Risselada Blog

Under discussion:

The Invisible Man  (1933)

This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”.  To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.

The Invisible Man

I've seen a handful of the old Universal monster movies now, and the ones by James Whale have certainly been my favorite.

I read the original The Invisible Man novel by H.G. Wells which was a compelling little read and liked the movie as well.  There are some differences.  Of course they had to throw a little love story into the movie which wasn't in the book because every Hollywood needs a love story apparently.  It doesn't really work, but it's not too intrusive so it's not a big deal.  Also the motives between the main character in the movie and the book seem to be different.  I think the character in the book is slightly more sympathetic, even though just as deranged.  You get a bigger picture of his struggle and his motives.  The character in the movie just seems to want power.  And supposedly he's turned this way because of the drugs he took to make him invisible.  The description of how he became invisible in the book is more interesting.  Although the more ruthless movie character can make for a bit more excitement.  He's ruthless enough to murder his old partner by sending him off a cliff in a car.

It's kind of fun to see old special effects.  And to see Una O'Connor go completely hysterical.  And Claude Rains has a great voice.

Rating: 8/10

Under discussion:

The Thin Man  (1934)

This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”.  To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.

The Thin Man

Recommendations and reviews on this were almost too good.  I'll admit this is a lot of fun, but I feel like when a movie is so well recommended and described a certain way, as a zany-comedy-mystery, you start looking for what you expect from the very beginning.

The movie is fun but there is nothing overly surprising about it.  Nick is a funny character, but in a mostly suave and sophisticated way.  He does get into a few goofy slapstick type situations, but mostly the jokes are not at his expense, but the is making them at the expense of others.  This is not to say he is antisocial.  Actually his jokes are in good spirit and make him lovable to other characters.  I tend to prefer characters that are the opposite in some way.  Either comical characters in which the joke is on them, or if they are the ones making the jokes they are totally absurd and confusing to the other characters.

I still had a great time watching this movie, but it's not my favorite of either the comedy or mystery genre.

Rating: 8/10

Under discussion:

For the Bible Tells Me So  (2007)

For the Bible Tells Me So

This movie surprised me.  I didn't plan on seeing it, but my girlfriend who is a big documentary fan rented it.  I'd almost felt like I'd heard enough on this subject.  I was sick of watching people use the Bible as a weapon to support their un-loving and un-Christian beliefs.  I didn't want to give people like that any further attention I thought.  Not that I don't think we need to find a way to stop this kind of behavior and thinking, but most news I see doesn't do much to help the problem.  It's usually just a sick exploitation piece of watching people who hate so we can hate them back.

But the approach of this movie is not like that.  It's not some sensational news story like you would find on Dateline or something like that.  Here are real inspirational stories of homosexual people and their families facing the people who hate them (without even really knowing why) with love instead of hating them back.  That doesn't mean submission.  These are brave people who are stepping up and making a statement, but they are stronger reflections of Christ than those who hate them and claim they do so because of the will of God.

You will see some amazing redemption stories from people who you might normally stereotype because of their beliefs or background.  You realize that people do not fit into little boxes of our definitions and that everyone deserves love.

I highly recommend this movie.

Rating: 9/10