Thursday, August 02, 2007

Catching Up on Movies

Since the school year had ended, I've been catching up on watching dvds. Here are some of my thoughts (not really a review).

The Lake House
What a lovely movie. It's a romance starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Jack moves into the glass lake house that his father built for his mother when he was a child, and in his red mailbox, he finds a letter written by a woman from the future, Kate. They start writing letters to one another despite the fact that they're on two different space/time continua, sharing their daily ups and downs, ideas on life, relationships and so on. Soon, they realize that they are each other's soulmates, and that's when Jack tries to find Kate and meet her in person.

What I found surprising about this story was how easily I allowed myself to get drawn into the impossibility of it, and how willingly I suspended my disbelief so that I could watch the two characters finally come together in the end. The best part of it is that the ending is not as predictable as one might think. I was hooked. Another surprise in this movie was Reeves' acting. Normally, I find him very boring to watch because he doesn't really use a lot of facial expressions or his voice to convey emotions and make the character that he's playing believable to the audience. I don't hate Reeves like some people do, but I wouldn't deliberately go to a theatre to see his newest movie. In The Lake House, he was actually very good. He actually used a variety of facial expressions, and his voice actually acts as much as he does.

Sandra Bullock was excellent. I think she has really grown since her Speed days to become a well-rounded actress. In this movie, she imparted a strong sense of loneliness, vulnerability and a slight sense of frustration at her predicament. She is also strong and practical, knowing when things have become too fantastical and puts a stop to it. Seriously, how can two people from two different times meet?

After seeing this version, I would like to see the original Korean production on which this Bullock/Reeves version is based: Siworae. I wonder if the original Korean ending is the same as the American one?


The Premonition
This movie, again, stars Sandra Bullock, along with Julian McMahon and Kate Nelligan. This movie turned out to be completely different from what I expected at the beginning. The beginning really does look like a suspense-thriller, and a bit spooky, too. In this story, Linda's husband dies in a car crash, and the next day, she wakes up to find that he's still alive. Soon, she figures out that the days of the week are happening out of order. She has to find out how to prevent her husband's death the next time Wednesday comes around. But, then she finds out some info about her husband and now she's not sure if she wants to prevent his death anymore.

I really liked this movie, surprisingly, since I had only heard rather negative reviews about it.

No comments: