6 posts tagged “drama”
So, I saw The Fountain a couple days ago, and I honestly can't decide whether or not I liked it.
I think part of this lies in me feeling a little stupid because I'm not so sure I understand what the movie was trying to tell me. I'm not the type to hate on a movie I don't understand - I actually really like difficult movies because they make me think - so I don't know why this particular movie is inspiring a big "meh" feeling in me.
In a way, The Fountain is a lot like 2001: A Space Odyssey, in that the story is laid out in the vaguest way possible and it's up to you to put it together. 2001 is about, well, quite a few things, but the main storyline is about the evolution of man. So kind of using that as a framework, I'm figuring The Fountain's about coming to terms with death. At least I think so. If it's not, please school my tiny plebeian mind.
And that's all lovely and everything, except it was executed in a really bizarre way. The movie was (I think) billed as a sci-fi film, full of time travel and epic love or some shit, but what I got out of it was the whole 1500/2000/2500 AD business was a metaphor, and that the movie actually only happened in the year 2000. So that'd make this a drama. Whatever.
Again, I might just be an idiot. Who knows.
What makes me wobble on my rating and not want to give this a straight thumbs down is the acting. It was good. Really good. Like, I was close to tears for a few scenes because Jackman and Weisz (mostly Jackman though) sold it so well. I am a solid non-crier, so this is kind of an amazing feat. I can also appreciate the artistry and skill involved in making the film, so it also gets brownie points from me for that.
Still, the most I can muster is staggering indifference.
Meh.
Anyway, what I remember in bullets:
- The visuals were absolutely stunning
- But man were there some creepy-looking dudes. That thing with the eyes on its hands in the commercials and trailers is exponentially more unsettling in the movie
- Ofelia? Adorable.
- Capitán Vidal was a heinous douche
- I loved that it was three different movies in one - part war movie, part loss of innocence story, part fairy tale - and that none of these stories suffered at the expense of the other
- The whole thing felt like something Jim Henson might have made if he took a crazy acid trip - only a good thing in my eyes
- Loved the end being ambiguous
I am telling you right now, without a trace of hyperbole, that Children of Men is the best movie I have seen in years. You need to see this.
I have babbled on and on in here about being a fangirl of dystopia. You all know of my girlboner for it. And admittedly, that was my main interest in the film going into it. Children of Men is so much more than just a really depressing story or exercise in depression though - it's ultimately the visual world that Cuarón created that makes this such a brilliant and affecting movie.
My brother and I were recently talking about ARGs (specifically Year Zero) and how engrossing they can be. We mainly discussed how the good ones succeed because of how they are presented. The best ARGs are supposed to blur the line of reality and make you wonder - if only momentarily - if what you're viewing is real or part of a story. A really good ARG is the best way I can describe Children of Men. Even though it's a movie and you can't participate in its story (outside of the passive way that you watch a movie), I have never seen something obscure the line of reality and fiction so well before.
Usually in movies set in the future, be they dystopian or not, you tend to see a Jetsons-like (Jetsonian?) world - flying cars, jet packs, laser guns...you know what I'm talking about. It's so artificial that you can never fully get lost in it. In Children of Men, Cuarón's 2027 looks like 2007, except a lot more worse for the wear. The people in this world still get to their jobs in busses and cars, they still get their morning coffee from a ridiculously overpriced coffee shop; but in this world, these people are also dealing with the crushing reality that humans are a species going extinct while also trying to cling to life in a civilization spiraling into nihilism. It's heavy stuff. You mix in a matter-of-fact, almost flippant view of violence and a cinematography style more like that of a war correspondent than a major motion picture, and you've got yourself an experience that's really fucking hard to separate yourself from for the duration. Intense is almost putting it mildly.
Strangely enough, there's actually a fair bit of humor, and hell, hope, to be had to balance the soul-crushing despair. At its heart the story is one of hope. And amazingly, despite this not being a happy movie (or even an enjoyable one - I mean, it was excellent but you don't come away from it thinking you had a fun time), it definitely succeeds in being ultimately hopeful. I can't say that I've seen anything quite like it.
I have babbled on and on in here about being a fangirl of dystopia. You all know of my girlboner for it. And admittedly, that was my main interest in the film going into it. Children of Men is so much more than just a really depressing story or exercise in depression though - it's ultimately the visual world that Cuarón created that makes this such a brilliant and affecting movie.
My brother and I were recently talking about ARGs (specifically Year Zero) and how engrossing they can be. We mainly discussed how the good ones succeed because of how they are presented. The best ARGs are supposed to blur the line of reality and make you wonder - if only momentarily - if what you're viewing is real or part of a story. A really good ARG is the best way I can describe Children of Men. Even though it's a movie and you can't participate in its story (outside of the passive way that you watch a movie), I have never seen something obscure the line of reality and fiction so well before.
Usually in movies set in the future, be they dystopian or not, you tend to see a Jetsons-like (Jetsonian?) world - flying cars, jet packs, laser guns...you know what I'm talking about. It's so artificial that you can never fully get lost in it. In Children of Men, Cuarón's 2027 looks like 2007, except a lot more worse for the wear. The people in this world still get to their jobs in busses and cars, they still get their morning coffee from a ridiculously overpriced coffee shop; but in this world, these people are also dealing with the crushing reality that humans are a species going extinct while also trying to cling to life in a civilization spiraling into nihilism. It's heavy stuff. You mix in a matter-of-fact, almost flippant view of violence and a cinematography style more like that of a war correspondent than a major motion picture, and you've got yourself an experience that's really fucking hard to separate yourself from for the duration. Intense is almost putting it mildly.
Strangely enough, there's actually a fair bit of humor, and hell, hope, to be had to balance the soul-crushing despair. At its heart the story is one of hope. And amazingly, despite this not being a happy movie (or even an enjoyable one - I mean, it was excellent but you don't come away from it thinking you had a fun time), it definitely succeeds in being ultimately hopeful. I can't say that I've seen anything quite like it.
I've come to a realization: I'm not a war movie kind of girl. At least
not when they're about WWII. They're depressing as all hell (as they
should be), but more to the point, they are usually an exercise of
patience. Patience I do not have when the subject matter is people
signing up to die. I don't need to be told that war is bad - my
history books and imagination have already told me so. But I guess
there are a lot of people who either can't or won't conceptualize the
more unpleasant parts of human nature (why else would Passion of the
Christ exist?), so I suppose war movies do have their place. Aside
from the obvious reason that some weirdos actually like everything war
related, of course.
I chose Das Boot for no other reason than it's one of the Top 250 movies at IMDB. Watching all 250 of the movies is a long-term goal of mine - it's both a way to see what film nerds think are good movies and it also serves as a kind of checklist of all of the movies I should see at least once.
Das Boot followed the story of the crew of German U-boat U-96 over a period of time (it's never stated how long they are at sea but it's likely several months), following everything from typical sea life to battles. As one can imagine, most of your time spent in a submarine is spent doing a lot of nothing, and boy howdy, Das Boot does not skimp, gloss over or de-emphasize the "lots of nothing" part. Netflix sent me the 219-minute Director's Cut version so you can imagine just how much of the downtime the sailors faced that I had to sit through. Holy hell.
I think I might have wanted to spoon my eyes out less if I'd seen the theatrical cut because there was a lot to chew on when things were actually happening. The most interesting thing to me was the contrast between the young recruits, heads still full of propaganda, and the captains who've actually been in the battles and know it's all bullshit. The captain of the boat we follow was a highlight in particular. When they weren't in the middle of a battle or some other crisis, he was often cynical towards Hitler and the war and even sympathized with the British a couple of times. He wasn't completely immune to the war machine, though. When he was in the thick of a battle he reverted back to something more like his crew - a proud Nazi with a thirst for blood who believed the lies. Good stuff.
Some other things I appreciated in the film were the set design (if submarines are really that clausterphobic, you could not pay me enough to go in one, let alone stay in it while it submerges) as well as the acting during the more dramatic scenes. You were able to get the sense of terror these people felt, and that - if only for a moment - the wool was pulled away from their eyes and they finally saw that this was really happening and that lives really were being lost. The megaton of irony (with a bit of schadenfreude!) at the end was great too.
I just wish I had seen the theatrical cut. The good parts of the movie were not enough to counterbalance the fuckton of boring that pissed all over everything. It's a shame, too, because I wouldn't be surprised if there was actually a good movie hiding in there somewhere.
I chose Das Boot for no other reason than it's one of the Top 250 movies at IMDB. Watching all 250 of the movies is a long-term goal of mine - it's both a way to see what film nerds think are good movies and it also serves as a kind of checklist of all of the movies I should see at least once.
Das Boot followed the story of the crew of German U-boat U-96 over a period of time (it's never stated how long they are at sea but it's likely several months), following everything from typical sea life to battles. As one can imagine, most of your time spent in a submarine is spent doing a lot of nothing, and boy howdy, Das Boot does not skimp, gloss over or de-emphasize the "lots of nothing" part. Netflix sent me the 219-minute Director's Cut version so you can imagine just how much of the downtime the sailors faced that I had to sit through. Holy hell.
I think I might have wanted to spoon my eyes out less if I'd seen the theatrical cut because there was a lot to chew on when things were actually happening. The most interesting thing to me was the contrast between the young recruits, heads still full of propaganda, and the captains who've actually been in the battles and know it's all bullshit. The captain of the boat we follow was a highlight in particular. When they weren't in the middle of a battle or some other crisis, he was often cynical towards Hitler and the war and even sympathized with the British a couple of times. He wasn't completely immune to the war machine, though. When he was in the thick of a battle he reverted back to something more like his crew - a proud Nazi with a thirst for blood who believed the lies. Good stuff.
Some other things I appreciated in the film were the set design (if submarines are really that clausterphobic, you could not pay me enough to go in one, let alone stay in it while it submerges) as well as the acting during the more dramatic scenes. You were able to get the sense of terror these people felt, and that - if only for a moment - the wool was pulled away from their eyes and they finally saw that this was really happening and that lives really were being lost. The megaton of irony (with a bit of schadenfreude!) at the end was great too.
I just wish I had seen the theatrical cut. The good parts of the movie were not enough to counterbalance the fuckton of boring that pissed all over everything. It's a shame, too, because I wouldn't be surprised if there was actually a good movie hiding in there somewhere.
This is one of the most unpleasant movies I've ever seen. I would elaborate but I'm trying really hard to forget it exists, and if I talk about it then the last 90 minutes of my life really happened.
I didn't quite know what to expect when I started watching Little Miss Sunshine. These three things are what I knew about it beforehand: Steve Carell, Sufjan Stevens's "Chicago," and it's supposed to be funny.
Honestly, I was bracing myself for disappointment. How often are "hilarious" movies that everyone raves about truly hilarious? Add "quirky" and "indie" to the mix and you've got a recipe for disaster.
I was not expecting the visceral reaction I had to this film. I loved it to pieces.
I guess what spoke to me the most was how real the movie, and the characters in particular, felt. Of course, the premise (dysfunctional family goes on road trip) is nothing new and the characters were all over the top in one way or another (Grandpa and Dwayne being the most notable examples), but it just doesn't feel cliche when you're watching it. That, to me, is the mark of a well-made movie. Everything about Little Miss Sunshine is pitch perfect: writing, editing, casting, cinematography, the music, the performances (Steve Carell being the stand out, believe it or not) - all completely on the mark.
I'm out of practice when it comes to reviewing, so I'm going to end this soon before I start babbling incoherently. One thing that I want to touch on though is what really drew me into the movie. It wasn't the humor (and yes, it WAS funny). It was the moments where these crazies were a real, actual family. The sweet little things - how Dwayne's a moody angst machine and "hates everyone" but loves Olive despite himself; how Frank is as much a part of the family by movie's end as anyone else in the car; how, despite being a total asshole to Olive the whole movie, Richard was horrified at what was happening at the pageant and thus to his little girl. Those are the kinds of things that made this movie such a treat.
Watch and tell me what you think!
Honestly, I was bracing myself for disappointment. How often are "hilarious" movies that everyone raves about truly hilarious? Add "quirky" and "indie" to the mix and you've got a recipe for disaster.
I was not expecting the visceral reaction I had to this film. I loved it to pieces.
I guess what spoke to me the most was how real the movie, and the characters in particular, felt. Of course, the premise (dysfunctional family goes on road trip) is nothing new and the characters were all over the top in one way or another (Grandpa and Dwayne being the most notable examples), but it just doesn't feel cliche when you're watching it. That, to me, is the mark of a well-made movie. Everything about Little Miss Sunshine is pitch perfect: writing, editing, casting, cinematography, the music, the performances (Steve Carell being the stand out, believe it or not) - all completely on the mark.
I'm out of practice when it comes to reviewing, so I'm going to end this soon before I start babbling incoherently. One thing that I want to touch on though is what really drew me into the movie. It wasn't the humor (and yes, it WAS funny). It was the moments where these crazies were a real, actual family. The sweet little things - how Dwayne's a moody angst machine and "hates everyone" but loves Olive despite himself; how Frank is as much a part of the family by movie's end as anyone else in the car; how, despite being a total asshole to Olive the whole movie, Richard was horrified at what was happening at the pageant and thus to his little girl. Those are the kinds of things that made this movie such a treat.
Watch and tell me what you think!
