Friday, July 1, 2011

What Else to Watch III

Jack.
Abandon selective targeting. Shoot everything.
28 Weeks Later


What do you see?
Sunshine


I don't want to go home.
Monsters


Bloody hell. I'm going to die to Boney M.
Touching the Void


Is a honey monster a bear?
Four Lions


You know how many foods are shaped like dicks? The best kinds.
I'm not a baby. I'm a tumor.
Hellboy II : The Golden Army


Don't worry, I saw Lord of the Rings. I'm not going to end this 17 times.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang


You gotta chase the rabbit if you want the tail.

Well great, I'd like a fucking joint.
I'm Still Here


Smoking. It reminds me of sucking on my mother's nipples. Best thing in my life.
Enter The Void


Never ask for what oughta be offered.
Winter's Bone

I'm buried in a box. I'm buried in a box!
Buried



Saturday, November 20, 2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One.


The motion picture event of a decade is slowly coming to an end. After ten years and grossing over $5.4billion worldwide, the penultimate film of the series gets its release. And for the first time, since the start of the film adaptations, the makers have got it right. What they had contemplated on with the Goblet of Fire, they have done with the Deathly Hallows; and seeing the first 2 hours and twenty minutes of the five hour finale, one feels a certain sense of satisfaction.


It's very difficult to adapt something like Harry Potter to the screen. One must understand that over the last ten years numerous stories that were there in the books have disappeared in the films. This task of what to keep and what not to keep is extremely crucial. One must create a fine blend out of the parts that are being kept in order to make the films feasible. It is, quite simply, a harrowing task to adapt something of such magnitude onto the screen. Seven books. Thousands of characters.

At some point of time screenwriter Steve Kloves must have asked J.K. Rowling the question as to how she came up with and gave a background to almost all the characters that she created. After a gearing up with the Half-Blood Prince the makers of the films have done a very organized task of polishing up and putting things in their rightful places. It's simply impossible for someone who has not been acquainted with the books or the previous films to understand anything. But that's how things are. The tale is so vast that it requires that kind of special attention.


What they did with the Half-Blood Prince; the frolicking of the seventeen year old wizards, their intorduction into love and loss, is completed right at the start of the Deathly Hallows. The two, extremely grave, opening sequences tells you that things are no longer to be taken lightly. 'These are dark times there is no denying'. Draco Malfoy's coming of age, perfectly shown in the previous chapter, now shifts to the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

This part seems to be more about Hermione and Ron, than Harry himself. There is a clear concentration on character. Finally. Snape, for example, is almost completely absent in this film. Hermione's wiping out the memory of her parents, a scene which was made for the film, only hinted at in the book, is given voice when she erases the memory of a Death Eater. Her charms are what keeps the trio safe whilst they go hunting for Horcruxes. It's also a film about Ron. His constant attention to the radio, listening in to check whether anyone from his family has gone missing or has been killed. His mind trailing off, finding meanings which aren't there in Harry and Hermione's friendship. The grim sight the Horcrux shows him. Dark times indeed. Harry's troubles and pains are reflected on his brow, taking complete shape only at the end with the sad death of a certain free house-elf.


Deathly Hallows Part One is, at heart, a road movie. It is a film where the main characters are on a search. On the path they find several secrets, several hints to achieve what they ultimately seek. Lord Voldemort is close, and getting stronger. Dumbledore's many truths are slowly coming out into the open.

There are also several instances where one will be reminded of the story as it has happened. The Deluminator, from the very first page of the first book, the very first scene of the first film. The first Golden Snitch Harry ever caught; in his mouth rather than in his hand. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, mentioned so many times throughout the books (Babbity Rabbity, no?). One must make a special mention of the animated tale of The Three Brothers as shown in the film. It is indeed something that the films were lacking. A certain Del Toro'ish touch to the whole thing.

Its safe to say that the franchise is finally ignoring the PG-13 cut and going the way the fans of the series would really want it to go. The first part leaves you in a rush, all geared up. Just when you think they're going to have the infiltration into Gringotts in this one itself we see Voldemort take possession of the Elder Wand. And there it leaves you hanging. It is an absolute pity than one has to wait for eight months for the conclusion.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

What Else To Watch II

I'm twelve. But I've been twelve for a long time.


If he tells you to stick the drugs in your ass, you stick them in your ass.


It's so dry!


Live long and prosper.


I try.


It's a gas.


What's the Klingon for I'm going to die a virgin?


..and there was light.



If you aren't an activist you're an inactivist.
The Cove



Hello. We're teachers on sabbatical and we've just won the lottery.
Quantum Of Solace


I need more telephone on my salad.


He'd always wanted a friend. A friend that wasn't invisible, a pet, or rubber figurine.
Mary And Max