MOVIE CRITIQUE

June 2010

MOVIES, EVERY DAY MORE EXPENSIVE AND MORE BORING

Last Friday, we went to see Legion. I had really been looking forward to seeing that film, not only because the trailer looked really exciting, but also because it had great actors like Paul Bethany and Dennis Quaid. Well, not only was it a bit ridiculous, but it was also very dull. The most exciting bits were the few seconds seen in the trailer. It had lots of potential, but they didn't really work it too well. The angels were gayer than Colin Farrell in Alexander… The special effects? The coolest part, the mutant Ice Cream guy, lasted two seconds, and they killed him with a… But I won't on in case you want to see it.

But seriously. First, what's with the recent surge in religious films? And they don't even do them well. I was expecting something like Constantine, but instead, I got a B-movie zombie flick and not much else. And second, since going to the movies has to be so effing expensive, at least they could bother to do good films, for Pete's sake!!!

Today, we're going to see Kick Ass, which has excellent reviews and looks hilarious, but if it's another piece of crap, I swear I'll stop going to the movies, because they're just taking the piss…

BUT SOMETIMES IT'S WORTH THE WHILE GOING TO THE MOVIES

And of course, sometimes I have to eat my words.

We went to see Kick-Ass, and the truth is, I loved it. It's one by the same guys who did Superbad, which was a movie I resisted for a long time, thinking it would be a been-there-seen-that American Pie kind of movie, and when I finally saw it, I loved it. 

Anyhow, still in the same vein, Kick-Ass is a crude, extremely aggressive, somewhat mentally disturbed, superheroes without powers movie. I laughed, I cringed, and in some scenes I was a bit nauseous, because the fight scenes are very realistic. 

All the actors are excellent (about time Nicholas Cage did something good again), and I will closely follow Chloe Moretz's career, as her performance as Hit Girl was incredible. Her character is the reason this movie has received some terrible reviews, as it features a violent and foul-mouthed part, but I thought she was magnificent.

BOOK ADAPTATIONS

April 2020

I'm a big fan of movies and TV shows. I've wanted to work in that area for most of my life, but there's one thing I've just never understood. Why do some directors or screenwriters decide to take a beloved fiction and completely change it? Why say you love a story so much that you want to adapt it for the big or small screen and then basically change it to your liking or what you want the story to tell? If you're so smart, then write your own story. For example, Peter Jackson claims to be a big fan of Tolkien. Still, he feels the need to change basically any of the Tolkien humor and insert his own slapstick humor, as well as add some extremely ridiculous romances between a dwarf and an elf. Tolkien's stories did not need it; they were perfect the way they were.

Benioff and Peterson decided that since they were paying for Brad Pitt, they might as well have him be the hero of the story, even though everything that had ever been written about the Trojan War made it very clear that Achilles was anything but a hero.

And now, due to the quarantine, I decided to watch a new adaptation of a beloved book from my childhood. Anne with an E is a well-done show; it features fantastic casting and excellent locations, and the stories are heartwarming and enjoyable. But it is NOT Lucy Maud Montgomery's story. I don't understand why they felt the need to be more 'woke' or PC or whatever, but they've completely changed the story. They've completely changed the characters' storylines. Now, Gilbert Blythe is an orphan who works on a steamer, and Josephine Barry doesn't live alone because she wants to and can, which in itself was already a very feminist thing, but because she's a lesbian. That might have been true, but that is not the story. Why not make your own story instead of completely changing somebody else's? Why bother saying you are adapting a book and then changing the whole thing? If they had called it anything else, given the characters other names, I would be enjoying the show a lot. As it stands, I dislike it immensely.