Trance Review
RYAN: Trance is the new movie from director Danny Boyle starring James McAvoy, Eva Mendes Lite aka Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel, whom I find very ugly.
CAROLINE: Interestingly, until very recently Rosario Dawson was Danny Boyle’s girlfriend. Wonder how she got the part in this movie?
RYAN: OMG I didn’t know that! They were dating?? Seems like an odd pairing.
CAROLINE: There was definitely a large age difference. And as I was watching this movie, I was thinking, “Wow, I haven’t seen Rosario in a movie in ages… I wonder why she was cast in this?” And now we know. I definitely thought she was good though. It’s a big role for her and she did it well.
RYAN: She was good, especially when she was full frontal Rosario, which I did not expect to see. But she has a very pretty hoo-ha.
CAROLINE: [laughs’ I really liked this movie! It’s crazy hard to follow though given that it deals extensively with hypnosis. I still think I don’t fully know what happened.
RYAN: I agree; this is much more confusing than even most confusing movies. It’s a lot like Inception and Memento, but I liked those movies better. And though this one does eventually explain everything, it was a little too late for my comfortability.
CAROLINE: It’s all a little farfetched and yes, Memento was better; but I liked it. It’s a very colorful Danny Boyle movie. And pretty violent too.
RYAN: There are definitely some bloody scenes that I’ve never seen articulated on screen before. This movie was kind of slow moving though; it felt longer than an hour and forty minutes. And it strung me along for a bit too long.
CAROLINE: It didn’t feel too long to me, but it did get a bit convoluted as it went on. I kind of just accepted that I probably wasn’t going to fully understand all of it, and I was OK with that. I will say that this movie reminded me of how much I love James McAvoy.
RYAN: Love him! But his role is similar here as it was in Wanted, which I also liked better than this.
CAROLINE: So you basically didn’t like this movie.
RYAN: No, I liked it fine. But to me this is not on the level of Danny Boyle’s other films like Slumdog Millionaire or 127 Hours.
CAROLINE: Fair enough.
RYAN: I really liked the set design; everyone’s apartments were so modern and cool.
CAROLINE: I know you think Vincent Cassel is fug, but he plays creepy so well. I even liked him in that Derailed movie with Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen.
RYAN: I keep thinking of him in Black Swan, where he was beyond gross.
— BOTTOM LINE —
RYAN: Compared to other great movies I screened this week as well as Danny Boyle’s amazing prior films, Trance stands out as a rental to me.
CAROLINE: I thought it was pretty good given the relatively slim pickings at this time of year. I really liked the cast and the trippiness of the movie. But I agree that you don’t have to rush out and see it on the big screen.