Catchin' up...
OK, I don't really have time for this bloggin' sh*t these days... so here's a quick one to catch up on stuff I've been meaning to write about, but won't ever get the chance to. Ever.
El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - Guillermo del Toro's latest fantasy film set during the Spanish Civil War, in which a young girl forced to live in the household of her tyrannical Nationalist General stepfather [wow, it's really hard to concentrate while watching The Magnificent Seven, and that great score by Elmer Bernstein blaring out of the TV...] becomes absorbed in her own fantasy world of fawns and fairies. You might think this sounds like a delightful children's story, but this is at times a seriously gross and violent movie. If you can bear the gore, it's a wonderfully inventive and imaginative film with some great acting. Despite this, del Toro's earlier film, El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone), also set during the Civil War, is a superior film.
Déjà Vu - I'm guessing this one will only appeal to fans of Star Trek and Denzel Washington (I happen to be both....). That said, this isn't much of a stretch for Denzel, who's probably played this character at least five times before. As an ATFB (that's Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau) agent, he's called out to investigate an explosion on a ferry in New Orleans carrying soldiers returning from war (someone in the cabinet must have come up with that story line...). A new technology that enables a secretive new agency to construct a wormhole through spacetime to view events that happened exactly four days ago provides the novelty value. Then it all gets a bit silly as Denzel is sent back in time to try and stop the terrorists from blowing up the ferry. Lo and behold, he begins to realize that whatever he does, he can't really change the course of history. Unfortunately, Hollywood thinks differently and so in the end he gets his way. But dammit, why can't people die at the end of Hollywood movies? Anyway, it's entertaining enough, but I suspect Stephen Hawking didn't advise on the plot.
The Last King of Scotland - everyone go see this one. Forest Whitaker is great. Hurrah! Oscar please....
Apocalypto - jury's out on this one... this movie's weird. Some great cinematography and entertaining action. I'm told there's a lot of historical detail that's factually correct, as long as you don't care when stuff happened (the Maya Kingdom, for example, no longer existed by the time the Conquistadores arrived in Mexico, but hey...). The film's gotten a lot of criticism for being racist and portraying the Maya people as ruthless barbarians. Mind you, that's how Americans are portrayed in most films, and nobody seems to care much. So my question is, how much responsibility does a film maker have in accurately portraying a particular ethnic group/nationality? Discuss.....
Matsuri St James's, 15 Bury Street, London SW1Y 6AL - great Japanese restaurant with teppan-yaki tables. Fireball ice cream is quite an experience. Expensive, but chilled out.
OK, enough for now.
El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - Guillermo del Toro's latest fantasy film set during the Spanish Civil War, in which a young girl forced to live in the household of her tyrannical Nationalist General stepfather [wow, it's really hard to concentrate while watching The Magnificent Seven, and that great score by Elmer Bernstein blaring out of the TV...] becomes absorbed in her own fantasy world of fawns and fairies. You might think this sounds like a delightful children's story, but this is at times a seriously gross and violent movie. If you can bear the gore, it's a wonderfully inventive and imaginative film with some great acting. Despite this, del Toro's earlier film, El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone), also set during the Civil War, is a superior film.
Déjà Vu - I'm guessing this one will only appeal to fans of Star Trek and Denzel Washington (I happen to be both....). That said, this isn't much of a stretch for Denzel, who's probably played this character at least five times before. As an ATFB (that's Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau) agent, he's called out to investigate an explosion on a ferry in New Orleans carrying soldiers returning from war (someone in the cabinet must have come up with that story line...). A new technology that enables a secretive new agency to construct a wormhole through spacetime to view events that happened exactly four days ago provides the novelty value. Then it all gets a bit silly as Denzel is sent back in time to try and stop the terrorists from blowing up the ferry. Lo and behold, he begins to realize that whatever he does, he can't really change the course of history. Unfortunately, Hollywood thinks differently and so in the end he gets his way. But dammit, why can't people die at the end of Hollywood movies? Anyway, it's entertaining enough, but I suspect Stephen Hawking didn't advise on the plot.
The Last King of Scotland - everyone go see this one. Forest Whitaker is great. Hurrah! Oscar please....
Apocalypto - jury's out on this one... this movie's weird. Some great cinematography and entertaining action. I'm told there's a lot of historical detail that's factually correct, as long as you don't care when stuff happened (the Maya Kingdom, for example, no longer existed by the time the Conquistadores arrived in Mexico, but hey...). The film's gotten a lot of criticism for being racist and portraying the Maya people as ruthless barbarians. Mind you, that's how Americans are portrayed in most films, and nobody seems to care much. So my question is, how much responsibility does a film maker have in accurately portraying a particular ethnic group/nationality? Discuss.....
Matsuri St James's, 15 Bury Street, London SW1Y 6AL - great Japanese restaurant with teppan-yaki tables. Fireball ice cream is quite an experience. Expensive, but chilled out.
OK, enough for now.
posted by CCT at 7:10 pm
2 Comments:
Really? A Trekkie? Really?
RS
Well, if you put it that way.... I mean, I don't dress up, or go to conventions or nothin'....
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