![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Iron Man 3 SPOILERS POST
5 May 2013 08:20 pmIf you haven't seen Iron Man 3, do not expand this lovely cut tag. You shouldn't read comments, either.
( no seriously, don't do it )
( no seriously, don't do it )
The Hunger Games (movie)
26 Mar 2012 09:58 amAfter hearing a lot of talk about the books, I bought the trilogy for my e-reader. I couldn't put it down. I'd heard about a movie, but not having cable or reading entertainment magazines, I don't really follow much popular culture.
So Ben and I went to see it Saturday night. He hasn't read any of the books, and he liked the movie. He hasn't said if I need to make sure my e-reader is fully charged so I can lend it to him ;)
I thought they did a good job with the screenplay in making the story, which is in first person POV, work on screen. There were a lot of scenes that never happened in the text but could have, like anything involving President Snow and all the scenes in the Games control center. Some of the nice touches were Caesar Flickerman giving a drop-in with a sentence that covered Katniss' internal monologue.
One thing that bothered me was how the fight scenes were unfocused in the close range, but watchable in the pan-out (like the part on the cornucopia at the end).
The tracker jacker hallucinations weren't as creepy as in the book, either. But then, the girl melting as Katniss took the bow from her might have pushed it from PG-13 to R. Though I was disappointed that Peeta didn't look the way she saw him in the book.
A lot of people have expressed disappointment in the movie, because they wanted it to be something different than what it was. Maybe they wanted it to focus more on the political/oppression aspects of it, I don't know. I think the way it was done worked; you got a striking visual contrast between District 12 and the Capitol, between oppressed poverty and garish excess. The reality TV aspect was even more up front than in the book, because you got to see the control center. In a way, it highlighted the injustice and inequality in ways the book couldn't. The pointless violence looked even more pointless and Lord of the Flies.
If anything, Snow was creepier than in the (first) book. Donald Sutherland was a brilliant casting choice. I read one commentary that Woody Harrelson was miscast as Haymitch, but I disagree. He played a man dealing with PTSD through alcoholism fairly well. (Though I missed a lot of Katniss' insights into his character, since they made the decision not to do voice-overs.) Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) grew on me. He played Peeta perfectly, down to the winning smile and joking in the interview with Caesar.
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss worked well, too. (Controversy about that aside; Seam people were described as olive skinned and grey eyed, which could imply a lot of mixed-race ancestry, from Arabia through the Mediterranean, which also includes Italy.) She pulled off the mixture of utter devotion to her sister and unapproachability very well.
The scene with Rue was heartbreaking, like in the book, even if she didn't get to sing all the lullaby. Someone said they wanted a voice-over while Katniss was picking flowers to show what it meant, and I can agree with that.
All in all, it was a good adaptation of a good book, with a few flaws that didn't bother me a lot. It's understandable to someone who hasn't read the books, though some of the nuances and lightly-touched-on things may be missed. (Though not as bad as in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies.)
So Ben and I went to see it Saturday night. He hasn't read any of the books, and he liked the movie. He hasn't said if I need to make sure my e-reader is fully charged so I can lend it to him ;)
I thought they did a good job with the screenplay in making the story, which is in first person POV, work on screen. There were a lot of scenes that never happened in the text but could have, like anything involving President Snow and all the scenes in the Games control center. Some of the nice touches were Caesar Flickerman giving a drop-in with a sentence that covered Katniss' internal monologue.
One thing that bothered me was how the fight scenes were unfocused in the close range, but watchable in the pan-out (like the part on the cornucopia at the end).
The tracker jacker hallucinations weren't as creepy as in the book, either. But then, the girl melting as Katniss took the bow from her might have pushed it from PG-13 to R. Though I was disappointed that Peeta didn't look the way she saw him in the book.
A lot of people have expressed disappointment in the movie, because they wanted it to be something different than what it was. Maybe they wanted it to focus more on the political/oppression aspects of it, I don't know. I think the way it was done worked; you got a striking visual contrast between District 12 and the Capitol, between oppressed poverty and garish excess. The reality TV aspect was even more up front than in the book, because you got to see the control center. In a way, it highlighted the injustice and inequality in ways the book couldn't. The pointless violence looked even more pointless and Lord of the Flies.
If anything, Snow was creepier than in the (first) book. Donald Sutherland was a brilliant casting choice. I read one commentary that Woody Harrelson was miscast as Haymitch, but I disagree. He played a man dealing with PTSD through alcoholism fairly well. (Though I missed a lot of Katniss' insights into his character, since they made the decision not to do voice-overs.) Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) grew on me. He played Peeta perfectly, down to the winning smile and joking in the interview with Caesar.
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss worked well, too. (Controversy about that aside; Seam people were described as olive skinned and grey eyed, which could imply a lot of mixed-race ancestry, from Arabia through the Mediterranean, which also includes Italy.) She pulled off the mixture of utter devotion to her sister and unapproachability very well.
The scene with Rue was heartbreaking, like in the book, even if she didn't get to sing all the lullaby. Someone said they wanted a voice-over while Katniss was picking flowers to show what it meant, and I can agree with that.
All in all, it was a good adaptation of a good book, with a few flaws that didn't bother me a lot. It's understandable to someone who hasn't read the books, though some of the nuances and lightly-touched-on things may be missed. (Though not as bad as in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies.)
The Karate Kid (2010)
20 Aug 2010 09:32 amSo, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
skogkatt was passing through on her way back north from Florida, and Ben mentioned that the Varsity was showing the new Karate Kid movie for $3 this past week, and we went to see it.
It wasn't bad! I'd heard it was pretty good, and I wasn't disappointed. The plot wasn't 100% identical to the 80s version (thankfully), but there were obvious homages to it (the fly scene, for example). The kids could actually act. (I'm leaving aside the "kung fu is not karate" thing. It's been discussed extensively elseweb.)
Yes, of course, it's unrealistic for anyone to learn kung fu well enough to win a tournament in a month. But Dre was determined and trained a lot, and hard work paid off. My main complaint was that there wasn't enough Jackie Chan kung fu action ;)
As always, watching kung fu movies makes me want to do kung fu. I get all inspired and stuff. So now, despite being sore from yesterday's Pilates class, I'm going to go get my Chen long form onand see how much I've forgotten, since I haven't practiced in a month. I miss Wednesday night Chen class, but it meets at the same time as weapons, which I also really like. True, there's a Thursday weapons class, but it's in Pittsboro (45 minutes away) and starts later. I could do both, and if I want to test for yellow in Metal Rabbit, I'm going to have to start going back to Chen class.
skogkatt was passing through on her way back north from Florida, and Ben mentioned that the Varsity was showing the new Karate Kid movie for $3 this past week, and we went to see it.It wasn't bad! I'd heard it was pretty good, and I wasn't disappointed. The plot wasn't 100% identical to the 80s version (thankfully), but there were obvious homages to it (the fly scene, for example). The kids could actually act. (I'm leaving aside the "kung fu is not karate" thing. It's been discussed extensively elseweb.)
Yes, of course, it's unrealistic for anyone to learn kung fu well enough to win a tournament in a month. But Dre was determined and trained a lot, and hard work paid off. My main complaint was that there wasn't enough Jackie Chan kung fu action ;)
As always, watching kung fu movies makes me want to do kung fu. I get all inspired and stuff. So now, despite being sore from yesterday's Pilates class, I'm going to go get my Chen long form on
Sherlock Holmes
27 Dec 2009 08:14 pmI went to catch the new flick today. I'm not a rabid fan of Doyle by any means; I've never even read a single Holmes book. I enjoyed it, though there wasn't nearly enough H/W slashy tiems. And NO KISSING. *grump* Robert Downey Jr was witty and a drunkard (rather than Doyle's Holmes' cocaine problem ... too close to home for RDJ?) There was also a good bit of semi-dressed Holmes, which I endorse.
I want the thief woman (Alder? Adler?)'s wardrobe. Except the fuschia dress; she can keep that. I don't think she was wearing a corset, though; her torso was too flexible.
The trailer for Iron Man 2: DO WANT. The Bruce Willis/black dude buddy cop movie? Do NOT want. Clash of the Titans looks sufficiently CGed, and the kraken looks hella scarier than the one from the 80s. There were other trailers, but I don't remember them.
If I had to choose a branch of military service based on the ads before the film, I'd go with the Marines. They had a better (and shorter) ad than the National Guard. And cooler uniforms.
The Marines ad was about 30 seconds. It was a montage of training stuff, including the arrival at the assembly place, with the shoe prints painted on the floor. The music was unobtrusive (I don't even remember it), and there was a steady drumbeat, a marching beat. Then it ended with a Marine in dress blues spinning his rifle butt upward in front of his face, like in the pictures.
The National Guard ad went on for at least a minute. It depicted people doing all sorts of things, from rescuing people from burning buildings to pulling people from the water to working on helicopters, and it had a couple 'morph' sequences, where a NG walked from their civilian clothes to their uniform. The music, however, made me want to kill someone. It was Loud and Annoying. It was possibly a Latin chant sung in English, with Sweeping Orchestral Accompaniment. The ending sequence was similar to the Marines' one. I can see what the NG was trying to do, with their whole citizen-soldier campaign, but jesus FUCK is that ad atrocious.
Though mostly I miss the days when the Lumina didn't run ads and those stupid trivia things before shows.
I want the thief woman (Alder? Adler?)'s wardrobe. Except the fuschia dress; she can keep that. I don't think she was wearing a corset, though; her torso was too flexible.
The trailer for Iron Man 2: DO WANT. The Bruce Willis/black dude buddy cop movie? Do NOT want. Clash of the Titans looks sufficiently CGed, and the kraken looks hella scarier than the one from the 80s. There were other trailers, but I don't remember them.
If I had to choose a branch of military service based on the ads before the film, I'd go with the Marines. They had a better (and shorter) ad than the National Guard. And cooler uniforms.
The Marines ad was about 30 seconds. It was a montage of training stuff, including the arrival at the assembly place, with the shoe prints painted on the floor. The music was unobtrusive (I don't even remember it), and there was a steady drumbeat, a marching beat. Then it ended with a Marine in dress blues spinning his rifle butt upward in front of his face, like in the pictures.
The National Guard ad went on for at least a minute. It depicted people doing all sorts of things, from rescuing people from burning buildings to pulling people from the water to working on helicopters, and it had a couple 'morph' sequences, where a NG walked from their civilian clothes to their uniform. The music, however, made me want to kill someone. It was Loud and Annoying. It was possibly a Latin chant sung in English, with Sweeping Orchestral Accompaniment. The ending sequence was similar to the Marines' one. I can see what the NG was trying to do, with their whole citizen-soldier campaign, but jesus FUCK is that ad atrocious.
Though mostly I miss the days when the Lumina didn't run ads and those stupid trivia things before shows.
I saw a story in the Indy about the Escapism film festival running this weekend, and how they were showing a whole bunch of GenX nostalgia flicks. So I poked Ben into going.
We saw The Last Unicorn - the reel was apparently borrowed from the Alamo Drafthouse, if I heard the owner right in his introduction. I know I saw it as a kid; I was 6 when it came out. We probably watched it on HBO or something. I have to say, watching something like that as a kid (which I don't remember much about, except the red bull and the ending) and as an adult is a very different experience. Molly Grue's "Where were you when I was new?" speech was ... OK, I cried. That feeling of having missed something, lost an opportunity, only to have it come too late isn't something a child can understand, not on that visceral level.
It's playing again tomorrow afternoon, if anyone local wants to see it.
Then they had the 1978 Battlestar Galactica movie - which is apparently a huge fuckin deal, since all the prints save 1 are lost or destroyed, and the theater got it from the vaults at Universal. So it was a rare opportunity.
I remember that I watched the original BSG as a kid, when it came on TV [in reruns, because I was 2 when it came out], but I don't remember much about it. (I also watched CHiPS and The Dukes of Hazzard. My mom tells me that when I was like 6, I told her I'd marry Bo *and* Luke. Apparently poly wiring starts early ;) ) But when Lorne Greene came on the screen in his weird blue uniform thing, I was like "OK, that's Adama. The one I remember." But then I couldn't remember Apollo's name until Ben reminded me. Go figure. (Ben didn't know that the little kid was Atreyu in the Neverending Story, though. And his mom was Jane Seymour minus some acting ability.)
But it seems that, despite my mom's best efforts, stories about spaceships and dogfighting in space and evil robots got into my brain when I was quite impressionable. So it's no surprise that I like Macross and Gundam and space opera.
We saw The Last Unicorn - the reel was apparently borrowed from the Alamo Drafthouse, if I heard the owner right in his introduction. I know I saw it as a kid; I was 6 when it came out. We probably watched it on HBO or something. I have to say, watching something like that as a kid (which I don't remember much about, except the red bull and the ending) and as an adult is a very different experience. Molly Grue's "Where were you when I was new?" speech was ... OK, I cried. That feeling of having missed something, lost an opportunity, only to have it come too late isn't something a child can understand, not on that visceral level.
It's playing again tomorrow afternoon, if anyone local wants to see it.
Then they had the 1978 Battlestar Galactica movie - which is apparently a huge fuckin deal, since all the prints save 1 are lost or destroyed, and the theater got it from the vaults at Universal. So it was a rare opportunity.
I remember that I watched the original BSG as a kid, when it came on TV [in reruns, because I was 2 when it came out], but I don't remember much about it. (I also watched CHiPS and The Dukes of Hazzard. My mom tells me that when I was like 6, I told her I'd marry Bo *and* Luke. Apparently poly wiring starts early ;) ) But when Lorne Greene came on the screen in his weird blue uniform thing, I was like "OK, that's Adama. The one I remember." But then I couldn't remember Apollo's name until Ben reminded me. Go figure. (Ben didn't know that the little kid was Atreyu in the Neverending Story, though. And his mom was Jane Seymour minus some acting ability.)
But it seems that, despite my mom's best efforts, stories about spaceships and dogfighting in space and evil robots got into my brain when I was quite impressionable. So it's no surprise that I like Macross and Gundam and space opera.
