The family and I have seen a few movies lately. Here are a few thoughts. SPOILERS!
Man of Steel – Saw this over the weekend and enjoyed the latest reboot of the Superman franchise. Superman himself didn’t show a lot of personality (other than brooding) so the film lacked the charm of Christopher Reeve’s portrayal, which translated into a noticeable lack of humor in this somewhat grim, death-filled spectacle. Putting aside the billions dead when Krypton explodes, there are probably tens of thousands of Americans killed as super-beings throw each other through Metropolis skyscrapers, causing entire blocks to collapse. (Seriously, what is it with recent movies (see also Star Trek and The Avengers) and collapsing building porn?) Despite early misgivings, I enjoyed the out of sequence storytelling device and I thought Russell Crowe, as Superman’s father, Jor-El, brought some serious, warm humanity to the film. The origin story is significantly changed as well as Superman’s childhood and relationship with Lois Lane, but I thought it a decent setup for sequels. I was disappointed that General Zod wasn’t put to better use although I did like that they humanized him a bit. I would also like to have seen more from him and his minions. Still, it was a decent reboot and I look forward to the next one.
Django Unchained! - Carol, Rachel and I watched this on DirecTV pay-per-view. After the horrible clusterfudge that was Deathproof, Quentin Tarantino’s contribution to Grindhouse, I had given up hope on Tarantino. Deathproof was talky, slow, contrived, and felt more like a terrible parody of Tarantino than something he created. I was so bored and uncomfortable watching it that I almost walked out, something I never do. Inglorious Basterds from 2009 was something of a return to form as well as being a very entertaining movie, but it still had some issues with self-indulgence. Django Unchained!, however, was excellent. There’s a lot of dialogue (duh) but it’s witty, engaging and to the point, not filled with needless digressions. Christoph Walz, as an absolutely moral, upright bounty hunter (who kills people) radiates humor, warmth and intelligence. It’s a real pleasure to see how he’s always one step ahead of everyone else. Jamie Foxx, as freed slave turned bounty hunter, Django, is intense and quiet, but also excellent. These two performances anchor what is a very brutal, fantasy revenge flick which doesn’t hesitate to show the horrors of slavery. Tarantino’s script and direction are also under control (although unfortunately not enough to prevent his own glaring cameo) and while the story comes close to crossing the line into absurdity, it doesn’t. I’m really glad I saw this. (Warning, one scene involving two men fighting was REALLY brutal. I turned my head.)
Stephen King’s The Shining – The first book I read on my Kindle was The Shining, which I really enjoyed. Since I’ve seen Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining, many times, I wanted to see the 1997 TV mini-series starring Steven Weber and Rebecca DeMornay which reportedly stays much closer to the book. Unfortunately, it wasn’t available on Netflix or Amazon Prime, so I ended up watching a low resolution version on YouTube. Even so, I did enjoy it and got a kick out of seeing some of the scenes not in Kubrick’s version. The biggest revelation to me was Rebecca DeMornay who, believe it or not, I never found that attractive. I thought she was great in this and very beautiful. On the other hand, the mini-series failed in one significant aspect: it wasn’t scary. Danny’s supposed-to-be frightening supernatural advisor, Tony, was kind of silly. And although he did a fine job in the impossible role of following up Jack Nicholson’s iconic performance, Weber chasing Danny through the halls of the Overlook with an oversized croquet mallet while shouting “Come out you young pup and take your medicine!” in his angriest voice just didn’t do it. Surprisingly, the hotel, which was the actual hotel that inspired King to write the novel, also wasn’t scary. Kubrick’s fake, creepy, intentionally impossible hotel beat out the real thing.
Next up, World War Z in theatres with Ben and Monsters University with the whole family.
No comments:
Post a Comment