Post by romanmachine on Apr 3, 2007 0:44:11 GMT -5
Ok, so, lately I've been watching movies. They've been piling up on me for a while now. I think I have twelve here that I haven't seen yet.
So far, I've seen Babel, Half Nelson, Borat, The Departed, Children of Men and Hard Candy.
Babel - Loved it. I've read reviews that felt the movie was pretentious, but I didn't see that at all. I thought it was beautifully filmed and paced well, because, even though the movie is over two hours long, it never seemed to drag. I was riveted the entire time (which means that the few interruptions that happened were met with much grumbling. ) If I were the Academy, this would have the Best Picture award.
Half-Nelson - Technically, it was a good movie. I was impressed with Ryan Gosling when I saw him in The Believer, and he's just as good here. Shareeka Epps, however, probably stole the movie from him. But, for some reason, I had to work to keep my attention from wandering and I'm not sure why. Maybe someone else who's seen the film has had this problem?
Borat - Oh my. I can't say that I enjoyed Borat, but that has nothing to do with Sasha Baron Cohen or the storyline itself, even though I can understand why some might find it offensive. What bothered me about the movie was how accurately it showed people from the "south." I live not in the actual Southern US, but in a place that desperately wants to be the Deep South, and I know some that are just like the people in the movie - the rodeo announcer, the members of the Pentecostal church, etc.
The Departed - This is a remake of a Japanese movie called Internal Affairs. I haven't seen the original. In fact, I didn't know there was an 'original' until Coolbyrne told me. Now, I know it won the Oscar for Best Picture and all, but I think that had to do with the Academy realizing that Scorsese needed to win. I thought this one was painfully obvious. It seemed to sacrifice the characters for a convoluted plot. Also, I didn't like the way it looked. To me, the coloring seemed to be both washed and bright and, with this one, I know why my attention wavered - there was nothing compelling to look at.
Children of Men - The opposite of The Departed. The cinematography is gorgeous and, most importantly, not heavy-handed. The movie has a message, or the potential for a message (due to the subject matter), but I didn't feel that it was handed to me. I didn't walk away from this one, thinking "wow, the world needs to change." I think the movie gives a very, realistic portrayal of just what humanity could turn into in a situation like this, but it doesn't try to give you answers or make you look for them. It just shows what could be.
Hard Candy - If everyone will pardon my language, this was a mind fuck of a movie. I can't say much about it without giving away the plot (which, if you've heard of it and you think you know what it's about - trust me, you might not) but I can say that Ellen Page, who plays Hayley Stark, has a new fan.
So, anyone else seen any good movies lately?
So far, I've seen Babel, Half Nelson, Borat, The Departed, Children of Men and Hard Candy.
Babel - Loved it. I've read reviews that felt the movie was pretentious, but I didn't see that at all. I thought it was beautifully filmed and paced well, because, even though the movie is over two hours long, it never seemed to drag. I was riveted the entire time (which means that the few interruptions that happened were met with much grumbling. ) If I were the Academy, this would have the Best Picture award.
Half-Nelson - Technically, it was a good movie. I was impressed with Ryan Gosling when I saw him in The Believer, and he's just as good here. Shareeka Epps, however, probably stole the movie from him. But, for some reason, I had to work to keep my attention from wandering and I'm not sure why. Maybe someone else who's seen the film has had this problem?
Borat - Oh my. I can't say that I enjoyed Borat, but that has nothing to do with Sasha Baron Cohen or the storyline itself, even though I can understand why some might find it offensive. What bothered me about the movie was how accurately it showed people from the "south." I live not in the actual Southern US, but in a place that desperately wants to be the Deep South, and I know some that are just like the people in the movie - the rodeo announcer, the members of the Pentecostal church, etc.
The Departed - This is a remake of a Japanese movie called Internal Affairs. I haven't seen the original. In fact, I didn't know there was an 'original' until Coolbyrne told me. Now, I know it won the Oscar for Best Picture and all, but I think that had to do with the Academy realizing that Scorsese needed to win. I thought this one was painfully obvious. It seemed to sacrifice the characters for a convoluted plot. Also, I didn't like the way it looked. To me, the coloring seemed to be both washed and bright and, with this one, I know why my attention wavered - there was nothing compelling to look at.
Children of Men - The opposite of The Departed. The cinematography is gorgeous and, most importantly, not heavy-handed. The movie has a message, or the potential for a message (due to the subject matter), but I didn't feel that it was handed to me. I didn't walk away from this one, thinking "wow, the world needs to change." I think the movie gives a very, realistic portrayal of just what humanity could turn into in a situation like this, but it doesn't try to give you answers or make you look for them. It just shows what could be.
Hard Candy - If everyone will pardon my language, this was a mind fuck of a movie. I can't say much about it without giving away the plot (which, if you've heard of it and you think you know what it's about - trust me, you might not) but I can say that Ellen Page, who plays Hayley Stark, has a new fan.
So, anyone else seen any good movies lately?