A Simple Plan

To be honest, when we first started this movie, I didn't like it. It was just too slow and uninteresting. Ever since we finished it, I've been trying to figure out how I feel about it.

I've decided. I wasn't really fond of it, but I wouldn't say it was horrible. I enjoy the Macbeth overtones it employs, especially when it came to Sarah. The character of Jacob was very interesting - he seemed to be a bit of a loser at first, but he was not as stupid as he seemed. He's pretty much the only character we can relate to since he's basically not plotting things, but going along with the plots for the sake of his feelings rather than greed. Sure, he wants to buy the farm back, but it's propelled more by emotion than by a sense of greed. However, that's where the praise stops. The other characters were just completely bland to me. There was literally nothing that made me actually want to watch what happened to them. If we had stopped in the middle and not watched the rest, frankly I wouldn't have cared. It just wasn't interesting enough for me to actually enjoy watching it. I do admit that it slowly started to pick up and later was at a better pace by the end of the movie. I found that around the time where Hank killed Lou (I believe that was his name?) and his wife it started to get interesting, but it didn't get too interesting by the end of the movie.

Overall, not that good, but not bad. Just a bit too bland for me.

Memento

I don't know exactly what to say about this movie. Part of me really likes it. I like how the scenes were ordered. They helped to create the mystery and I like how they lead up to the conclusion of Leonard's actions. However, they also make it confusing. Yes, they're supposed to create a sense of suspense and show us how Leonard's actions and the actions of those around him influence him even after he forgets. But then there's the things that lead up to those actions. The scenes are set up in a way that made it almost confusing for me. I assume that's partly the point because then we sort of understand Leonard's condition - the order of the scenes makes it hard for us to remember what happened, putting the viewer in Leonard's shoes, though they're still clear enough to create a branching story. However, I found that it also ruined the character development of the film because it was somewhat easy to forget what the previous actions of the other characters to the point where it made my head spin. Again, in a way, it puts us in Leonard's shoes, but it's also a bit hard for the viewer to understand everything the first time around.

Not that this is a bad movie, at all. It was very good, but it was a little too hard to keep track of all the events at certain points.

Dark City

...Wow. This is definitely one of those movies that sucked me in within the first few minutes. There are countless things to appreciate about it. First of all, the atmosphere - it was all expressed extremely well in the sets (as well as the special effects in some scenes). Yes it had the typical aspects of film noir, but at the same time the buildings and scenery were extremely well-done. I liked how they actually gave a reason why the sun is never up. While I understand that this is normally one of those things that you don't question in film noir (since it is a staple), it was a little refreshing. I also found it interesting how the director was able to combine sci-fi with the film noir aspects and still make it come off as not too corny. Let's face it, a lot of things with aliens are typically going to be at least somewhat contrived - after all, we know of no other intelligent lifeforms as of yet. So it's up to us to create them in fiction. Most alien races in fiction are going to be that way. While Dark City has some of the aspects of this, it's not distracting in the least bit. That's good for me, since that's usually why I'm not a really big fan of sci-fi.

I think the only thing that really bothered me was Schreber and the way the actor spoke. From what I've read, Schreber is based off a real person who was this way. However, the problem with Schreber is that his dialogue is so stilted that it becomes slightly irritating at some points. It's understandable when we think about all that Schreber has been through, but I feel like he's a little too stilted at times. Then again, we've got a film where the average cut time is 1.8 seconds, so it makes sense because of the way the film was created. In the end, it's supposed to be jumpy and stilted to help create the suspense - which is just what it does.

Musings.

Well, I was absent on Friday, so I obviously have no idea what happened that day. Anyway, I had heard of the genre of film noir before this but never really knew what it meant. However, I never expected it to be basically what we're watching. Anyway, I do like what I've seen of The Asphalt Jungle. Because the characters have something that makes us sympathize with them, it makes them more human. We aren't just looking at a bunch of people going on a heist. They're going on a heist for a reason, or at least for a multitude of reasons that makes the characters seem more realistic. That's what I hate about some films; they can be filled with action but when there's nothing to actually propel the action, you're just watching a bunch of people shooting each other or doing moves that go against all the laws of physics. But yeah, not much to say other than I really like The Asphalt Jungle so far. Or did it finish while I was absent? Because then I would be quite sad. ):