A hundred movies and two videos

I've been watching movies in my time off school (along with slowly feeding the tail-end of Qualia into our fun critique group, among other things,) and it's time to make some comments on those films. Keep in mind that most of them have actors from Inception in them. I really wanted to see Inception again, and while I usually go to the movies by myself, this time I waited on this friend and that friend, and no one else felt like seeing it. Now that it's probably too late (it's not playing locally anymore,) I've just been watching the movies that the actors did before it.

It's not that I fell in love with Inception or anything, 'cause I didn't. It was nifty. But I've seriously seen better movies and I don't really get all the hype. What I really loved what the cast. (And the costumes. Uhh yeah. :D )

First I watched Batman Begins to have another peek at Cillian Murphy. Yup, he's always pretty. I first saw him in 28 Days Later, and then in Red Eye. He's a pretty good creeper. But I like him better as the nice guy. Batman Begins was all right, I guess. Sorta. It didn't do much for me. Maybe I'm just not a Batman fan. Not a huge fan of what's-his-head either, the guy who plays him, the one who DOES NOT. HAVE. THROAT CANCER. (Still hilarious.) Umm but Cillian Murphy was creepy.

Then, on the recommendation of some kind folks, I watched Mysterious Skin. This is a story about two boys who were raped as children, one of them repeatedly, and how it affects them as teens and young adults. One kid forgets it all, and believes he was abducted by aliens. The first kid looks at it as his sexual awakening, and later becomes a homosexual hustler, an emotional black hole. Umm, OMG, that kid is Arthur, the Point Man. And, I don't really have a lot of coherent thoughts about the movie. It was totally stunning, I mean subjectively a fantastic movie. The acting was incredible (except for Jeffrey Licon who just didn't ring true to me, and seemed very self-conscious the entire time,) and the whole thing was just, wow, brilliantly done. It was a great movie that I never want to see again in my entire life. Like seriously, never ever. I watched portions of it from between my fingers which I kept over my eyes for many scenes. And I couldn't sleep that night either. Yeah, it was really, really horrifying.

And a few days before that, I watched The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or rather, Män Som Hatar Kvinnor or, "Men Who Hate Women." The real one, I mean, obviously not the stupid American version that they're only starting work on now. :/

Mysterious Skin and Dragon Tattoo – two very different movies, both with really explicit rape scenes that were almost impossible to watch, at least without flinching.

I found that I felt moral outrage over Lisbeth, and anger – but Lisbeth gets her revenge in the most hardcore way. I sort of cheered during the revenge scene (though it was so much "better" in the book.) You get to see Lisbeth kick ass in return.

In Mysterious Skin there's an equally unflinching rape scene, but the pain never gets resolved and just ends in more destruction. It was just pathetic and heartbreaking. Seriously, will never watch this movie again.

Which is in no way to say it was a bad movie, or an unnecessary one. Obviously rape culture is rampant, it's actually the norm. People think it's hilarious, just a joke. This goes for men and women, both as victims, as perpetrators and as tacit approvers. I would dare anyone to watch this movie and think it was funny, or "hot," but on the other hand, I already know (just looking around the internet) that this mindset exists. The person who recommended the film to me told me that all over various LJ communities, people have made .gifs of the movie's most violent scenes because they were "hot." So, yeah. While I think difficult movies like this are necessary, I also don't believe that they change many people's views, in the end. I remember thinking the same thing of American History X, back when that one came out. If you hate the mindset, then you don't need to be schooled. If you think the mindset is okay, a movie isn't going to change you. Unfortunately.

Back to Dragon Tattoo, I wonder how the American version will treat Lisbeth's story? I'm almost afraid to find out.

Last night, My Wonderful Glassworker Friend came over. We had pizza, ice cream, and watched Shutter Island. My first observation on typing that is how unfortunate it is that the "U" and the "I" are right next to each other on the keyboard, seriously. Okay, but anyway, yeah, so what a mindscrew!

First lemme get this out of the way: I fought really hard, for a really long time, to not like Leonardo DiCaprio. I really tried, after Titanic, to make him a huge DNW. But then he was good in Catch Me If You Can, and The Departed, and Inception. During those films I kind of grudgingly gave him the ole, "Well, he was good in this, but he still did Titanic." Now I have to admit that he's been pretty consistently good since The Big T – at least in everything I've seen him in. Oh well. I remember that I loved him when he was a kid, because he did such a great job in The Basketball Diaries, which, oh look, another totally hideous yet honest look at the loss of innocence.

So, I guess I like him. Lately he seems to play older men. So hard to believe he's two years younger than I am. O_O

Oh, so Shutter Island! Well sure, we spent maybe about 9% of the time making Inception jokes (some similar concepts there, I guess you could say,) but it was a totally different kind of mindscrew, at the end of the day. And now for SPOILERS.
( SPOILERS! )

I guess that's my take on it. But I was intrigued about the parts they didn't clear up ("the law of 4") so I got the book on my Kindle. (Seriously, why put that part in the movie and leave it dangling there?)

Movies, movies. Then two nights ago, SB, Jo-chan and my uncle came by and we all watched ADVENT CHILDREN. Unfortunately, it was not Advent Children Complete (which I have on my computer but didn't have time to lug the whole thing up,) but Advent Children in any form makes me happy. I was happy to later learn that we watched it on Cloud Strife's birthday. WEE. I am that much of a poodle.

Mostly though, it was good to have company.

Umm, so that's movies so far, and tonight I'm watching Brick. OMG, that kid is Arthur the Point Man. :)

Onward and downward.

Today on Twitter, my favorite agent-turned-editor (YAY for her, BOO for me, 'cause I never got to send her my query letter that I wrote specifically for her!) posted this: F--- Me, Ray Bradbury! NOT SAFE FOR WORK / CHILDREN. But hilarious! I love SF as much as the next geek and all, but damn. :)

Then after that, my fave aunt posted The Most Beautiful Song Ever. I have no idea WTF he is saying, but I laughed through the whole stupid thing. My aunt commented, rightly, that he sounds like the greased up deaf guy from Family Guy. Haha, OMG.

So those are my many movies and two videos for today.

The rest of my vaca? Mmmm, editing, watching more movies, working out, trying to finish up some Kung Fu videos... Yeah, heaven, right?

Oh, one more thing.
( Tired of this style yet? Or this ginger? )

Sucks, I guess, because it's the only style I know how to draw / paint, and the only character that really inspires me to put pen to tablet. :D

Okay, now I'm off to make DINNER.

A hundred movies and two videos

I've been watching movies in my time off school (along with slowly feeding the tail-end of Qualia into our fun critique group, among other things,) and it's time to make some comments on those films. Keep in mind that most of them have actors from Inception in them. I really wanted to see Inception again, and while I usually go to the movies by myself, this time I waited on this friend and that friend, and no one else felt like seeing it. Now that it's probably too late (it's not playing locally anymore,) I've just been watching the movies that the actors did before it.

It's not that I fell in love with Inception or anything, 'cause I didn't. It was nifty. But I've seriously seen better movies and I don't really get all the hype. What I really loved what the cast. (And the costumes. Uhh yeah. :D )

First I watched Batman Begins to have another peek at Cillian Murphy. Yup, he's always pretty. I first saw him in 28 Days Later, and then in Red Eye. He's a pretty good creeper. But I like him better as the nice guy. Batman Begins was all right, I guess. Sorta. It didn't do much for me. Maybe I'm just not a Batman fan. Not a huge fan of what's-his-head either, the guy who plays him, the one who DOES NOT. HAVE. THROAT CANCER. (Still hilarious.) Umm but Cillian Murphy was creepy.

Then, on the recommendation of some kind folks, I watched Mysterious Skin. This is a story about two boys who were raped as children, one of them repeatedly, and how it affects them as teens and young adults. One kid forgets it all, and believes he was abducted by aliens. The first kid looks at it as his sexual awakening, and later becomes a homosexual hustler, an emotional black hole. Umm, OMG, that kid is Arthur, the Point Man. And, I don't really have a lot of coherent thoughts about the movie. It was totally stunning, I mean subjectively a fantastic movie. The acting was incredible (except for Jeffrey Licon who just didn't ring true to me, and seemed very self-conscious the entire time,) and the whole thing was just, wow, brilliantly done. It was a great movie that I never want to see again in my entire life. Like seriously, never ever. I watched portions of it from between my fingers which I kept over my eyes for many scenes. And I couldn't sleep that night either. Yeah, it was really, really horrifying.

And a few days before that, I watched The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or rather, Män Som Hatar Kvinnor or, "Men Who Hate Women." The real one, I mean, obviously not the stupid American version that they're only starting work on now. :/

Mysterious Skin and Dragon Tattoo – two very different movies, both with really explicit rape scenes that were almost impossible to watch, at least without flinching.

I found that I felt moral outrage over Lisbeth, and anger – but Lisbeth gets her revenge in the most hardcore way. I sort of cheered during the revenge scene (though it was so much "better" in the book.) You get to see Lisbeth kick ass in return.

In Mysterious Skin there's an equally unflinching rape scene, but the pain never gets resolved and just ends in more destruction. It was just pathetic and heartbreaking. Seriously, will never watch this movie again.

Which is in no way to say it was a bad movie, or an unnecessary one. Obviously rape culture is rampant, it's actually the norm. People think it's hilarious, just a joke. This goes for men and women, both as victims, as perpetrators and as tacit approvers. I would dare anyone to watch this movie and think it was funny, or "hot," but on the other hand, I already know (just looking around the internet) that this mindset exists. The person who recommended the film to me told me that all over various LJ communities, people have made .gifs of the movie's most violent scenes because they were "hot." So, yeah. While I think difficult movies like this are necessary, I also don't believe that they change many people's views, in the end. I remember thinking the same thing of American History X, back when that one came out. If you hate the mindset, then you don't need to be schooled. If you think the mindset is okay, a movie isn't going to change you. Unfortunately.

Back to Dragon Tattoo, I wonder how the American version will treat Lisbeth's story? I'm almost afraid to find out.

Last night, My Wonderful Glassworker Friend came over. We had pizza, ice cream, and watched Shutter Island. My first observation on typing that is how unfortunate it is that the "U" and the "I" are right next to each other on the keyboard, seriously. Okay, but anyway, yeah, so what a mindscrew!

First lemme get this out of the way: I fought really hard, for a really long time, to not like Leonardo DiCaprio. I really tried, after Titanic, to make him a huge DNW. But then he was good in Catch Me If You Can, and The Departed, and Inception. During those films I kind of grudgingly gave him the ole, "Well, he was good in this, but he still did Titanic." Now I have to admit that he's been pretty consistently good since The Big T – at least in everything I've seen him in. Oh well. I remember that I loved him when he was a kid, because he did such a great job in The Basketball Diaries, which, oh look, another totally hideous yet honest look at the loss of innocence.

So, I guess I like him. Lately he seems to play older men. So hard to believe he's two years younger than I am. O_O

Oh, so Shutter Island! Well sure, we spent maybe about 9% of the time making Inception jokes (some similar concepts there, I guess you could say,) but it was a totally different kind of mindscrew, at the end of the day. And now for SPOILERS.
( SPOILERS! )

I guess that's my take on it. But I was intrigued about the parts they didn't clear up ("the law of 4") so I got the book on my Kindle. (Seriously, why put that part in the movie and leave it dangling there?)

Movies, movies. Then two nights ago, SB, Jo-chan and my uncle came by and we all watched ADVENT CHILDREN. Unfortunately, it was not Advent Children Complete (which I have on my computer but didn't have time to lug the whole thing up,) but Advent Children in any form makes me happy. I was happy to later learn that we watched it on Cloud Strife's birthday. WEE. I am that much of a poodle.

Mostly though, it was good to have company.

Umm, so that's movies so far, and tonight I'm watching Brick. OMG, that kid is Arthur the Point Man. :)

Onward and downward.

Today on Twitter, my favorite agent-turned-editor (YAY for her, BOO for me, 'cause I never got to send her my query letter that I wrote specifically for her!) posted this: F--- Me, Ray Bradbury! NOT SAFE FOR WORK / CHILDREN. But hilarious! I love SF as much as the next geek and all, but damn. :)

Then after that, my fave aunt posted The Most Beautiful Song Ever. I have no idea WTF he is saying, but I laughed through the whole stupid thing. My aunt commented, rightly, that he sounds like the greased up deaf guy from Family Guy. Haha, OMG.

So those are my many movies and two videos for today.

The rest of my vaca? Mmmm, editing, watching more movies, working out, trying to finish up some Kung Fu videos... Yeah, heaven, right?

Oh, one more thing.
( Tired of this style yet? Or this ginger? )

Sucks, I guess, because it's the only style I know how to draw / paint, and the only character that really inspires me to put pen to tablet. :D

Okay, now I'm off to make DINNER.