Movie Week's End
I realised that I haven't posted on the other five movies that I hired, and now that I've seen them all, I don't really have the inclination to post individually.
The five remaining movies were: "America's Sweethearts", "American Pie", "Arlington Road", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and "The Count of Monte Cristo". But I didn't watch Monty Python as I'd seen it before (I thought it was funny but the unusual formatting gave me a headache). We borrowed it because my sister was using it for an English oral assignment.
ARLINGTON ROAD
This was a very good movie. Dark, and deeply disturbing. Tense, chilling and sickening. It definitely does what it sets out to do - teach you a little about terrorists, show another aspect of domestic life, and get you incredibly freaked out.
AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS
It was strange coming from Arlington Road to this. My older brother labeled it as a fluff, and it is easy to see why. It is a romantic comedy, starring a lot of big names: Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Crystal, John Cusack. Of course Julia Roberts plays the lovable but overlooked love interest (in this movie, she used to be fat), but I still fall in love with her every time she plays a similar role. Catherine Zeta Jones is excellent as her spoilt self-absorbed superstar sister. In the end, the 'same old story' was sufficiently quirky and amusing enough to let me enjoy it.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
This is the movie that I enjoyed most out of the lot. It was the most interesting movie I've seen in ages. Perhaps that's because it is based on a successful book that I haven't read. It has action and suspense and political and romantic tension aplenty. The characters, their relationships and their reaction to their personal situations are excellent, and the actors that portray them do a fantastic job. At the beginning of the movie, I wasn't quite sure who was going to be the hero of the piece, and I'm so glad it turned out not t0 be Guy Pearce's character, because he made such a good villain. He has this arrogant smirk that made me grind my teeth every time I looked at him. Imagine the hero of a movie having that effect on the audience! James Caviezel's character was at first rather uninteresting. It felt at first as though the story was going to be told through him as an 'everyman', instead of as a convincing character. I'm glad this was not the case. Looking back, it is a credit to his skills that he could portray such wide-eyed innocence at the start of the film and such world-weary, veiled malice later on.
I suspect I will be buying this movie next time I see it.
AMERICAN PIE
Well, what can I say? This film has been referenced by friends and other peers so much over the years that I had to see what I was missing out on. In the end... not much. It was more likeable than I expected, but I had picked up on most of the gags just through what I'd heard from friends, so the effect it might have had was long lost.
The five remaining movies were: "America's Sweethearts", "American Pie", "Arlington Road", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and "The Count of Monte Cristo". But I didn't watch Monty Python as I'd seen it before (I thought it was funny but the unusual formatting gave me a headache). We borrowed it because my sister was using it for an English oral assignment.
ARLINGTON ROAD
This was a very good movie. Dark, and deeply disturbing. Tense, chilling and sickening. It definitely does what it sets out to do - teach you a little about terrorists, show another aspect of domestic life, and get you incredibly freaked out.
AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS
It was strange coming from Arlington Road to this. My older brother labeled it as a fluff, and it is easy to see why. It is a romantic comedy, starring a lot of big names: Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Crystal, John Cusack. Of course Julia Roberts plays the lovable but overlooked love interest (in this movie, she used to be fat), but I still fall in love with her every time she plays a similar role. Catherine Zeta Jones is excellent as her spoilt self-absorbed superstar sister. In the end, the 'same old story' was sufficiently quirky and amusing enough to let me enjoy it.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
This is the movie that I enjoyed most out of the lot. It was the most interesting movie I've seen in ages. Perhaps that's because it is based on a successful book that I haven't read. It has action and suspense and political and romantic tension aplenty. The characters, their relationships and their reaction to their personal situations are excellent, and the actors that portray them do a fantastic job. At the beginning of the movie, I wasn't quite sure who was going to be the hero of the piece, and I'm so glad it turned out not t0 be Guy Pearce's character, because he made such a good villain. He has this arrogant smirk that made me grind my teeth every time I looked at him. Imagine the hero of a movie having that effect on the audience! James Caviezel's character was at first rather uninteresting. It felt at first as though the story was going to be told through him as an 'everyman', instead of as a convincing character. I'm glad this was not the case. Looking back, it is a credit to his skills that he could portray such wide-eyed innocence at the start of the film and such world-weary, veiled malice later on.
I suspect I will be buying this movie next time I see it.
AMERICAN PIE
Well, what can I say? This film has been referenced by friends and other peers so much over the years that I had to see what I was missing out on. In the end... not much. It was more likeable than I expected, but I had picked up on most of the gags just through what I'd heard from friends, so the effect it might have had was long lost.
posted by Draic | 11:07 pm
2 Comments:
hehehe - glad to be the cause of yet another person getting freaked out by Arlington Rd. Jeff Bridges annoys the hell outta me, but it's still a terrific viewing...
You've not read 'The Count Of Monte Cristo'??? Get thee to the library... pronto! It's a great read. Haven't seen that version and now my interest is piqued. BTW, I went to school with Guy Pearce, and his arrogant smirk isn't an arrogant smirk, it's just his half-smile, which the industry (and he) has twisted to suit its own purposes... Oh God, when I was in Year 11, I used to think he was sooo hot! :-)
I completely agree. I'm sure there must be some character that Jeff Bridges wouldn't be annoying as, but this wasn't it.
Nope, haven't read the book (Monte Cristo). I figure I've seen the movie, so what's the point?
As for Guy Pearce (you went to school with him? Where was that? Any interplay between you and him that I could leak to the media for lots of money?), I've seen him in movies where his smile isn't as arrogant or smirky (or irritating), but in this movie it is definitely an arrogant smirk. It's extremely irritating.
(And, by the way, that 'what's the point' comment was just to provoke you. Did it work?)
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