paint the sky with stars

I finally saw Les Mis! Little background, it's a musical I am very unfamiliar with, to the point that I was completely flummoxed a few years back when Margaret wanted me to sing in the JC House Cup version of One Day More. But now I know the story and most of the songs, hurrah!

I really enjoyed the movie. The actors were all really great, except for Russell Crow who was just okay. His voice could have been worse (he was way better than Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia) but it's actually the acting which I think wasn't quite up to par with the rest of them. I am cheering for Anne Hathaway for the Oscar, I would say she had the best performance of the bunch.

Only other real comment is that Hooper needs to remember that he's not just directing actors but also needs to give proper direction to the cameras as well. That was pretty painful at points and I think the obsession with close-ups actually detracted from some of the songs (most notably I Dreamed a Dream, which was performed beautifully but was really too long for just one single, unending closeup).

So I bought the DVD of Drive Me Crazy, a film that I recall fondly from my teenage years because it starred Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Same era as 10 Things I Hate About You. However, it doesn't hold up quite as well, sad to say. It's a cute movie and it has some interesting things to say ... but the story had more potential.

I actually think it's really interesting that the two opposites attracting leads were childhood friends. I also like that it's the guy moping about a break-up, since that's not as common as a girl doing it. And then there's the craziness that is high school drama ... but I think there is where the movie falls apart a bit. It's not bad by any stretch but it's not as good as it could have been.

It reminds me a bit of 27 Dresses, where a good movie is desperately trying to get out. However, Drive Me Crazy is still fun and cute and doesn't have any truly terrible moments, so at least it's got that.

Off to bed now, finally. I've got a long drive ahead of me tomorrow.

Just watched the Silent Hill movie (and discovered that my current default icon is of Rose, the main character from it).

It was ... pretty bad. Actually, more disappointing. The first half of the movie was actually pretty good. The atmosphere matched Silent Hill well and there was good little symbolic stuff. But the second half just sort of fell apart and made it fail both as a movie and an adaptation.

I think really it's another case of too many changes being made. The stuff with the cult was just completely different and nonsensical to boot. But the biggest slap in the face still has to be changing Harry Mason into Rose de Salva. Fathers everywhere should be a bit insulted by the idea that the story had to be about a mother and her daughter, not a father and his daughter. I think a lot of the other flaws, at least in the first half, could be forgiven if not for that.

Sean Bean's storyline obviously shows that it was tacked on. And people were really right when they said he couldn't manage an American accent very well. There actually were a lot of good ideas in this plot though, especially when Christopher and Rose were in the same place but couldn't actually see each other. With better storytelling and their roles reversed, I think it really could have been a great movie.

Also it fell victim to the typical Silent Hill flaw of using Pyramid Head in ways that don't make any sense. At all.

They did have some interesting designs and, as I said before, the atmosphere could be good. And the music was amazing but it's the music from the games so that should go without saying. All and all, I can see why it's considered one of the better video game adaptation movies but, well, that really isn't saying much now is it.

On another note, I've decided that I should probably wait a week before spending money on movie tickets, even at half price, and so I'll be trying to wait to see Harry Potter some more. Boo :(

I had a shift at Yorkdale today, helping them set up their new store. It looks great, I'm actually excited to see our new one. La Senza has a new look and it's very snazzy and retro and awesome.

Once we got out, I walked over to the Indigo in the mall and finally picked up a copy of the Kick-Ass graphic novel. Interesting to see the differences between it and the movie. All and all, I think the movie did it better, but there were a few changes that I think they should have left undone.

Then I went to Silvercity and saw How to Train Your Dragon which I thought was very fun. It didn't quite live up to expectations but it was good. Perhaps good enough to finally get the Best Animated Feature Oscar away from Pixar (though I don't know what they are planning for this year).

I just watched Stranger Than Fiction, a movie that I have been meaning to see for a long time. It was really quite good. I generally think all Will Ferrell movies look really stupid but this one was clever and Ferrell himself was playing a fairly normal character (and doing it well, I think). And the rest of the cast was excellent: Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifa, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and the always delightful Emma Thompson.

Very interesting movie, especially how it looked at writing and the implications of killing your characters. Definitely will have to watch it again and probably look into getting a copy of my own.

2raggedclaws and I have a lovely evening going out to see Sherlock Holmes. I kept going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to see the movie because, while I haven't read much of the original fiction, I do have a great affection for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's canon. Particularly to the character of Irene Adler. And the more I heard about certain aspects of the movie, the less thrilled I was by it. But then I also heard good things and so off I went and I definitely did enjoy it.

( Impressions with spoilers! )