More Movie Reviews
Underworld -- 3/5 Stars
A movie that has a female character as its lead and still fails the "do two female characters talk about any subject other than a man?" test. I wanted to know more about the characters and their relationships, and about the milieu and its atmosphere, and instead it gave me action scenes and female characters mooning over male characters. Puh-lease.
Alice in Wonderland (1986) -- 4/5 Stars
I actually have vague memories of watching this version when I was younger--not when it came out, obviously, as I was born in 1984, but some time when I was still rather young. Except for the Jabberwock (annoyingly called "the Jabberwocky") which randomly attacks Alice every once in a while in the second half, this version is surprisingly faithful to the books. I'm not a purist, but sticking with the format of the original books--in particular, in keeping the Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land narratives separate--allows the thematic unity of the originals to show through. (Wonderland is about a world with no rules; Looking-Glass is about a world with too many.) Natalie Gregory was 9 when she made this, which means we get an Alice which is believably 7.5 years old, rather than the older Alices of most other versions. Alice's habit of talking to herself in the books is carried over as well, to questionable effect; I think it would have worked better if we had a narrator to snark at her and provide a counterbalance to her voice.
On the other hand, this suffers from most of the usual problems with Alice adaptations (other than those caused by smooshing the two books into one plot), which are mitigated somewhat in less faithful adaptations. It rushes through the episodic structure of the novels without letting any of the episodes really be effective (sometimes they're so stripped down, one wonders why they bothered to keep the scene at all, because as they are they have no purpose). The music is nice, but in most cases seems pasted on. The special effects are what you'd expect (or maybe even worse).
If you're a big fan of the books, this version is well worth watching. If I had to recommend a life-action version of Alice in Wonderland to someone who wasn't a huge fan of the books, though, I'd probably go with the more recent Tina Majorino/Miranda Richardson (and isn't that an RPF pairing I'd love to read?) version, just because the special effects are so much better. And the Disney cartoon probably does the best job at fashioning the whole experience into a narrative whole that doesn't seem pasted together, even at the expense of fidelity to the original (which, again, I don't feel is particularly important when adapting a work to a different medium with different needs).
This Film Is Not Yet Rated -- 5/5 Stars
A multi-faceted documentary which part anti-MPAA screed, part detective stories. Luckily, I found all the facets equally interesting. I didn't need much persuading to be convinced of the film's message, and had fun watching it go through the motions.
Joan of Arcadia -- 4/5 Stars
This is like three completely different shows. One is an overly sentimental and mawkish soap opera about a boy in a wheelchair. One is a routine police procedural. And one--the one I'm actually interested in watching--is about a teenagers at high school, one of whom who speaks to God. Sitting through the other two shows to watch the one I like is frustrating, but occasionally worth it.
Gideon's Daughter -- 5/5 Stars
Fabulous performances by Miranda Richardson and Emily Blunt (what other kind of performances by those two actors are there?) really sell this movie for me. It's your typical artsy movie about existential angst complete with author-ly framing device, I suppose, but done so well and with so much fun and gusto, and so authentically to the setting, that you don't mind it's been done before.
Man of the Year -- 3/5 Stars
A movie that starts out great, but runs into structural flaws at the end. Would be improved by a more convincing romantic subplot and by a, you know, actual denouement. It couldn't decide if it was a funny movie about a serious subject, or a serious movie about a funny subject.
The Devil Wears Prada -- 5/5 Stars
Now, this is a film which makes my little femslasher heart happy. I just sat there squeeing through the entire thing. I mean, Anne Hathaway. Emily Blunt. Meryl Streep. Female homosocial relationships. What more could a boy want from a movie?
Little Miss Sunshine -- 2/5 Stars
Okay, sure the journey getting from the beginning to the end was fun, but I was left wondering what the movie I had watched had been supposed to be about. Which wouldn't have been a problem if it had been a dark existentialist movie about how life is just one damn thing after another and nothing has any meaning at all, the way the first Clerks was, but they gave me a movie with no point and then tried to sell me a happy (or at least bittersweet?) ending. And no--if you're going to end with a happy ending, you need to convince me that something has been accomplished. (Some of the alternate endings did that better, showing that the characters actually had been transformed, for example when the Dad says "Who wants ice cream?" The ending they went with just sucked.)
A movie that has a female character as its lead and still fails the "do two female characters talk about any subject other than a man?" test. I wanted to know more about the characters and their relationships, and about the milieu and its atmosphere, and instead it gave me action scenes and female characters mooning over male characters. Puh-lease.
Alice in Wonderland (1986) -- 4/5 Stars
I actually have vague memories of watching this version when I was younger--not when it came out, obviously, as I was born in 1984, but some time when I was still rather young. Except for the Jabberwock (annoyingly called "the Jabberwocky") which randomly attacks Alice every once in a while in the second half, this version is surprisingly faithful to the books. I'm not a purist, but sticking with the format of the original books--in particular, in keeping the Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land narratives separate--allows the thematic unity of the originals to show through. (Wonderland is about a world with no rules; Looking-Glass is about a world with too many.) Natalie Gregory was 9 when she made this, which means we get an Alice which is believably 7.5 years old, rather than the older Alices of most other versions. Alice's habit of talking to herself in the books is carried over as well, to questionable effect; I think it would have worked better if we had a narrator to snark at her and provide a counterbalance to her voice.
On the other hand, this suffers from most of the usual problems with Alice adaptations (other than those caused by smooshing the two books into one plot), which are mitigated somewhat in less faithful adaptations. It rushes through the episodic structure of the novels without letting any of the episodes really be effective (sometimes they're so stripped down, one wonders why they bothered to keep the scene at all, because as they are they have no purpose). The music is nice, but in most cases seems pasted on. The special effects are what you'd expect (or maybe even worse).
If you're a big fan of the books, this version is well worth watching. If I had to recommend a life-action version of Alice in Wonderland to someone who wasn't a huge fan of the books, though, I'd probably go with the more recent Tina Majorino/Miranda Richardson (and isn't that an RPF pairing I'd love to read?) version, just because the special effects are so much better. And the Disney cartoon probably does the best job at fashioning the whole experience into a narrative whole that doesn't seem pasted together, even at the expense of fidelity to the original (which, again, I don't feel is particularly important when adapting a work to a different medium with different needs).
This Film Is Not Yet Rated -- 5/5 Stars
A multi-faceted documentary which part anti-MPAA screed, part detective stories. Luckily, I found all the facets equally interesting. I didn't need much persuading to be convinced of the film's message, and had fun watching it go through the motions.
Joan of Arcadia -- 4/5 Stars
This is like three completely different shows. One is an overly sentimental and mawkish soap opera about a boy in a wheelchair. One is a routine police procedural. And one--the one I'm actually interested in watching--is about a teenagers at high school, one of whom who speaks to God. Sitting through the other two shows to watch the one I like is frustrating, but occasionally worth it.
Gideon's Daughter -- 5/5 Stars
Fabulous performances by Miranda Richardson and Emily Blunt (what other kind of performances by those two actors are there?) really sell this movie for me. It's your typical artsy movie about existential angst complete with author-ly framing device, I suppose, but done so well and with so much fun and gusto, and so authentically to the setting, that you don't mind it's been done before.
Man of the Year -- 3/5 Stars
A movie that starts out great, but runs into structural flaws at the end. Would be improved by a more convincing romantic subplot and by a, you know, actual denouement. It couldn't decide if it was a funny movie about a serious subject, or a serious movie about a funny subject.
The Devil Wears Prada -- 5/5 Stars
Now, this is a film which makes my little femslasher heart happy. I just sat there squeeing through the entire thing. I mean, Anne Hathaway. Emily Blunt. Meryl Streep. Female homosocial relationships. What more could a boy want from a movie?
Little Miss Sunshine -- 2/5 Stars
Okay, sure the journey getting from the beginning to the end was fun, but I was left wondering what the movie I had watched had been supposed to be about. Which wouldn't have been a problem if it had been a dark existentialist movie about how life is just one damn thing after another and nothing has any meaning at all, the way the first Clerks was, but they gave me a movie with no point and then tried to sell me a happy (or at least bittersweet?) ending. And no--if you're going to end with a happy ending, you need to convince me that something has been accomplished. (Some of the alternate endings did that better, showing that the characters actually had been transformed, for example when the Dad says "Who wants ice cream?" The ending they went with just sucked.)