The Homefront is restored after a relaxing trip to the Smokey Mountains. There, much pop culture was consumed, and since we've been back, I've been gorging myself. I wanted to take a moment to comment briefly on a lot of what's been consumed. This post concerns all the non-TV things I've been considering.
--We saw both Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania in the Mountains. Both were very strong visually. Frankenweenie had some fascinating minor characters; I liked that Victor was not the oddball in his class. I was taken aback by the new plot that started in the third act; not that I didn't enjoy it, I was just surprised. Late summer entry ParaNorman had the same structural quirk, as did another film I'll talk about in a second; I'm sensing a disturbing pattern. Hotel Transylvania was a fairly predictable and common story, but it had so many delicious details littered throughout. I'd recommend both.
--Muse's new album The 2nd Law breaks little new ground for the rock synth band, but is not a bad listen. I doubt that I will remember it when it comes time to do my end of year wrap up, though.
--Diana Krall's new album Glad Rag Doll however, is super fine and a lot of fun: quite a lot of honkytonk thrown into the bluegrass. The Beloved and I both really dug it.
--The Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill was tucked away in the laptop bag for a few years ago, and I finally read it. It was a great page turner that made me care for fairly despicable characters. Haunting in the right parts and utterly disturbing in others, I couldn't put it down. even though I knew exactly how it was going to end, I didn't care.
--Argo is a fantastic film. I was involved in this story I knew nothing about almost every minute. Ben Affleck is a fine director and he manipulated the tension perfectly. Even when I could see the gears grinding away I didn't care because I was so taken by the realistically, spartan approach to it all. That however highlighted my only real beef with the film: I couldn't have cared less about anything having to do with Tony Mendez's family. Affleck plays Mendez as a brow-beaten, reluctant hero. One that gets impassioned by doing what is right, but generally walks through life with a perpetual dour expression. That's fine--great even. Him alone in a hotel room, talking with an unseen son on a phone would speak volumes about the character's station personally. Having me fill in my own personal details about why he is where he is is utterly engaging. Instead we are given three different concrete examples of his family life that did nothing other than pull me out of the moment and the movie. The final one was enough to almost sour me on the movie for good.
--Looper is a wonderfully bizarre homage to the great sci-fi of the past (especially movies of the 80's and 90's) while still providing a new and very unique story of its own. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the film, but it does share a trait with Frankenweenie and ParaNorman. Late in the game a whole new plot is introduced and the ending of the film hangs on the new plot. It is a very odd choice, and you can see to a lesser degree on display in super hero movies. It's taking the successful serialized nature of television storytelling and compressing it into a movie format. I don't know how effective it is. In the two animated movies, I found that third act switch to be the best part. In Looper, I much preferred the world building section of the first act. I liked the second part (that dealt with Emily Blunt's character) quite a bit too, but it very much felt like a second movie, or a great episode of a really good television series.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder