The Fall

There are some movies that are extremely visually pleasing. Amelie for example is a very visually pleasing movie, as is House of Flying Daggers. Anything with Scenery Porn tends to be visually pleasing for a very specific reason. There are some movies that you just want to watch for the beautiful imagery.

The Fall is a movie just like this, but there is much more to this movie then just the stunning visuals (and Lee Pace wearing eyeliner).

The Fall is a story with in a story, and the beautiful thing about it is that the way it is told is so intuitive and beautiful and funny that it feels like you are a part of it. It feels natural, is what I'm trying to say. There is a moment that is completely exemplary of this feeling where Lee Pace's character says that he will go and kill every Spaniard, and the little girl listening to the story says "But he's Spanish too!" and you see the moment, the brief moment when it changes suddenly, as the character in the story looks uncomfortable and then renews his fervor as a Frenchman.

This sort of natural progression, the interweaving of the story that Roy is telling and the story of what is going on outside, draws you in and makes you think about the process of story telling.

Critics of the movie say its boring -- beautiful but boring -- and on TV Tropes everyone seems to love it and I think there's a reason for this -- a reason why there is a good bit of Terry Goodkind bashing -- because TV Tropes is a way of looking at media and discovering greater depths to it. This movie uses this knowledge and makes watching it thoroughly enjoyable.

Its one of the reasons I love TV tropes so much. Yes it does ruin watching certain things, but the only way it ruins it is if the author or writer does something stupid with a trope and turns it into a cliche. There are so many clever ways to play with tropes, use them!