Non-film related post

I was in a very heated debate with a few people recently, over who my vote should go towards. One of them thought I should vote for NDP, and the other said that the Conservatives are the best way to go.

Here's my argument to both regarding why I would vote for neither and why I won't vote for a long time:

We are still part of a population that believes First Past The Post is the best voting system. However, there are problems with that. With First Past The Post, we only get a vote per person, so if a province has a majority that favours one party, that's a big percentage of votes that go straight to that party. That wouldn't be such a problem if each province had a population count roughly equal to the other provinces. As such, whenever that big election rolls around, it's pretty much always the east coast that is the deciding factor in who wins that election, since they have the biggest population out of all the provinces. Not a big deal right? Makes elections go faster and to be honest people want change to happen faster, whether it's for the best or the worst.

Now here's where Canadians are presented with an opportunity for a better voting system. If you recall a few years ago, we had an option on our ballots for a voting system called Single Transferable Vote. Single Transferable Vote is a proportional representation system that uses ranked voting instead of singular voting. That means we get to show who we favour the most, then we get to show who we think should win if that first option doesn't work out. It's an intelligent and accurate representation of our opinions through a single piece of paper. It takes longer, yes, but it gets rid of that problem of population by province. And it also means we get more seats for more of our favoured party/parties. While it does mean we still get only a vote per person, that vote isn't favouring only one party, it's spreading our vote out in proportions.

Single Transferable Vote hasn't been used yet for a country-wide election in Canada, but if it was, don't you agree that would be a better way to represent our opinions?

For those who might argue that STV is difficult to keep track of, we have computers for that. It really isn't that difficult, even if it takes longer than the basic voting system we currently have.

As it stands, we still use First Past The Post. Until that changes, I won't be placing my vote in any ballot boxes and I won't be reading up on any of the parties trying to get votes. Call that ignorant, un-supporting, or unpatriotic, but our system is flawed, and change is long overdue.

Edit: I know this is announcing that I won't bother trying to contribute change, but in as rigged a political system as this is, I don't see the point. I would have to travel to the east coast and get as many people as possible to vote for the party I prefer if I wanted to get that party to win. As such, I guess the only party I'll prefer for a while is the one that has the most drinks and happens on the weekend. Also note that this is specifically for country-wide elections.

That teapot is shiny *dies* * teapot shoots $100 out*

The Brass Teapot:

Story:

An ordinary couple acquires a magical teapot that rewards them when they inflict pain upon each other. They discover that sometimes rewards aren't all they turn out to be.

Review:

The Brass Teapot tries to be a darkly comical film that shows how ordinary people can change for the worse when they don't realize their rewards are worse for them than the rewards seem. 

The film starts out like the characters, portraying the difficult life of two people who haven't had luck on their side for quite some time. The first half is in fact the part I like the least, with how depressing yet funny it was. The second half is when the story kind of picks up, though I won't get into that too much. I will say that it tries to have some unique dark humour.

The characters were believably normal, with Juno Temple, Michael Angarano, and Alexis Bledel all playing characters that were surprisingly stereotypical in very amusing ways. That being said, I liked the acting the most. Not the soundtrack, scenes, or anything else; I just liked the way the main characters were portrayed by the actors.

In fact, pretty much everything in the film is focused on humour. Even the dark and somewhat depressing moments try to be humorous in their own ways, due mostly to the various antics of each character.

That being said, I'll get this out of the way. The script is full of jokes and occasionally rehearsed sounding lines, the story can sometimes be hilarious and clever, and the soundtrack is too much of an attempt made to make each scene comical.

It's an overall entertaining film, yet it's not meant to be intelligent or smart in any way. In fact, the entire film is basically meant to make you laugh.

With that said, I found I wasn't laughing as often as I would have if this were a very hilarious film, though the funny moments are still giggle-inducing. This film is more akin to if an anti-stoner tried to do a stoner comedy. It doesn't really work. There are still laughs, but waiting until the second half of the movie for the good laughs is never good.

Overall The Brass Teapot is a good dark comedy, but it could have been way better with some slight changes to everything. I don't really think I can recommend it to anyone. If someone wants a light chuckle, then definitely check The Brass Teapot out.

The end is nigh! The end is nigh! Not really. Troll Mayans, freaking everybody out.

This Is The End:

Story:

Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, James Franco and company have to survive an apocalypse of biblical proportions.

Review:

I have not laughed so hard in months.

This Is The End is by far the funniest film I have seen in ages. An all star cast, some of what have to be the best moments in comedy, and a storyline so religiously offensive that no devoutly religious people should ever watch it.

I mean, yeah it does have a lot of weed jokes and some sexist comments, but if you watch it with an open mind you will like it. The acting is funny, the effects surprisingly big and explosive, and the story was hilarious.

I especially liked Seth Rogen's performance as well as James Franco's. Those two are by far the funniest actors in the film, with Jonah Hill and Michael Cera (to a smaller extent) doing equally amazingly.

Not only that, but the nods to the previous work of the actors were also very well done.

It oddly felt like they weren't doing much acting and were in fact just being themselves, which is another plus.

The story actually makes sense and the dire situation makes a very humourous connection to the characters.

Overall This Is The End was very entertaining. I thought it was very amusing and a very comical view of what would happen if the world ended. I recommend it to anyone who has a sense of humour and likes that type of comedy.

No brains were consumed in the writing of this review

World War Z:

Story:

With a vast zombie epidemic reigning in the end of the world, a small group travels to the most dangerous areas in an attempt to find a cure.

Review:

With epic direction by Quantum of Solace's Marc Forster, and an equally amazing score by Muse's frontman Matt Bellamy, World War Z was a defining and sometimes shocking thrill ride through the zombie apocalypse.

With that said, I don't often like zombie movies. They're too predictable and they never try to answer any questions in regards to the zombie epidemics they create, or they give us a poor answer that tries to show that humans don't know how to handle vials of obviously infectious fluids. Seriously. The Resident Evil films? Someone breaks a vial. Dawn of the Dead? No explanation. 28 Days Later? Monkeys spread the virus. Quarantine? OH GOD THIS APARTMENT IN A PUBLIC AREA IS GOING TO KILL US. Quarantine 2? AHHH ZOMBIES ON A PLANE. Their main focus is almost always LET'S KILL ZOMBIES, and not the obvious solution which is to find either a cure, an antidote, or a vaccine. People are so hopeless in these movies that they give up hope on finding their most hopeful and potent solution to problems of the brain eating and flesh consuming kind.

World War Z halfway delivers on this, trying to find answers to the question of how do we stop these soulless beings?

Finally, a zombie movie that tries to do right and give audiences as much hope as we want these characters to have.

The good parts:

Chases are intense, with guns firing and zombies rushing in huge mobs of unquenched hunger. The story delivers on its aspect of the zombie apocalypse, with each character reacting realistically (with a few exceptions) and resourcefully. Lastly the incredible score composed by Matt Bellamy that perfectly suits each situation and every moment, as well as some exceptional acting by Brad Pitt and a few others. Lastly, the somewhat surprising reaction to the zombie epidemic was a good change for the genre. Sure, there's still massive amounts of zombie deaths, but there's also a feeling of hope.

The bad parts:

The movie was too quick, making what should be a decently lengthy film a relatively short film instead, and certain character backgrounds weren't given more explanation. World War Z feels more like a TV show episode than a film, despite the one hour and 46 minute runtime.

Overall World War Z is good. Hopefully it's the start of more intelligent zombie films.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Henry Cavill in spandex!

Man of Steel:

Story:

To save Earth from destruction by his own people, a young man must discover his past and become a hero.

Review:

We've all seen reboots by now. Heck, there have been so many reboots of so many characters that they have become household names. Batman Begins, Spider-man, and The Incredible Hulk to name a few. Even the lesser known Ghost Rider's sequel was partially a reboot.

Man of Steel provides a somewhat refreshing change to this by doing the one thing that those films didn't:

Making a reboot after an unsuccessful reboot.

When Superman Returns came out, everyone was expecting an amazing movie. It had Brandon Routh as Superman and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, how could it go bad? Well, at the time, making a superhero with god-like powers a very human character was difficult. The closest we had was Iron Man, and he didn't have powers. So, to sum up a long paragraph, Bryan Singer's attempt to bring Superman back was unsuccessful, and the title hero went back to being an obscure object of geek fascination.

Cue to 2013, when something changes all that. Marvel rolls out The Avengers, an incredibly siccessful superhero team up that makes DC realize they need to step up their game. So what do DC do? They bring out a Man of Steel to begin this epic game of catch up.

What are the results?

Read below to find out.

Man of Steel is by far one of the best, most human and emotional, comic book adaptations I have seen in a while. I mean this is a movie that has more humanity in it than any of the Marvel movies out now. Irony being that Superman is actually an alien. This is suprising mostly due to the fact that Henry Cavill, the main actor, was a relative unknown before he was cast as the Man of Steel. I saw his other film, A Cold Day of Night, just a while ago and thought his acting was the worst I've seen since Anakin Skywalker. I had lost all hope in the man who was considered for the 007 reboot way back when.

But yes, Henry Cavill is in fact the perfect Superman. He can switch between being a god to being a human in no time at all, an asset which greatly assists him in Man of Steel. Having Zack Snyder directing with Christopher Nolan producing was just topping on the cake of awesome that is Man of Steel. Each scene is crisp and beautiful, every touching moment is sincere, and every fight scene is an act of wonder and suspense.

That's not to say that's all the good the movie has. The script is perfect, settings were made with authentic feel by either special effects or camera technique or both, and choreography that is fluid and real. All that topped off by an amazing story and great performances by all except Amy Adams.

Seriously, they should have kept Kate Bosworth.

Man of Steel does have notable influence. Some scenes have that Christopher Nolan touch, especially with how the beginning plays out. The second half seems almost like it was made to show how Transformers could have been better, explosions and all.

I recommend Man of Steel to those who want a superhero that is more in depth, and I eagerly await The Justice League of America. This is the amazing set up for what will hopefully be an even better superhero team up.

I can just hear Paper Planes by M.I.A. playing in the background of this movie. That would have been amazing.

Rampage:

Story:

Bill Williamson, a vengeful 23-year old sick and tired of the world, buys military grade armour and guns and begins a massive killing spree.

Review:

I don't like being surprised. I really really don't. When you have a terrible director who has directed terrible adaptations of videogames such as Alone In The Dark, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, Farcry, and Postal, and you combine that with an original idea that is shocking and senseless, you expect it to be a terrible movie.

Well color me surprised when I discovered Rampage, while disturbing and intense, is also a very well done film.

I mean, Uwe Boll, the director and writer of Rampage, just sucks at directing. He simply does. I have no idea how to explain how terrible a director he is, but Rampage was amazing. The sound effects jar you from your seat, the major moments of insanity are outright creepy, and the one defining scene (you'll know it when you see it) is just pure brilliance. Rampage is an intense film.

And before people cry "SPOILERS!" I just want to say I'm not exactly spoiling it. What happens is shown in the trailer and explained in the official synopsis.

With all that said, I have to say I like Rampage. It is an overall disturbing story with an equally horrifying plot, the big violent moments are perfectly supplemented both visually and auditorially, and the one defining scene is probably the best scene of its kind that I have ever seen in an action-drama film like this. That being said, the amount of violence and bloodshed is ridiculous, so if you're one of those types who can't stand that kind of violence, then it's probably best not to watch it. It is a film meant to be shown as senseless, and it succeeds very well at doing so.

Well done Uwe Boll, you finally did a good job.