![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
And for even more movie reviews, here’s two that have been out for awhile but only saw releases in Hong Kong this year.
The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
British indie film about two ex-cons kidnapping the daughter of a millionaire for ransom. Their plan leaves nothing to chance. Of course it goes wrong. I won’t give away the key twist that starts things unraveling, but it’s a fairly nifty one, if a bit daft.
Apart from that, though, this is a fairly straightforward kidnapping thriller, albeit one with some snappy direction from first-timer J. Blakeson, who knows when to cut corners with ruthless efficiency to keep things moving and still build up some suspense when needed, and all without resorting to the usual Hollywood gimmicks you usually get in kidnapping films.
On the other hand, it’s also somewhat flawed in that Alice blows at least one big chance to escape – which wouldn't be a big deal if the marketing team hadn’t described her as being smarter and cleverer than her kidnappers think. That’s not J Blakeson’s fault, I know. But still.
Black Swan
In which ballet dancer Nina gets the dual-role lead in Swan Lake and goes insane. Or possibly even more insane than she already was.
It’s only fair to mention up front that I’m not a big fan of Darren Aronofsky (he’s good, but he tends to make movies I’m not interested in seeing), and I’m even less of a fan of ballet, so a film about competitive ballet dancers is not really a draw for me.
I will say the film does pretty well in showing Nina’s obsession with perfection (fostered by her overbearing mother) deteriorate into madness, and Natalie Portman certainly deserves her Oscar. However, it all gets pretty cheesy by the third act, and the fact that Nina is going through all this for the sake of ballet just doesn’t resonate with me. But that’s my own problem, so I’ll say that it’s a reasonably good film for what it is, but not really my thing.
I’m a dancah,
This is dF
The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
British indie film about two ex-cons kidnapping the daughter of a millionaire for ransom. Their plan leaves nothing to chance. Of course it goes wrong. I won’t give away the key twist that starts things unraveling, but it’s a fairly nifty one, if a bit daft.
Apart from that, though, this is a fairly straightforward kidnapping thriller, albeit one with some snappy direction from first-timer J. Blakeson, who knows when to cut corners with ruthless efficiency to keep things moving and still build up some suspense when needed, and all without resorting to the usual Hollywood gimmicks you usually get in kidnapping films.
On the other hand, it’s also somewhat flawed in that Alice blows at least one big chance to escape – which wouldn't be a big deal if the marketing team hadn’t described her as being smarter and cleverer than her kidnappers think. That’s not J Blakeson’s fault, I know. But still.
Black Swan
In which ballet dancer Nina gets the dual-role lead in Swan Lake and goes insane. Or possibly even more insane than she already was.
It’s only fair to mention up front that I’m not a big fan of Darren Aronofsky (he’s good, but he tends to make movies I’m not interested in seeing), and I’m even less of a fan of ballet, so a film about competitive ballet dancers is not really a draw for me.
I will say the film does pretty well in showing Nina’s obsession with perfection (fostered by her overbearing mother) deteriorate into madness, and Natalie Portman certainly deserves her Oscar. However, it all gets pretty cheesy by the third act, and the fact that Nina is going through all this for the sake of ballet just doesn’t resonate with me. But that’s my own problem, so I’ll say that it’s a reasonably good film for what it is, but not really my thing.
I’m a dancah,
This is dF
