Last movie you watched......

Saw The Blind Side on Saturday. Not as good as I expected, and nowhere near as good as the book (of course).

 

Saw Hard Candy. Ellen Page again playing a brainiac, albeit a cracked-cup, cruel brainiac. Certainly not entertaining, and not sure if it's really a serious thought exercise or cautionary tale. Unless the director is trying to scare potential older man-teen girl chat-room denizens straight. Little more than violence porn.

 

I love Hard Candy. A lot.

 

I can never, ever find her attractive because of that movie.

 

The movie, or the actual candy?

 

Oh, in Juno she's very easy to like. In Smart People, she's prettied up a bit much (and Fusilli did the precocious teen girl character type much better in his Terry Orr novels). In Hard Candy, she acts very well, that's not a question. But it's in service of a dreary exercise.

So, IJAG, what did you like about it?

 

I've never even heard of Smart People.

I don't know, exactly. I don't watch a lot of scary movies, psychological-type things, so when I find one I can watch, that intrigues me on its own. I liked the mindfuck nature of it. I liked the random moments of realization. And I liked the stark nature of it.

 

I am too scared to find her attractive because of that movie.

 

I saw The Men Who Stare At Goats last night.

Not good.

 

I liked the movie. I really enjoy minimalist films like that with a small cast and a good plot. "Closer" comes to mind, although that was based on a stageplay, I believe.

I really like David Slade, who directed Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night. I hate the Twilight movies everything, but I'm curious to see what he's able to do with the third one. While 30 Days of Night wasn't great, I thought the direction and cinematography was really good.

 

I really liked 'Hard Candy.'
I don't think it's meant as any kind of cautionary tale or anything of the sort. If it had been, I wouldn't have liked it.
A good movie should make you think, but it should not be trying to teach you anything.
What was interesting about 'Hard Candy' was how it manipulated my own shifting sympathies.

 

While you were all talking about "Hard Candy," I was thinking of a movie with a really high body count named "Hard Boiled." No wonder why I was confused. Both good movies.