in lieu of a post about my job that I hate, have some reviews

[metonymy]

Hanna: highly recommended. There are a few parts that feel a little overtly music-video-y, and a few parts that are a bit on-the-nose (can't discuss without spoiling), but overall a really gripping movie. Beautifully shot, Wright knows how to compose the hell out of a shot and I thought the action was really well done and easy to follow. The score was by and large AMAZING, although again a bit overtly BWEEEEP BWOOOOOMP BWEEEEEP BWOOOOMP at times, but that's what you sign up for when you get the Chemical Brothers. Saoirse Ronan fucking owns it and is amazing and flawless. Eric Bana is surprisingly compelling. Cate Blanchett veers a little over-the-top but is generally quite good. And Jessica Barden is adorable and hilarious, when the film really needs a break in the tension.

VAGUELY SPOILERY PART: Unimpressed with what I read as a bit of transfail (bit as in it's about two seconds long) and a bit of homophobia; relieved that for all that some characters are incredibly fucking creepy there's no overt sexual menace directed towards Hanna. This isn't Sucker Punch, is what I'm saying.

The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner: OMG AMAZEBALLS.
The Queen of Attolia, same: What I found to be a complete tonal shift, BUT ALSO AMAZEBALLS. I have no shame about heading into the Grade 5+ room at my library if it nets me books like these. I stayed up way too late two nights in a row to finish these books. EEEEEEEEEE.

Parks and Recreation: Why wasn't I watching this before?

Comments

[prodigy]

Hey, you've totally piqued our interest about Hanna! We were worried it was going to be a more pretentious, snowbound Sucker Punch, but based on your review and our respect for your opinion we're now looking forward to seeing it. <333

[metonymy]

Haha. IT MAY WELL BE PRETENTIOUS, but they get out of the Arctic pretty quickly. And how sad is it that I'm genuinely relieved when there's no rapey threats? SIGH, OUR WORLD. There is also some exoticising/othering of people of color, I should mention, but I didn't find it as offensive as it could have been given the context? WE CAN TALK WHEN YOU'VE SEEN IT.

[prodigy]

Okay, now that my ear tetanus and I have calmed down a little -- I like pretentious just fine if it is not pretentious-used-to-excuse-oppression! (For example, Zack Snyder's LOL IT'S AN EXPERIMENT trolling bullshit about Sucker Punch.) It also does look pretty, and pretty appeals to me, along with looking Saoirse Ronan, and Saoirse Ronan's acting definitely appeals to me. Plus the Bourne plot as a bildungsroman with a female lead... actually makes the Bourne plot sound kind of appealing.

My only question is: does it have much shakycam? I can tolerate shakycam about as much as I can tolerate reading in a moving car without needing to pull over and dry-heave, which should probably tell you how much that is.

[metonymy]

Yeah, no, this is pretentious used to make the story more ~mythic~ or whatever, I feel.

There are a couple of moments I immediately remember where the shakycam was egregious. And there's a fair amount of steadicam work overall but most of it wasn't herky-jerky.