Review of FF SILVER SURFER

FF SILVER SURFER - STORY: Trying to live normal lives, the Fantastic Four must defend the world against the Silver Surfer, beacon for a planet eater.
FF SILVER SURFER - MESSAGE: As a motivation, duty is better than simply focusing on oneself and one's family. The evil are forced into being evil by others and are otherwise good. Consolidation of skills and abilities wins the day. A superbeing must accept who they are and their responsibilities in order to be happy. It can win the day to enlist the aid of an enemy in order to fight a common foe. Love is a strong force to bring about someone doing the right thing -- or -- loved ones are worth fighting for, even against insurmountable odds. Teamwork is the way to win the day.

FF SILVER SURFER - WIN: Ability exceeding what is thought of as human potential is possible. Storm recognized that it wasn't black and white with the Silver Surfer, and she found out what was really going on then made him an ally. The Silver Surfer's aid of Storm and her planet are a good way to show that he has truly switched sides. The group used communication to resolve differences.

FF SILVER SURFER - LOSE: Promotes promiscuous-like behavior (bachelor/bachelorette parties.) Alters importance of wedding in the face of world destruction. Abrupt shift of Storm from fixation on her wedding to suddenly altruistic. Secrets between bride and groom didn't wreck their relationship as much as should have.

FF SILVER SURFER - EFFECT ON ME: I felt like I should accept and take responsibility for my talents, and should be braver to stand up for what I believe.

Sincerely,
Becky Mate
Script Consultant
www.virtueinthearts.com

Review of MR. BROOKS

MR. BROOKS - STORY: A man trying to overcome his secret urges to murder people, is confronted with a series of circumstances where he must murder several people in order to set things right for himself and his daughter.

MR. BROOKS - MESSAGE: Self preservation and preservation of the family is more valuable than the lives of strangers. Careful planning and skilled competence win the day. The comfortable, stable middle class world not only cannot begin to deal with the vast power of our innermost drives, but it also cannot detect them, and even serves as a way to hide them from public view. Do we really know our neighbors?

MR. BROOKS - WIN: I liked having a separate character he talked to representing a portion of his mind as this is, given artistic license, the way compartmented parts of our mind do operated. Also accurate is the ;ensive look of the fellow because this is very introverting stuff. I liked the fact that the reason for his killing urges wasn't explained with some silly reference to childhood abuse. The fact that he wanted to overcome these urges says that they are not coming from him, that he is separate from these urges, which, as man is spiritual in nature, is true. Also, if our deep spitirual core were left to its devices, it would wish to do the right thing, to overcome the killing urges. So you have the spiritual nature of man fighting against an additive that is not him. Very well done. By making a phone call at the end, he opened himself up to potentially being caught, which is natually what a spiritual being would do, if they couldn't stop themself from doing bad things.

MR. BROOKS - LOSE: In a way, the movie presupposes that the daughter would be inclined to kill because the father is, which isn't necessarily the case. (If that were true then kill all the progeny of killers and murder would never happen again on the planet.) And, it is unlikely that the daughter would have acquired any mental hypnotic orders to kill during an illness, or when she was with him and shocked by his actions, or during a moment of unconsciousness when her mind was open to suggestion. These are unlikely because he seemed to keep his killing life totally separate from his family life, meaning he would never take her with him, nor talk about it to her. It promotes killing as a solution to problems.

MR. BROOKS - EFFECT ON ME: I wanted to see the sequel. Did the daughter really do the murder at school? The cop is sharp, will she figure this out? I'd like to see the sequel be her story as she does figure it out. What nefarious deeds does the wife have going on that she doesn't see any clues her husband shows? Will he be able to stop killing? That would be another sequel I'd like to see whereby he finds a way to be able to stop killing. And, what did he mean that he's done other murders besides just the "fingerprint killings"? Who is this guy?

Sincerely,
Becky Mate
Script Consultant
www.virtueinthearts.com

Review of OCEAN'S THIRTEEN

OCEAN'S 13- STORY: When one of the group is swindled and injured by a casino owner, the group decides on payback.

OCEAN'S 13- MESSAGE: Stand up to injustice, competence and teamwork win the day as does resourcefulness and expertise.

OCEAN'S 13- WIN: The film shows the positive sides of friendship, loyalty, teamwork, skill and communication. It also shows the unspoken communication of two people who are close enough almost to know each others' thoughts. It shows mistakes being made by people of an emotional and behavioral disposition likely to make mistakes. It has a good business model of a group, good leadership and communication. It pursues the concept of group justice towards one who goes too far.

OCEAN'S 13- LOSE: It gives a false picture of criminals as being intelligent, leaving insufficient clues to stop them, functioning well in a civilized group and happy, none of which are true in real life. It promotes gambling, drinking and criminality.

OCEAN'S 13- EFFECT ON ME: I was very satisfied when the bad guy was losing what he valued the most, money and diamonds. It was also satisfying to see people winning big at a casino because that is a rare thrill. It made me want to learn more about efficient teams (honest ones, of course) and how a true group functions.

Sincerely,
Becky MateScript Consultant
www.virtueinthearts.com