Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[Gemini Cricket]

I saw Barbarian Princess tonight at the Hawai'i Theatre presented by the Hawaii Film Festival. It tells the story of Princess Kai'ulani who is played by Q'orianka Kilcher. It's not a perfect film but I liked it. It's slow in places but it was nice to see a period piece about America's colonization of Hawai'i. You could pretty much tell right off that it wasn't made by American filmmakers, the U.S. is not portrayed in a very positive light. The cinematography is stellar in places. I'm not sure that it will get a very wide release from here. But if you get a chance to see it, rent it, it's worth a gander. The director (Marc Forby) and Kilcher were there at the screening with the local actors who played roles in the film. The Q&A session afterward was interesting. Most discussed was the title (which I wasn't fond of at first but after seeing the film, I get it) and the controversy it's been causing here in the islands.

[bewitched]

Has anyone seen Where the Wild Things Are? It got really good reviews but now I've been reading that a lot of people seem disappointed in it (story:cnn). I understand that Spike Jonze intended it (w/Sendak's approval) to be more of a story about being a kid than a story for kids-- I wonder if people not knowing/understanding this is a reason for their dissatisfaction (expectations not meeting up with reality).

Of course there were also people interviewed like the guy who was upset because his 20 month old lost interest and his 4 year old got distracted and didn't get it. DUH, dude. A 20 month old and a 4 year old are not likely to sit still for the entirety of any movie.

If you saw it,what did you think? Is it good or do these people have a point?

[Strangler Lewis]

I haven't seen it, though I plan to. I will say the trailer gave me pause with its apparent back story of suburban dysfunction. To me, the point of the book was that sometimes you want to get away for no particularly good reason.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

...apparent back story of suburban dysfunction...

Heh. The back story of suburban dysfunction isn't particularly long. What might surprise you is the considerable presence of jungle dysfunction.

I have seen it twice - once for work, and once with Tom. I like it. It's not the book, and it's not for children with small attention spans. But it's a beautiful depiction of childhood, and its myriad struggles and confusions. It made me feel quite sad (but I'm easily swayed to sadness right now, so your mileage may vary.)

[innerSpaceman]

Ugh, I meant to see it over the weekend. I'm DYING to ... but with Halloween coming up, I'm afraid I may not get to till after the holiday. Bah.

[Morrigoon]

I finally saw Bolt. It was cute. It was a bit much getting through the first 10 minutes or so, but after you got through the story set up and things started moving forward, it improved greatly. I actually really loved the uber-geek hamster character.

[Gemini Cricket]

I saw The Mist last night. It was okay. Not the best. Not what I was expecting.

Spoiler:

It turned into more of a Sci Fi creature feature than a horror flick. The ending was a kick in the teeth.

[innerSpaceman]

The Mist? Never heard of it.


Are you sure you didn't mean The Fist? Just asking cause, well, it's you.

[mousepod]

I loved The Mist. I avoided it in the theater, because the commercials made me think it was a crappy knock off of The Fog. Then I heard that the director's preferred version was the one in black & white, so when the blu-ray came out, that's the one I watched first. Granted, I watched it alone, but it frightened me in the same way that Quatermass and the Pit did when I first saw that. If anyone is interested in watching it with me ... the projector will be up by Sunday... just sayin'

(and try to avoid spoilers)

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by mousepod

I loved The Mist. I avoided it in the theater, because the commercials made me think it was a crappy knock off of The Fog. Then I heard that the director's preferred version was the one in black & white, so when the blu-ray came out, that's the one I watched first. Granted, I watched it alone, but it frightened me in the same way that Quatermass and the Pit did when I first saw that. If anyone is interested in watching it with me ... the projector will be up by Sunday... just sayin'

(and try to avoid spoilers)

I was very impressed with The Mist (though I had one severe reservation about it - but it's spoiler-city, so see below.) I watched it in color before I found out that the director preferred black and white - and indeed, it's much creepier that way. If anyone is curious, take up Mousepod on his offer and go watch it. It's one of the better Stephen King adaptations out there recently.

Spoiler:

I read the novella and liked it a lot way back in the day. The book essentially has no ending, just a few characters venturing off into the unknown. The movie, on the other hand, has got an ending you won't forget - though one aspect of it didn't seem right with me.

Spoiler:

Given the level of dedication the main character shows to his son throughout, I thought he arrived at his difficult decision far too easily, and put it into action much more quickly than I thought likely or believable. It came off to me like an inorganic plot point in order to deliver the giant stinger of an ending. Apparently, Stephen King loved it and wished he had thought of it.

For more Halloween fun, I really liked the recently released 2007 movie Trick R' Treat, which has a fun 80s horror vibe and struck me as one of the more entertaining anthology movies I'd seen in a long time. It's stylish, funny, spooky, not terribly gory, and little cloth-hooded Sam Hain is just adorable.