movie review: Carrie
Carrie -- 7/10
So far as remakes go this wasn't horrible or cringe-worthy, I didn't hate it. Nor did I love it. Carrie is my favourite book of all time (I've read it over-and-over) and I think the original movie is great, so I was really excited to see this and I wish I'd loved it, but I didn't...
I enjoyed that it remained mostly faithful to the book and didn't try to spin it into a new story, it's not a 'reimagining', it's just a slightly-more modern version. Such as, there is a theme of bullying via social media, which I liked, it's a very relevant issue. That helped to bring it into the modern-age, not that the original Carrie story isn't relatable to today's youth.
I think the acting was the best part, everyone was really believable and realistic. I liked the way they handled the Sue Snell character in this version, she wasn't a bossy-pants know-it-all. She was a realistic high school girl just trying to find herself and do right amongst all of the peer pressure, she didn't over-act it. I liked how Kris wasn't falsely sweet and this version of Billy made more sense, not that I don't enjoy John Travolta and his feathery hair in the original. The whole cast were great, it wasn't over the top. The only low point for me was (unfortunately) Chloe Mortez as Carrie, which sucks considering the whole movie revolves around her. It's an impressive feat for a 16-year-old girl to play such a complex character and I am a fan of her past work (she rocked in Dark Shadows) but I found her performance in this to be inconsistent. She wasn't bad, I just didn't buy her as Carrie. The whole movie is owned by Julianne Moore. That bitch is crazy! It's worth going to see the movie just to see her as Ms White. She's truly terrifying, she had my skin crawling. She brought a new depth to the character too, I felt, because there was new weight to the self-harm and her relationship with her daughter was a bit more loving and you can tell more that she does indeed care about Carrie.
The gore factor was freaking awesome. All of the sound effects were amazing and had my friends and I squirming in our seats, some of it was so realistic you could swear it was happening to you. It was gruesome and a lot of fun.
Another thing I enjoyed was how they showed Carrie developing her telekinesis beyond 'whoa, what is this?'. It was interesting and helped build empathy for the character to watch her go through this, testing it out, learning about it and losing her fear over it. It was interesting how she began to like it and tested herself. Chloe really shone in those scenes.
There was a tangible sense of dread for the whole movie, which is an essential ingredient for this story. It didn't get too distracted or hung-up on details and the pace didn't lag. It didn't betray the book or the original movie and it certainly out-shone the second remake, that godawful telemovie. Overall, pretty good.
Click to viewSo far as remakes go this wasn't horrible or cringe-worthy, I didn't hate it. Nor did I love it. Carrie is my favourite book of all time (I've read it over-and-over) and I think the original movie is great, so I was really excited to see this and I wish I'd loved it, but I didn't...
I enjoyed that it remained mostly faithful to the book and didn't try to spin it into a new story, it's not a 'reimagining', it's just a slightly-more modern version. Such as, there is a theme of bullying via social media, which I liked, it's a very relevant issue. That helped to bring it into the modern-age, not that the original Carrie story isn't relatable to today's youth.
I think the acting was the best part, everyone was really believable and realistic. I liked the way they handled the Sue Snell character in this version, she wasn't a bossy-pants know-it-all. She was a realistic high school girl just trying to find herself and do right amongst all of the peer pressure, she didn't over-act it. I liked how Kris wasn't falsely sweet and this version of Billy made more sense, not that I don't enjoy John Travolta and his feathery hair in the original. The whole cast were great, it wasn't over the top. The only low point for me was (unfortunately) Chloe Mortez as Carrie, which sucks considering the whole movie revolves around her. It's an impressive feat for a 16-year-old girl to play such a complex character and I am a fan of her past work (she rocked in Dark Shadows) but I found her performance in this to be inconsistent. She wasn't bad, I just didn't buy her as Carrie. The whole movie is owned by Julianne Moore. That bitch is crazy! It's worth going to see the movie just to see her as Ms White. She's truly terrifying, she had my skin crawling. She brought a new depth to the character too, I felt, because there was new weight to the self-harm and her relationship with her daughter was a bit more loving and you can tell more that she does indeed care about Carrie.
The gore factor was freaking awesome. All of the sound effects were amazing and had my friends and I squirming in our seats, some of it was so realistic you could swear it was happening to you. It was gruesome and a lot of fun.
Another thing I enjoyed was how they showed Carrie developing her telekinesis beyond 'whoa, what is this?'. It was interesting and helped build empathy for the character to watch her go through this, testing it out, learning about it and losing her fear over it. It was interesting how she began to like it and tested herself. Chloe really shone in those scenes.
There was a tangible sense of dread for the whole movie, which is an essential ingredient for this story. It didn't get too distracted or hung-up on details and the pace didn't lag. It didn't betray the book or the original movie and it certainly out-shone the second remake, that godawful telemovie. Overall, pretty good.