Edward Scissorhands: a Christmas tale by Tim Burton

Edward Scisssorhands was a Christmas film by Tim Burton released originally in December 7, 1990. The film was a blockbuster at the time as well as the beginning of a fruitful relationship between Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. As it is always the case with this director, this is not a common story nor it fits the cliché of Christmas films. The film tells the story of Edward (Johnny Depp), a strange character with scissors instead of hands who lives isolated from the world until the joyful Peg (Dianne Wiest), a housemaid and Avon seller, crosses his path. Peg takes Edward to live with her family in a neighborhood where everything seems perfect and where not everyone is so willing to accept Edward as Peg. Edward comes to meet Peg’s daughter, Kim (Winona Rider), and instantly falls in love with her. From this moment on he will try to do anything to earn Kim’s heart.

Slumdog Millionaire: a trip to India by Danny Boyle

Jamal (Dev Patel), a tea boy at a telephone company, becomes a mass phenomenon in India after participating in the famous TV program ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’. His life experiences are the key to the answers. Participating in the program is his only way to reunite with his beloved Latika (Freida Pinto). Will he overcome all the challenges that he has to face and finally recover his childhood love?

Her. A different love story

“Her” is a romantic film out of the ordinary where love does not happen between two people, but between Theodore Towmbly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who works writing personal letters for others, and a computer operating system called Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). This story, set in the near future, explores in a realistic way how personal and romantic relations might develop in the years to come.

Director Spike Jonze debuted in 2013 as the writer and director of this film and he was awarded with the Oscar for the best original script. The film was well accepted both by the critics and the audience and it surely made people think about their own personal relationships.

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln

“I walk slowly but I never walk backward”. One of the most famous quotes of Abraham Lincoln captures the essence of “Lincoln” (Steven Spielberg, 2012) with Oscar-winning Daniel Day-Lewis in the role of this famous and polemic president. In the middle of Civil War, Lincoln threads that the Thirteenth Amendment might be defeated when the war is over and that the slave states return. Lincoln’s biggest hopes for the approval of the Amendment reside in Francis Preston Blair (Hal Holbrook), one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose influence might assure the support of the western Republican faction and the Border States. Will he and his party succeed on this challenge? One of the most important events in American history is portrayed in this movie, which proves how Lincoln never gave in on his purposes despite the pressures around him.

Man of La Mancha: an adaptation of “el Quijote”

“Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember ...”

Those are the opening lines of the world known book “el Quijote” by the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes. In the film, Cervantes and his assistant get caught by the Spanish Inquisition and they are sent to prison. There, Cervantes tells the other inmates about the incredible adventures of Don Quijote, a man who loses sanity after reading too many cavalry novels and believes himself to be a knight; and his loyal squire Sancho Panza.

History and Hollywood: Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) is a medicine professor happily engaged to his maniacal fiancée Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn). Frederick has always lived under the shadow of his famous granddad Doctor Frankenstein and does not want to be involved with him in any way. However, after a lawyer comes to Frederick to tell him that he has inherited his granddad’s castle, he has no choice but to accept and leave his quiet life behind. As soon as he arrives to Doctor Frankenstein’s house in Transylvannia and meets his two new (and strange) assistants Igor (Marty Feldman) and Inga (Teri Garr), he will make some discoveries that will change his life forever.

In this hilarious film, the inciting incident, or what sets the movie in motion, is the moment when the lawyer informs Frederick that he has inherited his granddad’s property. From this moment, a series of events occur that lead Frederick back to his granddad and his legacy as a scientist and which will determine his life forever. It is at this point where the direction of the movie changes and transports us from Frederick’s life as a professor to Doctor Frankenstein’s house and to all the mysterious incidents that will happen there.

Interview with my dad

For this assignment I decided to interview my dad. His name is Alejandro García Martín. He is 54 years old and lives in the city of Málaga, in the south of Spain. He is also a cinema lover and every once in a while he goes with my mother to a very little cinema called Albéniz, where they play alternative and not so commercial movies.

Story evaluation: Little Miss Sunshine

The film tells the story of Olive Hoover, a small girl whose biggest dream is to take part in the “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty pageant, and her family. Her parents and her grandfather, also Olive’s coach, support Olive in everything that she does. Her brother, however, does not seem to care much about beauty pageants and has decided to remain silent until getting his dream job of becoming a pilot. Olive’s uncle is also living with the whole family at the moment for having attempted to commit suicide after a loving disappointment.

What film means to me

I would like to begin this post telling a little bit about myself. My name is Celia. I grew up in the city of Málaga (south of Spain) hometown of various artists such as Pablo Picasso or Antonio Banderas. My city is also well known for its cinema festival (Festival de Málaga) which takes place every year between March and April and where the most relevant Spanish films of each year are shown.