At the Movies, 2013 - Part I

I've been trying to organize my thoughts about the latest movie I went to see: "Eien no Zero" (The Eternal Zero).  So far, no success.  My initial rating of the movie right after I finished viewing it was "so-so".  Overall, the movie may still hold that rating from me but there are a number of details which have kept my mind spinning.  More on that later.

In the meantime, here are some quick thoughts from me about other movies I watched this year.

"Wara no Tate" (Straw Shield).  Directed by Miike Takeshi.
A student of mine told me she had gone to see a movie and found herself the only person in the theatre.  I asked which movie and went to see it myself.  I also was the only person in the theatre.  Part of that coincidence came from the fact that we both had gone to the late screening of the film and the other was that the film had been in the theatres for a few weeks.  The movie in question was the above named offering from Miike Takeshi.  We both agreed that the film started off well but fizzled out as it reached its end.

"Kaze Tachinu" (The Wind Rises).  Directed by Miyazaki Hayao.
I didn't get the theatre to see this film the weekend it was released as I was out of town then.  Though I didn't really wait too long to see it.  I think I caught it at a late show screening the following Monday.  No, I was not the only person in the theatre.  All in all, I enjoyed this film.  I was captivated by the film's depiction of life in prewar Japan.  The story, a mixture of fact, fiction and pure fancy, was not as contentious as I thought it could have been but it wasn't lighthearted fluff either.

"Django Unchained".  Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
It's a Tarantino movie.  Went to see it with my co-worker Nick, who is a big Tarantino fan, and his girlfriend.  This one, for me, was all I expected from a Tarantino movie.  It got the job done and that was good enough for me.

"Lincoln".  Directed by Stephen Spielberg.
A good movie interspersed with my occasional observation of "That subtitle is not what that character said".   The political maneuvering depicted in the film had my head spinning at some points.  It was quite fascinating.  I spent a fair bit of time surfing wiki pages after viewing the film to get a better grip on the history behind the story I had had the pleasure of viewing.

"42".  Directed by Brian Helgeland.
This one I went to see more or less on a lark after spotting a poster advertising it at the shopping centre across the street from the theatre.  I had gone there to have a sundae which I had developed a sudden craving for after dropping a couple of suits off at the dry cleaners.  It wasn't a bad movie but it wasn't a great movie.  I was aware of a couple of historical inaccuracies in the film prior to viewing it thanks to a quick check of a review online.  I suspect the student of mine who went to see it after I told him about it was more impressed than I was.  The trailers shown before the film included ones for two films I figured I really did want to see, "Kaguya-hime no Monogatari" and "Eien no Zero".... I will talk about those two in my next post here.