2006-03-05

sleepymaggie: (Default)
2006-03-05 08:24 am
Entry tags:

Movie update

Haven't been keeping up on my movies.

The other day Pat and I saw Night Watch, the new Russian movie that's been talked about a lot. Its one of those dark things versus light things movies, sortof like underworld in tone, but much better in reality. I liked it quite a bit, even though it's plot was a bit predictable and its logic a little weird. One thing that really stood out is what they did with the subtitles -- rather than just having them on top of the film almost in the way, they actually incorporated them into the storytelling. Really neat thing that I don't think I've seen anywhere else. That alone made the movie for me. I've read that they're planning to make two sequels: one in Russian and one in English. I wonder how that will turn out. I've also heard that they re-cut the movie for American audiences and that the Russian cut was much better. So I'll have to hunt that down if I can and watch it.

Last night we watched Mirrormask, which I wish I'd watched in theaters when it was out. Really gorgeous visuals and a neat, weird little story. Some parts were a little slow, and Pat couldn't help but groan at the ending -- but really, its a fairy tale, what do you expect? There were pieces that were reminiscent of Labrynth and other pieces sortof like Legend -- a mix that I thought worked really well, since they have different flavors. Labrynth is often silly and strange while Legend is serious and strange, so this was a good mix of silly/serious strange. And some of the scenes were pretty comparable, to the point where I wonder if they were thinking of those movies when they made them. Of course, the Jim Henson company helped to make this one, and they also did Labrynth, but I think the similarities go beyond that. Really excellent little movie.
sleepymaggie: (Default)
2006-03-05 09:46 pm
Entry tags:

Anti-Oscar

Pat and I decided that the best way to spend Oscars night was to go see a really horrible movie. Don't ask me why this makes sense -- my logic is excellent!

So we saw Ultraviolet. Yes it was that bad. But, it was bad in a way that was funny -- possibly even intentionally. It had some redeeming qualities: the tech in the movie was very interesting and I think worth sitting through all the bad. Anyways, it would have made the perfect video game plot: split into tiny cut sequences in between lots of fighting it wouldn't be that bad.

So how did them Oscars go?

Edit: I think I'm going to make this a regular holiday (much in the vein of Halloween in July). What better day to go see a movie than Oscars night? Guaranteed to be almost noone in the theater because a) the Oscars are on and b) its a sunday night. And I think it'll have to be a bad movie too. This is the part of the year when a lot of bad films come out.

I need a snazzy name though. Suggestions?