Random Places

First Impression: As most of you know, Neil Gaiman is my favourite author and naturally I’ve been waiting for this film since forever. The film premiere weekend coincided with Hailey and Jessie’s birthday, so we decided to watch this after snowshoeing at Cypress.

Afterthoughts: I really wanted to like this film A LOT, but sadly came away a little disappointed. It is inevitable for fans of the book to know exactly what’s going to happen. I didn’t have a problem with Stardust, but with a horror movie such as this, I guess it didn’t work in its favour. It’s nice to see other people in the theatre, such as Ellen, who genuinely got creeped out by the film. I’m also not really a fan of 3D…it worked fine for a little while, but after my eyes got a little tired, the images started to blur. Though it’s probably impossible (or impractical) to do so, I think the movie would be even scarier with real people. One last annoying thing would be Coraline herself. I don’t remember her ever being this insolent, unsympathetic child in the book. I’m not sure if it’s just Dakota Fanning’s interpretation or Henry Selick’s direction. The last time a character “rankled my ass” (borrowed the words from BSG’s Cavil) similiarly would be Ellen Page’s Juno. Flaws aside, the film was visually stunning, with tiny things like the popcorn-pooping chicken and the angel-wings-wearing dog to tickle your fancy.

We went into the theatre about 10min before the screen time and it was pretty much full already, so our group had to sit separately. Which was fine really, because it meant Ellen won’t be able to grab my arms. I did have to question people’s common sense for bringing their crying 2 year old baby into the movie, well any movies for that matter. It’s a scary movie, and I don’t think your 2 year old would understand much anyway.

First Impression: I was suppose to watch this in German 101 last year, but um I kinda skipped that class to do my CPSC homework, so I decided to rent this and watch at home.

Afterthoughts: This is probably one of the lowest budget film ever. The entire movie involves the three possible scenarios that Lola encounters as she runs to rescue her boyfriend. I didn’t really like the soundtrack and the story is a bit predictable, but it’s really fun to find out all the different outcomes that happen to all the people she meets during her trek. And wow she ran pretty far in 20min time too. This movie reminded me of the X-Files episode 6-04 “Monday”, where Mulder and Scully kept getting killed until they figured out how to stop the chain of event from starting again.

First Impression: I’ve been meaning to watch this ever since it came out because I’m a fan of Edward Norton. Finally rented it when I was in Vancouver.

Afterthoughts: Not bad, though I expected much better. I enjoyed everyone’s performance other than Jessica Biel’s; I don’t understand why anyone would want to cast her. I knew what was going to happen in the end but had a hard time figuring out how Eisenheim did it until Inspector Uhl’s own realization. A mystery that I cannot solve until the final revelation is always welcomed.

First Impression: I’d watched this when I was very little, but my dad, for some odd reason, thought I have never seen this before, so we watched it again.

Afterthoughts: This is one of the most classic animation films by Miyazaki (who wrote Spirited Away). I even have a Totoro alarm clock that plays the theme song, which is actually quite annoying in the morning so I don’t use it anymore. (It also takes 4 frakking AA batteries) If you liked Spirited Away, this is another movie you can’t miss. Disney should learn from Miyazaki on how to write a kid movie that don’t suck.