The Deathly Hallows pt II

I finally got to see the movie...I'll explain why I wasn't up to it sooner in another post. I know a lot of purists were upset about changes from the book, but I didn't love the book so I'm not bothered. I'm bothered that they make a point of showing blue-eyed Harry with a voice over saying how much his eyes look like his mother's then immediately showing the brown-eyed girl they cast as his mother as a child, but that's my biggest nitpick.
It's hard to believe that the end has come... Has there ever been another movie franchise where people could literally watch the actors grow up? I'm looking forward to the inevitable box set this Christmas of both parts of Deathly Hallows. The Harry Potter movies are probably my favorite movie adaptations (True Blood for TV for somewhat fateful, and Haven for merely "based upon") of all.

I'm going to miss going to see the movies, to be honest. That's the bad thing about endings: even if the series was really good, eventually it comes to and end. sigh.


"I miss you, each day day day. I miss you, why does it have to be this way?" Feeder, Miss You

Super 8. It's Super!

I went to this movie without knowing much about it and I liked it quite a bit. It was nice to see Elle Fanning, who was a toddler in the first thing I saw her in (Taken) in a pretty big part, and the boy who played the lead did an excellent job for someone who has never had a TV or movie role before.

Was it a masterpiece? No. Was it fun to MST 3000 with the people I went with? Yup. And it the Super 8 film at the end was worth the price of admission. Go see it before it's gone.

"I don't just want to be a footnote in someone else's happiness." - Fall Out Boy, Headfirst Slide Into Coopestown On A Bad Bet

Sucker Punch

I hope Colleen and Ophelia liked this movie too, because I did. I didn't love the ending, and I was unhappy that "Panic Switch" by The Silversun Pickups wasn't in the movie after being heavily featured in the trailer, but other than that...

I'm not much of a feminist, but I'll admit that I have a general fondness for tv shows and movies that are big on girl-power. Girls kicking guys' asses is pretty sweet. This movie had a fair amount of that, so I enjoyed it.

More so, though, was the apprication of the visual aspects of the film. Gothic surrealism is an under-used film style, so I'm always thrilled when something new comes along to make use of it. I'm not sure what is so exciting about the up-from-under wide angles, but I really love that (even in ballroom scene in this backstreet boys video) for some reason. I really wish that more films would make use of it, and I think the emergence of steampunk will eventually grant me that wish...if we end up getting a bunch of steampunk movies, that is.

Anyway, I give Sucker Punch 7/10.


"..blew all in me with gold silence, then a science project volcano erupts inside me, filling me with flat champagne." - Children Colide, Jelly Legs

Season of the Witch

Well...this was an odd movie. It's one of those films that never really decided if it wanted to be a straight up horror movie, or if it wanted to be campy, so in the end it settled for a blend that left the movie feeling somewhat disjointed.

That said, though, it's not that bad a film. Not worth the $10 I paid to see it (matinees that end before 4pm?! I hate that theater sometimes) but you should catch it sometime.


"Kill that middle class indecision, now is not the time for liberal thought. So I go hunting for witches." - Bloc Party, Hunting for Witches

True Grit

I'm not one of those people who has a fond attachment to the original, because to be honest, I never saw it until two weeks ago. The trailer for the version out in theaters now looked awesome, so I asked my dad if he'd like to see it, and we watched the older one first.

I like this new one much better. The original is kind of...I don't know if the word I'm looking for is hokey or campy, but for a movie that mentions grit in the title, it's not very gritty. The new one has that in spades. It's much darker and less silly. Don't get me wrong, I liked them both, but if you don't have a lifetime of memories of the other version, I won't be surprised if you prefer the new one too.

My only complaint is that until yesterday the closest theaters playing it were 40 miles away, so we ended up not seeing it before Christmas as planned. What's up with that?


"I'm selfish and cold, and I feel like we're all pretending. Careless and I'm lonely again. And I am torn on the inside." - Revelation Theory, Selfish and Cold

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Let me be frank: if it wasn't for Ben Barnes, I wouldn't bother with this movie series. The movies aren't bad, but...

Anyway, I wish that the awful, terrible island was a lot more awful, or terrible. There was a lot of wasted potential there, though perhaps it might have been too scary for the kids if it lingered.

What I'd really like to read (or write) and see would be something akin to a dark Narnia. A magical land that is really off-kilter and nightmarish. Wouldn't that be more fun? Maybe I can sell the syfy channel on the idea...


"You are still in my dreams, and you're knocking at my door. Nightmares of you creeping in my head. Nightmares of you sleeping in bed. And the way you're whispering my name so slowly..." - Silver Sunshine, Nightmares

Halloween, Thanksgiving etc

Man, not having access to my desktop for more than three weeks means that there's a lot I'd normally talk about here but didn't get the chance to...

Halloween

Normally one of my favorite holidays, it was just okay this year. Halloween night itself went fine, and we scared a whole bunch more kids than usual, which was nice.

What wasn't nice were the halloween activities we tried beforehand. An amusement park when it's only in the 30s and very windy isn't nearly as much fun as when we went to Spookyworld two Halloweens earlier. There was a lot of whining, some mine, and people just didn't have that good a time to justify the cost of the Screamfest tickets. The three haunted houses were pretty good, though, despite needing to stand around in the cold forever to get in. And the rides, forget it. The sort of rides open swung people around, and we gave up after freezing on the ferris wheel, which is much slower. I think we all agreed to do something indoors next year!

And then, even worse, was Ghosts On The Bank, an event put on at the local historical tourist trap. It was advertised as being about, you know, ghosts. So, in that case we went expecting to hear some ghost stories about the Portsmouth area. And instead it was 98% safe trick or treating. I rather doubt many adults would have wanted to go knowing that, but at least it wasn't terribly expensive. Just really disappointing. There wasn't even a single ghost story!

Thanksgiving

On the other hand, I have no complaints about Thanksgiving. I don't really understand the point of this holiday and never have, but I do love turkey, so I count it as a win.

We stopped doing the big extended family get-together the year after my grandfather died my freshman year of college (he died 2 days before Thanksgiving, actually) and I don't really miss it much any more. Once Grampy died, and great-Grammy a few months later, things fell apart when it came to family gatherings. He'd been the force keeping everyone together at the holidays, ever since my grandmother died eleven years earlier, and without him... Anyway, I don't mind the smaller meal now, with just my parents and lil brother. It's kind of nice that no one has to endure a 3 hour drive, you know?

Black Friday

Colleen and I brave the Black Friday crowds every year (the one day of the year when I get up at 4 a.m.), and this one was no exception. It got off to a bit of a rough start, though, when I learned that my deicer doesn't work for crap when it comes to freezing rain. It takes a long time to scrape windows by flashlight.
 
It was fun, but the sales were underwhelming. The news kept saying stores were going to pull out all of the stops this year to get shoppers in, but they didn't have too much on offer that I cared about. Possibly because I've done the bulk of my christmas shopping early this year.
 

Later, in the afternoon, we met up with my dad  at the theater to watch the latest Harry Potter movie. You're shocked, right? =)
 
To be honest, the last book is by far my least favorite, so I was pleasantly surprised that they managed to make part one of The Deathly Hallows a lot more exciting than them sitting around in a tent complaining at each other. It gives me hope that the last movie, next summer, will be decent too. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, they did handle my second least favorite (Chamber of Secrets) fairly well too.
 
Dad and Colleen seemed to like the movie too.
 
And that's all I have to report about the holidays.
 
 
"Careful what you say, oh it's too late now, you've broken my heart" - Class Actress, Careful What You Say

Splice (Spoilers)

I saw Splice with C on Sunday. It was her turn to pick a movie, and we both hoped it'd suck less than my last choice (see also, horror for wusses). Turns out that the previews for this movie are really misleading.

If you've seen the trailer, did you get the impression that it's about a lab-created monster rampaging after it escapes, killing a lot of people - like Species? It's not. The body count is a very small number, so small that you could count the deaths on the fingers of one genetically altered hand.

The truth of the matter is that this movie is a retelling of a centuries' old story. You may very well have read the story in high school. I won't say which novel, but you'll catch on.

I think I liked this more for it being something other than what I expected, but I would recommend it more as something to rent if you're undecided about going to see it in the theater.



"I'm not in love, I just want to be touched. I just want your kiss, Boy." - Kate Nash, Pumpkin Soup

Horror for Wusses

Warning: this rant contains spoilers for Paranormal Activity and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

When I'm in charge around here, people who are complete wusses will no longer be allowed to recommend "scary" books or movies. Why? Because their picks oughtn't scare anyone who doesn't sleep with a nightlight on. As to why I'm het up about this all of the sudden, I recently saw the movie and read the book listed above.

Let's take on Paranormal Activity first. I want to know what people in the trailer were watching, because it couldn't have been this movie. You ever watch that show ghost hunters or its clones, and sit through people making a fuss about a loud noise or two, and maybe a book falling off a shelf? This movie exactly like that. Except it also contains two fairly unlikable characters who swear a lot, and forbid each other from doing things. If you think a moving sheet or footprints in flour are scary, you're in for a treat. Otherwise, you'll probably think the movie is lame too.

Then there's The Little Stranger. A book that is almost 500 pages long and nothing happens. Ever. I'm going to spoil this for you right now and spare you the pain of reading it: the so-called scariest parts of the book - according to people who actually liked the book, mind you - involve the terror of moving a cabinet and discovering that someone wrote on a wall (gasp!) and another scene where a shadowy figure runs up and down a hallway (covers eyes). Don't you feel a thrill of fear reading about that? You won't after suffering through the other 460 pages of descriptions about why living in a decaying mansion sucks and why a homely girl who won't be loved by anyone else not putting out for you sucks, either. This is the tamest, most tepid, most tedious ghost story I have ever read...considering I have an English education degree and have read lots of boring books, that's saying a lot. I'm angrier about it than the movie, because the book took a lot longer than two hours to read.

So, if you recommend either of these works, you're going on my secret list of people to ignore recommendations from. You'll be joining people who think House of Leaves was a horror novel, and those who wet themselves with fright while watching The Ring or The Grudge. That is all.

"Who's getting scared? Who's getting scared now?" - Imogen Heap, Getting Scared

Sequels?

I've been thinking about a couple of sequels that might come out. At this point I have all the faith in this happening as I do seeing the Fraggle Rock movie that was supposed to come out this year, but has been pushed off another couple of years. Well, I don't think I'll actually see the Fraggle Rock movie, but you know what I mean. Maybe you do. I don't know.

Anyway... The first movie of dubious destiny is a sequel to Silent Hill. Rumors that there's going to be a sequel have abounded since the first movie came out. I've probably seen Silent Hill a dozen times since dragging poor C to see it three years ago (I so did not realize the last 20 minutes would be that gory. She was not impressed. What can I say? I never played the games.) and at first I really wanted them to continue where they left off. Would Rose and Sharon ever get back to the real world? Now I don't really care. I'd watch a sequel, but if it's about something else, that's fine. Will they ever make this rumored sequel? Time will tell.

A sequel rumored for far far longer would be the sequel to The Boondock Saints. It's been a decade since the first movie, and about nine and a half years since rumors about a sequel began. Supposedly it'll finally come out on October 30th, but I'm not holding my breath. I know, you're wondering how this movie became one of my favorites, right? Besides the fact that I've always appriciated hitmen flicks, I studied Freud in pysch classes and thought that most of his theories were baseless. Then I saw this movie, and realized he's not wrong about guns. You know the two scenes were the twins pray and then shoot someone at the same time? Depite the fact that neither of the brothers is much to look at, that's about the hottest scene in a movie that I can think of where everyone stays fully clothed. So, yeah, I'd like to see a sequel eventually...


"You dont care who lies to you. You've finally found something to do. Don't it make your black eyes blue?" Summercamp, Drawer <--I was totally in love with this song in 97.

HP: Half-Blood Prince (spoilers)

I finally got to see Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince yesterday. I liked it, but that hardly comes as a surprise because I've liked all of the movies, even the Chamber of Secrets which was based on my second least favorite book. (my least favorite of all was the last book). As with the books, the movies have gotten consistently darker too, and I can't say that I object.

Out of curiosity, no one is surprised that Hermione is my favorite character, right?

This time I didn't rewatch the older movies or reread the book as I've done in the past. I wanted to see if not having the story fresh in my mind made any difference in my enjoyment of the movie, or my notice of what was changed. Not really. I have a good memory for what I've read anyway, which in general makes me a fount of useless trivial to confuse and/or dazzle people with, so it's not as though I forgot Snape's far more bombastic speech in the book, that in the book Harry spelled so he can't move instead of failing to act as he did in the movie, that Dumbledore's behavior was much more pathetic as Harry forced him to drink the poison when they tried to get the locket...

Most of those changes worked fine in the movie, but the three of us discussed Snape afterwards: if you hadn't read the book, you'd probably be really confused by Snape's throw away line that reveals that he's the half-blood prince. They totally cut out all explanation of what made him it, and eliminated a lot of the effort Harry, Hermione and Ron went to in order to try to discover the identity of the HBP. That, and they didn't do a very good job of explaining why Harry was willing to give up the potion book after he hurt Malfoy: in the book he didn't know what the spell did, and was horrified to discover that it cut the victim up. Sure, they showed Malfoy bleeding, but not Harry's guilt.

We'll have to see what happens with the last book, which will be broken into two movies. There was so much in that book about hurry up and wait, I'm not sure why they think they need to stretch it into two movies. I'll admit that I dislike the last book the most because I wanted Harry and Hermione to end up together. She and Ron have no chemistry, so I never was able to buy their relationship. Which isn't to say that I don't like couples that bicker, because God knows that I'm the type of person who teases the hell out of guys I like myself (and the ones I like best give as good as they get), but there should be something beyond that to make a couple realistic. Look at Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedick don't just make fun of each other and fight. I see that as lacking with R/H.

I suppose it might sound like I'm holding JK Rowling to too high a standard, but really, she's one of my role models, along with Anne Tyler and Stephen King. Some people which they could have the power, responsiblity and respect that the president commands, but I want to capture imaginations like these three do instead. That's the sort of power I'd like to hold over the masses.

"I have all of this potential building up... I'm the bullet, will you be my gun?" - The Ropes, Be My Gun

Drag Me To Hell (no plot spoilers)

I saw Drag Me To Hell last weekend, and I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it. It wasn't what we'd planned to see, but my plans to hang out with C got postponed so many weekends in a row that The Haunting in Connecticut had already left theaters down her way. It's playing in my town - and it's yet another movie I won't see until it's out on DVD because I can't bear the idea of going to a movie alone - but she's dog-sitting her parents' dogs while they're out of the country this whole last week and part of next, so I had to see her instead. So, Drag Me To Hell was plan B.

By now I should know enough to look and see who directs a movie before seeing it, but I rarely do. Or, you know, pay attention during the opening credits so I'm not left wondering until the very end of the movie and the closing credits are up. Raimi isn't a director whose movies I won't watch (on the other hand, if anyone else tries to trick me into seeing a Richard Kelly movie again, I'm going to punch them. Seriously. I'm never going to get back the hours wasted on Southland Tales or Donnie Darko) but it would have been better to know that it had been one of his movies given I'm a much bigger fan of movies he's been the producer of, rather than the director or writer. As it was, the shift in mood two thirds into the movie was both jarring and unexpected. I'm sure fans of the Evil Dead movies will enjoy that, though. Me, I felt like we were suddenly yanked out of a fairly scary movie and dropped into Beetlejuice all of the sudden for a couple of scenes, and that was very odd.

As I said, I'm still not entirely sure what I think of the movie. I guess it was okay, but was it worth $8 to see? Hmm. The Mac Guy (Justin Long) playing one of the male leads did nothing for me, since he's neither a great actor, nor interesting to look at - and I kept expecting him to talk about computers. I also think he looked too young to play the part, given he was supposed to be "a professor" rather than a mere grad student teaching classes. Are there full professors who are only 31? Alison Lohman on the other hand, was really good. I keep thinking that she and Anna Paquin should draw on their characters from this movie and True Blood respectively to be sisters in a southern gothic horror movie, because they could really sell that. The other guy in the movie, Dileep Rao, seems to be new on the scene, but he was pretty compelling, so I'll keep an eye out for him.

One of the previews looked interesting - Orphan. Which means it'll probably not be very good. You get a real The Good Son vibe from the trailer, though.


"I'm not afraid of happy endings/I'm just afraid my life won't work that way" - Jack Off Jill, Fear of Dying