Next 10 movie reviews
Two thirds of the way there! We're up to mid-March! Continued from here and here.
The Innocents (1961)
Movie based on "The Turn of the Screw," which I read last fall.
disgruntled_owl recommended the adaptation, and then
feedingonwind Festividded it, providing the last nudge needed to watch it.
Wow, they really leaned into the "ghosts as psychosexual hallucinations" interpretation, didn't they?
Very well done, although I wish they'd spent more time between when Miss Giddens determines that the children see the ghosts and when she confronts them about it. If this TV adaptation pans out, they should have plenty of room for that sort of thing. The movie was also beautifully shot: gothic and claustrophobic and scary-gorgeous.
The DVD included a commentary by pop culture scholar Christopher Frayling, which was fun on a subjective level because in college I'd read his book on 18th- to 19th-century western European vampire literature. Besides that, he had interesting things to say about the indoor and outdoor sets, costumes, casting process, direction, tricks to make the cinematography more constricting (like painting the edges of the film black), and literary and cinematic references. Sorry to have forgotten the details at this point!
Fargo (1996) (rewatch)
For
equinox_exchange reasons. Couldn't think of a song, though. Movie has aged pretty well, IMO, and I picked up on some references that I'd missed in the TV show because it had been ~20 years since I'd watched the original. "Said they're goin' crazy down there by the lake."
Keepers of the Game (2016)
Documentary about the Akwesasne Mohawk territory's first women's high school lacrosse team, with all the community resistance-lacrosse having been traditionally a men's realm-and pride, desire to beat the local white champions, and individual players' stories that it stirs up. Nicely done. Streaming on U.S. Netflix.
Up Heartbreak Hill (2011)
PBS-sponsored documentary about three high school seniors on the Navajo reservation who're trying to figure out who they are and what to do next with their lives. Two of them are track stars; hence the title. Another is a budding artist prone to depression. A bit oddly structured, but I suspect that's a consequence of trying to construct a story from a year's worth of unscripted footage. Overall thumbs up.
The Crow (1994) (rewatch)
While we were on an
equinox_exchange-driven '90s film kick. Still very much its unapologetic goth/emo self. RIP Brandon Lee.
Justice League (2017)
This movie is terrible. All DC superhero movies have been terrible, with the slight exception of Wonder Woman. (I haven't seen Aquaman yet, but it sounds no better unless you forgive all sins on account of shirtless Momoa.) I don't even remember what happens. Oh, there's a Chernobyl-like thing, and boring fights, and Jeremy Irons says some lines. Barry a.k.a. "The Flash" may have made us laugh when we watched this at fangirl movie night, but he isn't as funny as the writers think he is, and Quicksilver did the super-speed humor thing first and better in the X-Men movies.
Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animated (2018-9)
They skewed sad, sentimental and short on dialogue this year. The longest and talkiest, about animals in group therapy, proved the least enjoyable. "Weekends," about a boy shuttling between recently divorced parents, had the most beautiful art, as well as a couple of spooky/terrifying moments. It's streaming on Kanopy.com, for those who have access. Trailer on Vimeo
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
If you like the gimmicks in this series, as I occasionally do, here are more of them. Dracula unknowingly falls for van Helsing's granddaughter while on a cruise for monsters. It's all very heteronormative despite the variety of creatures, but on the upside, a giant kraken gets caught in a DJ battle that forces it to swing between hypnotized evil and dance party mode.
Chinatown (1974)
In addition to this movie being a classic,
disgruntled_owl has spoken highly of it on many occasions, as well as shown my sister and me the movie Rango, which references it. Lo, the evening at last arrived when she sat me down to experience it. Verdict: classic for a reason. Noir inspired by southern California water war history, which I don't remember learning anything about in school on the opposite coast. Top-notch acting. Heavy themes about institutional injustices, power and money, and creepy fathers. Excellent building-up of dread, although I did not predict the form the breaking of that tension would take. Warning for Roman Polanski cameo.
Our Shining Days (Shǎnguāng Shàonǚ) (2017)
West Side Story as a comedy in a Chinese music school, traditional instruments vs. Western classical. Funny and vibrant and charming, or at least that's how it came across in a fangirl group-watch setting.
Originally posted at https://bironic.dreamwidth.org/386783.html, where there are
comments.
The Innocents (1961)
Movie based on "The Turn of the Screw," which I read last fall.
disgruntled_owl recommended the adaptation, and then
feedingonwind Festividded it, providing the last nudge needed to watch it.
Wow, they really leaned into the "ghosts as psychosexual hallucinations" interpretation, didn't they?
Very well done, although I wish they'd spent more time between when Miss Giddens determines that the children see the ghosts and when she confronts them about it. If this TV adaptation pans out, they should have plenty of room for that sort of thing. The movie was also beautifully shot: gothic and claustrophobic and scary-gorgeous.
The DVD included a commentary by pop culture scholar Christopher Frayling, which was fun on a subjective level because in college I'd read his book on 18th- to 19th-century western European vampire literature. Besides that, he had interesting things to say about the indoor and outdoor sets, costumes, casting process, direction, tricks to make the cinematography more constricting (like painting the edges of the film black), and literary and cinematic references. Sorry to have forgotten the details at this point!
Fargo (1996) (rewatch)
For
equinox_exchange reasons. Couldn't think of a song, though. Movie has aged pretty well, IMO, and I picked up on some references that I'd missed in the TV show because it had been ~20 years since I'd watched the original. "Said they're goin' crazy down there by the lake."
Keepers of the Game (2016)
Documentary about the Akwesasne Mohawk territory's first women's high school lacrosse team, with all the community resistance-lacrosse having been traditionally a men's realm-and pride, desire to beat the local white champions, and individual players' stories that it stirs up. Nicely done. Streaming on U.S. Netflix.
Up Heartbreak Hill (2011)
PBS-sponsored documentary about three high school seniors on the Navajo reservation who're trying to figure out who they are and what to do next with their lives. Two of them are track stars; hence the title. Another is a budding artist prone to depression. A bit oddly structured, but I suspect that's a consequence of trying to construct a story from a year's worth of unscripted footage. Overall thumbs up.
The Crow (1994) (rewatch)
While we were on an
equinox_exchange-driven '90s film kick. Still very much its unapologetic goth/emo self. RIP Brandon Lee.
Justice League (2017)
This movie is terrible. All DC superhero movies have been terrible, with the slight exception of Wonder Woman. (I haven't seen Aquaman yet, but it sounds no better unless you forgive all sins on account of shirtless Momoa.) I don't even remember what happens. Oh, there's a Chernobyl-like thing, and boring fights, and Jeremy Irons says some lines. Barry a.k.a. "The Flash" may have made us laugh when we watched this at fangirl movie night, but he isn't as funny as the writers think he is, and Quicksilver did the super-speed humor thing first and better in the X-Men movies.
Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animated (2018-9)
They skewed sad, sentimental and short on dialogue this year. The longest and talkiest, about animals in group therapy, proved the least enjoyable. "Weekends," about a boy shuttling between recently divorced parents, had the most beautiful art, as well as a couple of spooky/terrifying moments. It's streaming on Kanopy.com, for those who have access. Trailer on Vimeo
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
If you like the gimmicks in this series, as I occasionally do, here are more of them. Dracula unknowingly falls for van Helsing's granddaughter while on a cruise for monsters. It's all very heteronormative despite the variety of creatures, but on the upside, a giant kraken gets caught in a DJ battle that forces it to swing between hypnotized evil and dance party mode.
Chinatown (1974)
In addition to this movie being a classic,
disgruntled_owl has spoken highly of it on many occasions, as well as shown my sister and me the movie Rango, which references it. Lo, the evening at last arrived when she sat me down to experience it. Verdict: classic for a reason. Noir inspired by southern California water war history, which I don't remember learning anything about in school on the opposite coast. Top-notch acting. Heavy themes about institutional injustices, power and money, and creepy fathers. Excellent building-up of dread, although I did not predict the form the breaking of that tension would take. Warning for Roman Polanski cameo.
Our Shining Days (Shǎnguāng Shàonǚ) (2017)
West Side Story as a comedy in a Chinese music school, traditional instruments vs. Western classical. Funny and vibrant and charming, or at least that's how it came across in a fangirl group-watch setting.
Originally posted at https://bironic.dreamwidth.org/386783.html, where there are
comments.