Bryan Caron's Blog, page 31
March 21, 2015
This Weekend Brings 16 More Deals To A Close
The first round of the NCAA basketball tournament has ended, but the eliminations aren’t over — not by a long shot. The second round of cuts will be made this weekend, sending another 16 teams home and in turn put an end to 16 more terrific deals on graphic design, writing and videography services at Phoenix Moirai.
On Saturday, UCLA and UAB kick things off to be followed by Butler and Notre Dame, Utah and Georgetown, Ohio State squaring off against Arizona, Xavier versus Georgia State, Kentucky taking on Cincinnati, Arkansas and North Carolina, and Villanova versus NC State. With them, you’ll find discounts on Wedding and Publishing packages, Clipart, Calendars, and Magazine Layouts, as well as free printing and design services.
25% off Wall Calendar design (Kentucky)
35% off Moirai Video and Design Package (Cincinnati)
Free Bumper Sticker design with purchase of Book Cover design (Butler)
50% off Power Point Presentation (Notre Dame)
Free printing (up to 1000 prints) with purchase of Business Card design (Arkansas)
35% off any two services (excludes packages) (North Carolina)
Free design service with purchase of Invitation design (Xavier)
35% off Clipart design (Georgia State)
Free printing (up to 500 prints) with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design (Ohio State)
25% off Phoenix Publishing Package (Arizona)
Free Booklet Insert with purchase of DVD Jacket and Label (Villanova)
35% off Magazine or Catalog Layout design (NC State)
Six 1,000-word Blog Posts for the price of four (Utah)
50% off Avatar design (Georgetown)
20% off Phoenix Wedding Design Package (UCLA)
35% off any combination of two: Print Ad, Brochure, Flyer, Postcard or Rack Card (UAB)
Then on Sunday, more free services (including Book Covers and Layouts, Posters, Window Stickers, Avatars and Editing) and discounts on Wedding, Identity and Publishing packages square off as the remaining 16 teams fight to stay in the tournament, starting with Michigan State versus Virginia and continuing on throughout the day with Duke taking on San Diego State, Dayton trying to take down Oklahoma, Gonzaga versus Iowa, Wichita State and Kansas, Wisconsin versus Oregon, West Virginia and Maryland, and UNI attempting to eliminate Louisville.
40% off Digital Illustration (West Virginia)
15% off Basic Wedding Design Package (Maryland)
Free paperback Book Layout with purchase of paperback Book Cover design (Wichita State)
20% off Basic Wedding Video Package (Kansas)
Free Magazine Cover design with purchase of Magazine Layout (Wisconsin)
Free Window Sticker design with purchase of Business Card design (Oregon)
Free Envelope and Address Label design with Purchase of BC and Letterhead design (UNI)
Free Book Cover and Layout with purchase of 90-second Book Trailer (Louisville)
Free Poster design with purchase of Book Cover design and Book Layout (Dayton)
20% off Basic Publishing Package (Oklahoma)
30% off Premiere Phoenix Wedding Video and Design Package (Michigan State)
20% off Basic Identity Package (Virginia)
Free Ad Copy with purchase of ½ page Ad (Duke)
Two free services with purchase of any Calendar design (SDSU)
Free editing services with purchase of paperback Book Cover & Layout Design (Iowa)
Free Avatar with purchase of Logo (Gonzaga)
This incredible weekend is your last chance at taking advantage on half of these great deals before it becomes sweet sixteen. Don’t miss the opportunity. Request your quote now!
March 20, 2015
16 More Fantastic Deals Ready to Expire
Buffalo, Maryland, Wichita State, UC Irvine, Georgia, Belmont, Oklahoma State, Duke, San Diego State and Gonzaga are just a handful of the 32 teams that compete tonight in the NCAA basketball tournament. Competing alongside them are incredible deals that include discounts on personal identity, publishing and wedding packages, digital illustrations and text blurbs, as well as free layout design, ad designs, cover designs, avatars and editing services. Brides, writers, bloggers and business men and women, if you see a deal attached to a team you think might lose, make that request for savings now!
40% off Digital Illustration (West Virginia)
35% off Website design (Buffalo)
15% off Basic Wedding Design Package (Maryland)
25% off any Brochure (Valparaiso)
Free paperback Book Layout with purchase of paperback Book Cover design (Wichita State)
Free CD Booklet with purchase of CD Jacket and Label (Indiana)
20% off Basic Wedding Video Package (Kansas)
Free ½ page Print Ad with purchase of Poster design (New Mexico State)
Free Magazine Cover design with purchase of Magazine Layout (Wisconsin)
25% off any service (excludes packages) (Coastal Caro.)
Free Window Sticker design with purchase of Business Card design (Oregon)
30% off Premiere Phoenix Identity Package (Oklahoma State)
Free Envelope and Address Label design with Purchase of BC and Letterhead design (UNI)
Free Rack Card design with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design (Wyoming)
Free Book Cover and Layout with purchase of 90-second Book Trailer (Louisville)
25% off Phoenix Identity Package (UC Irvine)
Free Business Card design with purchase of Logo (Providence)
Free Poster design with purchase of Book Cover design and Book Layout (Dayton)
20% off Basic Publishing Package (Oklahoma)
Free Save-the-Date design with purchase of Wedding Invitation design (Albany)
30% off Premiere Phoenix Wedding Video and Design Package (Michigan State)
Free full color page Flyer design with purchase of ½ page Print Ad (Georgia)
20% off Basic Identity Package (Virginia)
25% off Phoenix Wedding Video Package (Belmont)
Free Ad Copy with purchase of ½ page Ad (Duke)
Free formatting for eBook with purchase of eBook Cover Design (Robert Morris)
Two free services with purchase of any Calendar design (SDSU)
30% off Premiere Publishing Package (St. John’s)
Free editing services with purchase of paperback Book Cover & Layout Design (Iowa)
Free ½ page Print Ad with purchase of Take-Home Menu design (Davidson)
Free Avatar with purchase of Logo (Gonzaga)
40% off Text Blurb (Back of Book Text) (North Dakota State)
March 19, 2015
Is It Just Me…
Or did Jennifer Lopez and her white dress outperform every contestant on tonight’s American Idol telecast?
I’m not one to usually praise JLo, as I am not a fan, but the performance of her song from the new movie Home was pitch perfect tonight, and the magic that was her dress was, simply put, a stunning bit of techno-graphics. Watching her stand in the middle of the stage as the light show magically performed around her — turning her into a painting of constantly changing visuals — was absolutely breathtaking and no doubt one of the best moments on a night of mostly mediocre performances.
32 Deals Compete, Only 16 Survive
With half of the NCAA tournament field taking to the court today, including Notre Dame, LSU, Harvard, Baylor, Arizona, and Georgetown, plenty of deals are in danger of ending tonight. With discounts on Personal Identity and Wedding Videography Packages, Logo Designs, Book Trailers, Event Program designs and so much more, we’ve got something for everyone from business owners and publishers to writers and brides. if you see a deal attached to a team that you think might lose, don’t wait to make that request and lock in your savings!
25% off Wall Calendar design (Kentucky)
Free ¼ page Print Ad with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design (Hampton)
35% off Moirai Video and Design Package (Cincinnati)
Free ¼ page Print Ad and square Web Ad with purchase of Book Cover design (Purdue)
Free Bumper Sticker design with purchase of Book Cover design (Butler)
Free CD design package with purchase of Music Video (Texas)
50% off Power Point Presentation (Notre Dame)
Free printing with purchase of Address Label design (Northeastern)
Free Booklet Insert with purchase of DVD Jacket and Label (Villanova)
35% off Moirai Identity Package (Lafeyette)
35% off Magazine or Catalog Layout design (NC State)
35% off Logo design (LSU)
Free printing (up to 1000 prints) with purchase of Business Card design (Arkansas)
Free 2-sided Postcard design with purchase of Book Cover design (Wofford)
35% off any two services (excludes packages) (North Carolina)
25% off any sized Print Ad (Harvard)
Free design service with purchase of Invitation design (Xavier)
Free Bookmark design with Purchase of Book Cover design (Mississippi)
Free DVD Jacket design with purchase of Poster design (Baylor)
35% off Clipart design (Georgia State)
25% off 90-second Book Trailer (VCU)
Free printing (up to 500 prints) with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design (Ohio State)
25% off Phoenix Publishing Package (Arizona)
Free Address Label design with purchase of Envelope design (Texas Southern)
Six 1,000-word Blog Posts for the price of four (Utah)
50% off any three services covering all elements (1 design, 1 writing, 1 video) (S. F. Austin)
50% off Avatar design (Georgetown)
Free Back of the Book Text (Text Blurb) with purchase of Book Cover design (Eastern Wash.)
Free Thank You Card design with purchase of Save the Date Card design (SMU)
20% off Phoenix Wedding Design Package (UCLA)
25% Event Program design (Iowa State)
35% off any combination of two: Print Ad, Brochure, Flyer, Postcard or Rack Card (UAB)
March 18, 2015
Two More Deals End Tonight
Writers, singers and filmmakers, this may be your last chance to save big on designs and layouts for your newest ventures. Four more teams take to the courts to fill the final two spots in the bracket, so two of following terrific deals will end tonight:
Free ¼ page Print Ad and square Web Ad with purchase of DVD Jacket design
Free formatting for eBook with purchase of eBook Cover Design
20% off Complete DVD or CD package design
Free Poster design with purchase of Book Cover design and Book Layout
Don’t miss your chance for free designs that can help you market your books, DVDs, merchandise or services with cover designs, book layouts and formatting.
Don’t risk losing your chance to lock in the savings. Request your quote today!
March 17, 2015
Two Big Deals Ending Today – Don’t Miss Them
With the first four teams playing for two of the remaining four spots in the bracket, two of these terrific deals will end tonight:
25% off Book Cover design
Free ¼ page Print Ad with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design
Free Bookmark design with Purchase of Book Cover design
Free Highlight Reel with purchase of Videography Service
Don’t miss your chance for free designs that can help you market your books, merchandise or services with cover designs, ads and bookmarks, as well your chance to save big with a free highlight reel for your wedding or event.
Don’t risk losing your chance to lock in the savings. Request your quote today!
Four Big Deals Ending Today – Don’t Miss Them
With the first four teams playing for two of the remaining four spots in the bracket, two of these terrific deals will end tonight:
25% off Book Cover design
Free ¼ page Print Ad with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design
Free Bookmark design with Purchase of Book Cover design
Free Highlight Reel with purchase of Videography Service
Don’t miss your chance for free designs that can help you market your books, merchandise or services with cover designs, ads and bookmarks, as well your chance to save big with a free highlight reel for your wedding or event.
Don’t risk losing your chance to lock in the savings. Request your quote today!
Movie Mayhem – Cinderella
Having had several incarnations of the Cinderella story over the past sixty years, Disney’s live-action remake of their own sugary animated version of Cinderella from 1950 begs for comparison. One of the biggest points of contention in remaking this older version (as opposed to creating something bold and fresh) is whether or not that specific message — that all of your dreams will come true only once you’ve found your “prince” — is still relevant today. Drew Barrymore helped tear down this reliance in Ever After, where her version of Cinderella was strong enough to not only break free of her societal restraints on her own, but is more than capable of rescuing the prince. Ever After was grounded in the real world, where the only magic found is in her tenacity to control her own fate without relying on someone else to save her. At the same time, Disney knows the idea that exists as part of Cinderella’s overall theme is based on a now silly notion as evidenced by Enchanted, where they themselves make fun of the entire concept of getting married to someone after just a single day of knowing them, simply because they had the capacity to “rescue” them in some way. So with this in mind, does Cinderella, as told by Disney so long ago, still pass the test of time?
Director Kenneth Branagh doesn’t stray very far from the narrative of the animated film except to expand the running time by thirty minutes, most of which are spent fleshing out Cinderella’s (Lily James) back story, told in the original through a mere few minutes of narration. As we all know, Cinderella’s mother (Hayley Atwell) dies, prompting her father (Ben Chaplin) to marry a widower (Cate Blanchett) with two spoiled daughters (Holliday Grainger & Sophie McShera) of her own. Shortly after, her father dies while away on a trip, leaving her to be subjected into what amounts to slavery until she’s rescued by her prince.
Extending the run time is a feat in and of itself, as as there isn’t much story there to begin with, especially when you spend much less time on the shenanigans of the mice that Cinderella (or Ella, who is only nicknamed Cinder-Ella after falling asleep by the fire one night) befriends. Where these characters are an extensive part of the original movie, here they seem to have been added simply because they were part of the animated movie and they had to be included. They hold no real purpose here except to eventually get transformed into horses for a short time.
Where Branagh strays is in the relationship between Ella and the prince. Taking a page from Ever After, he introduces us to the prince (Richard Madden) via a meet-cute with Ella during a ride in the woods where neither reveal who they really are. The prince’s only reason for holding the ball is to draw Ella out so he doesn’t have to marry the princess his father so adamantly wishes him to wed. For the Grand Duke, marriage is simply about station and assets; for the prince, it’s about love, as it is for Ella, whose only reason for attending is the hope she might once again see her wayward “prince”, despite his own claims that he is a meager apprentice of some mysterious art. However, this initial meeting doesn’t fully showcase the chemistry the two actors are supposed to have with one another. They are very cute together, but it’s not as powerful as it needed to be to warrant the need to find each other again.
We also lose something with the removal of the songs from the original film. The one that’s missed more than any other is Bippity-Boppity-Boo, which did a terrific job in turning a wonderfully magical sequence into a fun, whimsical moment. Removing the song disrupts the rhythm of the fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) transforming a pumpkin into a coach, lizards into coachmen and Cinderella into the beautiful woman with signature glass slippers. Branagh tries to infuse humor into the proceedings, but based on the film up to this point, it feels horribly out of place. Basically, what should have been utterly magical and breathtaking is left to wallow in disappointment.
With that said, Branagh still manages to produce a well-made film. With a good dose of special effects and some good casting choices, Branagh paints a world that you can believe in, held together brilliantly by Blanchett as Ella’s stepmother. Blanchett plays pompous arrogance with so much ease, you’d think it was her natural demeanor. Better yet, she is such a master at her craft, she is capable of playing perfectly off every character, especially Granger and McShera who play Anastasia and Drusilla, respectively, with just the right amount of spiteful bullishness. But the relationship that holds the film together is that of the stepmother and Ella, and the chemistry between Blanchett and James is magical.
Though I was hoping to see a little more of the cat, Lucifer (who is completely shafted in a remake of a film where he once ruled the roost), I do think Branagh accomplished a way to take the folk tale written by Charles Perrault and add a bit of depth that was missing from the animated version, not only giving the stepmother a much more active role in keeping the prince away from Ella, but adding the idea that selflessness and treating others fairly without judgment are the traits you need to inhabit to find the happiness you desire. By leading Ella down this path with a promise to her dying mother, it opens the door to the belief that it’s not your appearance that elicits true love or love at first sight, it’s who you are on the inside that matters most. I just wish the film supported that idea a little more thoughtfully and creatively, giving us even more reason to believe that happiness and love are found with courage, fairness and a little bit of magic.
My Grade: B+
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Next week, new movies include The Divergent Series: Insurgent and The Gunman. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.
March 16, 2015
March Madness Promotion Is On!
Phoenix Moirai‘s 2015 March Madness promotion has officially begun!
We are offering 68 promotions that range from 15 to 75% off of services in graphic design, writing and videography. Each promotion is attached to a team in the March Madness tournament; match the numbers in the bracket below to the corresponding promotion to see which promotion is attached to which team. When a team is eliminated from the tournament, so too does that particular promotion end. (Click here for the full explanation of rules.)
To take advantage of these great savings, simply request a quote (quotes@phoenixmoirai.com) before the team (and the promotion) has ended its run. The winning promotion will remain active until April 19. For questions, email questions@phoenixmoirai.com or use the comments section below.
Here is a complete list of promotions being offered by Phoenix Moirai (and the team they are attached to):
1. 25% off Wall Calendar design (Kentucky)
2. 35% off Moirai Video and Design Package (Cincinnati)
3. Free ¼ page Print Ad and square Web Ad with purchase of Book Cover design (Purdue)
4. 40% off Digital Illustration (West Virginia)
5. 35% off Website design (Buffalo)
6. 15% off Basic Wedding Design Package (Maryland)
7. 25% off any Brochure (Valparaiso)
8. Free Bumper Sticker design with purchase of Book Cover design (Butler)
9. Free CD design package with purchase of Music Video (Texas)
10. 50% off Power Point Presentation (Notre Dame)
11. Free printing with purchase of Address Label design (Northeastern)
12. Free paperback Book Layout with purchase of paperback Book Cover design (Wichita State)
13. Free CD Booklet with purchase of CD Jacket and Label (Indiana)
14. 20% off Basic Wedding Video Package (Kansas)
15. Free ½ page Print Ad with purchase of Poster design (New Mexico State)
16. Free Magazine Cover design with purchase of Magazine Layout (Wisconsin)
17. 25% off any service (excludes packages) (Coastal Caro.)
18. Free Window Sticker design with purchase of Business Card design (Oregon)
19. 30% off Premiere Phoenix Identity Package (Oklahoma State)
20. Free printing (up to 1000 prints) with purchase of Business Card design (Arkansas)
21. Free 2-sided Postcard design with purchase of Book Cover design (Wofford)
22. 35% off any two services (excludes packages) (North Carolina)
23. 25% off any sized Print Ad (Harvard)
24. Free design service with purchase of Invitation design (Xavier)
25. Free DVD Jacket design with purchase of Poster design (Baylor)
26. 35% off Clipart design (Georgia State)
27. 25% off 90-second Book Trailer (VCU)
28. Free printing (up to 500 prints) with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design (Ohio State)
29. 25% off Phoenix Publishing Package (Arizona)
30. Free Address Label design with purchase of Envelope design (Texas Southern)
31. Free Booklet Insert with purchase of DVD Jacket and Label (Villanova)
32. 35% off Moirai Identity Package (Lafeyette)
33. 35% off Magazine or Catalog Layout design (NC State)
34. 35% off Logo design (LSU)
35. Free Envelope and Address Label design with Purchase of BC and Letterhead design (UNI)
36. Free Rack Card design with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design (Wyoming)
37. Free Book Cover and Layout with purchase of 90-second Book Trailer (Louisville)
38. 25% off Phoenix Identity Package (UC Irvine)
39. Free Business Card design with purchase of Logo (Providence)
40. 20% off Basic Publishing Package (Oklahoma)
41. Free Save-the-Date design with purchase of Wedding Invitation design (Albany)
42. 30% off Premiere Phoenix Wedding Video and Design Package (Michigan State)
43. Free full color page Flyer design with purchase of ½ page Print Ad (Georgia)
44. 20% off Basic Identity Package (Virginia)
45. 25% off Phoenix Wedding Video Package (Belmont)
46. Free Ad Copy with purchase of ½ page Ad (Duke)
47. Two free services with purchase of any Calendar design (SDSU)
48. 30% off Premiere Publishing Package (St. John’s)
49. Six 1,000-word Blog Posts for the price of four (Utah)
50. 50% off any three services covering all elements (1 design, 1 writing, 1 video) (S. F. Austin)
51. 50% off Avatar design (Georgetown)
52. Free Back of the Book Text (Text Blurb) with purchase of Book Cover design (Eastern Wash.)
53. Free Thank You Card design with purchase of Save the Date Card design (SMU)
54. 20% off Phoenix Wedding Design Package (UCLA)
55. 25% Event Program design (Iowa State)
56. 35% off any combination of two: Print Ad, Brochure, Flyer, Postcard or Rack Card (UAB)
57. Free editing services with purchase of paperback Book Cover & Layout Design (Iowa)
58. Free ½ page Print Ad with purchase of Take-Home Menu design (Davidson)
59. Free Avatar with purchase of Logo (Gonzaga)
60. 40% off Text Blurb (Back of Book Text) (North Dakota State)
61. 25% off Book Cover design (Manhattan)
62. Free ¼ page Print Ad with purchase of Tri-Fold Brochure design (Hampton)
63. Free Bookmark design with Purchase of Book Cover design (Mississippi)
64. Free Highlight Reel with purchase of Videography Service (BYU)
65. Free ¼ page Print Ad and square Web Ad with purchase of DVD Jacket design (N. Florida)
66. Free formatting for eBook with purchase of eBook Cover Design (Robert Morris)
67. 20% off Complete DVD or CD package design (Boise State)
68. Free Poster design with purchase of Book Cover design and Book Layout (Dayton)
A lot of these promotions will go fast. Don’t miss your chance for great savings! Request your quote today!
March 10, 2015
Movie Mayhem – Chappie
Every director, no matter how big, small or niche, has their own personalized style when it comes to the technical aspects of the stories they choose to tell. For Neill Blomkamp, that style borders on gritty, dirt-under-the-fingernails machismo with contemplative, affectionate undertones. His mind is fascinated by adding an element of hyper-realism to real scientific theories and breakthroughs, and then tearing the fabric of those theories to shreds in the context of relying too heavily on that technology to improve our lives. In doing so, Blomkamp spends a lot of his energy exploring the human element of corruption with the advent of new power, and digs deep within the slimy grays of flawed characters who match the cinematography and editing of the films that contain them. This style remains in overdrive as part of Chappie, Blomkamp’s study in the wonders and perils of artificial intelligence.
If I hadn’t have already known, the first fifteen minutes of Chappie makes it clear whose movie this is. Beginning with Blomkamp’s signature narration through news footage and interviews of key personal who won’t ever show up on screen again, I immediately felt this must be some weird sequel to District 9, as it quickly establishes the events taking place in Blomkamp’s favorite location of Johannesburg, South Africa, and we’re introduced to one of the main antagonists who has such a heavy accent, he needs subtitles to be understood. Aside from the alien refugees being traded for a robotic police force, the only thing missing was Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley — that is until Chappie started speaking in complete sentences and I realized Copley was there, just not in the flesh, as the title character. And Copley does a very good job here playing a character that must convincingly mature from a newborn baby to full-fledged adult in a matter of days.
To make that happen, Blomkamp takes a big risk by putting his central focus on a pack of clueless thugs that care for nothing but their own self-preservation, then asks us to see them as more than just manipulative scumbags. But it’s a necessary risk that pays off in the overall themes Blomkamp sets up early on in dealing with this new technology. There is a pure joy and wonder in the discovery of artificial intelligence, led by Deon Wilson (Dev Patel), the creator of the robot police force, but at the same time, there is an innate fear for loss of control once something like this takes hold within a society. Thus, when Deon wants to test his new program on one of the robots scheduled for termination, his boss, Michelle Bradley (a somewhat bored Sigourney Weaver) refuses, forcing Deon to risk his job, his reputation and his own creation by stealing said robot and testing it in secret.
His plan runs amok when he’s kidnapped by Ninja (Ninja) and Yolandi (Yo-Landi Visser), who are in hot water after a drug deal goes bad. In order to get the twenty million dollars they owe crime kingpin Hippo (Brandon Auret), they attempt to force Deon to shut down the robots. When he can’t do that, he trades information about his plan to bring Chappie to life and Ninja’s team (which also includes Amerika (Jose Pablo Cantillo)) decide it might be better to have their own, personalized robot programmed to do their bidding. The only issue is, Chappie isn’t programmed to do anyone’s bidding other than the one he eventually deems worthy, based on his own evolving behavior and capacity to think rationally and cognitively. This begins Blomkamp’s interesting exploration of the nature versus nurture concept. How much influence do parents have over their child in relation to how much influence society itself has, and can either be overcome by the other?
Deon tries to be the spiritual father, teaching Chappie how to be respectful, artistic and honorable. At the same time, Ninja needs Chappie to be a brute — a tough-as-nails beast who isn’t afraid to eliminate anything that might get in the way of their goals. These conflicting viewpoints grind against Chappie’s sensibilities to the point where confusion is only offset by the one pure relationship Chappie is able to develop — the nurturing love between him and his surrogate mother, Yolandi. She becomes quite protective of Chappie, and without her, the young robot would remain torn between good and evil, righteousness and manipulation, right and wrong. He trusts her, and in a world of betrayal, lies, anger and hatred, that steers his behavior until he realizes that love is far bigger than the simple strokes of a black and white painting.
The dynamics between these characters are never looked upon as one or the other. Each character has an evolution to them that starts with a particular goal and ends with something far different based on the relationships they form through the interactions and experiences they share. When Chappie first starts to understand and mimic those around him (much the way a real toddler will), the dialects, tics and mannerisms he picks up become normal for him. He doesn’t know any better because this is his first exposure to a certain set of behaviors. But they form the base of who he is to become, which is further built upon when Ninja decides to make him a man by leaving him alone to deal with a group of police-hating thugs, who all but tear Chappie limb-from-limb. It is his first exposure to the cruelty of the world and a mark on his soul that won’t ever leave him. It’s the remorse and concern shown by Ninja upon Chappie’s return home that signifies that what was once thought to be just another computerized robot may just be much more than that, and the moral ambiguity of what must be done versus what should be done begins to infiltrate the group more deeply.
On top of all of this, Blomkamp tosses in a secondary plot that involves Chappie discovering whether or not it’s possible to capture someone’s consciousness and export it into a completely new body (an idea I’ve also toyed with slightly in my upcoming book, Memoirs of Keladrayia). What starts as a pretty minor subplot quickly becomes the focus in the last act of the film when one of Deon’s coworkers, Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman), an ex-military officer and engineer, fixes it so that he can finally test the behemoth robot he designed and wants to sell to the police force. Only then do we see where Chappie’s true loyalties lie, why you can’t judge a book by its cover, and how much influence the world at large has on each and every one of us, based solely on the information we’re given through both our loved ones and a society that thinks they know better.
My Grade: A
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Next week, new movies include Cinderella and Run All Night. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.
