Ben bought this one as a joke for a silly date night early in our relationship and it's his fault that it's in my collection. There's something delightfully funny about that because he is so much more annoyed by this movie than I am. And truly, the reason I have any fondness for it at all (it is hot garbage) is because of how much we laughed watching it and how many private jokes it spawned in the years since.
Hmmm... hot garbage is too strong. There is potential in this movie. Joe Johnston is a brilliant director who says yes to some wildly uneven scripts. By god, he does what he can with them but all the killer lighting and framing in the world can't fix a lousy script.
The movie also suffers from some bad casting. On one end, you have Emily Blunt who doesn't know how to suck. She's luminous. Her character is so out of place but I don't care because Emily Blunt is one of the most engaging actresses working this century. Hugo Weaving is close to this end of the spectrum too.
Look at her. DO ANOTHER ACTION MOVIE, EMILY!
In the middle? Benecio del Toro. Capable and honestly, he seems to navigate the script well but he is a charisma black hole. And on the far end, Anthony Hopkins. If everyone had been on the same page as him, this would be a very different review. It would have been high camp and I would have been very into it. But on his lonesome, it's pretty rough. He literally walks out of a shot playing a harmonica simply because he, the actor, wanted to, not because it was character based. Just odd.
Honestly, that's it. I'm glad we watched it again. I like gently annoying Ben and there are some beautiful shots. An evening well spent.
Ink on paper
Takeaways:
-I was so struck by the cinematography, I knew I was going to try ink drawings, a medium I haven't spent much time with at all. So I watched a class online and gave it a try. For my first go at it, I'm very pleased. I want to do more with it for sure.
-It's funny, narrowing down my style, or articulating it I guess, I'm drawn to clean lines but I do sketchier shading. I'm drawn to simple, almost cartoony illustrations but I can't help but get bogged down in details. I think this medium might be a great way to ride the line between what I do and what I want to do.
Once again, I find I don't have much to say. I'm just so pleased to be back in a rhythm of turning out art.
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