Saturday, September 25, 2010
Movies. Movies. Movies.
Thanks to some advance screenings, we ended up seeing three movies in the theaters this week. The first was The Legend Of The Guardian: The Owls Of Ga'hoole (which may be the most awkward movie title ever). I no real desire to see this movie but heck, it was free. And lo and behold it was actually pretty entertaining. Think Lord Of The Rings but with talking owls. It was definitely a darker, more violent movie than I expected, having them touting that it was "from the studio that brought you Happy Feet," which ultimately was fine with me. It made for a far more
interesting film. And the visuals really were stunning. Computer animation just keeps advancing by leaps and bounds and the images with the owls feathers blowing in the wind really was impressive. I give it a B. The second film we say (for free) was The Social Network. Aside from the opening scene (which frankly made me want to gouge my eyes out and puncture my ears just to stop having to watch and listen to Jesse Eisenberg's character cluelessly condescend to his girlfriend), the movie was truly excellent. For a movie about a bunch of rich, snobby, privileged kids, it was really riveting, layered, truly infuriating film that will definitely be in my year end top 10. 
That being said, I totally wanted to delete my Facebook page after seeing it. Mark Zuckerberg (at least as far as the film portrays him) is a colossal dick and quite possibly the most pompous, most annoying person alive. Sean "Napster" Parker didn't fare any better... an opportunistic, conscienceless, paranoid a-hole (played by Justin Timberlake, who I imagine didn't have to dig too deep on this one, haha). These two men stole ideas, stabbed friends in the back, treated people disrespectfully and lied their way to billions of dollars. The American ethos at work, haha. And I love how the real Mark Zuckerberg is now trying to become a philanthropist just before the movie comes out in a lamely transparent ploy to seem like a good guy. A fascinating movie though. I'll give it a A-.
The last of this trio of movies we say was Devil. I found the premise of this movie, although obviously not grounded in reality, to be engaging and thoughtful. And that in and of itself is refreshing in a genre that so often is just about cheap thrills and gore. Unfortunately there really are no scares here. 
All the things that could have been scary take place on a black screen that only offers unsatisfying split second flashes of images that could be considered frightening. The voiceover was a bit awkward, having to sort of explain things as they happened and add deeper meaning to scenes that wouldn't have been as impactful without explanation. But the idea that everyone involved was there for a reason and the way it ended was interesting. I just felt a bit bored as the movie unfolded and I never felt any real tension or empathy for anyone involved. This one gets a C+.
