Because curiosity killed the cat...
Mar. 22nd, 2005 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silversolitaire... I went to see a supersecret sneak preview! Secret title and all, for 4 EUR. I was tempted before but somehow never managed to drag my ass there. Originally bro and I had wanted to go, but he's always busy on Monday and now that he DOESN'T have to go to his club meeting he was invited for a b-day -.-;. Well, I was sorta battling my inner demons all day, debating whether I should go by myself or not, whether I'd end up being bored and annoyed because it'll turn out to be some weirdo movie etc.
Anyway, around seven I had managed to wrestle my demons down enough to slip out of the house. All alone! :O!!! I hate going to the movies alone. I really do. But I had the suspicion that I'd hate it even more to drag dad into some movie gamble and end up watching a horribly sucky movie. So I decided I'd rather bear the embarrassment alone than with someone else. Drove over to the theater, was nearly knocked off the street by speeding cops O.o;. Bought a tickets and a small bag of popcorn and waited for the movie. Did I mention I was dying from curiosity?
I went inside, armed with a movie magazine to kill the time until the lights would fade. Yes I know, I probably looked horribly prententious, sitting in a sneak preview which kinda is the cineast's idea of gambling thrill with a movie magazine, but nyah! The theater was mostly empty which I kinda expected to stay that way (silly me). I had secured my usual seat in the dead center of the theater. First dude who came in after me... sat down RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO ME! -.-; I just thought that figures. I mean, the seats were numbered and all so it definitely wasn't intentional but it really bugged me. It immediately reminded me of why I hate going to the theater alone: because of the possiblity of being sandwiched by two total strangers. Which is exactly what happend. Urgh... Cinema seats just aren't large enough to make me feel comfortable with being that close to a total stranger. Oh well, I survived. Before the other guys arrived I was sorta toying with the possibility of moving seats once the lights went out, but I didn't want to be rude and all... But that possibility was taken away from me anyhow, so who cares.
The really annoying thing was that the guy next to me was the REALLY pretentious twat. I came in in this full motorcycle gear and I already knew he was going to smell. Ew. Well thankfully he didn't really smell but still. He started chatting with the guy next to him really loudly which I hate in general even though the commercials were still on. I heard him say things like "I'm a reporter now!" etc. and I got this nasty feeling that he actually thought this was somewhat important that he was sent here to review a movie. Geeze. hen the theater went totally dark and he exclaimed "Oh shit, I still need to make a call!" and flipped out this gigantic multi-functional cellphone thing with a brightly shining display of doom. I gave him the glare of doom in return which bounced off him. Apparently his friend convinced him to skip the phonecall but he kept messing with his annoying display thing. I think he was trying to take notes or something -.-;;;. It was really very bright and annoying so I just told him at some point to switch it off which, rather surprisingly, he did.
Good, so that was settled. However, as it turns out people seem to not take sneaks serious at all! It looks like they think because they didn't get to pick the movie (and neither could anybody else) they can behave any way they want. A lot of people were having normal-voiced conversations all the time! There were comments etc. I really hated that. I don't like people babbling during movies. I always try to be very considerate and quiet. I even suck on my popcorn most of the time and only chew it when there are sounds on the screen. Guess I'm just a weirdo who thinks you should actually understand what the people on the screen are saying! -.-;;;
Anyway, back to the movie. It's kinda ironic. I was going through release lists before to guess which movie might turn up. In all honesty, I wasn't surprised at the actual results. But I was maybe hoping for uhm.. what WAS I hoping for? I don't know. Well, before I left I said to Tom "Worst case it's Ring Two or something." And SURPRISE! It was Ring Two. Kinda ironic since I really didn't like the first part and vowed to not watch the second one. And here it is!!!! The tape work0rz!!!!!!!! XD;;;
Now since I got to watch the movie here are my comments. First a couple of non-spoilery ones, then spoiling ones behind the cut.
Basically, Ring Two is exactly like The Ring. Meaning, if you loved The Ring you'll love this one too. If you thought it was trying a little bit too hard to be oh so scary and rolled your eyes at it, ditto. But the story is very creative and new, so that's a plus. It features the same characters as the first movie, minus the one that suffered icky deaths, of course. It has those disgusting mangled horror faces again and lots of random BOOOOOOOO effects, the kind that make you kick the front seat and spill your popcorn all over your neighbors. Which I did copiously. After the first 45 mins where I spilled my popcorn every 5 mins or so I gave up and put it away. Of course that was also when the movie had a sudden suspense drop -.-;. All in all I would say the pacing was better than in the first movie. No longer these endless, annoying research scenes and all. The plot is more streamlined and you know pretty soon where this is heading and most of the suspense is caused by fearing that Samara's freaky face pops up again randomly. Whether you like that or not is left to you.
The plot is easily summarized: trying to find a new life, Rachel and her son leave Seattle behind to settle down in a small coastal town. But soon the video comes to haunt them. To protect her son, Rachel destroys the tape... and Samara does not like it. At all.
Personally I didn't find the thing that scary, all in all. I mean, not in a persisting way. Some things are really scary and stay with you for a long time. Sixth Sense was such a movie for me. When you lie in bed and a cold breeze brushes over you randomly and you just kinda have to think of the movie. Stuff like that. I don't think this movie does that. Sure, I jumped and gasped at those scenes, but you'd have to be really calm not to. But now that I'm out of the theater it's forgotten. Some people thought differently, of course. Halfway through the movie there was this grown man's voice going "I'm so scared ;_;" XD; There was one part that was REALLY scary to me though. More of that behind the spoiler cut.
I feel really l33t though. I recognized the movie within the first 10 seconds or so, even though I hadn't bothered with it at all before. But the score, the general mood, the water... a dead giveaway. The others needed until the kid waved around with the tape to get it.
Okay, now some spoilerish comments.
First of all, I'm sick and tired of every remotely goodlooking and nice guy to snuff it! Can we PLEASE change the pattern there??? It's getting really annoying. Everytime I like a character he's sure to croak. I'm so sick of it! >.<;
I found it unsatisfactory... again! Because it left a world of problems behind and unexplained. For example, what is she going to do about the corpse in the car in front of her door? How is she going to explain the dead doctor in her son's hospital room? What about the suspicions of child abuse against her that really weren't all that farfetched considering the evidence against her? That stuff really annoyed me. In the end when she was clutching her son, crying "It's okay, she's gone! She can't hurt us anymore!" I wanted to yell "It's a trilogy, you stupid bitch!" -.-; Even though of course they set the movie up again in a way that they could just leave it there if it really performed badly at box office. Somehow I got a feeling it won't though.
Despite its originality the movie does have a couple of nasty sequel vibes though. They went at great length in the first part to give Samara this full-blown background, intentionally leaving things in the dark. Of course I may be wrong since I probably forgot a lot about the first part, having watched it just once and not having been very impressed by it. Anyhow, it seemed rather "out of their assy" to me to come up with this whole storyline about Samara's real mom and what not and Samara really just wanting a mommy (despite the first movie saying she's just plain evil and likes to kill). But maybe that's just me. *shrugs*
Now, the scene that really scared the shit out of me was the one with the stags. It was just so plain weird and out of the blue that I found myself covering my mouth with my hand while watching it, transfixed. That really doesn't happen to me all that often. Or maybe stags just scare me, I don't know. But when they came charging at the car, with those huge antlers, and the one blocking the path... woah, scary.
All in all I'm not sorry I went. It's one of those movies I definitely would have wanted to watch one way or the other. Now that's done and I can move on without looking back *g*. It wasn't a waste of time, so that's a good thing. At the exit we were asked to cast our vote. You were given this little disc and could stick it on one of the three poles, one saying "Good", one "Mediocre" and one "Bad". I was debating whether I should choose good or mediocre and then opted for the latter. I think the choice was good.
I checked out some comments on IMDB and this one cracked me up! XD;
"The Ring Two Features More Of The Creepy Samara And An Instant Classic Reindeer Scene!"
And that concludes my sneak preview adventures. There's something else I was going to say, but I forgot that now. Oh well. Maybe later.
Anyway, around seven I had managed to wrestle my demons down enough to slip out of the house. All alone! :O!!! I hate going to the movies alone. I really do. But I had the suspicion that I'd hate it even more to drag dad into some movie gamble and end up watching a horribly sucky movie. So I decided I'd rather bear the embarrassment alone than with someone else. Drove over to the theater, was nearly knocked off the street by speeding cops O.o;. Bought a tickets and a small bag of popcorn and waited for the movie. Did I mention I was dying from curiosity?
I went inside, armed with a movie magazine to kill the time until the lights would fade. Yes I know, I probably looked horribly prententious, sitting in a sneak preview which kinda is the cineast's idea of gambling thrill with a movie magazine, but nyah! The theater was mostly empty which I kinda expected to stay that way (silly me). I had secured my usual seat in the dead center of the theater. First dude who came in after me... sat down RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO ME! -.-; I just thought that figures. I mean, the seats were numbered and all so it definitely wasn't intentional but it really bugged me. It immediately reminded me of why I hate going to the theater alone: because of the possiblity of being sandwiched by two total strangers. Which is exactly what happend. Urgh... Cinema seats just aren't large enough to make me feel comfortable with being that close to a total stranger. Oh well, I survived. Before the other guys arrived I was sorta toying with the possibility of moving seats once the lights went out, but I didn't want to be rude and all... But that possibility was taken away from me anyhow, so who cares.
The really annoying thing was that the guy next to me was the REALLY pretentious twat. I came in in this full motorcycle gear and I already knew he was going to smell. Ew. Well thankfully he didn't really smell but still. He started chatting with the guy next to him really loudly which I hate in general even though the commercials were still on. I heard him say things like "I'm a reporter now!" etc. and I got this nasty feeling that he actually thought this was somewhat important that he was sent here to review a movie. Geeze. hen the theater went totally dark and he exclaimed "Oh shit, I still need to make a call!" and flipped out this gigantic multi-functional cellphone thing with a brightly shining display of doom. I gave him the glare of doom in return which bounced off him. Apparently his friend convinced him to skip the phonecall but he kept messing with his annoying display thing. I think he was trying to take notes or something -.-;;;. It was really very bright and annoying so I just told him at some point to switch it off which, rather surprisingly, he did.
Good, so that was settled. However, as it turns out people seem to not take sneaks serious at all! It looks like they think because they didn't get to pick the movie (and neither could anybody else) they can behave any way they want. A lot of people were having normal-voiced conversations all the time! There were comments etc. I really hated that. I don't like people babbling during movies. I always try to be very considerate and quiet. I even suck on my popcorn most of the time and only chew it when there are sounds on the screen. Guess I'm just a weirdo who thinks you should actually understand what the people on the screen are saying! -.-;;;
Anyway, back to the movie. It's kinda ironic. I was going through release lists before to guess which movie might turn up. In all honesty, I wasn't surprised at the actual results. But I was maybe hoping for uhm.. what WAS I hoping for? I don't know. Well, before I left I said to Tom "Worst case it's Ring Two or something." And SURPRISE! It was Ring Two. Kinda ironic since I really didn't like the first part and vowed to not watch the second one. And here it is!!!! The tape work0rz!!!!!!!! XD;;;
Now since I got to watch the movie here are my comments. First a couple of non-spoilery ones, then spoiling ones behind the cut.
Basically, Ring Two is exactly like The Ring. Meaning, if you loved The Ring you'll love this one too. If you thought it was trying a little bit too hard to be oh so scary and rolled your eyes at it, ditto. But the story is very creative and new, so that's a plus. It features the same characters as the first movie, minus the one that suffered icky deaths, of course. It has those disgusting mangled horror faces again and lots of random BOOOOOOOO effects, the kind that make you kick the front seat and spill your popcorn all over your neighbors. Which I did copiously. After the first 45 mins where I spilled my popcorn every 5 mins or so I gave up and put it away. Of course that was also when the movie had a sudden suspense drop -.-;. All in all I would say the pacing was better than in the first movie. No longer these endless, annoying research scenes and all. The plot is more streamlined and you know pretty soon where this is heading and most of the suspense is caused by fearing that Samara's freaky face pops up again randomly. Whether you like that or not is left to you.
The plot is easily summarized: trying to find a new life, Rachel and her son leave Seattle behind to settle down in a small coastal town. But soon the video comes to haunt them. To protect her son, Rachel destroys the tape... and Samara does not like it. At all.
Personally I didn't find the thing that scary, all in all. I mean, not in a persisting way. Some things are really scary and stay with you for a long time. Sixth Sense was such a movie for me. When you lie in bed and a cold breeze brushes over you randomly and you just kinda have to think of the movie. Stuff like that. I don't think this movie does that. Sure, I jumped and gasped at those scenes, but you'd have to be really calm not to. But now that I'm out of the theater it's forgotten. Some people thought differently, of course. Halfway through the movie there was this grown man's voice going "I'm so scared ;_;" XD; There was one part that was REALLY scary to me though. More of that behind the spoiler cut.
I feel really l33t though. I recognized the movie within the first 10 seconds or so, even though I hadn't bothered with it at all before. But the score, the general mood, the water... a dead giveaway. The others needed until the kid waved around with the tape to get it.
Okay, now some spoilerish comments.
First of all, I'm sick and tired of every remotely goodlooking and nice guy to snuff it! Can we PLEASE change the pattern there??? It's getting really annoying. Everytime I like a character he's sure to croak. I'm so sick of it! >.<;
I found it unsatisfactory... again! Because it left a world of problems behind and unexplained. For example, what is she going to do about the corpse in the car in front of her door? How is she going to explain the dead doctor in her son's hospital room? What about the suspicions of child abuse against her that really weren't all that farfetched considering the evidence against her? That stuff really annoyed me. In the end when she was clutching her son, crying "It's okay, she's gone! She can't hurt us anymore!" I wanted to yell "It's a trilogy, you stupid bitch!" -.-; Even though of course they set the movie up again in a way that they could just leave it there if it really performed badly at box office. Somehow I got a feeling it won't though.
Despite its originality the movie does have a couple of nasty sequel vibes though. They went at great length in the first part to give Samara this full-blown background, intentionally leaving things in the dark. Of course I may be wrong since I probably forgot a lot about the first part, having watched it just once and not having been very impressed by it. Anyhow, it seemed rather "out of their assy" to me to come up with this whole storyline about Samara's real mom and what not and Samara really just wanting a mommy (despite the first movie saying she's just plain evil and likes to kill). But maybe that's just me. *shrugs*
Now, the scene that really scared the shit out of me was the one with the stags. It was just so plain weird and out of the blue that I found myself covering my mouth with my hand while watching it, transfixed. That really doesn't happen to me all that often. Or maybe stags just scare me, I don't know. But when they came charging at the car, with those huge antlers, and the one blocking the path... woah, scary.
All in all I'm not sorry I went. It's one of those movies I definitely would have wanted to watch one way or the other. Now that's done and I can move on without looking back *g*. It wasn't a waste of time, so that's a good thing. At the exit we were asked to cast our vote. You were given this little disc and could stick it on one of the three poles, one saying "Good", one "Mediocre" and one "Bad". I was debating whether I should choose good or mediocre and then opted for the latter. I think the choice was good.
I checked out some comments on IMDB and this one cracked me up! XD;
"The Ring Two Features More Of The Creepy Samara And An Instant Classic Reindeer Scene!"
And that concludes my sneak preview adventures. There's something else I was going to say, but I forgot that now. Oh well. Maybe later.
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Date: 2005-03-22 12:57 am (UTC)Can't say anything about the imagery... I didn't really pay too much attention to that. But it had pretty impressive imagery as well, good cuts, nice cinematography, some pretty scary scenes... I would say it definitely has a good chance of pleasing you. I heard several people say "This is even better than the first one!" Of course, others also ranted "OMG I can't believe they're showing a SEQUEL!!!!" Poor bastards, probably had no clue what this was about... ^^;.
Those sneaks are rather common around here actually. You pay for a movie and have no clue what it's going to be... I'm just glad it wasn't a Turkish flick with Dutch subtitles. I'm not kidding! I saw it in the program O.o;.