movie talk
Mar. 23rd, 2008 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanAlex and I watched the last half of Lake Placid last night--Alex wanted to watch the Betty White part again--and it stands as one of my favorites in the genre. I did notice this time that they not only fired darts into crocodile hide (I've seen people have trouble getting darts to penetrate raccoon hide) but with what seemed like only one dart, they got the croc to go down in about 5 minutes. A real 30 foot croc would need like a gallon of ketamine and even then it would take an hour to go down. And it might kill him.
Should I write something about how my job experiences and knowledge of natural history color my enjoyment of movies, especially creature horror?
I also noticed that my vcr (it's a machine for playing movies recorded on magnetic tape) is having some kind of problem with its motor. It plays the tape okay, but it makes a tiktiktiktiktiktiktik sound, which is really annoying in the quiet parts of the movie. Finally I decided to pretend that it was a movie projector (it's a machine that shines light through a row of slides moving at 24 frames per second) like we used to watch movies with in high school. I remember the first time I saw a tv in school--it looked so out of place.
Speaking of obsolete technology and movies, I also watched The Prestige. This is going to get me into trouble, I can feel it. Five of my netflix friends rated it 5 stars (Loved it!) I didn't. I'd give it 2 and half. Mostly it's entertaining, but just like Fight Club, a pretty good movie is sunk by its BIG SURPRISE ENDING. In fact, it does Fight Club one better by having two BIG SURPRISE ENDINGs, one for each jerk magician protagonist. Michael Caine is good, David Bowie is good, the two endings are stupid. I wrote a Soylent Screen column on it, but I have to sit on it for a week--it's probably for the best, I should think about it before I post it anyway. I was annoyed by the endings, and that emotion probably made me say things that were unkind, like using the word "stupid" three times. I bet this is one of those movies that people are going to say "Oh, it's better when you see it a second time!" In fact, I'm sure it is, since the BIG SURPRISE ENDINGS reveal information that would help you understand the characters' actions.
Is this what dvds have done to cinema? Do we all have to rewatch every movie to get more out of it? As long as we've bought these things, we may as well get more information from each viewing. I guess that makes sense, but it sort of reduces us all to preschoolers begging to see the same Thomas the Tank Engine episode over and over again. If I only kind of like a movie, I don't want to have to see it again to appreciate it.
People have told me that The Prestige is better than The Illusionist. That doesn't bode well.
Alexis and I watched the first season of "The Riches." She liked it more than I did, but I found it entertaining enough to watch more if we get more. I'm a little bothered by Eddie Izzard's character. I find him implausibly articulate, well-educated, and good at golf. He's the brains of the operation because he's got a 7th grade education. Izzard's a good actor and a compelling on-screen presence, but I don't buy him as a swamp grifter. It's funny to see the gag reel where Minnie Driver flubs a line and drops her Louisiana ex-con drawl to curse in her proper British accent.
I guess this is what being sick is for.
Should I write something about how my job experiences and knowledge of natural history color my enjoyment of movies, especially creature horror?
I also noticed that my vcr (it's a machine for playing movies recorded on magnetic tape) is having some kind of problem with its motor. It plays the tape okay, but it makes a tiktiktiktiktiktiktik sound, which is really annoying in the quiet parts of the movie. Finally I decided to pretend that it was a movie projector (it's a machine that shines light through a row of slides moving at 24 frames per second) like we used to watch movies with in high school. I remember the first time I saw a tv in school--it looked so out of place.
Speaking of obsolete technology and movies, I also watched The Prestige. This is going to get me into trouble, I can feel it. Five of my netflix friends rated it 5 stars (Loved it!) I didn't. I'd give it 2 and half. Mostly it's entertaining, but just like Fight Club, a pretty good movie is sunk by its BIG SURPRISE ENDING. In fact, it does Fight Club one better by having two BIG SURPRISE ENDINGs, one for each jerk magician protagonist. Michael Caine is good, David Bowie is good, the two endings are stupid. I wrote a Soylent Screen column on it, but I have to sit on it for a week--it's probably for the best, I should think about it before I post it anyway. I was annoyed by the endings, and that emotion probably made me say things that were unkind, like using the word "stupid" three times. I bet this is one of those movies that people are going to say "Oh, it's better when you see it a second time!" In fact, I'm sure it is, since the BIG SURPRISE ENDINGS reveal information that would help you understand the characters' actions.
Is this what dvds have done to cinema? Do we all have to rewatch every movie to get more out of it? As long as we've bought these things, we may as well get more information from each viewing. I guess that makes sense, but it sort of reduces us all to preschoolers begging to see the same Thomas the Tank Engine episode over and over again. If I only kind of like a movie, I don't want to have to see it again to appreciate it.
People have told me that The Prestige is better than The Illusionist. That doesn't bode well.
Alexis and I watched the first season of "The Riches." She liked it more than I did, but I found it entertaining enough to watch more if we get more. I'm a little bothered by Eddie Izzard's character. I find him implausibly articulate, well-educated, and good at golf. He's the brains of the operation because he's got a 7th grade education. Izzard's a good actor and a compelling on-screen presence, but I don't buy him as a swamp grifter. It's funny to see the gag reel where Minnie Driver flubs a line and drops her Louisiana ex-con drawl to curse in her proper British accent.
I guess this is what being sick is for.
