Some films I saw and wot I thought

[annwfyn]

The Bourne Legacy - worth it as the Hawkeye origin story, or maybe a homage to the iconic motorbike chase scene in Terminator 2. Just don't try and link it too carefully to the original Bourne films. It'll just upset you.

The Expendables 2 - perfect. On every level. My heart sings now I have seen it. My life is, once more, complete. I had no idea a film could take the very essence of the 1990s action blockbuster (maybe late 1980s, actually), distil it, and then spray it all over the big screen. Also, worth it just for Chuck Norris turning up to tell a Chuck Norris joke.

Total Recall - pretty. Not exactly clever, and I'm a little confused as to why the United Federation of Britain was ruled by an American, or why the population of Australia seemed to be Americans with a thing for a kind of steam punk Chinese aesthetic, but I'm willing to overlook that. Worth a couple of hours of my time.

The Hunger Games - Best antidote to Twilight ever. Katniss Everdeen teaches me that it's OK to be tougher than the boy, that he can love you anyway, that fighting together and protecting each other is good, and that sometimes no one will rescue you but you. Also, it's OK to have an athletic but curvy figure and if she loses weight for the next movie I'm going to be very traumatized.

So, that's me. How about you?

Comments

[spydacarnage.livejournal.com]

Bourne Legacy: As I've said before, possibly the shortest long film I've seen in a while. And by that, I mean that for a long film, it didn't feel like it was dragging like a lot of long films do. The story itself was good in a self-contained way, but yeah, it's like an afterthought to the original Bourne stuff.

Expendables 2: Spot on! The level of jokes vs. action was just right. JCVD did a wonderful job as the bad guy. And Arnie. In a Smart car. Priceless!

Haven't seen the other two, so I can't comment.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

You should watch the Hunger Games. I think you'd like it a lot. And it's out on DVD now so it's extra easy to watch.

[adze.livejournal.com]

Expendables 2 was brilliant rubbish - everything I wanted in the movie.

Hunger Games was good, but... I was left feeling uncomfortable about much of it - kids fighting each other to the death, the fake relationship between the two leads, and just a few other minor niggles that left me, as I say, somewhat uncomfortable.

I want to see Totall Recall, and next up, there's Dredd - also known as Karl Urban's Chin in 3D.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the Hunger Games film was fairly true to the book, then, in that 'sanitised version of Battle Royale' kind of way.

In the book I liked the relationship; it's not so much that it was fake, exactly, as that Katniss managed to persuade herself into loving the boy because she felt she ought to, but it fell apart quickly. Which felt realler to me than most book romances; after all, I've had relationships like that :) Hard to portray on film, though, I'd've thought.

[adze.livejournal.com]

To me, at least, the movie version felt like "Oh, he's going to die anyway, so I might as well lie to him too."

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Argh! I want to talk about Katniss and Peeta now but can't without spoilering the books.

~thinks~

Ahem.

I think it's more than she does begin to care, but she doesn't care in the right way but has to make it seem that way in order to survive. I also think it all gets tangled up with her sense of obligation/resentment towards him because of the food he gave her when her family were starving.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that's a very good summation of the problem. And I do think at times she mistakes the need/obligation/caring combination for love.

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

I find their relationship quite disturbing, partly because of the whole obligation thing, and that never changes for me. It's never honest. Not that her other option is any better.

[steveclapton.livejournal.com]

Expendables 2 was pure audience pandering and much the better for it. Although it seems that Arnold is now incapable of any form of movement, he can do sitting or standing but nothing else it appears.

Finally watched This is England last night which is heart breaking in some ways and life affirming in others.

I even went and saw Ted on a whim the other week and it was quite funny, with an unexpectedly good cameo, although the additional plot that was added in to try and add some 'peril' to the film seemed to derail it.

[lslaw.livejournal.com]

Sadly, Expendables 2 came and went pretty much in Cambridge.

Bourne Legacy - does it make me a bad person that I want the follow-up films to be called Bourne Again and Bourne Free? - felt like part of a bigger story and not quite enough of its own to me. I liked it, but couldn't do much more.

Clearly, the truth of Total Recall is that the world was rendered uninhabitable except for the set of I, Robot and the set of Bladerunner. More charitably, both territories were clearly mishmashes of refugees, with the bulk of Europeans and Americans who survived the wars settled in the UFB and a massive Asian influx into Australasia.

I like your user pic !!!

[chopseuy.livejournal.com]

Nice user pic ^_^.