Early January 2007 saw me watching a great movie, a bad movie, and a worse movie. Well, technically, I can’t decide between the bad and the worse. Blame it on relativity and stuff. Anyhoo, since I haven’t got anything else enlightening to write on, I would just be one of those snobbish film critics for the next three hundred words or so.
First up: Happy Feet…except that I didn’t walk away happy after watching it (kindly pardon the lame pun). There is nothing to complain about the graphics really. The penguins look so impossibly cuddly and heck, anyone could have mistaken the icebergs for the real ones. The ice icy and the water flowy. But those visual beauties could have benefited from a better storyline and character developments; because seeing whites and dark blue for more than twenty minutes can really makes things hazy; it felt like experiencing a panic attack or something. The inclusion of the fish shortage problem didn’t seem to fare well into the story also. And the ending, the ending…me not happy.
Second up: Marie Antoinette…it was a feast for the eyes; exuberant couture and mouth-watering sweets…until I started to have the feeling that the movie might be some kind of a prolonged music video Sofia Coppola made for an art fare at Mardi Gras. The only educational element that the movie provides is the correct pronunciation of “Antoinette” (yeah, it has been a long, long time since I began trying to figure out how to say that name). Maybe it is a highly artistic piece, one that mere mortals like myself are not supposed to grasp intelligent-wise. Personally, to me, the objective of that movie was lost in translation.
Third up: Blood Diamond…a gripping storyline supported by a strong performance of actors. Kudos to the director for introducing a topic that might otherwise be new to people like me feels so realistic, and close to home. Well, ok, so there were some sappy moments in the movie (DiCaprio’s “God left this place a long time ago” and Hounsou’s scene with his character’s son after he dug out the diamond). Thing is, somehow, the actors seemed able to carry off their lines very well and eventually, made their characters awfully believable overall. And well, maybe this is not the point here, but I kind of noticed some scenes where Hounsou is showing off his nicely toned upper body when his shirt is not buttoned. Do fishermen have that kind of body? Well, I wouldn’t be surprised. Ow, and after an intensive two-minutes research (during which I managed to squeeze in time for making a peanut butter strawberry sandwich), I discovered that Hounsou was once a model of London and Paris calibre on top of being the only second male African to receive an Oscar nomination. Cool, huh? So, are his abs-showing-scenes intentional? All in all, it is a movie so strong it managed to haunt me even days after I watched it…
WHICH, speaking of haunting, is it me or does DiCaprio keeps dying on me? He died in Romeo + Juliet, Titanic, The Departed and now Blood Diamond? Well, to balance things out he didn’t kick the bucket on The Basketball Diaries, The Beach, Catch Me If You Can or The Man in The Iron Mask (Ouch! THMiTIM, I attempted rehab to brainwash my way out of DiCaprio playing such a movie). Thankfully, he got a meticulously put grand finale for BD, rather than that one quick exit squeezed in for him on The Departed…hehe…
