Scene it Sunday #13 - Red Riding Hood Movie Review

Red Riding Hood
Series: N/A
Source: Bought
Release Date: March 11, 2011
Leads: Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons

Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf, a young girl falls for an orphaned woodcutter, much to her family's displeasure.

It would not be a stretch at all to say that this story was much better suited as a movie than a book. Where the book added nothing new to this screenplay, the movie had better interactions and a more vivid storytelling. (Obviously, as it is visual compared to a book.)

I thought that the character portrayals were spot on, and that Amanda Seyfried did a good job as Valerie - she was less "I don't know" than the Valerie in the book - which was actually a good change. Because I really didn't care for the cluelessness of Valerie in the book, but Amanda portrayed her as more of an innocent clueless than a stupid clueless, which was a great thing.

Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons both did well in their parts, though I have to say that I prefer Shiloh, because he did an awesome job at playing the outcast. And he can say "I'll eat you up" with a completely straight face. (Needless to say, no one can watch that and keep a straight face.)

I really liked the atmosphere of the movie - all of the dark, twisty gothic-y stuff really looked very cool, especially with the hint of the "dark ages" going on. It was really neat.

All in all, Red Riding Hood was an interesting enough movie, but I guess it's just not one for the favorites shelf.

Scene it Sunday #10 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Movie Review

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Series: The Hobbit, #1
Source: Bought
Release Date: December 14, 2012
Leads: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage

A younger and more reluctant Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out on an "unexpected journey" to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of Dwarves to reclaim their stolen mountain home from a dragon named Smaug.

As you all know, I'm a good fan of LotR - I like it. I do think that the books were SORT of boring, because of the excessive details, but I love the movies. They're pretty much the best, and of course the extended versions are the only way to watch them. But, unfortunately - I didn't love The Hobbit as much as I loved the first trilogy. I think that it's a good movie in its own right, but there are some times when it seemed to just drag.

Thankfully, that wasn't all that often.

I loved Martin Freeman as Bilbo - I feel like he did a fantastic job of playing an unadventurous hobbit with unexpected strength and courage. He did great. I also (of course) love Gandalf, and he's possibly one of my favorite characters in this movie.

But don't even get me started on the dwarves! I have so much love for that ragtag group of fellas, and there'll be no changing that. I liked the way that Thorin was portrayed especially. Some people complained about the amount of "dwarves singing" and "dwarves eating" scenes in the film, but I think those were some of the most fun to watch. The all interact so well together - it just makes me happy! Their playful personalities, coupled with their fun looks and the lack of seriousness in all of them (except Thorin) just made them so fun.

I also loved the animation - the goblin king was perfectly grotesque, and I don't think they could have made him look any more terrible than they did. My only true problem with this movie (besides the boring bits) was the abrupt ending - it was a super long movie, to be cut off by a subpar ending.

All in all, The Hobbit is a good movie, and I can't wait to see the next one - but prepare to be bored at certain parts!

Scene it Sunday #9 - The Great Gatsby Movie Review

The Great Gatsby
Source: Gifted
Release Date: May 10, 2013
Leads: Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan

An adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Long Island-set novel, where Midwesterner Nick Carraway is lured into the lavish world of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Soon enough, however, Carraway will see through the cracks of Gatsby's nouveau riche existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await.

I have no desire to tell you that I liked this movie, because as made obvious by my star rating, I didn't. Let me just start off by saying that I had just read the book when I watched this, so everything in the book was still pretty fresh in my mind. I noticed everything that they changed. And I hated it all the more for that.

I wanted to like this, I really did. I enjoy Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor (I mean, very few people don't), but he just didn't shine in The Great Gatsby. He failed at playing the part of Gatsby - and it's not really his acting skills that are the problem - the problem is that I won't be happy with anyone as Gatsby. And yes, it is kind of his acting. He's just not "suave" or even "debonair". If he was, he could have pulled this off.

And don't even get me started on the way that Nick was portrayed - I always thought of Nick as kind of a casual observer, watching life but not really taking part in it. For the movie, they made him take part in some - but he was played with such... GAH. They made him into a momma's boy, and I didn't like that. Not to mention the part that they through him into a mental institution... the boy's perfectly sane.

My mother and father, while listening to my ranting about this movie commented that actors from this time "don't know how to play characters from that time period. They aren't suave, and there's nothing about them that seems gentlemanly". I think that they're right, and it was probably one of my biggest issues.

On the other hand, I thought that Carey Mulligan did wonderfully as Daisy Buchanan. She is quite the destroyer, and she doesn't even realize that she's doing it. Carey played Daisy with the perfect disregard for other's emotions - the perfect feel for the character. Her acting was well done.

I don't wish to alarm anyone, but don't expect period music with this movie. I was expecting great music (from the '20's, of course) to play in this movie, but the soundtrack appears to be completely made up of top 40 type music - meaning that it's the new stuff. Rap and pop dominated, and I did watch the special features - it appears that they wanted to make this generation understand the time better.

That backfired, because I'm of this generation and it threw me out of this movie. Top 40 hits should not be played in a classic book to movie, in my humble opinion. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this movie for fans of the book, or even those like me who just "liked" the book. It's not particularly worth the time.

Scene It Sunday #4: The Hunger Games Movie Review

The Hunger Games
Series: The Hunger Games, #1
Source: Bought
Leads: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete.

 

I'm just going to come right out here and say it. I honestly don't think that the movie is as good as the book was. But to be honest, I never really expected it to be, so I'll just go on to talk about the bits that I like.

I feel like Jennifer Lawrence was the perfect actress to play Katniss - I really think that she does it well. She shows some emotion, but a lot of the time she appears to be very tough and together, which is what Katniss always portrayed to me. There was nothing that I found lacking about her acting skills.

Josh Hutcherson (who plays Peeta), was also a good actor, but I always pictured Peeta a bit different than him, I guess. He just wasn't who I expected, although he does the part fairly well. I missed the interactions between Katniss an Peeta - in the book, they had a lot more conversations and just... you know... togetherness. That was missing from the movie. I think that the director & producers made a decision to focus more on the action, rather than the character development. I think that only people who read the book will be even slightly bothered by that, though.

I liked the bleak look of District 12 - it was so gray and depressing and pretty much perfect in my eyes, and so was the capitol. Upon first watching of this movie, I didn't think that they were crazy enough looking, but I'm thinking that now they look pretty well made up. Effie was perfectly over the top, and Rue was just as sweet as she was in the book.

There were several smaller parts that I didn't care for  - I don't particularly like the part of Gale - he just wasn't in the movie very much, and I didn't connect with him. Haymitch was okay, but I always imagined him as more of an extreme drunk.

I liked seeing the gamemaker setup - it was interesting to see something from that side, and I enjoyed the actual game scenes. They were pretty well done. I just couldn't get into the many silent parts, though. I found them oddly disconcerting. They made sense with the overall style, but I just wish they had done it differently. I actually had an awkward moment of trying to figure out how it was that the sound wasn't working anymore.

All in all, The Hunger Games movie was interesting, and I liked seeing one of my favorite books on screen, but I think that it could have been better.