Movies: Unstoppable, JML and PD2

[pslasher]

Unstoppable

So I watched Unstoppable today and it was awesome!  Chris was so good.  My favorite scene was after Will tells Galvin that he's going to "run this bitch down."  Frank says something to him - and for the life of me I can't remember what; I smell a rewatch! - and Will smiles at him, the first real smile of the movie.  Up till then he'd been so serious and upset about his personal life, and the smile was a complete surprise to me.  It was real and bright, and I really liked that.

There was a lot that went into making the movie fantastic, but first and foremost were Chris and Denzel.  They both gave really gripping performances, without which the movie would not have been half as good.  I'm so glad to see Chris doing well out there.  Rosario Dawson was fantastic too.  She had just the right balance of calm and poise and defiance.  And you're right thalialunacy , her normal hair and makeup really added to the realism of the film.  Everything was ordinary: the costumes, the sets, the scenery.  No hollywood polish for the actors here, not even Chris and Denzel, who both clean up exceptionally well.  It all felt very real, and it added to the tension that got built up with the storytelling.

I thought the film was a really good balance between quick editing and slower pacing in the scene progression.  Tony Scott apparently shot with a ton of cameras for each take and whoever edited the movie used all of that footage to excellent effect.  The individual scenes played out at a length and pace that established the scene and characters without rushing them, but the editing constantly cut back and forth between cameras.  It gave a feeling of the story really driving onward constantly without any room to take a break, building tension from the very first scene.  Also, the film was pretty.  Beautiful countryside, pretty little towns.  They even made the trains look more artistic than industrial, and I'm sure that took some doing.  It was all ordinary scenery, but it had a supersaturated sort of artistic flair that I liked.  So I guess you could say the hollywood polish came in the form of exceptionally dynamic editing and gorgeous cinematography, rather than clothes and hair.

mijan  posted a couple of links that I wanted to pass along: The story of Jon Hosfeld - the man that stopped the train IRL - here, and an interview with the cast here.

Oh, also: Crotch shot!  Totally gratuitous, but completely appreciated.  It's only too bad there was no rewind button! :D


Just My Luck and Princess Diaries 2

I also recently watched Chris' remaining two RomComs, and they were both adorable.  Down-on-his-luck Jake was so cute, I just wanted to hug him.  But I have to say that my fave CFine romcom is PD2.  I like him dressed well and snarky, what can I say?  I mean really, he runs around in his nice button up shirts and suits, annoys the hell out of Mia, sneaks several kisses from her, gets jealous and snarky, and looks down-right edible while doing it.  What more can you want?  Plus, it's just a really good movie with a fantastic message: You don't have to be married to be Queen!  Fuck that, right?  You get married because you want to, not because everyone tells you to.  Also, Julie Andrews rocks.  My favorite moment was actually in the deleted scenes reel - they are both in the kitchen cooking and being silly, and he's flirting like crazy with Mia.  Yum!

On a whim I went looking for PD2 fic on the AO3 and I found one!  It's Driven Outside and Driven In by leupagus, screamlet and waldorph.  Mia/Nicholas, NC-17, with D/s themes. 
That's right: D/s themes.  And Mia's not the bottom.  I looooove this fic for how they portray Nicholas.  He goes from being a self assured jealous jerk to compliant and submissive and they make it look so good!  It's a fun and hot read, and it actually manages to take the movie from kids story to mature adult story while still leaving all the good stuff I liked about the kids story .

Comments

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

Couldn't've put it better myself about the realism in Unstoppable. And I totes noticed that smile, too; you could tell it was real because he had the eye-crinkling thing that is so fucking sexy.

lol and watching that video of them ROSARIO CONFIRMS WHAT I SAID ABOUT HER HAIR. lolol I love it. :D

I am almost tempted to read that fic... Hmm...I should be writing, though... ;)

[pslasher.livejournal.com]

Oh I know, I nearly split my face in two grinning back at that smile. Totally fucking sexy.

She did confirm it! I thought of you through her whole part.

*g* I should be writing too, but guess what I'm doing? Watching Supernatural. I've jumped a lot, and had to fast forward one scene, but dude, I've got such a fangirl crush on Dean already, and it's only 30 minutes in.

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

hahah well maybe I should move it up in my Netflix queue, then... why did you have to fastforward?

[pslasher.livejournal.com]

Because I'm a total wuss, that's why. There's ghosts and demons and that creepy music that I hate about horror movies. I think the scary music is half of why I get creeped out. Also, I'm home alone right now, and somehow that makes it more scary.

I'm watching the show purely for Sam and Dean. And Jensen and Jared. I'm really loving their relationship and the banter and the tough-guy attitude, though, so it's worth it to be a little creeped out or to fast forward some stuff. I made it through the episode, but now I'm debating watching another one...

If Harry Potter bugged you I don't know how you'll do with SPN. I still haven't seen HP7 to know how bad it is, so I can't really compare. Have you seen Carriers yet? Carriers wasn't really bad, SPN is much worse.

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

Ah I see. IDK i never had trouble with X-Files and it seems to be largely along the same genre-lines....? No I haven't yet watched Carriers, even though it's on Netflix instaplay now... I never know what's going to give me nightmares or creep me out, I'm really weird...

[pslasher.livejournal.com]

Well, less aliens and more... well, supernatural stuff. IDK, they say each episode is like a little horror movie each week. I guess it's worth at least trying it out. I'm already quite attatched to the characters because of fic so I'm very excited to watch the show.

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah I forget you didn't watch any X-Files. Maybe one in five eps was actually about aliens, and those ones were the lamer ones imo. The one in my icon, for example (sans lens flare, lol) was about a virtual reality video game that started killing people. Chris Carter, the creator, said he was trying to emulate the creepy factor of the Twilight Zone, mixed with Kolchak the Night Stalker lol. But for some reason it never gave me nightmares or grossed me out. I don't know. Maybe that's how truly I do not believe in aliens or ghosts or... virtual serial killers. XB And the production crew/director is the same for SPN.

tl;dr I am going to give it a chance and I have a feeling I'll be okay. :B

[pslasher.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I watched very little X-files. Actually, I sort of did get creeped out by the few I did see, lol. They did mention the Twilight Zone in the commentary for the pilot. *g* nothing kills the creepy mood like having the writer and producer prattle on about production design and costumes, and gush over Jensen and Jared.

[pslasher.livejournal.com]

Oh also, you've GOT to read that fic! It's not really too long.

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

...i gave in and read it, and it was all kinds of awesome. Never watching the movie the same way again. XB

[pslasher.livejournal.com]

Haha, I know, right! Love that fic.