a medley of stuffffff
Finally watched Harry Potter 7 on DVD (missed it in the theaters, I forget why) -- verdict: underwhelmed. I think the weaknesses of the book are really magnified on film. Too much happening, not enough space to linger.... The scenes that I liked in the book (and yes, I'm one of the folks who did actually like book 7 with caveats) ended up kind of weak, and well, boring and disjointed. They did do their best to compress but I had to explain what was going on to my mom (who hasn't read the books after like number 2) like every other minute.... and the bad lighting really didn't help. /kinda sick of badly lit movies where you can't see half of what's going on half the time. I am NOT a fan of "dark and gritty" = literally dark and shadowy. I mean it's probably partly our TV screen but MAN. I seriously could not see 80% of the film properly, including most of the climactic bits.
I confess, I'm biased. I love color. Part of what made me really adore John Woo's Red Cliff movies was the lush colors (which weren't heavy handed like in some of Zhang Yimou's work, but still looked good). I honestly kind of miss the old black and white films where people actually were forced to use their brains re: lighting. Maybe a lot of it ended up really artificial looking, but I haaaate the dark overcast look of "gritty"/"realistic" movies nowadays. Also, like, BLADE RUNNER, bitches. Do it right. Sheesh.
/end tangential rant
Pretty much the only thing I liked in the movie was how they handled the Three Brothers retelling. That was kind of neat. Kind of weird because although book 6 is my least favorite, I much preferred movie 6 to this one. Movie 6 had emotional power; this one, ehh. That said, I also did like the way they handled Hermione's, uh, one morally ambiguous choice (which I did not think came across all that well in the book). Also Luna. Luna has been one of the best fucking things about the movies every since she first showed up.
At some point I'll watch the extra scenes I guess...
- - -
In the meantime, THE HOBBIT THE HOBBIT SQUEEE
http://screencrave.com/2011-04-14/first-footage-from-the-hobbit-released/
I do have my problems with PJ's adaptation of LotR (Idgaf about Tom Bombadil and was okay with Arwen and Faramir; however, I do have a serious problem with elves at Helm's Deep and was not very fond of the interpretation of Denethor, and actually not too fond of wimpy!Frodo either... among other things omg don't get me started), but I still love the movies so fucking much.
The Hobbit!!!!!
- - -
AnoHana: Couldn't watch past the first minute.
Okay, I lied, I skimmed a little further, but it's really just not my thing. The less said about that the better!
C: Crazy cityscape GOOOO. High concept premise GOOOOOO ("money is power" -- literally). This feels kinda like cyberpunk + economics to me but I don't want to slap that label on it because there are slight hints of mythology lurking around the edges as well. A-and card/Pokemon battling!? Anyway it's odd but definitely intriguing -- certainly original. It has the potential to become kind of heavyhanded thematically, but I trust in this staff to make something interesting out of it, I think.
(What is it with all the economics-themed anime this season? XD)
Wow okay ENOUGH SLACKING. I'm behind enough on life already as it is...
I confess, I'm biased. I love color. Part of what made me really adore John Woo's Red Cliff movies was the lush colors (which weren't heavy handed like in some of Zhang Yimou's work, but still looked good). I honestly kind of miss the old black and white films where people actually were forced to use their brains re: lighting. Maybe a lot of it ended up really artificial looking, but I haaaate the dark overcast look of "gritty"/"realistic" movies nowadays. Also, like, BLADE RUNNER, bitches. Do it right. Sheesh.
/end tangential rant
Pretty much the only thing I liked in the movie was how they handled the Three Brothers retelling. That was kind of neat. Kind of weird because although book 6 is my least favorite, I much preferred movie 6 to this one. Movie 6 had emotional power; this one, ehh. That said, I also did like the way they handled Hermione's, uh, one morally ambiguous choice (which I did not think came across all that well in the book). Also Luna. Luna has been one of the best fucking things about the movies every since she first showed up.
At some point I'll watch the extra scenes I guess...
- - -
In the meantime, THE HOBBIT THE HOBBIT SQUEEE
http://screencrave.com/2011-04-14/first-footage-from-the-hobbit-released/
I do have my problems with PJ's adaptation of LotR (Idgaf about Tom Bombadil and was okay with Arwen and Faramir; however, I do have a serious problem with elves at Helm's Deep and was not very fond of the interpretation of Denethor, and actually not too fond of wimpy!Frodo either... among other things omg don't get me started), but I still love the movies so fucking much.
The Hobbit!!!!!
- - -
AnoHana: Couldn't watch past the first minute.
Okay, I lied, I skimmed a little further, but it's really just not my thing. The less said about that the better!
C: Crazy cityscape GOOOO. High concept premise GOOOOOO ("money is power" -- literally). This feels kinda like cyberpunk + economics to me but I don't want to slap that label on it because there are slight hints of mythology lurking around the edges as well. A-and card/Pokemon battling!? Anyway it's odd but definitely intriguing -- certainly original. It has the potential to become kind of heavyhanded thematically, but I trust in this staff to make something interesting out of it, I think.
(What is it with all the economics-themed anime this season? XD)
Wow okay ENOUGH SLACKING. I'm behind enough on life already as it is...