Boyhood

Boyhood, Directed by Richard Linklater, depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans, Jr. (Coltrane) from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents (Arquette and Hawke). The biggest thing that Boyhood, has going for it, is that it was filmed through 13 years. It started filming in 2002 and ended in 2013. We follow the same actor through his childhood to his adolescent years and then on into college. Now thats very impressive for two reasons: Interest and actors. A lot of directors probably would've just dropped the project halfway through because they had a new idea they wanted to pursue and they needed to make time for it or they just lost interest in trying to tell this story. The other big thing was the actors. The whole film has the same lead in childhood through college. This could've have very easily backfired with the kids growing up and not being good actors. One of the older actors being in an accident and passing or away or just losing interest. Anyway that's not what we're here to talk about. What we're here to talk about is the editing that shows the audience the life of Mason Evans, Jr.

Now of course a big aspect in this film is the editing between scenes. When they were filming this movie they probably filmed a lot of footage with these actors once a year, but obviously not everything makes it in. We don't see a small scene for every year of his life. So we may go from 6th to 8th or to 9th. Now your not able to what year he's in for every scene there a lot where you just assume he hasn't aged much and that'll most likely be it. However because of this you need to make sure every scene counts!

Lets talk about the second husband: Bill. In the scene when the whole family goes out after the newlyweds return from there Honeymoon, Bill snaps at his son, Randy, for playing 20 questions. Nothing huge here. We just see that Bill has rules for his kids. Next time we see him, he's teaching Mason and Randy to play golf. Bill doesn't snap or yell at the two boys but he really urges them to keep trying even though they are clearly not interested. Okay, still good: We see he wants his kids to do work. What's next? He makes Mason get a buzzcut because he dislikes his long hair. Okay... so he's one of those more uptight parents? Alright. Then the next scene he gets upset because all those kids don't finish there chores and while he's warning there kids about doing their work he's getting drink. We can't be 100% sure it's alcohol but it's definitely not water or juice. He also makes his wife, masons mother, Olivia back him up. Alright, he's really strict and he likes drinkinnnnnn... Oh wait. Since there's no main goal in this film, each scene has something small that will continued to be built up even if by the end it's not important.

Also the time lapses can sometimes go right into each other. For example, when we first meet Bill, he's still Olivia's professor and they're only flirting at this point. Bill then offers the idea that his kids along with Mason and his sister Samantha should have a play date. The scene later ends and our next scene opens with Mason, Samantha and the other kids playing on a trampoline. Oh is the playdate happening? The kids run inside and greet Bill and Olivia walking in the door carrying luggage and we see a big Welcome back sign. Oh, they got married! There are a lot of those were we think it's starting off at the next day but in reality it's been a year or so. Which will force you to pay attention.

I remember a lot of older movies in the past would do these huge times lapse and throughout the film too. Actually I watched a film the exact same week as I did "Boyhood". It was called "How the West was Won" and I watched it in U.S. History. This Film had a lot of the time skips throughout. Sadly they were placed with those slowly fade away transitions in between scenes. They never do say what year it is or who's story we're following: We just we have to figure it out for ourselves.

Live. Die. Repeat.: Edge of Tomorrow MYST

I'm a huge fan of action sci-fi flicks. "Guardians of the Galaxy" is actually my favorite movie to watch. However as far as action movies go I have never seen any of the "Mission Impossible" movies. In fact I had not seen any of Tom Cruise's movies until recently when I watched "Edge of Tomorrow"  (Also marketed with tag-line LIVE. DIE. REPEAT.) The film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt,  takes place in a future where Earth is invaded by an alien race. Major William Cage (Cruise), a public relations officer with no combat experience, is forced by his superiors to join a landing operation against the aliens. Though Cage is killed in combat, he finds himself in a time loop that sends him back to the day preceding the battle every time he dies. Cage teams up with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt) to improve his fighting skills through the repeated days, seeking a way to defeat the extraterrestrial invaders.

When I was a little kid and wasn't into movies as much, the response to the question, "Name a famous actor." was always the same: Tom Cruise. Whether you like him or not he's undoubtedly one of the most popular actors of all time. Like, Tom Cruise was the default skin for the action hero. So as I got older and more invested with movies, I always placed Tom Cruise in this section of cliche action actors so I never was interested in any of his movies. As continued to grow older I found out Tom Cruise was rumored to be a "weird guy" due to stuff like his outburst on "Oprah" on he loves Katie Holmes. (Also I find it funny he's labeled weird but when Jennifer Lawrence does this kind of stuff she's called "quirky") Also I knew people freaked out him being a scientologist and the only I knew about that was that it was unusual. Actually just recently I read up on what scientology and now I don't think I want to promote anything else with Tom Cruise or John Travolta from here-on-in. This will be (probably) the only time I bring this up so don't worry.

I think this is the first time in a serious action movie where I saw the main lead actually say no to being a hero. I've seen it in comedies and other stuff, but this is the first time the lead says no like a jerk, it's basically "Yeah thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather be where it's safe" I know other films have done this sort of before but this time it seemed really different and unique. Cruise's selfishness is only in the movie for so long and it doesn't grow on anyones nerves.

Now lets talk about the biggest thing in the film: The living. The Dying. And the Repeating. First a little bit of background. How Cruise gets this ability is he killed an elite alien member, whose species were connected to some Chrono-thing that would allow them to start the day over if they died giving the aliens an advantage in the war. However when Cruise kills the creature, he ingests some of its blood and gains the ability. ( Confusing. I know. Just go with it) Anyways during his loops he discovers that Emily Blunt's character had the ability as well but lost it when she got a blood transfusion. Like mentioned earlier, the movie is mostly repeating the day, getting farther and farther each time. It's a great way to see Cruise's character develop throughout the story. In fact this story is able to put the audience in the shoes of Cruise and Blunts character. In one scene, Blunts character wants to keep going but Cruise wants to stop and rest but we then discover Cruise doesn't want to continue because Blunt never makes it past that point in time no matter what. So we're in the dark as much as Blunt was even though Cruise was our eyes and ears. There's another instance where this happens but I won't give it away.

The aliens in this movie are... okay. Not much is known about them and their design is...okay. This movie doesn't focus that much time on them besides shooting them. There aren't that many other huge characters in this film or at least none that deserve much attention. (Bill Paxton is in this. If that means anything to anyone.) The CGI is good. Which reminds me, they never clarify what year this movie takes place. We only see the advance technologies in the military camps and the technology they have in the civilian areas are the same as we have now.

Overall, Edge of Tomorrow is a fun, action packed, sci-fi film that's ORIGINAL. (Okay it's loosely based off a japanese novel). If you're in the mood for mindless action but also good story and characters, definitely check this movie out.
EDGE OF TOMORROW: 8/10