At the Movies
I've managed to snag a lot more time for movie watching lately than I generally do and some of the movies I've seen are actually mention-worthy. For anyone who cares, here are my comments on the lot.
:p Okay, so my cut text for Twilight sounds a little harsh, but I started off the movie disappointed. The visuals were very pretty, and some letdown is expected when you read a 500 + page book before seeing it condensed into under two hours of film... But the actors just started off so awkward in the film. Did anyone else feel that way? Like, if the Cullens behaved that strangely, really, there's no way they wouldn't be made for what they are in no time. I can't quite pinpoint the problem, but the characters just didn't translate onto the screen from the bookpages as smoothly as I would have liked. And not just the Cullens - Bella seemed extremely awkward to me, as well. Perhaps casting is too blame? And yet I really enjoyed most of the casting decisions for the characters. I'd seen too many promos of the movie before reading the book to picture Edward as anyone but Robert Patterson :p (And, believe me, I tried). But Stewart makes a great Bella (zombie-like moments aside) and they cast the perfect Jacob :) I'd pictured Alexis Denisof as Carlisle (don't laugh!) but the guy they got was good, too.
My favorite bits of the movie? The little details they added in - like the frame full of graduation caps, the shotgun-cleaning going on when Bella's dad first meets Edward, and the fact that the Cullens tried to cook dinner for Bella :D Also, Edward's line near the very end. 'I leave you alone for two seconds, and already the wolves descend.' Foreshadowing, yay!
In other news, I loved the book version of Twilight. I love a good, long read - particularly when it involves pretty boys and vampires (or pretty boys that are vampires) - in general. I'm staring New Moon now.
How much do I love British films? It seems like the majority that make it to mainstream (or just-about-mainstream) America are so quirky and intense. In Bruges is no different. The dialogue is what kills me. From beginning to end - through the maudlin and the maybe-almost-sorta-happy - the dialogue is hilarious in just that dry, sarcastic way that I like best. Collen Farrell is a big part of pulling that off, but there are plenty of great lines to go around in this flick. Plenty of other great things, too. Like heroes and villains that are neither one or the other exclusively; unexpected things like Jimmy, the horse-tranquilizer-taking midget; and unexpectedly touching things like the way Ray weeps over that little boy and Ken's defense of Ray, at the coffee shop and in the bell tower. Even my sister enjoyed this movie, and I'm talking about the one who faints (I mean it, literally) at just the thought of blood. There's quite a bit of blood in In Bruges. Sheesh.
Sorrority Boys is one of those movies that you know is gonna be bad before you even begin to watch it :p Not 'bad' as in 'badly done' or 'badly conceived'. Just... bad. As in, you know you are watching this movie for no other purpose than to see Michael Rosenbaum in a dress :p Bad as in you know swashbuckling will be had, at some point, with dildos. But that's okay, because one of the swashbucklers will be Michael Rosenbaum - in a dress. And yet the movie didn't disappoint me. There were some funny moments. 'Adena' was a little bit heartbreaking, honestly, and the romance involving the main character (his name escapes me) was ridiculous but fun. Let's just face it, I'd watch a Taco Bell commercial if it had Michael Rosenbaum on it :p But I can't say that I regretted watching this movie, regardless.
But speaking of regrets... I wish I liked the movie Hitman more than I do. The main character isn't entirely my cup of tea... He isn't pretty, but at times he can be endearing. He isn't charming - in fact, he's often downright creepy - but he kind of grows on you throughout the film, and by the end, I want him and his Russian prostitute to run off into the vineyards and live happily ever after :p He's very badass - which, I suppose is the point. I guess the real problem is that I just don't understand the movie. I don't understand who really set him up, or why, even after the movie tries to explain it. I don't know where the other assassin came from that was waiting in the church tower, or why the main character had a key for that room before things went to shit and he knew he'd need to be there.
Most of all, I don't know why the opening sequence of the movie is an almost exact copy of the '09 footage of the X5s in Dark Angel :p I kid you not... the scenes of the kids marching down the Manticore hallways... they practically borrowed those little, paper outfits from the DA costume department! The scene with the underwater training, and the mental conditioning... They even had that shot where Max is in a chair, looking up into the bright lights and the face of a masked doctor... And shots that could have been taken from the scenes of the '09 X5's escape - with two of the X5s crawling up a chain link fence, and the moment before Jack dies. Weird. Could they really have been unaware of those similarities when they made this movie? Plus, the barcodes... Or did the game this movie was based on come before the tv show? Was James Cameron the copycat? It was just really disconcerting. I was probably put off before the movie really begun, which is unfair to it I know. It's not like I could vehemently object to the movie's quality, even if I felt that passionately bad about it :p My brother-in-law is a die-hard gamer and knows all the games and their spawn like the back of his hand. We have a deal. He doesn't diss Ewan McGregor or Jensen Ackles (loud enough for me to hear him). And I don't call that one show Samurai Shampoo or make fun of anybody who'd describe a guy as 'the one who smells like sunflower seeds' :p
The greatest effect of all of this? I will have to be updating my userpics to add an icon of Adena and the Cullens. And I've got to find some way to crossover Hitman with Smallville :p I can just see a young 47 sneaking away from the Organization and hiding out in Lex's dormroom at Excelsior :p They're both bald and I could pretend that their faces looked more alike... They could do the whole twins-taking-turns-pretending-to-be-one-person routine. Then 47 could scare the crap out of Oliver Queen and teach Lex to be a badass. It would be awesome.
:p Okay, so my cut text for Twilight sounds a little harsh, but I started off the movie disappointed. The visuals were very pretty, and some letdown is expected when you read a 500 + page book before seeing it condensed into under two hours of film... But the actors just started off so awkward in the film. Did anyone else feel that way? Like, if the Cullens behaved that strangely, really, there's no way they wouldn't be made for what they are in no time. I can't quite pinpoint the problem, but the characters just didn't translate onto the screen from the bookpages as smoothly as I would have liked. And not just the Cullens - Bella seemed extremely awkward to me, as well. Perhaps casting is too blame? And yet I really enjoyed most of the casting decisions for the characters. I'd seen too many promos of the movie before reading the book to picture Edward as anyone but Robert Patterson :p (And, believe me, I tried). But Stewart makes a great Bella (zombie-like moments aside) and they cast the perfect Jacob :) I'd pictured Alexis Denisof as Carlisle (don't laugh!) but the guy they got was good, too.
My favorite bits of the movie? The little details they added in - like the frame full of graduation caps, the shotgun-cleaning going on when Bella's dad first meets Edward, and the fact that the Cullens tried to cook dinner for Bella :D Also, Edward's line near the very end. 'I leave you alone for two seconds, and already the wolves descend.' Foreshadowing, yay!
In other news, I loved the book version of Twilight. I love a good, long read - particularly when it involves pretty boys and vampires (or pretty boys that are vampires) - in general. I'm staring New Moon now.
How much do I love British films? It seems like the majority that make it to mainstream (or just-about-mainstream) America are so quirky and intense. In Bruges is no different. The dialogue is what kills me. From beginning to end - through the maudlin and the maybe-almost-sorta-happy - the dialogue is hilarious in just that dry, sarcastic way that I like best. Collen Farrell is a big part of pulling that off, but there are plenty of great lines to go around in this flick. Plenty of other great things, too. Like heroes and villains that are neither one or the other exclusively; unexpected things like Jimmy, the horse-tranquilizer-taking midget; and unexpectedly touching things like the way Ray weeps over that little boy and Ken's defense of Ray, at the coffee shop and in the bell tower. Even my sister enjoyed this movie, and I'm talking about the one who faints (I mean it, literally) at just the thought of blood. There's quite a bit of blood in In Bruges. Sheesh.
Sorrority Boys is one of those movies that you know is gonna be bad before you even begin to watch it :p Not 'bad' as in 'badly done' or 'badly conceived'. Just... bad. As in, you know you are watching this movie for no other purpose than to see Michael Rosenbaum in a dress :p Bad as in you know swashbuckling will be had, at some point, with dildos. But that's okay, because one of the swashbucklers will be Michael Rosenbaum - in a dress. And yet the movie didn't disappoint me. There were some funny moments. 'Adena' was a little bit heartbreaking, honestly, and the romance involving the main character (his name escapes me) was ridiculous but fun. Let's just face it, I'd watch a Taco Bell commercial if it had Michael Rosenbaum on it :p But I can't say that I regretted watching this movie, regardless.
But speaking of regrets... I wish I liked the movie Hitman more than I do. The main character isn't entirely my cup of tea... He isn't pretty, but at times he can be endearing. He isn't charming - in fact, he's often downright creepy - but he kind of grows on you throughout the film, and by the end, I want him and his Russian prostitute to run off into the vineyards and live happily ever after :p He's very badass - which, I suppose is the point. I guess the real problem is that I just don't understand the movie. I don't understand who really set him up, or why, even after the movie tries to explain it. I don't know where the other assassin came from that was waiting in the church tower, or why the main character had a key for that room before things went to shit and he knew he'd need to be there.
Most of all, I don't know why the opening sequence of the movie is an almost exact copy of the '09 footage of the X5s in Dark Angel :p I kid you not... the scenes of the kids marching down the Manticore hallways... they practically borrowed those little, paper outfits from the DA costume department! The scene with the underwater training, and the mental conditioning... They even had that shot where Max is in a chair, looking up into the bright lights and the face of a masked doctor... And shots that could have been taken from the scenes of the '09 X5's escape - with two of the X5s crawling up a chain link fence, and the moment before Jack dies. Weird. Could they really have been unaware of those similarities when they made this movie? Plus, the barcodes... Or did the game this movie was based on come before the tv show? Was James Cameron the copycat? It was just really disconcerting. I was probably put off before the movie really begun, which is unfair to it I know. It's not like I could vehemently object to the movie's quality, even if I felt that passionately bad about it :p My brother-in-law is a die-hard gamer and knows all the games and their spawn like the back of his hand. We have a deal. He doesn't diss Ewan McGregor or Jensen Ackles (loud enough for me to hear him). And I don't call that one show Samurai Shampoo or make fun of anybody who'd describe a guy as 'the one who smells like sunflower seeds' :p
The greatest effect of all of this? I will have to be updating my userpics to add an icon of Adena and the Cullens. And I've got to find some way to crossover Hitman with Smallville :p I can just see a young 47 sneaking away from the Organization and hiding out in Lex's dormroom at Excelsior :p They're both bald and I could pretend that their faces looked more alike... They could do the whole twins-taking-turns-pretending-to-be-one-person routine. Then 47 could scare the crap out of Oliver Queen and teach Lex to be a badass. It would be awesome.