The Book Thief

The Book Thief  follows a young girl named Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse) in 1938 Germany. It follows her emotional roller coaster of being adopted by two parents living in the middle of Nazi Germany rule. Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), Rosa Hubermann (Emily Watson) give one of the better performances between two parents that I have seen. Geoffrey Rush plays the heart-warming father that you cling to the entire film based on his forgiveness of that actions of Liesel, while her mother tends to be the tough on young Liesel. The movie does create many beautiful scenes showing the times of Germany under Nazi rule. It gives a great feel of what Germany may have been like with the use of the sets involved from the old stone roads, just to the way the characters dressed. As the movie moves on with good pace, a young Jewish man shows up to the doorstep of the Huberman's home. We get a little story filler as Hans informs as that the father of the young Jewish man saved his life during World War I. The rising action of the movie is when the protection of that young Jewish man gets tougher and tougher as Nazi officers start to search basements looking for any captives.

PIcture of Geoffrey Rush in The Book Thief

This film does a very good job of helping you fall in love with the characters as their go through their troubles, which I think is the strongest point of the movie. It is powered by the actual emotions of young Liesel who is an innocent girl who falls in love with books as her main motivator to keep going on. The use of a narrator for the film, who we figure out to be death himself speaking adds an emotional level to the film, you almost cling to the narrators voice periodically through the movie for the clarity that it brings to the movie and is definitely a nice touch to a good film.

I give this movie a 6.5 out of 10.

Movie Review: Birdman

Birdman, if you do not like movies that leave you with questions unanswered they you may not be in favor of this movie. Birdman follows our main character Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton), who was a huge celebrity for his blockbuster hit movies Birdman 1-3. After going through the stages of being a celebrity he decided to write, direct, and star in a deep philosophical/romantic play "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love". It seems as the film goes on that our main character has a mental disorder. He has an inner monologue that you presume is the voice while making the movie Birdman. He is followed by this voice that tells him to go back to what he had in Hollywood instead of trying to become relevant again by being considered "artsy". He is constantly nagged about the society that Hollywood has built, which according to Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) his co-star in the production is basically the product of bullshit. Riggan is troubled not only by the voice in his head but by his troubled daughter, his ex-wife, getting money around for the play, and earning the respect of others in the theater world as he tries to do a complete 180 on his career.

Now, the truly special thing about this movie is the cinematography. There aren't many cuts in the entire movie, the movie looks like it is entirely filmed in one shot, which I think is personally an amazing spectacle to watch. Instead of cut to one angle with actor saying his lines, then cutting back to another angle for the actor to say his lines, the camera actually stays with the characters as they walk and talk. It gives you a much more personal feel for a movie, the movie seems to take over about the course of three or four days but the film makes you feel like the timetable of the movie was only 2 hours long. Judging college students, many people that I have asked about this movie kind of hated it, if your not into the technicality of how a movie is shot or written you may not be a big fan. It was the winner of Best Picture at the Oscars in 2014 and is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It stars Michael Keaton, Zack Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, and Emma Stone. If you love the action packed blockbusters this film may not be for you, but at the end of it all I give this movie an 8 out of 10. A must watch in my opinion.