Over this past weekend; I felt that the spirit of Halloween - TopicsExpress



          

Over this past weekend; I felt that the spirit of Halloween lingered on for me a little longer than perhaps some other people. I sensed the holiday’s extended presence into the weekend because I watched two films. Both have elements of Halloween in them: one is very obvious of this theme and the other comes in the form of little pieces you witness now and then as you’re engaged in the story. The first movie is the obvious one; ‘Dracula Untold’, and the other one not so obvious, ‘Night Crawler’. ‘Dracula Untold’; while it has indeed been in theaters for a while now; due to a little ignorance on my part, I was prepared to let it fly right over my head without ever seeing it. In all the past times I observed the trailer for this movie, somehow I always mistranslated the plot of the film. I perceived it to be about someone wanting to become Dracula’s apprentice; just another one of yet many variations of not only a vampire movie, but another twist on author, Bram Stoker’s original novel about The Count. However; it was only very recently that I came upon a synopsis of the film that I discovered this was not just another retelling about the life of Dracula; this was actually about the origin historical roots about how the prince of Transylvania came to become the most infamous vampire of them all! Since I had never seen a film cover this part of the Vampire’s life, my interest of the film was immediately captivated. If Count Dracula’s roots are a mystery to you as it was to me until this past weekend, I shall not unearth any vital ghastly dark details of what transpired in middle aged Transylvania that resulted in Prince Vlad III Țepeș’s biggest transition in his life. At the very least; I feel it’s safe enough to say that this is about a man who begins as a good person who will do anything to protect his family. What I feel works best for this movie is that while the film does indeed have fantastic special effects and has it’s share of gore in it, unlike horror movies; these two ingredients aren’t the main factor of this film. It takes you on an exciting fictional historical journey; while telling a story along for the ride. While none of the cast is widely known; as least to me, I felt the cast did an exceptional job; especially Luke Evans emotional journey as the title character. My only complaint about ‘Dracula Untold’ is that I wish it had been longer. Personally, I don’t believe 100 minutes is enough time to tell the backstory of one of the most well-known fictional characters in the world. While you do get a glimpse of Vlad III Țepeș’s family life, other than him, you don’t really get too much dept into the characters of anyone else. I would have loved to have been able to learn more about the mortal humans who were important in then mortal Vlad III Țepeș’s life. Nevertheless; it was a great prequel and entertaining to watch! If you have not yet seen this film and still have access to it on the big screen, I’d recommend it as worth of admission. However; on the other hand; if you do have to watch it on DVD, I don’t feel like you would miss out either. Now; just released; ‘Night Crawler’ was what I encountered for my second film this weekend. While the title alone by itself would seem to suggest a horror movie or perhaps a creature feature flick, this film would definitely not fit into either of these genres. However; as I mentioned in my first paragraph; it does come with an ingredient that you would find in any Halloween themed story or movie; that is the element of creepiness. Unlike the first film I reviewed above, the creepiness is not up front obviously right away; as the creepiness does not identify the film as a whole. The element of creepiness surfaces more in the human behavior of news-chasing hounds; most obviously and particularly seen in the lead charter, Lois Bloom portrayed by, Jake Gyllenhaal. Basically, Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a young geeky man with a very bad haircut who seeks to find his calling; whatever it is; something that will make a name for himself. One night on the freeway, Lou comes upon a horrific bloody car accident where emergency crews are laboriously working to free critically injured people stuck in the car so they can be tended to. Whipping out his camcorder; having no concern for the victims, Louis engages in filming not only the scene, but desperately trying to capture as many gruesome details as possible. In hopes of making money off his footage, he meets news director, Nina (Rene Russo) and comes to sell it to her for the television news station. The movie then becomes all about Louis frantic pursuit to dive into the deep hours of the night; capturing any tragedy of any kind in L.A.; leaving the concept of ethics far behind. With no hesitation at all, I predict Jake Gyllenhaal as a serious contender for next year’s Oscars! Gyllenhall’s encompasses the character of a man with no question of an unbalanced mind, but its beyond my comprehension to identify just what type of disorder he is inflicted with since he does not fit any typical well known profile I know of. Physically, Louis does not appear as anyone close to having great strength; his temperament is of moderate shyness and mild mannerism, but it’s the periodical brief fits of anger or anxiety outbursts that makes you wonder if he’s underestimated in the way of anyone who doesn’t know Norman Bates very well. The most peculiar trait in in the character of Louis Bloom is a wild look he tends to get in his eyes. Most noticeable in the night scenes, he has a mild eerie watery glow in his eyes that seem satanic in a way, but at the same time looks natural enough to know it’s just some weird human feature of him. While this particular feature I have to presume could only have been achieved by make-up or lighting trickery; all the remaining traits portrayed directly by Jake Gyllenhaal seemed like a complicated role to master, which is why I believe an Oscar nominee for him would be appropriate. I was happy to see Rene Russo return to the screen after not being on the screen much at all in the past recent years. She plays an aging but beautiful spunky woman trying to hold her news team together. Bill Paxton portrays another great character as Joe Loder; another news camera man; low on ethics just like Lois, but also the competition of Louis. ‘Night Crawler’ has been categorized as a crime-thriller. While I do agree with those two descriptive words, I want to add one more term: dark comedy. The film reminded me a little bit of 1994’s ‘Naturally Born Killers’. Like in the 94 film where dark humor is used to depict just how bad news media and TV show might get if no censor at all was every applied to anything, ‘Night Crawler’ to me came across to me as also a dark humor pun on the extremities main media today is known to obsess on tragedies. The ways news people are depicted in the movie may be a little exaggerated, but sadly I believe the movie is closer to reality in describing the paparazzi. Due to dark humor in the film; this film may not be for everyone; especially with people who might not be comfortable with bloody and violent scenes. The violent and sometimes graphic scenes I refer are brief and periodical, but nevertheless as a disclaimer, I just pre-warn that it does exist in the movie. However; as the movie itself, I see this has a great movie that is both entertaining and keeps you on the edge of the seat sometimes; while also can be taken as thought provoking if you take into consideration of what it can say about today’s media. On the most part; I’d recommend this movie to see in the near future on the big screen in a general way.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 03:51:29 +0000

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