Sunshine vs. Smart People

I’ve recently watched 2 films worth noting for different reasons.  It’s pure coincidence that they both start with S.  And that my name starts with S.

Sunshine

I had heard some good things about this one, but something about the concept didn’t immediately grab me, so it’s taken me a while to watch it.  It’s directed by the same guy who did 28 Days Later, and stars Cillian Murphy, who was the main actor in 28 Days Later AND Dr. Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow) in the 2 new Batman films. Another actor from a superhero film, Chris Evans, of Fantastic Four fame (his character was one of the only good performances of FF), also stared in Sunshine.

Basic premise: a group of astronauts pilot a mega bomb into the sun to try to help jumpstart the dying star.  If they fail, the earth will die.

For those non-SciFi fans out there, this may seem sleepy or overdone, but they found a way to overcome that with good writing, good acting, nice cinamatography, and great special effects.  It was more of a human drama rather than an over-the-top SciFi film.  About half way through i was saying to myself “Wow, i really like this.  I hope they don’t screw it up.”  They didn’t.  This, like most movies, had a few elements that i didn’t care for, but overall, it was a strong movie, and one that i recommend.

8.5 out of 10.

Smart People

Meh.  Meh.

I’m a fan of Ellen Page.  Juno and Hard Candy are two of my favorite films of all time, and her performance of Kitty Pride in X-Men The Last Stand was very good.  This movie does not even shake a stick at those films or those performances.

I wish i could tell you what it was about, but really, it wasn’t about much.  Another “indie” film about a disfunctional family.  I wish they’d keep making these.  Wait.  No i don’t.  In theory, these types of films, at least in my mind, should be gold.  But somehow people keep screwing them up.  It tries to be quirky and original.  FAIL.  It tries to be smart.  FAIL.  I even had low expectations for the film.

The characters weren’t that believable, even though some of them had some interesting quirks.  The acting wasn’t horrible, just wasn’t great.  I pretty much blame the director, cinematographer, and producers.

I told Mark that i enjoyed the first 7 shots of the trailer for Blindness (which looks pretty great, btw) than i did the entire movie of Smart People.  Oh well.  To be fair, it’s a good trailer, which doesn’t always make for a good film.

Smart People did have a few descent moments, but overall, not worth seeing imho.

4 out of 10.