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gemmahickey
Reviews
Deliver Us from Eva (2003)
Eva is an unpleasant character who meddles in her sisters relationships. A womanizer is then paid to date her but trouble soon follows as the plan begins to backfire.
The title of this movie already gives us the impression that Eva's character is one that is unpleasant. It is clear that the director is playing on the phrase "deliver us from evil" and this then gives us an impression of Eva's character before we even watch the movie. I think the title is both clever and imaginative in this way.
The introduction of this film is also very creative as the film opens up with the narrator telling us that he was killed. The narrator is Ray Adams, the guy that we will see Eva fall in love with. At the beginning of the film he points the blame at those who killed him, which is a clever way of introducing us to the main characters. It is not until the end of the movie that we understand what the narrator meant by all this and so throughout the movie the question of "why was Ray Adams killed and how did it happen?" remains in our minds. These scenes create a sense of mystery and encourage us to keep watching.
Character development is an aspect of the movie that I really admired. It is not until half way through the movie that we get to understand the reasons to why Eva is so uptight and serious all the time. We learn that after the death of her parents she had to take on the responsibility of looking after her three younger sisters. As we find out this information I find it hard not to sympathize with her. As the film goes on we get to see the vulnerable side of her as she attempts to open up to Ray. It is as though her relationship with him has tamed her and we now see a happier and more carefree woman. In this film adaptation it is not only Eva that changes throughout the movie but Ray also ends up being tamed. I really like how this adaptation allows for both characters to undergo changes. Before he met Eva he was a womanizer and showed women little respect but by the end of the movie he was a changed man. They both went through drastic changes by falling in love with each other and both became better people. I also think Gabriel Union and LL J Cool did an outstanding job at capturing their chemistry on screen. The chemistry sparkled between the two main characters and it was clear the director did a great job in the casting of these two.
This film adaptation is highly entertaining and full of comedy and drama. The beauty parlor scenes are my favorite as all the girls sit in the salon and gossip about their love lives and life in general. These scenes allow us to get to know the characters better but they are also some of the most comedic scenes. This film sometimes comes across more like a modern sitcom than an actual movie and is very unrealistic but at the same time I can't complain as I still enjoyed it.
An aspect of this film that I really did not like was the ending. It was clear that eventually Ray's deception would be uncovered and the truth would be revealed. However the ending was simply odd and too cliché for my liking. For an adaption that was so creative I think the director could have put more time into coming up with a better and less clichéd ending. Another aspect of this film that I didn't like was its overwhelming use of sex-related dialogue. In my opinion this film put far too much emphasis on sexual interactions. I feel as though this was the director's attempt at making the film more comedic however in my opinion it did the complete opposite.
Overall though the movie was enjoyable to watch but it is by no means amazing. It is enjoyable to watch simply due to its comedic moments. I think the director and film crew did an excellent job at adapting the script to an African American culture. It is a very creative and imaginative adaptation and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to watch something that will give them a good laugh as it certainly had me laughing throughout.
Romeo & Juliet (2013)
Romeo and Juliet tells the tale of two "star-crossed lovers" that have fallen madly in love with each other despite the ongoing feud that exists between their two families.
After watching this latest film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet the first question that came to mind was 'did we actually need another film adaptation of this play?'In my opinion the answer is no, that Baz Luhrmanns 1996 Romeo and Juliet was enough and captured this classic love story in a way that this 2013 adaptation could not do. This film was really unnecessary and doesn't make us think of the play in a different way. It almost does this magnificent play injustice. This film adaption displayed such a beautiful tragic love story in such a straightforward, dull manner. There was nothing captivating and interesting about this version at all and that was disappointing.
In this adaptation Fellows rewrites the dialogue in an attempt to modernize Shakespeare's language. The film consists of both modern day English and Shakespearean English. This then results in a disjunct between the language and the setting as the director chose to set this play in a traditional old-fashioned way. His attempt at combining Shakespearean English with modern day English is shocking and quite difficult to watch. The setting of the play is almost magical though and this partially makes up for the unusual language arrangement. The film was shot in Verona, the original setting of the play. This makes the film more realistic to watch and not to mention how breathtaking and beautiful the scenes were. The costumes along with the setting are one of the few aspects of the film that I actually liked. The costumes are elegant, beautiful and quite elaborate allowing the characters to fit right in with the traditional setting. In my opinion there has been more far too much emphasis placed on the visual aspect of this film than the actual acting itself.
If you ask me the director and casting crew made a huge mistake during the casting process as the actors playing Romeo and Juliet were not suited to their roles. There was a clear lack of chemistry between the two and that is devastating to watch as this film is supposed to tell one of the greatest love stories ever written. This lack of chemistry has a lot to do with the huge age difference between Douglas Booth (Romeo) and Halie Steinfeld (Juliet). During filming Halie Steinfeld was only fifteen while Douglas Booth was nineteen years old. This age gap can make the audience feel quite uncomfortable and slightly awkward as there are quite a few intimate scenes between the pair. Even though there are constant gazes exchanged between the two and endless close-ups of them together the chemistry is just not there and no amount of editing and camera work can fix that.
I may seem harsh in my critique of this film but as this is one of my favourite plays I can't help but be very critical. This adaptation just didn't live up to my expectations of what a Romeo and Juliet film should be like. The poor casting and unusual language made the film hard to watch and overall I was quite disappointed. If it wasn't for the exceptionally beautiful setting and the elegant costumes which look as though they came straight from a fairytale then this film would be a complete disaster.