2 Movies Over the Weekend
Monday, July 31, 2006
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I haven't had one of those "I have nothing to show for this weekend" type of a weekends in a long time. This was finally one of them!
Of course, that doesn't count if you include a pile of serious quality time with the family and a few services at Saddleback. But, I didn't work on any projects, stayed far away from email and basically shut myself off from getting anything productive done except investing in relationships and relaxing.
And I did watch a couple of movies.
The first of which was Lady in the Water, which Matt dragged me to on Friday. Not only was the storytelling weak and uninspired, the visuals left me really wanting more. When they wanted to explain part of the story, a character just talked for 3 minutes about what would happen next - then you watched it on screen. Then when that was over he got up for 3 minutes and talked about what would happen next, then you watched it. Repeat and rinse a few more times and that's the movie.Aside from a few neat angles it was totally lame, I'm just glad I didn't have to pay for the ticket (Thanks, McGill). Read Treece's thoughts if you think there's anything redeemable there, because I sure didn't. C-
The second movie was My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which I saw tonight with the Fields' family. Talk about a bomb - terrible plot, horrible special effects and the worst acting since Justin Met Kelly. Put that quote on the trailer! I didn't know if I should be embarrased more for Uma Thurman for being in the movie, or me for being in the movie theater! The only redeeming quality is that I got to see the train wreck with friends, so you can talk about how bad it was forever and ever. All bad movies from now until I die will be compared to this one.Though I did like the guy from The Office being in it. Anyhow, super-lame, I'm again just glad I didn't have to pay for the ticket (Thanks, Fields). Allison agrees on how lame it was. D-
JG
posted by Unknown @ 1:14 AM |
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4 Comments:
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At 7/31/2006,
Matt McGill said...
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Josh: what about the story? take out the 9 minutes of "one character" telling the story, and was it still lame?
Does this mean you don't like any kind of narration in a movie?
Let's go back to the character taking about what would happen next, the fable she's telling isn't the story of the movie...(it's not about the weird girl but the dopey dude)
two words on your response: mental weakness.
I'm not saying it was the greatest movie I've ever seen...I'd give it a straight up B. The movie was unique in several ways, inspite of "being told" what was going to happen, you're still left in suspense...all in all, if you're looking for a summer block buster because you've been living on a steady diet of (sub par) star wars for countless years, then this movie will disapoint. If your ready to mentally engage the movie and have someone tell you a story, then it's a good movie.
Some people think walmart is ruing america, I'm not smart enough to know the answer to this, but I do know that skywalker ranch, indurtral light and magic, and 100 million dollar budgets has ruined josh.
love
matt -
At 7/31/2006,
Rob Cunningham said...
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LOL
I'm crying 'cause I just laughed so hard. -
At 7/31/2006,
Unknown said...
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Glad I could give you guys a laugh. Did you see the same film I did?
Either way - interesting thoughts ... no doubt Hollywood has corrupted me for sure. And the Start Wars films are fundamentally flawed as well, so there's no concern there.
Has the blockbuster also corrupted me? Perhaps, I might suggest that the blockbuster has corrupted Hollywood, and you should note I was dissapointed in Pirates this summer, too.
I just want to care about the characters. That's essentially what makes a film work for me. There are moments where I cared for Clark Kent in this summer's Superman Returns, but they were few and far between. Even in Pizar's goldmine Cars I felt more of a disconnect then to any other of their film character's before.
In Lady of the Water, I didn't care for her at all - it was all about Cleveland (Paul Giamatti). And that was almost enough to save it for me, but not quite. Despite a great character in Giamatti's stuttering doctor turned maintenance man, M. Night miscast himself as the future shaper of mankind (an interesting subtext there) and didn't give me enough reason to care for a sea narf.
When she was in danger, I was never worried. When she had wounds, I wasn't concerned they would be able to heal her. Everything played out totally expectedly, they figured out each and every puzzle after one failed attempt, and I didn't care.
You could argue that this is a HUGE M. Night twist - to not have a twist, but I would argue that it's lazy storytelling. If you can't have the plot developed, you have to have characters just walk you through it. Maybe that's what he was even going for - since it is a bedtime story, so why not have it be read to the audience as omage to the origin, but ultimately it left me unsatisfied.
I get what he was going for, but I just didn't like it. The marketing campaign was messed up (pitching the story as a bedtime story, then a horror movie, then a love story?), the storytelling was film school quality and casting himself in such a self-important role was totally distracting.
Even the lady coming out of the theater with me wanted to pre-purchase her own coffin after watching the film. That thing made her want to die ... and I can't blame her.
JG -
At 7/31/2006,
Rob Cunningham said...
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I didn't see the flick yet, and it's not on my to-see list. Matt just made me laugh. Much.
