CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

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MAGAZINE

The magazine is finally here!

Update

  So I have finally found a software that is free and is well regarded. It's called Joomag, and it allows me to fully develop my magazine to my vision, or at least to a layout that satisfy my needs. 
  Also, while thinking about what to add to my magazine, I've been toying with the idea of adding advertisements for upcoming movies, such as The Jungle Book, The Huntsman: Winter's War, Captain America: Civil War, and X-Men: Apocalypse. Why I have to choose to do this is to give insight about what's coming up since most movies are advertised throughout social media, and some people may not have heard about it outside of the technological world. Another idea would be to give a timeline to future superhero movies coming out to keep comic book fans updated, or other highly anticipated movies in the future. My magazine is about movies and blockbuster types, and for my images, I would include ticket stubs, DVD covers of different movies I have, and someone wearing a superhero shirt, like someone wears a Superman shirt and another person wears a Batman shirt, while staring at each other. Pretty cool, right? 
  Can't wait for you guys to see my magazine!

Links: "Joomag - FREE Interactive Service for Digital Magazine Publishing."Joomag. Joomag, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <https://www.joomag.com/en/>.

Zootopia Review

Zootopia shines in it’s message of anyone can be anything with superb results.

  Disney’s Zootopia is a family-friendly, thought-provoking, and entertaining animated movie and is a worthy entry in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ classics.

  Zootopia’s main plot revolves around Judy Hopps, a bunny with big dreams to become a officer in the city of Zootopia, where the motto is anyone can be anything, which already fits in the movie’s themes of prejudice and stereotypes being accepted. When arriving in the city, she is assigned parking tickets, disappointing her and possibly crushing her dreams. Hopps finally gets her chance to shine when she takes the job of solving the disappearance of 14 animals, with the consequence of dismissal if not solved in 48 hours. Her character blackmails con fox, Nick Wilde, into being her partner and form a bond along the way.

  The plot itself is an allegory for how we are not sometimes accepted as we are, or how people may view for being a different person (in Zootopia’s case, being a predator or prey). Social and political commentaries are thrown through out the movie, with a good example being Hopps delivering a speech in a way that avoids the questions and answers something else, which starts to cause friction within the city once her mistaken message spreads. The overall theme of anyone being anything in the city is metaphorical in the sense that a good guy could really be a bad guy, someone may appear to be, or everything may not be what it seems. An important theme that can be conveyed is to not judge a book by it’s cover, which is essential to the movie with citizens viewing a predator as a criminal or prey as being innocent (a racial issue in terms of the movie). Sometimes, it’s the other way around and the victims are the real criminals, or are using their status to manipulate other people into doing their wrongs.

   The characters are well done, with Hopps’ family background described as hardworking for growing carrots, in a style to farmers. Hopps and Wilde have great chemistry with a partnership similar to previous cop outings, such as Lethal Weapon, Men in Black, and Rush Hour. Movie references old movies with obvious dialogue to easily-recognizable sets/costumes. 

  The animation is incredible, with establishing shots of Zootopia when we are first introduced to the city, and locations establishing cities for other species, such as a small town for rats that view bunnies or other large animals as giants. 

  My overall rating is 10/10 due to fantastic storytelling, great themes presented, and one of the best animated films in the last few years.

Batman V. Superman Review

Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.... more like dawn of Snyder’s downfall.

  Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice’s incoherent premise and unfocused narrative have proved that Marvel has the better of the superhero films, which makes the excitement for Captain America: Civil War even higher. This film has an unbalanced plot, poor character development, and disappoints as DC’s introduction to the Justice League movies coming soon.

   Even though there is little justification to the plot, no clear motives are explained, stories are added here and there, with no resolution, and Batman and Superman barely even fight. Batman wants to fight Superman because he was witness to the destructive events in the climax of Man Of Steel, and seeing all the destruction caused makes Bruce Wayne believe that Superman is a viable threat to Earth, and wants to kill him. Superman wants to stop Batman from justice because he doesn’t like Batman’s style of delivering justice. When the end result is shown, the fight lacks a dramatic hook, and for the most part, Batman is winning just by using a substance of a mineral that weakens Superman. Superman barely puts up a fight, or at least not as much as Batman does. Plot becomes more complicated when main villain, Lex Luthor, shows up and further complicates the plot. Luthor’s motives for wanting to destroy Superman are not fully explained, with little vague hints thrown at the audiences, and create confusion for even comic book fans. He only manipulates them into the fight for unexplained reasons. Lex’s main position is where the film started going wrong in a lot of ways. Storylines, such as Batman investigating an arms dealer, Wonder Woman coming out of nowhere into the story to literally throw us clips of other "metahumans", and Lois Lane’s investigation into... whatever she is investigating are clear messages that the director and scriptwriters did not know what to include in this DC-easter egg filled movie.

  Acting is well done, especially with Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Jeremy Irons shining in their roles as Batman, Wonder Woman, and Alfred. Affleck and Gadot were highly controversial casting choices, but nonetheless prove they can shine in their roles as Batman and Wonder Woman, respectively, and have great chemistry onscreen. Henry Cavill's performance is fine, but with the material given for Superman, I felt that he wasn't able to fully convey his character development and lacks charisma that his predecessor, Christopher Reeve, had, and only good scenes are shared with Affleck and Amy Adams as his girlfriend, Lois Lane. Jesse Eisenberg's acting and jumpy dialogue had memories of Jim Carrey's performance in Batman Forever, which should best be forgotten. I also feel that Amy Adams is simply used for damsel in distress, then hero as if she is a member of the team. Writers probably couldn't even decide on what role to put her in. Some small roles, such as Perry White, Senator Finch, and Martha Kent, are solid, with special regards to Laurence Fishburne as White providing some of the best lines in the movie.

  Visual aspects are solid, albeit small flaws here and there. The IMAX scenes and end fight battle with Doomsday are decent, however too many explosions here and there, enough to have you think of Michael Bay. A particular highlight is the opening sequence that puts the ending of Man of Steel from Bruce Wayne's perspective, with excellent cinematography and art direction focusing on the destruction caused, along with effects that provide substance to perspective and can be seen as how the world views Superman during and after these events. 

  After careful consideration, my rating for this movie is a 5/10 due to unclear narrative, underwhelming third act, and not enough fights between two gladiators of DC Comics. Do NOT recommend it.

First Review coming tomorrow

  Now that I'm changing my magazine reviews of superhero movies to one superhero and an animation movie, some changes are going to have to happen, such as my magazine being more directed towards all kinds of movies, or maybe just animation and comic book movies..  I will think on that one to make it appealing towards movie fans.
  I am stuck with what to do more research to do on...... I think it's time to move on to the reviews... Yup it's time.. First review will be up tomorrow on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. That movie is fresh on my mind and look forward to criticizing it.. well mention some good things, but mostly explaining on how bad it was.
  This will be fun!
 

Softwares

  So on to softwares, I was basing my search on comic book layout softwares with results, such as Top 10 Comic Book Softwares and ComicsAlliance. In my opinion, they are good articles, but what the programs cost are too much. I'm not finding free trials so that doesn't help much.
  With my recent change today, I'm thinking that I should focus on making formats similar to Entertainment Weekly, Empire, Time, and other well known magazines because they are well known and easier to be inspired from. When I referred to Home's review back in March, I was thinking that the review was well done despite the movie not being that great in the reviewer's eyes. I think that changing from comic book layout to plain magazine layout, it will be creative and familiar to others.
  The best software to use would have to be Adobe, because not only does my AICE Media class has it on laptops, but people I have talked to said that it's the best thing to use, and maybe useful to use to make my magazine. A blog by Adobe had lots of information and helpful ways to guide me in the process. Granted it's years old, but it's a start.
  I'm still excited about my magazine and am looking forward to what comes.
 
Links: "Top 10 Comic Book Software of 2016 | Top Ten Reviews." TopTenREVIEWS. 10. Web. 26 Mar. 2016. <http://comic-book-software-review.toptenreviews.com/>.

           "Comic Book Software: The Best Picks From the Comics Pros." Comics Alliance. Comics Alliance, 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 26 Mar. 2016. <http://comicsalliance.com/comic-book-software-what-the-pros-use/>.

           Dickson, Dave. "Creating Digital Magazines | Adobe Experience Manager Mobile." Adobe Experience Manager Mobile RSS. Adobe, 19 July 2010. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. <http://blogs.adobe.com/aemmobile/2010/07/introducing_the_adobe_digital_magazine_workflow.html>.

Planning

  This magazine has been a challenge to do, however I still want to share my reviews in my magazine, but finding a good software is tough. Most of the softwares I would like cost as low as $19 to $80 and I plan to only use it for this project. So much money... Wow. The planning this last week hasn't had much success.
  But, one thing I have found that is helpful was watching Zootopia today and shocked how good the movie was, especially in terms of social and political commentaries. Watching the movie made me realize that good movies tend to have themes and lessons, especially in animated movies, but not as much in superhero movies. I've always liked those kind of movies, but as much as I do, when you analyze them, some are not as good. It's made me change my perspective on Deadpool and I'm already changing my perspective on it.. I think I'm going to leave Deadpool's review for another time and write a review for Zootopia. Yeah, I'm doing it. Zootopia.. Where anyone can be anything (good or bad).
   Why I make this change is because I want to differ between a good and bad review of movies, because my other movie is Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was bad from a critical point, and Deadpool was, now that I think of it,.... eh. Zootopia is not a superhero movie, but that's fine. My reviews focuses on two kinds of movies... action and animation. This change is a bit worrisome in this time of the project, but I think it will work.
                          

Characteristics of Magazine

  Some magazines are presented with certain elements that appeal to a certain audience, such as People's Magazine, where they present an article with images and quotes that appeal to people who are interested in the sexiest person alive, or other topics. This works because they drive to appeal to the target audience, and not only help sales, but word of mouth on the magazine, as the one to check out for this information.
  Comic book magazines are not as popular, as I stated before, because they are mostly focused on stories, or just appeal to a certain audience of comic book fans. I plan to post certain characteristics, such as character bubbles, different word templates, and creative images that appeal to all audiences.

Links: Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://responsive.imancosmetics.com/images/pressimg/2008/people_11_08.jpg>.

Layout

  To start a magazine, you need a selling point and creative masthead/title to appeal to your target audience. My masthead, along with overall magazine format, will be done in a comic book format to appeal to avid superhero fans, such as Clint Magazine, founded by veteran comic book editor Mark Miller who writes about every fiction topic, such as upcoming comic books. This appealed to the editor of the blog, and wrote that it can even appeal to non-Miller fans. I think this was a good idea because the magazine could bring attention to readers who are not interested in comic books. But when a magazine does a layout, people become interested.

   I feel that this kind of format will appeal to not only superhero comic readers and movie critics, but to the general audience of magazine readers because not most magazines are done in a comic book format, so a first publication, and done right, will bring new audiences and allow creative influences to be explored by other companies. An example of this is Roy Lichtenstein, whose 1960's magazines were heavily divisive for his comic-book like layouts. Ever since then, most magazines have not follow this format, and if brought back, this could allow other readers that don't subscribe to magazines to want to because this format could appeal to comic book fans or editors, who may want to see their work in a magazine layout, or similar. 

 For my movies to review will be Deadpool and Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice because these two movies are in theaters currently and one of the top 10 movies most people are talking about and going to see. Also, these two movies had controversy prior to their releases, especially Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, because these films were attempts to establish characters onto the big screen for future movies and connections to other beloved superhero films, such as X-Men in Deadpool's case. I would like to share my own opinion on these movies on a visual, but general, analysis of the movies because one was good, while the other was... Eh. Those reviews will be the primary focus of my magazine, and why I thought the final result was good or bad on a critic view. 

Links: "T E R S C H . C O M." T E R S C H . C O M. T E R S C H. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://tersch.com/graphics.html>.

            Camp, Hunter. "Comic Review: CLiNT Magazine Vol. 2 #1 - Geeks of Doom." Geeks of Doom. Geeks of Doom, 24 May 2012. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/05/24/comic-review-clint-magazine-vol-2-1>.

            "BoxOffice® — Twitter Index." Pro.boxoffice.com. Pro.boxoffice.com. Web. 25 Mar. 2016. <http://pro.boxoffice.com/statistics/analysis/twitter>.

            "Daily Box Office for Tuesday, March 29, 2016 - Box Office Mojo." Box Office Mojo. IMDB, 26 Mar. 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2016. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/?view=1day>.

Contents of Magazine

  My magazine will be consisted of movie reviews, as stated before, and I know my format. I'm just conflicted on what to analyze.
  I have stated that I want to review every production aspect of the movie, from the plot to sound and more, but where do I start? Most reviews are not that detailed, and provide their own commentaries on it, such as Forbes, but what do they critique? Just certain scenes and their insights into their thoughts into the movie? This is why I want to write about the movies in depth, with visual analysis and some commentary about other production aspects, but not to make a joke out of the review.
 Forbes did a review on Avengers: Age of Ultron, but focused mostly on what the movie could lead to for box office predictions, and taking puns at the movie. It's Forbes magazine, so it's mostly about money, but what about Empire? That's a good example of a review because the review touches on the forced, mandatory exposition throughout the movie, yet the "near-flawless visual effects" in the movie. I disagree with that one because some qualities in the movie were not that good, such as the opening battle scene with some clunky CGI with the fight scenes, or the Seoul chase scene where some scenes felt rushed visually. Granted this is all my opinion, but that's what reviews are about. They offer opinions on movies, good or bad, and write about what they thought throughout the movie. I would like for my reviews to write about what maybe the movie is going for on thematic levels, or if the audience will feel satisfied visually.
  I only hope these reviews will be good or can be different from others, and I have to start somewhere... I still hope it works out in the end.

Links: O'Hara, Helen. "Avengers: Age Of Ultron." Empire. Empire, 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2016. <http://www.empireonline.com/movies/avengers-age-ultron/review/>.
           Mendelson, Scott. "Review: 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron' Is A Galactus-Sized Disappointment." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/04/21/review-avengers-age-of-ultron-is-a-galactus-sized-disappointment/#bcb336274a9f>.

  

Superhero Movies!

  After some research and contemplating, I have decided to write my critiques on superhero movies.

   Not only do superhero movies appeal to the age group of ages 18-25, the targeted audience for most action movies, but when most magazines do reviews on movies, their main cover is a promotional image of the upcoming release that can appeal to any reader of the magazine. Most magazines focus on looking behind the scenes of the movie, especially before it comes out, but for my magazine, I would want to focus on the critical aspects of the movie I would analyze/review. I feel that reviews would interest a lot of people who are undecided to see the movie coming out soon because most people base their decisions on websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes, Entertainment Weekly, Huffington Post, and more, to go see a movie. 

   Superhero movies are widely covered due to the expansion of movies in 2016, and tend to be what the audiences mostly look for. A good example would be Deadpool. Empire did a review of the movie that was graded on an "A-F" system and fully provided what they thought of the movie. Before going into spoiler territory, they explain the basic plot and include a quote on the side to give an idea of what they think about the movie's plot. 

  I want my reviews to fully cover what I think of every aspect, from plot to sound and overall production, because I feel that would differ from other magazines so someone can fully see what another person thought about the movie truly.

Links: Concepcion, David. "Why Super Hero Movies Are so Popular." Examiner.com. Examiner, 15 May 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://www.examiner.com/article/why-super-hero-movies-are-so-popular>.
           Breznican, Anthony. "This Week's Cover: Behind the Brawl of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'" Entertainment Weekly. EW.com, 3 Mar. 2016. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. <http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/03/this-weeks-cover-batman-v-superman-dawn-justice-ew>.

           Pile, Johathan. "Deadpool." Empire. Empire, 7 Feb. 2016. Web. 15 Mar. 2016. <http://www.empireonline.com/movies/deadpool-2/review/>.

 

Potential Topic

   I have decided what subject I am going to do. For me, movies are a topic I have invested a lot of time into since I was in middle school, and want to write critiques on some movies.
   To write critiques, I have decided to incorporate material I have learned in AICE Media throughout the year, such as visual and sound aspects of the productions I review. Most magazine layouts for movie reviews are done in a two page layout format with bold headings that create a sell line that sums up the overall review, while main cover image is of the focus of the article or an image from the movie. Some aspects they include are the basic plot points, a little backstory about the director that reveals how that person became influenced to direct this movie, thoughts of the production design, and how the critic felt about watching the movie.
   I think writing critiques for movies I have watched in the past or when they first come out in the future will allow me to write how I really feel about movies I watch. I just hope it all works out for me. See you soon!

Links: Plumb, Ali. "Home (2015) Review." Empire. Empire, 13 June 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. <http://www.empireonline.com/movies/home-4/review/>.

           Dyer, James. "Interstellar." Empire. Empire, 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. <http://www.empireonline.com/movies/interstellar/review/>.

Hello!

   Hi, my name is Matthew Bonfante, and welcome to my blog! For the next six weeks, I will be discussing about my magazine layout and what my article will be about. I had some topics in mind, such as entertainment (movies, television) or travel.
  Why I choose these topics are because film studies and media are subjects I am passionate about, and have been since I was in middle school. Travel is an area I am familiar with because I have visited places around the world and have gained knowledge about different cultures from different areas of the world.
  Yes, these are very different topics, but they are subjects I know well, and are most likely going to publish a layout on one of them. Unless something changes and I decide to write about something else, but I highly doubt it. I am excited about my magazine and can't wait to show the final product.