Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[Snowflake]

Thanks to Netflix I caught The Woman in Black over the weekend. One of those cases where the trailer was more enticing than the film itself. Very nearly a solo performance for Daniel Radcliffe. Ciran Hinds had the only other role of some substance. All the other characters were pretty much cameos. The mystery was pretty easy to figure out and the few moments of surprise really went nowhere. The ending was totally predicatable.

Some good and moody cinematography. Grim landscapes and dark hallways. Good shots of creepy toys and dolls. Scary clown doll spoiler for BtD. I found earlier Hammer films much scarier growing up. This had production values Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would have loved to have had. Old Hammer had better plots with loads of good cheese factor. This had no cheese factor. Happy I waited for Netflix.

[Alex]

I tried to watch The Woman in Black on our flight to Japan a couple week sago. Only made it about 20 minutes in before I switched to This Means War instead.

This Means War was absolutely awful, but at least I was able to finish it.

[mousepod]

Went to see Snow White and The Huntsman on Friday. There were things I really liked about it (the costumes, the special effects, the dwarfs), but I couldn't help but think that I'm about 30 years too old and the wrong gender to really appreciate the flick. I guess if you're a Hunger Games / Twilight fan, this movie would be right up your alley...

[alphabassettgrrl]

I guess I loved the cinematography in "Woman in Black" too much to notice plot holes. I decided to let the pop-ups stop scaring me, since they don't contribute much to my enjoyment, and the overall creepiness of the house was much better.

Probably going to see "Snow White and the Huntsman" tomorrow night. Not expecting much, but maybe it will surprise me.

[Alex]

I didn't even get to the point of noticing plot holes as no plot had happened yet.

Just something about the tone and pacing of that opening left me saying "this is just going to make a long flight worse."

Lani and I were pretty negative no Snow White and the Huntsman. It is hard for me to point at anything specific that was bad (though Stewart really isn't meant for that kind of role and anything build on the premise that she is more attractive than Charlize Theron is obviously flawed) but it didn't come together at all for us.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Alex

I didn't even get to the point of noticing plot holes as no plot had happened yet.

Just something about the tone and pacing of that opening left me saying "this is just going to make a long flight worse."

It was very slow to start and a slow crawl to the finish

[Strangler Lewis]

I really liked The Woman in Black. Beyond the obvious plot holes of people remaining for decades where there's a deadly supernatural menace so that we can have a horror movie, I didn't see any obvious plot holes--other than Daniel Radcliffe failing to use his wand to stop the whole mess. I also think the ending had something of a twist, which, if it actually existed, I suppose I can say I saw coming, but it was still fun.

[flippyshark]

Prometheus was something really gorgeous to look at. Truly stunning. It left me pretty cold otherwise. I only found one character at all engaging, that being the android played by Michael Fassbender. (Not a spoiler. He's identified as such right up front) He gives an appealing performance, in spite of a confused screenplay that left me unsure how I was supposed to react to his character.

Spoiler:

Was he evil? Just following orders? Following his own agenda or someone else's? I have no idea!

The movie wanted me to swallow a pretty enormous faith pill. I would have been more amenable if the token skeptic hadn't been a smug, dismissive asshole, who early on gets a single line of dialogue to express what is really a very reasonable doubt.

Spoiler:

Honestly, why would our creators go to such lengths to make it look like Darwinian evolution really happened?! Also, once the protagonist's pet theory turns out to be undeniably true, (and before all the nasty stuff starts happening) nobody acts jazzed about it. Only one guy mentions that their discovery is the most significant in the history of science, and he sounds kind of annoyed by the fact.

So, sense of discovery and wonder FAIL.

Also, the movie's twin missions of being speculative, mystical sci-fi, and also a graphic prequel to an established horror series sit very awkwardly together.

Noomi Rapace is really put through the emotional wringer here, and she's up to the challenge, but I was so disconnected from her story, her valiant acting efforts were in vain.

Spoiler:

Also, is there a less believable recovery from trauma in the history of cinema? "A machine just sliced me open, pulled out an enormous squid fetus, and stapled my midsection back together, but I'm good to go, really."

Charlize Theron's character could be edited out of this movie without making a single bit of difference. A one-note bore.

All that said, I'll watch this again when it hits Blu-ray. It really is stunning to look at, with some memorable icky bits.

[Moonliner]

In response to Flippy.....

Spoiler:

Was he evil? Just following orders? Following his own agenda or someone else's? I have no idea!

Good question, I think he's like a gun. It depends on who's holding it. I do wonder how he knew so much about things, like the existence of more ships.

Honestly, why would our creators go to such lengths to make it look like Darwinian evolution really happened?

I assumed they just started the process and let us evolve, of course that would make the Engineers a few billion years old.

Also, is there a less believable recovery from trauma in the history of cinema? "A machine just sliced me open, pulled out an enormous squid fetus, and stapled my midsection back together, but I'm good to go, really."
No, not in the entire history of film.

Charlize Theron's character could be edited out of this movie without making a single bit of difference. A one-note bore.
Yeah, was the "Father" line supposed to be a surprise?

I'm also pretty pissed about how much the trailers gave away. I think there should be a federal law, trailers are not allowed to show ANY footage from the last 30min of a movie.

[mousepod]

Hated Prometheus. I agree with flippy's criticism's and then some.

Damon Lindelof brought us the last season of Lost, which basically said, "You know all those tantalizing mysteries we've been tossing around for half a decade? We're not going to answer them. Asking the questions is enough."

People defended that move, and now he wrote a crappy Alien prequel that does the same thing. Will there be "answers" in the next two movies? (turns out this is the first of a trilogy.) Who cares? He gave moviegoers Alien: The Phantom Menace (by way of Star Trek V). Screw him.

Spoiler alert: don't believe the lies that Ridley Scott floated about the plot. It's all hack work. If you think know what I'm talking about, you're probably right.

I'm looking forward to hating Lindelof's Star Trek script, too. Let the franchise-killing continue.