If you’ve been reading my log for a while, you’d know that I usually have an excerpt section where I put small passages from books I’ve read or am reading. Lately, due to the volatile nature of my back, I’ve been forgoing that practice but in case you missed it, I wanted to mention that it’s gonna come back real soon. I’m reading again and my back is getting better so I will be able to type soon.
Today’s all about movies. In the last week, I’ve watched The Sixth Sense, X-Men and The Myth of Fingerprints. All of which I found enjoyable and thought provoking.
I don’t watch horror movies. The last time I saw one, I was ten and my parents were divorced. I was in my father’s house and my sister’s friend was watching Happy Birthday To Me. I maybe saw three scenes but they were enough to give me nightmares for the next ten years. So I decided it wasn’t a good idea for me to watch horror and I haven’t watched a movie since. That’s why I didn’t see The Sixth Sense when it came out on theater. Little did I know that it really wasn’t horror at all. Several months later, I made a friend explain the entire plot (including the major twist at the end) to me cause I knew I’d never see the movie and I was tired of hearing how awesome the ending was. Two weeks ago I convinced Jake to rent the DVD and we sat to watch it during the day (just in case it was scarier than people claimed). I knew the ending so I was watching for flaws and Jake was watching as a first time viewer. The movie was awesome and worth watching for both of us. For those of you who have seen it, the only potential flaw I saw was that Bruce’s character’s wife is cold at the end of the movie and the director claims that it’s only cold when there are angry spirits around. Otherwise, all details were perfectly consistent. I loved how they used the red color as a symbol to represent the link between this world and the other and how beautifully they crafted each scene such that once you knew the ending you could go back and watch the entire movie again and not feel cheated. The neat thing about their twist was that it was the kind that allowed you to make such a choice. In Fight Club, once you learned the huge twist at the end, you couldn’t go back and look for clues. In the book you could have but in the movie there was no way. That’s only cause of the nature of the twist itself. Anyhow, if you still haven’t seen The Sixth Sense, I totally recommend it and can say that it definitely wasn’t a horror movie even though the music stresses you out the entire time.
X-men is another movie I resisted seeing in the theater but for a different reason. I figured it would be a waste of 20 bucks. And it would have been. While I enjoyed the movie a lot, I don’t know that it was worth seeing in the theater. The effects were fantastic and there was somewhat of a plot and it kept my interest the whole time. So if you are into those kind of movies, X-men is much better than the usual quality.
I must say my first fascination with The Myth of Fingerprints was the name. What a neat title for a movie! Jake refused to see it in the theater so I had to wait till my TiVo picked it as a recommendation. I know that this movie was a small budget, not hyped movie but I really enjoyed it. I thought the setting was beautiful, the cinematography was awesome and the some of the acting was amazing. Both Noah Wyle and Julianne Moore performed very well and the story was interesting to me. I’ve written before about how thanksgiving seems to be a time when most families get together and fight and this movie is exactly about that. It’s the thanksgiving holiday of a dysfunctional family. It made me think a lot about why people have the hang ups that they do and how much we get influenced by our family members. I also wondered about my values and limits. Would I be able to stand up to my parents if I knew they did something wrong? In my case, I believe the answer would be yes cause I have a very communicative family and we have mutual respect, but there are so many families where the kids will never be able to go against their parents. Even when they are adults. The movie highlights some of these issues and it’s executed beautifully. I’m glad I finally got the chance to see it.
What was the last movie you saw that made you think?
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