Holiday movies

Since I had lots of time off over the holidays, I managed to squeeze in a lot of movies. Aside from The Artist, mentioned on a previous post, I caught the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Martin Scorsese's Hugo and A Dangerous Method. Two thumbs up for the first two, but only so-so for the third.

Dragon Tattoo was a favourite book of mine and I swore that I wouldn't see the American movie, convinced that they would sanitize and dumb it down. Instead, they captured a lot of what made the book so enticing. Rooney Mara was amazing as Lisbeth Salander, Daniel Craig managed to tamp down his James Bond charisma a bit and the higher quality production values (i.e. bigger budget) made for a great looking and sounding movie. One of the main benefits for us English speaking folks for this version over the excellent Swedish version is not having to read subtitles, which creates a certain distance when watching a movie. There is an inevitable delay and distraction between mentally processing the reading while you are watching the visuals that is no longer there when the actors are speaking in your native tongue, especially in such an action packed movie.

I saw Hugo in 3D and I highly recommend you do the same. The visuals are stunning, Martin Scorsese uses 3D not as a trick special effect but as another tool in his artist's palette. While there are a few moments of things coming at you from the screen for amusing effect, many more times, the added dimension simply creates levels of details that draw you into the atmosphere of the story. I am not familiar with the original children's book, but it's a wonderful and heartwarming tale where an unwanted boy helps a lonely old man, and finds a home in the process. There is a lot of movie history told here (and I wondered how interesting that really would be for kids) and some great action sequences in a Paris train station.

A Dangerous Method is a highly intelligent movie but it's origins as a play are not overcome in the translation to the big screen. The movie just seems very static and talky (I know, I know, it's the 'talking cure'). Keira Knightley's depiction of her character's hysteria seems overwrought and old-fashioned. Maybe this is really what hysterical patients acted like, but I found it hard to reconcile it with my modern sensibilities. Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender are wonderful actors and the two of them are entertaining on screen, but movies are a visual medium and this movie didn't take advantage of that quality.