Film recommendations
Sep. 30th, 2012 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearAt the start of the year, Dave and I asked several friends to recommend films for us to watch that we might not otherwise have seen. Last week, we finally got around to watching some of them, and it turned out to be remarkably successful.
I went into Fiddler On The Roof, knowing absolutely nothing about it at all - and was very pleasantly surprised to discover that it's a musical and also really funny! Who knew? Well, pretty much everyone except me, I would imagine! Anyway, the added bonus of Paul Michael Glaser turning up as a character named Perchik was highly entertaining, as well. Topol, as the main character, Tevye, was fantastic - tremendous expression and humour, the perfect narrator for a very well-made and interesting story.
The next day, Simon H, came round and we watched his recommendation - Once Upon A Time In The West - which also turned out to be a lot funnier than I had expected. It was also very well made and acted, with some very satisfying plot points and some excellent individual moments along the way. It could be presented as the definition of a "slow build" - there wasn't even any dialogue for about the first ten minutes, and the rest of the story unfolding with leisurely precision. It never felt tedious, though - the whole thing was perfectly pitched to provide engagement and suspense throughout.
Day three brought us La Cage Aux Folles, which we were expecting to be funny, and which didn't disappoint. I saw the American remake when it came out in 1996 and enjoyed it more than I thought it would. The original French film was exactly the same story, so I already knew what was going to happen, but it was still enjoyable. I did think, though, that the style was a little distancing - I don't think it was the barrier of the subtitles, as I haven't had this problem with foreign films before, but I didn't feel that I really got close to any of the characters. A lot of fun, though.
Then, yesterday, we went to see Looper in the cinema. I hadn't originally been interested in seeing it, but it's had such rave reviews, we decided we'd give it a try. I mostly quite enjoyed it while it was on, even though it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. I felt that it was trying to do something quite powerful, but perhaps didn't quite make it. Plus, since leaving the cinema, we've rather ripped it to shreds, and there was also a rather unpleasant bit near the start that has stayed with me. I've always been a fan of Joseph Gordon Levitt, and I think he did an excellent job with the role he was given, and the little boy was quite incredible in what was really rather an adult role. So, mixed feelings on this one - I don't see why the reviewers think it's so amazing, but it had its moments.
My latest audiobook was quite hilarious, though not meant to be. I honestly have no idea what possessed me to download it - it was Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child. It was about a group of scientists up on a military base in the arctic, who discovered a giant cat monster frozen in the ice and cut it out to study it. A film crew joined them to make a documentary about it. Of course, the ice thawed, the monster came back to life and started killing people in gloriously violent ways, and the scientists had to figure out its weakness in order to be able to defeat it. The whole thing was ludicrous from start to finish, but I actually rather enjoyed it overall.
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, was rather less entertaining, however. I decided to reread it as research for my own novel, and it proved useful in that regard, but I'd forgotten quite how sad and unpleasant it is. I'm really not sure what its message is supposed to be, either. People always attack that which is different from them? Intelligence will only make you unhappy? Trying to improve yourself is ultimately fruitless? Regardless of what it was trying to tell me, it was pretty depressing.
And that's it for this week!
I went into Fiddler On The Roof, knowing absolutely nothing about it at all - and was very pleasantly surprised to discover that it's a musical and also really funny! Who knew? Well, pretty much everyone except me, I would imagine! Anyway, the added bonus of Paul Michael Glaser turning up as a character named Perchik was highly entertaining, as well. Topol, as the main character, Tevye, was fantastic - tremendous expression and humour, the perfect narrator for a very well-made and interesting story.
The next day, Simon H, came round and we watched his recommendation - Once Upon A Time In The West - which also turned out to be a lot funnier than I had expected. It was also very well made and acted, with some very satisfying plot points and some excellent individual moments along the way. It could be presented as the definition of a "slow build" - there wasn't even any dialogue for about the first ten minutes, and the rest of the story unfolding with leisurely precision. It never felt tedious, though - the whole thing was perfectly pitched to provide engagement and suspense throughout.
Day three brought us La Cage Aux Folles, which we were expecting to be funny, and which didn't disappoint. I saw the American remake when it came out in 1996 and enjoyed it more than I thought it would. The original French film was exactly the same story, so I already knew what was going to happen, but it was still enjoyable. I did think, though, that the style was a little distancing - I don't think it was the barrier of the subtitles, as I haven't had this problem with foreign films before, but I didn't feel that I really got close to any of the characters. A lot of fun, though.
Then, yesterday, we went to see Looper in the cinema. I hadn't originally been interested in seeing it, but it's had such rave reviews, we decided we'd give it a try. I mostly quite enjoyed it while it was on, even though it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. I felt that it was trying to do something quite powerful, but perhaps didn't quite make it. Plus, since leaving the cinema, we've rather ripped it to shreds, and there was also a rather unpleasant bit near the start that has stayed with me. I've always been a fan of Joseph Gordon Levitt, and I think he did an excellent job with the role he was given, and the little boy was quite incredible in what was really rather an adult role. So, mixed feelings on this one - I don't see why the reviewers think it's so amazing, but it had its moments.
My latest audiobook was quite hilarious, though not meant to be. I honestly have no idea what possessed me to download it - it was Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child. It was about a group of scientists up on a military base in the arctic, who discovered a giant cat monster frozen in the ice and cut it out to study it. A film crew joined them to make a documentary about it. Of course, the ice thawed, the monster came back to life and started killing people in gloriously violent ways, and the scientists had to figure out its weakness in order to be able to defeat it. The whole thing was ludicrous from start to finish, but I actually rather enjoyed it overall.
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, was rather less entertaining, however. I decided to reread it as research for my own novel, and it proved useful in that regard, but I'd forgotten quite how sad and unpleasant it is. I'm really not sure what its message is supposed to be, either. People always attack that which is different from them? Intelligence will only make you unhappy? Trying to improve yourself is ultimately fruitless? Regardless of what it was trying to tell me, it was pretty depressing.
And that's it for this week!
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no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 06:42 pm (UTC)I heard a radio adaptation of Flowers for Algernon years and years ago and it's always stayed with me. Definitely one of the most depressing things I've ever heard. I never felt inclined to read the book after that.
How's your novel going, by the way?
no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 09:13 pm (UTC)My novel is actually going pretty well at the moment - I've got lots of ideas about how to continue it past the point where I thought it was going to end. I've obviously still got to actually get to that point (still many thousands of words away from that), but it keeps surprising me, which is always good.
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Date: 2012-09-30 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 08:27 pm (UTC)Lx
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Date: 2012-10-01 09:14 pm (UTC)