February Films
Mar. 22nd, 2015 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoSo, here's the list of films that I watched in February, continuing on from what I saw in January. A little bit late, on account of starting to write this out and then forgetting about it, but better late than never. And now it's nearly time for me to write one for March, oops.
Some of these are films I'd definitely recommend; others... not so much.
12. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Never saw this one as a kid, so I figured it was long overdue. It... wasn't a favourite, I can certainly say. I like some old films, but the style of this musical was just too dated for my taste (and the songs kind of annoyed me - just not the style I like). And though I've had passing familiarity with the story, I never really found it appealing. One thing that I did like, though, was the brightness of the visuals and the transition scene from black-and-white to bright, sparkling colour with the opening of a door. That was cool. ... Anyway, I think I would have liked this better if I'd seen it as a kid.
13. Das Leben der Anderen (2006)
This is the best film that I've seen in a long time. The subject matter is a little heavy - since it's about an agent of the Stasi in East Germany and the people he has under surveillance, it's bound to be a bit depressing - and there were a couple parts where I had to fast forward through. But I do, do certainly recommend watching it. For the visuals, for the historical setting/context, and for the story itself - it made me feel more than any movie has in a long time.
14. Ouija (2014)
This movie isn't really worth watching. It's pretty bad. I had hoped to see it in theatres, 'cause it was near Halloween and I felt like going to a horror movie, but I'm glad that I never got around to it; I would have been disappointed to have spent money on this film. It's a standard "person fiddles with a posessed artifact and then bad shit happens" film, but it's done really badly - it's a very slow-moving film and doesn't pick up until well into the story. And I don't mean that in a good way.
15. Back to the Future (1985) 16. Back to the Future part II (1989) 17. Back to the Future part III (1990)
I figured it was time to watch this trilogy, since everyone else has seen it. :D Overall, I felt it was kind of cheesy, and not necessarily my kind of story, and not necessarily the kind of thing I would re-watch by myself. However... I really appreciated the way that the entire trilogy tied itself together in increasingly complicated ways, and that everything that happened in earlier movies affected the next on in some way, and so on. That was really well-done. ... And hey, at least I know all of the references now. :D OH Also - the third movie was awesome because it had Clara in it; she was really cool.
18. Sneznhaya Koroleva AKA The Snow Queen (1957)
This is the Russian version of H C Anderson's "Snow Queen" story. You can find it on youtube with English subtitles. If you like that story, I recommend giving it a look, because it's a pretty close adaptation. One thing that I found a little grating is that Gerda was a little excessively sweet, in a way that's very close to fairy tales, but feels kind of dated in a visual form. The visuals, though, are great, and - again, if you're looking for a film similar to the story, this is a good one to go to.
19. Hamlet (2009)
This is the film with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. The only other film version I've seen of Hamlet was the '96 version with Kenneth Branagh, so I was interested in seeing another take on it. This one is pretty much a straight-up modern adaptation, nothing too unusual going on, though there were some neat things done where scenes were shot as if they were filmed through surveillance cameras - I thought that was pretty cool. Anyhow, I thought that Tennant was all right as Hamlet; this is the only thing I've seen him in, so I can't really compare to his other performances. (Patrick Stewart was flawless, as always)
20. Dances With Wolves (1990)
I've read that the standard cut of this film was originally about 3 hours. I watched the Dirctor's Cut, which was 4 hours long, and even though it was long, it was worth every minute of it, and I wouldn't want to snip out a thing. I will confess, this is one of the best films I have seen, and even though it was so long, I would watch it again. Good acting, good cinematography, so many good things about it. It isn't perfect, but the parts that I did like, I really liked. I wasn't enamoured with the title character, Dances With Wolves, but all of the characters played by native actors were wonderful. Kicking Bird, played by Graham Greene, was absolutely amazing and honestly I would recommend this film for his character alone. And I loved the way the character development that Wind In His Hair, played by Rodney A Grant, went through over the course of the film. (Not to mention - you want eye candy? Grant delivers. Holy crap, is Wind In His Hair ever handsome.) ...Anyway. Yes. It's worth sitting through the entire four hours.
21. Rusalochka AKA The Little Mermaid (1968)
Like Sneznhaya Koroleva, this is a Russian animated version of one of Hans C Andersen's fairy tales. Unlike the Snow Queen film, this one is an animated short, about half an hour long. You can find it on youtube with English hardsubs, or a higher-quality Russian-only version with no subtitles. The visual style is beautiful, and I highly recommend watching it if you like fairy tales and gorgeously-animated films. It seemed to be relatively faithful to the original story (though I haven't read it in a while, so I might be misremembering). It's well worth a watch.
22. The Limey (1999)
Mixed feelings about this one. It's one of those "something horrible happens to a woman, so the man in her life seeks revenge" stories. In this case, it's a criminal avenging the death of his daughter, who was dating a rich guy who was involved in some dirty deals that she had uncovered. The premise, needless to say, didn't really grab me. But I found other things to like about it; I really enjoy the way that it was shot, the use of particular cuts, the insertion of potential scenes - glimpses of how something might happen, not necessarily how it does happen. How scenes are viewed, the angle that they come from, that kind of thing. I actually don't really have the vocabulary to describe what this film is doing, because I don't know much about techniques for telling a story through film, and discussing this kind of thing is way beyond my ability. And who knows, what this film is doing might be super common in some genres, but it's just not something I see very often in what I've viewed myself... But anyway, in summary, I like the way the technical aspects of it, rather than the story itself. I found it interesting to watch, even if the story wasn't to my taste.
23. Fantasia (1940)
I already wrote a tl;dr entry about this. But, in summary: I'm glad that I didn't see it when I was younger, because I would not have appreciated it. The animation and visuals in general are beautiful. "Night on Bald Mountain" is pretty creepy. I'm interested in watching Fantasia 2000 now that I have seen the first one. In short, I'm glad that I watched it, and I did find it interesting, but I probably would not re-watch it.
Some of these are films I'd definitely recommend; others... not so much.
12. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Never saw this one as a kid, so I figured it was long overdue. It... wasn't a favourite, I can certainly say. I like some old films, but the style of this musical was just too dated for my taste (and the songs kind of annoyed me - just not the style I like). And though I've had passing familiarity with the story, I never really found it appealing. One thing that I did like, though, was the brightness of the visuals and the transition scene from black-and-white to bright, sparkling colour with the opening of a door. That was cool. ... Anyway, I think I would have liked this better if I'd seen it as a kid.
13. Das Leben der Anderen (2006)
This is the best film that I've seen in a long time. The subject matter is a little heavy - since it's about an agent of the Stasi in East Germany and the people he has under surveillance, it's bound to be a bit depressing - and there were a couple parts where I had to fast forward through. But I do, do certainly recommend watching it. For the visuals, for the historical setting/context, and for the story itself - it made me feel more than any movie has in a long time.
14. Ouija (2014)
This movie isn't really worth watching. It's pretty bad. I had hoped to see it in theatres, 'cause it was near Halloween and I felt like going to a horror movie, but I'm glad that I never got around to it; I would have been disappointed to have spent money on this film. It's a standard "person fiddles with a posessed artifact and then bad shit happens" film, but it's done really badly - it's a very slow-moving film and doesn't pick up until well into the story. And I don't mean that in a good way.
15. Back to the Future (1985) 16. Back to the Future part II (1989) 17. Back to the Future part III (1990)
I figured it was time to watch this trilogy, since everyone else has seen it. :D Overall, I felt it was kind of cheesy, and not necessarily my kind of story, and not necessarily the kind of thing I would re-watch by myself. However... I really appreciated the way that the entire trilogy tied itself together in increasingly complicated ways, and that everything that happened in earlier movies affected the next on in some way, and so on. That was really well-done. ... And hey, at least I know all of the references now. :D OH Also - the third movie was awesome because it had Clara in it; she was really cool.
18. Sneznhaya Koroleva AKA The Snow Queen (1957)
This is the Russian version of H C Anderson's "Snow Queen" story. You can find it on youtube with English subtitles. If you like that story, I recommend giving it a look, because it's a pretty close adaptation. One thing that I found a little grating is that Gerda was a little excessively sweet, in a way that's very close to fairy tales, but feels kind of dated in a visual form. The visuals, though, are great, and - again, if you're looking for a film similar to the story, this is a good one to go to.
19. Hamlet (2009)
This is the film with David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. The only other film version I've seen of Hamlet was the '96 version with Kenneth Branagh, so I was interested in seeing another take on it. This one is pretty much a straight-up modern adaptation, nothing too unusual going on, though there were some neat things done where scenes were shot as if they were filmed through surveillance cameras - I thought that was pretty cool. Anyhow, I thought that Tennant was all right as Hamlet; this is the only thing I've seen him in, so I can't really compare to his other performances. (Patrick Stewart was flawless, as always)
20. Dances With Wolves (1990)
I've read that the standard cut of this film was originally about 3 hours. I watched the Dirctor's Cut, which was 4 hours long, and even though it was long, it was worth every minute of it, and I wouldn't want to snip out a thing. I will confess, this is one of the best films I have seen, and even though it was so long, I would watch it again. Good acting, good cinematography, so many good things about it. It isn't perfect, but the parts that I did like, I really liked. I wasn't enamoured with the title character, Dances With Wolves, but all of the characters played by native actors were wonderful. Kicking Bird, played by Graham Greene, was absolutely amazing and honestly I would recommend this film for his character alone. And I loved the way the character development that Wind In His Hair, played by Rodney A Grant, went through over the course of the film. (Not to mention - you want eye candy? Grant delivers. Holy crap, is Wind In His Hair ever handsome.) ...Anyway. Yes. It's worth sitting through the entire four hours.
21. Rusalochka AKA The Little Mermaid (1968)
Like Sneznhaya Koroleva, this is a Russian animated version of one of Hans C Andersen's fairy tales. Unlike the Snow Queen film, this one is an animated short, about half an hour long. You can find it on youtube with English hardsubs, or a higher-quality Russian-only version with no subtitles. The visual style is beautiful, and I highly recommend watching it if you like fairy tales and gorgeously-animated films. It seemed to be relatively faithful to the original story (though I haven't read it in a while, so I might be misremembering). It's well worth a watch.
22. The Limey (1999)
Mixed feelings about this one. It's one of those "something horrible happens to a woman, so the man in her life seeks revenge" stories. In this case, it's a criminal avenging the death of his daughter, who was dating a rich guy who was involved in some dirty deals that she had uncovered. The premise, needless to say, didn't really grab me. But I found other things to like about it; I really enjoy the way that it was shot, the use of particular cuts, the insertion of potential scenes - glimpses of how something might happen, not necessarily how it does happen. How scenes are viewed, the angle that they come from, that kind of thing. I actually don't really have the vocabulary to describe what this film is doing, because I don't know much about techniques for telling a story through film, and discussing this kind of thing is way beyond my ability. And who knows, what this film is doing might be super common in some genres, but it's just not something I see very often in what I've viewed myself... But anyway, in summary, I like the way the technical aspects of it, rather than the story itself. I found it interesting to watch, even if the story wasn't to my taste.
23. Fantasia (1940)
I already wrote a tl;dr entry about this. But, in summary: I'm glad that I didn't see it when I was younger, because I would not have appreciated it. The animation and visuals in general are beautiful. "Night on Bald Mountain" is pretty creepy. I'm interested in watching Fantasia 2000 now that I have seen the first one. In short, I'm glad that I watched it, and I did find it interesting, but I probably would not re-watch it.
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
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Date: 2015-03-23 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2015-03-24 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-24 02:35 am (UTC)It's certainly not perfect, but I did find it charming. I hope you'll enjoy it.