last night we watched pan's labyrinth and the night before that the last king of scotland, that makes three movies in three nights, none of them particularly spectacular. interesting that they all have a character that is a tyrant who gets his comeuppance at the end, and i don't just mean the villian, literally all three were tyrants (although i suppose nicholson isn't technically a tyrant in the political sense, still).
scotland had some pretty great acting, but then i am probably bias as i happen to love forest whitaker (ghost dog...who didn't love that?), and the scottish lad in there was quite impressive. marko was frustrated that it deviated from fact for the sake of fiction and i was frustrated at how completely unbelievable some of the scenes were. it wasn't a terrible movie but it didn't leave me impressed much either.
labyrinth was actually quite similar. the acting didn't stand out as much in this one, but the cinematography, sets and costumes did, which i suppose is why it won so many oscars. again marko was frustrated that a spaniard would make a movie about the spanish civil war and yet fall so off the mark. if one is going to make such a violent movie (and yes, like scotland, it was quite violent) then should it not be to help us learn from our mistakes of the past? why create so much fiction when the fact was story enough? tough questions for sure (and ones that i think should be asked about both of these films). it didn't help that about two thirds of the way through characters started acting out of character and making strange and glaringly obvious mistakes, presumably so that the narrative could continue. i hate it when that happens. it is particular evil when it happens in a book, you know the "great book, terrible ending" syndrome (i am looking at you murakami), at least with a movie i didn't invest hours and hours into it. so again it was alright, probably worth seeing, but there was no wow! when was the last time i felt the wow? i can't even remember. perhaps my standards are getting too high (or i need to start renting international flicks from the local indie video store again).
speaking of wow, to compensate for my long movie tirade i offer up this movie of my own. it is of my boys singing me a song before bed...enjoy!
2 comments:
I listened to his lullaby 3 times, sure sounds like a mama in there... LOVE the boots!
hmmm i am not sure, but if it is a mama then he has no clue he is doing it. thanks about the boots, i got them at the thrift store. it will be awhile yet before he fits them, but it was fun to play!
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