Automaton Transfusion

2006 Automation Transfusion: Written and directed by Steven C. Miller

By Kiki

Bloody, slight gore, and with a small time feel to it. This movie was a little cheesy in ways, which made parts kind of funny. Although, it was still pretty good. Miller did a good job with this one.

Steven C. Miller also directed "Frankenstein Reborn: Behind the Scenes" and wrote "Chinese Guys" (which has not been put in film or released yet). He seems to be a good director, and is a good writer as well. I feel that this movie had an amazing story line, they just may not have had great resources to take this movie out to its full potential.

Chris (Garrett Jones) is a bad boy in school, dating Jackie (Juliet Reeves) a cheerleader. Chris and his friends go to a showing in town while Jackie goes to a party with her friends. Zombies show up at both places and Chris feels that he must find her. Once they have escaped, they look for survivors and blast their way through zombies, going back to their school. By the time they get to their school, Chris, Jackie, and Scott (William Howard Bowman) are the only ones left. That is when Scott must make a life changing decision. The very end of a the movie is a massive cliff hanger that makes you crave more.

The acting from Garrett Jones (also played Will in "Penance") is, in my opinion, the best acting in this movie. This actor isn't very well known, but should be. He puts his emotion in it all deeply and he makes you feel like all this is really happening to him.

Juliet Reeves (also played Lora Gerritsen in "Second Coming", Pandora in "Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!", and Necro Feelia in "All Wrapped Up") did her part very well. She didn't seem to have trouble with her lines and did very well with putting her feelings out there. There were times when I thought she was trying to hard though, such as her scenes when she was supposed to be scared and screaming crying, she took it a little over the top.

William Bowman (also played Chris in "Jumping Up and Down") played somewhat of an aggressive part, and played it well. There were times when he seemed a bit lost in the movie. Though, played it off well at the same time.

I feel that the acting in this movie was very well. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing most of the time. The acting from the zombies was some of the best that I've seen from zombie movies. There are small things in the movie that many people may not have noticed, such as in the beginning, when they first show the kids in the class room, there is a moment where more than half of the class moves at the EXACT same time. Then, they did it again when Chris, Jackie, and Scott go back to the school and are in the gym, with zombies laying everywhere looking dead, then they all rise to a sitting position at the EXACT same time. I found that both interesting and funny.

I give this movie 2 thumbs up.

Reveiwing People's Reviews

Reviews on Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog, from Popcorn With The Movie, MaskinPham Masking You, and Black_Cat XIII:
By Kiki and T

Popcorn With The Movies:
Kiki- On a first note, the death ray doesn't suddenly blow up. It blew up with he pulled the trigger, which Dr. Horrible tried warning him about. Secondly, you really shouldn't give away the ending for people that haven't seen it. That ruins it for people.
As for the structure of the blog, Salt might want to check the punctuation before publishing. There were some unused commas and maybe one period that should have been put in some places. As for Butter, you might want to making a little bit of longer sentences and put a little more information and detail in what you're talking about.
T- I am a little annoyed with this review. Not only did you let the ending be known, which is a big "no, no", because it ruins it for people who haven't seen the movie, but also that you said the death ray suddenly blew up. It was damaged by captain hammer, that is why it blew up when he pulled the trigger. Though, it was a good move giving a rating on the movie and explaining why you thought what you did.

MaskingPham Making You:
Kiki- From what I can tell, your grammar, punctuation, and spelling is all in order. You did good with your facts of the movie and its nice to hear what it is about. Though, it would be nice to know more of what YOU personally thought of the movie.
T- You did an excellent job of giving the review without telling the whole story. You also did well with giving an explanation of why you thought what you did about the movie and used a funny quote from the movie. I say that this review is very well made.

Black_Cat XIII:
Kiki- You did good on giving your opinion, after all that is what the whole paragraph is. Though, you need to combine some of your sentences to make them longer, check your grammar, and put more facts and research into what actually happens in the movie and some information about the actors.
T- It was not to happy, the happiness is a huge part of what makes it funny. In the beginning it is happy and it is not happy in the end at all. The funny parts were not that long, not long enough to ruin it or drag it out. The end is weird, because of the fact that it was made to have a sequel like many other movies.

Welcome to Macintosh

2008 Welcome to Macintosh: Directed by Josh Rizzo and Robert Baca:

By: T

Edited by: Kiki (Kiki wasn't actually there to see the video)

This review is on a Macintosh documentary that we watched in class. In my unprofessional opinion, it was an excellent piece of work. It was very informative, starting at the first apple computer and how it grew. Then how they fared against the competitors. The software writers talked about how hard it was to come out with programs or how certain programs or effects came to exist. Like the sound that a Mac makes when you turn it on. It also talks about the first people that started the company, like Steve Wozniak or Ron Wayne. Though it is very informative, you hear disgruntled coders and deranged collectors that kind of makes it funny. There was one point were Jim Reekes said that the apple company "is like a sausage factory, you don’t wanna know what happens". Over all, I give it a eight out of ten on the awesome 'O' meter.

Saw

2004 Saw: Written by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan:
by Kiki

This 2004 movie, full of blood, twists, and suspense, won an award for best feature. The writer, 32 year old Australian Leigh Whannell, did an amazing job with this puzzling story line. The director, 32 year old Asian James Wan, did just as good of a job with directing the movie as Leigh did writing it. Of course, James also had a part in writing the story. Every camera angle was perfect to get the right feel of the story.

The actors did an amazing job as well. Leigh Whannell also played a role in the movie. He played Adam Faulkner-Stanheight in the movie. Another great actor in the movie was Shawnee Smith, playing Amanda. She plays a very devious role in this movie, helping the cops and yet tricking them at the same time. She also played the ditsy Linda in 1998-2004 Becker (the tv show about the character Dr. John Becker). It is amazing to me how she can go from the ditsy nurses assistant in Becker to the beautiful, devious Amanda in Saw. An amazing improvement if you ask me.

Many people argue the fact that Saw is just blood and guts. They also say that it has been drug out far to long. Though, I disagree deeply. You have to look past the blood and pay attention to what is actually going on. Pay attention to the twists and turns. There is a story beyond the blood. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Or in this case, a movie by its blood.

The cast and credits at http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808579789/cast

Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog

2008 Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog: Written by Joss Wedin, Staring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day:
By: Kiki and T

Kiki.

As the first musical with Neil Patrick Harris that I've seen, It was very good but very unexpected. Neil Patrick Harris played as Billy/Dr. Horrible falling for Felicia Day, who plays Penny. Penny is just a simple girl trying to help the homeless. Nathan Fillion plays as Caption Hammer, who is supposed to be the hero of the city.

During the 1st 15 or so minutes, I was not pulled into the story. As I continued to watch it, I started to like it more and became attached to the character, Dr. Horrible. The ending was very disappointing though. Dr. Horrible was just a nice guy on the inside, I was rooting for him to switch places with the concede, non-caring Caption Hammer, but he didn't.

For a short movie by Joss Wedin, the maker of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was amazing, and as I said before, very unexpecting. I am looking forward to seeing what the next one will be like.

T -

Dr.horrible was not captivating in the begging because of the fact that the first bit is just Neil Patrick Harris aka: Dr.horrible talking in front of a computer or camera then it gets in to hem interacting with the girl of his dreams penny (played by Felicia Day) in a laundry mat at first the songs were annoying but if you look past the bad tune and pay attention to the words they are rather funny captain hammer is your basic muscle head with no brain and the stupid things he dose are funny the end leaves something to be desired but that is because it has a sequel i liked it and look foreword to the sequel over all a seven out of ten on the awesome o meter

The Nightmare Before Christmas

1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas: Directed by Henry Selick, written by and characters by Tim Burton:
By: Kiki

I believe that this was, and still is, one of the best movies of all times. Not only because of my personal opinion, but also because it is very good quality, with such detail. I mean, this is a clay animaion movie and there is so much detail, its as if it was any modern day cartoon, if not better.

As for my personal opinion, I'm very into the dark type of movies. It is dark, it is about those in a Halloween town after all, and it is some what creepy.

I love all of Tim Burton's stories, and from what I've seen from Henry Selick so far, I love his movies. With a very good writer and very good director, how could you go wrong? You just can't.

Also, I love the music. I'm not fond of many musicals, but this one is the best out there. The music is just right for the movies. Espeacially the oh so famous "This Is Halloween"!

Push

2009 Push, directed by Paul McGuigan, staring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning:
By: T

The story line was extremely captivating. The powers varied enough to keep you on your toes. The special effects were really good, because the blood shot cat eyes for the screamers were really high detailed. The camera shots would shift appropriately to show what changes on the actors to show the powers they use. Both Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans did very good acting in this movie. I didn't notice any slip ups in their lines or anywhere that they had to dub over. over all a nine out of ten on the awesome 'O' meter.

Cast: (found at http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aapushcast.htm)
CAST:
NICK GANT - Chris Evans
CASSIE HOLMES - Dakota Fanning
KIRA HUDSON - Camilla Belle
HENRY CARVER - Djimon Hounsou
VICTOR BUDARIN - Neil Jackson
DICE MAN - Leung Kai Cheung
AGENT MACK - Corey Stoll
AGENT HOLDEN - Scott Michael Campbell
EMILY WU - Ming Na

CREW:
Directed By: Paul McGuigan
Screenplay By: David Bourla
Producers: William Vince, Bruce Davey and Glenn Williamson
Executive Producers: David Bourla, Michael Ohoven, Gretchen Somerfeld, David Valleau, and Stan Wlodkowski
Director of Photography: Peter Sova
Editor: Nicolas Trembasiewicz
Production Designer: Francois Seguin

RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, 1 minute
GENRES: Sci-Fi, Thriller
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, brief strong language, smoking and a scene of teen drinking

Coraline

2009 Coraline, directed by Henry Selick, staring Dakota Fanning:
By: Kiki

I found it to be a great movie. A variety of age groups could get into it. I am teenagers who liked it, My 5 year old cousin, parents, grandparents, and even 19 year old brother who likes nothing but horror and action liked it. Though, I didn't see it in the theater, I saw it at home with the 3-D glasses. When watching it at home, the 3-D is a very poor quietly, though most 3-D movies at home are.
I liked this movies because the animation was very good. The movements were realistic and nothing seemed to be to out of place. Not to mention, the mouth movements seemed to match up with the audio. I also feel that Dakota Fanning did a very good job with putting her emotion into her voice while playing Coraline.

Credits: (found at http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aacoralinecast.htm)
VOICE CAST:
CORALINE JONES - Dakota Fanning
MOTHER/OTHER MOTHER - Teri Hatcher
FATHER/OTHER FATHER - John Hodgman
MISS FORCIBLE - Dawn French
MISS SPINK - Jennifer Saunders
MR BOBINSKY - Ian McShane
CAT - Keith David
WYBIE - Robert Bailey Jr

CREW:
Director: Henry Selick
Screenplay By: Henry Selick
Based on the Book By: Neil Gaiman
Producers: Bill Mechanic, Claire Jennings, Henry Selick and Mary Sandell
Director of Photography: Pete Kozachik
Supervising Animator: Anthony Scott
Music By: Bruno Coulais
Visual Effects Supervisor: Brian Van't Hul
Editors: Christopher Murrie and Ronald Sanders

GENRE: Animated Drama
MPAA RATING: PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor

About us

This is Cara, I go by Kiki, and this is T, we are students at Manor New Tech High School. We are both artists and share an interest in movies. We are into writing and drawing. Kiki has written a few books she is working on getting published. She has had a few poems published by poetry.com and also writes song lyrics. T mainly writes fan-fic stories online. T also writes poems. We like to draw, Kiki draws all sorts of things but most of them are somewhat dark and twisted. T draws eyes and weaponry.

Kiki's favorite type of movies are bloody horror movies, although she will watch just about anything. T's favorite type of movies are action, but will also watch just about anything. Though, we aren't very fond of many kid movies, depending on the movie. You might see a kids movie review from us from time to time.