Review of THE ESCAPE CLAUS

THE ESCAPE CLAUS - STORY: In trying to balance between his attention-seeking pregnant wife and to Christmas present preparations, he loses his position as Santa to crafty Jack Frost and has to get it back to save Christmas as we know it.
THE ESCAPE CLAUS - MESSAGE: Family must not be ignored. How you feel is more important than sacrifice for a positive activity that affects well-meaning people all over the world. Commercialism without moral boundaries leads to unhappiness and petty conflicts. Neglect to restrain the anti-social person and you will pay for it. A warm hug can melt even the most hard of hearts.
THE ESCAPE CLAUS - WIN: The "weapon" against the bad guy was to love him warmly, as opposed to violence. Jack, accurately exhibiting anti-social traits, didn't do anything constructive and did destructive actions. The worst drug was hot chocolate. I liked seeing kids acting like adults.
THE ESCAPE CLAUS - LOSE: Mrs. Claus was so whiney she made Santa look pistol-whipped, meaning she was operating against him. She made it seem like henpecking was the way to succeed in life, as was being selfish.
THE ESCAPE CLAUS - EFFECT ON ME: Made me appreciate the happy parts of Christmas, and the virtues of it. Felt a little resentment at the unsavory, shallow Mrs Claus and her similar relatives. I laughed during the movie because it had a lot of funny things in it. Made me want to write movies with spiritual-based themes.
Sincerely,Becky Mate
Script Consultant
www.virtueinthearts.com

Review of DEJA VU

DEJA VU - STORY: A man uses an experimental government time travel device to save the woman he loves.
DEJA VU - MESSAGE: Love conquers all, even time constraints. There is always something that can be done about it. Expanded awareness, such as of details, leads to good and life-saving solutions.
DEJA VU - WIN: The lead character thought for himself and didn't just automatically buy what he was told. He observed things to discover what was going on. His co-workers responded with honesty. And he responded with honesty when asked about the circumstances of him being there. He was a solver of problems. He took risks but in a way that he could survive them. He succeeded despite great odds.
DEJA VU- LOSE: His co-workers were a little bit irresponsible for their actions (no penalty for major power outages they caused.) I thought the tears of the female co-worker were a bit too unreal because they had been seeing a lot of other negative things. Also, the attempt to explain the bad guy's motives showed a lack of understanding of how an anti-social person becomes that way.
DEJA VU- EFFECT ON ME: It made me want to be more observant and think more for myself. The whole time travel paradox puzzled me, as usual. It made me want to write the movie I thought of when I heard the term "deja vu" which is different than this one. It made me wonder if the author had read a book called something like "The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" because there was a similar device in there and people went back to a similar end. It made me wonder what the government was researching, and suggested possible reasons for electrical blackouts.
Sincerely,
Becky Mate
Script Consultant
www.virtueinthearts.com

Review of STRANGER THAN FICTION

STRANGER THAN FICTION - STORY: A man discovers he's a character in a story and must confront the author so that she doesn't kill him off like all her other characters.
STRANGER THAN FICTION - MESSAGE: Reaching out from the confines of solitary habits can lead to love, life and freedom.
STRANGER THAN FICTION - WIN: The author was responsible for causing things that happened in the real world. A person need not accept their assigned fate but step up to avert it. Doing the right thing is more important than what others think. Total withdrawal brings bad things upon one. Opening up to other viewpoints can expand ones own. Promotes cookies. The ability to face a tough situation can bring one out of it alive. It chose the right answer for the problem, addressing the true cause of the actual problem. It immediately negated the idea of getting high on psychiatric drugs as a solution. It showed a person, an assistant, helping a person, using just the right amount of good control. It made idiosyncracies into character traits not mental illness. It rewarded noble action. It was true to emotional tones.
STRANGER THAN FICTION- LOSE: It promoted sex out of wedlock. Promotes smoking as something quirky to do (or the drug of choice to address neurosis.) To a slight degree it promoted protesting the IRS by not paying funds generally considered due (aka Theft.) Also, my understanding is that ALL money collected by the IRS goes to pay the banks that loan the government money. The things the baker said her IRS money went to, I don't believe it does; those things are funded by local, state, property taxes, etc.
STRANGER THAN FICTION - EFFECT ON ME: As a writer, it made me want to write my characters more as people. Made me want to write distinct characters. It made me want to do good in my life, and reap the effects of doing so. It made me aware that people in general have idiosyncracies (like how they brush their teeth) and perceptions (file folders sliding against each other sound a bit like waves) and viewpoints stemming from their jobs, etc. (a literary professor used to analyzing "rules" of story addressing something differently than a creative person who can break the rules to serve the story.)

Sincerely,
Becky Mate
Script Consultant
www.virtueinthearts.com