Movie marathon
Dec. 24th, 2012 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearIt's been a full couple of days for movies:
Arthur Christmas:
Lots of fun, though unfortunately the best sequence was before the credits. I loved the whole North Pole set-up with mission control and all the elves at their stations. Steve Claus, head of operations, was awesome. The cutesy adventure trying to get the last present to the last child on time was entertaining, but I think I would rather than had a full-on Steve mission instead. Still, Aardman is always good value for money, and it's a good film for passing the time at Christmas.
Life of Pi:
I went into this with as open a mind as possible. I think Ang Lee is brilliant, so that was a plus, but I didn't enjoy a lot of the book, so I was a bit worried. I needn't have been apprehensive on the ick front - the film was a PG so all the unpleasant stuff happened off screen. At the end of the day, though, I actually found the whole thing rather tedious. I don't know if it was because I'd only just read the book, so there was no sense of suspense - but then you know from the very start that Pi survives, otherwise he wouldn't be around to tell his story to the novelist. They also changed quite a bit from the book, and I thought those changes diminished the story in some ways, which was a shame. I still don't like the end, either. But hey, it wasn't dreadful or anything, just nowhere near as affecting and spectacular as the reviews would have me believe.
Liberal Arts:
This was an interesting film, in that it took quite a common tale and took it in unexpected directions. There were some really funny bits (particularly around the discussion of the Twilight books) and it was generally a very intelligent exploration of relationships and the different ways in which people view the world at different ages.
Cloud Atlas:
This was a real surprise. I read the book in August 2008 and appreciated its cleverness, but found it fairly incomprehensible and emotionally unengaging. I only watched the film because I wanted to see how it was done - and I was transfixed for nearly three hours. It was incredible. Beautifully constructed, with the various storylines much more effectively and subtly connected than in the book. The themes and message were much more accessible as well. Visually, it was stunning, and it was masterfully put together, with excellent performances all round. I can't recommend it unconditionally, since I know quite a few people who would probably hate it, or at least not get anything out of it, but I thought it was amazing.
Arthur Christmas:
Lots of fun, though unfortunately the best sequence was before the credits. I loved the whole North Pole set-up with mission control and all the elves at their stations. Steve Claus, head of operations, was awesome. The cutesy adventure trying to get the last present to the last child on time was entertaining, but I think I would rather than had a full-on Steve mission instead. Still, Aardman is always good value for money, and it's a good film for passing the time at Christmas.
Life of Pi:
I went into this with as open a mind as possible. I think Ang Lee is brilliant, so that was a plus, but I didn't enjoy a lot of the book, so I was a bit worried. I needn't have been apprehensive on the ick front - the film was a PG so all the unpleasant stuff happened off screen. At the end of the day, though, I actually found the whole thing rather tedious. I don't know if it was because I'd only just read the book, so there was no sense of suspense - but then you know from the very start that Pi survives, otherwise he wouldn't be around to tell his story to the novelist. They also changed quite a bit from the book, and I thought those changes diminished the story in some ways, which was a shame. I still don't like the end, either. But hey, it wasn't dreadful or anything, just nowhere near as affecting and spectacular as the reviews would have me believe.
Liberal Arts:
This was an interesting film, in that it took quite a common tale and took it in unexpected directions. There were some really funny bits (particularly around the discussion of the Twilight books) and it was generally a very intelligent exploration of relationships and the different ways in which people view the world at different ages.
Cloud Atlas:
This was a real surprise. I read the book in August 2008 and appreciated its cleverness, but found it fairly incomprehensible and emotionally unengaging. I only watched the film because I wanted to see how it was done - and I was transfixed for nearly three hours. It was incredible. Beautifully constructed, with the various storylines much more effectively and subtly connected than in the book. The themes and message were much more accessible as well. Visually, it was stunning, and it was masterfully put together, with excellent performances all round. I can't recommend it unconditionally, since I know quite a few people who would probably hate it, or at least not get anything out of it, but I thought it was amazing.
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Date: 2012-12-25 06:02 pm (UTC)Very keen to see the Liberal Arts and Cloud Atlas at some point though, and Arthur Christmas sounds dun :)