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malnpudl at 02:08pm on 27/08/2013
malnpudl at 02:08pm on 27/08/2013Day 4 of the 30 day thing, and finally a bit of at least marginally fannish content. Woohoo?
I wanted to like Elysium. Matt Damon is always a pleasure, and while I can't say bald is my favorite look for him, he's seriously ripped and muscled up for this role, and that's tastycakes. The cast is excellent, Sharlto Copley is brilliant in his bad-guy role, and it's fun SF-lite storytelling if you sprinkle a little handwavium on your popcorn. Should be a good time, right?
Not a good time at all. First, this was the most egregious over-use of Shaky Cam I have ever seen, and I frequently had difficulty even figuring out what was happening (as did the other four people I saw it with). Admittedly, I'm not the fastest at processing images, but I'm not turtle-paced at it, either. Directors should trust that viewers can read the emotional intensity, chaos, urgency, and all that stuff from what is happening. If you have good actors and you're telling a good story, I will get all of these things. I will feel them and believe them. I promise! Trust the viewers. We will follow you; you don't have to make us nauseous with your camera work in order to make your point.
Speaking of unhappy body parts: Adding gratuitous light strobing on top of the Shaky Cam was enough to give me a nasty headache. And it didn't contribute anything! You have an extremely bright back light, with characters moving all over the frame and repeatedly occluding and then revealing it, and you're going to make my head hurt. There was no point. Just discomfort at best -- three of the people in our party didn't get headaches; they just hated it and squinted their way through it -- and outright pain at worse (myself and one other person).
If you know yourself to be vulnerable to such things, do yourself a favor and skip this movie.
I wanted to like Elysium. Matt Damon is always a pleasure, and while I can't say bald is my favorite look for him, he's seriously ripped and muscled up for this role, and that's tastycakes. The cast is excellent, Sharlto Copley is brilliant in his bad-guy role, and it's fun SF-lite storytelling if you sprinkle a little handwavium on your popcorn. Should be a good time, right?
Not a good time at all. First, this was the most egregious over-use of Shaky Cam I have ever seen, and I frequently had difficulty even figuring out what was happening (as did the other four people I saw it with). Admittedly, I'm not the fastest at processing images, but I'm not turtle-paced at it, either. Directors should trust that viewers can read the emotional intensity, chaos, urgency, and all that stuff from what is happening. If you have good actors and you're telling a good story, I will get all of these things. I will feel them and believe them. I promise! Trust the viewers. We will follow you; you don't have to make us nauseous with your camera work in order to make your point.
Speaking of unhappy body parts: Adding gratuitous light strobing on top of the Shaky Cam was enough to give me a nasty headache. And it didn't contribute anything! You have an extremely bright back light, with characters moving all over the frame and repeatedly occluding and then revealing it, and you're going to make my head hurt. There was no point. Just discomfort at best -- three of the people in our party didn't get headaches; they just hated it and squinted their way through it -- and outright pain at worse (myself and one other person).
If you know yourself to be vulnerable to such things, do yourself a favor and skip this movie.
(no subject)
*insert 2000 word long screed here*
I think "Pacific Rim" would be okay? No shaky cam stuff, definitely. It's beautifully shot to show off the models and CGI of the monsters and the robots. I do not recall an excessive amount of bright strobe light moments, although I'm sure there are some. Most of the robot vs. monster fights happen at night (in the rain) which does involve some light/dark shifting. (I just really really really loved PR like woah so it's what I recommend to everyone right now ;)
(no subject)