Ramona and Beezus (2010)

4/5

Ramona and Beezus is an absolutely delightful film. The movie follows the Quimby family during a particularly troublesome time in their life. The father (Corbett) loses his job after taking out a loan for a home expansion project, the mother (Moynahan) must now return to part-time employment, the older sister Beezus (Gomez) faces difficulties with her love life, and Ramona (King) is just trying to stay afloat with school and family. Everything wraps up more than perfectly in this super saccharine family movie.

The filmmaking is fairly standard, but there are some magical scenes that reveal Ramona's creative imagination. The sequences look like a mix between stop-motion and construction paper cutouts, and it's precisely the manner in which I believe Ramona daydreams. They were without a doubt the most memorable cinematic qualities of the movie. The acting is the other strong aspect of the film. Joey King is the most adorable child actress in recent memory; her entire face lights up with joy and scrunches down when pouting. You find yourself really caring for her and her overexaggerated worries, even though she's going through simple elementary school stuff. She makes the movie as enjoyable as it is and she is the reason that I highly recommend this movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493949/

Blindness (2008)

4/5

Blindness, directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles, is a frightening, eye-opening film. In an unnamed, English-speaking city, an epidemic of blindness breaks out and the government begins to quarantine those infected. One woman (Julianne Moore) is still able to see, and helps her husband (Mark Ruffalo) govern Ward 1 of the quarantine facility with fairness and equality. A gangster (Gael García Bernal) uses his gun and threats of violence to take over Ward 3 and eventually the entire facility. He controls the food rations and requires other wards to pay him in jewelry; once that runs out, women. And from this basic, unsettling premise, we see the terrifying lengths men and women will go to when pitted against each other in a place without rules. What hope does good have at winning, or even surviving, against evil? Much like I Stand Alone, the movie is a bleak reminder of humanity at its most hopeless.

Technically, much of the movie was excellent. I loved the cinematography and its special effects, which simultaneously gave the film a gritty, raw realism and an evocative feel and mood. The music was memorable and brilliant, but felt out of place at times (it seemed a bit too playful). The editing was usually on-point but could sometimes be slow or poorly-timed. The characters were a bit bland, but the acting was more than adequate and altogether impressive. While movies like this are effective at what they set out to do, they are unpleasant and difficult to watch. Still, I felt moved by it and recommend it to those interested.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0861689/