I'm back and here goes. Where were we? Right.
12. The Book of El: In a post-apocalyptic world, a lone hero, Eli (Denzel Washington), guards the Book of Eli, which provides knowledge that could redeem society. The despot (Gary Oldman) of a small, makeshift town plans to take possession of the book.
Let's see, Denzel, who I like just made a movie called The Taking of Pelham 123 which I didn't like. Which is not something I ever thought I'd say about a Denzel Washington movie. But let's see if he makes up for it. Gary Oldman is a favorite any day.
13. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
To this I can say, YAY!! As you'd know from my previous post on Narnia, I'm a huge C.S.Lewis & Narnia fan. And I loved Prince Caspian. I don't quite know why the film had crappy box office returns but I'm really hoping they make all 7 Chronicles. This one is something I'm eagerly waiting for.
14. Shrek Forever After
Who doesn't love Shrek? I know it's movie four so people are probably starting to get a wee bit tired of it but I think they still have one good one left in 'em.
15. Sex and the City 2
I know it's sacrilege for a guy to admit he likes Sex and the City but I'm going to say it. I like it! It's funny, the chemistry between the characters hasn't gotten old after 6 seasons. But after this movie, please stop. You can't keep milking it just cause it made sense once. And yes, botox is your friend.
16. Tron Legacy
Okay, so I don't remember the original Tron movie cause I was 2 when it came out. But I do remember seeing those ridiculously cool tron bikes and stuff when I was a little older thinking, "Nice!" Well, it's 27 years later and time for a sequel. Look for it at the end of 2010.
17. Twilight Saga: Eclipse
I think I'll let media overkill do the job for me here. I don't care to see Robert "Sunken-eyes" Pattinson or Kristin "My life is going to end if I don't kiss Edward" Stewart. I can't go 10 feet without Twilight this or Twilight that. But unfortunately, screaming teen girls being a huge demographic, they will make all 4 movies pretty much back to back.
18. Alice in Wonderland
Now, this is a movie I'd give an arm to see. Tim Burton, the genius dark director is back to take what is, in actuality, not a childrens novel at all and subject it to his even more twisted vision. It is going to be AWESOME. Burton has with him, the usual suspects, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny Elfman and Depp. And just when you think Johnny Depp can't pull any more avatars out of his hat, he gives us...
19. Inception
If you loved The Dark Knight and I did, Christopher Nolan is back with the most underrated actor of his generation, Leo DiCaprio in a weird sci-fi thriller. I saw the trailer, didn't understand a goddamn thing but I can't wait to watch it.
20. The Expendables
Okay, this is just testosterone overkill. Sly Stallone, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, alongside upstarts Jet Li and Jason Statham, for a story about a crack team of mercenaries sent on a mission to terminate a South American warlord. I am weeping tears of joy.
21. The A Team
Does anyone remember The A Team. I thought they were cool with that cool van and Mr.T. I thought he was the biggest black man I'd ever seen in my life. Well, I was 8 when I first saw them. Here is your first official look at Bradley Cooper as Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as Sgt. "B.A." Baracus, Sharlto Copley as Capt. "Howling Mad" Murdock, and Liam Neeson as John "Hannibal" Smith in the Joe Carnahan-directed The A-Team.
22. Toy Story 3
I thought they were cute. Maybe they still are. Might download this one.
23. Shutter Island
My favorite actor-director combo is back. Leo DiCap-Martin Scorsese. Come on!
The Gangs of New York, The Departed, The Aviator and now a horror! I CAN'T WAIT! Look at that poster. :D
24. Robin Hood
Where has Russel Crowe gone? I haven't seen him since... oh wait. He's in England. In tights. Beating up bad guys. Generating Oscar buzz before it even begins.
25. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
"We know it's the last part and we know it has to end. No? JKR won't write another? Damn it! How do we make this last just a little long... wait a minute! I'll just make the last part into last part- part 1 and last part - part 2. mehehehe."
26. Iron Man 2
Tony Stark is back. :)
Mickey Rourke is the cybernetically enhanced villain Whiplash and Scarlett Johansson appears as Black Widow, a Russian assassin who may also be joining Gwyneth Paltrow as potential love interest. Don Cheadle replaces Terence Howard as Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, who later becomes Iron Man’s heavily armed back up, War Machine.
That's going to be my Super-hero pick of the year.
If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m a huge movie buff. I love movies. I watch almost every kind out there, be it comedy, action, thrillers, horror, romance, foreign films, anything. It must however, be noted, that I rarely if ever watch Hindi movies. Nothing against Bollywood except to say that 90% OF THE MOVIES SUCK. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. I do make the occasional exception like A Wednesday which I thought was a stellar piece of acting from both Naseruddin Shah and Anupam Kher. I loved that one.
Now, back to the topic at hand. Movies in 2010. Here’s a list I got from timesonline.com and I’m going to comment about just the ones I find interesting.
1. Avatar: First off, I know it's a 2009 movie and shouldn't feature in the list but DAMN, what awesome visuals. It's got Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation) and the movie honestly looks brilliant. Well, at least the scenes involving the planet Pandora do. I can't wait.
2. Clash of the Titans: So, here's Sam Worthington again! This time as Perseus looking to lay some serious pain on Hades. I'm a huge Greek Mythology fan, so I'm going to love this.
3. The Green Hornet: Okay, so Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet? Really? I don't know. This can either be really good or really bad. I'm really out to lunch on this one. I guess we'll have to wait.
4. Resident Evil: Afterlife: To be honest, I'm bored of Resident Evil. There's a virus, T- or G- or whatever, it gets out of control. First in 2002, then 2004, then 2007 and like clockwork in 2010. I wonder what the story will be this time. :|
5. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas: Okay, I'm a Kal Penn fan, but why would he do this?? He's in the Obama administration as the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Does he really need another Harold and Kumar, especially after Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay which was the unfunniest movie since since Epic Movie.
6. Highlander: Again, a fan of the Highlander TV show with Adrian Paul. I then watched the Christopher Lambert movies which were AWFUL. Each one worse than the last. Now, as with Star Trek they're doing a reboot. Let's see if it'll work. I hope it does. The concept is kinda cool.
7. Legion: First off, check out the poster. How cool does that look. Anything that has fantasy/horror with Angels and stuff is good with me. Now, a brief of the plot:
"After God loses faith in humanity, the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) is the only one standing between mankind and the apocalypse. This time using angels as the act of Biblical judgment, God's wrath descends on Earth to exterminate the world's population. In a desperate, last-chance gambit, Michael leads a group of strangers to a small, New Mexico diner to protect a young waitress who may be pregnant with Christ in his second coming."
Again, a fan of Paul Bettany who I haven't seen in a while now.
8. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: Whoa! I was just doing an image search for the poster to this movie, thinking to myself, Jake Gyllenhaal? Really? But check this out. The dude has buffed up! I'm a big fan of the videogame and I have yet to play The Two Thrones but this is EXACTLY how the Prince looks in the game. Love it.
9. The Wolfman: I've seen the trailers and I'm not terribly excited by this one. I loved the classic 1924 and 1941 versions. But Benicio Del Toro's version doesn't seem to bring anything new to this, I feel. Let's see. It is a remake after all. I'll hold judgement on this one.
10. Gulliver's Travels: Jack Black is back as Gulliver. :) Enough said.
11. Predators: Okay, so I didn't hate the AVP movies but that's because I wasn't going in with any expectations. This is a Robert Rodriguez movie. The story involves a group of the toughest humans alive abducted and taken to the home planet of the invisible super-hunters. Pursued through the strange alien jungle they are picked off one by one until only one survives. I think there's a rumored cameo from original Predator star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I know I’m always slightly late in my movie reviews but unlike regular movie critics who in their boring “prompt” way review and critique a movie right after its release, I tend to take my time and do it at liesure when I happen to see a movie on TV. :)
For instance, last night, after coming home from a hard day’s work, I turned on HBO and there was I am Legend. The fact that the movie boasts a cast of 2 for almost 80% of its running time is something that I love. If you’ve read my previous post on Benjamin Button, then you’d know that I’m a fan of movies with quiet, yet strong performances. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’d watch a Megan Fox-filled-Autobot-beat-Decepticon-stopping the end of the world movie in a heartbeat. But these types of movies (Legend and Benjamin Button) are the movies that move you. I don’t feel the hairs on my arm raise watching Shia yell at Optimus.
To give you a little bit of history about the concept behind I am Legend, we need to go back to the book that spawned the movies. To quote Wiki, “I Am Legend is a 1954 science fiction/horror novel by American writer Richard Matheson. It was influential in the development of the vampire genre as well as the zombie genre, in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease, and in exploring the notion of vampirism as a disease. The novel was a success and was adapted to film as The Last Man on Earth in 1964, as The Omega Man in 1971, and as I Am Legend in 2007…”
At first, before I’d known this, I’d loved the movie but wondered what the title was about. To know this, you have to understand the book. The Robert Neville of the novel isn’t a scientist; he’s just a normal man who happened to survive. And the survivors in the book are vampires, instead of zombies. In the novel, he sets about hunting and killing as many of these vampires as he can find, considering it his human right to try and destroy this new scourge that took mankind. But unlike the movie, the vampires of the novel aren’t soulless, bloodthirsty creatures who kill for the hell of it. They are still essentially human inside and come to terms with their new vampirism and consider it a part of life. They then go about rebuilding society as a vampire society. And Neville, in his crusade against all things vampiric, is the monster. He’s the odd one out in the world where the new “normal” is to be a vampire. The hunters then go after the “monster” to kill the thing that is hunting them. The irony is not lost on Neville and before he dies, he laughs and says, “[I am] a new superstition entering the unassailable fortress of forever. I am legend."
Now, the movie tried to incorporate its own interpretation of “Legend” and they did this in an alternate ending that was shot for the 2007 movie. In this ending, the movie deviates during the last few minutes where the Darkseeker leader doesn’t keep running mindlessly into the glass wall. When Robert Neville keeps yelling that he can cure them all because the Darkseeker woman is now visibly human again, the leader walks up to the glass and with his hands, smudges the figure of a butterfly. At this, Neville looks at the now cured Darkseeker lady and sees a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder (or arm, I forget). He then realizes that the leader and this woman are a couple and that he’s being hunted for their version of love. He then wheels the table out where the woman is lying and the leader and the other seekers take her and leave them alone. The leader looks at the wall of pictures where Neville’s failed experiments are and then Neville realizes that to them, he is the monster and not vice-versa. He then takes Anna and Ethan and escapes to Vermont
While this was not the chosen ending, which would have been the happier one (which is why I’m guessing it didn’t get picked for the movie, for seeming too optimistic), this ending is, however, the one that resonated most with the title. Here, Neville realizes the nature of the beast that is now him.
I must say though, that Will Smith was excellent (yet again) in this movie. His expressions and sorrow made you feel the weight of grief that’s on his shoulders. Also, being a die-hard dog lover, I absolutely adored Sam and his role in the film and shed a tear (yes, yes, I cry during some movies) when he died.
Also, I thought having New York , rather than Los Angeles New York
It makes you kind of wonder what you would do if you were ever in the same situation. Would you find the will to live on knowing that you are the last human on the face of the planet? I don’t know if I would. I thought that if the world was empty, I’d travel till I found my perfect place and live out my days there in whatever fashion I could.
Brad Pitt is a great actor. Whether it be comedy (Burn After Reading), drama (Meet Joe Black), thriller (Se7en) or action (Fight Club). He is versatile and doesn’t get half the credit he deserves. I’m not talking about the sexiest man alive or the man who adopts the most children but for his skills as a thespian. Opposite him is one of the most graceful, elegant and powerful actresses since Grace Kelly, Cate Blanchett. She’s breath-taking either as an Elven queen in Lord of the Rings or as the immortal Katherine Hepburn in Aviator.
When you put these two together in Benjamin Button, you get a performance that will leave you yearning for more. The strength and hopelessness of their short-lived love teaches you a very important lesson. “It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.”
It might sound a little cliché but it’s true. Benjamin knows he has to journey through life alone and that no one can share his unique view of the world but the strength of their love keeps drawing him back to her again and again and again. And as I’ve said before, they share a brief liaison, but that keeps him going. And well, he trusts no one but her to take care of him as he is unable to care for himself as a toddler.
And the best part of the entire thing is, how understated the acting is. I love movies where there are no grand emotional scenes or hysterical, tear-jerking climaxes. I love movies where the mood and tone of the actors say all there is to say about their feelings. Legends of the Fall and Meet Joe Black were two such movies. In both, he said so little but then again, he didn’t have to. Anthony Hopkins (another legend who I can’t say enough about) and him just spoke to each other or didn’t but we always understood exactly what was going through their minds. Pitt conveyed both the sense of power as well as the vulnerabilities of being Death in Joe Black while
And this is the type of movie that Benjamin Button is. You believe he’s a child in an 80 year-old body or that he is an old man in a teenager’s.
For those of you who like action and screaming and CGI, this isn’t your cup of tea. This is just a very unique, very strange love story of a very curious man.
If there ever was a wish that most people make, it is that they stay young forever. Or even have the chance to grow young again. And if there ever was a story that make you think twice about that, that’s the story of a man who had no choice in the matter. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the tale of a man whose life is inexplicably linked to a clock. A clock made by a father who is so heartbroken by the death of his young son, that he makes it tick backwards. It was almost as if the man, by simple act of making this clock, was willing time to reverse itself and give him his son back.
This is a wonderful story, so eternally tragic and sad. The loneliness and the heartache of a person who’s destined (some might say, doomed) to grow younger while everyone around him ages normally. Benjamin Button is born with the body of an 80-year-old. He is abandoned by his father at the steps of an old age home and is taken in by a caring, sweet woman who looks at him like God’s gift. It is thought he wouldn’t live very long but then, he starts aging. Backwards. Every year that passes sees Benjamin grow just a little bit stronger, a little younger. And then, of course, as there is in every story worth telling, he falls in love. He meets a young girl, Daisy, who comes to visit her grandmother at the same home he is in. And he lives his life by one very simple tenet, “You never know what’s coming.”
This movie was the first one in a very long time that made me stop and think. It’s every person’s role in life to live a certain way, experience all that life has to offer and grow old, hopefully with someone else that you’d love to grow old with. And if you’re lucky, you die with them. Maybe to go on to a better place and maybe not. This is the way that things are meant to be. But then again, men are never ones to accept their fate and make their peace with it. It is in every fiber of our being that we don’t like to lie down and accept anything. This is a fight that’s been going on through the course of our existence. The search for the Tree of Life, the Fountain of Youth, some elixir that would magically let us live forever. The quest to be immortal is as old as our species itself. And whether it will be achieved is something that only time will tell. After watching this movie, I’m not sure I want to find the Fountain or any elixir, for that matter.
Benjamin’s life is tied to that of just one other person, Daisy. She is the only constant and he keeps meeting her at different junctions in their lives, her growing up and him heading in the other direction. The only time they can truly be together is when they meet in the middle. They’re both around 40 when they decide they can be together and share a life, even if it is for short period of time before the unfortunate fate that is his sends them in different directions. Because, while growing young is all well, you must understand that the same thing that people try to avoid in growing old happens again. You forget to walk, you forget how to take care of yourself and finally, you can hold yourself up. Age is a fickle thing in any direction. It’s actually true when they say that you leave this world exactly how you come in to it. Vulnerable, helpless and dependant on the care of others.
This movie is a definite must see. Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button and Cate Blanchett as Daisy portray the pain of living such a life with so much grace and understated brilliance. The narrative takes you to all the important junctures in his life, most of them involving Daisy. And his attempts to live a normal life, fully knowing that there’s nothing normal about it, is heart-wrenching. I hope Pitt does win the Academy Award for this film because it is truly deserved.
Well, it's a new year. Again. I can't believe it. Again.
That actually makes me feel a lot better about a lot of things. The downside is, of course, that there will be no pay hikes, bonuses, etc, but the upside is that I have a job from which I can even expect pay hikes. :) So, I shan't complain anymore about that.
As I type this out, The Perfect Storm is playing on TV. The part where he's squat in the middle of the damn storm and actually trying to push through a wave that looks like it belongs in Deep Impact. Which of course, is adding to my happy mood. This makes me wonder if, in that situation, I'd keep going or just say, "Hell with this shite." and just settle down to die. I mean, what about hopeless situations makes us fight through clinging on to just the slightest chance of hope. And thar she goes... I'm sorry. For those of you who can't see my TV at this point in time, the Andrea Gail just sank like a rock after fighting through what was apparently the worst storm in history. The funny thing is, when I was in Newfoundland, I had a few friends who were sailors (the fishermen kind, not the catamaran kinds) who knew the crew of the Andrea Gail. Many other ships were lost that night and they still speak about it in awe. Men who went up against the earth-shattering might of nature and lost. But they were men who were just trying to feed their families. I guess in these cases, self-preservation just goes out the window when you're trying to do what's best for the ones you love.
OKAY. That's enough on that happy topic. I've realized that the way I'm going, this blog will be a big hit with anyone who's supremely high and hence think they need to discuss the finer nuances of human nature or those who're contemplating suicide. No more.
Happy thoughts, happy, cheery thoughts...
...
...
Jesus. This is tougher than I imagined. It's not exactly easy to switch moods, eh.
Right. Why do I even bother.
And do you know what movie is on now? Just guess... Okay, I know you're reading this and are probably not going to guess. The Omen. The original, in case you were wondering. Anti-Christ and all. :) I should honestly turn the bleeding TV off when I write.
This kid is waaay scarier than the new Omen child. Where do they get these freaky looking kids anyway? Don't their parents get a little freaked out? Imagine having your child (potentially the Anti-Christ) standing at your bedroom door, in the dark, with the light behind him, looking at you in the middle of the night...
Reason Number 284 for not having kids. One day I might be bothered to tell you the other 283 reasons but not tonight. Now, red-assed baboons are attacking the car with the kid.
Today is not the day for happy posts so I’m just going to give up trying and get to bed. And of course, watch the kid murder everyone.
Cheerio.
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