film review
I got my scarf and gloves yesterday and - a surprise find - earmuffs! I am very excited. Last winter my ears got very cold and I couldn't find earmuffs anywhere. But the weather's got a bit warmer due to the sun coming out so I won't need them for a while yet (I hope).
Some (spoilery) thoughts on films I've watched over the last few weeks...
The Dark Knight:
I finally got to see this a few weeks ago and I loved it but - why didn't anyone warn me it was so sad!! :((( Everyone was going on about how amazing it was - which it was - but by the end I was so upset. Everything was just so sad. I did not expect Rachel/Maggie to die (wah!) so I hadn't even begun to process that when Harvey/Aaron's face caught fire and he started his terrifying and heartbreaking downfall. And then at the end everyone thought Batman was the bad guy except Commissioner Gordon & his family! *GUH* My heart totally wept for Bruce. I think Harvey's supposed to be the one that gets our sympathy more and he was amazing (I need to see everything Aaron Eckhart has ever come in now) but I think Bruce's fate is even more tragic. They kept going on about hope for Gotham but the film just showed how there is no hope for Bruce. It distressed me. :(
Christian Bale was awesome and I suddenly found Gary Oldman actually kind of sexy. And, of course, Heath Ledger as the Joker was amazing. But you all already knew that.
Across The Universe:
It's been almost two weeks since I saw it and I've still not totally made my mind up on it. I loved Jim Sturgess and I really liked most of the songs (i.e., the way they re-did the songs) but - even though I don't expect much of a plot from a musical where the songs came first - it felt like the plot was only half-there. There were quite a few moments where I felt like they had missed a bit - and other bits that were included that seemed unnecessary (like the whole long sequence with Bono and then Eddie Izzard), as if the running time was too long and they cut down the plot so they could keep in more songs. I mean, Prudence just disappeared. (But was magically there at the end.) And what was up with the random kid who died at the start? I liked that cover of 'Let It Be' but we never saw him or his family before or after that.
But Jim Sturgess was so pretty and sang so well (I wish he could have sang the full version of 'Girl') and I really liked Joe Anderson (and how 'With A Little Help From My Friends' was the drunken boys night out song lol) and Evan Rachel Wood was quite good too.
So I guess I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would, with how everyone seemed to be going on about how amazing it was.
Mamma Mia!:
This was really silly but I did find it quite fun. Although I thought it was kind of a kiddie-movie ending that they decided for all three of them to be her Dads when they could easily do a paternity test. My money had been on Colin Firth for Dad since Pierce Brosnon was already main love interest. The version I saw was the sing-a-long and there were times (like 'Dancing Queen') I was tempted to do so but as I was with my parents I attempted to appear mature instead. But OMG Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are so old!!! And as much as I like Meryl Streep, her crazy flailing on the roof instead of actual dancing has ruined the song 'Mamma Mia!' for me, which I used to really like before. I was a big ABBA fan when I was little. But the film did not include the song which, according to my mother was my favourite ABBA, as a toddler: 'Waterloo'. :P
The Incredible Hulk:
So, I didn't see the first one with Eric Bana for two reasons. 1) As a child, The Hulk was the one comic superhero-type that terrified the living daylights out of me. I just always imagined that when he transformed into the Hulk he was gi-normous and the size of multiple buildings - not (as it turned out in the film) the size of two average people. & 2) Everyone I knew who saw it said it was really bad. - But I had heard good things about this (and Ed Norton is in it) so I watched it on the plane and I really liked it! At the start during the credits there's this montage of images that shows what's gone before - not that I can be sure if that really is what happened in the first film - but I liked how they did that (and how Ed Norton totally winked just before the machine started). And I loved Ed Norton! I thought he was awesome (but what else is new?). I really liked Liv Tyler as Betty Ross too. I liked how Betty had loads of stuff to do but wasn't this major damsel in distress that needed saving all the time (Mary Jane, I'm looking at you!) and even got to help him do science-y stuff.
And yay for a Tony Stark cameo! At the beginning I noticed a sign saying 'Stark Industries' and was like "Yes!" and then at the end RDJ showed up in his suit all, "We're putting a team together." *g*
Brideshead Revisited:
Now, I've never read the book or seen the epic mini-series but I have since learnt what happened in it (so book spoilers in this too). I sort of liked it but it was weird - and more confusing once I found out what was different. Especially since what was different sounds like quite a lot (maybe not so much in the number of things that are different, but in how significant they are).
I thought Matthew Goode and Ben Wishaw were both really good, and the scenery, clothes and music were beautiful but a lot of it was kind of 'huh'. For one thing it began with a flashback which after about five minutes then flashbacked to ten years before that and confused me greatly since I didn't know the order of things. And of course there is the fact that they pushed the Charles/Julia storyline and made them to have been in love with each other all time instead of making it more about the boys. Plus, it was weird how towards the end they suddenly tried to make it sound like Charles had been after Brideshead all along when he never really came across like that. - And the end! When Charles entered the church I was convinced he was now Catholic, but then they made it like he was going to put out the candle, but then he didn't do anything. I thought that made the ending feel kind of unresolved/unfinished, especially after learning that in the book he does become Catholic at the end.
Also, it was a bit less...compelling after Sebastian's storyline was over. :/
In my shoppings yesterday I bought Empire's November Issue (the '500 Greatest Movies...' one). Borders only had about six of the 100 possible covers but I was very happy to see they had one of a movie I love to bits: Speed! *g*
Some (spoilery) thoughts on films I've watched over the last few weeks...
The Dark Knight:
I finally got to see this a few weeks ago and I loved it but - why didn't anyone warn me it was so sad!! :((( Everyone was going on about how amazing it was - which it was - but by the end I was so upset. Everything was just so sad. I did not expect Rachel/Maggie to die (wah!) so I hadn't even begun to process that when Harvey/Aaron's face caught fire and he started his terrifying and heartbreaking downfall. And then at the end everyone thought Batman was the bad guy except Commissioner Gordon & his family! *GUH* My heart totally wept for Bruce. I think Harvey's supposed to be the one that gets our sympathy more and he was amazing (I need to see everything Aaron Eckhart has ever come in now) but I think Bruce's fate is even more tragic. They kept going on about hope for Gotham but the film just showed how there is no hope for Bruce. It distressed me. :(
Christian Bale was awesome and I suddenly found Gary Oldman actually kind of sexy. And, of course, Heath Ledger as the Joker was amazing. But you all already knew that.
Across The Universe:
It's been almost two weeks since I saw it and I've still not totally made my mind up on it. I loved Jim Sturgess and I really liked most of the songs (i.e., the way they re-did the songs) but - even though I don't expect much of a plot from a musical where the songs came first - it felt like the plot was only half-there. There were quite a few moments where I felt like they had missed a bit - and other bits that were included that seemed unnecessary (like the whole long sequence with Bono and then Eddie Izzard), as if the running time was too long and they cut down the plot so they could keep in more songs. I mean, Prudence just disappeared. (But was magically there at the end.) And what was up with the random kid who died at the start? I liked that cover of 'Let It Be' but we never saw him or his family before or after that.
But Jim Sturgess was so pretty and sang so well (I wish he could have sang the full version of 'Girl') and I really liked Joe Anderson (and how 'With A Little Help From My Friends' was the drunken boys night out song lol) and Evan Rachel Wood was quite good too.
So I guess I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would, with how everyone seemed to be going on about how amazing it was.
Mamma Mia!:
This was really silly but I did find it quite fun. Although I thought it was kind of a kiddie-movie ending that they decided for all three of them to be her Dads when they could easily do a paternity test. My money had been on Colin Firth for Dad since Pierce Brosnon was already main love interest. The version I saw was the sing-a-long and there were times (like 'Dancing Queen') I was tempted to do so but as I was with my parents I attempted to appear mature instead. But OMG Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are so old!!! And as much as I like Meryl Streep, her crazy flailing on the roof instead of actual dancing has ruined the song 'Mamma Mia!' for me, which I used to really like before. I was a big ABBA fan when I was little. But the film did not include the song which, according to my mother was my favourite ABBA, as a toddler: 'Waterloo'. :P
The Incredible Hulk:
So, I didn't see the first one with Eric Bana for two reasons. 1) As a child, The Hulk was the one comic superhero-type that terrified the living daylights out of me. I just always imagined that when he transformed into the Hulk he was gi-normous and the size of multiple buildings - not (as it turned out in the film) the size of two average people. & 2) Everyone I knew who saw it said it was really bad. - But I had heard good things about this (and Ed Norton is in it) so I watched it on the plane and I really liked it! At the start during the credits there's this montage of images that shows what's gone before - not that I can be sure if that really is what happened in the first film - but I liked how they did that (and how Ed Norton totally winked just before the machine started). And I loved Ed Norton! I thought he was awesome (but what else is new?). I really liked Liv Tyler as Betty Ross too. I liked how Betty had loads of stuff to do but wasn't this major damsel in distress that needed saving all the time (Mary Jane, I'm looking at you!) and even got to help him do science-y stuff.
And yay for a Tony Stark cameo! At the beginning I noticed a sign saying 'Stark Industries' and was like "Yes!" and then at the end RDJ showed up in his suit all, "We're putting a team together." *g*
Brideshead Revisited:
Now, I've never read the book or seen the epic mini-series but I have since learnt what happened in it (so book spoilers in this too). I sort of liked it but it was weird - and more confusing once I found out what was different. Especially since what was different sounds like quite a lot (maybe not so much in the number of things that are different, but in how significant they are).
I thought Matthew Goode and Ben Wishaw were both really good, and the scenery, clothes and music were beautiful but a lot of it was kind of 'huh'. For one thing it began with a flashback which after about five minutes then flashbacked to ten years before that and confused me greatly since I didn't know the order of things. And of course there is the fact that they pushed the Charles/Julia storyline and made them to have been in love with each other all time instead of making it more about the boys. Plus, it was weird how towards the end they suddenly tried to make it sound like Charles had been after Brideshead all along when he never really came across like that. - And the end! When Charles entered the church I was convinced he was now Catholic, but then they made it like he was going to put out the candle, but then he didn't do anything. I thought that made the ending feel kind of unresolved/unfinished, especially after learning that in the book he does become Catholic at the end.
Also, it was a bit less...compelling after Sebastian's storyline was over. :/
In my shoppings yesterday I bought Empire's November Issue (the '500 Greatest Movies...' one). Borders only had about six of the 100 possible covers but I was very happy to see they had one of a movie I love to bits: Speed! *g*