It was my intention to write this review before the Academy Awards aired on Sunday night. I decided to run out to a theater still playing what was later awarded Best Picture of 2011 late Saturday afternoon, and to my surprise, I found myself in a packed theater. Sadly, due to the time I arrived, I had to sit in one of the seats close to the front. That was my only problem with this film, but it was my own fault.
As for the film, marvelous homage to early cinema! I knew all the hype behind the movie, but as usual, I needed to see it for myself to see if it was legit hype.
True, the major selling point is that it’s a silent movie. The black & white aspect isn’t all that spectacular even though it’s employed nicely, a lot of modern movies still do that brilliantly. (more…)
I was and still am pretty excited about this movie since it takes place and is filmed in and around the New Haven area. FYI, I’m a Connecticut native and the Elm City is where I was born. However, I didn’t figure this out until later in the film when characters were throwing town names around and I had to run to IMDb and Wikipedia. The filmmaker is from New Haven and some scenes were actually filmed in his childhood home.
This is, or maybe was, a pretty good example of an “Oscar bait” film. In case you never heard of that term, it’s a film that has grade A acting, directing, writing, etc. It pretty much has to make critics swoon about some aspect of the movie if not the whole thing, and then come awards season, it racks up the nominations to various other awards and may get close, if not winning, the Academy Award itself.
So, how bout those Giants?
I wanted to start this review by stating plans or the possibility of this film having a sequel. But I’ll get to that later. Honestly, I don’t have a problem with Hollywood wanting to follow up a hit money maker if there is more story than can be told. But without seeing the film and knowing the premise is about employees plotting to kill their employers, it leaves you wondering.
Angry Birds.
