Gosh I haven’t updated for a while! Been pretty busy!
Thought I’d do mini reviews of some movies I’ve seen!
Poetry
I saw the trailer for this a while ago and it was very emotional, all about a woman who gets Alzheimer’s.
I went to see the film with much trepidation, expecting a weep-fest – but no! So disappointing. Almost all of the Alzheimer’s stuff is in the trailer, it’s not really touched upon in the movie. Instead, it’s a rambling movie about a lady in her 60s who starts taking poetry classes and who has to deal with the fact that her schoolkid grandson has a link to the suicide of a schoolgirl (no not a spoiler, it happens at the start of the movie).
The movie just didn’t do it for me – didn’t grab me – and it was too wishy washy. And I hate to say it, but there’s a scene in it where the lady has sex with a disabled old man, and it’s just a bit too much... I’m sure the critics say that it is ‘brave’ but I could have done without seeing that... It just didn't work.
5 out of 10
Akunin (aka, Villain)
This was more like it. I went in, not knowing anything about it, and I was stunned. It’s about a young adult with behavioural problems who is seeing a young woman – and she is soon discovered murdered. Then the guy starts seeing another lady, and it’s all very fucked-up... And many confessions and decisions ensue...
The film might be a tad long, but at the heart of it is just pure epic romance. It really caught me unawares and made me cry a lot!!
Such a great Japanese movie.
9 out of 10.
Super 8
Urrgh hated this!! The creators are capable of so much better – I felt they sold out! That train explosion – so over the top! My friend liked it and said that I missed the point – that it is a pure homage to 80s movies. I dunno – I still feel like they should have offered something new or original in between all that. So the driver who rammed his car into the train survived – really? How? It was so obvious he was going to be suddenly come alive – is that a homage then? Zzzz! The kids really got on my nerves, especially the braces kid and the fat kid – and I don’t know why JJ Abrams likes that bland actor so much – the one who plays the main kid’s father. They seem to use him a lot.
2 out of 10
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Not a huge fan of the original (too slow and too many court scenes), but this was a nice surprise, pretty engaging.
8 out of 10
Love Exposure
This is a four hour Japanese movie that I had to watch over several days lol. I don’t know why it has to be 4 hours long, but it still works. It’s a rambling epic movie about a young directionless guy who gets in with a weird crowd, starts dressing up as a warrior woman and falls in love with his step-sister – and then it all goes tits up when a nasty young girl and a religious cult get involved.
This film is so much fun and so absorbing. There’s the nastiest scene ever, containing a horrible thing happening to an erect penis lol. And some of the acting is stunning.
I felt the denouement was a little weak, and the lady villain didn’t quite get the comeuppance she deserved, but the ultimate ending does pay off.
It's more of an experience than a film.
9 out of 10
Captain America
I don’t know what it is, but a lot of the Marvel movie – Hulk, Iron Man – have just washed over me. Maybe it’s cos I grew up as a Marvel Zombie, so I’m so close to the characters. Cap A pretty much did the same – I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really love it. Chris Evans did a decent enough job, but I felt the Red Skull’s mask didn’t quite work – you could tell it was a mask and you could even see the actor’s nose a bit!
I also wish it hadn’t been a total flashback movie, and maybe it could have just interspersed flashbacks in with modern day stuff. All in all – a bit meh...
6 out of 10
