recently watched
Nov. 11th, 2014 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twoelevendïe überblönde has foolishly allowed me to drive the net.flix queue, so i'm putting foolish things in it.
the secret life ofben stiller walter mitty looked somewhat interesting when it ran in theaters, but the reviews indicated it was a slight film. i think its real problem is pacing: the obligatory daydream sequences run far too long, and after the first couple, aren't interesting enough to watch on their own. they are dream sequences after all, with little effect on the plot.
the movie's macguffin is a lost film negative that Our Hero gets to chase around the globe, having his own mitty-esque character-building adventure. but actually, due to a miscommunication, the negative was in his wallet the whole time, making the whole undertaking pointless. oh, great. the movie is thus a feature length demotivational poster: "no matter how hard you try or how high you fly, it's all for nothing." thanks, ben.
orlando is the first on the long list of movies mentioned at loncon as having excellent costuming. it does seem to have an abundance of elaborate costumes, but since i was watching it on a small screen, the detail work is visible only in close-ups. those show some amazing work. still, i wish i could have seen more of the costumes.
tilda swanson plays the title character like she was born for it, despite the movie being an allegorical period piece. since i haven't read the virginia woolf novel of the same name, all i can say is that summaries indicate that woolf's plot seems to have been extensively worked over. the source material appears to be more interesting than the movie, and i suspect woolf had a less heavy-handed way of talking about sex and gender.
edit: dïe überblönde, reading over my shoulder: "'heavy-handed'? i would have said it was too incoherent to have much of a message." another enthusiastic endorsement. (maybe i should have written "ham-handed"?)
so, i can't really recommend either one, even for likely groups of fans.
the secret life of
the movie's macguffin is a lost film negative that Our Hero gets to chase around the globe, having his own mitty-esque character-building adventure. but actually, due to a miscommunication, the negative was in his wallet the whole time, making the whole undertaking pointless. oh, great. the movie is thus a feature length demotivational poster: "no matter how hard you try or how high you fly, it's all for nothing." thanks, ben.
orlando is the first on the long list of movies mentioned at loncon as having excellent costuming. it does seem to have an abundance of elaborate costumes, but since i was watching it on a small screen, the detail work is visible only in close-ups. those show some amazing work. still, i wish i could have seen more of the costumes.
tilda swanson plays the title character like she was born for it, despite the movie being an allegorical period piece. since i haven't read the virginia woolf novel of the same name, all i can say is that summaries indicate that woolf's plot seems to have been extensively worked over. the source material appears to be more interesting than the movie, and i suspect woolf had a less heavy-handed way of talking about sex and gender.
edit: dïe überblönde, reading over my shoulder: "'heavy-handed'? i would have said it was too incoherent to have much of a message." another enthusiastic endorsement. (maybe i should have written "ham-handed"?)
so, i can't really recommend either one, even for likely groups of fans.