Coraline!

 

 

 

From the director of Nightmare Before Christmas, Henry Selick brings to us yet another fantasy/horror movie, Coraline, which is based on the children's book written by Neil Gaman. In the movie, Coraline Jones, played by Dakota Fanning, and Coraline's parents, played by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman, , move into a new apartment building called The Pink Palace. Coraline has no friends and is surrounded by strange neighbors. Little did she know her dull reality was about to turn into a crazy fantasy when she enters a parallel universe.

The film begins with Coraline and her parents moving into a very old apartment called The Pink Palace located in Oregon. Once they get settled into their new home, you learn that Coraline's parents don’t really show her much love or attention. Since Coraline is neglected by her parents, she tries to find people to talk to and keep her company, but her neighbors are all strange and the only kid her age is Wybie, a boy she doesn’t really like. In the middle of the night Coraline wanders the house and comes across a little door that takes her to a parallel universe. This other universe is strangely similar to her own, but people have buttons for eyes and completely opposite personalities. Entering this place makes all of Coraline’s dreams come true until her "other mother" tries to trick her into staying forever.

 

To film this movie Henry Selick uses Stop Motion Animation , which is a technique used to make an object look like it is moving on its own. Each puppet is moved in small increments before capturing a photo. Each second of the film takes about 24 photos to make the scenes look as realistic as possible. Each character is made out of clay with moveable joints, making it easier to capture the stop motion technique Selick wanted for this movie. Although puppets were used in the filming of this stop motion animation, not all filmers will use puppets instead they often use real people.

Another major part of this movie was the costume making. All the outfits the puppets wore throughout the movie were actually handsewn to fit them perfectly and look real. For each scene one of the puppets might have multiple versions of their outfits so it would look perfect in every picture taken.

The movie Coraline was very thrilling and kept me on the edge of my seat. It’s a perfect movie with lots of suspense that always had me wondering what was going to happen in the next scene. Although I really enjoyed this film, I don’t think it should be rated PG. From the horror to the appearance of some of the characters, this movie is a bit too mature for someone under the age of 13.

 

 

Season 4, Glee Premier. *SPOILER ALERT*

The new cast of season 4, Glee.

 

Season 4 is here, which means all you true Gleeks are going crazy with excitement for what’s to come, even after the dull and boring second half of last season.

 

The last time we were watching our favorite Glee members, they were crossing the stage in their graduation robes and moving on to bigger things. Rachel was off to the Big Apple for NYADA, while Finn was joining the army, and their relationship was coming to an end. Kurt stayed home because he didn’t get into NYADA with Rachel, but he was still going strong with Blaine. Mike was headed to a ballet school in Chicago, while his love Tina stayed back for her last year at McKinley. Mercedes went to LA for her recording contract, all thanks to Sam and his video. And lastly, Santana had turned down a cheer scholarship to Louisville to do who knows what, while Brittany was preparing to repeat her senior year after only earning a 1.0 GPA.

As we watch the new season air, the Glee club members who are left are all competing to see who will be "the new Rachel." Little did they know there would soon be new people in the club wanting to be "the new Rachel" too. Throughout the episode we get to see parts of Rachel’s new life in New York where she seems miserable and lonely. Mr. Shue holds the auditions for New Directions (aka Glee club) and two amazing people come in. One was Marley who sang "Chasing Pavements" by Adele and the other was Puck's younger brother Jake, who sang "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars. Sadly Jake had too much attitude and was denied. At the end of the episode we are in Central Park with Rachel while she is talking to Kurt on the phone about hating her roommate and wanting to come home because she can’t be there on her own. But in that moment Kurt comes up behind her and they are reunited and about to take on the Big Apple together.

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Like in every episode, the singing is always my favorite part! The Glee members did a lot of great songs during the season 4 premiere and are about to be hit again by Britney Spears just like they were in season 2.

On that note, see you Gleeks next week!