Weekend thus far
Aug. 11th, 2002 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenThanks for those with suggestions on the bathroom situation. Only problem is there's no plug in the room either so dehumidifiers and window fans would still leave me with an open door. At this point I'm tempted to just buy some nice but cheap scarves and hang them from the ceiling to cover the paint and give the place a lovely Moroccan feel ;)
Today was sleeping late after 3 hours of sleep before my alarm went off for services. I went to bed on time for enough sleep but I stupidly had a soda and two cups of tea yesterday so my body was swimming with caffiene and wouldn't let me sleep until close to 5:30am (alarm went off at 8).
I made a good faith effort to get up, get dressed, etc but when dressing and eating and playing with the cat didn't keep me from nearly dropping off whenever I blinked I figured I could skip services this week.
Yesterday was an orgy of movies. Watched LOTR with my folks who were seeing it for the first time and did enjoy it. Also saw Signs. Lemme just say: Cree. Pee. But SO well done! Short comment: Go see it.
I loved how well directed this was. For me it was all about the camera angles. Right from the beginning the movie sets you up to never be aware of what's happening. Much like the reverse storytelling of Memento, this puts you into the perspective of the characters. We don't see Graham brushing his teeth, we don't see when the first dog dies - we're forced to realize that many things could happen without us seeing it. Our minds automatically kick in to overtime to fill in these missing details, which of course bites us on the butt once the aliens come into play.
MNS also did a great job of slowly building the aliens so that, just like the Hesses, we stay just at the edge of what we're willing to believe. Maybe it's the Wolfinger brothers, maybe it's a hoax, maybe it's just static on the baby monitor, maybe we didn't see that movement in the corn.... But of course we're saying "maybe", just like the characters, and not "definitely".
I loved all the moments of not only not seeing anything (like the first dog dying when it attacked Bo) but the moments of where our eyes were when we could see something. Merrill goes up to check out the house and we're trapped in the basement with a clear view of the window. The shot eerily parallels the news footage from Brazil when the first alien came into play (and again - good alien design. It could be a guy in a green suit, and we frantically try to tell ourselves this to keep from worrying) so we sit there worrying and waiting for the alien to casually walk into view just as it did on the TV.
Also when they were boarding up the house. Graham goes into the bedroom, looks out the window, his face quietly changes, he steps back into the doorframe and says they need to hurry. It's left to us to figure out what he saw, and how bad it was. I also don't think it was a coincidence that the doorframe in question was one that opened into the bedroom. Those boards weren't going to stop the door from opening, just keep the aliens from immediately entering the hallway. The last board goes up, blocking our view but in the back of our minds we can't help but think That's not going to stop them. The door will still open.
There was also great manipulation of how the characters were smart enough to get themselves into trouble. The best scene of this has to be Graham in Ray's kitchen, trying to see for himself what attacked Ray and if the aliens are real. He's just smart enough to look at the shadow and see the movement. He's just smart enough to realize that when the movement stops that confirms that it's not a curtain moving in the breeze. He's just smart enough to think of the reflection of the knife, and how that might be used to show him what's inside. As I say - just enough smarts to get himself in trouble with a tiny bit more information than he needed to know. (Ditto later with the reflection on the TV set).
I also liked the manipulation of emotions. Graham slips the knife under the door, looks around, can't stand it, goes to leave - while we in the audience are thinking Yes! Go! Get out of there! - he runs to the hall, stops, and runs back, ready to rip the bandage off and get the suspense overwith and we in the audience who were on tenterhooks get sucked into that, thinking maybe it would be better for us too.
Great, great stuff. Also great directing on the subtle stuff. I think it was the Newsweek review that gave MNS credit for how this actually felt like a family and they're right.
My one complaint, and this isn't so much a fault of the film as a bemusement of mine, is that the characters didn't arm themselves. I kept wanting to pull them aside and point out that anything is a weapon - and if you've got a big sharp knife in your hand, keep it!!. Ditto for Merrill going upstairs without, oh, say, the handy ax that they had down in the basement (although I could sort of understand that if they thought they needed to keep it by the door to quickly block it again. But still).
Finally, much though I liked the real meaning of "signs" and Graham's epiphany at the end, later (much later) I couldn't help but question the part of the chain that used the same alien that Graham hurt. My guess is that MNS made it the same alien to explain why it hung around after the others left - it wanted revenge against Graham for what he did - but in which case wouldn't things have been all right if Graham's curiosity hadn't gotten the better of him in the first place? Everything else that happened was a "sign" that helped Graham get through events that weren't under his control, but it was under his control to follow Ray's advice and not look in the pantry.
Although... huh. I guess that could be the point too. Graham's first big hint was to follow Ray's advice - go to the lake, don't look in the pantry. Graham ignored the latter, got outvoted on the former and therefore more events were set into place but these too were events that had "signs" to help him get out of it. Huh. Okay then, if I look at it like that I'm fine with it.
Oh - and how many of you were waiting for a plot twist with Bo? With her constantly complaining about the water and the story about her being an "angel" I have to admit I had one moment of wondering if the aliens were coming after her or something because she was one of their own. Gotta say MNS's version is better ;)
Beyond that I think I'll head to the gym today. I want to get into a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule but I joined up on Thursday and I'm actually raring to go now. I figure it's better to follow the urge to go instead of ignoring it. Back later maybe.
Today was sleeping late after 3 hours of sleep before my alarm went off for services. I went to bed on time for enough sleep but I stupidly had a soda and two cups of tea yesterday so my body was swimming with caffiene and wouldn't let me sleep until close to 5:30am (alarm went off at 8).
I made a good faith effort to get up, get dressed, etc but when dressing and eating and playing with the cat didn't keep me from nearly dropping off whenever I blinked I figured I could skip services this week.
Yesterday was an orgy of movies. Watched LOTR with my folks who were seeing it for the first time and did enjoy it. Also saw Signs. Lemme just say: Cree. Pee. But SO well done! Short comment: Go see it.
I loved how well directed this was. For me it was all about the camera angles. Right from the beginning the movie sets you up to never be aware of what's happening. Much like the reverse storytelling of Memento, this puts you into the perspective of the characters. We don't see Graham brushing his teeth, we don't see when the first dog dies - we're forced to realize that many things could happen without us seeing it. Our minds automatically kick in to overtime to fill in these missing details, which of course bites us on the butt once the aliens come into play.
MNS also did a great job of slowly building the aliens so that, just like the Hesses, we stay just at the edge of what we're willing to believe. Maybe it's the Wolfinger brothers, maybe it's a hoax, maybe it's just static on the baby monitor, maybe we didn't see that movement in the corn.... But of course we're saying "maybe", just like the characters, and not "definitely".
I loved all the moments of not only not seeing anything (like the first dog dying when it attacked Bo) but the moments of where our eyes were when we could see something. Merrill goes up to check out the house and we're trapped in the basement with a clear view of the window. The shot eerily parallels the news footage from Brazil when the first alien came into play (and again - good alien design. It could be a guy in a green suit, and we frantically try to tell ourselves this to keep from worrying) so we sit there worrying and waiting for the alien to casually walk into view just as it did on the TV.
Also when they were boarding up the house. Graham goes into the bedroom, looks out the window, his face quietly changes, he steps back into the doorframe and says they need to hurry. It's left to us to figure out what he saw, and how bad it was. I also don't think it was a coincidence that the doorframe in question was one that opened into the bedroom. Those boards weren't going to stop the door from opening, just keep the aliens from immediately entering the hallway. The last board goes up, blocking our view but in the back of our minds we can't help but think That's not going to stop them. The door will still open.
There was also great manipulation of how the characters were smart enough to get themselves into trouble. The best scene of this has to be Graham in Ray's kitchen, trying to see for himself what attacked Ray and if the aliens are real. He's just smart enough to look at the shadow and see the movement. He's just smart enough to realize that when the movement stops that confirms that it's not a curtain moving in the breeze. He's just smart enough to think of the reflection of the knife, and how that might be used to show him what's inside. As I say - just enough smarts to get himself in trouble with a tiny bit more information than he needed to know. (Ditto later with the reflection on the TV set).
I also liked the manipulation of emotions. Graham slips the knife under the door, looks around, can't stand it, goes to leave - while we in the audience are thinking Yes! Go! Get out of there! - he runs to the hall, stops, and runs back, ready to rip the bandage off and get the suspense overwith and we in the audience who were on tenterhooks get sucked into that, thinking maybe it would be better for us too.
Great, great stuff. Also great directing on the subtle stuff. I think it was the Newsweek review that gave MNS credit for how this actually felt like a family and they're right.
My one complaint, and this isn't so much a fault of the film as a bemusement of mine, is that the characters didn't arm themselves. I kept wanting to pull them aside and point out that anything is a weapon - and if you've got a big sharp knife in your hand, keep it!!. Ditto for Merrill going upstairs without, oh, say, the handy ax that they had down in the basement (although I could sort of understand that if they thought they needed to keep it by the door to quickly block it again. But still).
Finally, much though I liked the real meaning of "signs" and Graham's epiphany at the end, later (much later) I couldn't help but question the part of the chain that used the same alien that Graham hurt. My guess is that MNS made it the same alien to explain why it hung around after the others left - it wanted revenge against Graham for what he did - but in which case wouldn't things have been all right if Graham's curiosity hadn't gotten the better of him in the first place? Everything else that happened was a "sign" that helped Graham get through events that weren't under his control, but it was under his control to follow Ray's advice and not look in the pantry.
Although... huh. I guess that could be the point too. Graham's first big hint was to follow Ray's advice - go to the lake, don't look in the pantry. Graham ignored the latter, got outvoted on the former and therefore more events were set into place but these too were events that had "signs" to help him get out of it. Huh. Okay then, if I look at it like that I'm fine with it.
Oh - and how many of you were waiting for a plot twist with Bo? With her constantly complaining about the water and the story about her being an "angel" I have to admit I had one moment of wondering if the aliens were coming after her or something because she was one of their own. Gotta say MNS's version is better ;)
Beyond that I think I'll head to the gym today. I want to get into a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule but I joined up on Thursday and I'm actually raring to go now. I figure it's better to follow the urge to go instead of ignoring it. Back later maybe.
