Imitation of Life
1st Viewing
C
Before this film showed up on the syllabus for my Film Analysis class, I had not known it even existed, and I wish that I continued my life with that ignorance. This is a two-hour soap opera that felt nearly three hours long. It was made back in the 1950s, so you could say that it was good for a film made back then. I just couldn't handle it, because the conflicts in this film are so superficial that you want to stab yourself in the neck to relieve the pain of listening to these characters. One is a single mother who will do anything to become a world-class actress, and the other main character is an extremely lightly skinned black girl who shuns her family because she wants to be white. There are subtle spacial tricks that show the director's care in creating this film, but the script offers little to know connection for the audience.
The Messenger
1st Viewing
A-
I've been meaning to see this film for a while, but I just never got around to it until now. It seems like it would make a great double feature when matched with The Hurt Locker, because this takes a similar men-on-missions format in relation to the war in Iraq. It sounds like an easy job at first to break the news of a soldier's death to his/her loved ones, but this film truly shows the emotional gravity of the situation. Woody Harrelson gives his best performance to date, and continues to add something special to every film that he works on. This film never quite measures up to the first time you've seen it, but it's definitely more than worth your time.
Serenity
2nd Viewing
B+
I first saw this film with little to no familiarity with Firefly, and I found it to be pretty good. Having gone back and seen the entire series, I absolutely love Serenity. Two space epics were released in 2005, and Serenity didn't star Hayden Christensen, so it immediately has the advantage. People who were seeing the film fresh may have been confused a bit, and that probably was one of the things that led to the film being a box-office failure. Still, Joss Whedon was able to push forward some charismatic characters, an original story, and one of the most grand-scale action scenes in any film. Of course the visual effects weren't top notch, but they fitted to look and feel of this film, and it just worked.
1st Viewing
C
Before this film showed up on the syllabus for my Film Analysis class, I had not known it even existed, and I wish that I continued my life with that ignorance. This is a two-hour soap opera that felt nearly three hours long. It was made back in the 1950s, so you could say that it was good for a film made back then. I just couldn't handle it, because the conflicts in this film are so superficial that you want to stab yourself in the neck to relieve the pain of listening to these characters. One is a single mother who will do anything to become a world-class actress, and the other main character is an extremely lightly skinned black girl who shuns her family because she wants to be white. There are subtle spacial tricks that show the director's care in creating this film, but the script offers little to know connection for the audience.
The Messenger
1st Viewing
A-
I've been meaning to see this film for a while, but I just never got around to it until now. It seems like it would make a great double feature when matched with The Hurt Locker, because this takes a similar men-on-missions format in relation to the war in Iraq. It sounds like an easy job at first to break the news of a soldier's death to his/her loved ones, but this film truly shows the emotional gravity of the situation. Woody Harrelson gives his best performance to date, and continues to add something special to every film that he works on. This film never quite measures up to the first time you've seen it, but it's definitely more than worth your time.
Serenity
2nd Viewing
B+
I first saw this film with little to no familiarity with Firefly, and I found it to be pretty good. Having gone back and seen the entire series, I absolutely love Serenity. Two space epics were released in 2005, and Serenity didn't star Hayden Christensen, so it immediately has the advantage. People who were seeing the film fresh may have been confused a bit, and that probably was one of the things that led to the film being a box-office failure. Still, Joss Whedon was able to push forward some charismatic characters, an original story, and one of the most grand-scale action scenes in any film. Of course the visual effects weren't top notch, but they fitted to look and feel of this film, and it just worked.
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