MicShazam

That makes me want to watch them, since now I have to know if they're really that bad.

I literally found it in a bargain bin. Didn't know anything about it except that it's an anime movie. I'll go in with low expectations.

Frownland

A Single Man is garbage, then.

If you hated del Toro's intentional use of fairy tale conventions, you're gonna love how those Clooney films use conventions on accident.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

MicShazam

Having watched Nocturnal Animals, A Single Man is a movie I have fairly high expectations for. Even if I end up not liking it (doubt it), it's probably going to be impressive in one or more ways.

About Del Toro's use of fairy tale conventions, I'd say various storytelling conventions and structural forms are mere tools. Pan's Labyrinth isn't an interesting film to me at all on a thematic level or on character level, nor on the plot level.

Frownland

You don't have to defend your ****ty opinion to me.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Akai

Wow.

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''To be honest, in my opinion, of course without offending anyone who thinks differently from my point of view,
but also by looking into this matter from a different perspective and by considering each and every one's valid opinion,
I do believe that I forgot what I was going to say.''


S p o t i f y

MicShazam

Snow White and the Huntsman
2012/Rupert Sanders
4/5

This Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron starring fairy tale inspired fantasy film didn't really gain much traction back when it came out in theaters. Audiences didn't go wild for it and the critics had mostly shrugs to give.

My take on this film is going to be mostly positive, so I'm positioning myself as a minority opinion on this one. That might actually become my M.O. for most movie opinions in this journal, as it's arguably a bit more interesting than a simple "me too" proclamation.

In my opinion, Snow White and the Huntsman is one of the better block busters of the 2000's and 2010's.I find that it posesses a few qualities rarely exhibited by modern bluck buster movies of similar fantasy/sci-fi/action/superhero/melodrama ilk.

Firstly, this film has a sense of cinematic vibrancy and visual poetry rarely seen in any big budget flick. There's a sequence early on in the film that demonstrates this. Charlize Theron, as a villanous throne usurping witch queen, kills off the king of a prospering realm. We see her sit atop him in their wedding night bed, her long golden hair and white dress flowing to the sides over the king and the bed. He goes into cramps from a poison and she draws out a large ceremonial blade, holding it high above her head, then to ram it into his chest. Beforehand, she whispers into his ear of her disdain for men and her intent to rule as a lone queen. The blade gains not so little of a phallic edge as she reverses the power dynamic and violently takes his place. A quick cut shows a chalize of red wine being toppled over by the kings hand, the violent splash of red liquid when it hits ground mirroring the act of bloody mayhem taking place.
Then, we see the queen outside in the castle courtyard by the gate, torchlight dancing across her face as the porticulis opens and her troops enter the castle, mutiny complete.
Words don't really do it justice. It's a moment of what you might call real filmmaking, i.e. what a director with an actual eye for cinema might do. This is not rarely seen in this film, but it is in blockbusters in general.

I also love how materials are made to look tactile and present. When Kristen Stewart's Snow White has escaped the Queen's captivity into a dark, foreboding forest, succumbing to the imaginative, psychic manipulations of a place of dark magic (clam shells leak a tar like substance, pitch black mushrooms spew clouds of noxious spore, black beetles scutter across the ground - it's trippy and genuinely creepy), she rolls around in the dirt and you almost feel dirty yourself. The environments and elements are made to feel present, while in most similar films, you feel distanced from the clinical world presented on-screen.
A few scenes in the middle of the film even manage to evoke genuine awe for the natural world. You might say that a few shots are downright gorgeous. In short, this movie is cinematic.

Dramatically the film also does quite well. One major irritation in block buster movies has been how they tend to not let any emotions stick around for more than a few seconds, before we simply get a scene change or a cheap joke to defuse the situation or to simply hurry along (because who really has time for real Cinema anyway?).
Not so in this film. At one point, a companion dies. A Disney/Marvel movie would have hurried along a mere 60 seconds later, but in Snow White and the Huntsman, this character dies a death that feels like it has some gravity.
Then, instead of cutting to the next item on the plot-itinerary, the film shows us a quiet, understated funeral scene, where a song imperfectly sung by one of the surviving allies fades over into a soundtrack version of same, which then plays over long distance landscape shot of our heroes carrying on with their quest in pouring rain. Two characters stop, exchange a line and the song resumes as the camera trails along the hills. It's the kind of visual expression of emotion that you simply won't see in the majority of other, much better reviewed Big Entertainment flicks.

Without going into details with the story, I can say that the film manages to maintain a high standard without many missteps. The use of the mirror ("mirror, mirror on the wall") is presented as a rather lame special effect that any number of movies would have handled better. There are precicely 2 unecessary CG beast fights in the movie where someone on the team should have shown better judgment. A few CG fairies also don't look too great. There's a once recurring feces joke on which your mileage might also vary.
Theron's villain is threatening without being simplistic in her motivations and Sam Spruell is effective as a needy and cruel henchman/brother to the queen.

The final act is where the film disappoints slightly, but before things go out of hand with jokes and battles, Kristen Stewart/Snow White has her final confrontation with the queen and this part of the movie plays out more interestingly and satisfyingly than any other final showdown I can remember in similar films from the same time. The pathetic, scared, backwards crawling retreat of the mortally wounded queen feels like a classic moment in a not-quite-classic film.

The coda to the movie is also a little uninteresting, but it's over fast. It's not much more than a "and they lived happily ever after", which I guess is appropriate, considering the inspirations for the film.

There's a lot more that I could talk about, but I choose not to go into act-by-act detail. Basically, I think it's a solid, but imperfect movie. There's not a lot of beautiful, visual film making in the block buster game and I think this movie deserved better than it got from both critics and audiences.

NOTE: I originally intended to write about the sequel, Huntsman: Winter's War as well. In fact, having bought that movie on DVD was the real reason I went back and re-watched Snow White and the Huntsman. I won't bother going into detail about that sequel (/prequel) film as it turned out to be a complete disaster. It's handled by a different, vastly less talented director, has a craptacular story, an uninspired soundtrack (agh! I didn't even get to mention the soundtrack of Snow White! It was good, trust me) and some of the most lame and uninspired visuals you'll see in a modern multi-million block buster. It's the evil twin of the original movie. Avoid it like the plague.

(spell checking: none yet... bear with me.)

MicShazam

For the last few days, I've been watching a lot of movies, mainly with the intent of getting rid of some not-so-great stuff on my shelves. Consequently, the following DVD's have now left my film shelves:

Afro Samurai
Style over substance to a worrying degree. Not even good style. It's actually sort of irritating.
Afro Samurai: Resurrection
Same, of course.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
CGI not even close to holding up in 2018. Weak story and art direction to boot. Feels like watching an especially long and tedious computer game cut-scene.
Shoot 'Em Up
Adolescent violence orgy. Done in bad taste, even.
The Huntsman: Winter's War
Dull script and art direction. Such a disappointment after the surprisingly good Snow White and the Huntsman (see above journal entry).
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Ugly color grading and bad action scenes. Story doesn't feel tight.
X-Men: Apocalypse
Same as above, except with slightly better looking images.
To Die For
What happens when you make a shallow and stupid movie about shallow and stupid people? You get a bad movie, of course. No amount of ironic, post-modern sneering will change that. I'm so sick of this sort of approach to art.
Crash
The Paul Haggis film, not the Cronenberg film. Very contrived and sentimental. It doesn't bother making it's characters believeable, even when it attempts to speak to life in post 9/11 America. It's so damn earnest, but it doesn't realize it's also a caricature. Avoid like the plague.
The Animatrix
This Matrix inspired collection of Anime shorts is not quite cutting it. There are 9 short films here and precisely 1.5 of them are any good. Just find the one titled "Beyond" online and leave the rest.
Dead Leaves
Tasteless, adoslescent violence orgy with lots of visual style. Visual style that you don't get to enjoy since the cutting is so damn awful and jacked up on caffeine.
Whiplash
Ridiculous.
Arbitrage
A by the numbers genre film that unfortunately comes off as giving greedy 1%'ers an easy get-out-of-jail free card. Richard Gere's character was feeling soo sowwy about what he did, you see?



I traded the pile of movies above for the following DVD's without putting any money on the table. I had to choose from what was available, so this is the best I could manage. I think it was a decent trade, really:

Jurassic Park
Seen this before, obviously. Saw it again this evening. It's allright. Spielberg's best movie, yet still just ok. I really, really like the first third or so, but all of the action starts wearing thin eventually. Very likeable and fun characters - some even witty. I wish they got to talk to each other more.
Cold Mountain
Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renée Zellweger. Don't actually know anything about it but it seemed worth a shot.
Conversations With Other Women
Seems interesting. I don't think it will be a run off the mill romantic comedy.
Cash Back
I'm stuck with this one since it came in the same box as the above. Doesn't seem like anything I'd want to watch, but I might give it 10 minutes and see if it gives me a reason to keep watching.
Revolutionary Road
The book is supposedly very good, so...
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
It was a Cannes selection some years back. Seems like it could be interesting.
Cleopatra
The 1999 version with Billy Zane, Leonor Varela and Timothy Dalton. I fear the worst, but I like big epics and they don't grow on the trees. I pretty much feel obliged to watch it.
The Last Emperor
A classic that I've never watched.
The Pianist
Same as above, plus I intend to watch some more Polanski films.
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
I'm not really big on Herzog's movies so far, but he's always interesting. I have no idea what this one is about. Never even knew it existed before I saw it in a pile of movies today.

Frownland

I appreciate it for not pretending to be anything otherwise.

Crash is like they tried to program AI to make a moving film by showing it moving films but not including what's moving about them.

Ugh if I had a nickel for every time a family member or acquaintance who kinda knew that I liked jazz asked me about that trite film, I'd have like 30 nickels and still be very annoyed.

Interesting choice, not Jaws?

Both very good films with amazing set pieces.

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Oriphiel

Beautiful Dreamer when?

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MicShazam

I used to like it and a lot of stuff in the same style years ago. This time, I just found it annoying. It does have a few moments of inventive* , kinetic action that are fun. But I still feel like I'd much rather watch a Jackie Chan movie from back when they were still fun.

*Like the moment where he creates and oil slick and uses it to slide under obstacles. Or when he shoots a locker door from behind, causing it to open in the face of a bad guy.

I used to like it and find it moving. Embarrasing.

You're the first person I've seen who doesn't think it's a masterpiece.

I really need to see Jaws again. It's been 10+ years since last, so I can't really remember it. I wouldn't be surprised if I really like it.

And about time that I get around to them.