I WATCH MOVIES ON AIRPLANES
Jun. 6th, 2012 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogOr at least I watch them when the flight is 12+ hours, because I don’t have one of those fancy iPad doodads or an iTunes account, I can only spend so much time reading, and sleeping is not an option.
Unfortunately for me, I flew United Airlines for my US trip, and UA has yet to upgrade to the 21st Century for things like, say, personal backseat entertainment screens with 30 channels and/or a VOD library. On the bright side, they’ve stopped using those old three-color TV projectors invented in the 80s.
Still.
Anyway, here’s what I watched.
One For The Money
Based on the first novel of the Stephanie Plum mystery series by Janet Evanovich, in which Plum finds herself unemployed and, out of desperation, gets a job from cousin Vinnie as a bail bondswoman. Her first target: Joe Morelli, Plum’s former high-school boyfriend who is a cop accused of shooting an unarmed man.
I couldn't tell you what the book itself is like, but in terms of visuals, pace and dialogue, the movie is a throwback to any number of late-80s films featuring wisecracking sleuths adapted from books (Fletch, V.I. Warshawski and Burglar come to mind). Which is to say, it’s basic and functional, but not essential.
Hugo
Martin Scorsese’s “kids” film in which title character Hugo lives inside the clockroom of a train station in Paris as he tries to complete his dead father’s task of rebuilding an automaton capable of writing messages – and discovers an unexpected secret.
I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it’s Scorsese, so it’s brilliantly made. On the other hand, the slapstick chase scenes didn’t really work for me, and Scorsese gets distracted fleshing out some of the minor characters in the station (that are meant to be famous people, but you’d never know it unless you read the end credits).
Still, points for highlighting the life and work of Georges Melies, which is the best part of the film, and probably might have made a for a better film idea in itself.
Man On A Ledge
In which Sam Worthington plays the title role – a man threatening to jump off the ledge of a NYC hotel – only what he has in mind isn’t suicide.
The basic idea – using a jumper scenario as a distraction for a much bigger plan – is okay, but the plan itself gets more preposterous as the story builds up to what is (for me) a very unconvincing climax. Between that and a movie populated mostly with cardboard stereotypes, it’s not nearly the clever heist film it thinks it is.
Go ahead and jump,
This is dF
Unfortunately for me, I flew United Airlines for my US trip, and UA has yet to upgrade to the 21st Century for things like, say, personal backseat entertainment screens with 30 channels and/or a VOD library. On the bright side, they’ve stopped using those old three-color TV projectors invented in the 80s.
Still.
Anyway, here’s what I watched.
One For The Money
Based on the first novel of the Stephanie Plum mystery series by Janet Evanovich, in which Plum finds herself unemployed and, out of desperation, gets a job from cousin Vinnie as a bail bondswoman. Her first target: Joe Morelli, Plum’s former high-school boyfriend who is a cop accused of shooting an unarmed man.
I couldn't tell you what the book itself is like, but in terms of visuals, pace and dialogue, the movie is a throwback to any number of late-80s films featuring wisecracking sleuths adapted from books (Fletch, V.I. Warshawski and Burglar come to mind). Which is to say, it’s basic and functional, but not essential.
Hugo
Martin Scorsese’s “kids” film in which title character Hugo lives inside the clockroom of a train station in Paris as he tries to complete his dead father’s task of rebuilding an automaton capable of writing messages – and discovers an unexpected secret.
I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it’s Scorsese, so it’s brilliantly made. On the other hand, the slapstick chase scenes didn’t really work for me, and Scorsese gets distracted fleshing out some of the minor characters in the station (that are meant to be famous people, but you’d never know it unless you read the end credits).
Still, points for highlighting the life and work of Georges Melies, which is the best part of the film, and probably might have made a for a better film idea in itself.
Man On A Ledge
In which Sam Worthington plays the title role – a man threatening to jump off the ledge of a NYC hotel – only what he has in mind isn’t suicide.
The basic idea – using a jumper scenario as a distraction for a much bigger plan – is okay, but the plan itself gets more preposterous as the story builds up to what is (for me) a very unconvincing climax. Between that and a movie populated mostly with cardboard stereotypes, it’s not nearly the clever heist film it thinks it is.
Go ahead and jump,
This is dF
