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Archive for Emma Watson

The Bling Ring is Pretty Wild

Oct04

The-Bling-Ring-Official-Movie-Trailer2Title: The Bling Ring

Cast: Israel Broussard (Actor), Katie Chang (Actor), Sofia Coppola (Director)

Genre: Satire

Watched:  September 18-20, 2013

Summary: As reality bending as a Terry Gilliam film

_

I was drawn to see The Bling Ring for two  reasons: Director Sofia Coppola (I liked both Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette) and Emma Watson (who didn’t love Hermione?). I finished  with a peculiar feeling: Was I watching Fiction or Truth? Satire or Exploitation? I just couldn’t be sure.

In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Emma Watson, despite her character’s high damage level, never totally leaves Hermione behind. Yet here, the similarities are only surface level. The bright intelligence behind the eyes has given way to a cold calculated cunning. Particularly chilling — and effective — are the bits at the end where her character “apologizes” blankly for herself by declaring that her “main goal in life is to be a leader” and that her destiny is to “save humanity or the environment or something.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4c6hmrwba0]

This statement, buried as it is in referential fiction, struck me as true. Not the text about her being a leader (hopefully), but the subtext and psychological reality behind the statement, an absolute belief in “If I say it, it must be true.”

So what is true here? I had to know. As the credits rolled  surfed the web to find out about the real Bling Ring. The names had all changed, but the players remained vaguely similar (although the timeline was drastically altered). The story was clearly based on Nick Prugo’s perspective. Emma Watson’s character, it turns out, was based on “real” life Alexis Neiers. Who, it seems, “starred” in a reality show called Pretty Wild while moonlighting as a burglar. I found a video of her  to see if the film portrayal  read true.

And then found myself sucked down into the abyss that is Pretty Wild. Now, I could only stomach a couple episodes (blessedly free on Netflix), but they hit me in the gut, leaving me with a strange greasy feeling on my skin. Line after line in the film is pulled/adapted right out of this “reality.”

But again, what’s true?

In The Bling Ring we have a bunch of actors playing at being real people (but with fictitious names) in a supposedly true story based on a reality show about some real people warping their real lives for the camera. How much of the show is genuine? It certainly feels like very little.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMuG-S6uYtI]

And what's with all these random tattoos on teenage girls? An ankh, the Buddha's  head? The same principle at work. "If I have the Buddha's head tattooed on my arm I must be a good person!"

And what’s with all these random tattoos? An ankh, the Buddha’s head? The same principle at work. “If I have the Buddha’s head tattooed on my arm I must be a good person!”

Other reviewers have said this before about Pretty Wild, but watching it, you do have the sinking feeling that the end of Western Civilization is nigh. We have sunk to new lows. The pit yawns open before us. What is clearly real is that these four girls (or at least the mom and the two principle older daughters) are completely devoid of anything but narcissism. Raised on a diet of fashion magazines and home schooled with a curriculum based on the movie version of The Secret? Not even the book! The movie! I dare say these girls fall in that vast majority of Americans unburdened by basic facts like: “Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States.”

As completely f**ked up as these girls seem in the show, digging on the web reveals the real story is probably far more sordid. The show fails to mention that Tess is already a Playboy model, her undetermined membership in this bizarre family, and certainly doesn’t dig into the heavy drug use and other self destructive behaviors (just google for topless pictures of Tess Taylor smoking a bong, or the pair doing heroin).

But again, all the participants seem to be willing another reality into focus. The “if I say it, it must be true” principle at work. The rhetoric and the actions are completely disconnected.

And equally disturbing is the bizarre line the Pretty Wild producers walk between satire and exploitation. Sure, it’s clear the “actors” are the main target of mockery, but how about the audience? What’s with the gratuitous presence of Tess’ breasts as secondary performers. The show goes out of its way to show these thinly blurred twins at any opportunity. I’m all for nudity,  frequently complaining in my reviews about its relative absence in recent films, but here it feels so forced, as do the omnipresent shots of LA freeways, palm lined streets, and that most exciting of subjects: the ugly stucco facade of girl’s house.

Is this art imitating life? I don’t know, but it certainly isn’t art.

For more Film reviews, click here.

Including Emma Watson’s better turns in Wallflower or Harry Potter.

And p.s. does no one in Hollywood lock their doors or turn on their alarm?

Role Models

Role Models

Related posts:

  1. Damaged Hermione is still a babe
  2. The Amazing Spider-Man
  3. Book and Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  4. Game of Thrones – The Houses
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Movies, Television
Tagged as: Alexis Neiers, Bling Ring, burgulary, Emma Watson, Film Review, Pretty Wild, reality tv, Sofia Coppola, Tess Taylor

Damaged Hermione is still a babe

Mar15

hr_The_Perks_of_Being_a_Wallflower_8Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Cast: Emma Watson (Actor), Logan Lerman (Actor)

Genre: Coming of Age

Watched:  February, 2013

Summary: Good, serious, teen film

_

This film adaption is very faithful. Perhaps not so surprising because the author wrote and directed it! This is tremendously rare. It’s unusual enough for an author to write his own adaption (I’m doing it for Untimed, but I’ll dance the Snoopy dance if I can even get it produced, and set off fireworks if I land any kind of production roll. Actually directing it? That’s a serious wet dream.)

As a stand alone film, this is an excellent contribution to the teen angst drama. It’s also funny at times. Not so much as the amazing Adventureland, but more serious and just different. Way better than the putrescent likes of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

The acting is excellent. It’s been obvious since Prisoner of Azkaban that Emma Watson would end up a serious babe. She’s got looks, spunk, smarts, and charisma all locked down. Ezra Miller is also a standout as Patrick. The two of them have so much life in them that they overshadow Charlie — he is, after all, a wallflower. Nina Dobrev (also a favorite of mine, but not as good an actress as Emma) has a small role as Charlie’s sister. The part has a different feel than in the novel, nicer for the most part. Paul Rudd is good (albeit the part is a bit forced) as the teacher.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5rh7O4IDc0]

(NOTE: film is much better than the trailer)

The film doesn’t go out of its way to reveal the time and place. As I saw it cold, not knowing anything about the story, I had to come to the gradual conclusion (based on music, costumes, lack of computers, etc) that this was the late 80s or early 90s. It was the presence of certain Nirvana songs that cinched the early 90s vibe.

The film strips out a lot of little details about Charlie’s family. This is to be expected, as in adaption, even of a short novel like this, something has to go. These changes thin out the parents and sister to cut outs. Sad, but there really isn’t much else Chbosky could have done. He also stripped out most of the sexuality. A producer generated change? Probably, but the I liked the sudden dashes of it in the novel. A few of those tidbits stuck with me. But most importantly, the de-sexualization washed out the “twist.” It was so subtly handled in the film for fear of offending that I half-missed it, only fully realizing after the credits.

There are also subtle character shifts. Charlie is a little more passive and trending toward schizophrenic in the novel. Sam a little more broken in the film. The sister is meaner in the book (although she comes around). It’s hard to say how much of this is in the writing and how much is what the actors bring to bear. Some characters, like Patrick (who really is a great character), come through 110%.

Overall, if you like teen films (and I do), see this one. It’s several standard deviations above the mean.

My review of the novel is here, or

For more Film reviews, click here.

Related posts:

  1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  2. Book and Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  3. The Amazing Spider-Man
  4. Game of Thrones – Season 3 Goodies
  5. Game of Thrones – CGI
By: agavin
Comments (14)
Posted in: Movies
Tagged as: Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Logan Lerman, Nina Dobrev, Paul Rudd, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Book and Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Nov21

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Author: J.K. Rowling

Genre: YA Fantasy

Read: 21 July 2007, Watched (part 1): 20 Nov, 2010

Summary: Satisfying but obligatory conclusion to the epic series.

 

Retarded title aside, this is a pretty good film. Caveats, however, abound. If you haven’t seen all the previous installments, or at least the last several — forget it. The film just roles right into the action, with nary an attempt to explain past events, or even to introduce the rather vast array of characters, some of whom die after only a few moments of screen time. This reliance on the previous chunks of the story I find perfectly reasonable, to do anything else would be difficult and boring.

What is odd, however, is that I’m not sure this film series would make a whole lot of sense to the fifty people on earth who haven’t read the books. In fact, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t. I know a few of those people, and they seem to be universally baffled by the films, and don’t particularly enjoy them. Now I enjoyed my 2.8 hours, but I’ve read all the books, and seen each film at least once (as they came out in almost all cases). The books and films enjoy an peculiar symbiotic relationship. The films rely on the books completely for the sense of the rhythm of Hogwarts (not present in DH part 1 anyway), true understanding of the complexity of the plot, anything beyond names and faces for the secondary characters, etc. They just don’t have time to include it. The movies, on the other hand, prop up the visual world of the series. Now I first read the first four books BEFORE any of the films came out, but when I went back to reread book one this year (it’s still great) I realized how little description is actually in the novel, and how I now visualized exactly the lush and detailed visual world of the films. Most of the viewers in the theatre weren’t even old enough for it to have been possible for them to have read before being exposed to the film imagery. It also seems a bit odd that the films aren’t really made to stand on their own. To the non reader they offer up characters that they never explain. I guess the gravitational pull of the source material is too strong.

Back to DH part 1. Like the book it has an entirely different feel than the rest of the series. Particularly, given how the writers have split it. There’s no Hogwarts at all. No teachers (except a brief glimpse of Snape). Almost none of the other students (Draco and Luna only). It’s a movie about Harry, Ron, and Hermione. That isn’t bad, but it’s different. It’s also a film about Voldemort, because we see a lot more of him — or at least of the CG that completely hides Fiennes. The decision to split the film — beside making the studios et all an extra billion dollars — has given them five hours to work with instead of three. This means that this film is the most faithful to the book since number 3 (my favorite). It feels less rushed, darker and more deliberate. But even having read and seen everything, I had the feeling several times that I just had to take the logical leaps for granted. There still isn’t enough time to really explain the byzantine backstory.

Ron continues to be the weakest of the three core actors, with Harry being fine, and Emma Watson shining as Hermione. I want to see what she can do in a totally different role. Helena Bonham Carter is too over the top. The opening scene with the council of baddies was kinda cheesy, and the death of Dobby felt forced and lacked proper emotional weight. Draco just stands around and looks like he doesn’t know his lines. Hardly anyone else matters. As I said, it’s basically the gang of three in the tent vs the world.

But hell, on top it felt pretty satisfying, and now we have to wait for the last one.

Related posts:

  1. Book and Movie Review: Let Me In
  2. Book and Movie Review: The Road
  3. Book and Movie Review: Twilight
  4. Book Review: Forever
  5. Movie Review: Centurion
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Books, Movies
Tagged as: books, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Fiction, Film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, HarryPotter, Helena Bonham Carter, Hermione Granger, Hogwarts, J.K. Rowling, JK Rowling, Literature, Lord Voldemort, reviews, Ron Weasley
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