Susan Hated Literature

May 15 2007

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Published by Fence under Moving Pictures

dir. Michael Gondry

Starring:

* Jim Carrey - Joel Barish
* Kate Winslet - Clementine Kruczynski
* Kirsten Dunst - Mary
* Tom Wilkinson - Dr. Howard Mierzwiak
* Elijah Wood - Patrick

So you fall in love with someone, things go badly and you break up. Whats the next step? Why deleting them from your memory of course. Isn’t that just a great idea for a film?
It took me a while to go see this film, prolly because of Jim Carrey’s name in the credits. I’ve really liked some of his films; Man in the Moon and whatever that reality TV show one was called, but more often than not I don’t particularly enjoy them

But this is a wonderful film, funny and sad at the same time it illustrates a relationship falling apart, and then through the erasing of Joel’s memories shows us how the relationship began. And shows the audience that these two people clearly love each other. Managing to combine the wackiness of the idea with the tenderness of a love story I really enjoyed this film.

Really nice. But sad at the same time

Tags: 7 Stars, comedy, Elijah Wood, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, memory, Michael Gondry, relationships, romance, sad, sff, surreal, Tom Wilkinson

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May 13 2007

Spiderman 3

Published by Fence under Moving Pictures

Dir: Sam Raimi
Writ: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, & Alvin Sargent. Based on the comic by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko

Tobey Maguire … Spider-Man/Peter Parker
Kirsten Dunst … Mary Jane Watson
James Franco … New Goblin/Harry Osborn
Thomas Haden Church … Sandman/Flint Marko
Topher Grace … Venom/Eddie Brock
Bryce Dallas Howard … Gwen Stacy
James Cromwell … Captain Stacy
Bruce Campbell … MaÃ®tre dâ€™

I wasn’t a huge fan of the first two spiderman films; I enjoyed them but didn’t LOVE them. They were good, solid entertainment. Two was probably a little better, though I may feel that way because I recently rewatched it when it was shown on the telly a few weeks ago. This one isn’t so good. It is too long. There are too many characters. And worst of all, unlike the second, it has no heart to it.

It felt stop-start, as though they had too many characters and story-lines and couldn’t figure out to make then all work together properly, nothing seemed to fit.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Spiderman, or of Peter Parker for that matter, and in this film I just couldn’t care less what happened him. James Franco was more interesting as Harry. There was nothing to grip the viewer, and while the special effects were excellent you really need a good story to hang them on. This was all pretty curtains and no foundation.

And the cocky version of Peter Parker? That was just weird and stupid. Yes at first it was a little entertaining to see him strut, but after 2 seconds it became creepyfing, and disturbing. And the dancing! wtf!

There is nothing hideous and terrible about the film. You’ll watch, you’ll be entertained and maybe a little bored, I do recall checking my watch and thinking with a sinking heart that there was still an hour to go, but it picked up a little, so I wasn’t eyeing the exit all the way through. Totally worthy of a meh. Too many storyiideas with not enough development

I also took issue with the amount of time Parker wandered about in his Spidey outfit, only with the mask off. Either he has a secret identity or he doesn’t. Half the city should know who he really is if he has as little care as that.