April... an odd month with a few movies I'm kind of scared about confessing in public that I actually went to see them! :p
*groan* And that's all I'm going to say about that! (that and my dad made me do it! I allowed myself to be convinced because of Sigourney Weaver... big mistake!)
Holy major adrenaline rush Batman! And that's about it. Much better than I expected, (but it's still a movie based on a board game that lacks a bit of a plot) and yes the special effects are really cool.
Woah! This one doesn't come out in the US for another 2 weeks?! I'd
better not give away any spoilers then... like say xxxxxxxxx DIES!!! :p
Looks like they had a little eye candy planned to entice guys and gals into the cinema: Taylor Kitsch + Alexandre Skarsgard + Liam Neeson + Brooklyn Decker (no idea who she is, but she plays the "hot girlfriend" and goes around working as a physiotherapist in clothes I don't think my sister -a physio- would be allowed to wear to work!)
Most weirded out moment: Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) and Landry (Jesse Plemons) playing soccer instead of american football!!! (was nice to see them both together on-screen again though)
I had originally said (based on the trailer) that I wasn't going to see this one, but then the Yelmo cinema went and chose it as one of the only 2 movies they were showing in English... so how could I resist? Plus I did want to see Julia Roberts chewing scenery... And I was curious as to how it will compare to "Snow White and the Huntsman" which intrigues me more. Anyhow, it was MUCH better than I expected and the trailer definitely doesn't do this movie justice! A lot of tongue-in-cheek and breaking of the "4th wall"? (kind of drawing the audience in). I had lots of fun with the "giant dwarves", but the prince was a bit groan-inducing. Snow White not bad. Julia Roberts... well, you can tell she definitely had fun with the role! But I don't think I care for that version of the evil queen that much...
Luscious costumes and set design. Beautiful marionette version of the beginning of Snow White's tale (birth, mother's death, only child, father's remarriage and subsequent death). And I loved the Bollywood-inspired final musical number! I believe in love indeed! :o)
On a meta-note, it was interesting to see Ned Stark and Boromir (a.k.a. Sean Bean) finally got themselves a throne! ;o)
FINALLY!!! Had hoped it would be playing in English, but no luck... Wasn't perhaps the best movie choice for an already sad (dog) day, but I was pretty sure it would take my mind off things... at least 2h without thinking, right? My dad's first words when it finished "Well that was intense!" Very true! Even having read the books and knowing what was going to happen (and having read plenty of online reviews), I was super tense! I even jumped in a couple of spots (like when that first muttation attacked them...). I liked the fact that the movie showed things that weren't spelled out in the novel, elements such as "the people back home" (in the Districts) watching the games or the game makers changing things in the stadium. President Snow is already sufficiently creepy... can't wait to see what Sutherland does with him in the next movie! Loved Jennifer Lawrence's interpretation of Katniss, even though I still missed her inner dialogue. Without it this version of Katniss is harder to connect with emotionally than the character in the book. But such is the nature of the beast... books and films are two different media.
I'm not going to go into details, I recommend you check out this great review by fellow blogger Juliette at Pop Classics who among other things points out a few elements the film owes to classical history (Seneca forced to suicide by poison ring a bell with anyone?).
Also worth checking out, this interesting article on io9 pointing out elements from the book which were left out of the movie. Things that bugged me: the origin of the mockingjay pin (and no mention either of the fact they were allowed to take one personal item into the games with them, Cinna "hides" it in Katniss's clothes in the film), the lamb stew!!! How could they leave that out?! :o( and several others... go see!
Have you seen any of these? What did you think?
The only one I've seen is the Hunger Games, and I did enjoy it a lot. I also enjoyed the books, although neither the movie or the books are on the top of any of my lists. But I think, based on your recommendation, I'll go see Mirror Mirror. Thanks! :-)
ReplyDeleteMirror Mirror was a blast! But you have to be receptive to the idea of Snow White as a comedy.
DeleteThanks for the shout-out! :) I loved that film, really looking forward to speaking on the books at a conference in a few weeks!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! Those books will be the subject of your talk in the conference in France?! Cool! :o)
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