Movie: The Raven (2012)

Rating: C+

I really wonder if Hollywood is afraid of making anything provocative, shocking, and daring. The Raven had so much potential, and a wealth of back material to draw from. And while it was clever, it wasn't particularly smart. Where there were plot twists, they weren't particularly mind-bending. Yet another movie in this year's indulgence of mediocrity.



It's been said that John Cusack is probably the most natural actor of our time. And I quite agree with that. It's a shame that most of the other cast members in this film was not so natural. And while I feel that Cusack is miscast in this role, I think he did an admirable job as Edgar Allan Poe, I feel that the role would have been better served being played by someone a little darker, say perhaps, Johnny Depp.

The biggest problem of the movie was its lack of direction. There really would have been no difference if they completed this movie with 1 murder, or with a dozen. The clues of the murder led you to the next clue and not to who the killer was. So really, The mystery and chase was really rather pointless. And while ONE of the murders was decidedly graphic and macabre, none of the other ones had the same level fear, torture, nor blood.

Perhaps one would be more involved in the movie if they were more familiar with Poe's work, but I doubt very many know more than a handful of his life and work well enough to find the correlation intriguing. This movie could have had so much more depth. It could have been significantly more gripping. Or they could have opted to make it totally tragic. Instead, they opted for mediocrity.

~Cheers.

Movie: The Hunger Games (2012)

Rating: B-

This movie’s been out a while, and I’ve been meaning to write put my critique out there. But due to extenuating circumstances, I’ve had to wait until now. Based on the book series of the same name, The Hunger Games had the potential of being something as visually powerful and mentally jarring as Lord of the Flies. Instead, they decided to dilute it for the Dora The Explorer demographic. Only problem is, it’s still too troubling for the kiddies, and far too gentle for anyone over the age of 10.



 While I disagree with many that this book / film is an English version of the Japanese book / film, Battle Royale; I do wish that they would have taken a page from the Japanese version. Make it daring, or poetic, or shocking. Instead, in order to placate soccer moms and interest groups, The Hunger Games languishes in mediocrity; Just good enough to be worth watching, but not nearly good enough for it to be memorable.


Jennifer Lawrence gave an admirable performance, and Stanley Tucci is one of my favourite supporting casts. But that's about it. And I suppose I should give credit to the direction of Gary Ross for moving the movie along fluidly because let's not forget, the actual "games" don't start until about the middle of the 140+ min movie. 


On top of that, the side stories just felt entirely too contrived and there were just too many holes in the movie. I mean, aside from the wolves that appeared out of no where for no particular reason, there really was never any real danger to Ms. Lawrence's character.

But judging from the reception of this movie, it looks like the film adaptations for the next two books of this trilogy is just going to be more of the same.


~Cheers.

Critique: Huck Finn. Censored.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a classic by Mark Twain is in the news again. This time, because they've censored out the words "nigger" and "injun", replacing "nigger" with "slave". Huck ranks 5th on the American Library Association's all time most banned books list. What the Huck?!

Mark Twain's writing depicts a time in history. A time when such words were what these people were called. At no point in time is Huck ever derogatory in his usage of the word. But the argument is that it is the word in and of itself that is derogatory and offensive. In many instances, editing out these words simply render passages empty, or diminishing the meaning intended by the author. The "N"-word, is not a synonym for slave! Editing out these words is nothing more than revisionist history. People USED those words back then. As literature giving us a picture into the past, changing the words would simply change the way you view the past. And if it bothers you that much?! Don't read it! Don't stop others from forming a proper literary picture of the past.

Furthermore, editing out these words is a slippery slope. Where do you draw the line? And are you going to completely eliminate these words from the English language? What's next? "Nazi"? "Chink"? Or how about "fuck" and "shit"? Then what? Some people think "stupid" is a pretty hurtful thing to say too. Forget about offending people and say what you mean. Euphemisms are for hypocrites who are too scared to speak their mind. Free your minds people!

"It's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers." ~Judy Blume