I don't think I've ever been so excited about a non-sequel/non-book-based film before. It just looks so cool and it's coming out this Thursday!
Anyway, so it's been a while but here's another blog! I've been watching a few movies in the past week so here are a few reviews:
97% on Rotten Tomatoes
So I can see why this film wasn't really nominated for many awards. Even when I saw the trailer, I was like "So... is that pretty much the whole movie? Someone gets lost in space?" Obviously the film delves a bit deeper, with the main character (Sandra Bullock) actually trying to get to a space station and landing pod/ship to try and get back to Earth, but there wasn't that much to it.
So the plot is something like this. Russia blew up one of their satellites or something, and so the debris caused by the explosion starts orbiting Earth in the same orbit as the space shuttle that the main characters are on. The debris is travelling at such a high speed that this in turn damages their space shuttle, causing more debris to add to the already catastrophic herd of flying debris. They need to get to the next space station and try to fly and land back in Earth within 90 minutes, which is the time it would take the debris to orbit back and cause more damage.
So, sure, there were elements of suspense, as we try and root for her to get to the next space station while only have 6% of oxygen, but it was really repetitive. The film's only 90 minutes but we see pretty similar stuff happening over and over again (she gets to the station just in the nick of time, but not fast enough to avoid the debris, then she's got to travel to the next station again).
Of course, the special effects were amazing and I really do credit Sandra Bullock for getting into the shape she needed to film this, but besides CGI and all that, it wasn't an amazing film.
76% in Rotten Tomatoes
Say what you will, I actually really enjoyed this movie. Let's just first put aside the fact that it's based on a biblical story. It's amazing. It's so artistic and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. The CGI with the animals is crazy; they didn't film a single animal, it was all digital 'tweaks' of existing animals now. Even the meaning and the metaphoric symbolism of the characters and the plot line was just incredible. And the way they kind of made it seem sort of fantasy-like... truly truly amazing. Also, the acting was really great. And seeing Emma Watson on the big screen is never going to be a bad thing.
Now let's move back to the fact that it's a biblical story. Okay sure, it wasn't exactly on point, but I mean it's a Hollywood film that's acting similarly to any other book-adaptation film. I think their take on it was pretty good, it added to the suspense and the drama. I mean we all think we know the story about Noah, some old dude who gathered up two of each animal, built a boat and avoided the flood. But no one really knows the story about Noah and who he was and what he felt and thought. I thought this was a good spin on things; don't go in expecting to know the ending.
Some interesting IMDb trivia:
Darren Aronofsky had been fascinated with the character of Noah since childhood, seeing him as a "a dark, complicated character who experiences real survivor's guilt".
According to Emma Watson, the film has an ambiguous setting: "It could be set in any time. It could be set sort of like a thousand years in the future or a thousand years in the past... You shouldn't be able to place it too much."
According to Darren Aronofsky, the Watchers' designs were inspired by three images: the six-winged Seraphim angels, a seagull trapped in oil and by ballet dancers with blocks attached to their feet. "These are angelic forms captured, malformed imprisoned by the earth; winged creatures who got encased and had to use their wings as arms and legs. "
Russell Crowe explained his characterization of Noah as not necessarily having to be nice: "The funny thing with people being, they consider Noah to be a benevolent figure, you know? Because he looked after the animals. Are you kidding me? This is a dude who stood by and let the entire population of the planet perish!"
71% on Rotten Tomatoes
Yeah, yeah, I'm a bit late, but I finally got around to watching it. At first I really did not want to; it just looked so lame. Like a cop-out of Transformers, Matrix, Avatar and Godzilla. Pretty much just think about combining all these things together. What do you get? Some huge robot controlled by two people fighting some huge monster. But hey, it was alright. I mean it was nothing fantastic, but it was still alright.
The acting was cheesy, the plot was slightly unique but not really, and the Aussie accent... just... stop. I don't understand why they always have to exaggerate the Aussie accent; it sounds like they got someone straight out of the outback to do this role!
But yeah, so it's good in the sense that it was entertaining and quite action packed, there were a few comical relief characters and scenes, there was a good mix of ethnicities (yes to a female Asian lead) and it was set in random Hong Kong.
Another bit of trivia is that apparently it was one of those rare films that didn't do so well in Hollywood, but did really well in Asia. And I kind of get that, because that sort of storyline isn't really that interesting for Western culture, but I think Asians are really into huge robots fighting each other and stuff. Even the soundtrack made it seem like we were just watching some crazy hyped-up Japanese reality show, like it was all just some video game footage.
Well, that's it for now. I was planning on talking about a few more movies but it's getting late and unfortunately we can't just rewind the clock again. So, until next time kids!
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