This past weekend, before my heart broke, we had a Movie Night on Saturday with several friends. It was like having a real life again, between Knit Night on Friday and the movies on Saturday. However, with everything else that happened this weekend, I was not up to writing much on Monday other than grief, so Movie Monday got moved to later in the week. Here you go, thoughts and ramblings on Shutter Island.
Plot: Set in 1954, a pair of U.S. Marshals are called to isolated Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Of course, all is not as it appears.
It was refreshing, honestly - a suspense movie, a mystery without lots of blood splatter (i.e. a horror flick), or supernatural elements to explain everything, or similar blockbuster type movies. Just an honest-to-goodness suspense film. As Zach described it, though, "I hate mind f*** movies They f*** with my mind!" (Yes, fussing about those twists so common in suspense movies). Personally, I enjoy this type of movie, so sorry Zach, you'll end up getting dragged to a lot of these. :)
Personally, I liked the suspense in this one. I saw some of the twists coming, (probably because I watch a lot of these movies and was honestly looking for them) but I didn't catch all of them. So it was still an enjoyable ride. And it's definitely the type of movie that even after you know the big twist, it's worth a rewatch or three to see the clues that were hidden and that you missed on the first viewing.
Direction: Scorsese. 'Nuff said. The man knows how to make an entertaining movie. I was relived to see nice clean camera work again (Green Zone honestly left a really bad taste in my mouth for that). There was really only one scene that bothered me (and the rest of the group I went to see the movie with). There is a night-time scene with an open fire, which is flickering, as fires do. The issue? The camera needed to be about 6 inches higher, to catch flickering light on faces without being flickering light on the screen itself. As it was, the flame was filmed and ended up creating kinda a strobe effect for the majority of that particular scene. Very tiring on the eyes.
Acting: very strong cast. DiCaprio has grown into an actor I enjoy. That's saying a lot, because I was in high school when Titanic and Romeo and Juliet came out, so I was solidly in the age group going nuts over him, as teenage fan-girls are wont to do. To be able to say that he's an actor I enjoy, instead of being turned off by friends squealing non-stop over him... well, 10 years matures everyone, right? For him, really, the Boston accent was the only thing that was a little obnoxious. I think it was simply the repetitive "Federal Mah-shals" that annoyed me - the rest of his conversation didn't jar as badly. And the supporting cast was great too. Michelle Williams (another one who has outgrown teenage stardom well), Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Mark Ruffalo, Ted Levine... lots of good solid talent.
Really, the only really negative comment I have it that it might have been a bit shorter. The ending in particular seemed to drag on a bit. In the right mood, I suppose, you can consider that it was building suspense. If you're in a more of a "c'mon get to the point" humor, then it might irritate you a bit as they build to the finale. One of those take-it-or-leave-it comments, I suppose.
And as a side note, completely unrelated to the film itself but related to the movie-going experience, when going to a movie on a Saturday night, you have to deal with teenagers going too. Dang, I felt old!! I feel very much the crotchety patron shushing the "young folk," but TURN OFF YOUR FRICKIN' CELL PHONES IN THE THEATER!! That includes texting! We had some little dingbat a few rows ahead of us in the theater that wanted to hold his/her cell phone at eye level so that they could keep texting through most of the movie. But because said dingbat wanted to hold their phone up instead of in their lap, the back third of the theater had a lovely bright light distracting them. There's a reason cell phone screens are used as flashlights - they are bright!! If your conversation is that important, leave the theater. Otherwise, put your phone away and enjoy the movie that you paid for!
And beyond the texting, teens are much more chatty in movies. I say this knowing full well that I will talk in movies too, but I try to be considerate about it, because I know not everyone does. These guys were not so considerate. Snickering at the naked patients in the insane asylum, or flat out laughing during one of the more dramatic scenes in the climax... highly obnoxious. It was the ones about 3 rows behind us during the first part of the movie and then up ahead and to the right during the climax (incidentally, the group sitting with the texter). Like I said, I will definitely talk in a movie, but please folk, be considerate to other movie-goers. Not everyone wants to hear your oh-so-witty 16-year-old humor.
*steps off soapbox*
Overall: 5 of 5. Minor irritations with the accents, that one scene with the fire, and it might have been a little shorter, but overall an enjoyable thinking movie (don't let yourself be deceived by the trailers).
So, without giving too much away, do you think he relapsed at the end or not? Does his last question to Chuck indicate that he is choosing his fate because he cannot face reality, or is it a fate that he needs because he cannot even enter reality?
Discuss!
It was refreshing, honestly - a suspense movie, a mystery without lots of blood splatter (i.e. a horror flick), or supernatural elements to explain everything, or similar blockbuster type movies. Just an honest-to-goodness suspense film. As Zach described it, though, "I hate mind f*** movies They f*** with my mind!" (Yes, fussing about those twists so common in suspense movies). Personally, I enjoy this type of movie, so sorry Zach, you'll end up getting dragged to a lot of these. :)
Personally, I liked the suspense in this one. I saw some of the twists coming, (probably because I watch a lot of these movies and was honestly looking for them) but I didn't catch all of them. So it was still an enjoyable ride. And it's definitely the type of movie that even after you know the big twist, it's worth a rewatch or three to see the clues that were hidden and that you missed on the first viewing.
Direction: Scorsese. 'Nuff said. The man knows how to make an entertaining movie. I was relived to see nice clean camera work again (Green Zone honestly left a really bad taste in my mouth for that). There was really only one scene that bothered me (and the rest of the group I went to see the movie with). There is a night-time scene with an open fire, which is flickering, as fires do. The issue? The camera needed to be about 6 inches higher, to catch flickering light on faces without being flickering light on the screen itself. As it was, the flame was filmed and ended up creating kinda a strobe effect for the majority of that particular scene. Very tiring on the eyes.
Acting: very strong cast. DiCaprio has grown into an actor I enjoy. That's saying a lot, because I was in high school when Titanic and Romeo and Juliet came out, so I was solidly in the age group going nuts over him, as teenage fan-girls are wont to do. To be able to say that he's an actor I enjoy, instead of being turned off by friends squealing non-stop over him... well, 10 years matures everyone, right? For him, really, the Boston accent was the only thing that was a little obnoxious. I think it was simply the repetitive "Federal Mah-shals" that annoyed me - the rest of his conversation didn't jar as badly. And the supporting cast was great too. Michelle Williams (another one who has outgrown teenage stardom well), Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Mark Ruffalo, Ted Levine... lots of good solid talent.
Really, the only really negative comment I have it that it might have been a bit shorter. The ending in particular seemed to drag on a bit. In the right mood, I suppose, you can consider that it was building suspense. If you're in a more of a "c'mon get to the point" humor, then it might irritate you a bit as they build to the finale. One of those take-it-or-leave-it comments, I suppose.
And as a side note, completely unrelated to the film itself but related to the movie-going experience, when going to a movie on a Saturday night, you have to deal with teenagers going too. Dang, I felt old!! I feel very much the crotchety patron shushing the "young folk," but TURN OFF YOUR FRICKIN' CELL PHONES IN THE THEATER!! That includes texting! We had some little dingbat a few rows ahead of us in the theater that wanted to hold his/her cell phone at eye level so that they could keep texting through most of the movie. But because said dingbat wanted to hold their phone up instead of in their lap, the back third of the theater had a lovely bright light distracting them. There's a reason cell phone screens are used as flashlights - they are bright!! If your conversation is that important, leave the theater. Otherwise, put your phone away and enjoy the movie that you paid for!
And beyond the texting, teens are much more chatty in movies. I say this knowing full well that I will talk in movies too, but I try to be considerate about it, because I know not everyone does. These guys were not so considerate. Snickering at the naked patients in the insane asylum, or flat out laughing during one of the more dramatic scenes in the climax... highly obnoxious. It was the ones about 3 rows behind us during the first part of the movie and then up ahead and to the right during the climax (incidentally, the group sitting with the texter). Like I said, I will definitely talk in a movie, but please folk, be considerate to other movie-goers. Not everyone wants to hear your oh-so-witty 16-year-old humor.
*steps off soapbox*
Overall: 5 of 5. Minor irritations with the accents, that one scene with the fire, and it might have been a little shorter, but overall an enjoyable thinking movie (don't let yourself be deceived by the trailers).
HERE BE SPOILERS (I love that line from IMDB!)
So, without giving too much away, do you think he relapsed at the end or not? Does his last question to Chuck indicate that he is choosing his fate because he cannot face reality, or is it a fate that he needs because he cannot even enter reality?
Discuss!
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