WOW!!! What a way to start the New Year and celebrate the official 5th anniversary of movie club. Our first meeting of the year was fantastic. We had overflow attendance with almost all recent members of the group present. Then we had a surprisingly, to me, boisterous and passion-filled discussion about the film, House of Sand and Fog. The level of passion associated with this one was surprising to me, but that's what is so wonderful about movie club.
House of Sand and Fog was chosen by the newest member of our club, Nero. She said she chose the film because it is one of her favorites and she wanted to see it again. Judging by the ratings it was given, it is probably a favorite of a lot more people now.
It is a very good movie, on that everyone was agreed. The acting was superb, especially Ben Kingsley's performance, which was exceptional. In truth, all the actors in the film were perfect in their roles; the photography was beautiful and story was told with dialogue and actions that seemed true-to-life. There was no black or white in this movie. The characters were all flawed, no one all good or all bad as we too often see in film.
Carl and Lori both gave the film an A+. Lori commented that while she'll cry at sentimentality expressed in movies, it is "not easy", for a film , "to evoke a lot of different emotions" from her as this one did. Carl felt that it was a "great movie, with great acting" but wondered why Jennifer Connelly's character didn't just open her mail. A sentiment that was shared by many in the room. Of course, if she had, there would have been no story to tell. Harold felt that the "sum was not equal to its parts". For him, the movie didn't add up to a great film although there were a number of great moments in it.
As often happens in our meetings, the arguments and passions stirred during our discussion had little to do with the film's quality but with the issues highlighted in it. The issues addressed in this movie were were complicated, demonstrating how one's perspectives are shaped by cultural and social beliefs. What is right or wrong can be based on how one is taught to view the world, and that being said, both parties can be claim to be on the right and moral side of an issue. I was somewhat surprised that there were so many movie club members who seemed to have chosen a side. Many members latched on to what was legally right and supported the character who had the system on his side. Others, like myself, felt that while the law was on his side, the right path to take would have led him to other actions to solve the problem.
In the end, tragedy happens and everyone loses, some their very lives, because no one was willing to step back and take the time to evaluate what was really at stake. Instead it was more important to win rather than to communicate with one another and look for ways to make everyone a victor. There must be a lesson in that somewhere.
In an effort to make the blog a little more interesting, I decided to try embedding some video to give readers a taste of what this film is all about. Here's the trailer for House of Sand and Fog.
And here are the ratings:
And here are the ratings:
- Nero A
- Zorah A-
- David A
- Tiffany B
- Ramona A
- Carlito A+
- Zanetta A
- Kathy B+
- Yvonne B
- Lori A+
- Harold B
- Ron A
- Rita A
- Hope B+
Average = A-
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Our next film, I Am Legend, was selected by Zanetta because of Will Smith. Period. Unfortunately Zanetta didn't see the movie because, being susceptible to nightmares, she was warned that watching it might cause her to have them. Unfortunately too despite our collective support of Will Smith, I Am Legend didn't fare as well as our previous film.
Our next film, I Am Legend, was selected by Zanetta because of Will Smith. Period. Unfortunately Zanetta didn't see the movie because, being susceptible to nightmares, she was warned that watching it might cause her to have them. Unfortunately too despite our collective support of Will Smith, I Am Legend didn't fare as well as our previous film.
Well Will there's good news and bad news. Let's get the bad news out of the way first, only two A's for the movie. Now for the good news. Most of us really liked your performance and thought you did a really good job carrying almost the entire movie by yourself, of course with great supporting help from Sam. Puts you right up there with Tom Hanks in Cast Away http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222/. Tiffany and John really had high praise for the film. John thought that "Will Smith is finally at the point where he can say he can act" and that this was a "breakout" for him and that his "respect went through the roof". He also praised the technical aspects of the film. Tiffany said that she likes horror/thriller style movies and that the monsters in the film, "were cool",plus she like movies shot in New York City.
On the other side of the ratings table Ron said that "this is the third time this movie has been made" citing The Omega Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067525/ as one incarnation. He thought the special effects "stunk" and that "if it hadn't been for Will Smith, it would have been an F". Ed, who also gave the movie a C- rating thought "the plot had too many holes. It was too trite, too Hollywood." Finally Damon who originally gave the movie a C- changed his rating too an even lower D- because he thought that too many good things were being said about the film by those who didn't like it. He thought it was "a corny movie" and only reason to see it was Will Smith. He fell asleep.
Personally I didn't think it was so bad but a lot of my movie going time was spent hiding my face and jumping out of my skin. I was physically sore when I left the theater from tensing up so much during the movie. If you like that kind of thing I guess I Am Legend is the film for you.
Here are the ratings:
- Carl A
- Ramona C
- Gregg C-
- John A
- Kathy B
- Lori B+ (for the movie)/A- for Will's performance
- Yvonne B+
- Rita B
- Ron C-
- Zorah C
- Harold B
- Ed C-
- Tiffany A
- Damon D-
- Hope B-
- David C (for the movie)/A for Will's performance
Average = C+
