Brain Spill Movie Review #2

Source Code

Setting

Source Code takes place in a military lab of some sort, after a bomb destroys two trains somewhere in the vicinity of Chicago. The main character is within a computer program known as the Source Code, which allows him to go back before the train explodes.

Summary

Captain Colter Stevens wakes up after fighting in Afghanistan to find himself on a train with a woman named Christina Warren. After eight minutes on the train, it blows up. Stevens wakes up again within the Source Code, though he has no idea how he got there. Captain Colleen Goodwin, his contact, and Dr. Rutledge, the head of the Source Code program, explain that the Source Code allows Stevens to relive the last eight minutes of someone's life. In this case, that life is of a man on a bombed train. Stevens's job is to find out who the bomber is in order to stop the bomber from striking again. Stevens, as the story goes on, realizes more about his life from the past two months and becomes suspicious of those who are running the Source Code.

Characters

Captain Colter Stevens

Captain Colter Stevens is the main character of the story. After waking up on the train within the Source Code, Stevens wants to find out how he got there and who the people of Source Code were. As he continues to go into the Source Code, he begins to want to change what happened rather than find out who the bomber was. Stevens discovers that much has changed in his life over the past few months. Stevens, rightfully so, is the most interesting character in the story.

Christina Warren

Christina Warren is the travelling companion of Stevens on the train in the Source Code. Her main role in the story is as a person that Stevens wants to save from her fate of dying on the train. She is what convinces Stevens to use the Source Code as a past-altering tool rather than as an infromation gathering device.

Captain Colleen Goodwin

Captain Goodwin is the main contact Stevens has while inside the Source Code. She gives him advice, instructions, and sends him back onto the train. Over the course of the movie, Goodwin and Stevens learn more about one another, and Goodwin starts to help Stevens in his quest to save Christina from the explosion.

Dr. Rutledge

Other than the bomber, Dr. Rutledge is the closest thing to an antagonist that there is. Rutledge, instead of worrying about the bomber, the people on the train, and Stevens himself, is worried about this mission because it is the mission that determines whether or not the Source Code is militarily useful. Rutledge, though he pretends to be worried about people's lives, is worried about the success of Source Code and himself.

Conclusion

Source Code had its good points and bad points. It was one of those movies that was good, but at some points, you just want to walk away because one of the characters is being so dumb. The plot was a new and interesting one and I enjoyed it greatly 6.5 out of 11 penguins

Brain Spill Movie Review #1

Brave

Setting

Brave takes place in a Scottish Kingdom in medieval times. Stories in the movie tell of a kingdom ruled by four brothers until one brother tried to control too much power and turned against the other brothers, taking all the power for himself. In the movie, the land is ruled by four clans: the king's clan along with the clans Macintosh, Macguffin, and Dingwall.

Summary

Merida, the daughter of the king, loves to ride her horse and do archery. Her mother, Elinor, and father, Furgus, (but mainly her mother) have planned for her to be betrothed to one of the three firstborn sons of the three clans. Merida does not want this, and when the time comes, she shoots for her own hand, being the firstborn of King Furgus. In anger, Merida cuts down a tapestry her mother had worked on for a long time. Elinor then throws Merida's bow into the fire. Merida runs of into the woods and finds a witch, who she pays to change her mother. Merida gives a fruit tart given to her by the witch to her mother, who promptly turns into a bear. The story is about how Merida tries to turn her mother back into a human.

Characters

Merida

Merida is the main character of the story, the princess of the kingdom. She likes archery and horseback riding. She also is completly against getting married. Pixar makes a point of making Merida seem prideful in the beginning, especially when it come to her mother. Merida blames her mother for everything revolving around the unwanted betrothal to one of the sons of the clan leaders. Merida really wants to be free.

Elinor

Elinor is the Queen of the kingdom and has set up the whole betrothal, which is not surprising, given that she basically runs the country for her husband, Furgus. Everybody seems to listen to her, except for Merida. This really bugs her. She, at the beginning of the movie, shows the attitude of an overbearing mother. This overbearing-ness along with Merida's pride are what drives the plot forward in the story. The two attitudes continually clash.

Furgus 

Furgus is the king of the whole kingdom, though his wife basically runs the kingdom for him. He is a strong king, but is missing a leg due to an encounter with a bear. He is an interestingly stupid character with little change throughout the story. He has trouble keeping the clans from fighting with one another and with him.

The Triplet Brothers

The Brothers are not at all main characters and probably have no voice parts in the entire movie, but they do play a main role in getting people stuff. They help get Elinor out of the castle after she turns into a bear. The brothers also get the key from Maudie after Merida gets locked in the bedroom. They're mainly just in the movie, though, to add some comedy to the movie.

Lords Macintosh, MacGuffin, and Dingwall

The Lords are important because they add a sense of urgency to the betrothal and marriage of Merida. The Lords are the loose connections that the King has with the clans. The three sons of these three lords are the possible suitors, and Merida's fight for her own freedom puts the Kingdom on the verge of civil war. These lords provide an urgency to the plot.

Conclusion

The movie is very good, with a good plot, but has trouble mixing humor and seriousness. I believe that this movie is beginning of a new chapter for PIXAR. All of the other movies of PIXAR are comedic, while this movie has a much more serious plot. Though it is not the best PIXAR movie, it was very good. I give it 8 out of 11 penguins.

Brain Spill Book Review #7

The Hunger Games

Setting

The Hunger Games is a book written by Suzanne Collins about America in a distopian future. The Capitol is the center of wealth and the government and controls the twelve districts around it. The twelve districts were forced into submission after a large inter-district rebellion. As a warning to the other districts, the capitol completely destroyed a thirteenth district by bombing it. As part of the post-rebellion agreement, each district must give the resources it produces to the people back in Capitol. Also, once a year, each district must provide two tributes, a boy and a girl, for the Hunger Games The tributes, all of which are between the ages of 12 and 18, will then be put in a large arena where they must fight to the death.

Summary

Our story is told from the perspective of Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old from the poor area of District 12. Katniss lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim. To feed her family, Katniss illegally hunts outside of the borders of her district with her friend Gale. When her sister is chosen as tribute for the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place. A boy named Peeta is chosen as the male tribute from District 12. Peeta and Katniss, along with Effie and Haymitch, their trainers, go to the Capitol. The story revolves around the two tributes trying to gain the support of sponsors from Capitol and fighting for their lives in the Games themselves.

Characters

Katniss

Katniss is the narrator of the story. She is also, in my opinion, the most annoying character in the entire book. The whole time, Katniss is always angry, or sad, or suspicious, and that's not all. Katniss goes on to describe in detail how angry, sad, etc. she is at certain people. Yes, I understand she is fighting for her life, but can't she just show happiness a bit more? The one time she does show trust and is not acting is when she is with Rue. 

Peeta

Peeta is the other tribute from District 12. He seems better than Katniss because at least his actions are nicer and are actually nice instead of pretending to be nice for personal gain. He does happen to be lovesick with Katniss, which is his main annoying quality. He doesn't seem to realize (even though he helped plan this) that Katniss is only pretending to be in love so that she can get them sponsors and get them out alive. Whatever.

Gale

Gale is Katniss's hunting buddy from District 12. He's sort of not really mentioned too much other than that he is, like Katniss, in a situation where he is supporting the rest of his family. He mainly appears asa kind-of-sort-of-maybe love interest for Katniss which is keeping her from falling for Peeta. We know he is annoyed at the Capitol and that he takes his anger out while he's in the woods. He also helps to support Katniss's family when she leaves for Capitol.

Haymitch

Haymitch is the coach of Katniss and Peeta. He's their coach because he's the only living winner of the Hunger Games from District 12. He is also a major drunkard. He is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting characters. We can see his fear of the past through his continual drinking, which he uses to keep down the memories of his time in the Hunger Games and his time coaching tributes who he watch die in later Hunger Games. We can also see his attempt to save at least one of the tributes by focusing the sponsor's gifts on Katniss.

Rue

Rue is a tribute from District 11 who becomes allies with Katniss partway through the games. she brings out the best in Katniss, mainly because she reminds Katniss of Prim. Rue is 12 years old, and is the youngest tribute that year. Katniss allies with Rue because Rue reminds her of home. Because of this, Rue brings out the little happiness we see in Katniss, which is, besides herself, something that only Prim, Gale, and (until he died) Katniss's father.

Effie

Effie isn't really important, but I want to clear something up. Some might say that Effie is more annoying than Katniss, but that is not true. Effie, with her strange catchphrases and colored wigs, is a comical sort of annoying. She brings a sort of light tone to a dark plot. Katniss is just depressing.

Conclusion

The book is a good, intense read, even though I don't like Katniss. The book mixes moments of emotion with moments of action. In the book, the idea of an over-powerful government which people are fighting against is always interesting and always popular. I give it 7 waffles out of 11.