Skip to main content

I'm Having One of Those Days


You know, the kind of day when you just have to watch a certain movie and you need to watch it right now? Yes, I'm having one of those days. I really want a good conspiracy movie. To be specific, I want to watch National Treasure. It's a great movie with lots of action, adventure, a good plot, and little to no swearing. Alas, it's also a movie we don't yet own, so I'm having to settle for something else. Just don't know what yet. When you want to watch a certain movie, right now nothing else in your movie library will quite fit the bill. So what do you do when you have to watch a movie right now and you can't get your hands on it (i.e., it's not in your collection, it's not in at your library or the video store)? Vote in my poll off to the right. Now, on to the real reason for this post.

This weekend I watched a movie I'd not yet seen, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm not quite sure what I'd been expecting from this movie, but it was far better than I thought it would be. Liam Aiken (Klaus) and Emily Browning (Violet) were both really good in their performances. Both have upcoming projects, according to Internet Movie Database, which I'd really like to see. They seem like up and coming talents. Oh, and the little girls they got to play Sunny were so cute. Though, my vision of Sunny from the books didn't really match the look she had on the screen. Can't quite put my finger on why, though.

Then there was Jim Carey. In my opinion, he really brought Count Olaf to life. Jim Carey started to grow on me after I saw Liar Liar and The Majestic and I think I pretty much like anything he's been in lately. However, I digress. Carey's Count Olaf was silky, sly, and slimy. He also did a brilliant job with Stefano and Captain Sham. I think Carey's performance was my favorite, although, as I said, the kids were really good in their roles.

I was a bit creeped out by Olaf's acting troupe, as one was supposed to be. The camera shots were very well done. My favorite was the one where Olaf was reading a "Variety" type magazine in the general store. It had Lon Chaney's as the Phantom of the Opera on the cover and there was this really cool shot of Lon Chaney's picture just below Count Olaf's head as a he lowers the paper. That was an absolutely cool shot.

As this movie came out a couple of years ago, I was of course watching this on DVD. As far as DVDs go, it had your typical fare: Coming Attractions, commentaries, deleted scenes, and outtakes. There were also some of the screen tests they did for the kids and some footage of how Jim Carey created all those characters. The outtakes and deleted scenes were weird and I'm not sure they could have got the rating they did if they those scenes in. I only watched a bit of the first commentary with the director, Brad Silberling, and he had some interesting things to say about the film. Today I'll probably watch the commentary with Silberling and Daniel Handler, author of the Series of Unfortunate Events books. If I do I'll post my thoughts about it later. For now though, I'm going to sit down in my favorite reading spot with a tall glass of water and see if I can finish the book I started a couple of days ago.

Happy movieing, everyone!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Dandy of a Movie

I'm referring, of course, to that wonderful movie Yankee Doodle Dandy directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney. The AFI placed it at number 100 on their list. In case you're not familiar with the plot, it's the life story of actor/producer/playwright George M. Cohan. The film pioneered the flashback method of telling a story and begins with Cohan's childhood stage acting. It tells the story of he and his family as they performed plays and shows across the country as "The Four Cohans. Like all entertainers, they have their ups and downs. At one point George's arrogance causes his family to be looked down on as performers. In a somewhat sneaky move, however, Cohan gets funding from a producer and makes his stage come-back. Finally the family is once again reunited as a family act. There is much more to the film, but I'll stop here because I don't want to spoil it for you. The message about family loyalty is something you don't see much in...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Wish you a Merry Christmas

So, are you on the lookout for a good holiday movie? Well, me too. I ended up working an extra Saturday this month, which really cut into my movie watching time. I had all these plans to see the following movies: Polar Express National Treasure Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera I'm sure there were others I wanted to see, but I don't remember what those are now. Out of all the above movies Brian and I have seen National Treasure . I have to say, despite some doubts I had at the beginning it turned out to be a pretty good movie. If you are in to U.S, History, you'd probably find this a good movie. I mentioned some doubts I had at the beginning of the movie. For example, In one of the opening scenes of the movie a grandfather is explaining the history of the Masons organization to his grandson and, having just researched the masons for a library customer, I'm not sure the grandfather's ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

Finally, at Long Last!

Well, here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for. I'm finally reviewing Citizen Kane . I have to say, I loved, loved, loved this movie. I think it's one of my favorites so far and I can completely see why it made number 1 on AFI's top 100 list. Okay, here's what I loved about it: The dark and mysterious opening. I can see why it is one of the most famous cinematic moments in film history. Great camera work and transitions between the present and the past. I think one of my favorites scenes as far as camera work goes is the one toward the end of the film when Susan is leaving Kane. The camera angles and all the other cinema magic that goes into a scene like that were very effective in making Kane look like his imposing, over bearing self when entering the room and small and weak after Susan walks out of the room. The sets - awesomely designed and again very effective for setting the mood of the movie, particularly in the later years of his time with Susan wh...
Post a Comment
Read more