ISU Videos

The Pixar Theory

 

This theory covers every Pixar production since Toy Story. That includes:

• A Bug’s Life
• Toy Story 2
• Monsters Inc.
• Finding Nemo
• The Incredibles
• Cars
• Ratatouille
• Wall-E
• Up
• Toy Story 3
• Cars 2
• Brave
• Monsters University

The point of this theory is to have fun and exercise your imagination while simultaneously finding interesting connections between these fantastic movies. If you hate fun and/or imagination, you probably won’t like this theory.

 

Andy's Mom Theory

 

For a little background, Emily was Jessie’s previous owner that we only briefly saw in flashbacks. When she grew up, Emily gave the toy away, which is when Jessie went to storage. But thanks to a few specific clues, it seems highly possible that Jessie magically found her way into the hands of Emily’s son years later.

The first clue is Andy’s hat. It doesn’t quite match Woody’s, and when you watch the flashback with Jessie and Emily, you see a nearly identical hat on Emily’s bed. And thanks to the size of Emily’s donation box, it’s clear that the young Emily didn’t give away the hat when she got rid of Jessie. Therefore, did Emily keep the hat and eventually pass it on to her son?

It does make sense that the cowboy-loving Andy would have a cowgirl-loving mom. If choice in toys doesn’t run in the family, we don’t know what does. As Negroni put it, “We don’t know the first name of Andy’s mom. We don’t know Emily’s last name. We know that Andy’s hat and Emily’s hat are the same. We know that Emily is old enough to be Andy’s mom. We definitely know that Pixar is perfectly capable of sneaking this in without being overt about it.”



 

Ah, this hat looks familiar. It's the same red hat with white lace that Andy wears. The only difference is that Jessie's hat has a white lace around the center. But look at Andy's hat again. There's a faded mark where the white lace should be.

 

 

 

Mini Review #5

Psycho (1960)

I thought that this was an okay movie. The reason I think this is because it was interesting, but it wasn't really that scary. The idea behind the plot was scary, but the movie as a whole didn't live up to my standards of a horror movie. Now I understand that this movie was terrifying back in the 60's when it came out, but nowadays a horror film has to have so many aspects in order for it to be considered scary. Other than the fact that it wasn't scary it was pretty good. The casting was good and so was the rest of the film. The music was also very good for the film. It made the film a lot scarier than it actually is and now I understand where most of the music originated from because I have heard it in many other films and videos. 

Here are some interesting facts about the film:

• First American film ever to show a toilet flushing on screen.
• Filmed in 30 days.
• On set, Alfred Hitchcock would always refer to Anthony Perkins as "Master Bates".
• When Norman discovers the body of Marion Crane, he shouts "Mother! Oh God! God! Blood! Blood!". Alfred Hitchcock had the bass frequencies removed from Anthony Perkins' voice to make him sound more like a frightened teenager.
• The Bates house, though moved from its original location, still resides on Universal's lot. The motel has been replicated. It is a regular stop on the Universal Studios tram tour.
• Although Norman Bates typecasted Anthony Perkins, he said he still would have taken the role, even if he knew the character would dog his career.
• Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh were allowed to improvise their roles. E.g. Norman's habit of munching on candy corn.
• The Bates house was largely modeled on an oil painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The canvas is called "House by the Railroad" and was painted in 1925 by American iconic artist Edward Hopper. The architectural details, viewpoint and austere sky is almost identical as seen in the film.

Mini Review #4

Cabin in the Woods (2012)

I thought that this movie was terrible. The Cabin In The Woods starts off as, what seemed to be a horror comedy - the cliché college students (a jock, a blonde girl, a stoner, a nerd and a virgin) meet up to spend the weekend in a cabin together. 'Fair enough', I thought. But that thought didn't last long. Here is a list of things that bugged me about this film:

1) The acting ranged from bad right down to laughable.

2) The characters were annoying and two dimensional. I could not wait for them to be killed and was actually rooting for the zombie family, which had more of a background story than any of the main characters.

3) The big red button that releases every monster. WHY WOULD YOU INVENT THIS BUTTON?! In what possible scenario would you need this button?! The mere existence of this button was the best plot twist in the movie.

4) During the entire time of me watching this movie, I was not sure whether the movie was parodying the horror genre or actually wanted to be taken seriously. Either way it failed.

Even though it is a terrible movie it still has quite a few references in it that go with other horror movies and is ultimately making fun of them as a whole.

Monsters in Cabin in the Woods

• Fornicus, Lord of Bondage and Pain
• The Ancient Ones
• Killer Clown!
• Vine-Covered Bull Demon
• The Kraken
• The Blob
• The Doctors
• Angry Molesting Tree
• Snowman
• Toxic Mutants!
• The Mummy
• Merman
• Giant Snake
• Giant Tarantula
• Kinda King Kong
• The Twins
• The Yeti
• Dragonbat
• Plantopus
• Jack O’Lantern
• Sugarplum Fairy
• Unicorn
• The Ku Klux Klan
• Zombie Redneck Torture Family
• Werewolf
• Dolls
• Samara II
• The Huron
• Dismemberment Goblins

To see what movies these monsters are from click here

Mini Review #3

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

I loved this movie. This movie gives us what we all secretly wish for. A chance to forget something that's hurt us in the past. You can almost live vicariously through the two dysfunctional characters that are remarkably just like ordinary people. The relationship problems are the same. The little fights and bickers are things we all can relate to. The acting was amazing throughout the movie. Carrey and Winslet pull off a great performance, both ditching the typecasts that they've been shackled with. Not only did the film give us the opportunity to see what it was like if painful memories were erased, but it also gave us the opportunity to see that everything deserves a second chance. The way it ends leaves you to imagine how the characters' lives will end. The idealist may say that they lived happily ever after, the pessimist may say that they just reverted to disliking each other again. Either way, it leaves you to imagining your own ending. A characteristic many films leave out. Basically, this movie makes you think, What if. It truly gives new meaning to the phrase "You never know what you've got until it's gone."

Here are some interesting facts about the film:

• When Stan (Mark Ruffalo) scares Mary (Kirsten Dunst), director Michel Gondry asked Mark to hide at a different spot each take to actually scare her.
• Clementine's hair goes through several color changes, blue, orange, red, green, and brown which seems to be her natural hair color. This helps the viewer keep track of where her relationship with Joel corresponds to the plot.
• During the train scene, Kate Winslet punches Jim Carrey. This was not staged or planned and Jim's response is that of genuine surprise.
• In the tape recorded sessions with Kate Winslet, Carrey accidentally wrecked the tape recorder when he got so much into the scene, he threw it across the room.
• When Clementine and Joel are in the Montauk beach house, Clementine finds an envelope that says David and Ruth Laskin. David and Ruth are the first names of Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey's assistants.
• According to Mark Ruffalo, the scene where Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and Mary (Kirsten Dunst) dance in their underwear over an unconscious Joel (Jim Carrey) was improvised.
• When Joel is in his head and is visiting his session of the erasing process, no special effects were used to show the two Joels in the one scene. Jim Carrey had to take off his hat and jacket when he was not in shot and had to quickly sit down in the chair and visa-versa when he has to stand up.