The Orphanage (El Orfanato)

The Orphanage.

what to say. i walked into the theatre and, to my surprise, found that my group was the only other group in the theatre which made for a total of 7 people in the theatre. (maybe the fact that it was the 10:40 showing on a wednesday night) This made me question the quality of the movie, then again most of us are lazy americans and dont like the fact that they have to go to a movie in another language and READ SUBTITLES!!

The movie is a spanish movie "Presented" by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth). This is a horror movie by reputation and is what takes a big part in my overall analysis.

walking into this movie i had heard from fellow full sailors that this movie is "so scary" and "Its the only movie that actually had me curled up in a ball in my seat". now hearing this i am expecting a really FREAKING scary movie. ( which i wasnt a huge fan of because i dont particularly like horror movies)

so. when coming to the end and i still hadnt pissed my pants i was somewhat disappointed (and majorly relieved) because it was contrary to all the hype i had heard.

The movie for what it is, is a great movie. I would def. recommend it and would like to see it again to pick up everything but all in all i would say YES to this movie..

(if you see this film feel free to talk about it more in depth inside, i would like to comment back and forth about it but i dont want to ruin anything for anyone who is planning on seeing it but hasnt yet)

CLoverfield

in all honesty i went into the movie with low expectations.

and i feel that to merely say that the movie was better than i expected doesnt say much.

I would say my overall vibe of the movie was... i liked it!!

lets break it down.




So. we went out on thursday night and caught the midnight showing of cloverfield.


the story surface level.. it was a "slice of life" story (like my previous creative writing instructors would say)

It was a slice of life in the sense that we started at a party- got minor background info (sufficient amount to work for the movie) then a disaster struck. then we follow them on their journey.

so all in all the story line was mediocre but worked in this specific situation so i cant complain..

Cinematography-

an interesting approach on movie making to say the least.
it was done completely hand held "home video" style.
This gave an interesting aspect adding to the slice of life factor.

concerns with this style.
it was hard to follow at times. i found myself needing reference points to keep from puking my lungs out. (note the brooklyn bridge scene)
*not recommended for those with weak stomachs and easy motion sickness

Special FX

i must give the special FX team mad props. Not only were the special FX good, but the fact that they had to sit there and key frame out every single frame of the entire movie since its shot hand held: there are no reference points to go with, rendering this project a beast.. for any of you who know about keyframing or keystoning or rendering any kind of 2d, oe 3d object..

Acting. mediocre.
sometime i felt the acting lagged a little. phrases like "what is that?" "whats going on?" "what should we do" came up a lot and i found it repetitive and unprofessional. (not that "real people" would be "professional" but it reminded me of a bad improve job.

but in all the did good, working with CG crap and everything.

so. thats cloverfield.

i realize i was quite harsh but all in all i would see it again.. i might pop a few dremamine before returning though.

tell me what you thought!!!

love

welcome.

the purpose of this blog is to discuss opinions about all the different movies that we attend. it is an opportunity for everyone to share different points of view regarding a certain film. with the contribution of everyone that comments, we will be able to analyze different aspects of the movie watching experience.

no more rambling....

welcome....

and let the commenting begin.

juan.