LoginFirst Impressions
MaxL
11 years, 3 months ago at Feb 24 23:27 - Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), J Edgar (2011) + Sinister (2012)
I rented another trio of DVDs from Xtra-vision for this weekend.
And, as it happens, we start with the best one! :) It's Beasts of the Southern Wild. I was torn between this and Rust and Bone, but I decided to go with the Oscar nominee. So… it was good. Yeah, I enjoyed it.
Not only did the opening scenes quickly get me fully immersed in the Bathtub environment, but it's incredibly rare that a movie actually succeeds in making me feel like a kid again. The main character's personality and outlook on life is just spot-on.
The third act confused me at first, but quickly explained itself, brilliantly putting the cap on a consistently strong film.
It even manages to work in a message about the melting of the polar icecaps without it seeming forced!
It's just an all-around thoroughly enjoyable movie, from the instantly endearing opening to the fantastic credits music.
My rating: 80%.
Now for J Edgar.
I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood as a director, so it breaks my heart to say this, but man… this movie sucks! I mean, what happened, Clint?
All the main comments in the Rotten Tomatoes consensus are true. The lighting is consistently poor, and not just in the scenes where everything's too dark. The old-face makeup is the absolute worst I've ever seen. The narrative is jumbled, sometimes to the point where scenes seem just randomly shuffled. Even Leonardo DiCaprio's central performance is hammy at best, and the rest of the acting is just as wooden.
The movie juggles two stories at once: the young days of Hoover that you'd expect, and another in his later years. I didn't care about either.
The really maddening thing is that I saw brief glimpses of what this movie could have been. Some of the philosophy is sound, and the beginnings of what Hoover revolutionised are touched on.
In short, a great biopic of J Edgar Hoover could certainly be possible, but this definitely isn't it!
My rating: 30%.
But the third, just like last time, is the one for which I rented all three in the first place: Sinister.
Now, horror movies based on the supernatural usually never frighten me. This one too didn't really scare me, but it did succeed in doing the next-best thing: creeping me out. And I think that's mainly thanks to how down-to-earth and relatable the characters are.
That and the movie has an intelligence to it that very few horror films have – which is hardly surprising, considering it was written by a film critic! It does rely a bit too much on jump scares, but it still keeps you in suspense because it's mainly a mystery story, so you're constantly wondering what you're going to see and how it'll prove helpful as a clue.
The best moment by far is the music playing over the second film (the "barbecue" one). Something about that music just makes the whole scene very unsettling.
In short, there were a tonne of horror movies in 2012. I only saw a couple of them, but I think I can quite safely say that Sinister, at least in terms of actual horror, was easily the best.
My rating: 70%.
I rented another trio of DVDs from Xtra-vision for this weekend.
And, as it happens, we start with the best one! :) It's Beasts of the Southern Wild. I was torn between this and Rust and Bone, but I decided to go with the Oscar nominee. So… it was good. Yeah, I enjoyed it.
Not only did the opening scenes quickly get me fully immersed in the Bathtub environment, but it's incredibly rare that a movie actually succeeds in making me feel like a kid again. The main character's personality and outlook on life is just spot-on.
The third act confused me at first, but quickly explained itself, brilliantly putting the cap on a consistently strong film.
It even manages to work in a message about the melting of the polar icecaps without it seeming forced!
It's just an all-around thoroughly enjoyable movie, from the instantly endearing opening to the fantastic credits music.
My rating: 80%.
Now for J Edgar.
I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood as a director, so it breaks my heart to say this, but man… this movie sucks! I mean, what happened, Clint?
All the main comments in the Rotten Tomatoes consensus are true. The lighting is consistently poor, and not just in the scenes where everything's too dark. The old-face makeup is the absolute worst I've ever seen. The narrative is jumbled, sometimes to the point where scenes seem just randomly shuffled. Even Leonardo DiCaprio's central performance is hammy at best, and the rest of the acting is just as wooden.
The movie juggles two stories at once: the young days of Hoover that you'd expect, and another in his later years. I didn't care about either.
The really maddening thing is that I saw brief glimpses of what this movie could have been. Some of the philosophy is sound, and the beginnings of what Hoover revolutionised are touched on.
In short, a great biopic of J Edgar Hoover could certainly be possible, but this definitely isn't it!
My rating: 30%.
But the third, just like last time, is the one for which I rented all three in the first place: Sinister.
Now, horror movies based on the supernatural usually never frighten me. This one too didn't really scare me, but it did succeed in doing the next-best thing: creeping me out. And I think that's mainly thanks to how down-to-earth and relatable the characters are.
That and the movie has an intelligence to it that very few horror films have – which is hardly surprising, considering it was written by a film critic! It does rely a bit too much on jump scares, but it still keeps you in suspense because it's mainly a mystery story, so you're constantly wondering what you're going to see and how it'll prove helpful as a clue.
The best moment by far is the music playing over the second film (the "barbecue" one). Something about that music just makes the whole scene very unsettling.
In short, there were a tonne of horror movies in 2012. I only saw a couple of them, but I think I can quite safely say that Sinister, at least in terms of actual horror, was easily the best.
My rating: 70%.
MaxL
11 years, 3 months ago at Mar 3 15:44 - Life of Pi + Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
I went to the cinema yesterday, and saw two movies back-to-back.
The first was Life of Pi.
The fact that it won so many Oscars got me curious. And, on my first take at any rate, it's a good movie, but it's not a great movie.
From the premise, I thought it sounded kind of silly. I mean, it's a guy stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger! But it turned out to be a surprisingly thought-provoking and profound spiritual journey. You find yourself going through the same thought process as the main character, and wonder how long you'd last in that situation.
The visual effects are really distracting, though. To its credit, I can see why the special effects Oscar went to this movie – the way they capture animal movements is pretty stunning – but I was still constantly aware that I was looking at CGI. Never once did the animals actually look real.
The shipwreck scene really stands out, though. I mean, good God! Even without 3D, you really feel like you're going through the experience yourself!
Overall, it's a life-affirming and surprisingly cerebral movie that I wouldn't mind experiencing again.
My rating: 75%.
And the second was Wreck-It Ralph.
This one was pretty much what I expected. I knew going in that I wasn't going to see that many famous video game characters, that it's much more Ralph's story. And it's a familiar but still engaging story, with an obvious but still relevant moral about accepting your station in life. You never know when your talents might come in handy.
Some people feel that, once the Vanellope character enters the picture, the movie goes downhill. So I was surprised to find her actually kind of endearing! True, you have to sit through some very immature humour at times, but that just made her seem more like a real child to me. So I don't know how big this crowd is, but I really bought into her and Ralph's relationship.
The only thing I didn't like was the villain. It's something of a twist, and even though it's well set up, it still just came off to me as really weak.
The animation really impressed me, especially the jerky movements for the old-school game characters.
Overall, this is a very entertaining film, and one of very few video game movies that really works.
My rating: 75%.
I went to the cinema yesterday, and saw two movies back-to-back.
The first was Life of Pi.
The fact that it won so many Oscars got me curious. And, on my first take at any rate, it's a good movie, but it's not a great movie.
From the premise, I thought it sounded kind of silly. I mean, it's a guy stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger! But it turned out to be a surprisingly thought-provoking and profound spiritual journey. You find yourself going through the same thought process as the main character, and wonder how long you'd last in that situation.
The visual effects are really distracting, though. To its credit, I can see why the special effects Oscar went to this movie – the way they capture animal movements is pretty stunning – but I was still constantly aware that I was looking at CGI. Never once did the animals actually look real.
The shipwreck scene really stands out, though. I mean, good God! Even without 3D, you really feel like you're going through the experience yourself!
Overall, it's a life-affirming and surprisingly cerebral movie that I wouldn't mind experiencing again.
My rating: 75%.
And the second was Wreck-It Ralph.
This one was pretty much what I expected. I knew going in that I wasn't going to see that many famous video game characters, that it's much more Ralph's story. And it's a familiar but still engaging story, with an obvious but still relevant moral about accepting your station in life. You never know when your talents might come in handy.
Some people feel that, once the Vanellope character enters the picture, the movie goes downhill. So I was surprised to find her actually kind of endearing! True, you have to sit through some very immature humour at times, but that just made her seem more like a real child to me. So I don't know how big this crowd is, but I really bought into her and Ralph's relationship.
The only thing I didn't like was the villain. It's something of a twist, and even though it's well set up, it still just came off to me as really weak.
The animation really impressed me, especially the jerky movements for the old-school game characters.
Overall, this is a very entertaining film, and one of very few video game movies that really works.
My rating: 75%.
MaxL
11 years, 2 months ago at Mar 27 22:52 - The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
Today I finished reading Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. It's one of the most famous ghost stories of all time, so I'm sure I'm going to get quite a bit of flak for this. I didn't like it.
Personally, I'm not a fan of that nineteenth-century prose. That's why, when I studied it for my Leaving Cert, I needed a junior retelling just to make head or tail of Wuthering Heights! It's really something when Shakespeare is actually easier to understand!
The maddening thing is that, with Turn of the Screw, I saw brief glimpses of how impactive this story could have been. The whole idea of the children being led astray and corrupted had a lot of potential. But, again, that old-fashioned text did not convey it effectively to me at all.
So I'm generally not scared by ghost stories anyway, and the way this one was written certainly did nothing to help.
I never thought I'd say this, but I'll probably just stick to the film adaptation, The Innocents.
My rating: 50%.
Today I finished reading Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. It's one of the most famous ghost stories of all time, so I'm sure I'm going to get quite a bit of flak for this. I didn't like it.
Personally, I'm not a fan of that nineteenth-century prose. That's why, when I studied it for my Leaving Cert, I needed a junior retelling just to make head or tail of Wuthering Heights! It's really something when Shakespeare is actually easier to understand!
The maddening thing is that, with Turn of the Screw, I saw brief glimpses of how impactive this story could have been. The whole idea of the children being led astray and corrupted had a lot of potential. But, again, that old-fashioned text did not convey it effectively to me at all.
So I'm generally not scared by ghost stories anyway, and the way this one was written certainly did nothing to help.
I never thought I'd say this, but I'll probably just stick to the film adaptation, The Innocents.
My rating: 50%.
MaxL
11 years, 1 month ago at Apr 17 19:05 - Misery (Stephen King)
I finished reading Misery yesterday. And all I can say is, "Wow!" It blew my mind!
If you don't know, it's about a writer who's saved from a car wreck by a woman who turns out to be an obsessive fan who's not mentally well, and she's royally pissed that he killed off her favourite character (the eponymous Misery) in his latest book. She keeps him prisoner in her house and forces him to write a sequel that brings Misery back. That's the basic gist; his predicament's actually a lot more complicated than that.
It works spectacularly on so many levels. Firstly, it's just brilliant how it's stripped down almost entirely to just these two characters in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
On top of that, it's a fascinating look inside the mind of a writer. I especially love how vividly Stephen King describes this man's thought process. My favourite aspect of his writing is how he sometimes interrupts a paragraph and directly resumes it after a brief, italicised one, which is very similar to how thoughts flash through the mind.
I could probably go on for ages about Misery, so I'd better stop there! It's just incredible. I haven't read many of Stephen King's works yet, but this one will be really hard to top – and I'll certainly be surprised if, even after I get round to reading everything I want to, this isn't still in my top ten all-time favourites!
My rating: 100%.
I finished reading Misery yesterday. And all I can say is, "Wow!" It blew my mind!
If you don't know, it's about a writer who's saved from a car wreck by a woman who turns out to be an obsessive fan who's not mentally well, and she's royally pissed that he killed off her favourite character (the eponymous Misery) in his latest book. She keeps him prisoner in her house and forces him to write a sequel that brings Misery back. That's the basic gist; his predicament's actually a lot more complicated than that.
It works spectacularly on so many levels. Firstly, it's just brilliant how it's stripped down almost entirely to just these two characters in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.
On top of that, it's a fascinating look inside the mind of a writer. I especially love how vividly Stephen King describes this man's thought process. My favourite aspect of his writing is how he sometimes interrupts a paragraph and directly resumes it after a brief, italicised one, which is very similar to how thoughts flash through the mind.
I could probably go on for ages about Misery, so I'd better stop there! It's just incredible. I haven't read many of Stephen King's works yet, but this one will be really hard to top – and I'll certainly be surprised if, even after I get round to reading everything I want to, this isn't still in my top ten all-time favourites!
My rating: 100%.