And it's more affordable than seeing stage plays. I'm short on the green thing.
Usually, I'm kinda picky on watching movies in theater. My philosophy is always "If this is going to be on HBO or available for free streaming then why bother?" From my past experience, I only watch movies in theaters when friends ask me to. But if there is a certain highlight like "The Dark Knight" for example, that usually come as a must. But mostly the films I watch are typical. What I mean by typical is horror movies. I wonder why Indonesian people are so into horror movies. I mean... Horror is just horror. And Horror here isn't a psychological thriller or thriller with damn good twist.
Recently after living alone somewhere far from home I tend to watch movies alone. As said, friends tend to pick the movies and since I got more "me time", why don't I try watch some stuff I wanna watch alone? So yeah. There goes my movie adventure. But I gotta admit I do have a strange habit in picking movies. Strange movies. I tend to pick what it seems "This looks so bad, I wonder if this is so bad it's good". Yes. I pick seemingly borderline B movies. Not that I have that kind of fancy but awesome movies look definitely too awesome you don't see the flaw anymore. I guess that's what I thought.
So yeah, I tend to watch weird movies like "Jennifer's Body". But of course I went to the highlights too.
Cinema-going this year, I started with "Green Hornet". From the marketing, I thought it was going to be a dark-cold-batman-esque vigilante movie. I was wrong. It blew my expectation. It's like a kids movie with real people in it. Not that I say it's bad. It's just differs from my expectation. It isn't fun to watch it alone. You have to watch it with your geeky, adult-child cousins and those superhero loving little cousins then it would be awesome. But generally the movie is awesome. It's awesome, funny, and most importantly HO YAY. Seth Rogen's acting for Britt is a little bit pushed too hard though. Britt is annoying. But either way
Then I watched "Black Swan". It's crazy and Natalie's in there! It won awards, we all know we should see it. Reviews compare it to Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue". TV Tropes said it's as mindfucking as Evangelion and I knew my mental weirdness couldn't resist that. So I went there and... "Perfect Blue" has more quenching twist. And of course Evangelion is more confusing. But the storytellling is perfect and Natalie's acting is awesome. I never actually watch Aronofsky's other works but people says he's kinda experienced in mindscrewing writings. I'd say this is good enough. Actually the plot is only about the naive Nina trying too hard to embrace any other human dark side within her. But the movie made it quite complex.
Most recent one is "Red Riding Hood". Why? It's marketed as a "Twilight" version of Little Red Riding Hood. We all know how "Twilight" goes. Well, the movie actually kinda feels better than the book (though there are still some traces of Stephanie Meyer's weirdness in it) but still... It's "Twilight" we're talking about. So my tingling movie senses told me "Oooooh, another cheesy looking stuff. I wonder how bad this film can be~ 8D" So I went and watch it. And it turned out the movie had a good plot. The plot isn't even comparable to "Twilight". But good plot, twist, and concept aside, the movie doesn't seem to grasp it so much. There are some holes in it. It's too plain despite all the twist. The only emotion I saw was from Gary Oldman. So I conclude that plot is good but storytelling not so much. The soundtrack also isn't there somehow. It's too contemporary. What's worse it's the "Twilight" marketing. It is as seems as they make something generated for (the mostly curious teenage girl) "Twilight" fans in purpose and waste all the good plot. It's kinda sad. I wish they can pull more like Shyamalan's "The Village". And that "true love" of Valerie's... I feel the weird-innocent-victim Tod has more character than him.
So I'm on the brink on to watch "Rango" or not. That movie looks nice and quite funny but I wonder if it's worth watching it on theaters. But I dare to say this; I prefer to watch "Sucker Punch" than "I Am Number Four".
I got to know "I Am Number Four" by the novel first. I was buying my monthly readings at Kinokuniya and saw it copies everywhere. Probably to market the movie which was going to be released the next month. I saw the premise, I glimpsed a reading, and I thought "Whoa, this is too hollywood". But American books like that are common so I guess it's "awesome typical". It wasn't a thing I looked for so I didn't buy it.
Then Depe told how excited she is about the movie (but I dare you, it's Alex Pettyfer's deed what cause her to do so). Her hollywood-drenched boyfriend gave a good preview about the film and he was excited as well. Since the guy is a broadcasting student with fascination of movies in general, I'd say it's believable.
Then the movie ads were all over MRT stations. "From the producer Michael Bay and the director of Disturbia". Yes, I kinda consider "Disturbia" something "too teenage flick-ish". Depe couldn't stop talking about how "thrilling" it was and since
So Michael Bay and "Disturbia" concluded in "There will be lots of explosions and teenage drama". Another sets what I consider "typical". And I saw the trailer. My guesses were right. It is heavily implied that all the teenage-fantasy cliches are there. So I decided not to watch it since I'm not expecting something anymore, I only accepting things I had before. I'd rather wait for it on TV or (oh-my-sad-country) pirated DVD.
In the contrary, when I saw "Sucker Punch" ad for the first time (I just went down the cinema hall after "Green Hornet"), I was like "WHAT THE FUCK IS HOLLYWOOD DOING RECREATING SOME SORT OF A B-MOVIE SHIT? I mean, look at those fishnets! Babes and guns!? What has the world became? Wait, Japan popularized it in the past 10 years. WHAT THE HELL HOLLYWOOD? WHY MUST THE MOE SHIT?"
Yep. I'd be frank.
"Sucker Punch" posters kinda disgusted me in the few weeks. Depe and her boyfriend played part in the commentary too. Her boyfriend disgusted by the trailer. Depe, as a woman, naturally despise the look of... Some kind of exploitation going on there. But then I saw the phrase "From the director of 300 and Watchmen". I was like, "Wait the sec, those movies aren't so bad. In fact, they're kinda cool. Why would this movie come out then?"
So I saw the trailer. It was sorta plain. A girl delivered to a mental asylum? Then she goes to war with machines? Wait... What? But after I watch "Red Riding Hood" as I fascinated with it's Freudian concept despite the movie isn't so good my expectation kinda grew. I read "Sucker Punch" plot description and articles. "This movie is going to be nuts. I LOVE MINDSCREWS! 8D This better be amusing."
So all the wars and stuff seems only to be a fantasy by the mental girl. I wonder where this leads to. This is expectation. I can't even guess what's inside the movie compare to "I Am Number Four" where I know how the movie's gonna end by looking at a glimpse. The fishnet isn't bothering me anymore. I'm prepared anyway. Thanks Japan. Now let's just wait if their going to release any fanworks of the girls because they did it to "Green Hornet".
But I feel slightly bothered with Emily Browning's make up. That girl is so moe by nature (to the point I though she was half Korean). She's kinda looked too pimped out. But the animesque sailor uniform is quite cool. Why am I bothered anyway. I was bothered with how the girls look in general anyway.
So yeah. I'm gonna watch "Sucker Punch" yet again pulled by the cheesiness of B-Movie combined with the anime-like girls. But at least I'm expecting something. And of course, mindfuck is always my motive. We are all mad here anyway.
