She's the Man: Is she really?

I have recently watched the movie “She’s the Man” starring Amanda Bynes. The movie was based on Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night.” Bynes plays Viola who is the twin sister of Sebastian and also the star soccer player on the girls’ team at Cornwall. Unfortunately, not enough girls signed up for soccer at Cornwall, and the girls’ team was cut. Viola and her team decide to try out for the boys’ team, and the captain of the boys’ soccer team, Justin who is Viola’s boyfriend, says girls aren’t good enough. Coincidentally Viola’s twin brother Sebastian was sneaking off to London for two weeks and not attending Illyria. No one knew Sebastian at Illyria and to prove the boys’ soccer team at Cornwall wrong, Viola decides to tryout for the boys’ soccer team at Illyria as Sebastian. The movie wasn't extraordinary but I had quite a few laughs. Like Roger Ebert said, " I didn't for one second believe the plot of "She's the Man," but I did believe for the entire movie that Amanda Bynes was lovable." I agree too that the plot was not believable, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good movie. Amanda plays the role of Viola really well, by being comical. Playing a high school student and encountering things that high schoolers do, made the movie laughable. From wanting to switch lab partners in chemistry to be with the girl you like, to breaking up with your twin brothers girlfriend. The movie was silly and funny overall.

It was funny and silly, but it was unbelievable. Roger Ebert stated, "Can Amanda Bynes convincingly play a boy? Of course not. She plays a cute tomboy with short hair who keeps forgetting to talk low and then nervously clears her throat and talks like she's on the phone to the school office: 'Viola is sick today, and this is her mother speaking.' Can she play soccer and live with a male roommate and take showers and not be exposed as a girl? Of course not, but at least the movie doesn't make a big deal out of it; she has a few close calls, and thinks fast." It's hard to pass for a boy when you're really a girl, and rooming with a boy and falling for the boy you're rooming with. Viola rooms with Illyia's boys' soccer captain, Duke. After tryouts Viola gets put on second string. Duke has this huge crush on a girl name Olivia, who Viola is partnered up with in chemistry. Viola agrees to help Duke get a date with Olivia in exchange to help her get on first string to be able to play for the first game against Cornwall. In helping Duke get Olivia, Viola who is pretending to be Sebastian, pretends to be Viola to help Duke talk to girls. I thought that was one of the funny parts of the movie. While helping Duke talk to girls, Viola asks if he likes cheese, and of course later on in the movie Duke uses that to try and start a conversation. Then in the middle of the conversation a tarantula crawls over Duke's foot, and both of them scream and hold on to each other. Viola screams like a girl and you would think Duke would be suspicious, but then Viola is technically a guy right there so a guy to guy freak out is goofy. Which is what made it funny.

Overall the movie's plot was not believable, but it was a good laugh. Amanda is comical and she made the movie goofy and funny with her forgetting to talk in a deep voice and clearing her throat every other minute. Also there were funny characters like the principal who seemed to do all the jobs at school from being a lunch lady to being a janitor. Viola's mom dreams to see Viola become a debutante, while Viola chews with more then spoon fulls of food with her mouth wide open. Amanda Bynes role as a tomboy made the movie quite hilarious and a good movie for laughs.

Video Embedding

I chose a clip from the movie A Walk to Remember. When Landon finds out that his girlfriend, Jamie, has leukemia he didn't know what to do. He frantically drives over to his dad's house hoping to get help. Landon's dad is a doctor and he asks his dad to look at Jamie, but Landon's dad told him he couldn't help Jamie because he didn't know her condition. Once Landon hears that his dad isn't able to help, he gets into his car and drives off. The camera is close-up to Landon's face the whole time while he's driving. We are able to see the expression on his face, and seeing that we are able to set the mood of the scene. The close-up wasn't the only thing that contributed to the sad and emotional mood, but the lighting as well. The close-up had a dark lighting that set the mood even more. It made the situation seem hopeless and the character himself look desperate for help. The close-up and dark lighting together was able to convey that Landon didn't know what to do. He didn't want to lose Jamie and we were able to see that through the scene.

The Day After Tomorrow

One of my favorite movies is The Day After Tomorrow. The movie is about the effects of global warming. One of the main characters named Sam Hall (Jake Gyllenhaal) travels to New York City and during his stay there he gets trapped in a snow storm. The storm didn't effect New York alone, but also other parts of the world. Sam's dad, Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatoglists and he tried to pursue the president that a new ice age will come if people don't start taking care of the environment. The ice age came earlier then expected, and Sam is trapped in New York. Jack heads off to New York by foot because the weather was to harsh for other means of transport.

This movie was what got me interested in global warming. Yes, the movie was over dramatic, but a message was being sent to the audience. Other then the big issue of global warming, I enjoyed it because it was overall a really good movie to watch. Unlike Cloverfield that made me sick watching it, The Day After Tomorrow kept my attention the whole time. I thought the plotting of the movie was good. There are some movies that are really easy to predict, but The Day After Tomorrow threw some little things at you. It wasn't just all action, there was also some humor in the movie which, I thought, made the movie good. Also Jake Gyllenhaal was in it, and who doesn't like Jake Gyllenhaal?

Except the critics say different. The Day After Tomorrow didn't get a whole lot of great reviews, and got rated 48 out of 100 based on 39 reviews. Roger Ebert thought the movie was silly, but it was also very scary because of the amazing special effects. Other critics said that even the most meteorologically challenged person is now hooked onto the weather channel. So the movie did have a huge impact on what people thought of global warming through its great special effects. Overall critics thought the movie was goofy, but it sent the message through saying that global warming exists.