OK, I just watched two films to keep me up tonight.
The first, The Strangers. I liked it, it was good... for the most part. It was fast and it never really faffed, always big plusses for me when it comes to horrors. There were some moments which I thought were genuinely brilliant (the part where one character is slowly walking and you can see the man-with-sack behind him and the camera angle keeps switching between over-the-shoulder and face, that was great), but there were also some very cliché and crappy moments. Overall, it's a horror, and it got my pulse up quite a bit. 7/10.
The next film I watched (naughtily, apparently it's not even out here for another month), was the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I admit, I mainly watched it because there's a scene where they go to Tibidabo and you can see credits and Fabbris... but, it was so much more than that, and was actually a brilliant film. It uses location so well in with the love story (reminded me a lot of French Kiss in that way, that was such an inexcusably underrated and brilliant Meg Ryan movie), which doesn't ever fall into being 'Hollywood' and 'magical'. In fact, it's quite tragic, and the ending especially made me wanna grab a few hankies and have a weep. It's a weird film, and feels almost like a novel when you watch it (it's narrated, which helps this I think). The acting is superb, and Penelope Cruz is an utter delight. Scarlett Johansson usually shouldn't be allowed oxygen, but, here she manages not to be annoying and doesn't make me want to shoot her. So, for her, it's a job well done. It's Rebecca Hall though who steals it for me. I'd only known her as Bale's annoying wife in The Prestige up to this point, but she was a pure delight. Perfectly portraying that uptight, soon-to-be suburban housewife who you can tell underneath the surface is never quite happy. She takes you along with her as she feels her love, and you identify and feel for her. I had a lot to identify with her for, and so at the end when... yeah, spoiler coming up... she has to leave her love behind in another country and settle for a life she doesn't really want, I genuinely felt for her, and am not too manly to admit I cried.
So, yeah, it was basically, art. I loved it. I will warn anyone that goes to see it, it will make you want to go to Barcelona for a summer. I just enjoyed spending the film screaming "OMG I HAVE BEEN THERE". There was even one point where they're in an area of Parc Guell which is really rather a random part I ended up in, that was the most exciting part. I will admit, loving the city does help in loving the film.
My only complaint - if you're going to set it in Catalonia, have a Catalan accent, please. And learn how to say 'Guell'. It's not hard
.
Anyway, 10/10. I'll DVD it when it finally gets here...
The first, The Strangers. I liked it, it was good... for the most part. It was fast and it never really faffed, always big plusses for me when it comes to horrors. There were some moments which I thought were genuinely brilliant (the part where one character is slowly walking and you can see the man-with-sack behind him and the camera angle keeps switching between over-the-shoulder and face, that was great), but there were also some very cliché and crappy moments. Overall, it's a horror, and it got my pulse up quite a bit. 7/10.
The next film I watched (naughtily, apparently it's not even out here for another month), was the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I admit, I mainly watched it because there's a scene where they go to Tibidabo and you can see credits and Fabbris... but, it was so much more than that, and was actually a brilliant film. It uses location so well in with the love story (reminded me a lot of French Kiss in that way, that was such an inexcusably underrated and brilliant Meg Ryan movie), which doesn't ever fall into being 'Hollywood' and 'magical'. In fact, it's quite tragic, and the ending especially made me wanna grab a few hankies and have a weep. It's a weird film, and feels almost like a novel when you watch it (it's narrated, which helps this I think). The acting is superb, and Penelope Cruz is an utter delight. Scarlett Johansson usually shouldn't be allowed oxygen, but, here she manages not to be annoying and doesn't make me want to shoot her. So, for her, it's a job well done. It's Rebecca Hall though who steals it for me. I'd only known her as Bale's annoying wife in The Prestige up to this point, but she was a pure delight. Perfectly portraying that uptight, soon-to-be suburban housewife who you can tell underneath the surface is never quite happy. She takes you along with her as she feels her love, and you identify and feel for her. I had a lot to identify with her for, and so at the end when... yeah, spoiler coming up... she has to leave her love behind in another country and settle for a life she doesn't really want, I genuinely felt for her, and am not too manly to admit I cried.
So, yeah, it was basically, art. I loved it. I will warn anyone that goes to see it, it will make you want to go to Barcelona for a summer. I just enjoyed spending the film screaming "OMG I HAVE BEEN THERE". There was even one point where they're in an area of Parc Guell which is really rather a random part I ended up in, that was the most exciting part. I will admit, loving the city does help in loving the film.
My only complaint - if you're going to set it in Catalonia, have a Catalan accent, please. And learn how to say 'Guell'. It's not hard
. Anyway, 10/10. I'll DVD it when it finally gets here...
