Just random bits here and there that I use to distract myself from my own boredom. Might have a little to say here or there but don't expect anything thought provoking or insightful lol.
Classic! Heat is in my top 10 personally, read this retrospective I wrote on it a while ago right here (warning: spoilers!).
(Source: jesuisperdu)
23rd May 2012
Reblogged From robbyrise
Notes: 134
Synopsis: Adapted from author Philip Roth’s novel The Dying Animal, director Isabel Coixet’s elegant tale of obsession explores the relationship between a highly respected professor, David (Ben Kingsley), and an impossibly gorgeous grad student, Consuela (Penélope Cruz). As their relationship deepens, the professor finds his ego challenged by the girl’s enchanting beauty.
I’m not sure what it was, but I feel like this movie should have been better than it ultimately was. It was finely shot, had a nice musical score, and solid performances, but the overall film left me feeling underwhelmed nonetheless. There was something missing from all of the above and I’m not 100% sure what it was. I guess I just didn’t find the characters compelling enough to care about.
One theme that was handled well was the idea of jealousy. When Consuela asks David how many women he’s slept with, she asks if the number is over or under 50 and he says over. She brushes this off, but when he asks her how many men she’s slept with she says 5 and he becomes instantly jealous. Who were these men? How old were they? What did they do? I thought it was a great look into the psyche of men and the contradictory feelings men have towards women.
There wasn’t anything in this film that was outright terrible, but there wasn’t anything that gripped from from the start to truly care about this story. And it’s not that I need action or melodrama to keep me actively engaged in a movie, I love movies that are slow burns, but Elegy was just missing something I can’t quite put my finger on.
6/10
Thanks Robby! I didn’t want you to think I forgot or ignored this message, I was just taking a while to formulate my top 5. So without further ado…
1. Robert Patrick as the T-1000 in Terminator 2 - He’s the villain to my favorite movie of all-time. Robert Patrick is absolutely pitch perfect in Terminator 2. Even with such a limited amount of dialogue, he manages to be even more menacing than most villains in Hollywood. Just the way that he carries himself throughout that movie and the threat he poses to the nearly indestructible Arnold Terminator model is amazing. Hands down my favorite villain of all-time.
2. Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill “The Butcher” Cutting in Gangs of New York - Daniel Day-Lewis is absolutely flawless in this film. I honestly think that without him Gangs of New York wouldn’t have been nearly as good because Leonardo DiCaprio just couldn’t square off against DDL acting-wise at that point in his career.
3. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard - What can I say about this performance that hasn’t already been said? Maybe Hans Gruber isn’t exactly the most complex or original villain ever, but Rickman plays him up with so much gusto that he instantly turns him into a legendary villain for the ages.
4. Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men - Another villain performance with minimal dialogue (and a hilariously bad haircut to boot), nevertheless Bardem manages to inspire more fear than even the craziest of villains with a single look… and a ridiculously awesome silenced shotgun.
5. Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight Rises - This performance has been praised to the high heavens already so I don’t feel the need to reiterate. The transformation Ledger made stunned everyone and his performance speaks for itself. Truly one of the best villains to ever grace the screen.
First trailer for Chinese Zodiac, the new movie directed by and starring Jackie Chan.
Also, Jackie clarified that he’s NOT retiring from action films (yay!), but he said that he needs to do less of the death defying stunts that have injured him in the past. That’s kind of a baffling statement because isn’t a lot of the charm of Jackie Chan action movies the fact that he does all his own stunts? To be honest though, I’ve always kind of questioned that “fact” because sometimes I watch his movies (mostly more recent ones) and when I pause the film I question whether or not that’s actually Jackie in there. Either way, I’m down for more Jackie Chan movies!
First teaser for Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest film, The Master! I’m so excited for all the movies coming out this year!
First teaser trailer for the new James Bond film Skyfall!
Picked this movie up on a whim and really dug it.
(Source: capriamovies)
[Note: I actually managed to see The Avengers during opening weekend (for FREE, thanks Erik!), but I just haven’t had time to finish up this review due to my hectic school schedule.]
OH. MY. GOD.
I was actually just relatively excited for The Avengers before walking into the theater. I’m actually not the biggest fan of this universe of Marvel films. I think they’re fun but nothing great or amazing. Of course I was stoked when they announced Joss Whedon as the director and the idea of bringing all these superheroes together is just mindblowingly amazing, but I wasn’t AMPED to go see this film (might have also been due to some things in my life, but let’s not go into that lol).
I will say that I am very glad that I managed to avoid all the trailers/TV spots for The Avengers before seeing it. The only trailer I saw was the one teaser that was attached at the end of Captain America. The official trailer spoiled a lot of great shots and one particularly important bit towards the end. THIS is why I try to avoid the trailers for movies I know I’m already going to see. They played the Prometheus trailer before The Avengers and I just shut my eyes and plugged my ears as best I could to avoid seeing/hearing it. The only thing I heard was ominous music and a lot of screaming lol. But anyways, back to the review!
Joss Whedon knocked it out of the fucking park! Can you believe that this is only his second major feature film? Whedon of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse fame is the ultimate geek God and he gave comic book fans A LOT to geek out about in this movie. While the film is an all out action-fest, his dialogue and characterization added a lot to the movie. The action was nonstop but Whedon added little bits of commentary here and there about certain themes such as how far you’re willing to go for the greater good that I really liked. I’m excited to see what Whedon does now that he’s had all this success with this film.
The Avengers has one of the most satisfying closing action set pieces of all-time and I don’t think that’s hyperbole at all. The amount of sheer spectacle, jaw dropping moments, and visual eye candy is absolutely ridiculous. The action in this film is almost nonstop from the opening reel, but it never feels tiresome the way Michael Bay’s Transformers sequels did.
I’m seriously at a loss for words to describe how amazing this film was. This summer has gotten off to a fantastic start and it’s going to be tough to top this one, but we’ll see!
9/10
My reactions:
First trailer for The Campaign starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.
“Filipino tilt-a-whirl operators are this nation’s backbone! … Salamat.”
LMAO
