totally random ~

[lookingland]

match game at the baltimore buffalo invitational

i've been a bit overwhelmed by life and whatnot, so i apologize for not responding much lately. visiting relatives, depressing job stuff, distractions, new pope ponderings, much movie-watching, etc.

that's it in a nutshell.

hence, the random picture of buffaloes from baltimore ~ apparently they wandered from some ranch and wound up in the city.

the movie scorecard:

Finding Neverland ~ bland melodrama ~ didn't hate it, but there's not much there and it's so historically inaccurate as to be silly. (am i the only one who finds j.m. barrie ~ and Peter Pan ~ totally creepy?)

Million Dollar Baby ~ really enjoyed this movie until the resolution. booooooooo! bad! yuck! huge disappointment. clint! what were you thinking!

Sin City ~ excrement. what a waste of fine artistic direction. no fan of frank miller here to begin with and the film has solidified my disgust for his work.

Vanity Fair ~ this was interesting but had some feh transitions that were rather perplexing (much like the book, i suppose). mostly satisfying, but nothing to yodel about.

i'm pretty sure i saw something else recently, but now i can't remember what it was.

ah well. there you have it.

: D


i need to try to get some writing done.

Comments

[sparowe]

I wouldn't have gone to see it anyway (not my thing), but I had a friend who was really upset about Million Dollar Baby. Mind you, not the ending itself (she's pro-euthanasia among other things), but the fact that there was no warning, in case you might find it morally objectionable. (If I'd planned on seeing it, the resolution would have nixed that right then, I have to admit.)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

it's really too bad because the film is otherwise wonderful! but it's lack of redemption and how it gives in to total moral destruction is just sad sad sad.

i'm not sure how we're supposed to feel at the end of the movie. part of me thinks that we're supposed to feel outraged and disgusted. but i think the film doesn't give us enough to think about somehow.

at the end, clint eastwood's character's priest warns him against taking action and yet he does it anyway, so i think the film has a moral center, but confuses itself in the end. my sister at first thought it was a good ending because he put her out of her suffering and it was what she wanted, but when i explained to her that in doing so it destroyed everyone else in the film (which it does), then she rethought her assessment and came around to agreeing that it wasn't such a good thing after all.

to be honest, i don't think most people think deeply enough to get there.

so i sorta fault the movie for not being a little more ham-fisted about the depravity of the final choice, for not clarifying that the girl's selfish willfulness ruins others' lives, etc.

it's worth watching. but i think it fails in the end to raise the moral question clearly enough.

[lastremnant.livejournal.com]

I sort of liked Finding Neverland. I pretty much accepted that it was going to be historically inaccurate going into it. I almost built myself up to dislike it but was surprised. I saw the movie as bridging the concept of "Innocence Reborn" as illustrated in late 19th century literature to the big screen. I didn't see it exclusive of Barrie as much as demonstrating the stream of thought of many different "children's" authors of that time period, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Those authors wrote literature for parents to read to their children that were more less stories meant for adults AND children. The whimsical nature for children, but the adults were also supposed to grasp their "inner" child, or rather, their "inner innocence" from the stories (and just reading the stories to their children was the living proof of that innocence displayed right before them) in spite of the harsh reality that surrounded them, where anything mystical or even spiritual was seen as foolish. It helped them to come to grips with what really mattered in life, even if just for a moment in reading the stories to their children at bedtime. And I think the film displayed that beautifully. I was really impressed with what they did with the concept (but I am also aware that most people seeing the film who haven't studied that time period of children's literature in-depth would not see what the director and writer were attempting, but I'm not sure how the creators of the movie could have remedied that dilemma). :)

Thank you for the warning on Sin City! I was tempted to go see it for the unique visual style. So I shouldn't even bother with it?

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i know what you mean about the intentions for Finding Neverland but it didn't work for me ~ and i really did tr to enter it without any preconceived weirdness from my aforementioned dislike of barrie. it may be that i don't particularly agree with literature that dabbles in such obviously Freudian waters ~ regardless of who it's written for? dunno. i didn't hate the movie, just wasn't wowed or affected by it in any particular way.

Sin City, as i said, is excrement. it's a waste of a lot of talent. i spent nearly the whole film wishing it would just end so i could go home. even the creative camerawork and special effects aren't worth it. i haven't been so disgusted with a film in a long long time. feh.

: o p