milling art
So I've watched three movies in quick succession recently, which is unusual for me. My movie consumption tends to average out at less than one per month. I figure so anomalous an occurence deserves some commemoration. Plus I have lots of trouble coming up with LJ fodder these days, so.
My Life in Ruins was fairly entertaining, but didn't do anything innovative with the basic romantic comedy formula. Which is fine, because it also didn't do the formula badly. The title had me hoping for something grander, but its relevance was pretty trite in the end. I guess, overall, a bit of a letdown, but only because I had built up high hopes for it months ago on the strength of...nothing. I'd call it comfort-viewing. The equivalent of a midrange women's fiction novel, like Time Off for Good Behaviour by Lani Diane Rich which I mention because I read it recently and felt pretty much the same way about it. Uh huh.
The Time Traveller's Wife was not all that compelling in terms of plot and characters -- it all felt kind of sketched out and underdeveloped. But I suppose that's par for the course with adaptations. It was nice to watch, though. Because of...vividness in the sets.
Alice in Wonderland in 3D was also a bit of a letdown because of airily high expectations. I mean, it was fun, and a visual feast, but I walked away thinking, "Well, that was distinctly not awesome." I didn't want to watch it in 3D but we got to the theatre a bit too late for regular showing. I didn't really notice most of the 3D stuff, but that says more about me than about the film. I was happily surprised that the Red Queen didn't overremind me of Bellatrix Lestrange, that Alice was not insipid (but alas, not particularly spirited either), and that the Tweedles weren't very obnoxious. There were some weird Alice/Hatter vibes that I'm not sure how I feel about. On the one hand, I've been a fan of the curiousinsane comic for awhile, and thus amenable to the idea of them as a couple. On the other hand, Burton/Depp's Hatter is part mad, part tragic, part infantile, so it seems very wrong to pair him with anyone.
So, yeah. And for school I'm supposed to be reading Tess of the D'Ubervilles. And I guess I'm maybe a bit more sympathetic to Hardy and his artistic concerns, having benefitted from a specialist lecturer, but...I really am not finding it much easier going than I found Jude the Obscure two years ago. I just want to chuck it to the wall and declare that Hardy Is Just Not For Me. But that's hardly the way to develop a critical sensibility, and so I'm intending to plod on. Intending.
Next up (for another class, natch) is Anna Karenina. I don't do well with infidelity stories either, soooooo...umm, more intent to plod. Gyah.
My Life in Ruins was fairly entertaining, but didn't do anything innovative with the basic romantic comedy formula. Which is fine, because it also didn't do the formula badly. The title had me hoping for something grander, but its relevance was pretty trite in the end. I guess, overall, a bit of a letdown, but only because I had built up high hopes for it months ago on the strength of...nothing. I'd call it comfort-viewing. The equivalent of a midrange women's fiction novel, like Time Off for Good Behaviour by Lani Diane Rich which I mention because I read it recently and felt pretty much the same way about it. Uh huh.
The Time Traveller's Wife was not all that compelling in terms of plot and characters -- it all felt kind of sketched out and underdeveloped. But I suppose that's par for the course with adaptations. It was nice to watch, though. Because of...vividness in the sets.
Alice in Wonderland in 3D was also a bit of a letdown because of airily high expectations. I mean, it was fun, and a visual feast, but I walked away thinking, "Well, that was distinctly not awesome." I didn't want to watch it in 3D but we got to the theatre a bit too late for regular showing. I didn't really notice most of the 3D stuff, but that says more about me than about the film. I was happily surprised that the Red Queen didn't overremind me of Bellatrix Lestrange, that Alice was not insipid (but alas, not particularly spirited either), and that the Tweedles weren't very obnoxious. There were some weird Alice/Hatter vibes that I'm not sure how I feel about. On the one hand, I've been a fan of the curiousinsane comic for awhile, and thus amenable to the idea of them as a couple. On the other hand, Burton/Depp's Hatter is part mad, part tragic, part infantile, so it seems very wrong to pair him with anyone.
So, yeah. And for school I'm supposed to be reading Tess of the D'Ubervilles. And I guess I'm maybe a bit more sympathetic to Hardy and his artistic concerns, having benefitted from a specialist lecturer, but...I really am not finding it much easier going than I found Jude the Obscure two years ago. I just want to chuck it to the wall and declare that Hardy Is Just Not For Me. But that's hardly the way to develop a critical sensibility, and so I'm intending to plod on. Intending.
Next up (for another class, natch) is Anna Karenina. I don't do well with infidelity stories either, soooooo...umm, more intent to plod. Gyah.