Ummm....I liked the movie. But, I guess I'm not passionate enough about it to really say anything much. Huh. There were nice looking people in it, nice looking costumes, nice looking cities. Very good visuals throughout the movie. How shallow of me to notice.
Like the Robin Hood that recently came out, there were a lot of battle scenes, sword fights, and arrows flying too. But as Robin Hood was filled with ugly scenes, and ugly people, wearing mostly hideous dark clothing, in dreary looking lands; this movie was filled with everything beautiful, it made for a better experience in that regard. But, Robin Hood being so ugly made it more real and serious. This was a polished Disney movie, and Robin Hood was rough, real and rugged.
In both Robin Hood and Prince of Persia, there was a a betrayal by a trusted friend or relative that really helped shape the plot and drama of the movie. In both movies too, the main characters were excellent in battle, and brave to stand up for what is right despite the terrible risks involved. I saw both movies only two days apart from each other, and I can't help but compare.
I complain that Robin Hood is too ugly, and Prince of Persia is too pretty. I am surprised to complain about that, because everything being so gorgeous made the movie more watchable and enjoyable. The reverse was true for Robing Hood. But, Robin Hood had the rawness and the misery of real life. It would be interesting to see the reverse. The makers of Robin Hood filming the Prince of Persia, and the makers of the Prince of Persia filming Robin Hood. That would be a fascinating turn of events.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Extraordinary Measures
This movie always claimed that it was based on a true story, but despite that, for some crazy reason, I thought that the disease the children were suffering from called Pompe disease was a made up fictional disease. I never heard of it, and it just sounds fake..."Pompe." Turns out, the disease is real, and much of the story is in line with what really happened.
Pompe disease is a very rare genetic disease that is a kind of muscular dystrophy. Most kids don't make it past two years old, and rarely does anyone live past 9 years old. The parents in this film have two children with this disease. They know that they will die. Because the disease is so rare, there is not treatment for it and doctors can do little to help.
The daughter almost dies in the hospital in one scene, but she pulls through. The father sees the determination in her eyes, and he keeps thinking of her eyes while in a business meeting. He gets up and walks out of the meeting and flies all the way to the Nebraska to talk to a doctor that researches this disease for the U of Nebraska without telling anyone in advance. His wife is furious that he will lose his job for just walking out like that.
He quits his job, goes into business with he doctor to start a genetics company to find a cure to the disease, raises millions of dollars and risks it all for the slight chance of finding a treatment to the disease before his children's time is up. It was amazing to see such will and determination to put everything on the line.
He said it's crazy to quit my job, and to spend so much money, and to work so hard for something that could not even work, but I can't just watch my kids die. His wife in the movie said, I thought you were crazy at first, but when we started doing fund raising, and working to save our children, I realized it was better to do something rather than just accept what the doctors say and have no hope.
Pompe disease is a very rare genetic disease that is a kind of muscular dystrophy. Most kids don't make it past two years old, and rarely does anyone live past 9 years old. The parents in this film have two children with this disease. They know that they will die. Because the disease is so rare, there is not treatment for it and doctors can do little to help.
The daughter almost dies in the hospital in one scene, but she pulls through. The father sees the determination in her eyes, and he keeps thinking of her eyes while in a business meeting. He gets up and walks out of the meeting and flies all the way to the Nebraska to talk to a doctor that researches this disease for the U of Nebraska without telling anyone in advance. His wife is furious that he will lose his job for just walking out like that.
He quits his job, goes into business with he doctor to start a genetics company to find a cure to the disease, raises millions of dollars and risks it all for the slight chance of finding a treatment to the disease before his children's time is up. It was amazing to see such will and determination to put everything on the line.
He said it's crazy to quit my job, and to spend so much money, and to work so hard for something that could not even work, but I can't just watch my kids die. His wife in the movie said, I thought you were crazy at first, but when we started doing fund raising, and working to save our children, I realized it was better to do something rather than just accept what the doctors say and have no hope.
Robin Hood 2010
When I was a kid, I do have memories of watching Disney's Robin Hood. However, I was surprised to be told by my sister and mother that I watched that moview around a hundred times. My sister said it was a part of my daily routine, to put that Disney movie in the VCR.
I went into this movie with the hope that it would be a Robin Hood better than Prince of Theives. This movie was more like a prequel to the Robin Hood story. There was no stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. It was the story of the events that led up to him being an outlaw or a wanted man.
I like that this prequel adds a lot of layers and demension to the Robin Hood story. It showed a lot of history from the time period. The plot is complex and masterminding. The movie was filled with tretchery, spying, betrayal, scheming, etc. Basicaly, what the movie had going for it was that the plot was great and complicated.
I do wish that the visuals were better for the movie. The actors were not good looking. Kate Blanchet played Maid Marian and Russel Crow played Robin Hood. There were a lot of war scenes and everyone was wearing dark ugly clothing surrounded by a dark and dreary land. The war scenes were somehow more depressing than in the average movie. I was like ouch! I just saw another movie with plenty of arrows shooting and people getting stabbed too, but it didn't capture the "scary ouch" effect of war. Just saying the plot was good, but the movie was hard on the eyes.
I went into this movie with the hope that it would be a Robin Hood better than Prince of Theives. This movie was more like a prequel to the Robin Hood story. There was no stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. It was the story of the events that led up to him being an outlaw or a wanted man.
I like that this prequel adds a lot of layers and demension to the Robin Hood story. It showed a lot of history from the time period. The plot is complex and masterminding. The movie was filled with tretchery, spying, betrayal, scheming, etc. Basicaly, what the movie had going for it was that the plot was great and complicated.
I do wish that the visuals were better for the movie. The actors were not good looking. Kate Blanchet played Maid Marian and Russel Crow played Robin Hood. There were a lot of war scenes and everyone was wearing dark ugly clothing surrounded by a dark and dreary land. The war scenes were somehow more depressing than in the average movie. I was like ouch! I just saw another movie with plenty of arrows shooting and people getting stabbed too, but it didn't capture the "scary ouch" effect of war. Just saying the plot was good, but the movie was hard on the eyes.
Sex and the City 2
I didn't see Sex and the City 1....the first movie. But, I did watch the actual TV show when it was on re-runs late at night a few years back. I liked the show a bit, and I did get into it, just because I had only 5 channels at the time and the only thing on late at night when I came home from working a late shift while in college.
It was about 4 single women (getting up there in age) with good careers trying to find someone. It talked about dating and relationships a lot in a very thoughtful way through the eyes of Carrie Bradshaw, who had her own column in the newspaper called Sex and the City. Each episode was narrated with thoughts from her column that would be published in the paper. A lot of the thoughts were deep insightful and witty. This movie was set up with the occasional narration from Carrie Bradshaw about her thoughts on marriage instead of dating. A change from the TV show. Carrie in this movie, unlike the show, was married. It was about getting along in married life and finding different ways of living together. This movie was scattered with a lot of funny moments, and it was very entertaining to watch.
I am surprised it received so many poor reviews from the critics. Not just the professional critics, but regular people said horrible things about this film. I can see where they are coming from, they thought it wasn't funny, long and boring, offensive to Muslims and gays, about four privileged women whining, a stupid pointless plot. A shallow movie. I think all those people missed the real meaning and spirit of the movie. They missed the point, and the humor. Look, it's not Masterpiece Theater, it's entertainment. I disagreed with the negative reviews.
I found many of the reviews to be nit picky, overly serious and too snobby and judgemental towards the main characters and the plot. It lacked compassion. Get off your high pedantic pseudo sophisticated high horses. Maybe I have to be Muslim to to see why this movie was offensive to Muslims. But, as I'm not Muslim, I didn't find myself getting a bad impression of Muslims from the movie. If anything I had more respect for them after this movie, and saw them as real people, instead of foreigners in a strange land. That I didn't get a bad impression of them counts for a lot. Muslims should be relieved in that regard. The situations were silly, but that's what the movie was...silly. I don't think people should have been truly offended.
As an American that doesn't travel much, the rest of the world starts to seem fictional. America is surrounded by Ocean, Canada wilderness, and Mexico. It sound nuts, but to us, most of the world and it's people seem to not exist. Even one of our Presidents went down to South America and made the comment, "There is actually people down there." It sound super dumb, but the world starts to seem like a myth such as Avalon when you don't see it, but only hear about it; being removed from it in a remote location as we are.
I thought overall it was well done. It was a fun movie, with a slap of real life struggles and problems to be faced. There were a few things that didn't make sense to me...like why would that Arab dude pay for Samantha and three of her friends to stay in Abu Dhabi on an extravagant trip. The hotel was 22k a night!!! And the odds of Carrie meeting her ex-boyfriend in Abu Dhabi was so slim, it would be close to impossible.
I really liked this movie. It was entertaining, I liked the characters, and the thoughtfulness of each of the plots pertaining to each women. It was professional, and all the threads of the movie came together and made a lot of sense. I have seen a lot of movies lately, and I liked a lot of the movies I watched, but I wasn't that entertained by them though I liked them. But this one was truly entertaining the whole time.
It was about 4 single women (getting up there in age) with good careers trying to find someone. It talked about dating and relationships a lot in a very thoughtful way through the eyes of Carrie Bradshaw, who had her own column in the newspaper called Sex and the City. Each episode was narrated with thoughts from her column that would be published in the paper. A lot of the thoughts were deep insightful and witty. This movie was set up with the occasional narration from Carrie Bradshaw about her thoughts on marriage instead of dating. A change from the TV show. Carrie in this movie, unlike the show, was married. It was about getting along in married life and finding different ways of living together. This movie was scattered with a lot of funny moments, and it was very entertaining to watch.
I am surprised it received so many poor reviews from the critics. Not just the professional critics, but regular people said horrible things about this film. I can see where they are coming from, they thought it wasn't funny, long and boring, offensive to Muslims and gays, about four privileged women whining, a stupid pointless plot. A shallow movie. I think all those people missed the real meaning and spirit of the movie. They missed the point, and the humor. Look, it's not Masterpiece Theater, it's entertainment. I disagreed with the negative reviews.
I found many of the reviews to be nit picky, overly serious and too snobby and judgemental towards the main characters and the plot. It lacked compassion. Get off your high pedantic pseudo sophisticated high horses. Maybe I have to be Muslim to to see why this movie was offensive to Muslims. But, as I'm not Muslim, I didn't find myself getting a bad impression of Muslims from the movie. If anything I had more respect for them after this movie, and saw them as real people, instead of foreigners in a strange land. That I didn't get a bad impression of them counts for a lot. Muslims should be relieved in that regard. The situations were silly, but that's what the movie was...silly. I don't think people should have been truly offended.
As an American that doesn't travel much, the rest of the world starts to seem fictional. America is surrounded by Ocean, Canada wilderness, and Mexico. It sound nuts, but to us, most of the world and it's people seem to not exist. Even one of our Presidents went down to South America and made the comment, "There is actually people down there." It sound super dumb, but the world starts to seem like a myth such as Avalon when you don't see it, but only hear about it; being removed from it in a remote location as we are.
I thought overall it was well done. It was a fun movie, with a slap of real life struggles and problems to be faced. There were a few things that didn't make sense to me...like why would that Arab dude pay for Samantha and three of her friends to stay in Abu Dhabi on an extravagant trip. The hotel was 22k a night!!! And the odds of Carrie meeting her ex-boyfriend in Abu Dhabi was so slim, it would be close to impossible.
I really liked this movie. It was entertaining, I liked the characters, and the thoughtfulness of each of the plots pertaining to each women. It was professional, and all the threads of the movie came together and made a lot of sense. I have seen a lot of movies lately, and I liked a lot of the movies I watched, but I wasn't that entertained by them though I liked them. But this one was truly entertaining the whole time.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Coco Chanel with Shirley Maclain
This story about someone's real life was more touching to me than a lot of the movies I have seen that are about love and romance. It wasn't a made up fairy tale, or formula written like a lot of the movies out these days. It didn't have a happy ending unless you count her fashion success. Both of the romances of Coco ended up badly with depressing conclusions. It was about real people, and it felt real. I enjoyed the movie a lot, and I wish more movies could have that realness to it, and that much touching emotion and life.
The movie starts out when Coco Chanel is an old lady in the 1950s. Her most recent fashion line up received poor reviews claiming that her clothes are for old ladies. Her business partner wanted her to sell the business and quit. She said she is in no mood to retire. She wasn't supposed to design a next line because of contract, but she did anyway, and it was a huge success. She became a famous designer in the US too, and she continued to design for the next 20 years. She said she wanted to continue to design for the love of her life that died. She wanted to honor his memory. If it wasn't for him, she would have never been able to get started with her career. Despite bad reviews and fierce pressures, through determination she continued. This is proof that just because you are old, and have had failures you don't have to give up. There is a lot of life left in you. Her biggest successes are in her later years.
The movie starts out when Coco Chanel is an old lady in the 1950s. Her most recent fashion line up received poor reviews claiming that her clothes are for old ladies. Her business partner wanted her to sell the business and quit. She said she is in no mood to retire. She wasn't supposed to design a next line because of contract, but she did anyway, and it was a huge success. She became a famous designer in the US too, and she continued to design for the next 20 years. She said she wanted to continue to design for the love of her life that died. She wanted to honor his memory. If it wasn't for him, she would have never been able to get started with her career. Despite bad reviews and fierce pressures, through determination she continued. This is proof that just because you are old, and have had failures you don't have to give up. There is a lot of life left in you. Her biggest successes are in her later years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)