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apocalypsos) wrote2012-02-04 10:19 pm
apocalypsos) wrote2012-02-04 10:19 pm
Entry tags:
Oscarwatch: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
First off, I made a crack the other day about how I really hope this movie wouldn't be in 3D, which would just be profoundly creepy.
Then I found out tonight that "Titanic" is going to be rereleased in 3D.
... yeah, I got nothing.
*
The pros:
1. The story of a family coping after 9/11 could be very well -- even now, when people still can say, "Too soon" -- and there are parts that of the movie that are well-done and ring true. There are many parts that would work just fine if the movie were chopped up and taped back together with the problem sections dropped.
2. The acting by Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, and especially by Max von Sydow, is fantastic. Von Sydow has the struggle of having to restrict his acting to facial expressions and notes, and luckily he's such an incredible actor that he does all of this with extraordinary ease.
The cons:
1. I hate that kid. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate that character so very, VERY much. I feel like I can't even explain it without doing the "Flames on the side of my face" thing. And it's not even the actor, although I will freely admit that I wasn't sure the actor did much to help with that. I just felt like he was an irritating pile of grating quirks, and that they threw out that "I was tested for Asperger's but it was inconclusive" BS even though *I* could have diagnosed the kid with Asperger's or possibly autism or something, and so instead I got to sit there and think, "Wait, your kid might have Asperger's, his beloved father died on 9/11, and you haven't gotten him a therapist?!"
2. I did read the book before going to see the movie, or at least attempted to -- I just really, really don't like Jonathan Safran Foer's writing at all. And I realized why I didn't like the way the story developed, which is that it felt to me like the story of a family coming to terms with the death of the father on 9/11 just wasn't interesting enough. We need a mystery, and a puzzle, and a great big adventure in the city! And I know that the whole thing is the kid's coping mechanism, and yet it just rings false on so many levels, not the least of which that his mom just lets him wander off all over New York City (which, sheesh, what a lousy way to tie up that loose thread in the end).
3. We didn't get a falling-man flipbook. We get a falling-man POP-UP BOOK.
Then I found out tonight that "Titanic" is going to be rereleased in 3D.
... yeah, I got nothing.
*
The pros:
1. The story of a family coping after 9/11 could be very well -- even now, when people still can say, "Too soon" -- and there are parts that of the movie that are well-done and ring true. There are many parts that would work just fine if the movie were chopped up and taped back together with the problem sections dropped.
2. The acting by Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, and especially by Max von Sydow, is fantastic. Von Sydow has the struggle of having to restrict his acting to facial expressions and notes, and luckily he's such an incredible actor that he does all of this with extraordinary ease.
The cons:
1. I hate that kid. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate that character so very, VERY much. I feel like I can't even explain it without doing the "Flames on the side of my face" thing. And it's not even the actor, although I will freely admit that I wasn't sure the actor did much to help with that. I just felt like he was an irritating pile of grating quirks, and that they threw out that "I was tested for Asperger's but it was inconclusive" BS even though *I* could have diagnosed the kid with Asperger's or possibly autism or something, and so instead I got to sit there and think, "Wait, your kid might have Asperger's, his beloved father died on 9/11, and you haven't gotten him a therapist?!"
2. I did read the book before going to see the movie, or at least attempted to -- I just really, really don't like Jonathan Safran Foer's writing at all. And I realized why I didn't like the way the story developed, which is that it felt to me like the story of a family coming to terms with the death of the father on 9/11 just wasn't interesting enough. We need a mystery, and a puzzle, and a great big adventure in the city! And I know that the whole thing is the kid's coping mechanism, and yet it just rings false on so many levels, not the least of which that his mom just lets him wander off all over New York City (which, sheesh, what a lousy way to tie up that loose thread in the end).
3. We didn't get a falling-man flipbook. We get a falling-man POP-UP BOOK.