Monday 1 April 2013

Neither Here Nor There


Rooney Mara was wonderful as an unhinged, distressed psychiatric patient in Side Effects I couldn't look away from the screen; not even for a single second. The pacing of the film was superb, and the score complimented the scenes wonderfully. 

From the start, perceptions would be formed on who's the 'hero' and who's the 'villain' and all that got blown out of the water as the film progresses on. Human beings are shades of grey; you could neither be all good, nor all bad, and it showed in the film. Each character was masterfully crafted that you're rooting for everyone to make it through with their life and sanity intact , but when push comes to shove, we are all more than willing to sacrifice the person next to us for our own benefits.

The whole time at the cinema, Jonathan and I were squealing because we didn't expect this drama to be so action-packed. And by that, I mean of course there were no explosives and robots. Just the engaging performances of actors that managed to capture the neurotic nuances of being someone pushed to their edge, and the choices that they make. 


I was truly very excited to watch The Host, because Saoirse Ronan is one of the most talented young actresses out there, and ever since Atonement came out all those years ago, I've always loved her. But God bless her lovely soul; The Host is a mess.

I've come to the conclusion that as an author, Stephenie Meyer is hopeless. Her stories lack depth, plot, and heck, even story-telling. When you've got such crap material to work on, sensational it might be, it's just never going to work out.

The first half of the film, I was trying to figure out what the whole plot was about, and then within the hour, I was checking my watch, because this "action-packed science-fiction'" film lacked all those adjectives that I've just written. I've never been one of those people to walk out of a theatre, but I was close to doing just that. The only thing that kept me seated to my comfortable cushion were the pretty mugs of Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons. And I think that's the only redeeming quality this film has.

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