Weekend movies

Spent most of the first half of the weekend lazing around watching movies. [heavy-duty relaxation in an attempt to finally shake my Worldcon cold -- unsuccessfully :-( ] Saw two that I had not previously seen, both featuring Brian Cox as an antagonist, oddly enough.

X2 was -- an odd experience. I enjoyed seeing characters I once loved being well portrayed. There were lots of good in-jokey moments. But there were so many characters and plot threads that I honestly got lost at times. On the other hand, it made more coherent sense than almost any similar-sized run of the X-Men comic book...

The Ring was f-ing creepy! I don't watch a lot of horror, and I like even less, but this was a very well-made horror film. There are apparently heated debates over whether this version is better or worse than the Japanese film that it's a remake of. Regardless, this one is very successful in its own right. Large sections make no logical sense, but, in the sub-genre of "surrealist horror", that's not a big weakness. And the ending was nicely surprising -- not in a "Sixth Sense" sort of way, where you reinterpret the whole film based on the last few minutes, but just a final creepy twist that, while unexpected, was exactly right. Recommended to people who don't get nightmares too easily.

Weekend movies

Spent most of the first half of the weekend lazing around watching movies. [heavy-duty relaxation in an attempt to finally shake my Worldcon cold -- unsuccessfully :-( ] Saw two that I had not previously seen, both featuring Brian Cox as an antagonist, oddly enough.

X2 was -- an odd experience. I enjoyed seeing characters I once loved being well portrayed. There were lots of good in-jokey moments. But there were so many characters and plot threads that I honestly got lost at times. On the other hand, it made more coherent sense than almost any similar-sized run of the X-Men comic book...

The Ring was f-ing creepy! I don't watch a lot of horror, and I like even less, but this was a very well-made horror film. There are apparently heated debates over whether this version is better or worse than the Japanese film that it's a remake of. Regardless, this one is very successful in its own right. Large sections make no logical sense, but, in the sub-genre of "surrealist horror", that's not a big weakness. And the ending was nicely surprising -- not in a "Sixth Sense" sort of way, where you reinterpret the whole film based on the last few minutes, but just a final creepy twist that, while unexpected, was exactly right. Recommended to people who don't get nightmares too easily.