Wednesday 4 May 2011

Goodbye Sociology, Hello Thor, and absolute intrigue with Catfish

 catfish

Yere, this blog has pictures and everything!

So yesterday i did my first exam and finished sociology forever, phew, and then we headed (unsuprisingly) straight to the cinema, to get a bit of cheap tuesday action with a rather beautiful looking Chris Hemsworth as the title character of Thor. Thor follows the comic bookstory (and countless myths and legends) about the different worlds in our universe and the God like beings who live in Adwar. Thor (Hemsworth) is the son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and Frigga (a forgotten Rene Russo), brother to Loki (relatively unknown but quite good Tom Hiddleston) and is the next heir to the throne. Thor is due to become King shortly, before messing up an alliance between the Asgards and their life long enemies (some sort of frost people - their name escapes me). As punishment, Odin sends Thor to earth, removing his powers and hurting his pride in order to teach him a lesson and the skills that he needs to become a good leader. Add in a mix of Natalie Portman as the love interest, Stellan Skarsgarrd as an intriguing and intellectual scientist, a family disloyalty and a few fight scenes, and boom. We have ourselves a pretty good movie.

Kenneth Brannagh does not strike me as the type of person who would even want to direct this sort of hollywood monster (seeing him more in a shakesperian light), but actually he does a pretty good job. The film is good to look at and he packs a lot of information and plot into a two hour movie, and for me, it just about works. I also think he (or more likely the person he hired) did a pretty good job of the casting. Hemsworth is pretty perfect as the leading role, making me fully believe anything he would say or do, Hopkins is good in a role that's not so heavy as his usual stuff but still quite effective, and equally, Portman on her crazy run of films, was delightful to see in this light and quite sweet character. So, what's wrong with it? Well, there were moments that were really good (particularly when Hemsworth was on screen) that were really really good, but they were fletting, leaving the rest as merely fine. I also felt like the transition between earth, and the mystical worlds were a bit jilted, and not as smooth as they should have been.

Overall, i really quite enjoyed it, and thought it was a good set up for the avengers movie (Hemsworth and Downey Jr. in a film together... YAY). 3 and a half / 5

I apologise for this hefty post, but i have to blog about Catfish. I read about it last year when it came out at a similar time to The Social Network (with a similar idea - facebook) but didn't think much about it, until an advert appeared on more 4 (i know). So intrigue made me watch it. It's basically a film/documentary about a guy (an actually good looking, intelligent film/photographer in New York) who is having various relationships with a family on facebook. The guy - Nev, is being filmed by his brother and friend, as his relationship with these people develop. It starts off with him getting "poked" by an eight year old - weird i know - but then acquires paintings from her which are actually very good. He becomes friends with the whole family on facebook - mother, father, sister, brother - and even talks to them on the phone. He develops a "sexual" relationship (online and on the phone) with the sister, and becomes very involved with the whole situation. What unfolds is really not what it seems.

Disclaimer - spoiler alert - i am going to say what happens in the end

After getting a bit suspicious about some of the things Nev is being told by Melody and Abby (Older sister and young painter girl) he decides to go up to see them (across the other side of the country). What he finds there is a bunch of lies. No Melody, an Abby - but not an artist, and Angela (the mother) is the conspirator of it all. She is a woman who wants attention and love, who paints the pictures she has been sending Nev and who has made every intricate lie (and phone conversation) up.

I felt a mixture of emotions whilst watching this movie. Firstly you kind of think Nevs a bit of an idiot for believeing it all, but then why should he doubt it? it was all so intricately planned and thought of that it sort of seemed impossible for it all to be lies. Then you want to feel angry at Angela, but you just can't. She looked so sad, and her life seemed so disapointing to her, that i sort of just wanted to cry for her. The film is shot in a documentary style, but it's not crummy or unprofessional, it's intriguing and extremely watchable. There have been criticisms as to whether this film was truly real, whether it was filmed in the order we see it, and whether actually it is ethical. I think these things are valid points, but if thought upon too much then they do ruin the impact of the film, and i think that's unnecessary.

Not only does this film give such a raw and emotional look into a few people's lives, but it also shows how dangerous and complicated social networking can be and become. You should give this film ago.
4/5

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