estepheia | Movies

Movies

Saw Finding Neverwhere. Very solid acting, lovely costumes, beautiful cinematography. Definitely worth my time. After watching a few previews I'd like to ask my flist the following:
What is the new Bill Murray movie like? The trailer was hilarious, but trailers can be deceiving. And what about Constantine, is that any good? I will probably miss Ray, which is a shame, but I doubt it will run much longer. Aviator I'd watch, if it didn't have Leonardo di Caprio in it. He's not a bad actor, but something about him... dunno. I just have issues. It's the same with Tom Hanks. I will normally avoid movies with him, but may make an exception.

*sigh* I want the Firefly movie now now now!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Regarding The Life Aquatic (the Bill Murray one)...it was okay. Most of the funniest moments are in the trailer. I'd say wait and rent it, personally.

But, of course, ideally, we'd have Serenity NOW!

Constantine doesn't open until the 18th in the U.S. Early reports say : The story is lacking and the script is pretty bad in some places but some of the performances are on target with Rachel Weisz giving a great and dark performance, Djimon Hounsou, who gives his role more class than the script does and Gavin Rossdale, who gives a pretty scary and humorous performance as a demon who has it in for Constantine. Unfortunately, Constantine himself is not that interesting and Keanu Reeves comes out looking like he's trying out for the next Batman movie with his way too grim performance. Tilda Swinton is good but she's only in two scenes of the movie and Shia LaBeouf is as annoying as ever.. Doesn't sound too promising.

Wow, that does not happen often, that films are released simultaneously in Germany and the US. Sounds like Constantine may be a movie to rent... I like Keanu, but I know many people find his range very limited...
The movie will probably do well on DVD but not at the theatre. But then there are a handful of movies that the critics hated that I really like, among them Johnny Mnemonic...

Thanks.

Another Johnny Mnemonic fan! Always knew you had good taste! At least some of the JM haters couldn't get past its distance from the story (though considering that the script was written by William Gibson himself...). The only thing that gave me a big problem was the female who helps him (Molly in the story, though they changed her name in the movie) played by, I think, Dina Meyer. Just not the right actress for the part. OTOH, Dolph Lundgren was great, and I liked Henry Rollins too. The movie was so far from the story, it was more of an "inspired by" than anything else

Not all good books make good movies. I attended a course on film adaptation at university once, it made me realize how difficult a task a true adaptation is. The spirit more than the letter of the story should be transferred.

I liked JM a lot (thanks for the compliment) - and I didn't think Keanu Reeves was wooden - his character's responses were supposed to be limited. If he had had a rounded personality he wouldn't have needed his memories back. And yeah, Dolph was great.
I am probably one of few people who really like Red Scorpion - a pretty dumb movie that has great moments. I like the redemption arc and the bushman part, the growing respect, but of course the editing was lousy and the makers of that movie stressed the more shallow aspects of the story. Of course, Dolph provided enough near nekkid eye candy to distract from the mindless ba-da-bam shooting. LOL.

I also love Split Second, a cheesy little flic with Rutger Hauer that never gets good reviews but which has its charms. And Warlock with Julian Sands, that falls into the same category.

Um ... did you mean finding neverland?

Yup. Sorry, got the titles confused. Watched it in German and they gave it some silly title like The Art of Flying.

I read a bunch of summaries and reviews and I concluded that Constantine will only be tolerable to people who either never read the comics or who don't mind the complete and utter mutilation of a character that has been developing consistently for 200+ issues.

It is always possible that a couple of dozen reviewers missed the point and the official summary is utterly misleading. But it really looks like they've missed the entire point and essence of the character. Even ignoring the fundamentally British ex-punk thing.

Straight to Hell
a site with some good content, with sections on the comics, and the movie.

Saw the preview of "Serenity" (rough assembly) in London last week. It rules! Roll on September (?) for the theatrical release where I can play "spot the bit they cut out/reshot"

Oh I hope they won't tidy it up too much!

*is green with envy*

Well IMO it just needed the post-production. The movie is fine as it stands. However, you know how these things go - you only have to watch DVD deleted scenes to see they cut out some perfectly good stuff sometimes. I'm hoping they won't lose any here.

*sigh*
I am already pimping this movie whenever I can.
I will go to see the premiere here in Braunschweig. Definitely.
Ack, it will be in German!!! *bangs head on desk*

Hi Steffi,
Constantine opened here in Hong Kong about a week ago (before Chinese New Year). It is entertaining enough, certainly more so than Daredevil, van Helsing, or Blade Trinity (although that one is much better than the failed second attempt of the Blade saga). I have seen a lot worse screen adaptions of comic books. As I don't know the graphic novels in this case, I can not comment on how true the movie is to them, though. I liked Keanu Reeves in this role. Yes, he is a little wooden, but the role requires it. He portrays a loner who has lost his believes in humankind and has no emotions left for anybody. He does not care about anything anymore. His single goal in life is to destroy as many hell demons as possible to redeem himself in the eyes of god to be admitted to heaven after his death. Because of his "visions" he committed suicide in his youth, but was resurrected, so he is denied entrance to heaven by default. According to conservative Christian lore (and this movie) people who kill themselves will end up in hell without fail. Because of his past death experience he knows what hell is like and he does not want to end up there for all eternity.
The plot is a little thin here. Once you learn that Constantine is just seeking a way to get into heaven after his death, it is so obvious what the solution will be. It is of course not the destruction of hundreds of demons for selfish reasons...
If you see it, make sure to stay in the theatre until the movie really ends. The last scene is after the end cedits had their run, like in Pirates of the Caribbean.
By the way, here are some other movies I have seen recently:
Elektra was OK, but I don't think that I will ever like Jennifer Garner, whatever she does.
I am thankful that finally Pixar is independent from Disney. I hated Nemo and Incredibles was not much better. I hope that without the Disney money and influence they begin to make entertaining movies again for a target audience that is a little older than 3-12.
The sequel to Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, was even more awful than the first one. Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman seemed to have a lot of fun in their roles of a sex therapist and an emotionally liberated retired lawyer, though. But their performances could not save an otherwise uninspired and unentertaining picture.
But Closer was the epitome of awfulness this year so far. Interesting cast (Jude Law, Nathalie Portman, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts), but this farfetched story (adapted from a play) about relationships just does not work. All characters and their motivations were so utterly beyond me. This is not even worth the money to rent it out.
So much for a very biased view of recent movie releases ;-)
Lutz

Oh good, I will watch Constantine then.
Thanks for warning me about Closer... I did consider watching it. Would never watch Meet the Fockers anyway since I hate Ben Stiller with the passion of a thousand fiery suns (although he was a good Starsky).
Didn't like the Invincibles. *shrug* Boring and predictable. Very formulaic storytelling. *double shrug*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Movies

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

More Movies

Re: More Movies