Viewing Journal: 7/31/2010

181) CLASH OF THE TITANS
(2010 dir. Louis Leterrier) 2nd Viewing: July 31 2010

My roommate was watching this today on HBO so I sat through it again in my jammies. It makes me sad that it's such a generic shit-colored dud. 

I think one of the only reasons I remember the original so fondly is due to the endearing jerky Harryhausen animated effects. This one doesn't even have that going for it. I'm a fan of generic hero myths as much as the next geek, but this one just needs some type of dressing up to distract from how routinely dull it is. It's a lot of bloated c.g. action staged with little style. Like watching a feature length God of War cut-scene.

At least it gave us the novelty of Liam Neeson saying this line:

Which i'm sure he repeats on the toilet daily

180) FOLLOWING
(1998 dir. Christopher Nolan) 2nd Viewing: July 31 2010

Nolan's debut still holds up. Moody and eccentric in its construction. Who knew he would move on to such mega-budget projects & at the level of creative free rein he's been given. Few cinemagicians are awarded those opportunities. Even though I wasn't crazy about INCEPTION or his remake of INSOMNIA, I will always appreciate having a showman of his caliber around creating stuff. Because occasionally he does produce pure magic like THE PRESTIGE and THE DARK KNIGHT. This one's currently on Netflix watch-instant.