Movies
After a long dry spell when no moment could be spared for the frivolity of watching a movie, Zawji and I jumped right back in as soon as he got back from taking his exams. We made plans to see The Adventures of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with our friend Sunday afternoon, then found we had enough time to rush to a showing of Marebito, a Japanese horror film, right before.
Marebito was made by the director of Ju-on and his own American remake, The Grudge. Sadly, it turned out to be a self-indulgent snuff film. It's about a cameraman who witnesses a suicide, goes in search of terror, and abducts a sort of vampiress from the underworld. And somehow he managed to make it incredibly boring. The filmmaker fell into the trap of thinking that showing the view through a viewfinder (the cameraman films everything, including murders he commits) imparts significance to the image. It doesn't. It just makes it look like crappy DV. Boo to that!
The Narnia film had me in near-tears throughout most of the movie, but not because of the beauty of the scenery, the plight of various hurt creatures, and certainly not because of the awkward Christian allegory. No, it was just because the actress who played little Lucy looked exactly like my own little sister at age five or six. Every time she looked upset, from the moment her mother gets ready to put her on a train and send her out of wartime London, my heart ached with the thought my little sis in any sort of pain! The movie itself was probably as good an adaptation as it could be. No complaints, though I can't say it will stick in my mind long...
Finally, last night we really treated ourselves and finally got around to seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - on Imax! It was definitely worth spending a few extra dollars. The scene near the beginning at the Quidditch World Cup really felt like being in a huge, vertical-sided stadium, and you could see so much more of the details throughout the movie - people moving around in the pictures, details on the dragon, etc. Now, if only we can see King Kong this way!
Marebito was made by the director of Ju-on and his own American remake, The Grudge. Sadly, it turned out to be a self-indulgent snuff film. It's about a cameraman who witnesses a suicide, goes in search of terror, and abducts a sort of vampiress from the underworld. And somehow he managed to make it incredibly boring. The filmmaker fell into the trap of thinking that showing the view through a viewfinder (the cameraman films everything, including murders he commits) imparts significance to the image. It doesn't. It just makes it look like crappy DV. Boo to that!
The Narnia film had me in near-tears throughout most of the movie, but not because of the beauty of the scenery, the plight of various hurt creatures, and certainly not because of the awkward Christian allegory. No, it was just because the actress who played little Lucy looked exactly like my own little sister at age five or six. Every time she looked upset, from the moment her mother gets ready to put her on a train and send her out of wartime London, my heart ached with the thought my little sis in any sort of pain! The movie itself was probably as good an adaptation as it could be. No complaints, though I can't say it will stick in my mind long...
Finally, last night we really treated ourselves and finally got around to seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - on Imax! It was definitely worth spending a few extra dollars. The scene near the beginning at the Quidditch World Cup really felt like being in a huge, vertical-sided stadium, and you could see so much more of the details throughout the movie - people moving around in the pictures, details on the dragon, etc. Now, if only we can see King Kong this way!
posted by Bint al-Gharb at 8:05 PM
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