What's not to like about Shaun of the Dead? There are people speaking with British accents living a dreary existence - something that always cheers me up - zombies, best friends sticking together through thick and thin, zombies, gore, action, and zombies. Did I mention the zombies?
I like movies that don't take themselves too seriously. Especially horror movies, or in this case, comedy-horror movies. So often, you watch a horror movie and lose interest in it when it starts to get too serious. For some reason The Haunting comes to mind. It might have been a scary movie, but the tone was wrong somehow. Another thing that also sidetracks a horror flick is gore. Don't get me wrong, a good bit of bloodshed can be fun, but if not used wisely, it can seriously derail the tension in a movie. Case in point: when David gets eaten by the zombies. That scene was obviously placed in there for shock value and, of course, to dispose of a big wanker in an appropriately awful way. But the tension that was being built up in that scene was gone the instant he was disemboweled and eaten.
Favorite part of this movie was the juxtaposition of the two scenes in which Shaun goes to the corner store. The first time he goes to the store, he walks along casually. The music seems a little eerie for a walk to the store. The zombies haven't made an appearance yet, but you know that they will at any moment. Shaun walks into the store and a man stares blankly at the refrigerator case. Is he a zombie? Shaun grabs a beverage, walks over and pays. He makes it back to his flat without incident. The second time he goes to the store, the street is in disarray. Shaun is oblivious to his surroundings as he walks along. He gets to the store, opens the refrigerator case, which has bloody handprints on it. He goes to pay and doesn't see the shopkeeper. He simply leaves and goes back home. It makes you wonder who really is the zombie. Is it someone who has minimal brain function, a shuffling walk, limited vocabulary, and a hankering for human flesh, or is it someone who walks through life totally oblivious to the world around him?
Finally, for some reason I forgot to play my favorite game while watching horror movies - and sometimes mystery/suspense films. That game is "Who Dies Next," where you try to guess who the next person is to die in the movie. Does anyone else play that game?
A friend of mine and I were discussing how some people seem to think that a blog is a place to deposit any idea, no matter how trivial or personal it is. This got me thinking about my own blogs, especially this one. How often have I posted something that is inconsequential or just provides too much personal information? The blog entry on Memiors of a Geisha was actually quite difficult for me to write. I had a very emotional response to the movie and wrote about it in the entry. Was it too much? What about the blog entry on The New World in which I debated the pros and cons of choosing between Christian Bale and Colin Farrel? Was that too personal? What are some uses - or abuses - of blogs that you have read that have struck you as being kinda out there?
One of my first entries mentioned that a good movie, in my opinion, is one that moves me, that is, one that gives me an emotional response. I spent years learning to analyze form in a movie, but I still can't sit down and look at a movie as a construct of formal elements. To me, movies have more substance. A movie becomes more than just it's parts when it plays out on the screen. Isn't that what movies are all about? That magic that occurs when picture and sound come together before us?
In short, dear reader, if my entries seem a little too personal, or drift far off topic, please let me know. I write, not just to read my own words, but to hopefully make a connection with the people who read this blog and find out if they also see what I see, hear what I hear, or feel what I feel when I watch a movie.
Memoirs of a Geisha is a beautiful movie to watch. No wonder it won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. I often marveled at how the shots were composed in this movie. My two favorites are:
Little things like this are what make the cinematography spectacular...that is if you are paying attention. My favorite part of the book was the whole process of Chiyo-chan becoming a geisha; her training, the culture...everything. It was fascinating to read about geisha training and daily routines. (Aside: I would love to spend all day learning to dance and play music.) All of these things that took up pages and pages in the book were captured in a shot. It was amazing. For example, there was a lengthy discussion in the book on how a geisha doesn't paint her neck entirely. One shot of Sayuri applying her makeup and leaving part of her neck untouched was all it took to give us this information. Perhaps the filmmakers were reliant upon the fact that people watching the film had read the book in order for this information to be passed along. I picked up on this, did you?
When I read the book, I was completely annoyed by the love story between Sayuri and the Chairman. I thought it was rather irrelevant, since I was only interested in the geisha training and culture. However, the movie made the love story more interesting. A simple shot of the Chairman looking at Sayuri was enough to keep me intrigued. Two things are at work here: first the Kuleshov effect, which basically causes the viewer to infer things from how shots are combined, and second - this is something that Hitchcock used all the time - tension. I know that the two of them end up together, so I'm just waiting for the end. This is Hitchcock-ian - if that's a word - since he was awfully fond of increasing the tension in a film by revealing the source of the tension to the audience (the bomb is under the table) while keeping the characters in the movie in suspense (they don't know the bomb is under the table ticking away). Everyone knows that Sayuri and the Chairman will eventually have a long love affair, but how do they find one another through all their troubles? That's the suspense and the intrigue and what makes the love story in the movie more compelling.
What more can I say about this movie? Well, it made me cry a lot. It was the type of crying that you do because you know that you will never know that kind of happiness, the kind of happiness that only exists in movies and fairy tales. No one is ever going to wait years and years to confess their love for me. Maybe I'm just feelling a little envy...hey, isn't that a movie I just commented on? I've been feeling that feeling quite a bit lately. You know, that you'll never experience that in your life and you're missing something because of it. Such as whenever I see children - which I love - I feel sad because I know that I will never have any more of my own. What a pity, since I think I'm actually a pretty good mom.
Whoa! Gotten a bit off course, haven't I? Okay, if you've read the book, the movie is a lot different. It's worth watching, but don't expect for a moment that you are going to get the same point of view narration that you get in the book.
I loved going to the drive-in as a kid. I saw Star Wars the first time at the drive-in. There was a drive-in near my house - the old 100 Twin in Fridley - so we went quite regularly. It was a special treat because we usually went in our pajamas and - of course - got to eat lots of junk and stay up late. So, with a bit of nostalgia, my friend and I ventured out to the Vali-Hi drive-in to see X-Men: The Last Stand, Mission Impossible III, and Poseidon. I doubt I ever would have spent money to see either Mission Impossible III or Poseidon by themselves, but all three of these movies for $7.00, you betcha. It was a lot of fun. I didn't go in my pajamas, but we did eat lots of junk.
Here are just a few thoughts on my trips to the drive-inn when I was a kid. I always wanted to go play at the playground, but never got to do so. I always wanted to go buy junk at the concession stand, but didn't get to do that either. We always brought our own snacks and couldn't really afford to buy them there. The sound was always terrible because the speaker - just one - hung on one window and always sounded like it was coming from a metal box. Oddly enough, it was coming from a metal box, but I didn't understand why it had to sound like it did. My brother and I usually had to hide in the back of the van and be very quiet so that we could get in free. I loved watching space movies, because the night sky always made it seem like the movie was real. The stars on the movie screen just seemed to blend in with the rest of the sky.
Those are my experiences. What are yours?
It's rare that my son wants to rent a movie. He much prefers to rent video games at the movie store. But this time, he wanted to get Envy. I'm not exactly sure why. I think that it was because of Jack Black being in the movie. So out of pure shock that he actually wanted to watch a movie, I rented it. I was never interested in seeing the movie, even if Jack Black and Christopher Walken are in it. It just didn't appeal to me. Maybe I was deceived by the trailer, or thought the story seemed rather dull. However, I was pleasantly surprised when we watched it. The movie was a bit whimsical and quite enjoyable. The soundtrack, by Mark Mothersbaugh, added a lot of enjoyment. The lyrics to some of the songs were really funny and actually related to what was going on in the story. Plus, the combination of Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Christopher Walken worked really well. Strange that they would, but for some reason they did.
My favorite scene in the whole movie is when they try to shut down the out-of-control carousel. Who knew that owning one could be so dangerous.