However, the story was leaden with its pacing and I had difficulty staying interested in the story. Maybe it is because after I got it in my head that the lead actress had too many tics with her popping eyes and mouth twisting that it became too distracting. But that is my problem, not hers.
Reviews
5 Reviews
The Virgin Suicides
(1999)
Vapid Emo Slop
6 January 2015
Hey! Why not show the actual suicidal acts of these young girls, with all the physical effects of their deaths? Purple-blue faces and tongues hanging out with blood etc., etc.
Why? Because we as the audience had to believe what WE saw in the fleeting moments of their deaths was a little bit cool-movie scary AND glamorous. And titillating shocking!!!!!!!
How else could we watch these moronic boys standing across the house where these young girls killed themselves and not smile with a wee tear ourselves? Just a male teen memory of years gone by...
Lordy.
Why? Because we as the audience had to believe what WE saw in the fleeting moments of their deaths was a little bit cool-movie scary AND glamorous. And titillating shocking!!!!!!!
How else could we watch these moronic boys standing across the house where these young girls killed themselves and not smile with a wee tear ourselves? Just a male teen memory of years gone by...
Lordy.
Sunrise
(1927)
Finally Watched It!
17 December 2013
I took a circuitous route in my journey to finally see this movie. I read the novel "Nosferatu", written by Jim Shepard, then rented the film "Murnau, Borzage & Fox Documentary". I then decided to look at all of Murnau's films (most of which can be seen on Youtube). Sunrise was the first American film by Murnau that I have seen.
Wow. Yeah, the story is melodramatic, but if I one just strips away the maudlin aspect of the film and seeks out a universal truth and allows oneself to marvel at the cinematography and camera shots...well, this was a beautiful movie to watch and experience, and Janet Gaynor was wonderful.
Spoilers-I have to admit that I started laughing a little about the main male character's anger management issues. He throttles one woman twice and then plots to kill his wife. His hands at least are pretty murderous!
Wow. Yeah, the story is melodramatic, but if I one just strips away the maudlin aspect of the film and seeks out a universal truth and allows oneself to marvel at the cinematography and camera shots...well, this was a beautiful movie to watch and experience, and Janet Gaynor was wonderful.
Spoilers-I have to admit that I started laughing a little about the main male character's anger management issues. He throttles one woman twice and then plots to kill his wife. His hands at least are pretty murderous!
Frances Ha
(2012)
I Loved Frances-I Have Never Seen A Character Like her
2 December 2013
I liked this modern US version of a New Wave movie...the black and white intimacy of the film using very few characters, with people who moved around in different apartments and cities (New York, Sacramento(!) and Paris). The intimacy of the scenes made me feel as though I was right there inside the same rooms, listening to real people talk.
I grew very fond of the Frances character. She did galumph around like a man but she managed to reveal grace and in some shots her face was poignantly beautiful. I felt her loneliness and awkwardness, and cringed during the dinner scene. I grew so embarrassed that I kept looking away from the screen a few times , but later when she had that little moment trying to articulate her feelings about being with someone that you love in a crowded room, my heart soared for her. Even though you still felt the other characters thought she was odd, they were all listening intently to her. And her running and dancing down the street! It minded me of being a kid running home from school.
I certainly want to see more of Greta Gerwig. I wasn't as thrilled with the Sophie character and some of the male characters but I thought she was intriguing and very talented.
I grew very fond of the Frances character. She did galumph around like a man but she managed to reveal grace and in some shots her face was poignantly beautiful. I felt her loneliness and awkwardness, and cringed during the dinner scene. I grew so embarrassed that I kept looking away from the screen a few times , but later when she had that little moment trying to articulate her feelings about being with someone that you love in a crowded room, my heart soared for her. Even though you still felt the other characters thought she was odd, they were all listening intently to her. And her running and dancing down the street! It minded me of being a kid running home from school.
I certainly want to see more of Greta Gerwig. I wasn't as thrilled with the Sophie character and some of the male characters but I thought she was intriguing and very talented.
Tristan + Isolde
(2006)
Why I Think The Movie Failed
27 November 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I enjoyed this movie. I have traveled to the same westward regions of Ireland and loved seeing that the drifting camera shots had become my own memory of this place.
Today I was driving down my mountain community to the suburbia beneath us and my driving companion and I got into a conversation about this movie (I had given her this netflix offering 2 days before).
I figured out why this movie didn't work for me beyond my sensorial appreciation for it, because I sorted it all out (!!) within this car journey. The King was my man, and Tristan and Isolde had messed with him. The writers or the director or the ACTOR'S intentions and/or portrayals had made me adjust my allegiance to the characters that I had made my heretofore movie-loyalty construct for the majority of the film. They had become trifling young people with sexual urges (in this movie account) with a GREAT LOVE. But the king saw both the whole picture and the personal picture. Love the woman, and love your *kingdom*, and at the same time let the *son* you loved more than your blood son, go. Their love (Tristan and Isolde) seemed a bit meager at the end of the movie. I could not garner up Wagner's music to fit the plot, and regardless what you or I might possibly think about Wagner, that music has to be pleased, even if this movie had other ideas.
Today I was driving down my mountain community to the suburbia beneath us and my driving companion and I got into a conversation about this movie (I had given her this netflix offering 2 days before).
I figured out why this movie didn't work for me beyond my sensorial appreciation for it, because I sorted it all out (!!) within this car journey. The King was my man, and Tristan and Isolde had messed with him. The writers or the director or the ACTOR'S intentions and/or portrayals had made me adjust my allegiance to the characters that I had made my heretofore movie-loyalty construct for the majority of the film. They had become trifling young people with sexual urges (in this movie account) with a GREAT LOVE. But the king saw both the whole picture and the personal picture. Love the woman, and love your *kingdom*, and at the same time let the *son* you loved more than your blood son, go. Their love (Tristan and Isolde) seemed a bit meager at the end of the movie. I could not garner up Wagner's music to fit the plot, and regardless what you or I might possibly think about Wagner, that music has to be pleased, even if this movie had other ideas.
Tell Your Friends