A Movie Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

so i went to see the girl with the dragon tattoo (hollywood version)

I SHOULD START BY SAYING THAT I HAVEN’T READ THE BOOKS

Ok, now the movie: it does not live up to the hype, specially compared to the Swedish film. They tone it down, which was fine, but then some of the motivation gets lost, and they try to use other elements that dont really fit in. They also moved some plot points around, and changed some characters, i think they edited some stuff to make the movie more ‘american’ and i dont think it paid off. MAJOR COMPLAIN: the take off some of the back story, Martin is underdeveloped, they also took off the flashbacks of Lisbeth that appear in the swedish version, but most importantly they ADDED some stuff that was not in the swedish version. Lisbeth’s guardian had a stroke, but they show it more in this one, and she never goes to see her mother, i think they say she “tried” to kill her father?

Another major complain is the way the set up Lisbeth. In the Swedish Film, she is more cold and distant, she is much more believable (plus her tattoo is awesome), and the way the character develops seems more natural and realistic. In this one her emotions and feelings are much more easier to see, which i dont think fit with the character, she also “falls in love” in true hollywood movie fashion and does not fit in with the character nor is it really relevant throughout the film (until the end i guess). They also leave the flower thing, they completely forget about it, they throw it in at the beginning and then just leave forget about it.

The movie is full of advertisements too, and they weren’t very discrete, theres coca-cola, epsion, vaio, and they practically throw mcdonalds in your face.

Besides all those points i thought Mr. Reznor and Atticus Ross did a good job with the score and the overall mood of the movie felt right, the pacing was slow (as was the swedish one) but it does add something to the movie. The cinematography was also good.

I will give it an A (on OWL standards) and will just add that the credit scene at the beginning was pretty cool

EDIT Movie Score: 7.8/10

A Food Review on Taco Nazo

First food review! I have no idea how to be a food critic so whatever.


TYPE OF FOOD: Fish Tacos! (Baja-Style)
WHERE: Taco Nazo (9516 S. Garvey Ave., South El Monte CA, 91733)

Ok, so I went there last week. My friend took me there, and he never eats fish, so I knew this must be good. We got there and it was a bit crowded, but it was a Friday afternoon/evening (pre-evening) and there is bound to be people anywhere. The service was great, friendly people all around. I made my order (in Spanish of course) of Combo #1, which is 2 fish tacos ("con todo"), chips, salsa, and a soda. I went mostly for the fish tacos, but they also have shrimp tacos (which I want to try!) and cocktails and so on. For a full menu you can visit their website http://www.taconazo.com/menu
So I order my food, get my drink and go sit down. Must have waited around 4-6 minutes, not bad. I get my food and first thing I go for it the chips with some salsa. Chip is just generic chip, salsa is, well it wasn't good. It was to watery and too much salt. So I put the chips and salsa aside and I put the finishing touches on my tacos: lemon and tapatio sauce. I take the first bite, and it's actually better than I expected. The fish was good, but the best part of the tacos is their signature cream. I devoured the first taco, and proceeded to the second one.
--I don't know how you rate food, some people go by first bite, I actually go for last bite. Here is why: If the last bite is not good, then you end your eating experience on a bad note. Maybe the first bite isn't that good, but if you stop eating there you are missing out on the rest of the meal! (plus you paid for it anyways) So I reserve my judgment for my last bite.--
So last bite on the tacos, and I must say it was really good. It actually reminded me of some random taco place in Ensenada, where I had tacos like 6 years ago. I wish I would had tried some shrimp tacos, but I was full. If you are looking for good, Baja style seafood, I would recommend you go to Taco Nazo. It's the real deal people! Unless you want to go to Ensenada one weekend, which I'm totally down to go. Anyways, good tacos.
FOOD SCORE:

• ☺☺☺☺
• E.E. (O.W.L.) 

P.S. If I ever do another food review, it will go something like this, except (hopefully) more to the point. Remember I'm no expert!
P.S.#2 I watched The Descendents and Drive, but I haven't typed the reviews on those. I hit writers block or something, I'm not used to writing every week (for a blog and for school) so I was a little burned out. I want to get those out before the end of the month.
BTW: Thank you! Yes you! Thanks for Reading!

A Movie Review of Peeping Tom (1960)

Peeping Tom is about a man obsessed with filming the reaction of fear in people. He goes to great lengths to achieve a perfect reaction and capture it; he kills people to record their fear. He starts out killing without remorse, but at the end he loses control and his obsession takes over.

 

Mark Lewis was emotionally scarred by his father, who would always have a camera on him to record when Mark was afraid. As an adult he continues his father’s work. Although the movie tries to show him as a cold-blooded killer, I think he shows too much emotion to be considered one. He also has a lot of different and contradicting traits. He is shown to be distant and afraid of people, but then really friendly with his co-workers. When he is interviewed by the detective, Mark is confident enough to give them the camera with the footage, but then in the same scene he is way too impatient to have it back.

The Movie has some really interesting ideas that where dropped latter through the film. The opening scene is from the point of view of Mark’s camera, and then he goes back and watches the film that same night. They repeat this with the next murder, but then stop doing it. Using the point of view from Mark’s camera is used extensively in the first half, but then is almost absent from the rest of the film. I shows that Mark’s character doesn’t need to hide so much behind his camera as the story progresses, but I wish they could had stayed with that mechanic throughout the film. My favorite thing in the movie was the fact that he would go back to watch the tape of his latest victim, just moments after it had happened. Too bad they did away with that, and that there weren't enough killings.

Peeping Tom has some interesting concepts and ideas, but the characters are not fully developed. The dialogue is not the best and some things could have been explained better, like why Mike father was obsessed with fear, or how the blind lady knows to be suspicious of Mark and his work. And who was the other guy that lived in the house?

It's not such a good movie, I have no idea if they wanted to to horror or drama, or thriller, it was all over the place.

MOVIE SCORE:

• 6/10
• D (O.W.L.)