Going Plaid- Getting Ready

A Year’s hard work has gotten me to this point. It was September of last year when I walked into my international student’s office at my local university and asked about coming to Scotland. When I first asked they said they don’t have, in their school’s study abroad program, a school in Scotland that I could go to. They had programs for Manchester and Ulster and London, but not where I had hoped to go.

That was when I discovered the International Student Exchange Program, ISEP. My University had just begun to provide this program for students and it included two options for study in Scotland, Napier in Edinburgh and Strathclyde in Glasgow. I decided Napier had a better communications program and Edinburgh would be a more ideal setting for me (even though my biggest Scottish crush, David Tennant is from Glasgow.) As part of this program, though, I would have to pay for all my own tuition and housing, rather than exchange with a student in Edinburgh for a lower rate. This meant getting my hands on a considerable amount of money, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I applied constantly for scholarships and in the end I took out loans.

I had been working on my application all throughout that quarter in between my classes and was ready to submit it by November, but the due date for the application wasn’t until March. I had some time to dream and contemplate and sweat it out before discovering that I was accepted.

Once accepted, this is when the real work began. I first applied for loans; after all, what’s the point in coming to Scotland if you’ll run out of money after the first month? I got together what savings I had and put away all the money from my part-time job to help pay for this.  I got a tip from a friend to try a certain loan company and they accepted right away.  My fees for the year, which included my tuition and housing amounted to $22,000. I already had a little saved and a little more coming from my local university, so I asked the loan company for 23,400 when I could’ve been safe and asked for 25,000.

The company accepted that amount and sent the money to my school, which the school promptly rejected. CSUB said I did not need nearly that much to live on and they were only prepared to accept 12,000. I then showed them that my fees alone greatly outweighed the amount they were prepared to loan me.  I filled out a lot of forms and made a lot of calls to raise the amount to its proper place, and it almost worked. In the end the school settled on 19,000 from the loan company and I stopped fighting that losing battle.

I still don’t understand my school’s decision to only accept 19,000 even though the loan company was already prepared to give me the full amount. What should it matter to the school how much I owe a private company? Surely I am an adult and know exactly what I am doing, and surely I would know better than they do the cost of living the country I’ve been researching for a year.

Despite all this, I was very excited; I had removed another obstacle from my path. My next step was to apply for a visa. Since I would be here for a year I needed the Tier 4 general student visa, which is much harder to get than a simple student visitor pass. I waited very impatiently while the border agency first told me I had not sent the right paperwork and if I didn’t send it within 3 days they would reject my visa. They next told me I didn’t have enough money to live on over here, so I needed to provide proof that I was receiving a loan and was only waiting on the school to give me the money.

While I was still waiting my parents threw a huge going away party for me, in which my favorite local band Whiskey Galore played for me. Family and friends came from all up and down California and brought me gifts and hugs and warm wishes for my trip. It was a wonderful party and I’m glad everything worked out, ( I would’ve been very embarrassed giving all the gifts back if it didn’t.)

More than anything else I was afraid my visa would get rejected and my plans for Scotland would come to a screeching halt. I wasn’t going to give up if it did, but if i couldn’t get approved in the allotted time, then school would start without me and I would be stuck.  I waited for what felt like an eternity, and finally I got the news that I had been accepted.

For the first time I was sure that I was going, and the elation I felt was just incredible. Here was a moment I had been dreaming about. I started making lists of things I would need to pack, things I would need shipped over and things I would need to do once I got there.

 Next on the agenda: arrange a flight and find out when to arrive. As soon as all my family heard about my plans they were all excited as well. My aunt told me she had a friend that was born and raised in Edinburgh and her parents live there still and that I should meet them. I asked if there was any way they might find me a place to stay in Edinburgh for a week before I can move into my flat, and they said you’ll never find a hotel this late, everyone’s in town for the fringe festival, so why don’t you come stay with us?

 I couldn’t believe my luck, here was a family, who I never met, prepared to take me in and show me around the city and generally be there for me all year! My family and I met them (one in person, one via Skype) and we made arrangements and asked tons of questions. In the end they became my fairy godparents, I would have been so completely lost without them.

So I went shopping and packed and bought a laptop, packed, researched everything, and packed some more. I got my flight arranged for the 24-25 of August and it only cost me about $650, really awesome for an international flight.  The week preceding my departure was fun but difficult. There were so many friends and family members I wanted to see one last time before leaving and I had difficulty squeezing them all in. In the end we just had an open house and anyone could see me if they wished.

We departed for lax early the next morning. We went along the freeway singing tunes and having a good time. We stopped for breakfast and Mum had to constantly be doing things to keep the tears from welling up. But she’s been incredibly strong throughout this whole thing, given the circumstances. We got to the airport, got my luggage checked and it was time to say goodbye. I didn’t have much time, by then it was 11 and my flight left at noon.  Several rounds of hugs and kisses later I was heading off to my terminal.

For once going through security was a breeze, I didn’t beep, they didn’t screen and rescreen my things and I was clear to go. I wanted to say a quick online goodbye to my friends but there was no wifi in the terminal. I texted my two besties and boarded my plane.

My first flight was about 5 hours to Newark. This was just after the earthquake and just before Hurricane Irene. On the plane I put on my soft music and my noise cancelling headphones put a mask over my eyes and zonked out. I don’t think I slept deeply for very long, I remember fading in and out a lot. I was sitting in the middle with a guy on either side of me, and we were in the exit row so we had some extra legroom. The guy to my left was a workaholic; he had one laptop on his lap and another on his tray table and was switching back and forth. The guy on my right was a ninja, while I was fading in and out I detected some movement on my right, like he was getting up; by the time I took off my mask he was already in the isle heading toward the bathroom, I didn’t even feel him go past me.

Once in Newark I found out where my next terminal was, had some food, and went exploring. I had a little time so I skyped my parents and tell them I was ok. Boarding began from the second plane, and I found out I had a row to myself. This plane was nice, I got 3 pillows and 3 blankets and 3 screens to watch movies or TV, play games, or listen to music. I played around a little but needed to get back to sleep.  I woke up as we began descent over Scotland; I looked out the window and saw patchwork green fields and a deep blue ocean.

We landed, I gathered my things and set off to begin my adventure.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

This film is the culmination, the epic finale of seven books, eight films, billions of dollars and is what millions upon millions of fans have been waiting for. It was important that the makers of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 come through for us. I, as a long time and admittedly biased fan, had very high expectations for this movie, and all in all, it did not disappoint.

When I first heard that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would be split into two films I was outraged. I thought once again here was a chance for the filmmakers, including author JK Rowling, to rifle through the world’s pockets and take everything they could find. I thought they would ruin a perfectly good storyline just to make an extra few million. I resented their decision to split the book until I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

To my surprise, the story flowed well and stayed as true to the books as possible under the circumstances. Looking back, I realize this couldn’t have been done nearly as well if it wasn’t split. DH2 did enough back-story to get you caught up but mostly just moved smoothly onward from where DH1 ended. They could have made both movies a bit longer and more detailed, after all why split up the movies if, when you put them together again, it’s not even as long as Gone with the Wind? It would have been so much more worth it, I feel, if they were each 3 hours long; (no longer than each Lord of the Rings film) and I’m sure they could have filled in the time very nicely for both DH1 and DH2.

That being said, it was still very well done. It was exciting and thrilling and fascinating in a way that only the world of Harry Potter can provide. Most of that was thanks to the visual effects department. Make up wardrobe and CGI were all brilliant. There is a particularly powerful scene where the people of Hogwarts are gearing up for battle. What follows is a great digital animation sequence showing statues coming to life and a protective barrier springing up to guard the school. Since this is a wizard battle, they fight with magic. There are no swords to choreograph, no weapons, just little sticks waving around; and it’s up to the special effects department to painstakingly digitally add in all the flashing lights and make believe creatures, which they did to enormous success.

Additionally from the visual effects department, there was a nice use of age-changing technology. There are moments where some key characters are portrayed younger or older. Normally someone new would be brought in to portray the older or younger person, but it’s much harder to make the audience believe that this stranger on screen is the same character they have been identifying with for years. This technology allowed them to use the same actors, rather than bring in someone new, and the effect was nearly flawless.

As far as the plot goes, they could have mentioned the Deathly Hallows more, after all it’s only the title of the movie. This essential part of the story got shunted sideways to make room for the rest of the film and as a result I feel it is very lacking in explanation. All it would have taken was a few seconds of well-chosen dialogue at the end to successfully summarize the significance of the Deathly Hallows, but they didn’t do it.

The end battle was great to watch. It really captured the essence of the book well, though the final Harry/Voldemort faceoff could have been done better. The book shows it as a seven-page dialogue, where Harry reveals some key information, and if repeated on film exactly as in the book, it would have looked very anticlimactic. I don’t begrudge them spicing it up a little, but dueling and dialogue don’t go together, and this key information needed to be revealed somehow. They added a cheesy few lines that were not effective and only made the fight look awkward. Furthermore, everyone in the castle was supposed to be watching this epic battle. This is the crucial moment, the reason the stories exist and I think it would have had more impact if all fighting around them stopped as both sides watched Harry and Voldemort’s final duel.

By far the best scene was when Harry enters the memories of supposed dark wizard Severus Snape. Alan Rickman deserves an Oscar for his performance in this role. He is nothing short of captivating and I don’t think Rowling herself could have asked for a better actor to play this role. All throughout the series Snape has been the most dynamic and most mysterious character; his story finally comes together and becomes the pivotal point of the film. They needed a phenomenal actor to convey this character and Rickman was perfect.

The acting from all the cast was very well done, I particularly enjoyed Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of Bellatrix Lestrange, and Matt Lewis as Neville Longbottom. There are only a handful of moments in any film that I can say are better than the book and Neville’s monologue is one of them. It was heartwarming and defiant and really shows how courageous he is in the face of danger. Another moment I enjoyed more than the book was Harry’s speech to Snape; it was much more powerful and fantastic than what I had imagined. It also was great to see a number of characters returning from previous films to help in the fight.

The reason it has taken me so long to write this review is I had not yet had the opportunity to see it in 3D. Now that I have I wish I had just written the review. DH2 in 3D was OK but not great. There were quite a few parts that really needed 3D, like the battle scenes, that somehow just fell short. I felt like I was still watching it in 2D. The day has come and gone where 3D needs to be gimmicky with pop-outs and stuff flying in your face at every moment. Instead, 3D is supposed to enhance the overall experience. For me, at an extra three dollars per ticket at the box office, I was hoping the 3D version would be a little snazzier and it just wasn’t. The biggest 3D moment was when a certain dark wizard is destroyed and he disintegrates into many pieces. The ashy bits of him float up in your face and it feels so gross. Apparently, that scene the best they could do with their 3D technology, but it was an overall unpleasant effect and the least appealing of the pop-out moments.

Composer Alexandre Desplat should be commended for his great use of music. It was very soft and subtle; it didn’t overpower the scenes at all. It was dark and dangerous and then switched to hopeful and uplifting in all the right places. He also went back to basics. There were threads of the original score from the first film woven into this score, which enhanced the magical feeling of it and made me remember how it all began. Equally as impressive was the use of silence, in the most vital moments the silence and stillness made the scenes extremely powerful. Not a shuffle of snacks or even the sound of breathing was heard in the theater at these moments. I haven’t heard a Harry Potter score this brilliant since Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was a great success. It was much more accurate and more fun to watch than many of the others. There are rumors that this film will have a huge number of deleted scenes which will be included in the DVD, and I hope this is true. I really want to see if anything that was lacking will be made up for with these scenes. I will definitely be seeing it again and I hope you all will too. I do suggest watching DH1 as a sort of refresher course before you see DH2, especially if you haven’t read the books (though if you haven’t by now, what is wrong with you?)

Your Car Doesn't Care

Driving is like a rite of passage in this country, especially for teens. Nobody can describe that feeling of exaltation when you get behind the wheel on your own for the first time. As a new driver your possibilities are limitless. You can take a road trip to the coast with your friends, your parents can send you out to pick up groceries, and you can sleep in on weekday mornings because you know you won’t have to catch the bus to school.

Whether it was given to you as a 16^th birthday present, or you built it up from scratch; a person’s relationship with their car is almost akin to that of family or friendship. You take care of your car and give it what it needs, and in return it works reliably for you, doing what you want it to do and taking you where you want to go. Your car doesn’t judge you, doesn’t discriminate, and doesn’t care about what else you do while you’re driving.

Your car doesn’t care how you look, with your fruit-flavored shimmery pink lip gloss or your XXL mascara. It won’t tell you you’re fat, or pimply or wearing too much makeup. Your car doesn’t care if you’re not wearing shoes, because those spike heels you wore to the prom are too uncomfortable to wear now.

Your car doesn’t care that you don’t buckle your seat belt. After all you’re only driving five minutes away from home, what’s the worst that could happen?

Your car doesn’t care if you’re going to be the next singing sensation on American Idol, or a multi-platinum rap star. It doesn’t care if you spit the maddest lyrics or belt out that high note while the radio plays your favorite song.

Your car doesn’t care that you are a dancing diva, that you can bust a move to any beat, any time, any place. It doesn’t applaud for you when you strut your stuff at the traffic light.

Your car doesn’t care that you absolutely MUST hear that song on your IPod, or that it takes you a few minutes to look for it. It doesn’t care that your stereo is hard to navigate or that you have to look away from the road to do it.

Your car doesn’t care how well you multitask, that you can read a book, finish that crossword or wrap up your homework assignment due today. It won’t be impressed that you pulled an all-nighter studying for that big exam, and that sleep is about to catch up with you.

Your car doesn’t care that your friend just texted you the biggest news: that she won a pair of Lady Gaga tickets and you’re coming with her to the concert. It doesn’t care that you just HAVE to respond with a quick “OMG LOL :D,” with your hands off the wheel and eyes off the road. It doesn’t listen when you say you can handle it because you have the fastest thumbs in the west.

Your car doesn’t care that your boss is calling to tell you off for being late to work again, or that you have to answer her RIGHT NOW otherwise you may lose your job. It doesn’t have any sympathy for you when you can’t afford Bluetooth, and have to hold the phone up to your ear.

Your car doesn’t care about the crazy parties you go to, or how well you can hold your liquor. It doesn’t mind that you drive home afterward, even though you know it’s against the law. It doesn’t respond when you tell yourself you’re still OK to drive.

Your car doesn’t care how daring you are, that you are not afraid to race your friends, play chicken, or set your own personal land speed record.

Your car doesn’t care that you juggle too many tasks, and says nothing when you put those tasks at a higher priority than your own safety.

Your car doesn’t care when a little boy chases his ball into the road, or that you are too distracted to notice him. It doesn’t warn you to look out, brake, or move out of the way.

And your car doesn’t care if you end up splattered on the pavement.

So, just who are you trying to impress?

The Hangover 2 review

The hangover 2 is supposed to be one of the funniest movies of the year. Whoever decided that must be on whatever drugs the characters took. It was a little funny but all the humor in the sequel could have been found in the original movie. And what little humor there was in no way made up for the scars on my retinas for the crude images flaunted incessantly. At times it was literally painful to watch.

The ushers were definitely right to check IDs at the entrance, because this movie should have been rated NC-17. It also largely employed dumb humor. It reminded me of a high school freshman who thinks cursing and being vulgar is cool and takes it to the extreme just to fit in. If the whole thing was filmed in an inventive, neat or artful way, then it might have made up for its obvious lack of propriety, but no; the filming techniques were pretty typical, reusing some motifs from the first film, and bringing nothing new to the table.

The full frontal male nudity was uncomfortable to watch, and I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would have been if I had seen the film with any members of my family. The idea of the smoking drug dealing monkey was cool and pretty original, not to mention the monkey was a better actor than some of the people. The character Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis, was annoying and dumb. It was hard to believe that a character like that had any friends. The others were not much better. The constantly freaked out groom-to-be, Stu, played by Ed Helms, grated on your nerves after a while, and I’m not sure if best man, Phil, played by Bradley Cooper even had a purpose in this film.

The story was superficial at best and even though it wasn’t predictable, you almost didn’t care what happened in the plot because you knew they would get out of it safely and everything would be OK. It was easy to root out the source of drugs that caused the crazy night; too much emphasis was put into foreshadowing that scene so it was super easy to catch.

This movie was all about shock and eww. There was not much to it but gross-out humor, drug induced stupidity, and uncomfortably embarrassing situations. Word to the wise, don’t watch this with your family. If you liked the first one, and you don’t mind repetition and being scarred for life, then this is the movie for you.

I rate this movie 2 out of five stars and hope that others like it more than I did.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides review

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was one of the most anticipated releases of the summer, but as far as I’m concerned, it didn’t quite live up to the hype. There were a couple great things about this movie, and their names are Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush. Their acting was pretty fantastic, as it was in all the previous films. Something unique to On Stranger Tides is you finally see the opposing characters working together rather than constantly fighting. Their dynamic was perfect, but I must say Geoffrey Rush as captain Barbossa kind of stole the show for me. His character still had a sense of mystery when I had all the others figured out.

Seeing it in 3D added a bit of depth (pun intended) to the experience, but it’s not worth paying an extra three dollars for. After all, what’s the point in shelling out extra money when you don’t feel like everything is flying right at you? The music was great as ever, the composer interlaced new themes with the old classics, and the sea chantey “My Jolly Sailor Bold” sung by mermaid Gemma Ward, was hauntingly beautiful. It had many good qualities but like many sequels it simply wasn’t up to par with the rest. Unfortunately people no longer expect excellence, especially with sequels, so most people will undoubtedly like this more than I did.

The Pirates story was meant to be a trilogy. Number three (At World’s End) ended very well, with the vanquish of two villains, a happily ever after, and a nod to eternal pirate adventures in the future. The audience knows the story goes on, you don’t need another movie to tell it. For the most part, it was a rehashing of old fight scenes, insufferable tedious characters, and Jack Sparrow’s repetitive captures and escapes. Penelope Cruz as Angelica was not very good at all, but to be fair she did the best with what she was given, which was a limited dose of talent and a weak character.

I liked the subtle nods to the Disneyland theme park ride on which all these movies were based. It gave Disney fans a little treat that others may not have noticed. Another treat was when Dame Judi Dench had a short cameo in the beginning.

The best thing about this movie was the mermaid scene. These deadly yet enchanting creatures really captured the mystery behind these pirate myths. A big fuss was made about Blackbeard and how he was supposed to be so terrifying but didn’t feel it. He was certainly cold and heartless, but I think the writers put in a lot more effort into the Davy Jones character of the previous films. All it took was one movie to take down the most renown and feared pirate in all folklore when the previous villains needed two movies and a sea goddess to do the job. All in all, this was a last-ditch effort to squeeze a bit more money out of the franchise before putting it to bed. I would suggest seeing a matinee showing or going to the theater on a promotional night so as not to pay full price.

I would rate this film three stars out of five.

Harry Potter 7.0 (The Deathly Hallows Part I)

Having been a big supporter of the Harry Potter series since the very first book, it is nearly impossible for me to be an impartial observer of any of the books or films. So instead I'll recount how the movie impacted me subjectively

As with most good films, I was able to lose myself in the story. I was no longer a person sitting in a theater on the outside, I was in the action, running for my life from Death Eaters and traveling all over the country with Harry Ron and Hermione.

This film is based off the first half of the seventh book in the series. The filmmakers split the seventh book into two films so they don't have to condense over 10 hours of book into three hours of movie. With this new format they were able to go into much more detail that they didn't get out of the previous book-to-film transitions.

However, it does create complications for the next movie. Though this film has intensity and action in its own right, it is mostly exposition and rising action that will lead ultimately to the climax in the next film. This means that the next film will have all the action, and this movie, by comparison, will ultimately fall by the wayside.

The Deathly Hallows follows the story of Harry's quest to find and destroy Horcruxes, which will allow him to kill the dark lord Voldemort. His mentor Dumbledore is dead and Harry and his friends are on their own. They begin to learn about the mysterious Deathly Hallows, objects that make the possessor conqueror of death, and Harry begins a search for these too. Their paths lead them ultimately to the great wizarding war and Harry and Voldemort have a final showdown. The film, however, is cut off before the war begins and the audience is left with a cliffhanger ending.

The best part of the movie by far is when they recount the story of the Deathly Hallows. It is when Hermione is reading about the story of the Three Brothers from a children's book and animation is used to display the tale visually. The animation looks like hand-drawn ink on parchment and reminds me of the same animation used for classic Tim Burton films. It was fantastically done and displayed the story better than I could have imagined it.

Every time there is a book converted to film there are things, as a fan, that you would do differently, and the same goes for this film. There is a specific moment in the book when Ron as a character takes a tremendous leap forward and reveals himself as much more than just Harry's sidekick. They do a great job in portraying this moment onscreen with the special effects, but they cut his character short when they decide to insert a little humor at the end, rather than show real emotion and character development. In the book you see Ron in a whole new light, in the movie you think "same old Ron."

There are other things in the dialogue that would have been easy to change. Since the book relies heavily on dialogue, fans want to hear the same lines in the film that they read in the book. In some cases it would have taken hardly any time at all to incorporate a line from the book and the film could have been SO much stronger. And on the other hand, there were things they added that were not necessary and made the film weaker.

The acting ability from the three main characters has slowly improved over the last few films. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry has stopped looking constipated when he is portraying anger and Emma Watson as Hermione can actually convey emotion without looking fake. But the strongest performance, I think, came from Rupert Grint as Ron. Over the course of the film he has to be funny, serious, jealous, remorseful, in love, frightened, angry, gravely injured, foolish, and occasionally insightful; and he pulls these emotions off almost flawlessly.

Harry has certain dream sequences that reveal important parts of the plot and foreshadow events to come. These scenes could have been done better. In order to make it look like a dream and separate it from reality they often made it a series of short snippets of footage usually blurry and convoluted. It was hard to glean any information at all from these dreams and so the audience missed out on essential plot points. You would have to have read the book to understand what is really going on during these dreams.

All in all, they did a much better job in this film than others before it. Any changes I would have made to this film are minor in comparison to what I would change in the fourth fifth and sixth movies. It was exciting, fun, and fantastic. If this movie is any indication, then we are well on our way toward the truly epic finale that the Harry Potter series deserves.

Hot Tub Time Machine

If my hot tub were a time machine I would gladly hop in and go back in time to before I saw this pointless movie.

Hot Tub Time Machine was dumb, but not in a funny way. Usually when a movie employs stupid humor, there's a satirical edge to it, like in Zoolander when they made fun of the modeling profession, or Idiocracy, where they point out the dumbing down of the entire human race. Hot Tub Time Machine, though, had all the stupidity and none of the humor.

It follows the story of three best friends who have fallen out of touch and become middle aged and miserable. After one of the friends attempts suicide the other two and a nephew take him to a ski resort they all frequented as young adults. They get drunk in a hot tub and are transported back to the 80s to relive the experiences they had.

The F-word in this movie is nothing more than a filler word to use when there's a lull in the dialogue. Even though it has become common now to use crude language in everyday conversation, I thought it brought this film down on the IQ scale. The writers were probably just reflecting the norms of society by trying to copy the sort of dialogue used by teens today. However, movies today are considered memorable or not by the list of funny quotes people remember. If a movie isn't quotable, it isn't memorable and the endless F-bombs and crude language just served to make the movie easily forgettable.

The themes weren't any better. The main storyline revolves around sex, drugs, and partying. The main purpose of life, according to this movie, is to damn the consequences and live for the moment. The three main characters were more focused on fixing what happened in the past, they forgot about what changing the past would mean for the future. The youngest character, the nephew, is the only one who actually cares about getting back to the present, because his friends' actions might make it so he was never born.

John Cusack, the headliner for this film, stayed mostly in the background. He didn't do a noticeably bad job, but he didn't do a noticeably good job either, making his performance mediocre at best. Clark Duke, who played Cusack's nephew Jacob, did pretty well as a sarcastic and awkward teen, which made it a weird transition when his character suddenly became the responsible adult and the only voice of reason in the group.

Rob Corddry, who played the crazy, out of control friend, Lou, did a pretty believable job. I don't know if that means he himself is stupid and crazy, or if he genuinely can act as such. His character had all the pratfalls and funny lines (if any of the lines could be called funny) but I easily got bored with his character doing the same things over and over again.

The only redemption in this movie comes from Craig Robinson's performance as Nick Webber. He brought real emotion, humor, and strength to his part, and his character was the only one who actively changed his future for the better before returning to the present. He changed from the experience and was a better man for it.

I feel less intelligent for having watched this movie. The good parts were not nearly good enough to make up for all the bad, and I ended the night at a loss.