Reviews of the Week

Rabbit Proof Fence

Congratulations to Kimberly, Ryan H, Madi, Anaiya and Michael for being chosen as Reviewers of the Week for their reviews of the film Rabbit Proof Fence.

They will be presented with movie vouchers from Civic Video Johnsonville AND they will choose this week's movie.

Review by Kimberly

Rabbit Proof Fence is full of suspense, and three adventurous girls.

This film is about three girls who get taken away because they are half-castes (that means if they marry a white person their babies will be white).

The oldest is Molly Craig. The youngest is Gracie Fields(their Cousin) and the middle one is Daisy Craig.

Soon they run away from the people who were keeping them hostage. They kept surviving by asking people for food, and they were very clever with their hunting and hiding skills - especially Molly. They managed even to escape the tracker using a piece of clothing sending the tracker the wrong way.

When I was watching the film it sort of made me want to opt out because I don’t usually watch these kinds of movies with not really happy ending but in the end it was actually a really good movie making you predict what happens next – even when they’re older. This movie is great I definitely recommend this to people who don’t mind a different kind of movie ending. It has a lot of suspense and quite a bit of action, I would give it a star rating ⅘ because I’m not used to these movies but it still worked out. 

Review by Madi

2,400 kilometers is a long way home...

Especially for three young girls, Molly ,(the oldest ) Gracie and Daisy (the youngest ), when the three half caste girl are taken from their mother and the aboriginal people of Jangalo.

Molly, Gracie and Daisy are sent on a long trip to Moore River Native Reserve. In attempt to escape, they run away back to Jangalo.  

To find the way home they follow the rabbit proof fence, meeting lots of people on the way who give them food and coats.

On the way, Gracie is taken back to the reserve by the Aboriginal tracker and American police man.

Will Molly and Daisy survive the harsh Australian outback and make it home to Jangalo?

I think this is a movie is full of courage, hope and detertermation. This movie will tug at your heart for sure, and is really enjoyable.    

     

I’d give this heart warming movie a 4 out of 5

Review by Ryan H

This movie is about three girls in Australia who are taken away from their family and to a strange settlement where the government tries to teach half-castes (dark-skinned people who can eventually turn into white people over 3 generations) to be like white skinned people.

The eldest girl, Molly, tells the other two they are going to walk back home along the rabbit proof fence because she hates that place.  Then they go on a journey - and walk 1500 miles!!!! That’s an incredibly long way to walk, the same as walking to Auckland and back - twice!

I think Molly really hates that place and she must be super anxious to get home. Meanwhile, the white people and an aborigine tracker who used to be a hunter are trying to find the girls on their way home.

I thought Rabbit Proof Fence was boring – it had no funny bits, no action or excitement. This type of drama is strange and sad and not the sort of movie I like.

Review by Anaiya

Rabbit Proof Fence is a heartwarming movie full of compassion, determination and passion.

Do you think that you could walk 2,400 kilometers? Well thats exactly what Molly Daisy and Gracie did. These 3 half-caste girls were taken to Moore-River Reserve to learn “proper” manners like the white people, but oldest- Molly- would not put up with that. She stood up for herself and her sisters. She taught the Sisters who worked at the Reserve that they couldn't boss her around. She snuck out of the reserve with her sisters and walked 2,400 kilometers.

They followed the Rabbit Proof fence, meeting lots of people along the way - some kind some not.

Will they make it back to their home, Jungalo?

This movie shows that if you believe in yourself, you can do anything.

                                           I would rate this a..... 4.5 out of 5

 
Review by Michael 

This movie is full of suspense and has a lot of adventure scenes.

This story is about three aboriginal girls who get taken away to a half cast camp due to the law. At that time all half cast kids had to be put into a training camp so they could be taught how white people live.

I felt sad that people were getting treated this way in time gone by. I can't imagine living in that time as an aboriginal person.

The movie was sad and taught me how good it is to live today, though I did find it a little drawn out. So overall I would rate this 2/5 stars.

Week 3 of KIDSMOVIECLUB

Kia ora MOVIECLUB KIDS

As I said on Friday, you were amazing the way you watched the movie Rabbit Proof Fence so maturely. I was hugely impressed with you.

Your review of Rabbit Proof Fence is due on Monday 18 November. I have emailed you the link to the document onto which you can copy and paste your review. Please don't forget to include your name. 

The movie for this Friday is Spirited Away - a Japanese animated film.

A couple of you have not completed the All Stars Review yet. If you wish to go on the special movie-related trip you will need to complete all the reviews. 

I really look forward to reading your reviews

This Week's Film - Rabbit Proof Fence

It has been a few weeks since our last KIDSMOVIECLUB offering of ALL STARS.

Our next movie will be at 3pm, Friday 8 November in Koru - Karaka Suite.

This Week's Movie......

Rabbit Proof Fence

An amazing true story of human courage and the ability to overcome adversity. 

Our visit to WETA WORKSHOP has been organised for 5 December, 1pm. Make sure you get your reviews written and turn up to watch the movies so that you earn your invitation to this special event.

See you Friday!

Reviews of the Week - ALL STARS

Congratulations to the following KIDSMOVIECLUB members for being chosen for.....

***REVIEW OF THE WEEK***

*Samuel Harlen

*Germain Quiros Pellegrin

*James Robiony-Rogers

*Hannah Campbell

*Max Waters

The reviews have been chosen because:

1. They don't get "weighed down" with too much detail.

2. The reviewers express their personal opinions clearly

3. They are concise.

4. They clearly take the form of a review.

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ALL STARS

The movie All Stars is a fun energetic movie with lots of movement and dance.

In the movie, All Stars, a boy named Ethan and a boy called Jayden are trying to save The Garage from being demolished and turned into a car park. The Garage is a place where kids go to hang-out after school. Ethan and Jayden want to save it, what will they do and most of all will they succeed?

This movie is a good movie if you like movement and dance. I think the movie is amusing (it made me laugh on the inside in some places) but there are some boring parts when they stand around and talk.

I think the film is okay. I would recommend the movie to children aged five and over especially if you like dance. Boys would enjoy this movie. I would give it a 3/5.

By Samuel

______________________________________________

All Stars

A hugely enjoyable lets do the show kind of film with impressive dance scenes but a poor script .

So imagine yourself in the city of London and the only place that matters to you is going to be bulldozed. Would you fight to save the shed?

Over all I would give  it a 2.5 out of 5.I thought it was very predictable.

The script was full of bad lines and unfunny jokes.

by Germain

_________________________________

All Stars

All Stars is a real awesome movie about six kids fighting to save their after-school hang out place from being demolished to become a car park.

Ethan likes a girl called Lucy, but she already has a boyfriend and Ethan challenges Lucy’s boyfriend to a dance off over Lucy. The problem is that Lucy’s boyfriend does street dance in a group, and Ethan can’t dance, and he doesn’t have a group.

Ethan sees Jaden dancing, and thinks “this is the guy I need to train me and whoever else is going to help me in this competition”. However, Jaden’s parents have told him he can’t dance because he has to focus on his studies to go to a fancy boys-only school that he does not want to go to. Between them, they select a crazy group of kids and Jaden helps to train them to become excellent dancers like himself (without his parents knowing).

The part that was really interesting was when the filmmaker showed us that Jaden has an active imagination in a creative way by using special effects. The soundtrack was carefully picked to suit the time and place that the movie was set in.

I would recommend this movie if you like dancing and humour. It is a good family movie to watch with a happy ending.

Rating 4.5 Stars

James RR

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All stars

All stars is a mix of fun, romance, awesome talent and heaps of dancing.

The main characters are Jayden and Ethan, supporting them are some talented kids from the local youth center called The Garage.

Jayden is an exceptional dancer but his parents don’t like him dancing.

Ethans dream is to be really popular and rich but in reality he’s just a little troublemaker and a wannabe.

Jayden helps Ethan form a dance crew to win a competition between another dance crew from the garage to help Ethan  win over a girl he really likes. Suddenly there is talk about the garage being closed down. Can they use their talent to save the garage?

You can find out by watching the movie.

                  I would give this movie a 4 out of 5 stars.

By Hannah C :)

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This awesome movie will get your kids off the sofa and outside dancing even if they have two left feet!  This group of five kids lead by Ethan ( Theo Stevenson) want to save the youth centre from being demolished because they didn't have enough money to keep it going. They have a plan to hold a talent show to raises the money for the youth centre. The only problem is they don't have enough time or talent. Lucky for them Akai Osei/Mansfield has all the moves and with lots of practice gets the group ready for the talent show. The kids soon find out that they have some hidden talents which could be their secret weapon. Space Invaders meets Fred and Ginger - anything can happen!

This is a great movie that is suitable for the whole family if you liked Step Up 2 you will like this movie. Over all it would give this movie a 4 stars.

Max Waters

Writing a movie review

Introduction

A movie review should be entertaining, thought provoking, informative, persuasive and evaluative.

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Grab the reader’s attention with an intriguing opening sentence. You may also want to hint at your assessment of the film.

Paragraph 2: Synopsis

Write a snappy synopsis to describe what happens in the film (plot). We want a review to tell us about what happens in the film but not too much! Don’t give away any surprise twists or the end (this is called a spoiler), but do get the readers intrigued. Too much detail can be boring for the reader and might ruin the film for them. You might also want to include information like the names of the actors or other films the director has made.

Paragraph 3: Entertain / Describe

This is the real meat of the review. Help your reader understand what watching the movie was like. Use comparisons to other movies to help your reader understand what watching the film is like. What parts were good? Why? What parts were bad? Why? Use precise language where possible.

Paragraph 4: Evaluation

Is the film any good or not? This is where you summarise what you have been saying through the rest of the review. You might also want to include a star rating out of 5.

HINT: Use interesting language – not “good”, “bad”, “nice” etc. Use a thesaurus to help you.

KIDSMOVIECLUB First Film

On Friday, 18th October we watched our first film as part of KIDSMOVIE CLUB.

Together we watched the UK movie ALL STARS which is a kids-against -the-world type of movie.

We will meet today, Tuesday, 22 October, after lunch, to discuss the movie and to think about how to write a film review.

Questions to consider

At the beginning of the movie, Ethan said that he was, "Living the dream." What was his dream?" What was reality? How did the dream change?

Each of the main characters had a problem/problems in their lives. 
i. What were their problems?
ii. What problem/s did they all share?

Think about how they solved their problems.
What do we learn from this?


Who in the film changed - grew and developed - as a result of their experiences?

How do we know that Jayden has a brilliant imagination?

Was Jayden right to disobey his parents and go to the dance off?

Were the children right to take the principal's keys and to do the photocopying? 

Is the movie saying children should do these wrong things? What is the bigger thing the movie is saying?

What are the main themes - things to be learned - from the film?

What does the dance they choreographed tell us about what is important?

The fim begins, "If you thought something in your city was unfair, would you try to change it? Would you stand up and fight for what you thought was right? Because that's what a bunch of kids in London did." What was unfair?Would you stand up and fight? What is something that is unfair that you might want to fight about at the moment?

Register for KIDSMOVIECLUB ......

A REMINDER

We still have a few places available at our pilot of KIDSMOVIECLUB which will be held this term on the following five Fridays:

• 18 October
• 8 November
• 15 November
• 22 November
• 29 November

Please let me know if you have not already registered your child and he/she would like to attend. The cost is $15.00 for the five sessions to cover refreshments, movie hire/purchase etc.

In general sessions will follow this format:

2.30pm  - begin watching movie

3.30pm  - refreshments

3.45pm - watch rest of movie

4.30pm - discuss movie

Throughout the next week - write movie review 

A Google Doc will be set up for ongoing, online discussions of the movies.

Students will take part in a special session of learning how to write reviews.

NOTE: There will be a special "movie-related" trip for those students who fully participate in movie club - see attached notice.

I have attached information about the purpose of movie club. I would encourage as many students as possible to attend as it will be great for developing critical thinking and exploring different perspectives of the world. This will fit perfectly with the cultural inquiry the school is involved with this term. 

I am carefully vetting all movies to make sure they are suitable and I am also sourcing a range of movies - old, black and white, cartoon, subtitles etc - so that we watch a range of moves and some that the students will not have already seen. 

I have set up a BLOG - http://amesburykidsmovieclub.blogspot.co.nz/ on which I have posted information about KIDSMOVIECLUB and will keep up to date with all the information related to this club. Please see the BLOG post about the movie we are looking at this week - ALL STARS. Reviews of the week will also be posted on the BLOG as well as some summaries of our discussions.

We will let you know in advance the movie of the week and, please, if you have any concerns about any movie, please let me know.

If we continue with this next year, it would be my intention for students to be more involved in the organisation of KIDSMOVIECLUB and the choice of films.

I am excited about this opportunity for students to develop greater appreciation of the wonder of film.

If you have not already done so, please remember to register your child with me for KIDSMOVIECLUB.

Nga mihi nui

Lesley