people are gonna wanna know...
So, took the day off today to build myself a little four day weekend, hit the movies (Cloverfield and Sweeney Todd, putting my count so far in at 15), then met up with Boyfriend for dinner after. As yet, have not checked my work email even once. It was a good day. :)
Brief reviews below, pretty non-spoilery, but cut just in case.
Cloverfield is very definitely worth the trip, and kind of a big screen must-see (provided you don't have motion sickness issues, which, seriously, if you do, don't go, because I don't have motion sickness issues, and almost threw up). What they saved on camera work? They rocked on creature effects. I'll not detail and ruin the surprise, but it was one of the first movie monsters in a long time that was actually something different. And the hand-held style really worked... documentary in the truest sense of the word (as in document rather than the genre of documentary filmmaking), where you're really just an observer for a chunk of time, with no traditional narrative to speak of, and that's scary. Punctuated by camera glitches back to the tape's previous recordings, there's a surprising emotional attachment right from the get-go that you wouldn't expect in a movie that consists primarily of running and screaming.
Sweeney Todd was good. Visually, completely stunning. Very Tim Burton, of course. ut my god, was there a lot of singing. I know it was a musical, but it was, I guess, more of a musical than I tend to be used to and/or enjoy. It kind of took me out of it at times. That said, Johnny Depp was so good. Which is kind of a given, but really, I'd read that he wasn't a singer before going into it, and you'd never know from his performance. But overall, not my favourite of Burton's work. Outside of the visuals, it just didn't feel as him as his movies usually do. There was.. I don't know. A lack of wonder, maybe? Even in his darkest films, there's always this little sparkle, a presence of magic and joy in all the gloom. Sweeney Todd lacked that, and I missed it.
In other news, as y'all might have figured out about me by now, I consider Neil Marshall to be a god among men. The Descent instantly became one of my all time favourites, and Dog Soldiers is pretty much the only werewolf movie worth watching in my book. Needless to say, I've been watching the trailer for his latest about eight times a day since it came out on Wednesday. For those who've yet to see it, behold, the apocalyptic awesome that is Doomsday. (And be sure to watch it in HD if your computer will take it. It's well worth your while.)
Brief reviews below, pretty non-spoilery, but cut just in case.
Cloverfield is very definitely worth the trip, and kind of a big screen must-see (provided you don't have motion sickness issues, which, seriously, if you do, don't go, because I don't have motion sickness issues, and almost threw up). What they saved on camera work? They rocked on creature effects. I'll not detail and ruin the surprise, but it was one of the first movie monsters in a long time that was actually something different. And the hand-held style really worked... documentary in the truest sense of the word (as in document rather than the genre of documentary filmmaking), where you're really just an observer for a chunk of time, with no traditional narrative to speak of, and that's scary. Punctuated by camera glitches back to the tape's previous recordings, there's a surprising emotional attachment right from the get-go that you wouldn't expect in a movie that consists primarily of running and screaming.
Sweeney Todd was good. Visually, completely stunning. Very Tim Burton, of course. ut my god, was there a lot of singing. I know it was a musical, but it was, I guess, more of a musical than I tend to be used to and/or enjoy. It kind of took me out of it at times. That said, Johnny Depp was so good. Which is kind of a given, but really, I'd read that he wasn't a singer before going into it, and you'd never know from his performance. But overall, not my favourite of Burton's work. Outside of the visuals, it just didn't feel as him as his movies usually do. There was.. I don't know. A lack of wonder, maybe? Even in his darkest films, there's always this little sparkle, a presence of magic and joy in all the gloom. Sweeney Todd lacked that, and I missed it.
In other news, as y'all might have figured out about me by now, I consider Neil Marshall to be a god among men. The Descent instantly became one of my all time favourites, and Dog Soldiers is pretty much the only werewolf movie worth watching in my book. Needless to say, I've been watching the trailer for his latest about eight times a day since it came out on Wednesday. For those who've yet to see it, behold, the apocalyptic awesome that is Doomsday. (And be sure to watch it in HD if your computer will take it. It's well worth your while.)