skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I just... don't like this film very much. I would normally assume that I watched it due to liking Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, but that can't be the case because Being John Malkovich came out first and I definitely saw it at the cinema. And I don't even think I liked it then, so I must have bought it purely because John Cusack was in it. This was not a Be Kind Rewind experience - I did not enjoy it more the second time at all. All I kept thinking as I watched it was "Did I really enjoy this the first time I saw it? Why do I own this?? Everything is just so uncomfortable..."
It's really quite bizarre to have John Malkovich be the most likeable character in a film. Not to be insulting, but it's really against the grain for him and I'm not sure it's intentional. I enjoyed this film the most whenever he was on screen, and his exploration of his own subconscious is very inventive.
All in all though, I dislike this film. It'll be going to the second hand store tomorrow.
Final Thought: It is interesting to see story elements in this film that Charlie Kaufman clearly managed to make more successful in Eternal Sunshine.
Up Next: Big Fish (2003)
This is easily one of my top three childhood films. It is as comforting and familiar to me as the smell of my father's cooking. Angela Lansbury is just wonderful, and I was always amazed by films that combined animation with live action. I was amazed by how they managed to put real people together with something that I knew was created on paper. It seemed extremely clever to me and I was fascinated by any film where it occurred (which led me to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as a kid; a decision I regretted. That steamroller scene was upsetting).
I regularly hired the video from my local store and knew it back to front, but upon purchasing the 25th anniversary DVD, it turns out that there was a lot more to the story than was shown in the initial version that I saw. There are quite a few songs that weren't in the video I saw as a kid, and the extended Portobello Rd dance sequence is lovely. I mentioned previously that I resented the addition of a song to my DVD copy of Beauty and the Beast ("Human Again" wasn't in the original version, and I don't feel that the film flows smoothly in to it, so it jars my viewing experience), but I must say that the additional scenes in Bedknobs and Broomsticks work for me. They give the characters more depth. As a kid, I particularly never understood why Emelius suddenly shacked up with Miss Price at the end, but with the extended version their quiet affection for each other is shown and so it all makes sense.
Final Thought: It often happens that, as an adult, you'll go back and watch a film or TV show you loved as a kid and realise that it was actually a bit messed up. It somehow didn't seem that way to you when you were young. Yet with Bedknobs and Broomsticks, I always thought the deflation of the suits of armour most creepy, even as a child.
Up Next: Being John Malkovich (1999)
I remember there being a fuss about this movie when it was released. The fact that computers were used to partly animate the ballroom scene was a big deal. It seemed so strange to me at the time that a person would use a computer for animation. I knew that making a cartoon involved several pieces of paper that you drew on and then flicked between a lot. The idea of using a computer for that was just weird.
I went to see this film at the cinema and just loved Belle. She was bookish, brunette and inquisitive, which I found appealing. I also loved the music theatre nature of the soundtrack. The opening theme is gorgeous and the songs have such entertaining lyrics ("I use antlers in all of my decorating...").
I do wonder though, how much of the furniture in the castle was just furniture? If it was entirely furnished with the staff in their transformed state, what did they do once everyone was human again?
Final Thought: Thinking back, "inventor" was a common profession according to 90s films...
Up Next: Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
