Been busy lately, but finally this weekend I watched three movies worth mentioning here.
1) The four feathers (2002): Looks like this one really flopped everywhere. In my hometown it only lasted a couple of weeks, so I picked the DVD with mixed feelings. I had liked the trailer, and even enjoyed one of the previous versions of the film I had seen, the one directed by Terence Young. To my surprise, soon I realised I was really liking it. The writers have done a very interesting job adapting the story, which is now more critical with colonialism and have avoided as much as they can the historical drama part focusing on Harry Fabesham's dilemma and his resulting adventures in Sudan. His journey to help his friends from certain death is depicted as a real adventure this time, not as a mere theme park attraction, which is quite refreshing, and it even becomes really dramatic in the last section of the film, which contrasts with the ligh-hearted humour that tainted the Terence Young version. I also liked the slow but steady pace (everything we are shown or told has its importance, and even some parts that weren't that necessary have been completely deleted) and the cast was adequate. Surprise: Heath Ledger CAN act.
2) Blue Velvet: THe DVD came with a local newspaper, and since I had always wanted to see this one I bought it inmediately. I though it was brilliant, a charming trip to a too-idilical small village where eveything seems freezed from the late fifties or early sixties, but which also hides beyond its surface an unexpected gallery of tortured characters and corrupted feelings. The plot is the one a crime story, with two kids playing detectives around their neighbourhood, but the criptic dialogue and Lynch's known ability to film close universes as if they were both unknown and threatening soon moves it to his own territory. Actors were all superb, but I specially liked Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern' s works.
3) Spy Kids II: I had liked the first one, and this one is even better, This time the two spy kids are sent to a lost island filled with strange creatures. The special effects took too much importance at some stages, but I enjoyed it overall because of the humour and the imaginative production design.
Blue Velvet's great. I read somewhere that David Lynch kept Kyle & Isabella Rossellini apart until their first, um, "meeting" in the film.
There's an even better one: I read on IMDB that on the first scene between Dennis Hopper and Rosellini (and I bet you know what happens on that one) Lynch wanted Hopper to inhale Helium through his mask. Can you imagine the result?
Frank Booth (smurf voice): Baby wants to f**k! Baby wants to f**k blue velvet!
LOL!
Oh god lol