A Personal Opinion

Review: Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows, originally based on a television series is a wonderfully dark and detailed film. The Tim Burton regular, Johnny Depp, plays Barnabas Collins, a man cursed to be a vampire by the jilted witch, Angelique, fantastically played by Eva Green. There is no doubt that this film was tremendously well cast. The Collins family is Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, mother to Carolyn, played by Chloë Grace Moretz in a wonderful hippie fashion. There is also brother to Elizabeth, Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), father to the supposedly troubled David (Gulliver McGrath) who is counselled by Dr. Julia Hoffman, who is none other than Helena Bonham Carter. Barabas’ love interest is played by rising Aussie talent, Bella Heathcote.

 I really liked how many different stories each character had. Burton could have easily spent another hour explaining their backstories, and franchising would be so easy with an immense amount of stories to base future instalments on. The details in this movie are fantastic. Without trying to spoil too much, my particular favourite detail was Angelique’s tear in one particular scene. You are immersed both within the gothic and the hippie vibe of this film.

Though the attention to detail is stunning, Dark Shadows was unable to impress in other areas. My main point of disappointment was the comedic aspects. This movie is obviously not a serious one, but it was sad to see some of the most humorous moments used up in the trailer. I also felt like I might not be totally grasping some of the jokes since I hadn’t seen the original series, or maybe it was a simple generational gap; the older couple sitting close to me in the theatre were happily cackling away, while all the under 30’s had the occasional laugh. The sex scene, however, was crazy and incredible (sadly a lot of this was shown in the trailer too).

Dark Shadows is definitely enjoyable, but there definitely felt like something was missing. The melodramatic acting was great and probably wouldn’t be so wonderful if done by other actors, but other comedic aspects failed to impress. I am giving Dark Shadows 3/5. 

I think this movie will be great for gif makers. If you see any that are good or you’ve recently made, send them my way!

Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Before the opening credits of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy even appear, you might find yourself thinking that it’s slow. This is an indication: if you want to enjoy the movie, pay attention.

The cinematography captured the atmosphere of the film perfectly. The dreary English weather reflected the mood within the Secret Intelligence Service and the film was packed with some of Britain’s finest stars who all delivered wonderful performances. One character that came across as underexplored is Roy Bland (portrayed by Ciarán Hinds). The lack of talk about him, and lack of screen time indicate that he was not considered a vital character by the film’s director, Tomas Alfredson, which only narrows down the list of potential the potential mole for the viewers.

That being said, the film also seems like it’s trying to compensate for not being able to cover all of the material written by John le Carré which just overly complicates things.

Gary Oldman as George Smiley was great but the characters that I felt the most connection to were Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) and Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy). They ultimately came across as the most human of characters and were willing to do what was expected of them, not what could gain the most advantage from, even if it meant breaking some rules.

The word “gripping” has been thrown about to describe this film, but is not a word I would use to describe it. I will admit that there were slow bits; parts where you will get lost in your own thoughts and miss a vital piece of information. It’s almost as if people are ashamed to say that they didn’t quite understand a part because they believe it will reflect on their intelligence. The thing to remember is that even if they are fictional, many of the characters themselves didn’t understand what it was that they had done. Also, as someone who has not read the original novel, there is an air to the film that suggests the book has many details that are needed for a complete understanding of the story.

What I admire about this film is its attempts to explore human vices, and I believe it is a very realistic portrayal of this, no matter how unique the story line may be to the majority of us.

Wonderful cinematography, a subtle, elegant score and great performances from some of Britain’s most well-known stars, but the plot seemed to be missing its spark. So it’s a 4/5 for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy from me.

What did you think of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?

P.S. There was serious contemplation of a 3/5 but the atmosphere created by everything but the script was truly great. It’s just a shame that some more clarity wasn’t incorporated into the film. I just sat through it thinking I must have missed a whole load of clues. Some googling brought me up to speed on some of the finer details (particularly with that chess piece with just ‘Karla’ written on it. Apparently I missed every other reference to Karla, so watch out for mention of the name; it’s fairly important to being able to follow the story).

Highly Anticipated: The Hunger Games

  The film adaption of the USA Today and New York Times Best Selling book The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is set released March next year. Posters featuring profile shots of some of the main players of the book, teaser and full length trailers (well, one) are already stirring up much excitement. The Vanity Fair photo shoot of the cast has been cleverly made interactive over on their website, giving details on the audition process, as well as key moments for the characters (be warned, if you were aiming to be surprised by either the novel or film, tread carefully when reading the information: spoilers!)

As well as many comparisons to other books and films (Battle Royale is one of the favourites for the trilogy to be compared to), and the idea that the trilogy will be the answer to the loss of the Harry Potter franchise and soon Twilight Saga,The Hunger Games is definitely a novel that can stand on its own feet, and hopefully the movie will be living up to this standard too. If you’re interested in reading the book series, don’t worry about the threat of the dreaded ‘love triangle’: the books protagonist, Katniss, does her best to stay completely oblivious to it, mainly because staying alive takes priority.

I’d say both girls and guys, of all ages (maybe keep the littluns away from it; dying is the main theme of the series) would enjoy the books. It might not be able to be compared with the technical skills of J. R. R. Tolkien’s works, but that doesn’t matter: Collins has managed to write a book that didn’t have a single slow moment in my eyes. Its action packed, with the occasional bit of romance in there for good measure, and Capitol approval.