Old People Are Cute, Annoying
The Set-Up
Hmm, low on time. Must do this briefly. Left home at 12:50pm local time. Weather was overcast, warm but not too warm with a cool breeze bringing about a good balance and making it a nice day for a walk. Arrived at the cinema at approximately 1305 hours. The lines were long but a third queue opened up and I was quick to pounce. You need speed in this game if you're going to survive. Bought a ticket. Handed over my Gold Card. She knew I meant business. I got my ticket and headed to Cinema 8. Nice place. A little crowded, not too noisy. The talk died down at the trailers started. Nothing special. Then the lights faded. Everything went quiet.
An Hour And A Half With Dick And Jane
Fun With Dick & Jane has been yet another $100million-dollar-grossing Jim Carrey comedy hit in the US despite poor reviews from critics. My opinion is that it's an average movie, the first half is a little subpar and feels padded at times but the second half (once Dick & Jane finally get on with stealing to put an end to their financial woes) is very entertaining and makes up for it. It's interesting to note that the entire film seems to be set in the year 2000 for the sole purpose of a single joke that closes the movie once the storyline has been resolved. Anyways, this movie is funnier for its physical comedy than anything else and credit for this, of course, goes to Jim Carrey who carries the whole movie on his shoulders. Tea Leoni's okay but doesn't have a lot to do. This gets a C or 2.5/5.
The Part Of The Blog Entry That Makes The Title Relevant
After that I saw Memoirs Of A Geisha. This is a movie which I believe is undeserving of the bashing it has received overseas from critics who are, as always, far too quick to compare the film to the book it is adapted from. That's the thing about "high profile" adaptations; I don't get why so many people seem determined to put so much emphasis in their judgment of the film version on how it does or does not carry over certain traits and/or the overall quality of the source material. A film is itself a single text which regardless of its origins should be judged based on its own merits. Sure a comparison may be interesting and shouldn't go unmentioned, but damning Memoirs for its failure to capture the subtleties of the characters in Arthur Golden's novel despite still representing these characters in a way which is regularly considered acceptable to most other films (ie. they are perhaps slightly simplistic but certainly adequate to carry the story) once again shows that critics rarely keep in mind their audiences - and as such their purpose for providing their critique - as a non-reader of the novel, as the majority of those seeing the film would be, would likely be satisifed with the characters on-screen. This is an interesting tale, well-acted, beautifully crafted and one which I highly recommend you check out in theatres. I mean, the score is really nice and this movie is so awesome just to look at that I'd recommend it even if they removed the dialogue. This gets a solid B, or 3.5/5, from me. Now, in case you're wondering, here's the bit about the old people. I sat behind three old women having a day out together, and it was quite humourous the way that they kept asking each other questions in order to collectively follow the film, and even more humourous the way the loudly discussed whether or not the man on screen was the same man from earlier (Ken Watanabe, and for the record it was in fact Watanabe both times). However, due to the fact that they were loud enough for me to understand what they were discussing (not absurdly loud but THAT loud, with me in the row behind them) did make their cute old-peopleness grow somewhat annoying after a while.
Hmm, low on time. Must do this briefly. Left home at 12:50pm local time. Weather was overcast, warm but not too warm with a cool breeze bringing about a good balance and making it a nice day for a walk. Arrived at the cinema at approximately 1305 hours. The lines were long but a third queue opened up and I was quick to pounce. You need speed in this game if you're going to survive. Bought a ticket. Handed over my Gold Card. She knew I meant business. I got my ticket and headed to Cinema 8. Nice place. A little crowded, not too noisy. The talk died down at the trailers started. Nothing special. Then the lights faded. Everything went quiet.
An Hour And A Half With Dick And Jane
Fun With Dick & Jane has been yet another $100million-dollar-grossing Jim Carrey comedy hit in the US despite poor reviews from critics. My opinion is that it's an average movie, the first half is a little subpar and feels padded at times but the second half (once Dick & Jane finally get on with stealing to put an end to their financial woes) is very entertaining and makes up for it. It's interesting to note that the entire film seems to be set in the year 2000 for the sole purpose of a single joke that closes the movie once the storyline has been resolved. Anyways, this movie is funnier for its physical comedy than anything else and credit for this, of course, goes to Jim Carrey who carries the whole movie on his shoulders. Tea Leoni's okay but doesn't have a lot to do. This gets a C or 2.5/5.
The Part Of The Blog Entry That Makes The Title Relevant
After that I saw Memoirs Of A Geisha. This is a movie which I believe is undeserving of the bashing it has received overseas from critics who are, as always, far too quick to compare the film to the book it is adapted from. That's the thing about "high profile" adaptations; I don't get why so many people seem determined to put so much emphasis in their judgment of the film version on how it does or does not carry over certain traits and/or the overall quality of the source material. A film is itself a single text which regardless of its origins should be judged based on its own merits. Sure a comparison may be interesting and shouldn't go unmentioned, but damning Memoirs for its failure to capture the subtleties of the characters in Arthur Golden's novel despite still representing these characters in a way which is regularly considered acceptable to most other films (ie. they are perhaps slightly simplistic but certainly adequate to carry the story) once again shows that critics rarely keep in mind their audiences - and as such their purpose for providing their critique - as a non-reader of the novel, as the majority of those seeing the film would be, would likely be satisifed with the characters on-screen. This is an interesting tale, well-acted, beautifully crafted and one which I highly recommend you check out in theatres. I mean, the score is really nice and this movie is so awesome just to look at that I'd recommend it even if they removed the dialogue. This gets a solid B, or 3.5/5, from me. Now, in case you're wondering, here's the bit about the old people. I sat behind three old women having a day out together, and it was quite humourous the way that they kept asking each other questions in order to collectively follow the film, and even more humourous the way the loudly discussed whether or not the man on screen was the same man from earlier (Ken Watanabe, and for the record it was in fact Watanabe both times). However, due to the fact that they were loud enough for me to understand what they were discussing (not absurdly loud but THAT loud, with me in the row behind them) did make their cute old-peopleness grow somewhat annoying after a while.
posted by Steve @ 6:52 PM
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