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Movies watched so far!
I'm rating them based on how well they lived up to all the hype about them, and on my personal opinion of them. Listed in the order watched, more or less. This isn't really meant to be a list of objective reviews of stats and since both of the ratings are highly subjective, you've got every right to disagree with me on the particular merits of a film -- or, conversely, the problems it has.
Weekend trip to NJ was cancelled because I'm too exhausted to go. I feel like hell about doing that to Cid but... *could no way make it*. Have an open offer to treat her to a movie or something else if she'd like, though, to make up for having to pull out of this.
Anyway, movie reviews.
Thelma & Louise.
Hype: 10/10
Personal: 8/10
Now, this film lived up to everything I'd heard about it. It was a great feminist story, a good story on its own, the characters were engaging and it did a great job of really getting me emotionally involved and cheering along the anti-heroines. Also, the ending? It flat-out ROCKED.
I had to take marks off it because the accents grated on my ear, though. Certain accents are difficult for me to listen to for a long period of time and that includes Southern ones, unfortunately. Also, the cinematography was good but not excellent. I think that might be more a reflection on filming technology back then than on the film itself, though. So full marks for the actual story, and two points taken off for elements of style with one of the problems being an entirely personal quirk.
Romeo & Juliet.
Hype: 7/10
Personal: 8/10
The version I watched was the one made with Leo in it, since that's the one I remember having started to watch during a school assembly but never got to finish. I actually liked it a lot on a personal level because I thought it was very nifty that they kept the original text but updated it for such a modern look.
It didn't quite measure up to the hype mostly of Leo, oddly enough -- during the film, I kept thinking of him as Leonardo di Caprio instead of Romeo, which means that he wasn't doing a good enough job to convince me that he was the character. Tybalt, however, was excellent though it took me a little while to warm up to the sleazy look and Mercutio was fairly good as well though the drag queen bit didn't really appeal to me. It was still a creative twist on the play, though, and the cinematography was beautiful in places, if a little unevenly done.
Casablanca.
Hype: 4/10
Personal: 2/10
It's amazing how underwhelmed I was by that film. It keeps getting built up as this great love story, this really moving and touching narrative that's the arch-triangle, and everyone quotes it. And yet, when I watched it, the characters all bored me and I couldn't have cared less who the chick ended up with. The girl wasn't even all that attractive, for all that they kept calling her the most beautiful woman ever. Really, the only character that caught my attention at all was Monsieur Renault and even then, I hated him through most of the film for preying on desperate women. I can't even remember the girl's name and basically, the film just failed to hook me though since I'm not really a fan of love stories in general, it was working at a disadvantage from the start.
I'm really disappointed I didn't like it.
The Breakfast Club.
Hype: 10/10
Personal: 9/10
Wow. AWESOME. I was incredibly surprised to like this so much, but so very glad that I did. I can easily see why it's considered such a classic teen movie, and I loved both its premise and its execution. The characters were easy to sympathize with but not predictable, and all of them were shown as flawed beings.
I only took one point off for the makeover scene with Allison -- it was annoying that she had to ditch her kook attitude and look more 'normal' in order to get the guy. I also, admittedly, really thought that Andrew was going to turn out gay because it just seemed like that's what all the gay jokes were about and Andrew looked kinda gay-jockish to me. Of course, none of those really matter overall since I think that it was a really well-directed movie and the actors did an awesome job in their roles. I'd definitely be willing to watch it again with a friend.
Welcome to the Dollhouse.
Hype: N/A
Personal: -5/10
I have no idea why this film was reviewed as being typical of the situation of American teenagers and pre-pubescents. It's really, really not. The main character comes off as stupid and unlikeable, her family is unfairly biased in favor of her younger sister, her older brother's a jerk and basically, I think the bullying/harassment at school was way overdone.
Bullying is awful, I will be the first to say that, but at least portray it realistically instead of making it so over-the-top that your audience goes "Wow, sociopaths in the making. Where's the dead-animal-torture scene to go along with the faeces-fixation?"
Urgh. Don't bother watching it. It'll just be a waste of your time.
The Closet.
Hype: 9/10
Personal: 8/10
This is another film that I picked up because I remembered having started it during school (this time, we were watching it in a French class) but didn't get to finish. I don't think that there is actually all that much hype about it so a brief summary of the film goes as follows: Guy is going to lose job and kill himself, neighbor suggests he pretends to be gay in order to avoid being fired under anti-discrimination laws, he does so and wacky hijinks ensue.
There were a few bits of the film that made me uneasy, most noticeably the part where he falls asleep on the couch and is practically molested by Ms. Betrand, but overall, I loved it. It made me snicker a lot, and the clueless college trying to be PC was hilarious. The ending was a bit of a personal letdown since I'd had my fingers crossed for the main character to get together with the clueless college, but it was a good fit for the film.
Also, as a warning, I had to watch it in French with English subtitles, so I'm not sure if they even offer DVD versions with spoken English. Good thing I still like French!
Dead Poet's Society.
Hype: 10/10
Personal: 10/10
Confession time: This is the third movie that I saw part of during school but never got to finish, but unlike the other two listed above, I wasn't too impressed with what I did see. I picked the DVD off the racks today anyway because I know it's a classic and I thought that if I could sit through Casablanca, I could sit through anything. I'm a grimly determined little thing like that.
So, fully expecting to be bored, thinking that none of the guys were even cute enough to qualify as eye-candy and wishing that I had Kathy there with me to squeal with whenever something even mildly slashly happened, I popped it into my DVD player and watched it while chatting with sundry friends over MSN.
And I loved it. Not just because there was a lot of slashiness but because I honestly thought that it was a great film.
The actual quality of the acting was excellent and since I've had some awesome teachers in my time (Ms. Archer to name one and Mr. Gordie to name another), I think it's perfectly reasonable that one teacher could have such an impact on his students' lives. And I loved, loved, loved-like-I-wanted-to-marry-it-loved the ending. Moments of solidarity and support against a repressive regime always get to me, especially within a classroom setting or when it's in the favor of someone that's otherwise going to be downtrodded. That might have been the unrealistic bit of the film but I have to admit, the idea that people can be so good, so loyal and brave -- it makes me happy. It makes me hopeful.
I really, really love this movie. Charlie's got to be my favorite, but Neil and Mr. Keating are cool too. And if you know of any Dead Poet's Slash that isn't part of the Yuletide collection, point me that way!
As a sidenote, I'm taking a class on Williams and Capote during which we spend nearly all the time talking about the homosexual subtext they coded into their works, I cannot believe that I get to actually be a slash fangirl in class and get graded on it. Unfortunately, my speciality is writing fic and not trying to find canon support for slash ships and I doubt my prof would accept fic in place of an essay.
Too bad that I'm not the kind of fan that insists that a pairing must be canon just because I like it, right? I like what I like and don't care if the text says it makes sense -- most of the time, the pairings I like are because I like the characters and want them to get more screentime so if they're paired together, then I get two awesome characters being written about/drawn at once instead of just one of them. Gen featuring those two characters would be equally awesome, I think, but a lot of the time, it's hard to find gen about the chars I like just because I have a very bad habit of liking the bit players, like Tybalt from Romeo & Juliet or Laertes from Hamlet to take two Shakespearean examples (I ship Tybalt/Mercutio and Hamlet/Laertes, for those of you that are interested).
Also, we had a makeup class today for the one that was cancelled on Tuesday and the professor brought us pie to make up for. Pie. I had a slice of a really rich, delicious chocolate pie. It was more like cake than pie-pie because it didn't have any breaded crust or anything but gods, it was so chocolatey and awesome.
Weekend trip to NJ was cancelled because I'm too exhausted to go. I feel like hell about doing that to Cid but... *could no way make it*. Have an open offer to treat her to a movie or something else if she'd like, though, to make up for having to pull out of this.
Anyway, movie reviews.
Thelma & Louise.
Hype: 10/10
Personal: 8/10
Now, this film lived up to everything I'd heard about it. It was a great feminist story, a good story on its own, the characters were engaging and it did a great job of really getting me emotionally involved and cheering along the anti-heroines. Also, the ending? It flat-out ROCKED.
I had to take marks off it because the accents grated on my ear, though. Certain accents are difficult for me to listen to for a long period of time and that includes Southern ones, unfortunately. Also, the cinematography was good but not excellent. I think that might be more a reflection on filming technology back then than on the film itself, though. So full marks for the actual story, and two points taken off for elements of style with one of the problems being an entirely personal quirk.
Romeo & Juliet.
Hype: 7/10
Personal: 8/10
The version I watched was the one made with Leo in it, since that's the one I remember having started to watch during a school assembly but never got to finish. I actually liked it a lot on a personal level because I thought it was very nifty that they kept the original text but updated it for such a modern look.
It didn't quite measure up to the hype mostly of Leo, oddly enough -- during the film, I kept thinking of him as Leonardo di Caprio instead of Romeo, which means that he wasn't doing a good enough job to convince me that he was the character. Tybalt, however, was excellent though it took me a little while to warm up to the sleazy look and Mercutio was fairly good as well though the drag queen bit didn't really appeal to me. It was still a creative twist on the play, though, and the cinematography was beautiful in places, if a little unevenly done.
Casablanca.
Hype: 4/10
Personal: 2/10
It's amazing how underwhelmed I was by that film. It keeps getting built up as this great love story, this really moving and touching narrative that's the arch-triangle, and everyone quotes it. And yet, when I watched it, the characters all bored me and I couldn't have cared less who the chick ended up with. The girl wasn't even all that attractive, for all that they kept calling her the most beautiful woman ever. Really, the only character that caught my attention at all was Monsieur Renault and even then, I hated him through most of the film for preying on desperate women. I can't even remember the girl's name and basically, the film just failed to hook me though since I'm not really a fan of love stories in general, it was working at a disadvantage from the start.
I'm really disappointed I didn't like it.
The Breakfast Club.
Hype: 10/10
Personal: 9/10
Wow. AWESOME. I was incredibly surprised to like this so much, but so very glad that I did. I can easily see why it's considered such a classic teen movie, and I loved both its premise and its execution. The characters were easy to sympathize with but not predictable, and all of them were shown as flawed beings.
I only took one point off for the makeover scene with Allison -- it was annoying that she had to ditch her kook attitude and look more 'normal' in order to get the guy. I also, admittedly, really thought that Andrew was going to turn out gay because it just seemed like that's what all the gay jokes were about and Andrew looked kinda gay-jockish to me. Of course, none of those really matter overall since I think that it was a really well-directed movie and the actors did an awesome job in their roles. I'd definitely be willing to watch it again with a friend.
Welcome to the Dollhouse.
Hype: N/A
Personal: -5/10
I have no idea why this film was reviewed as being typical of the situation of American teenagers and pre-pubescents. It's really, really not. The main character comes off as stupid and unlikeable, her family is unfairly biased in favor of her younger sister, her older brother's a jerk and basically, I think the bullying/harassment at school was way overdone.
Bullying is awful, I will be the first to say that, but at least portray it realistically instead of making it so over-the-top that your audience goes "Wow, sociopaths in the making. Where's the dead-animal-torture scene to go along with the faeces-fixation?"
Urgh. Don't bother watching it. It'll just be a waste of your time.
The Closet.
Hype: 9/10
Personal: 8/10
This is another film that I picked up because I remembered having started it during school (this time, we were watching it in a French class) but didn't get to finish. I don't think that there is actually all that much hype about it so a brief summary of the film goes as follows: Guy is going to lose job and kill himself, neighbor suggests he pretends to be gay in order to avoid being fired under anti-discrimination laws, he does so and wacky hijinks ensue.
There were a few bits of the film that made me uneasy, most noticeably the part where he falls asleep on the couch and is practically molested by Ms. Betrand, but overall, I loved it. It made me snicker a lot, and the clueless college trying to be PC was hilarious. The ending was a bit of a personal letdown since I'd had my fingers crossed for the main character to get together with the clueless college, but it was a good fit for the film.
Also, as a warning, I had to watch it in French with English subtitles, so I'm not sure if they even offer DVD versions with spoken English. Good thing I still like French!
Dead Poet's Society.
Hype: 10/10
Personal: 10/10
Confession time: This is the third movie that I saw part of during school but never got to finish, but unlike the other two listed above, I wasn't too impressed with what I did see. I picked the DVD off the racks today anyway because I know it's a classic and I thought that if I could sit through Casablanca, I could sit through anything. I'm a grimly determined little thing like that.
So, fully expecting to be bored, thinking that none of the guys were even cute enough to qualify as eye-candy and wishing that I had Kathy there with me to squeal with whenever something even mildly slashly happened, I popped it into my DVD player and watched it while chatting with sundry friends over MSN.
And I loved it. Not just because there was a lot of slashiness but because I honestly thought that it was a great film.
The actual quality of the acting was excellent and since I've had some awesome teachers in my time (Ms. Archer to name one and Mr. Gordie to name another), I think it's perfectly reasonable that one teacher could have such an impact on his students' lives. And I loved, loved, loved-like-I-wanted-to-marry-it-loved the ending. Moments of solidarity and support against a repressive regime always get to me, especially within a classroom setting or when it's in the favor of someone that's otherwise going to be downtrodded. That might have been the unrealistic bit of the film but I have to admit, the idea that people can be so good, so loyal and brave -- it makes me happy. It makes me hopeful.
I really, really love this movie. Charlie's got to be my favorite, but Neil and Mr. Keating are cool too. And if you know of any Dead Poet's Slash that isn't part of the Yuletide collection, point me that way!
As a sidenote, I'm taking a class on Williams and Capote during which we spend nearly all the time talking about the homosexual subtext they coded into their works, I cannot believe that I get to actually be a slash fangirl in class and get graded on it. Unfortunately, my speciality is writing fic and not trying to find canon support for slash ships and I doubt my prof would accept fic in place of an essay.
Too bad that I'm not the kind of fan that insists that a pairing must be canon just because I like it, right? I like what I like and don't care if the text says it makes sense -- most of the time, the pairings I like are because I like the characters and want them to get more screentime so if they're paired together, then I get two awesome characters being written about/drawn at once instead of just one of them. Gen featuring those two characters would be equally awesome, I think, but a lot of the time, it's hard to find gen about the chars I like just because I have a very bad habit of liking the bit players, like Tybalt from Romeo & Juliet or Laertes from Hamlet to take two Shakespearean examples (I ship Tybalt/Mercutio and Hamlet/Laertes, for those of you that are interested).
Also, we had a makeup class today for the one that was cancelled on Tuesday and the professor brought us pie to make up for. Pie. I had a slice of a really rich, delicious chocolate pie. It was more like cake than pie-pie because it didn't have any breaded crust or anything but gods, it was so chocolatey and awesome.