Monday, December 7, 2015

Fall Film Challenge Update: Final Movie Reviews + How I Did Overall

I am ridiculously late in posting my final results from the fall film challenge, but I guess that's not too surprising given the fact that it took me nearly a month to get my first New Mexico recap written and posted.

I love blogging, but lately I just haven't felt like sitting down to work on it as much. This happens to me from time to time, especially when I've got a lot of things going on in my everyday life (like tons of holiday parties and upcoming travel, for example).

But anyway, I figured it was better late than never. As usual, I've asked Eric to weigh in with his thoughts as well. I was hoping to get through a few more, but we only managed to squeeze in 2 more movies since my last update.

I haven't decided for sure if I'll try this again next year, but the competitive part of me really wants to. I'd like to get through more of my list next time, though that probably won't be too difficult since I completely sucked with this challenge this year!

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1.  One Day - Watched 11/22/2015

My Thoughts: I wasn't sure if I'd like this because romantic movies aren't really my thing. I'm not a completely cold hearted bitch, I just prefer my movies to be dark, scary, disturbing, or sad (or some combination of those things). Luckily for me, One Day fell into the "sad" category. I will say that parts of the movie sort of dragged on, Anne Hathaway's British accent annoyed me at times, and I wanted to punch Dexter (one of the main characters) in the face multiple times. However, while I didn't love the movie, I thought it was one of the better romantic movies I've seen recently. Everything didn't always just fall perfectly into place, and the ending made me sob like a baby. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Eric's Thoughts: I think it's an interesting idea for a movie. It didn't play out like I thought it would, but it's hard to say more about this without spoilers. It was fun to see how the characters grew over time, and how their growth either affected their relationship or was a result of it. That sort of portrayal of time passing made it easier to see how they had changed since we were given a glimpse into who they were and who they were becoming each year around the same time.

Kristen's Rating: 3/5 stars - Liked it.

Eric's Rating: 3/5 stars - Liked it.

2.  Lolita (1997) - Watched 11/30/2015

My Thoughts: Lolita is one of my favorite novels of all time, so I was really excited to see how it would be portrayed on the screen. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. It's been years since I last read the book, but as I watched the film, bits and pieces came back to me in vivid detail. Jeremy Irons is wonderful as Humbert Humbert. I don't think they could have cast a better actor for that role. Similarly, Dominique Swain does an amazing job bringing the title character to life. (I was even more impressed when I read that this was her first film role. Seriously ... She is Lolita.) One of the reasons I loved the book so much was because it made me feel so many strong emotions, and this film affected me in the same way. It's repulsive and heartbreaking, and, as with the novel, I thought about this for days after I saw it. It's probably not for everyone, but I loved it.

Eric's Thoughts: Since it's told from his point of view, Lolita is portrayed as being complicit in their relationship, and I wondered if she actually was or not. And, whether she was or not, that kind of narrative puts you in the mind of a person like that, whether it be a pedophile or even a stalker ... Someone who may think something is going on between themselves and another person even though there's really nothing there.

Kristen's Rating: 5/5 stars - Loved it.

Eric's Rating: 2/5 stars - Didn't like it. (He said it was really a 2.5 because he didn't dislike it, but he didn't really like it either. I made him choose either 2 or 3 stars, though, and he told me to go with 2. Obviously we had very different feelings about this one!)

Finally, I'm going to share my final list of movies watched for this challenge. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't even get to 10, but that's okay. Maybe next time! (And hey, 9 is pretty damn close!)

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1.  A Movie Set In New York City: Side Effects - 09/12
2.  A Movie Featuring A Child As The Main Character: Lolita (1997) - 11/30
3.  A Movie Starring Harrison Ford: Paranoia - 09/07
4.  A Love Story: One Day - 11/22
5.  A Movie About Something Miraculous: 127 Hours - 09/29
6.  A Movie Starring An Actor/Actress With Your First Name: Bridesmaids - 10/21
7.  A Film Mentioned On Time Magazine's List The Top Ten Newspaper Movies: Zodiac - 09/18
8.  A Movie With A Score Of 90% Or Greater On Rotten Tomatoes: It Follows - 10/02
9.  A Movie With Subtitles: The Hunt - 10/10

3 comments:

  1. I don't like sappy romance movies, either. Give me blood and violence and dark mystery and grit any day. Or funny. I like funny.

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  2. Lolita is a book I've meant to read forever...............

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  3. i hated one day. i really dislike anne hathaway, but it took me a little bit to realise that lol. i need to read Lolita!

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