Movie reviews: Milk & Coraline
Feb. 12th, 2009 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrj(Because I've been trying to be somewhat religious about doing movie reviews.)
I went to see Milk (for the 0.38% of my readers who don't know, the biopic about SF politico Harvey Milk) last Sunday -- I'd been meaning to fit it in at some point but suddenly started worrying that it would leave the theaters before I got around to it. This is a truly excellent movie, not only as a fairly no-punches-pulled documentary about the career and assassination of Harvey Milk, but as a piece of cinematic art. It captures both the look and feel of an era that's not as far distant as we might like to think. (It's impossible not to overlay some of the political issues of the movie with those today, despite how far we have obviously progressed since then.) It's a marvelous thing that the subject was tackled by someone who had both the resources to do it well and the respect to do it right. If you have the slightest interest, make sure you see it. Expect to cry at least once.
On a whim, this evening, I popped over to the Bay St Mall to see Neil Gaiman's Coraline (despite not having read the original). I've become somewhat of a sucker for 3D animated flicks, and I know that the majority of my friends are going to be talking about this one, so I figured it was worth a shot. This may be heresy but ... meh. Yeah, the animation is masterful. Yeah, the story is engaging and riddled with Underlying Messages. Yeah, it tells a fresh, imaginative story. But it never really caught me for some reason. Don't know why. This is why I take with a grain of salt those occasions when even 99% of my friends say, "Ohmighod you have got to read/see/listen to such-and-such!" Fairly regularly, things that everyone else seems to like just don't hit my wavelength.
On a different note, I have taken the daring step of making a haircut appointment with an actual Hair Salon -- rather than just popping off to Supercuts. I've been meaning to take the plunge for some time and finally had the patience to let my hair grow out enough more than usual that there's something to work with. (It's still quite short, lest anyone worry.) What I actually have is an appointment for a free initial consultation so that I can figure out if this is someone to whom I can say, "Make it look like what I would tell you to make it look like if I had any idea what I wanted it to look like" and trust that the results won't send me screaming from the room.
I went to see Milk (for the 0.38% of my readers who don't know, the biopic about SF politico Harvey Milk) last Sunday -- I'd been meaning to fit it in at some point but suddenly started worrying that it would leave the theaters before I got around to it. This is a truly excellent movie, not only as a fairly no-punches-pulled documentary about the career and assassination of Harvey Milk, but as a piece of cinematic art. It captures both the look and feel of an era that's not as far distant as we might like to think. (It's impossible not to overlay some of the political issues of the movie with those today, despite how far we have obviously progressed since then.) It's a marvelous thing that the subject was tackled by someone who had both the resources to do it well and the respect to do it right. If you have the slightest interest, make sure you see it. Expect to cry at least once.
On a whim, this evening, I popped over to the Bay St Mall to see Neil Gaiman's Coraline (despite not having read the original). I've become somewhat of a sucker for 3D animated flicks, and I know that the majority of my friends are going to be talking about this one, so I figured it was worth a shot. This may be heresy but ... meh. Yeah, the animation is masterful. Yeah, the story is engaging and riddled with Underlying Messages. Yeah, it tells a fresh, imaginative story. But it never really caught me for some reason. Don't know why. This is why I take with a grain of salt those occasions when even 99% of my friends say, "Ohmighod you have got to read/see/listen to such-and-such!" Fairly regularly, things that everyone else seems to like just don't hit my wavelength.
On a different note, I have taken the daring step of making a haircut appointment with an actual Hair Salon -- rather than just popping off to Supercuts. I've been meaning to take the plunge for some time and finally had the patience to let my hair grow out enough more than usual that there's something to work with. (It's still quite short, lest anyone worry.) What I actually have is an appointment for a free initial consultation so that I can figure out if this is someone to whom I can say, "Make it look like what I would tell you to make it look like if I had any idea what I wanted it to look like" and trust that the results won't send me screaming from the room.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-13 06:34 am (UTC)If only there'd been a Harvey Milk for prop 8.
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Date: 2009-02-13 01:32 pm (UTC)Sigh. anyway, it's nice to hear I'm not the only one who isn't OMGEXCITED! about Coraline.
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Date: 2009-02-13 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-13 03:53 pm (UTC)But because it was a Rather Drastic Change (I went from shoulder-length to just-below-the-chin) I called a salon I trust and asked for one of their senior girls. And she did an excellent job. I also had her dry and style it so she could see it dry, which resulted in a few important touch-ups.
I really adored Coraline, but part of that is having tracked the progress of some of the staff over the years, and the repressed cheerleader in me was rooting for them. I think the animation is what sells it for me. It truly is a wonderful movie to behold.
The story, though -- honestly, at times I felt like I was watching a film version of Psychonauts or any other adventure game where you need to collect three McGuffins before the boss will fight you. It was still a good story, just not supergreatawesomewow. I think it was probably a better story for younger people than jaded adults :)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 07:37 pm (UTC)