Stealing From My Livejournal Part XVI

As I use my livejournal for little else except for movie rants and decided to switch over here, I thought I'd recruit some older posts so as to show a history. I'll bother with new ones as they come to me.



From December 28, 2008:

"Two more films down.

The Curious Case of Benjamin, I saw on Friday. It was a good movie, no doubt about that, and I enjoyed it. I have to admit that I didn't get as into it as I am sure the minds behind the film wanted me to. A lot of movies strive to bring the audience into the lives of the people they portray, in fact, I think most movies try to grab audiences and bring them in, if not all. But I felt very disconnected from Benjamin Button. It was a good story to watch, but I was definitely watching everything. I was extremely conscious of my presence outside of the movie. It started off too slow for my tastes, taking too long with old!Brad Pitt before it got into the story, really. And although I loved the guy who told us all the ways he got struck by lightning (hilarious, seriously), the woman who taught Benjamin piano... was a little overdramatic, like they were trying to grab us too soon, trying too hard to bring the audience in to sympathize with the characters. Anyway, overall, it was a good movie. Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, and Taraji P. Henson all brought good performances into it. And the effects were good but not overdone or too braggy.

Slumdog Millionaire, I just saw today. Now, I don't think I can find one bad thing to say about it. I will say here and now, Slumdog Millionaire is my favourite for Best Picture at this point in time. Nothing bad against my other favourites that are possible Best Picture contenders (here's looking at you, Dark Knight and Milk), but Slumdog Millionaire is just so good. It was wonderful to look at, not necessarily beautiful (considering like half the film plays out in slummy areas), but perfect. The cinematography was great, the way the camera poses were perfectly imperfect, giving this film such a nifty unconventional feel. Danny Boyle definitely deserves a directing nod (and I feel the same about Christopher Nolan and Gus Van Sant, BTWs, Academy >.>), and the screenplay was also great, great stuff. Just an overall vibrant and beautiful movie. This is one I'd love to see again. I'd also love to see more Dev Patel! He did a really excellent job with Jamal and although it was definitely an ensemble film (even though there's a main character, he's played by three different actors of varying ages), I think his performance was particularly great. The actors that played his brother, Salim, also, did an especially good job with all three ages. And the soundtrack! Oh my god, what a perfect mix of so much. And I was laughing, happily, when I heard M.I.A. singing along. After hearing Paper Planes non-stop for months, it was wonderful to see it in such a film. <3"