(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

My mind has returned to the 2007 movie Into the Wild. It's mostly very good, but the cinematography reminds me of when I played with fonts as a kid. The speed alterations in both directions, the freeze frames, the close-ups... these things rarely added anything to the pic for me. I'm inclined to chalk it up to Sean Penn being a first-time director and wanting to try out every trick in the book before he finds his stride. At least the time discontinuity keeps things interesting, even if it is more decorative than evidently meaningful.

Granted, the techniques do little if anything to subtract from the film either. But one split second in particular sticks with me. Keep your eyes open when the protagonist enjoys his apple immensely. Right after he finishes, he suddenly put his big bearded face right up close to the camera. He's supposed to be alone, so what in the world is he staring at? More importantly, why was the action ever conceived, let alone included in the final cut? Maybe the DVD would help me out, but I want to wait a while before seeing the movie again.

If you guys can't answer my inquiry, I'd still like you to answer this:

Are there any really brief moments in movies or TV shows that at least threatened to lower your opinion of the work as a whole?

Comments

[billis.livejournal.com]

Sean Penn has directed a handful of movies already, they all have a sort of austere feel.

To your query, yeah, sometimes there's a short scene which blows the whole movie for me, one where the acting seems too much like acting, or when the movie suddenly expands its parameters in a bady way.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Huh. People were acting like Penn hadn't directed before. That's what I get for not checking with IMDb.

Would you mind citing an example of such a moment?

Wrong moments

[akktri.livejournal.com]

First of all, if you're lost in the woods for a looooong time, you may go flippin' nuts and give cheesy grins to phantoms.
As far as terrible moments in cinema, I have a slew of them at my Wrong Moments(http://community.livejournal.com/wrong_moments/) community, such as the time Wilford Brimley talks about erections in the movie Coccoon or the butt touching scene in E.T.