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Showing posts with label servant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label servant. Show all posts

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Jane Eyre


Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Based on the famous novel by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) is a governess who falls for her master (Michael Fassbender), despite their difference in social classes.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench, Jamie Bell, Imogen Poots, Sally Hawkins, Amelia Clarkson, Romy Settbon Moore, Holliday Grainger, Tamzin Merchant, Simon McBurney

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: PhotobucketGo! I would say you should go because seeing the movie is way easier than reading the Cliff's Notes, but the people who will be tempted to see this in the first place, are the same morons who probably read the whole book.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I had a funny thought when Jane was punished as a little girl, and made to stand on a chair without food. You see, her best friend sneaks her a piece of bread, and I, forgetting that there once existed a time without audio/video recording devices, couldn't stop thinking, "You idiot! There are cameras everywhere!" Which is not so much funny as it is sad, both in that we live in a time where you can no longer get away with sneaking your friend a piece of bread, and in that the 21st Century surveillance level is so ingrained in my way of thinking, that I can no longer relate to period pieces.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Yes, and surprisingly at romance. There is a scene so romantic, and overflowing with words so visual and expressions of love so passionate that you will cry like you're at your best friend's wedding, and are suddenly struck with the realization that (while you're very happy for her) you are never going to hear from her again.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Do a period piece, get nominated for a Costume Design Award... Them's the rules.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Mia Wasikowska's performance is as understated as Michael Fassbender's is in your face.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The beginning is very slow and uninteresting all the way up until the point when Michael Fassbender arrives on the scene. Cary Joji Fukunaga would have done well to tell the story in a linear fashion, getting to the point fassbenderer, rather than introducing us to the drama with unnecessary bookends. The non-linear editing somewhat confuses the time-line and makes this story more difficult to follow than it has to be.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I have never read the book. Not because I'm not well-read, but rather because none of my teachers ever forced me to read it for school. Come on, how many classics have you read just for fun? I'm guessing for most of you the answer is none.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Jane Eyre Trailer

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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Easy Virtue

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Set in the UK in the 1920s, the prodigal son (Ben Barnes) of a rich family returns home with an older woman (Jessica Biel), whom he's already married, and who is American. And so his mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) sets to breaking them apart.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall, Charlotte Riley, Christian Brassington, Pip Torrens

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: PhotobucketProceed with Caution. Based on a Noel Coward play, the fast paced farcical tone gets off to a good start, but about 20 minutes in, you realize that this movie has no plot, and the story element that would've made the catty goings-on more interesting is not revealed until 20 minutes before the end.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The dialogue is quick witted, but you might want to brush up on your proper English listening comprehension skills, because in some parts it is so fast and thrown away that you completely miss what they're saying.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Maybe, if you've ever had in-laws. But probably not.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Can you imagine how insulted Kristin Scott Thomas must have been when she found out she was going to be acting up against 7th Heaven's Jessica Biel? Apparently she put all that anger into this role, and it served her well because she has already won a couple of acting awards in Great Britain for this film.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Jessica Biel is pretty, but she's completely miscast as the older woman. Not only does she not appear to be older than her husband, but in real life, she's several months younger than Ben Barnes. The whole movie would have made a lot more sense if they had gotten Charlize Theron or Angelina Jolie. Another reason those actresses would've been more impactful, is that they wouldn't look so ridiculous trying to act next to top tier professionals like Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth. On a positive note, I'd like to ask you all to look out for Kimberley Nixon, a fairly newcomer, who really does hold her own next to these old pros. I see a big career in her future.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Even though it is an adaptation of a play, and takes place primarily all on one giant estate, it never feels too small or boxed in to be a movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The script, on the other hand, does not escape the play-to-movie transition unscathed. A play and a movie don't have the same format. In a play, the audience is more patient, and you can leave certain key plot points and underlying emotional motivations until the end. But in a movie format, the audience is accustomed to knowing why a character is being unreasonably cruel much earlier, so that they can feel deeply for both the villain and the victim, and experience the moral dilemma of choosing sides. If the screenwriters had introduced the pivotal plot piece twenty minutes into the film instead of twenty minutes from the end, they might have had a movie. But as it sits now, they have a very cinematic play.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/easy%20virtue/trailers

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