Battle Royale with chocolate

[tallulahgs]

I'm back home after an absolutely hideous train journey which I don't feel the need to recount - let's just say that at the cinema today there was an ad for Virgin trains and Nik went ballistic...

But anyway. We were at the cinema because we took my sister to see:
which was very good. More faithful to the book, and more interplay between the various characters than in the book. Also the songs were great! I loved them! And the Oompa-Loompas worked very well. Johnny Depp was scary, but not as irritating as I'd envisaged - although I'm still not sure I liked his portrayal that much. All the kids were very good except Charlie, who was a bit blah - but it's not his fault, playing the good guy is very hard. I especially loved the way they portrayed Mike and Violet. Zoe has developed a Verruca impression... not good. But basically, the film had a darker atmosphere... see my subject line. Oh, and Mr Bucket was disturbingly attractive.


I also realised I wrote down my thoughts on Ghost In The Shell ages ago and forgot to post them (I am an LJ addict, I admit it), so...


Very, very beautiful and eerie. I absolutely loved the animation and the cityscapes, and the eerie, sad sense of it all. The plot was interesting although I get the feeling that they crushed it all up to fit it into the film (I don't understand why they didn't make it longer, eighty minutes is not that much for a movie).
The stuff about false memories was interesting and I wish there'd been more of it.
Kusanagi is the love child of Kei from Akira and Kiriyama from Battle Royale ^_^


I haven't had many LJ comments recently actually. May be just holidays. But eh, this thing is a record for me and that's useful.

There was a very irritating article in the paper today in which loads of people wrote in to say what their definition of Britishness was. Cricket, queueing, fair play (ha ha) and tolerance featured highly. I think this is bollocks.
Britishness, for me, is:
Red Dwarf
The sun shining but not too brightly
Having been invaded by loads of people so that we are a huge cultural melting pot but don't notice
That's it.
I am definitely not a patriot.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/speakwrite_/]

Mr Bucket was disturbingly attractive.

Oh, thank heavens. I'm not the only one.

[angrychemist.livejournal.com]

I told you Ghost In the Shell is a beautiful work of art. I just used more words and not those specific ones in the same sentence.

And yes, the movie does not capture the essense of the series very well, but that's what the Second movie AND the 26 Episode series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, is for. Which I also recommend. ^_- Highly recommend. Very much.

Plus the tv series makes literary references to JD Salinger, which makes it smart. ^_^

[jenova12.livejournal.com]

Ghost in the Shell was good, but I felt that it was a bit too cyber-punkish for my liking. I understood the plot up to a certain point, but then I decided to give up on it. I was crushed by all of the deeper going ons.

The movie was really deep. And I didn't get all of it.

Stand Alone Complex, however, is a VERY good series and I think it does the movie justice. I haven't seen the 2nd movie yet, so I don't know how that is. But according to what reviews are saying, it seems to be more of the same.

Which could be good or bad, depending on how one sees it. ^^

[disks-smilie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's odd about Mr Bucket. I could have done him all night, baby, whoo.

As for the rest of the movie, having barely paid attention to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when I first saw it, I didn't have too much to compare to. I really did enjoy the new one--Johnny Depp was just so awkward and closed off from humanity and he takes the character of Willy Wonka in a different direction than Gene Wilder did. (I love the fact that he wears purple latex gloves throughout the entire movie--it's almost like he's afraid of exposing his hands to the world and getting dirty.) And Violet's mom is the creepiest character by FAR. XD I think she was in Galaxy Quest, as that alien girl who falls in love with the technician guy.

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

*hugs you* Ack! I'm sorry your train journey was so bad! I wondered if it might have been, all the trains seemed screwy that day. *stabs Virgin trains for you obligingly*

Glad you enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And I like your definiton of British! :D

[nodrogg.livejournal.com]

I haven't had many LJ comments recently actually. May be just holidays. But eh, this thing is a record for me and that's useful.

As to that, I noticed (http://www.livejournal.com/users/nodrogg/26311.html) the same thing.

It's good to see you posting again...