Tagged: films
the mystery of a mystery
What is it about a mystery that makes it so exciting to read or watch? Is it the threat of a character’s death? Knowing that something bad might happen? Discovering the mystery’s source?
According to J.J. Abrams, it’s keeping the mystery a mystery.
new moon
Based on the multi-million dollar book of the same name, New Moon is a cinematic adaptation of the second instalment in the Twilight series. But you already know that.
Fresh off the heels of having reviewed its prequel, I wasn’t really in a hurry to watch more films about love and turmoil in Forks, Washington; let alone within a couple of weeks. What am I, a “twi-hard”?
twilight
There was a time when I would proudly profess to never watching “bad” films (unless of course they were so-bad-it’s-good); but, with the seemingly unstoppable onslaught of the mega-schlockbusters (Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers) I felt it only appropriate that I jump on board with the one franchise that I have managed to avoid from the very start.
I was hoping to see what all the fuss is about. Based on the phenomenally popular book of the same name, Twilight is a 2008 film from the director of The Nativity Story. No, really. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is at a crossroad; living in Arizona with her newly-remarried mother, she chooses to move in with her living-in-another-state father in an effort to re-establish familiarity.
mission impossible: ghost protocol
When The Kremlin is destroyed and Ethan Hunt‘s (Tom Cruise) secret spy team is fingered as the culprit, the US president initiates “Ghost Protocol”; disavowing the entire IMF and branding Ethan and Co. as terrorists.
On-their-own and on-the-run, Hunt and his team are forced to save the world (literally, as in “nuclear apocalypse”) with ever-dwindling resources. This allows the team to do the one thing previous MI episodes have done very little of: stop and think.
captain america: the first avenger
Set in the early years of the Marvel Universe, Captain America: The First Avenger tells of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans); a scrawny, sickly and just-plain-good “kid from Brooklyn”, who despite his lack of fitness is given an opportunity — albeit an unorthodox one — to fight for his country in WWII.
In comic book terminology, Cap’ would be considered a “Countdown to The Avengers” issue, being the last stop before the all-in superhero brawl; but does the film stand on its own two feet?
black swan
Black Swan tells of Nina (Natalie Portman); a talented and naive ballerina, who after four years dancing with the prestigious New York City Ballet company, yearns to fulfil her dreams of becoming the company’s new lead dancer.
A new year brings a new production; and the company director’s (Vincent Cassel) wants to do a daring and somewhat-sexualised version of Swan Lake. Alarm bells ring for Nina as she is used to her highly structured and relatively unshakeable comfort zone. But when a new dancer (Mila Kunis) joins the company, the lines between said comfort, normality and reality become blurred – with potentially disastrous consequences.
