Lots of insomniac movie wibblings...

[cybermule]

Two nights, two movies.

Yesterday I went to watch Gothika, and to be blunt, it was a bit crap. There was some good photography, but I mostly just thought, "huh?!". Tonight it was the turn of Secret Window which was a damn sight better. I never see endings coming, but nonetheless this one was a surprise, and Johnny Depp was good. Not a classic, but definitely worth a watch in my opinion.

What I'm really getting excited about though, in the world of movies, is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I'm going to see it next week, and for various reasons I was a little ambivalent about it. But then I read a review that likened it to a cross between Fight Club, Vanilla Sky and Waking Life. Now I know it can't be that good, but I'm looking forward to checking it out.

And I haven't been gloomy for ages :)

Comments

[psilobabe.livejournal.com]

woo hooo for being upbeat instead of gloomy!

I want to see eternal sunshine too, looks really good!

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Thanks, love. Obviously my mood has now taken a downturn... just call me Ms Pendulum :P

[quercus.livejournal.com]

I'm in two minds about Eternal Sunshine. I like the idea of the "Being John Malkovich" link, but can I really sit through a whole Jim Carrey movie ? I've never managed it before.

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Yeah - that's the hurdle I'm going to have to overcome. I just don't like the guy. But it seems that he's restraining his normal wackiness, so I'm going to give it a go.

[zleetle.livejournal.com]

He is very good looking when you can see his mouth and cheekbones without his normal contortions screwing them around.

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Heheh - he does actually look quite cute in the posters for this film. But *sssh* - my friend thinks we're going for the plot/writer ;)

[unsane1.livejournal.com]

Hehe I was thinking the same. I have a renewed respect for the guy after seeing the movie. I thought he was insane before, but he looks pretty normal after all.

[zleetle.livejournal.com]

I really liked Eternal Sunshine, except for the "Bring it on" girl's acting - she was pretty terrible. But she wasn't bad enough to ruin the rest of the movie, and the rest of the movie was definately worth watching. There were some contrived secondary plotlines floating around that bugged me a little, but the main plot was totally engaging. Let me know how you like it!

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

I'm off to see it next Wednesday, so I'm sure there'll be a post! :) But I'm glad you liked it - that's very reassuring.

[unsane1.livejournal.com]

I wasn't gonna say anything so you wouldn't go in with preconceptions but since zleetle already did I'll tell you, I liked it too. :)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

It's OK - I din't really get those sort of preconceptions. But I'm glad you liked it, as I value your opinion :)

I'm really looking forward to it now *bounce*

[zleetle.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't even think about that!!
Um...hmm...here - it sucked! Yeah!
Now you can go prove me wrong :D

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Really, don't worry about it. It's always good to hear respected opinions, but I always make up my own mind in the end. It's taken unsane1 about two years to persuade me to like the Matrix! ;)

[unsane1.livejournal.com]

LOL. Now you have to help me work on Aras! Haha there's no way he's ever liking that movie. :D There's a switch in his brain that turned off that possibility right from the start I think. :)

[unsane1.livejournal.com]

You know, when I think back, I recall that coming out of the cinema after watching that movie, was when the wheels of my present awareness began turning in my head. Even though I didn't really believe what the movie showed to be truth, it just opened up my mind in a whole new way.

It, combined with my [sober] raving experiences at the time, showed me that the Christian life I was raised with wasn't the only "good" life, nor even really good at all. Opened my eyes.

This was also before I'd tried weed or mushrooms or anything but coffee and beer. I finally dabbled in drugs almost 2 years later.

It's funny, I always feared that maybe it was drugs that had opened my eyes (not that there's really anything wrong with that, but I'd rather be able to say that I became "aware" without drugs). Now that I checked out the timeline of events, I know I became aware before experiencing drugs. That's quite comforting.

Another thing that comes to mind is the trivializing attitude towards The Matrix that I've come across occasionally over the years, from a few people I respect. Smart, philosophical people who just treat the movie as baby philosophy. This always secretly irked me because it was a large part of what opened my mind. Everyone gets to where they are through different paths. Just because someone was already "aware" before watching the Matrix, doesn't mean that the movie cannot help others who aren't as advanced, such as myself at the time, to become more open-minded/aware.

Heh there's a short history of moi.

[aras-55555.livejournal.com]

Ha, do your worst! Gang up on me, it doesn't matter...it just ain't happening! ;)

the trivializing attitude towards The Matrix that I've come across occasionally over the years

Hmm, I might be guilty of this sometimes. Just because it's such a big, easy target ;) But you definitely have a point, everyone's life experience is a bit different, and no one can see the exact same thing.

I'm sure everyone's got some stuff that means a lot to them that other people look down upon. And if someone only likes stuff if it's 'cool' or 'elite' to like it, and talks about stuff they like just to seem cooler than others, that's the worst thing of all to do :/

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Heheh. I just noticed the other day that I use the world "cool" quite a lot. Often just as a throwaway thing to say, but also as a genuine judgement. Then somebody else used it, and in a really obviously different way. Like, when I say something is "cool", I only mean that I'm interested in it, as opposed to it being a universally acknowledged status to aim for, ya know?

And I just had such a jolt of deja-vu writing that. I think I must have dreamed about a similar conversation. Either that, or my brain's melting :)

You can ignore that last paragraph ;)

[aras-55555.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I know what you mean; at least in face-to-face conversation those things can sometimes be easier to pick up than than on the 'net, when two people are using the same words to symbolize different things :)

And, composing correspondance while sleeping is admirably efficient ;)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Yeah - it's very easy to assume that your words mean exactly the same to someone else as they do to you. And I'm a big culprit. And a multi-tasking mad-woman ;)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

Heh there's a short history of moi.

Marvellous :) And I think that goes to show that even if the Matrix has done nothing else but sell a few trench coats, it has at least made one person's life more interesting.

Smart, philosophical people who just treat the movie as baby philosophy.

LMFAO (even though I know it's not 100% funny).

I think we were talking about these people on IRC the other night, you know :) And ironically, it was those people and their exact attitude that you you described that made me like the Matrix. So nyah to them :P

The first time I saw it, I liked it. Just as an action movie with an interesting philosophical bent. I'd actually thought about that sort of stuff before, but from about 15-25 years I just wasn't thinking - I was totally wrapped in this hard shell of stress and pain that took up all my intellectual energy, I think. But I didn't hate the philsophy in any way - it was there for people who wanted it and that was a good thing.

Then I started mentioning it to my smarter friends, the ones who fancy themselves as philosphers, and they all hated it because it was just so "already thought of". And that kind of elitist and patronising attitude pissed me off so much that I started going to great lengths to defend the philsophy of the Matrix, and to point out to them just how patronising they were. In the end, after playing devil's advocate for so long, I found that I actually genuinely liked the spiritual side of the movie, and not just the costumes and the snazzy action :)

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

*grin*

We could buy him the book of the movie, and sneak it into a different cover ;)