Frozen (2013)
I had high hopes when I heard this was made by the creators of Tangled. Then I had low expectations when I saw the trailer. Then I was suddenly told it was marvellous by everyone. So the other week, we finally decided to give it a go. (Great thing about childrens' movies is that they stay in the cinema for weeks and weeks.)
Now there were three things that I loved about "Tangled". The hair effects (particularly when she does a whole action-movie bit swinging across a chasm), the horse (OMG the horse! So funny!) and the relationship between the daughter and her mother. It was cool the way we had a villain who felt like a real person for a change. And it was even rather creepy the way that the mother figure was possessive and manipulative like you'd expect from a real person rather than, say, Skeletor.
There was something I really didn't like about Tangled though. It wasn't a huge issue, but it did leave it with an "A-" instead of an "A+". That was the songs. I hated the songs. I found every song was a period of time I would have to sit and wait for things to start happening again. It was never something I actually enjoyed.
In "Frozen" we still have the songs. On the one hand I'd say that the songs are somewhat better this time around and I actually really like Orlof the snowman's song "In Summer".
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However, I do generally find myself wishing they didn't sing so much. The first song to REALLY annoy me is the one where the protagonist (or at least A protagonist, since it's two sisters at the centre of this) starts singing about how much she wishes she had a man *groan!* Okay okay okay, so there's 'reasons' and everything, but did we really need to have to sit around while she SINGS about it?
Anyway, as for effects, there are fantastic effects here. The snow is done brilliantly all the way through. The main feature here is that one of the princesses has ice powers and they are amazing. Another factor here is the realistic villain. For most of the movie we don't exactly have a villain at all since the snow queen (their parents die in an accident early in the movie, so the sisters aren't BOTH princesses anymore) is actually not really to blame. She doesn't want to hurt anyone and she's actively hiding away to avoid affecting anyone else.
Both princesses are actually really well formed characters. The more ordinary younger sister is generally the main protagonist, holding an important role in spite being the biggest victim of her older sister's powers. With both sisters having been kept away from the outside world for most of their young life and the younger sister having absolutely no real idea why, she is suddenly extremely keen to try out being social when the opportunity arises and proves to be very clumsy when over-excited. It's very sweet and entertaining.
The real replacement for the horse in Tangled is Orlof the snowman. Yeah okay he's funny, but I don't think he's on quite the same level. But yeah he's pretty cool.
In the end, there was something in this film stopping me from entirely getting involved. Perhaps my expectations were too high by the time I actually saw it, but there's a major twist about one of the characters and I saw it coming pretty early. And there's a love triangle. It's been pointed out to me that there aren't actually a lot of love triangles in Disney movies like this, where the initial first choice turns out to be the second choice in the end. (I mean did anyone EVER ship Belle with Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast"? Not a chance. So not really a love triangle in the same way.) Even so, the whole love triangle thing where the lead female character realises she was looking at the wrong person the whole time is a common trope outside of Disney movies and I found it annoying.
And, oh my goodness, so many damn songs!
Okay so, basically I'm admitting here that there were a lot of elements that I really enjoyed. In a version of this without the songs it would be scoring a lot better. But I have to give an honest grade taking into account all my own peculiar tastes and so for me the incessant and constant songs and the story elements that were predictable (not ignoring that there were several neatly subverted tropes here) mean that in the end this was more of a pleasantly good film rather than a very good film. This is a good score, but feel free to call me a grumpy guts for not scoring it higher. ;)
B-
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Okay so ironically we move from a film where the worst thing for me was the songs (Frozen), to a film where the best thing about the film was the songs.
I love the Coen Brothers' movies a lot and it has come to my attention that every single last one of them is a black comedy. Heck, even something that seems pretty light-hearted like "Raising Arizona" is about a couple who kidnap a baby. That should not be sweet and cheerful stuff. The sweet and cheerful portrayal is not because the Coens' don't care about baby kidnapping, but because there's a darker side to the story. There's a cheerful nihilism in the background of the Coens' movies, laughing at the misfortunes of the characters. Heck, what other filmmakers would start a movie with a man happily doing a running job in order to commit suicide from his office building? ("The Hudsucker Proxy" btw.)
The last Coen Brothers' movie was my favourite so far. "A Serious Man", the story of a man for whom everything consistently seem to go from bad to worse and in the most hilariously tragic ways. "Inside Llewyn Davis" has a similar format. This is a folk singer who just cannot catch a break. And things take a turn for the ridiculous when he leaves a friends flat only to be followed-out and locked out with their cat. For most of the film he is carrying a cat around with him.
Even the songs which aren't supposed to be as good, are brilliant here. There's a song called "Please Mr. Kennedy" which is actually really really catchy, but our protagonist Llewyn kind of resents being involved in it. He wants to work on 'serious' music.
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And admittedly Llewyn's own work is extremely good. We see some amazing performances from the actor, Oscar Isaac, who plays Llewyn. However, he consistently fails to get serious credit for his craft and it's clear that people all around him are also having a tough time getting their work recognised.
One problem with "Inside Llewyn Davis" is that it isn't as funny as previous Coen Brothers' movies. That's not really a huge criticism, since the Coens' movies are often absolutely hilarious, but it does mean that this was never going to be one of my favourites of the year. A bigger problem however, is the random car ride with John Goodman. Sure, John Goodman's character is monsterously funny and says some extremely amusingly horrible things. (Goodman plays a Jazz musician who completely looks down on folk music.) But in the end the car ride to Chicago feels like a little too much of a lull in the plot. The random amateur poetry reading given by the driver in the service station felt particularly jarring.
Still, all the performances are wonderful. Carey Mulligan is great as Jean, who holds Llewyn in complete contempt, and Stark Sands as Troy Nelson, who is always positive about everything no matter what happens. The central character of Llewyn is wonderfully flawed. His insistence on never compromising can often be a curse for him. Also, even while he's getting frustrated at the lack of recognition he is receiving for his music, it's also notable that he is generally unwilling to give credit to people around him for their work either.
"Inside Llewyn Davis" is a funny film, but with more songs than plot. Admittedly they are fantastic songs and there are very funny moments here, but this is not the Coens at their best. It's not the Coens at their worst either mind you. This is really good film and there is plenty to enjoy here.
B+
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