The good, the bad and the bonkers...
Jan. 11th, 2015 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI went to see Birdman last night and have since been trying to figure out what to say about it. It was really good - unexpectedly funny, great cast, impressively shot. I guess it was about ego, and realising what's really important in life and what's not. Edward Norton, in particular, was excellent and I appreciated the meta nature of the roles he and Michael Keaton took on in the film, which were informed by my knowledge of what they have done and how they are perceived in real life. I liked the illusion of endless single shots that swept through the theatre and combined almost oppressive close-ups with sweeping wide shots to create a comprehensive world inside the film, while at the same time conveying the depth of the emotions on show. It was pretty intense in places, but also farcical in others. It wasn't what I expected but it also lived up to my anticipation. I think it was quite complex, I'm certain I didn't fully understand it, I wouldn't want to see it again, but I'm really glad I went.
Today's film was Into The Woods. My "habit releaser" task from week four of the meditation course I'm taking at the moment was to pick a date and time and just turn up to the cinema without checking the schedule, and pick what to see when I got there. I actually felt quite anxious on the way there, since spontaneity (even planned spontaneity!) really isn't my thing. But I lucked out (and I guess also sort of cheated) because the only film that was just about to start when I arrived at the cinema turned out to be the only one showing that I really wanted to see. Maybe the universe was just on my side. And I mostly really enjoyed it. It dragged in places, there were a couple of slightly unpleasant bits, it was somewhat disturbing, and very unfair on the giants (Little Red Riding Hood pointed out that they are people too, but apparently nobody was listening) - but it was laugh-out-loud funny, the songs were really good, the cast mostly excellent, and just subversive enough to be unexpected and satisfying without being really unsettling. Meryl Streep was obviously having a lot of fun, and I have always really liked Emily Blunt, but I think the stand-out was Chris Pine as one of the princes ("I was brought up to be charming, not sincere"), who chewed the scenery unashamedly and pretty much stole the show as a result. It was pretty stagey (duh!) but well done for all that - though, having read the plot of the stage show on returning home, I'm actually glad they toned it down a bit, as otherwise I think it might have been a bit too much of a downer. The princes definitely had the best of it - Agony was my favourite scene, with Any Moment a close second ("Life can sometimes be unpleasant. You must know, as a peasant."), though I thought Your Fault was the best song.
Many thanks to prunesquallormd for buying me Geek Girls Unite by Leslie Simon for my birthday - unfortunately, it turned out to have many flaws, and I had to stop reading it partway through chapter two. It actually put me right off before I even cracked the cover - for three reasons. It was pink, the cover image was three different styles of glasses frames, and its tag line grouped geek girls under the heading "misfits". So, way to endorse stereotypes all round. I took a deep breath, however, and decided to give it a chance, just in case the content proved more edifying - it did not. The narrative style was incredibly condescending, set my teeth on edge with it's ditzy authorial voice, and managed to be derogatory towards both the group of people it was supposedly promoting *and* the group of people who would generally be considered opposite to that group. I tried, I really did - but I just couldn't take it any more after two attempts at reading, so I stopped. Moving on!
Today's film was Into The Woods. My "habit releaser" task from week four of the meditation course I'm taking at the moment was to pick a date and time and just turn up to the cinema without checking the schedule, and pick what to see when I got there. I actually felt quite anxious on the way there, since spontaneity (even planned spontaneity!) really isn't my thing. But I lucked out (and I guess also sort of cheated) because the only film that was just about to start when I arrived at the cinema turned out to be the only one showing that I really wanted to see. Maybe the universe was just on my side. And I mostly really enjoyed it. It dragged in places, there were a couple of slightly unpleasant bits, it was somewhat disturbing, and very unfair on the giants (Little Red Riding Hood pointed out that they are people too, but apparently nobody was listening) - but it was laugh-out-loud funny, the songs were really good, the cast mostly excellent, and just subversive enough to be unexpected and satisfying without being really unsettling. Meryl Streep was obviously having a lot of fun, and I have always really liked Emily Blunt, but I think the stand-out was Chris Pine as one of the princes ("I was brought up to be charming, not sincere"), who chewed the scenery unashamedly and pretty much stole the show as a result. It was pretty stagey (duh!) but well done for all that - though, having read the plot of the stage show on returning home, I'm actually glad they toned it down a bit, as otherwise I think it might have been a bit too much of a downer. The princes definitely had the best of it - Agony was my favourite scene, with Any Moment a close second ("Life can sometimes be unpleasant. You must know, as a peasant."), though I thought Your Fault was the best song.
Many thanks to prunesquallormd for buying me Geek Girls Unite by Leslie Simon for my birthday - unfortunately, it turned out to have many flaws, and I had to stop reading it partway through chapter two. It actually put me right off before I even cracked the cover - for three reasons. It was pink, the cover image was three different styles of glasses frames, and its tag line grouped geek girls under the heading "misfits". So, way to endorse stereotypes all round. I took a deep breath, however, and decided to give it a chance, just in case the content proved more edifying - it did not. The narrative style was incredibly condescending, set my teeth on edge with it's ditzy authorial voice, and managed to be derogatory towards both the group of people it was supposedly promoting *and* the group of people who would generally be considered opposite to that group. I tried, I really did - but I just couldn't take it any more after two attempts at reading, so I stopped. Moving on!
