Upside Down (2012)

2/5

Upside Down is a rather silly movie about two worlds connected to each other by an international corporation's elevator bridge, but kept separate by opposing gravitational forces. It provides three "rules" at the beginning of the film: the first two are pretty much assumed and do not require enumeration, but the third doesn't really make any sense at all and is just there to provide an artificial complication to an otherwise simple premise. It tells a cliched love story between an up-worlder (Dunst) and a down-worlder (Sturgess) in a visually titillating universe. But the world they live in gets boring fast. Unlike a Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie, it doesn't bring any creativity or cleverness to the world it creates. (Also, they just seem to ignore the parts of each world that aren't in apposition (i.e., the "dark side" of each planet).

Add on top of all that inane acting and a bland script, and you have a disappointment. But the ultimate--and most frustrating--problem with the movie is that it lacks a climax. It just ended without a confrontation or conflict. It floated about until it eventually had nothing more to happen besides give the two love-birds their happily-ever-after. Honestly, I really can't recommend this movie to anybody. Don't let the trailer deceive you into thinking this might turn out to be a good movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1374992/

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

2/5

I was pretty disappointed by Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire. It might be that I just don't like vampire movies, but I think the bigger reason is that I just don't like bad movies. Apparently the movie's sympathetic vision of vampires was revolutionary ... or something. It didn't seem that novel or interesting to me. It follows the story of Louis (Brad Pitt) over the past 200+ years after being turned by Lestat (Tom Cruise). Kirsten Dunst plays an angsty and needy teenage vampire and Antonio Banderas plays a suave yet flamboyant vampire. All of them are orgiastically homoerotic towards each other.

I'm sure there's a lot about vampire culture I don't understand, but the stuff I did understand wasn't very good. The story plodded along, the wooden dialogue stumbled forward, the actors didn't complement each other. The camera focused on meaningless gestures, the editing lacked purpose, and the movie felt like it took three hours. I had to stand up and walk around to stay awake, which annoyed every one else I saw it with. But as soon as I stopped walking around and sat down, I fell right back asleep. The positives: some interesting ideas and cool special effects. I'm sorry to say it, but don't bother with this movie unless your a vampirophile.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110148/