Anna Karenina (Joe Wright)

[Irish]

Hanna has more in common with Drive than Fast and Furious anyway. It was released by Focus Features. They distribute arthouse films, not blockbusters. And Hanna grossed more than Drive without a draw like Gosling. So, uh, what does this all mean again?

I dunno, that you're being intentionally obtuse for comic effect? That you missed the point of those comparisons in an attempt to be clever? You may want to rethink that strategy. I'm not sure it works for you.

Focus Features is wholly owned by NBC Universal. All major US studios have boutique brands. Not sure where you were trying to go with that. (Taken, by contrast, did more business than Hanna and Drive combined. It was produced by half a dozen European studios, among them Canal+, whose logo I'm sure you've seen at the arthouse more than once. That doesn't make it an arthouse film on the level of I am Love. It's pretty clear that all three of these movies had the same intended audience.)

Hanna might have had a fine art angle to it, but at its core, it's an action film. To pretend otherwise is to ignore a huge chunk of the movie, and mostly in an obstinate effort to argue for aesthetics over narrative.

[transmogrifier]

It doesn't really matter what Hanna was meant to be; all that matters is what it is.

[Chac Mool]

Isn't it literally his first film since Hanna?

Good catch -- I meant other than Hanna.

No, I paid too much attention to the utterly predictable script and groan-worthy dialogue. It was very, very, very generic. What, exactly, made it so brilliant? Balls in your court on this one.

A little late to the party, but my two cents: in addition to the strange atmosphere/aesthetics, I liked Hanna because it pointed out, in its own roundabout way, that real life can be pretty weird. I mean, none of the settings, characters and situations were particularly uncommon -- kids raised by hippie parents on a trans-European vacation and abandoned amusement parks certainly do exist -- but, taken together, they made for quite a strange journey. I don't think it's a great movie, but to call it generic is a little bit of a stretch.

EDIT: And I think the discussion on studios really has to do with expectations. When I go see a WB or Universal picture, I generally expect a commercial vehicle; when I go see a Focus Features picture, I generally expect more art-house fare. Does it matter? No. But if Prometheus had been distributed by Focus, I would have asked myself why, and probably concluded that it's more of an art-house film than I thought it was.

[baby doll]

Cliff's Notes' stock must go way down whenever one of Wright's movies come out.

[Lucky]

Cliff's Notes' stock must go way down whenever one of Wright's movies come out.

Do Cliff's Notes still exist? Students weren't even using those back when I was in highschool. Sparknotes.com was big back then.

[number8]

No, this is why Cliff's Notes' stock went way down:

[Izzy Black]

LoL

[baby doll]

So I'm about 200 pages into the book (don't tell me how it ends!), and it seems to me that the title character is a bit of a hussy.

[Qrazy]

HERPADERP

[Izzy Black]

Bet money baby doll is only reading this book so he'll have the authority to shit all over Wright's movie when it comes out.

[Qrazy]

Bet money baby doll is only reading this book so he'll have the authority to shit all over Wright's movie when it comes out.

Bet you he gives up once Levin hits the fields.

[baby doll]

Bet money baby doll is only reading this book so he'll have the authority to shit all over Wright's movie when it comes out.

Except that I have no intention of seeing Wright's movie. Incidentally, I haven't read Atonement but that didn't stop me from shitting all over that movie.

[Izzy Black]

But imagine how much more weight your dismissals will carry if you can actually compare the adaptation to the novel (already secure in the belief that a good adaptation is impossible)

[Irish]

This is cool. Director commentary from Joe Wright over a short scene from the film:

http://nyti.ms/XMEIqa

[SirNewt]

This just played here. It moves with a speed you don't expect from adaptations of 19th century lit.

Certain scenes have an almost a musical quality to them.