Old Time Rock and Roll – Bob Seger

Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees

Hey Ho – The Lumineers

I Was Made for Lovin’ You – Kiss

Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz

I had immense difficulty with this, and at one stage my piece of paper was so filled with song titles and artists that I had problems reading it, so I decided to just STOP and whatever else I thought of wouldn't appear, and I had to limit even my Notable Mentions and Other Happy Songs to just five each.

Anyway.

I'm tired now.

Time to listen to some feel good songs.

Nooks and Grannies

Finally... something productive done these holidays...I made another cover for my nook!

I was going to use material from my backpack that broke some time ago, but then I realised that the big pocket actually fit the nook perfectly, so I cut it out as well as some other material for the backing. The pocket cover didn't actually fully reach the button so I had to unstitch the lid and sew it on first before sewing on the backing.

I don't have a sewing machine so I had to do it all by hand which was a bit tedious. I also had to use fabric glue to glue down the ends of the backing since it didn't really iron flat. I had a few hiccups with sewing on the backing and a few mistakes showed but I went to Lincraft and bought some embellishments to cover it up. I bought two embellishments and put them both on.

Then I figured one cut off from the white embellishment looked nice on the front, so I glued it on with the fabric glue.

Now for some more movies!

Robin Hood

6.7/10 on IMDb
43% on Rotten Tomatoes
So I was pretty excited to watch this movie, since I love the idea of Robin Hood, bows and arrows and all that good stuff. However, this movie was quite a disappointment. I guess I didn't watch many trailers of it or anything, but seeing as the title of the film is Robin Hood, I expected the movie to be about ROBIN HOOD. Instead, we get Robin Longstride, who is actually Robin Hood, but before he was Robin Hood. Back when he was a loyal knight. You see, the film actually leads up to when he becomes Robin Hood. Unfortunately though, it takes the whole movie to do it. He's only Robin Hood for like the last minute of the film.

I mean don't get me wrong, I love watching how famous characters come to be, but this just wasn't what I was expecting. Maybe if they just condensed that bit to half the movie, and have him as Robin Hood for the other half of the movie, that would be lovely. But instead, we get two and a half hours of Robin Longstride. It could have been a movie about any medieval person stepping up to be a knight and hero for their kingdom. And yes, while we get the sense that life is unfair for Robin Hood since he does so many good things and is still cast away as an outlaw, it just isn't what you expect because there is actually no Robin Hood.

Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett were great though, and I reckon if I went in to this movie knowing it wouldn't actually be about Robin Hood, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.


Unstoppable

6.8/10 on IMDb
86% on Rotten Tomatoes
Do you guys remember Speed? The classic 1994 film with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock where a bus is hijacked and can't go below 50 miles per hour? Well that's what I thought of when I watched this film.

It's essentially like Speed except that there is a train... and it has no one driving it... and there are hazardous chemicals on board. So you can see it's actually not as bad and not as complete of a rip-off as I thought it would be. The plot is quite good I guess (maybe better if Speed hadn't come out all those years ago) and it can get quite intense at times, but I guess maybe it felt a little too long. Some scenes were a bit dragged out, some characters' complete imbecile and moronic actions were too emphasised (but frankly they were so exaggerated that you couldn't help groaning aloud at them - which does mean the movie was engaging enough for me to do it), and the side plots to do with the main character's problems are not really necessary. But other than that, it actually was quite a thrilling movie with some very intense moments throughout.


The Box

5.6/10 on IMDb
45% on Rotten Tomatoes
So this movie is about this couple who are struggling financially and going through a lot of personal issues. Until, of course, a creepy man shows up to their doorstep with a box. He tells them that they have 24 hours to decide whether they should press the button on the box. If they do, someone, somewhere, will die. But, they will also get a million dollars.

It's quite creepy and weird since it's a psychological horror, but it's quite a good concept for a plot, and you realise it's got quite a lot of strong Christian themes that sort of salvage the movie. Not just that, but it delves really deeply into the human condition, and the debate between determinism and free will. However, they still don't really tie the loose ends together and there are a lot of unanswered questions. It was quite memorable, but I'm still trying to decide whether it was in a good way or a bad way. I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not.