Review: Fahrenheit 451

-
I want to burn.

In the future, books are illegal and burned on sight. Firefighters no longer put out fires, they find books to burn. Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan) was content with being a firefighter and looking up to his superior, Captain Beatty. (Michael Shannon) But then he starts remembering things, and an encounter with Clarisse (Sofia Boutella) changes everything he knows.

I never read the book this is based on. I understand there were some big changes, like the technology in the future. For someone that didn't have that preset expectation, I thought it looked really cool and made sense. If they've taken over the internet and wanted to maintain control over everyone 24/7, why wouldn't the buildings look like they do here? 

The Michaels have had a great year. This is the second of two strong performances Michael Shannon gave on TV this year, though I think he was better in the brilliant mini series Waco. Michael B. Jordan, of course brought us one of the best Marvel villains we've ever seen in Killmonger gets to show us his softer side. I thought he was wonderful. Guy seems cocky to us at first but Jordan plays him with a beautiful vulnerability. There's a scene in the film where the camera just lingers on his face that I think is outstanding. 

It did feel like it dragged a bit for me, but I also didn't start watching this until around 10:00pm at night. I could've just been tired, but overall I thought it was a good TV movie. I haven't read other reviews, but I've heard book fans are mad. If you read the book, let me know why.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B-

Memorable Quote "Did Benjamin Franklin really start the first fire department?" - Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan)

Comments

  1. Often Off TopicMay 26, 2018 at 1:38 PM

    I caught about 10 minutes of this accidentally whilst flicking through the TV channels and thought it looked decent so I'm glad to hear it is! Hopefully it'll be on again soon and I'll watch it properly!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Candice FrederickMay 26, 2018 at 1:51 PM

    this is one of my favorite books of all time, definitely want to see this

    ReplyDelete
  3. thevoid99May 26, 2018 at 3:03 PM

    I do plan on seeing this though I've heard reviews have been mixed and lukewarm. I just hope it's better than the 1966 version by Francois Truffaut which I didn't really like as I'm a big fan of Truffaut.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 28, 2018 at 9:44 PM

      I never saw that one so I can't compare to that either.

      Delete
  4. s.May 27, 2018 at 7:05 AM

    Huh the plot sounds like Equilibrium and I'm only now realizing how much Equilibrium ripped off that book :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 28, 2018 at 9:44 PM

      I haven't seen Equilibrium in ages. I need to watch that again.

      Delete
  5. Carson Maitland - SmithMay 28, 2018 at 1:24 AM

    Are you gonna see Christopher Robin?

    ReplyDelete
  6. GetterMay 31, 2018 at 9:11 AM

    Hmm, burning all the books.. now that seems like a horror movie to me. But I will definitely give it a go, I really like both actors.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sonia CercaJune 12, 2018 at 7:27 AM

    I loved the Michaels as they both gave strong performances, and I liked that the filmmakers incorporated modern technologies although I'm not sure how much sense it makes in the story. However, I wasn't crazy about the movie. I engaged me at first but then it bored me. Also, some things from the book were left out such as Montag's wife and they needed to be in the film.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 12, 2018 at 7:53 AM

      I knew a lot of book fans took issue with it. I didn't realize Montag's wife played a role. I thought the modern tech made sense.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more