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gelbes_gilatierBecause instead of looking for job ads, I decided to do a movie review... well, two actually. Since ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
schnelmi is here on vacation I went to the cinema twice in one week. I really only go to the cinema very rarely because usually mom doesn't want to watch in English and I can bring myself only very rarely to watching them in German because for seven years I lived in a city where the only cinema you could watch movies in English was a tiny independent cinema... and when I go to the movies I want the big screen, not a screen that could fit into my living room... and I also have a totally unintellectual taste when it comes to movies I watch at the cinema (seriously, what do I need the big screen for psychological dramas or some independent movie everyone claims to find groundbreaking and no one really understands but would never admit to it?). When I go to the cinema, I want explosions, battle scenes, good looking half-naked men fighting... all the good stuff, you know?
Anyway, what I wanted to say: for seven years I lived in a city where I had to watch all the movies in German if I wanted to see them on the big screen... so now that I moved back to Berlin where we have the wonderful, wonderful Cinestar Original multiplex at Potsdamer Platz I just feel like it would be a waste of time and money not to use that and still go to see movies in German... but mom usually disagrees. However,schnelmi and I actually managed to trick her twice into accompanying us to a movie in English (apparently, letting her watch the first two Merlin seasons in English helped a lot in that) and here's what we watched:
#1 Robin Hood:
Yes, the one by Ridley Scott. Yes, the one with Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett. Yes, the one that's kinda like a reboot to the whole Robin Hood myth (what's with Hollywood rebooting everything they can put their hands on recently, huh?). I didn't have bit expectations because I only knew Ridley Scott tried his hand at Robin Hood and Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett were his leads and thatheitidei was over the moon because she's a real Robin Hood nut and desperately wanted to see it.
So when the movie began, I was kinda "What the... not Jerusalem? Every Robin Hood movie starts in Jerusalem. Why the hell are they in France?" but I forgot about my initial slight irritation because OMG RUSSEL CROWE. Seriously, I never heard his real voice before and the first word he said put me in a total voice coma (only rivaled by the one I go into when listening to Kavan Smith in Impressions)... and besides that battle was finest of the finest. State of the art middle ages dirty, gritty, bloody battle with guys cursing, arrows soaring, some derring-do... oh yeah, I loved that. Absolutely hand-made and honest.
Also, as we later found out, beginning the movie in France with the battle where Richard Lionheart fell is much more realistic and historically correct than the usual Jerusalem-stuff. I liked that. I also liked it that Robin isn't the noble knight Robin of Locksley but the common archer Robin Longstride at the beginning. He drinks, he swears, he gambles... and he meets Little John and the rest of the Merry Men in the army, not back in England (they still do that fight thing, though... God, I loved that!). He's also... well... a deserter who, after interrupting an ambush at the party of knights that was supposed to bring the dead king's crown back to England, is practically forced to impersonate a nobleman - Robert of Locksley - and bring the crown back in his stead.
I actually liked the idea of making Robin much less of a shining hero and rather turn him into a commoner who's pretty reluctant to take on the role of a nobleman because let's face it; it's much more realistic anyway. I also liked it that Robin deceives Prince John and Queen Mother Eleonore of Aquitaine (who actually want to be deceived... they never even question his identity) but reveals that he's not Robert of Locksley to Locksley's widow Marian and his father, Walter of Locksley right from the beginning and isn't exactly thrilled at the idea of Walter to impersonate Robert of Locksley just for a little while longer so they have some help in fending off the Crown's tax collectors.
After that, we get a nice winded story about French intrigue to conquer a land weakened by the death of a king and the inability of his succesor (which is actually more or less historically correct, even if mom wouldn't believe it at first) and also the story of a fatherless commoner learning about his heritage (yes, I mean Robin) and the tentative love story of two strangers having to find their way in a rough world (yes, I mean Robin and Marian). I guess you're wondering "But where's the forest in all of that? And the sheriff? And the stealing from the rich and giving to the poor?" now and hey, I'd been wondering that as well... almost until the end when - after winning against the French invaders with the help of Robin -Prince King John breaks his promise and outlaws Robin out of pure spite and personal vanity. Because, you know, that's when they're in the forest and poaching the king's deer etcblahblahblah. Et voila, reboot of the Robin Hood myth.
Lots of people didn't really like that about the movie but to be honest: I did. I liked it that Scott gave Robin a different backstory and made him rougher and less of an overconfident cocky brat (although Russel Crowe did give him just enough cocky tendencies to make me all gooey inside... "Ask me nicely." had an amazing effect on me ;)) and more of a seasoned warrior with a troubled past. Cate Blanchett's Marian is the strong, confident and capable woman I wanted to see and the idea of making her a widow rather than an unmarried warden of King Richard was genius. I loved her with Russel Crowe because they had a surprisingly great chemistry and I would have loved to see a lot more Robin/Marian scenes.
There are, however, a few peeves about the movie. First of all, the last third of the movie felt kind of rushed and almost as if Scott had had to cut a lot of scenes (so here's hoping to a Director's Cut version...) and had to do it in a hurry. That did put a damper on things. Also, I'm not quite sure if the French invasion reminding me very, very, very much of every D-Day movie ever made (but most of all Saving Private Ryan) fits into the category of "absolute genius" or "WTF?" And yeah, okay, Mel Brooks' Men in Tights probably ruined every serious Robin Hood movie ever made and ever going to be made for me. From the first moment on, I constantly had Men in Tights quotes in my head to accompany almost every scene, even though this wasn't even a standard Robin Hood movie.
But overall, I really liked the movie... or I was just too deafened by Russel Crowe's amazing voice (even though he had probably not more than 10 minutes of actual speaking time in a 140 minute movie...) or too blinded by his amazing biceps (and the rest of his half-naked body) to notice any more peeves. Either way, that movie was totally worth going to the cinema to see it.
#2 Prince of Persia:
No, seriously. I watched that movie, just yesterday. And voluntarily, even. Yes, you're not mistaken. I wanted to see it.
Okay, now that we cleared that up... whoa, what a movie! Okay, granted, I know the video game and have fond memories ofschnelmi trying to do that one jump over and over and over again until the prince finally managed not to fall into those spikes and meet his bloody end... anyway, there's your reason for me wanting to see that movie. And I was... blown away. Sure it's no great intellectual movie that takes on the big issues etcblahblahblah but I doubt they ever wanted it to be that. Instead it's fun because it's got half-naked good looking men fighting, it's got a spunky princess, it's got big battle scenes (not handmade but that's not the point here), it's got treachery and magic and demons and... just whoa.
Also, did I mention thehalf-naked good looking men? Jake Gyllenhaal especially (God, I love his crooked little grin!) but also miscellaneous other guys. Seriously, those are very good reasons to watch that movie. And it has time travel. I mean, I get headaches from time traveling but all you Dr. Who fans out there have much more experience with it than I have and are probably better able to ignore all the paradoxa and stuff.
To sum it up (because I need to start baking if I still want to make cupcakes for the English conversation class today...): That movie needs to be watched in the cinema. You need a big screen for it and a great sound system and all that stuff to enjoy it but if you have that, it's fun! And that's all I wanted from it.
Oh, on a health related note: The cold is almost gone (although it'll probably start all over again in a while because now mom's got an even worse version of it and can't get it into her head not to hug and kiss us or drink from shared bottles and all that...) and I finally have an actual diagnosis for the knee. Apparently, I didn't scrape or rupture any ligaments (yay for that!) but rather just overstretched the inner ligaments and capsules. It'll just take a while for the knee to get normal again but I won't need any surgery or physical therapy, just a brace and no sports for a while. YAY!
schnelmi is here on vacation I went to the cinema twice in one week. I really only go to the cinema very rarely because usually mom doesn't want to watch in English and I can bring myself only very rarely to watching them in German because for seven years I lived in a city where the only cinema you could watch movies in English was a tiny independent cinema... and when I go to the movies I want the big screen, not a screen that could fit into my living room... and I also have a totally unintellectual taste when it comes to movies I watch at the cinema (seriously, what do I need the big screen for psychological dramas or some independent movie everyone claims to find groundbreaking and no one really understands but would never admit to it?). When I go to the cinema, I want explosions, battle scenes, good looking Anyway, what I wanted to say: for seven years I lived in a city where I had to watch all the movies in German if I wanted to see them on the big screen... so now that I moved back to Berlin where we have the wonderful, wonderful Cinestar Original multiplex at Potsdamer Platz I just feel like it would be a waste of time and money not to use that and still go to see movies in German... but mom usually disagrees. However,
schnelmi and I actually managed to trick her twice into accompanying us to a movie in English (apparently, letting her watch the first two Merlin seasons in English helped a lot in that) and here's what we watched:#1 Robin Hood:
Yes, the one by Ridley Scott. Yes, the one with Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett. Yes, the one that's kinda like a reboot to the whole Robin Hood myth (what's with Hollywood rebooting everything they can put their hands on recently, huh?). I didn't have bit expectations because I only knew Ridley Scott tried his hand at Robin Hood and Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett were his leads and that
heitidei was over the moon because she's a real Robin Hood nut and desperately wanted to see it. So when the movie began, I was kinda "What the... not Jerusalem? Every Robin Hood movie starts in Jerusalem. Why the hell are they in France?" but I forgot about my initial slight irritation because OMG RUSSEL CROWE. Seriously, I never heard his real voice before and the first word he said put me in a total voice coma (only rivaled by the one I go into when listening to Kavan Smith in Impressions)... and besides that battle was finest of the finest. State of the art middle ages dirty, gritty, bloody battle with guys cursing, arrows soaring, some derring-do... oh yeah, I loved that. Absolutely hand-made and honest.
Also, as we later found out, beginning the movie in France with the battle where Richard Lionheart fell is much more realistic and historically correct than the usual Jerusalem-stuff. I liked that. I also liked it that Robin isn't the noble knight Robin of Locksley but the common archer Robin Longstride at the beginning. He drinks, he swears, he gambles... and he meets Little John and the rest of the Merry Men in the army, not back in England (they still do that fight thing, though... God, I loved that!). He's also... well... a deserter who, after interrupting an ambush at the party of knights that was supposed to bring the dead king's crown back to England, is practically forced to impersonate a nobleman - Robert of Locksley - and bring the crown back in his stead.
I actually liked the idea of making Robin much less of a shining hero and rather turn him into a commoner who's pretty reluctant to take on the role of a nobleman because let's face it; it's much more realistic anyway. I also liked it that Robin deceives Prince John and Queen Mother Eleonore of Aquitaine (who actually want to be deceived... they never even question his identity) but reveals that he's not Robert of Locksley to Locksley's widow Marian and his father, Walter of Locksley right from the beginning and isn't exactly thrilled at the idea of Walter to impersonate Robert of Locksley just for a little while longer so they have some help in fending off the Crown's tax collectors.
After that, we get a nice winded story about French intrigue to conquer a land weakened by the death of a king and the inability of his succesor (which is actually more or less historically correct, even if mom wouldn't believe it at first) and also the story of a fatherless commoner learning about his heritage (yes, I mean Robin) and the tentative love story of two strangers having to find their way in a rough world (yes, I mean Robin and Marian). I guess you're wondering "But where's the forest in all of that? And the sheriff? And the stealing from the rich and giving to the poor?" now and hey, I'd been wondering that as well... almost until the end when - after winning against the French invaders with the help of Robin -
Lots of people didn't really like that about the movie but to be honest: I did. I liked it that Scott gave Robin a different backstory and made him rougher and less of an overconfident cocky brat (although Russel Crowe did give him just enough cocky tendencies to make me all gooey inside... "Ask me nicely." had an amazing effect on me ;)) and more of a seasoned warrior with a troubled past. Cate Blanchett's Marian is the strong, confident and capable woman I wanted to see and the idea of making her a widow rather than an unmarried warden of King Richard was genius. I loved her with Russel Crowe because they had a surprisingly great chemistry and I would have loved to see a lot more Robin/Marian scenes.
There are, however, a few peeves about the movie. First of all, the last third of the movie felt kind of rushed and almost as if Scott had had to cut a lot of scenes (so here's hoping to a Director's Cut version...) and had to do it in a hurry. That did put a damper on things. Also, I'm not quite sure if the French invasion reminding me very, very, very much of every D-Day movie ever made (but most of all Saving Private Ryan) fits into the category of "absolute genius" or "WTF?" And yeah, okay, Mel Brooks' Men in Tights probably ruined every serious Robin Hood movie ever made and ever going to be made for me. From the first moment on, I constantly had Men in Tights quotes in my head to accompany almost every scene, even though this wasn't even a standard Robin Hood movie.
But overall, I really liked the movie... or I was just too deafened by Russel Crowe's amazing voice (even though he had probably not more than 10 minutes of actual speaking time in a 140 minute movie...) or too blinded by his amazing biceps (and the rest of his half-naked body) to notice any more peeves. Either way, that movie was totally worth going to the cinema to see it.
#2 Prince of Persia:
No, seriously. I watched that movie, just yesterday. And voluntarily, even. Yes, you're not mistaken. I wanted to see it.
Okay, now that we cleared that up... whoa, what a movie! Okay, granted, I know the video game and have fond memories of
schnelmi trying to do that one jump over and over and over again until the prince finally managed not to fall into those spikes and meet his bloody end... anyway, there's your reason for me wanting to see that movie. And I was... blown away. Sure it's no great intellectual movie that takes on the big issues etcblahblahblah but I doubt they ever wanted it to be that. Instead it's fun because it's got Also, did I mention the
To sum it up (because I need to start baking if I still want to make cupcakes for the English conversation class today...): That movie needs to be watched in the cinema. You need a big screen for it and a great sound system and all that stuff to enjoy it but if you have that, it's fun! And that's all I wanted from it.
Oh, on a health related note: The cold is almost gone (although it'll probably start all over again in a while because now mom's got an even worse version of it and can't get it into her head not to hug and kiss us or drink from shared bottles and all that...) and I finally have an actual diagnosis for the knee. Apparently, I didn't scrape or rupture any ligaments (yay for that!) but rather just overstretched the inner ligaments and capsules. It'll just take a while for the knee to get normal again but I won't need any surgery or physical therapy, just a brace and no sports for a while. YAY!
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-20 05:14 pm (UTC)Yay! I'm glad your knee is improving and that it wasn't too seriously injured. Hope you get better soon!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-20 10:31 pm (UTC)Exactly. It's just no fun to watch stuff like Pearl Harbor or Star Wars or Prince of Persia on a small screen.
Yay! I'm glad your knee is improving and that it wasn't too seriously injured. Hope you get better soon!
Thank you :)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-20 08:30 pm (UTC)Also - I miss you and I need you to come talk me down from my ebil facebook stalking ways (though I did finally get some answers to some much wondered questions.)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-20 10:27 pm (UTC)Basically yes, but I just can't stop laughing at imagining Mr. Has 10 Minutes Of Speaking Time In A 140 Minutes Movie as a talkative psychiatrist...
Also - I miss you and I need you to come talk me down from my ebil facebook stalking ways (though I did finally get some answers to some much wondered questions.)
Oh, sorry for not being here :S I came home after 2300 yesterday and today and the whole family is here again... I'll try to catch up with you as soon as I can (because, you know, I'm dying to hear about the Facebook stalking)!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-21 02:18 am (UTC)Glad you'll only (though I know how that kind of only can suck) need rest for the knee. Hopefully you'll be back up to full speed in no time.
Prince of Persia looks fun but not enough to get me into the theater for my once yearly trip. Never played the videogame so maybe that's why. Think Ironman will be the movie to do that. Or Despicable Me which looks awesome and funny enough to make me overcome my prejudice against animated films.
I can't get beyond my hatred for asshole of the century Russell Crowe to see Robin Hood, despite your recommendation and Cate Blanchett. I'm also never a fan of Robin Hood remakes since they're usually so tedious in retreading the same ground (except Men in Tights, which I agree was genius - so sad that Cary Elwes lost his AMAZING hotness as displayed in that movie and The Princess Bride) over and over again though it sounds like this one doesn't. Surprised by what you say about his voice as apparently his accent is more Irish than English and he threw a major hissy fit with an interviewer that asked about it.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-21 11:09 pm (UTC)I've always been very, very good with the art of procrastination ;) You just never got to watch it ;)
Think Ironman will be the movie to do that.
You know... it's funny that before I went to town with my sisters (their birthday present was a "special sisters day") I wanted to say "Oh yeah, Iron Man 2 is totally on my to watch list as well. Too bad I'll have to watch it alone because mom won't want to watch the English version and the sisters won't be in Berlin next week."... now I can say... I watched it and it was as mind-blowing as I hoped it would be (since watching it at Cinestar Original was part of the "special sisters day" ;)). Okay, so there are a few kinks I thought could have been worked out but then again I guess it's the second part of a trilogy anyway (it is, right?) so they could as well just be lose ends that will be tied up in the third part anyway.
it sounds like this one doesn't
Nope. It's rather kind of a... prequel, putting a few historically incorrect things right that they usually ignore in other versions (like, you know, King Richard being actually dead around the time he's supposed to ride in and
demand to kiss the bride before giving his consent to marrying Marian in a voice sounding like Patrick Stewart in a Shakespeare playgive away Maid Marian) and with almost no hopping around in Sherwood Forestwearing tightsand all that.Surprised by what you say about his voice as apparently his accent is more Irish than English and he threw a major hissy fit with an interviewer that asked about it.
You mean that one (http://www.thewrap.com/article/crowe-storms-out-robin-hood-interview-over-accent-comment-17407)? I listened to it twice and to be honest... I didn't get what Crowe was saying because once he started speaking I got into a kind of voice coma (the same kind that listening to that interview at the end of Impressions always puts me in...). I only know he was mumbling stuff and then cursing and then storming out (which always makes me laugh out loud) and that's about it.
Also... one of the few great things about not being a native speaker of English: you don't really care about accents (because unless you're a linguist specializing in that kind of stuff you're not well-versed enough in the language to be able to distinguish as well as a native speaker, no matter how well you speak the language... I'm pretty sure few English native speakers could determine the difference between a south Thuringian accent and an east Thuringian accent whereas I could actually do that). As long as they sound more or less like they belong in the region you're content with it. And Crowe doesn't say enough in that movie to really determine what accent he's speaking (at least as a non-native speaker) ;).
no subject
Date: 2010-05-25 06:29 am (UTC)Yeah, I don't care about accents either just stupid shit-fits that idiots have about them. I'm all about schadenfreude. In fact, everything I said about procrastination is also me when it comes to gleefully enjoying the misfortune of those I irrationally dislike. I'm a very bad person.
Ooh. I want Ironman. But sadly it is not to be as my best friend is making me go to Sex and the City this week. Only one movie a year for me. I just can't justify the expense or the shitty experience to go more often anymore. Crazy. As a teenager and in college I probably saw 3-4 movies a week in the theater.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-25 11:55 am (UTC)Don't make me go and prove to you that I equal you :D
In fact, everything I said about procrastination is also me when it comes to gleefully enjoying the misfortune of those I irrationally dislike. I'm a very bad person.
Nah, you're not. I can't help that evil glee either (also... what does it say about us Germans that schadenfreude is one of the few loanwords English took from the German language?)... okay, until I remember that I believe in karma and get a little scared about what I just might have brought upon myself ;)
But sadly it is not to be as my best friend is making me go to Sex and the City this week.
Aw, that is sad (not because it's Sex and the City but because you won't see Iron Man on the big screen then). I guess I can count myself lucky that I was invited to all three movies I watched last week. Going to the cinema has become so insanely expensive :(
no subject
Date: 2010-05-28 05:09 am (UTC)