THE 2010 MOVIE/BOOK HIPPO-LIST IS COMING!!! XD
I've been too lazy to review anything these days but hey, let's hope this new year will bring tons of awesome books & movies, shall we? ; )
2010 MOVIES: (cut for spoilers and length, obviously)
Let's start with a giant blockbuster...
I really didn't want to see that movie because I thought the buzz and hype around it was more than ridiculous ('A revolution in the world of films!!!!!!' blablabla). I had watched the trailer and I was far from convinced by the 3-D stuff (Hello, looks a little like a video game, no? Revolutionary, really?). Moreover, the apparent lack of originality of the plot was a really turn-off for me.
But I went because my mother wanted to see it "IN 3-D!!!!!111111!!!". Good commercial move, I guess lol
So, to be honest, I wasn't bored at all during the movie, it is entertaining because James Cameron knows what people (most people?) like and what keeps them entertained - action, action, action. Plein les yeux, if I daresay.
But really, was it the movie of the year? No. Was it revolutionary? No. Was it worth all the buzz? Definitely NO. On a technical point of view, ok, the performance capture was a nice, shiny new toy. Ok, 3-D Navis blended ok with the rest. Was it the best 3-D I've ever seen? Far from it. I appreciate that they choose not to try to make the Navis 'realistic' like some other movies (Matrix) because that would have been epic fail (with the blue skin and all) but if you're looking for a movie that was technically revolutionary and had great influence on the films that were produced afterwards, I'll say Matrix, not Avatar. Well, we'll see about the influence later, I guess.
Anyway, it's not really the technical aspect that interested me in the first place so let's leave it at that. What bothered me far more was the content. I really don't want to enter the whole wank about Avatar's representation of the other and the otherness but it did leave me a strange aftertaste in my mouth. I guess the whole idea of the white army man coming and leading the indigenous people to victory because he's the best (and so, better than the said people) did make me choke on my saliva a little but nevermind.
What really, deeply bothered me about the whole movie is the total lack of originality of it all. And that's an aspect I can't get over at all. Every little thing screamed 'cliché' to me and was so predictable that it was really terrible sometimes. It felt like Cameron borrowed a little thing here, a little thing there to make his ~~*revolutionary*~~ movie. A friend told me it was 'POCAHONTAS IN SPACE!!!!' and I don't think it's far from it. Throw in it a little bit of Princess Mononoke for the ecology aspect, a little bit of Matrix for the Avatar concept and some mechas and, according some of my gamer acquaintances, a little bit of Final Fantasy for the landscapes.
Finally, I feel it's going to be like Titanic when it first came out: winning all the awards before everyone realises that it wasn't that good a movie after all. James Cameron, you got me again. I bow to your commercial genius.
Next: SHERLOCK HOLMES KNOWS KUNG -FU!!!...
... AND WATSON TOO!!
I have a confession to make: I didn't intend to see this movie either. I really thought it was going to be an indescribable mess and the trailer had me running far, far away. For one thing, I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan - not a rabid one who knows everything about canon and worships it like the next Messiah but a reasonably knowledgeable one (read almost all the books, seen some movies and adored the Jeremy Brett adaptation of it for tv). So yeah, when some friend of mine told me that Holmes was kung-fu fighting in it "WITH TONG-FAS!!!!", I had a difficult choice to make with my conscience.
Because I'm a weak fangirl at heart you know and when slash calls, I'm not the last one to answer. On one hand, the utter slaughtering of SH canon for commercial, ~~cool~~ purposes (ahah modern version ahah); on the other, ROBERT 'IRON MAN' DOWNEY JR and JUDE 'HOT HOT HOT' LAW as an old couple... Oh, you know who won LOL
I decided to forget it was about Sherlock Holmes and go and take it as improbable Victorian Kung-Fu movie with TEH PRETTIES!!!!! (Screw canon if you can HAS TEH PRETTIES). I should be so ashamed.
What can I say. I wanted eye-candy with unrepentant fan service, I (along with dozens of more than middle-aged women in the theatre lol) got it and got it all. The whole movie was clearly made for us, rabid slashing fangirls, I don't see another explanation. When you see RDJ going all RDJ on us and the chemistry between him and Jude law, who am I to say 'no', really?
That said, even if Irene Adler had quite nothing to do with the bookverse character, I was surprised to find this adaptation not too WTF??!!-y. First, there were no tong-fas and finally, not that much alleged 'Victorian Kung-Fu', for which I was quite relieved.
Secondly, it was a very good entertainment, fast-paced action, lots of ideas in directing, with little gems of humour through it all.
Thirdly, if you take it as a 'Behind the scenes' version of the books, it could be quite interesting. All that Watson never mentioned, if you will. The thing I was particularly grateful for was the portrayal of Watson, not only because he kicks tons of asses. I loved what Jude Law's done with the character and you may think that you needed that Watson to oppose RDJ's Holmes. The dynamics between the two are fantastic and, I believe, the best aspect of the movie - and maybe the truer one to the books. It's funny that it reminded me instantly of House, MD with the House/Wilson pair (being inspired by Holmes/Watson anyway). The co-dependency was well-portrayed.
So yes, I liked it, liked it very much and I've just lost all credibility as a critic in your eyes lol
Next: Time for a little Edward Norton goodness - I need my dose!
A movie my mother lent me. I wasn't expecting anything from it and I got not much lol
It was a pleasant movie because I'm an Edward Norton fan but apart from that, nothing much memorable, I fear. Paul Giamatti was good in it, Jessica Biel not too much on screen thank god and Rufus Sewell was doing his best Rufus Sewell villain. It was less complex than I anticipated and the final twist was nice but not too difficult to foresee.
I guess that with a better director, it would have been better but hey, enjoy your Edward Norton dose while you can and don't be too greedy, that's my newest philosophy !
2010 BOOKS: Well... later? XD
2010 MOVIES: (cut for spoilers and length, obviously)
Let's start with a giant blockbuster...
I really didn't want to see that movie because I thought the buzz and hype around it was more than ridiculous ('A revolution in the world of films!!!!!!' blablabla). I had watched the trailer and I was far from convinced by the 3-D stuff (Hello, looks a little like a video game, no? Revolutionary, really?). Moreover, the apparent lack of originality of the plot was a really turn-off for me.
But I went because my mother wanted to see it "IN 3-D!!!!!111111!!!". Good commercial move, I guess lol
So, to be honest, I wasn't bored at all during the movie, it is entertaining because James Cameron knows what people (most people?) like and what keeps them entertained - action, action, action. Plein les yeux, if I daresay.
But really, was it the movie of the year? No. Was it revolutionary? No. Was it worth all the buzz? Definitely NO. On a technical point of view, ok, the performance capture was a nice, shiny new toy. Ok, 3-D Navis blended ok with the rest. Was it the best 3-D I've ever seen? Far from it. I appreciate that they choose not to try to make the Navis 'realistic' like some other movies (Matrix) because that would have been epic fail (with the blue skin and all) but if you're looking for a movie that was technically revolutionary and had great influence on the films that were produced afterwards, I'll say Matrix, not Avatar. Well, we'll see about the influence later, I guess.
Anyway, it's not really the technical aspect that interested me in the first place so let's leave it at that. What bothered me far more was the content. I really don't want to enter the whole wank about Avatar's representation of the other and the otherness but it did leave me a strange aftertaste in my mouth. I guess the whole idea of the white army man coming and leading the indigenous people to victory because he's the best (and so, better than the said people) did make me choke on my saliva a little but nevermind.
What really, deeply bothered me about the whole movie is the total lack of originality of it all. And that's an aspect I can't get over at all. Every little thing screamed 'cliché' to me and was so predictable that it was really terrible sometimes. It felt like Cameron borrowed a little thing here, a little thing there to make his ~~*revolutionary*~~ movie. A friend told me it was 'POCAHONTAS IN SPACE!!!!' and I don't think it's far from it. Throw in it a little bit of Princess Mononoke for the ecology aspect, a little bit of Matrix for the Avatar concept and some mechas and, according some of my gamer acquaintances, a little bit of Final Fantasy for the landscapes.
Finally, I feel it's going to be like Titanic when it first came out: winning all the awards before everyone realises that it wasn't that good a movie after all. James Cameron, you got me again. I bow to your commercial genius.
Next: SHERLOCK HOLMES KNOWS KUNG -FU!!!...
... AND WATSON TOO!!
I have a confession to make: I didn't intend to see this movie either. I really thought it was going to be an indescribable mess and the trailer had me running far, far away. For one thing, I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan - not a rabid one who knows everything about canon and worships it like the next Messiah but a reasonably knowledgeable one (read almost all the books, seen some movies and adored the Jeremy Brett adaptation of it for tv). So yeah, when some friend of mine told me that Holmes was kung-fu fighting in it "WITH TONG-FAS!!!!", I had a difficult choice to make with my conscience.
Because I'm a weak fangirl at heart you know and when slash calls, I'm not the last one to answer. On one hand, the utter slaughtering of SH canon for commercial, ~~cool~~ purposes (ahah modern version ahah); on the other, ROBERT 'IRON MAN' DOWNEY JR and JUDE 'HOT HOT HOT' LAW as an old couple... Oh, you know who won LOL
I decided to forget it was about Sherlock Holmes and go and take it as improbable Victorian Kung-Fu movie with TEH PRETTIES!!!!! (Screw canon if you can HAS TEH PRETTIES). I should be so ashamed.
What can I say. I wanted eye-candy with unrepentant fan service, I (along with dozens of more than middle-aged women in the theatre lol) got it and got it all. The whole movie was clearly made for us, rabid slashing fangirls, I don't see another explanation. When you see RDJ going all RDJ on us and the chemistry between him and Jude law, who am I to say 'no', really?
That said, even if Irene Adler had quite nothing to do with the bookverse character, I was surprised to find this adaptation not too WTF??!!-y. First, there were no tong-fas and finally, not that much alleged 'Victorian Kung-Fu', for which I was quite relieved.
Secondly, it was a very good entertainment, fast-paced action, lots of ideas in directing, with little gems of humour through it all.
Thirdly, if you take it as a 'Behind the scenes' version of the books, it could be quite interesting. All that Watson never mentioned, if you will. The thing I was particularly grateful for was the portrayal of Watson, not only because he kicks tons of asses. I loved what Jude Law's done with the character and you may think that you needed that Watson to oppose RDJ's Holmes. The dynamics between the two are fantastic and, I believe, the best aspect of the movie - and maybe the truer one to the books. It's funny that it reminded me instantly of House, MD with the House/Wilson pair (being inspired by Holmes/Watson anyway). The co-dependency was well-portrayed.
So yes, I liked it, liked it very much and I've just lost all credibility as a critic in your eyes lol
Next: Time for a little Edward Norton goodness - I need my dose!
A movie my mother lent me. I wasn't expecting anything from it and I got not much lol
It was a pleasant movie because I'm an Edward Norton fan but apart from that, nothing much memorable, I fear. Paul Giamatti was good in it, Jessica Biel not too much on screen thank god and Rufus Sewell was doing his best Rufus Sewell villain. It was less complex than I anticipated and the final twist was nice but not too difficult to foresee.
I guess that with a better director, it would have been better but hey, enjoy your Edward Norton dose while you can and don't be too greedy, that's my newest philosophy !
2010 BOOKS: Well... later? XD