(no subject)
What to post about next? Maybe the two films given they've only just been released and so I actually watched them at the right time! I think these were my 5th & 6th movies this year which means I'm sticking with one a month on average... mind you saying that I'm a lot worse at blogging about films than I am theatre!
These reviews will be maybe a little spoiler-y? But mostly the Much Ado one will only be spoiler-y if you don't know the plot :-P
[Much Ado About Nothing]Much Ado About Nothing
♥♥♥
I think the thing I loved most about this film was how much fun the cast and crew and everyone involved were clearly having. Joss Whedon has said several times that making it was one of his best holidays and everyone involved is just endlessly enthusiastic and it shines through, particularly in the party scenes and all the lighter sections.
I loved Amy Acker & Alexis Denisof, how can you not! I'm not convinced we needed the opening flashback/scene to them sleeping together as the text makes a previous... something perfectly clear BUT I suppose it is a fairly standard convention for films to show stuff like that and it made an intriguing opening.
I also loved the decision to basically have everyone be drunk and/or high at all times. Some of the scenes make a LOT more sense if you assume cognitive functions are impaired. Plus the Duke's proposal to Beatrice was hilarious and so was Clark Gregg's beautiful asleep -> speechifying in under a second as Hero (?) elbowed Leonato.
Speaking of which I thought that the relationship between Leonato & Hero was beautiful played especially in the aftermath of the wedding where he was angry and hurt but still clung to her whilst her repudiated her.
Oh and Nathan Fillion makes a PERFECT Dogberry <3
The sex change for one of Don John's men turned his villain's speech (I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace) into something spectacularly seductive... although to be fair Sean Maher only has to be onscreen for me to have fallen head over heels in love with him. Ridiculous evil-ness and all.
I still adore the Brannagh/Thompson version and I don't think any production will ever quite top that for me but this was a valiant effort and I enjoyed it enormously (and will totally get it on DVD when it's out I suspect)
For my second film... well it would be hard to find a film MORE different than Man of Steel to Much Ado About Nothing *g*
[Man of Steel]Man of Steel
So along with just about every review I've seen I'd say this film could have lost 20-30minutes just by shortening all of the ridiculous fight scenes. Particularly the last one because WOW that did a lot of damage but it didn't really... they could have cut to that final dramatic hold without any of the bashing into buildings and endangering survivors.
That said (and action films really aren't my thing so battles? not my thing either) I did enjoy the film. I LOVED Lois Lane. I sometimes find incarnations of Lois quite annoying as writers confuse "hard-nosed reporter" with "awful person" (well they do! and stupid too quite a lot of the time).
I like that you could see she was good at her job, I liked that she was determined but willing to be swayed/proved wrong, I loved that she helped saver herself and the world and also I loved that she was Amy Adams :-P
Also I loved Henry Cavill for all the shallow reasons but also because he did a good job with showing how Clark grew up and the internal demons he was fighting.
Krypton and its society were utterly ridiculous and so was Zod. Really his motivation was idiotic- if he was designed to save his people then at the end surely trying to kill Kal was exactly the opposite of a good idea?!
I enjoyed the leap of faith motif a lot though and I'll be interested to see if they carry on where they go next (hands up who noticed the LuthorCorp lorry...)
Glad I saw it properly in an IMAX though, at least the overlong and slightly pointless fight scenes were impressive?
These reviews will be maybe a little spoiler-y? But mostly the Much Ado one will only be spoiler-y if you don't know the plot :-P
[Much Ado About Nothing]Much Ado About Nothing
♥♥♥
I think the thing I loved most about this film was how much fun the cast and crew and everyone involved were clearly having. Joss Whedon has said several times that making it was one of his best holidays and everyone involved is just endlessly enthusiastic and it shines through, particularly in the party scenes and all the lighter sections.
I loved Amy Acker & Alexis Denisof, how can you not! I'm not convinced we needed the opening flashback/scene to them sleeping together as the text makes a previous... something perfectly clear BUT I suppose it is a fairly standard convention for films to show stuff like that and it made an intriguing opening.
I also loved the decision to basically have everyone be drunk and/or high at all times. Some of the scenes make a LOT more sense if you assume cognitive functions are impaired. Plus the Duke's proposal to Beatrice was hilarious and so was Clark Gregg's beautiful asleep -> speechifying in under a second as Hero (?) elbowed Leonato.
Speaking of which I thought that the relationship between Leonato & Hero was beautiful played especially in the aftermath of the wedding where he was angry and hurt but still clung to her whilst her repudiated her.
Oh and Nathan Fillion makes a PERFECT Dogberry <3
The sex change for one of Don John's men turned his villain's speech (I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace) into something spectacularly seductive... although to be fair Sean Maher only has to be onscreen for me to have fallen head over heels in love with him. Ridiculous evil-ness and all.
I still adore the Brannagh/Thompson version and I don't think any production will ever quite top that for me but this was a valiant effort and I enjoyed it enormously (and will totally get it on DVD when it's out I suspect)
For my second film... well it would be hard to find a film MORE different than Man of Steel to Much Ado About Nothing *g*
[Man of Steel]Man of Steel
So along with just about every review I've seen I'd say this film could have lost 20-30minutes just by shortening all of the ridiculous fight scenes. Particularly the last one because WOW that did a lot of damage but it didn't really... they could have cut to that final dramatic hold without any of the bashing into buildings and endangering survivors.
That said (and action films really aren't my thing so battles? not my thing either) I did enjoy the film. I LOVED Lois Lane. I sometimes find incarnations of Lois quite annoying as writers confuse "hard-nosed reporter" with "awful person" (well they do! and stupid too quite a lot of the time).
I like that you could see she was good at her job, I liked that she was determined but willing to be swayed/proved wrong, I loved that she helped saver herself and the world and also I loved that she was Amy Adams :-P
Also I loved Henry Cavill for all the shallow reasons but also because he did a good job with showing how Clark grew up and the internal demons he was fighting.
Krypton and its society were utterly ridiculous and so was Zod. Really his motivation was idiotic- if he was designed to save his people then at the end surely trying to kill Kal was exactly the opposite of a good idea?!
I enjoyed the leap of faith motif a lot though and I'll be interested to see if they carry on where they go next (hands up who noticed the LuthorCorp lorry...)
Glad I saw it properly in an IMAX though, at least the overlong and slightly pointless fight scenes were impressive?