Journal SolemnDragon's Journal: Movie reviews: Miyazaki's latest; Mirrormask; Fantastic 4 9
Howl's Moving Castle Moving castle? Magic castle? It's not his first flying castle story. Miyazaki only tells one story. He tells it extraordinarily well, on occasion, and this is one of those occasions. I would say that he's really gotten better at it. Don't see Nausicaa. See this instead. On the one hand, pollution, machines, self-doubt, vanity... on the other, magic, self-confidence, "pure love," and so on. But it's beautiful- visually "oh, WOW," and possessed of a lot of simple grace. I really liked this one, i'll give it three castles and a bow (there are always thousands of bows scattered through his stories, because apparently bows are important decorations- so one will not be missed; in this case it's going to be from a hat.)
Mirrormask I'm awarding this movie the title, "Best Art Film I Couldn't Stand to Watch," of 06.
Really. We got into it about to the part where her adventure really begins, and realised that we didn't like the heroine, there was nothing particularly captivating about her. And the normalcy that is gaiman's saving grace in his heroes in other contexts- and other mediums- didn't come through here. It was sprawling, the enchanting little figures made of shoes and locks and scrap metal were interesting- but i was more interested in how they were built than in watching them move. There was some sort of ambience missing that would have made it beautiful and not just bizarre. Something that Jim Henson usually adds, but their studio didn't come through this time. I think it might have been the music, to be honest, and the main character. She just wasn't clear enough, to me. The rest could have been charming enough, without her.
I will probably try it again, but i was not impressed on the first try. I'll give it one flying book and half a pair of black socks, because those were the most charming parts.
Fantastic 4. I wasn't much of a marvel kid, i was a valiant kid, mostly, but what little i know of the comic was well served. I thought the movie was very flat and stretched to extremes like a comic, and certain parts annoyed us, like not even attempting to explain the gravity in space, etc... but i liked how well Ben Grimm came across. He was always the most human, to me. I didn't like the invisible girl much, either in comic or movie, so i guess that was consistent. I did like Mr. Fantastic, the amazing elastic man- i thought he did a very good job of playing a comic book hero in the movie. And that's not easy.
And i liked the blowing things up bits.
It was fluffy, but good. I'll give it one heat-seeking missile and both of the Thing's amazing disappearing ears.
Seen anything good lately? I have a Loooong list to see, thanks to one of our resident critics, but am starting to sort out what to see first.
Recently (Score:2)
Re:Recently (Score:2)
Re:Recently (Score:2)
Yay, New Movie (Score:2)
Cloak & Dagger (Score:2)
Well I went out and rented it and man, still a great movie. Not as great as I remembered it being from my childhood but then again what is.
The best part is that it's a children's movie, but it's an 80s children's movie so adult can actually enjoy it, and the story isn't insipid like those of today.
Re:Cloak & Dagger (Score:2)
FF (Score:1)
Movies (Score:2)
My most recent movies have been: The Incredibles, which was much better than I expected. It's worth the time to watch it, just don't expect anything deep. And Hero (subtitles warning), which is excellent movie. The story
Hero (Score:2)
The colour made me cry.
Gaiman's story- i watched the rest of it last night- suffers from great beauty, alternating with moments of choppy, badly handled moments. That's the problem with it- it's made of moments.
Some of them are lovely, some are pointless, most are too dark to properly appreciate, and some detract from the actual story. It's like looking at a picture that has no perspective- everything is the same size, and what ought to be a charming part of the background becomes just ano