Film night

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

I've not written a lot about recent film nights. In brief:

Bourne Identity(C's choice) - I was enjoying this more than I thought I would, then our recording broke off for the news and I realised we didn't have the second half. Oops.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - if they're the same age as us, how come the films always show them in clothes no teenager would have worn for another ten years or so?


Ocean's Eleven - a quite enjoyable cop romp, nothing heavy.

Casablanca- no matter how many times I see it, I'm always worried I misremembered the ending (my favourite of any film)

Minority report - an old fashioned whodunnit set in the future
I saw Minority Report for the first time last night, having not previously read the short story by Phiip K Dick on which it is based.

The premise of the film is that, in a future world, certain people are found to have precognitive abilities, such that they can predict murders (and only murders). A branch of the police is set up, 'Precrime' to intercept the murders and stop them happening. The film deals with how this works, how it could go wrong, and touches on associated moral issues.

The first thing that I noticed about this film is that the leaad character, played by Tom Cruise, reminded me strongly of the lead character in the Philip K Dick novel, 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' (filmed as 'Bladerunner'). I was therefore disappointed by the subsequent lack of sheep.

The second thing I noticed was that it went on for far too long. It's an adaptation of a short story, and the film is 145 minutes long. The first couple of hours really dragged for me, I felt that the pace was way off. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the last 45 minutes, when the action was. I guess all's well that ends well.

It doesn't help that there was a lengthy chase in the middle, and police chases almost always bore me. Also, there are several scenes which seem to be added purely to remind us that it's in the future, which seem unnecessary.

On the other hand, there is some excellent acting - Tom Cruise is eminently believable as the troubled cop, as is Max von Sydow as his friendly superior. There's an excellent supporting cast too, and I really enjoyed Samantha Morton's portrayal as the precog (soothsayer) Agatha (named for Agatha Christie).

So, I'm glad I saw it, and I'll look out for the short story, but I wouldn't watch again.

Comments

Prisoner of Azkaban

[stephdairy.livejournal.com]

PoA is set in 1993-1994, so do you mean that the characters wear clothes from 2003 or clothes that only someone who was 23 in 1993 would wear, or something else?

(S)

Re: Prisoner of Azkaban

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I don't think it much matters when it's set, as real-world events and culture have almost no impact on the wizarding world. To all intents and purposes it can be set in a generic contemporary setting without affecting the plot at all.

Re: Prisoner of Azkaban

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

That's true, and is why I only just thought of the clothes being odd, I guess.

Re: Prisoner of Azkaban

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

The latter.

[simont]

I recorded Bourne Identity last year, and the sequel. Shout if you want to borrow it.

[rmc28]

I have them both on DVD. Ditto.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Thankyou, yes please.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Thankyou, that would be great, except that we don't have a video player, so is probably impractical. But thanks for the offer.

[simont]

Videos? I record things off the telly on to DVDs! :-) (But rmc28's DVDs are certainly going to be a better bet, of course.)

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I'm a bit clueless a bout technology, and had forgotten that was possible. D'oh!

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

I saw Casablanca all the way through for the first time when it was on TV recently. Gosh, does it have a lot of memorable quotes.

[simont]

... though, of course, not the most memorable one of all.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

Well, yes...

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I don't think Bladerunner had any sheep either :)

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the book had sheep. I don't remember the film.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

:) Sorry, the point is they changed a lot in the film (while still keeping most of the basic concepts). "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" had sheep, but in the film, the protagonist was a lot more of an action hero and a lot less of an unfortunate dreamer, and the "real animal" thing existed, but wasn't a central point for Deckhart.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

*nod* He reminded me of the novel, though, not the film, which I have seen but less recenlty, because I preferred the book.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait!v VI 'm an idiot. I just understood what you actually said, and yes, you're right.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

thing that sticks with me about Minority Report is, precisely how much of the ending is comforting dream of central character who is actually stuck in thingummy?

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

?? I'm confused by this comment - I can see how it would apply to Inception, but I can't see it with regard to Minority Report? Though it's been a while since I saw that, so I may be forgetting something?

(Please pardon belated comment, I'm always runnning to catch up with lj.)

[xanna.livejournal.com]

Minority Report is 145 minutes?! I fell asleep after about 30.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

We missed the first 15 minutes or so, which seemed to help.