Behind These Castle Walls, Part IV: Dumbo (1941)

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Behind These Castle Walls, Part IV: Dumbo (1941)

We're still in the 40s with our Disney movies and now we get to the famous elephant who is known for the slur everyone else uses for him. That is a good indication for the weirdness of this movie. It is a movie I had seen before. For its short runtime, it is not very entertaining and feels stretched anyway. It also does not have the same artistic skills the previous movies have shown.

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It Follows (2014)

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It Follows (2014)

(spoilers)

It Follows is an incredibly unique horror movie that almost never does what you expect it to do and constantly challenges and surprises you. It is slow but scary, beautifully filmed and plays with genre conventions while still following the traditions of classic horror movies. That it accomplishes both is impressive all by itself. It is simply amazing to me that this small movie manages to get everything right, astounding cinematography (almost every shot could be framed, not unlike the amazing work of Gregory Crewdson), a fitting score, great performances and a compelling story that is just ambiguous enough to neither be frustrating nor too expository. I also love the unspecified setting, its mix of futuristic and 80s-nostalgia tones. It is a horror masterpiece for which you have to be ready because it’s dreamlike atmosphere is not for everyone. But it’s really, really good. It’s one of those debut movies where you feel every second that someone put all their efforts and passion into making exactly the movie they wanted to make, which turns out to be a great movie.

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Snakes on a Plane (2006)

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Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Snakes on a Plane is a movie I feel even weird writing about. A movie just made because of a silly title and internet lore, but somewhat forgotten once it was released. The very definition of pre-release-hype. And it is not a great movie, at least depending on your taste or interest. Maybe it’s in that kind of B-movie style that you enjoy it, if you like far-out violence and silly plots. But I found the movie especially disappointing in this area because for the most time it plays so serious. Yet, the story is also boring and the movie just doesn’t feel as entertaining as it should be. It also feels the need to use many, many stereotypes and uses sexuality both for gratuitousness and shock. The movie is weirdly uneven and you can really see how it was cobbled together without much thought, but just to exploit its hype (unsuccessfully though).

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The Sessions [2012 Week]

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The Sessions [2012 Week]

(real spoilers ahead in the last paragraph)

The Sessions is an exceptional movie not just because of its subject matter but also because of the way it deals with it. The story of Mark O’Brien, who has to live in an iron lung and is paralyzed from his neck down, is treated with the most respect you can imagine, but also with humor. Most importantly, it treats sex as a totally normal thing without embarrassment or ridicule, which I consider one of the greatest achievement of this movie. The story is touching but never goes for drama, the writing is subtle and the acting simply amazing. That John Hawkes is not a name everyone knows still amazes me, as he shines in every role he plays (his role in Me, You and Everyone We Know was revelation to me). Here, he is just perfect and still very different from many other characters he has played. The Sessions is just a very good-natured and effective movie.

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Book Report: David Levithan's Every Day (2012)

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Book Report: David Levithan's Every Day (2012)

(no spoilers!)

David Levithan’s Every Day has a central idea that is so simple and brilliant, that it’s hard to believe no one else has written that book already. It’s the story of A, who wakes up in a new body every day, for one day, since his (or her, there’s no definite gender) birth. He doesn’t get involved too much and just follows along the person’s normal routine until he jumps into the next person. That alone would make an interesting book. He’s sixteen when we meet him and just reading about him observing the people whose lives he joins is interesting enough. But then he falls in love for the first time, with a girl called Rhiannon and suddenly he has to live actively if he wants to enjoy this love. This is where the book becomes really interesting. It’s a really good book, well-written and with one of the best endings I could imagine because until the very end, it’s hard to see it coming. It plays with our expectations and I really enjoyed that. I try to keep it short because I do not want to spoil the book in any way, as I think it’s really worth reading.

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