Meet Joe Black
I forgot how long it was.
Meet Joe Black is the kind of film onto which I would like to heap loads of those adjectives that English teachers would rather you didn't use. (rather one didn't use?) You know, the words that have a certain blandness to them, that mean what you want to say but lack the passion with which you probably ought to say it.
(If you intend to skip to another post without reading the 'More' link, you might like to know that at the end of this I do actually recommend the film; I really like it)
I think by now I've gained enough experience to be allowed them again, especially since I mean exactly what you might think when I say it's nice. It's not a boring film, although you could argue that perhaps it doesn't need to be so long, it's well acted, and it has plenty of emotional weight. It's not spectacular (it's quoted as being the most expensive film as its time not to use any special effects, but I don't want to start an argument about which effects count as 'special'). It might change your life, but then if you pay enough attention so will almost everything else you could ever observe (and many of those didn't take three hours).
Anyway, along the lines of various other such stories, it's about a guy called Dood (I have Dutch subtitles on, remember) who takes a holiday. It's worth noting at this stage that I haven't seen Death Takes a Holiday, although I notice that Meet Joe Black steals its tagline (and a very poor line it is). He makes friends with a wise man, falls in love with a woman; the usual stuff that mythological creatures do when they get a mortal body.
Not much more to say. Definitely well acted: Brad Pitt as Death is in places positively cringeworthy, but in a good way. Well, not good - I don't like cringing - but it's convincing. Anthony Hopkins as media tycoon Bill Parrish is superb, and his daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) is also just as you'd expect her to be (and I do mean that as the double-edged sword you might hear).
It's a weighty film, not always easy to watch but it's well worth putting in the effort. Thorougly recommended: rent it and have a bottle of wine with the significant other in front of it.
Meet Joe Black is the kind of film onto which I would like to heap loads of those adjectives that English teachers would rather you didn't use. (rather one didn't use?) You know, the words that have a certain blandness to them, that mean what you want to say but lack the passion with which you probably ought to say it.
(If you intend to skip to another post without reading the 'More' link, you might like to know that at the end of this I do actually recommend the film; I really like it)
I think by now I've gained enough experience to be allowed them again, especially since I mean exactly what you might think when I say it's nice. It's not a boring film, although you could argue that perhaps it doesn't need to be so long, it's well acted, and it has plenty of emotional weight. It's not spectacular (it's quoted as being the most expensive film as its time not to use any special effects, but I don't want to start an argument about which effects count as 'special'). It might change your life, but then if you pay enough attention so will almost everything else you could ever observe (and many of those didn't take three hours).
Anyway, along the lines of various other such stories, it's about a guy called Dood (I have Dutch subtitles on, remember) who takes a holiday. It's worth noting at this stage that I haven't seen Death Takes a Holiday, although I notice that Meet Joe Black steals its tagline (and a very poor line it is). He makes friends with a wise man, falls in love with a woman; the usual stuff that mythological creatures do when they get a mortal body.
Not much more to say. Definitely well acted: Brad Pitt as Death is in places positively cringeworthy, but in a good way. Well, not good - I don't like cringing - but it's convincing. Anthony Hopkins as media tycoon Bill Parrish is superb, and his daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) is also just as you'd expect her to be (and I do mean that as the double-edged sword you might hear).
It's a weighty film, not always easy to watch but it's well worth putting in the effort. Thorougly recommended: rent it and have a bottle of wine with the significant other in front of it.
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