Film: The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys (1987)

            After growing up with this movie, I never fail to notice something new every time I watch it. The Lost Boys is a fun, wicked, yet traditional vampire movie. Michael Keaton is both charming and terrifying who plays well when tempting – just like the rest of the characters do.

I can probably count on my fingers the number of horror films that I think are perfect. The Lost Boys is one of those films. It’s funny, its scary, it respects a mythology and it does something new without becoming cheesy and predictable. Every performance in the flick is top notch and everyone takes the material seriously. At no point did I feel like anyone is phoning it in, which the temptation to do so had to be strong given the over the top subject matter.

The designs of the characters are fun and inspiring. Even the camera shots/angles, set design and special effects were (and still are) great for its time. The “vamped out” vampire’s makeup was subtle and effective and the gore, while only in a few scenes, is super effective and a lot of fun. The story line itself was simple, to the point, informative and even twisting to the point where the writers do a great job incorporating many characters to be just as important as the obvious main ones. I fell in love with this movie again and the ending is nothing less than a nail-biting thriller.

Novel: The Hobbit

The Hobbit by: J.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit is an amazing book and Tolkien does a fantastic job developing and molding the fantasy genre into what it is today. I fell in love with the idea of a little middle-aged hero who secretly strives for adventure. Bilbo (our protagonist hobbit) is creatively structured whose character development is no less than brilliant. Tackling the challenge of many characters and even the epic quest that is this novel only proves that Tolkien is great at what he does.

I remember reading this book back in seventh grade only to be attracted to the beautiful details and stunning imagery instead of the actual characters, their importance and even their individual developments. Another topic that was amplified now, much more than before, was the importance of the different races of creatures and their “stereotypes”. Each creature/race has a special brand given that unites them together. For example, the hobbits are in love with food, the elves are the wise who are good, the goblins are the weapon masters in-love with violence and the dwarfs are passionate for money or treasure (just to name a few). It was interesting to read how the races stay within their own race, which could only lead the reader into thinking about contemporary issues such as racism. Nonetheless, it was brilliant to see how Tolkien used such simple common grounds to united the classes together and overtake, or defeat, evil.

Another issue that came to mind while reading this book was the ring itself. Towards the middle of the story, we meet a character named Gollum and soon, we are informed about his obsession with his “precious”. Eventually, we come to understand how much of an impact one little object has on one little creature. This reminded me of some type of drug that overtakes one’s morality and sanity who now is literally dependent on something so small because of its power or “high”.  Soon enough, this is traveled onto Bilbo who also becomes dependent on the ring, which, admittedly, saves his life but could also corrupt him just as much as it has to Gollum.

Tolkien’s approach to fantasy and adventure covered the basics of what this genre really is and it’s exciting to see how many other authors he has inspired because of it.