Flightplan
I've been planning on seeing loads of movies in the cinema lately, but the wasting days includes not getting to the cinema when I should. Some movies I had wanted to see have gone from cinemas now, unfortunately. I'm especially disappointed to have missed Saw 2. The first one was so excellent, and I have heard that the sequel was really good too. I'll see it soon on DVD, but you really can't beat seeing movies in the cinema.
The only movie I've watched in the cinema in the last couple of weeks is Flightplan, which I really enjoyed. The psychological thriller in the claustrophobic and restrictive setting of the airplane was obviously very Hitchcock-esque, though it wasn't anything at all like Hitchcock's own 'person goes missing, no one remembers her; was she even there in the first place?' movie The Lady Vanishes. Jodie Foster was superb in it, showing such a level of desperation and anxiety that it was entirely believable whether she had actually lost her daughter or was imagining it as a coping method after recently losing her husband. Another strength of the movie is the way that Jodie Foster, and as a result the viewer, mistrust certain characters at different times throughout the movie, so until it's revealed you are kept guessing as to what is actually going on. The build up in this movie is really, really good.
Red Eye, another thriller set on a plane, and a movie I had absolutely loved for the first hour or so, descended into a complete farce for the last 20 minutes or so. Flightplan never becomes silly or ridiculous like Red Eye did, and it also stays enjoyable until the very end, but the weakness of the movie is again the payoff. The build up was so strong, with seemingly so many small pieces of a puzzle given to us as clues, and it would have been nice to have had an ending that really delivered on the build up and tied everything together. As it is, certain threads that were dangled in front of us during the movie turn out to be nothing, and when you think too hard and try to put everything together given the context of what is actually going on, the plot falls apart and has holes everywhere, with many questions remaining unanswered. Re-watching the movie would be significantly less enjoyable than watching it the first time was, because knowing what is really going on, there are things that don't make sense and don't fit.
Still, for a gripping, exciting hour and a half at the movies, I highly recommend it. It's not a movie that will stand up to repeated viewings, and obviously won't go down as one of the best movies of the year, but it's still great fun from beginning to end.
Hopefully I'll be seeing The Constant Gardener and the new Harry Potter, both of which I am incredibly excited to see!
The only movie I've watched in the cinema in the last couple of weeks is Flightplan, which I really enjoyed. The psychological thriller in the claustrophobic and restrictive setting of the airplane was obviously very Hitchcock-esque, though it wasn't anything at all like Hitchcock's own 'person goes missing, no one remembers her; was she even there in the first place?' movie The Lady Vanishes. Jodie Foster was superb in it, showing such a level of desperation and anxiety that it was entirely believable whether she had actually lost her daughter or was imagining it as a coping method after recently losing her husband. Another strength of the movie is the way that Jodie Foster, and as a result the viewer, mistrust certain characters at different times throughout the movie, so until it's revealed you are kept guessing as to what is actually going on. The build up in this movie is really, really good.
Red Eye, another thriller set on a plane, and a movie I had absolutely loved for the first hour or so, descended into a complete farce for the last 20 minutes or so. Flightplan never becomes silly or ridiculous like Red Eye did, and it also stays enjoyable until the very end, but the weakness of the movie is again the payoff. The build up was so strong, with seemingly so many small pieces of a puzzle given to us as clues, and it would have been nice to have had an ending that really delivered on the build up and tied everything together. As it is, certain threads that were dangled in front of us during the movie turn out to be nothing, and when you think too hard and try to put everything together given the context of what is actually going on, the plot falls apart and has holes everywhere, with many questions remaining unanswered. Re-watching the movie would be significantly less enjoyable than watching it the first time was, because knowing what is really going on, there are things that don't make sense and don't fit.
Still, for a gripping, exciting hour and a half at the movies, I highly recommend it. It's not a movie that will stand up to repeated viewings, and obviously won't go down as one of the best movies of the year, but it's still great fun from beginning to end.
Hopefully I'll be seeing The Constant Gardener and the new Harry Potter, both of which I am incredibly excited to see!