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Movie reviews for the last few days.
Sunday 2nd October:
Miami Vice
Perfect example of style and terrible facial hair over substance. This movie looked like your usual stunning Michael Mann movie. It's glossy and shiny, although the horrible facial hair detracts from the possible sexiness of the male leads. I didn't really get a strong sense of camaraderie between Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell - I imagine the original show was more of a partnership, like all the cop shows of the era - Starsky & Hutch, Hawaii Five-0, that sort of thing. It was also very dark and shiny rather than bright, like the original seemed to be, which I think was to its detriment.
The plot is both predictable and boring. In fact, I honestly can't tell you what happened. Something about drugs and undercover cops and saving the girls and blah blah blah.
There's actually a really gorgeous sex scene in this movie that is used to show the relationship between Jamie Foxx's character and his girlfriend/wife/whatever. It's shot beautifully and it's sweet and sexy. Definitely one of the best sex scenes I've seen recently in movies - usually they're exploitative or uncomfortable. That relationship played well, and I think his wife was one of the best parts of the movie.
2 out of 5
Monday 3rd October:
Silent Hill
This one just didn't make sense. I'm so, so sick of the evil little girl trope, but the big reveal at the end of the movie explains pretty much nothing. The "hell" effects are occasionally scary, mostly gross - I remember seeing some stuff from the original game, and I remember it being an awful lot scarier. Anything with the contorted people worked great. The spooky, ash-covered town looked great and atmospheric, though, and the two female leads were pretty good.
One kind of cool note is that this was very much a female-driven movie. The father is relegated to the sidelines in the traditional female role while pretty much everybody in the action is female. Then again there's a lot of bullshit about mothers and daughters and dark sides and weird creation of babies and...I don't even know, honestly. And Sean Bean survives the whole thing!
2 out of 5
Fright Night (2011)
I may never say this again, but this movie was WAY better than the original! It had more internal logic, made more sense, and had better characterisation and performances from almost everybody. I particularly loved the two characters I hated the most in the original: Toni Colette as a mother who could actually take care of herself and had a life, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who had a fantastic vamped-out scene where he made geeky references while doing awesome wire fu. LOVED IT. The scene even had an emotional core! And a missing arm! Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots were fine, and they allowed the girls to kick butt in one scene (probably to make up for the boring damseling at the end).
David Tennant's Peter Vincent was different to Roddy McDowall's, but I think I liked them both equally. Tennant had a lot more of the modern rock-star magician to his performance, rather than the old school Hammer Horror star (no Peter Cushing here!) Tennant had a LOT of really funny stuff, though - his relationship with his girlfriend Ginger is pretty hilarious, and he gets all the good lines Christopher Mintz-Plasse doesn't steal. However, I generally preferred Chris Sarandon's Jerry to Colin Farrell's, who came across as skeazy rather than projecting the smooth evil thing. Farrell was a lot more brute force than suave charm (the scene where he gets everybody out of the house is creepily awesome).
Minor quibble: I'm guessing it was a nod to the original, but the vampire face and explosion effects weren't great. When Colin Farrell first showed his full-on vamp face![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tuatha_de was like "John Travolta has really let himself go". It was funny. I was more interested in the sexual frustration stuff in the original too - the relationship with Amy being thwarted by Jerry played out a lot better.
4 out of 5
The Hidden
I'd heard that this was an under-appreciated sci-fi classic from a few different sources, but could never remember the name of it, just the premise - an alien hijacks various bodies to go on crazy crime sprees. It's sort of a scifi cop buddy thriller...thing. It plays out really well. Micheal Nouri is HOT, and this movie probably utilised Kyle MacLachlan's particular acting "style" of acting better than any other I've seen - he was perfectly out of step for the role. I don't want to give anything away, but you'll probably figure it out in five minutes like I did. Their partnership was pretty adorable, and they had great chemistry. There's enough sexism to make me want to throw things, but as an 80s action movie that's sort of par for the course, unfortunately. The main female characters? Stripper, mother, little girl. Yawn.
Also, this movie has one of the coolest endings ever to involve a flamethrower. There isn't a tidy, clear ending, which works really well.
(Totally random side note: who the hell gives out/also sells cocaine to a customer buying a car?)
3.5 out of 5
Green Queen
Sunday 2nd October:
Miami Vice
Perfect example of style and terrible facial hair over substance. This movie looked like your usual stunning Michael Mann movie. It's glossy and shiny, although the horrible facial hair detracts from the possible sexiness of the male leads. I didn't really get a strong sense of camaraderie between Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell - I imagine the original show was more of a partnership, like all the cop shows of the era - Starsky & Hutch, Hawaii Five-0, that sort of thing. It was also very dark and shiny rather than bright, like the original seemed to be, which I think was to its detriment.
The plot is both predictable and boring. In fact, I honestly can't tell you what happened. Something about drugs and undercover cops and saving the girls and blah blah blah.
There's actually a really gorgeous sex scene in this movie that is used to show the relationship between Jamie Foxx's character and his girlfriend/wife/whatever. It's shot beautifully and it's sweet and sexy. Definitely one of the best sex scenes I've seen recently in movies - usually they're exploitative or uncomfortable. That relationship played well, and I think his wife was one of the best parts of the movie.
2 out of 5
Monday 3rd October:
Silent Hill
This one just didn't make sense. I'm so, so sick of the evil little girl trope, but the big reveal at the end of the movie explains pretty much nothing. The "hell" effects are occasionally scary, mostly gross - I remember seeing some stuff from the original game, and I remember it being an awful lot scarier. Anything with the contorted people worked great. The spooky, ash-covered town looked great and atmospheric, though, and the two female leads were pretty good.
One kind of cool note is that this was very much a female-driven movie. The father is relegated to the sidelines in the traditional female role while pretty much everybody in the action is female. Then again there's a lot of bullshit about mothers and daughters and dark sides and weird creation of babies and...I don't even know, honestly. And Sean Bean survives the whole thing!
2 out of 5
Fright Night (2011)
I may never say this again, but this movie was WAY better than the original! It had more internal logic, made more sense, and had better characterisation and performances from almost everybody. I particularly loved the two characters I hated the most in the original: Toni Colette as a mother who could actually take care of herself and had a life, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who had a fantastic vamped-out scene where he made geeky references while doing awesome wire fu. LOVED IT. The scene even had an emotional core! And a missing arm! Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots were fine, and they allowed the girls to kick butt in one scene (probably to make up for the boring damseling at the end).
David Tennant's Peter Vincent was different to Roddy McDowall's, but I think I liked them both equally. Tennant had a lot more of the modern rock-star magician to his performance, rather than the old school Hammer Horror star (no Peter Cushing here!) Tennant had a LOT of really funny stuff, though - his relationship with his girlfriend Ginger is pretty hilarious, and he gets all the good lines Christopher Mintz-Plasse doesn't steal. However, I generally preferred Chris Sarandon's Jerry to Colin Farrell's, who came across as skeazy rather than projecting the smooth evil thing. Farrell was a lot more brute force than suave charm (the scene where he gets everybody out of the house is creepily awesome).
Minor quibble: I'm guessing it was a nod to the original, but the vampire face and explosion effects weren't great. When Colin Farrell first showed his full-on vamp face
tuatha_de was like "John Travolta has really let himself go". It was funny. I was more interested in the sexual frustration stuff in the original too - the relationship with Amy being thwarted by Jerry played out a lot better.4 out of 5
The Hidden
I'd heard that this was an under-appreciated sci-fi classic from a few different sources, but could never remember the name of it, just the premise - an alien hijacks various bodies to go on crazy crime sprees. It's sort of a scifi cop buddy thriller...thing. It plays out really well. Micheal Nouri is HOT, and this movie probably utilised Kyle MacLachlan's particular acting "style" of acting better than any other I've seen - he was perfectly out of step for the role. I don't want to give anything away, but you'll probably figure it out in five minutes like I did. Their partnership was pretty adorable, and they had great chemistry. There's enough sexism to make me want to throw things, but as an 80s action movie that's sort of par for the course, unfortunately. The main female characters? Stripper, mother, little girl. Yawn.
Also, this movie has one of the coolest endings ever to involve a flamethrower. There isn't a tidy, clear ending, which works really well.
(Totally random side note: who the hell gives out/also sells cocaine to a customer buying a car?)
3.5 out of 5
Green Queen