2 posts tagged “2007”
I'm usually not a pop diva, and don't as a rule listen to Top 40 music. I guess there are exceptions to every rule. Although I usually prefer alternative 80s and 90s or current alt rock for my general everyday listening fare, my kids have "broadened my horizon's" so to speak.
I have XM satellite radio packaged with my new car, so usually I have 4 favorites I listen to, but since they are young, they like to listen to the Top 20 or XM Hits station. I have to admit, I've downloaded a few songs off of iTunes, as I've been enjoying some light, mindless Top 40 pop this summer on my iPod, XM and computer as a kind of guilty pleasure, along with ABBA and George Michael making the TOTALLY guilty pleasure list. So what is your guilty listening pleasure? Just as an FYI? I don't stoop to Barry Mannilow or KC and The Sunshine Band, but if you do, feel free to get it off your chest here! LOL. ;)
I have XM satellite radio packaged with my new car, so usually I have 4 favorites I listen to, but since they are young, they like to listen to the Top 20 or XM Hits station. I have to admit, I've downloaded a few songs off of iTunes, as I've been enjoying some light, mindless Top 40 pop this summer on my iPod, XM and computer as a kind of guilty pleasure, along with ABBA and George Michael making the TOTALLY guilty pleasure list. So what is your guilty listening pleasure? Just as an FYI? I don't stoop to Barry Mannilow or KC and The Sunshine Band, but if you do, feel free to get it off your chest here! LOL. ;)
I'm in conflict right now, as I'm feeling compelled to do something I am inherently uncomfortable doing. Both my daughter and I have over active imaginations and tend to ruminate on disturbing images or thoughts to find light in the darkness. I have always been repelled by movies that are gory or have horror based themes. I can not get disturbing images or stories out of my mind and somehow they impregnate them self on my subconscious and leave me queasy, uneasy and unable to separate fantasy/fiction from reality. I find no redeeming value in the horror genre period. They don't instruct or deal with morality or universal themes or issues that make us think. It's just gratuitous violence or scare tactics as entertainment and that is not entertainment to me. If it is mindless escape for you, more power to you...
So what's my problem? (I have many, let's not go there, let's just stick with the issue at hand!) A movie called Pan's Labyrinth, which has been nominated for 6 Oscar's and is basically a fantasy film for adults, not unlike Alice In Wonderland, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia or even Harry Potter is my problem. Well if you know anything about me, I love films of this genre from the stories to the animation and special effects. I go to all of them with decent reviews. This movie has gotten stellar reviews from over 130 critics and sources and top notch reviews from viewers, which to me, is probably more telling. It's a foreign language film (Spanish), with English subtitles, so if you sought this movie out as it's in limited screening due to it's copious Oscar nominations, you are probably a movie buff and hopefully your reviews are meaningful.
Why is this film a problem for me? As much as I am dying to see it, it contains many dark, disturbing scenes that I don't know if I can handle even if they are not gratuitous and are essential to the reality and subject matter of the story. The trailer of the movie states the prime objective of this dark tale is to show that there can be light in darkness and triumph in sorrow and the reality and fantasy portions of the movie are supposedly artfully woven together with amazing makeup and special effects culminating in a dark, nightmarish ending that makes people think. One blogger, named George, in his "Georges Blog" wrote and sums up what is bothering me about actually viewing the movie:
To that end, I can't, as much as I'd like to, go see it in the theater. I'm a big chicken and if it turns out to be too stomach turning for me, I will be mad at myself for spending $8 on it. I also need to be in the right frame of mind to see this picture, preferably when it's sunny and light out to counteract the film's darkness, so a theater setting doesn't work. I have secured a screening copy of this and will watch this on the small screen where I can easily turn away and wash a few dishes if I must.
I end by saying I did see Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" which was gory and violent (but in a National Geographic sort of way, as it felt like an exhilarating documentary) but the gore was pertinent to the story and the culture of the Incas and Myans and it was one of the best movies I've seen in forever. I felt like I was in the movie and my stomach was sick with nervous tension as I was having a physical reaction to what I was watching in a way I haven't been moved by a film all that often. I'm so glad I accidentally fell upon that movie by getting to the theater an hour earlier than I should have. If I could get through that movie and feel like it was on my "best ever" list, maybe I'll make it through this one too. I'll let you know when I get the guts to pop in the DVD. In the meantime, if you have seen this or plan on seeing it, I welcome your comments!
JJ
So what's my problem? (I have many, let's not go there, let's just stick with the issue at hand!) A movie called Pan's Labyrinth, which has been nominated for 6 Oscar's and is basically a fantasy film for adults, not unlike Alice In Wonderland, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia or even Harry Potter is my problem. Well if you know anything about me, I love films of this genre from the stories to the animation and special effects. I go to all of them with decent reviews. This movie has gotten stellar reviews from over 130 critics and sources and top notch reviews from viewers, which to me, is probably more telling. It's a foreign language film (Spanish), with English subtitles, so if you sought this movie out as it's in limited screening due to it's copious Oscar nominations, you are probably a movie buff and hopefully your reviews are meaningful.
Why is this film a problem for me? As much as I am dying to see it, it contains many dark, disturbing scenes that I don't know if I can handle even if they are not gratuitous and are essential to the reality and subject matter of the story. The trailer of the movie states the prime objective of this dark tale is to show that there can be light in darkness and triumph in sorrow and the reality and fantasy portions of the movie are supposedly artfully woven together with amazing makeup and special effects culminating in a dark, nightmarish ending that makes people think. One blogger, named George, in his "Georges Blog" wrote and sums up what is bothering me about actually viewing the movie:
Do I really need to spend my precious time seeing something this dark, unbearable and disturbing to get at the higher principles? Probably not. Am I facinated by the story, the special effects, makeup and the artful way the movie is supposedly woven together? Yep. I feel compelled to watch it, but feel like at the same time I will be so disturbed and repulsed by some portions of it (aparently the cruel, Facist step father is a sadistic torture/disfigurement monger, not unlike the dude in "Saw", a world Ofelia seeks to escape in the fantastical labyrinth) I don't know if I can get through it, even if I start the movie."What the movie succeeded in doing best was being entirely and pervasively discomforting. Coming out of the theater I mentioned that it reminded me a lot of Breaking the Waves (the most depressing film I've ever seen, and one of the best). The similarity I see is an innocent protaganist going down what is clearly a dangerous and ever dismal path, led by what may be a communication with a higher power, or may just be a delusion (or fantasy). Both movies also succeed at creating an ever-deeper sense of discomfort (Breaking the Waves made Pei [George's wife] physically ill; Pan's Labyrinth is not as powerful in that sense, but 24 hours on it is still lingering in my stomach). To me it's greatest success was in creating a sense of foreboding that grows slowly throughout the film into something almost unbearable."
To that end, I can't, as much as I'd like to, go see it in the theater. I'm a big chicken and if it turns out to be too stomach turning for me, I will be mad at myself for spending $8 on it. I also need to be in the right frame of mind to see this picture, preferably when it's sunny and light out to counteract the film's darkness, so a theater setting doesn't work. I have secured a screening copy of this and will watch this on the small screen where I can easily turn away and wash a few dishes if I must.
I end by saying I did see Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" which was gory and violent (but in a National Geographic sort of way, as it felt like an exhilarating documentary) but the gore was pertinent to the story and the culture of the Incas and Myans and it was one of the best movies I've seen in forever. I felt like I was in the movie and my stomach was sick with nervous tension as I was having a physical reaction to what I was watching in a way I haven't been moved by a film all that often. I'm so glad I accidentally fell upon that movie by getting to the theater an hour earlier than I should have. If I could get through that movie and feel like it was on my "best ever" list, maybe I'll make it through this one too. I'll let you know when I get the guts to pop in the DVD. In the meantime, if you have seen this or plan on seeing it, I welcome your comments!
JJ
