That band is OK. I can't get into them. I think it's just because their name is disappointing. They don't sound vampirey at all! Bauhaus, plz.
This weekend must have been an unofficial vampire movie marathon for me, because I watched a vampire movie Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night. We already discussed Nosferatu, so let's talk about the other two.
Underworld: Awakening
Dude, I had never seen the Underworld movies before, and I feel I have been cheated of something glorious. I was never that much into vampires, and if I was, it was just the black-and-white Bela Lugosi types. And Twilight, but we don't talk about that. (SHH!)
Underworld had its problems for sure. Like *SPOILERS* I'm pretty sure I would remember getting pregnant, even if I was sedated *END SPOILERS* and there were a few other plot-points that I found to be headscratchers. But there are three things in this world that I love that can make up for a lack of logic: Cheesey, over the top in-yo-face badassery, sci-fi/fantasy, and leather and latex (so I guess that's four things. Five things?). The Underworld movie had said goodness in frigging ABUNDANCE. Dude, I want to marry Selene now. She is a real man.
One thing that really bothered me though, was that scene where Selene was interrogating the guy. He gives her what she wants, but she totally shuts him down and kills him anyway. Harsh, much? I guess if I was stuffed in an ice-box with no idea what had been done to my husband, I would be mad, too. But still. As misanthropic as I can be toward my own kind, I still have a soft spot for my fellow humans. I mean, we've been through so much together...
Through it all, though, the problems in Awakening weren't so glaring that they took away from the awesomeness of the movie. It was violent. It was badass. It was exciting. It was badass. It was cool, and did I mention it was badass? If any other fans of the franchise hate this movie, keep in mind that I am an Underworld virgin, so I have nothing to compare it to. For what it was, it was highly enjoyable. It may have helped that I went to see it with a couple of dudes, too. And it's been a long time since I saw such a charasmatic lead in a recent action movie. Kate Beckinsale wasn't much in the way of personality, but she was just so...BADASS. My goodness. Slow-mo time.
Things I learned from Underworld: Awakening
1. Werewolves never have good CGI.
2. But they are still scary as five-year-old leftover chicken enchiladas. Well, not that scary.
3. We will have world peace when the vampires are exposed. Except no, we won't, because we'll be fighting the vampires.
4. All vampires and werewolves have British accents. Except the ones from "Twilight" and Bela Lugosi. And like I said, we aren't mentioning the "T" word.
5. Once you are a vampire, you are required by vampire law to wear leather, PVC, or latex, under pain of death.
My Movie Snob rating: ***1/2
My personal rating: ****
Interview With the Vampire
Please don't take my goth card. I had never seen this movie before, OK? Like I said, I'm not vampire-obsessive. I prefer elves and faeries. Lord of the Rings is my thing, yo. And Phantom of the Opera. Love me some Phantom. I actually never had a cow over the fact that some Mormon chick wrote some books about sparkling vampires. But never mind that. On to the review.
This movie. I know it's a good movie when my movie-snob self and my movie-snob sister turn off the TV, stare at the black screen for a while, turn to stare at eachother, and then proceed to wig out about the movie for the next 24 hours. This was one of those movies that you continue to think about and continue to WANT to think about through the next day.
It helped that it included a lot of bootyful mens in the cast.
But I digress.
I liked how this movie portrayed vampires in a sympathetic light, but it didn't really excuse their monstrosity. It wasn't like Twilight, which goes like, "Oh, the poor vampires! They just tryin' to do what's right!" The Ricepires are bad and they know it. They also enjoy it. And it wasn't like Dracula, which goes like, "I don't drink Vine because I am a souless bloodthirsty critter!" The tragedy (and horror) of Interview was that these vampires are SO human.
From my perspective as a Christian, it's kind of a glimpse of what humans really are. I am of the belief that humans are not basically good. Interview With the Vampire is one of the best and most tragic illustrations of a Godless, empty, sinful humanity that I have ever seen on film. Ironic that it was about fictional monsters.
First off, the acting is awesome. I'm a huge Brad Pitt fan, though I'm more a fan of his acting than his looks. He's too jockish for my tastes, but he IS purdy. Louis wasn't my favorite character in the movie, though, even though I did like and empathize with him. But he was more of the straight man of the cast. He's kind of the only sane man in his little vampire family, and is heavily burdened by an active conscience. Unlike a certain sparkly vamp, though, Louis can't control his instincts.
Tom Cruise as Lestat is either loveably vile or hatefully awesome. Lestat is sexy, ambiguously (or not so ambiguously) flaming, and a magnificent douche. He's a jerk, he manipulates, he intimidates, and he acts very much like an emotionally abusive boyfriend. But he's lonely and bored and doing his darndest to convince himself life is worth living for the rest of eternity. He parties hardy and doesn't let anybody get in the way. And he has little patience for whining. Did I mention he's sexy? I like Tom Cruise as a blond.
All I can say about Kirsten Dunst as Claudia is...Geeze, what happened between Interview and the Spiderman movies? She's both freakish and sympathetic as an eternal little girl. Child actors are usually no fun, but Kirsten holds her own with the two older guys, and does a great job at being a convincing baby vampire. She's just as interesting as Louis or Lestat. Though seriously, Claudia. Growing up is overrated. So are boobs.
The biggest gripe I have about Interview is that I wish they gave a clearer explanation on how you kill Ricepires. The only sure way that I saw was the sunlight method (saaaaaaad sceeeeene). later in the movie, Louis kills some vamps with fire, but that didn't seem to work too well the first time he tried it(!). And can you really kill them by chopping them up? How much do you have to chop them up? And why do they have to sleep in coffins? The sound was terrible on my copy of the movie, so I may have missed something.
All in all, I think Interview with the Vampire is a new favorite movie of mine. It's scary, it's sad, it's sometimes quite funny, it has some great character developement, and it makes a lasting impression. The ending is quite awesome as well. My sister and I were laughing and "DUUUUDE"-ing as the credits rolled. It's a good movie, if depressing as heck, but it's quite a worthy addition to my stack of macabre films.
Things I learned from Interview with the Vampire
1. Tom Cruise as Lestat is even sexy as a rotting corpse that's been stuck in a swamp for years. Kind of disturbing.
2. Anne Rice is friggin' EVIL to her characters.
3. Kirsten Dunst is a good actress after all.
4. Puss'n Boots is a vampire. I knew it all along.
5. You can kill Ricepires with fire. ...Or can you?!
My Movie Snob rating: ****1/2
My personal rating: ****1/2
Gaw, sorry about the mile-long post, guys.
Z
This weekend must have been an unofficial vampire movie marathon for me, because I watched a vampire movie Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night. We already discussed Nosferatu, so let's talk about the other two.
Underworld: Awakening
 |
| Commin' to kick some major BUTT. |
Underworld had its problems for sure. Like *SPOILERS* I'm pretty sure I would remember getting pregnant, even if I was sedated *END SPOILERS* and there were a few other plot-points that I found to be headscratchers. But there are three things in this world that I love that can make up for a lack of logic: Cheesey, over the top in-yo-face badassery, sci-fi/fantasy, and leather and latex (so I guess that's four things. Five things?). The Underworld movie had said goodness in frigging ABUNDANCE. Dude, I want to marry Selene now. She is a real man.
One thing that really bothered me though, was that scene where Selene was interrogating the guy. He gives her what she wants, but she totally shuts him down and kills him anyway. Harsh, much? I guess if I was stuffed in an ice-box with no idea what had been done to my husband, I would be mad, too. But still. As misanthropic as I can be toward my own kind, I still have a soft spot for my fellow humans. I mean, we've been through so much together...
Through it all, though, the problems in Awakening weren't so glaring that they took away from the awesomeness of the movie. It was violent. It was badass. It was exciting. It was badass. It was cool, and did I mention it was badass? If any other fans of the franchise hate this movie, keep in mind that I am an Underworld virgin, so I have nothing to compare it to. For what it was, it was highly enjoyable. It may have helped that I went to see it with a couple of dudes, too. And it's been a long time since I saw such a charasmatic lead in a recent action movie. Kate Beckinsale wasn't much in the way of personality, but she was just so...BADASS. My goodness. Slow-mo time.
Things I learned from Underworld: Awakening
1. Werewolves never have good CGI.
2. But they are still scary as five-year-old leftover chicken enchiladas. Well, not that scary.
3. We will have world peace when the vampires are exposed. Except no, we won't, because we'll be fighting the vampires.
4. All vampires and werewolves have British accents. Except the ones from "Twilight" and Bela Lugosi. And like I said, we aren't mentioning the "T" word.
5. Once you are a vampire, you are required by vampire law to wear leather, PVC, or latex, under pain of death.
My Movie Snob rating: ***1/2
My personal rating: ****
Interview With the Vampire
This movie. I know it's a good movie when my movie-snob self and my movie-snob sister turn off the TV, stare at the black screen for a while, turn to stare at eachother, and then proceed to wig out about the movie for the next 24 hours. This was one of those movies that you continue to think about and continue to WANT to think about through the next day.
It helped that it included a lot of bootyful mens in the cast.
But I digress.
I liked how this movie portrayed vampires in a sympathetic light, but it didn't really excuse their monstrosity. It wasn't like Twilight, which goes like, "Oh, the poor vampires! They just tryin' to do what's right!" The Ricepires are bad and they know it. They also enjoy it. And it wasn't like Dracula, which goes like, "I don't drink Vine because I am a souless bloodthirsty critter!" The tragedy (and horror) of Interview was that these vampires are SO human.
From my perspective as a Christian, it's kind of a glimpse of what humans really are. I am of the belief that humans are not basically good. Interview With the Vampire is one of the best and most tragic illustrations of a Godless, empty, sinful humanity that I have ever seen on film. Ironic that it was about fictional monsters.
First off, the acting is awesome. I'm a huge Brad Pitt fan, though I'm more a fan of his acting than his looks. He's too jockish for my tastes, but he IS purdy. Louis wasn't my favorite character in the movie, though, even though I did like and empathize with him. But he was more of the straight man of the cast. He's kind of the only sane man in his little vampire family, and is heavily burdened by an active conscience. Unlike a certain sparkly vamp, though, Louis can't control his instincts.
 |
| Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? |
All I can say about Kirsten Dunst as Claudia is...Geeze, what happened between Interview and the Spiderman movies? She's both freakish and sympathetic as an eternal little girl. Child actors are usually no fun, but Kirsten holds her own with the two older guys, and does a great job at being a convincing baby vampire. She's just as interesting as Louis or Lestat. Though seriously, Claudia. Growing up is overrated. So are boobs.
 |
| A contributing reason for the Spidey remake. |
All in all, I think Interview with the Vampire is a new favorite movie of mine. It's scary, it's sad, it's sometimes quite funny, it has some great character developement, and it makes a lasting impression. The ending is quite awesome as well. My sister and I were laughing and "DUUUUDE"-ing as the credits rolled. It's a good movie, if depressing as heck, but it's quite a worthy addition to my stack of macabre films.
Things I learned from Interview with the Vampire
1. Tom Cruise as Lestat is even sexy as a rotting corpse that's been stuck in a swamp for years. Kind of disturbing.
2. Anne Rice is friggin' EVIL to her characters.
3. Kirsten Dunst is a good actress after all.
4. Puss'n Boots is a vampire. I knew it all along.
5. You can kill Ricepires with fire. ...Or can you?!
My Movie Snob rating: ****1/2
My personal rating: ****1/2
Gaw, sorry about the mile-long post, guys.
Z
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