I just finished watching Invictus and I have to say that it was brilliant. Yet another Clint Eastwood classic. It's a sport film about a team that actually made a difference to the lives of millions of people and a divided nation that desperately needed a symbol of unity after centuries of hatred fueled by apartheid.
The movie is set in post-apartheid South Africa when Nelson Mandela has just taken over as the President of the bitterly divided nation. After 27 years in prison, he struggles tirelessly to unite a nation that is split bitterly along the lines of race. The blacks hate everything that is white and that stands for apartheid and race distinction. The whites, on the other hand, are fearful and distrustful of everything that the new black leadership represents.
In his attempt to unite the country under a single cause, Mandela turns to François Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team, The Springboks. The movie is based on the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation.
There are several scenes in the movie that are thought provoking. One of the first scenes of the Black-White discord is when the newly founded presidential bodyguard consists of Black ANC activists and White Afrikaner Corps policemen. They share the responsibility of keeping one of the world's foremost statesmen alive while getting over their long-held prejudices for each other. There is also a rugby match between the Springboks and England which has all white South Africans cheering for the Boks and all the black South Africans cheering for the opposition. In their view, the Boks stand for white supremacy (considering the team had only one black player, Chester Williams.)
Mandela, in his reconciliation program and amidst rebuilding a nation, decides that this team and the upcoming 1995 Rugby World Cup would be the source of inspiration that the newly formed Republic needs. He asks the young South African captain to provide this inspiration in the form of a victory in the World Cup. There is nothing better to heal a nation's scars than the common element of sport. It must be said that when this request was made, the Boks were seeded 9th and were the clear underdogs with nary a victory to their name.
Whilst this movie is a stirring tale of a nation coming together, it is also a sports movie. And what does every sports movie have? An underdog team rising against all odds to beat the champions. And the challenge is herculean to the young François Pienaar. He recognizes that the World Cup actually represents salvation for the racially volatile nation and that the team were the bringers of this redemption. To top off this mammoth expectation, the Boks are asked to conduct rugby training camps in the poorer areas of the nation for young black children.
One very powerful scene was when Mandela tells François about this poem that he used to read when he was a prisoner on Robben Island. This was something that gave him strength when he felt like he was spent. The poem is called Invictus.
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It is this poem that François reads on a visit to Mandela's cell and realizes that here was a man who spent 27 years in prison and then came out willing to forgive and forget for the betterment of his country.
The Boks go ahead to beat all the odds and face off with the most successful rugby team in the world, the New Zealand All Blacks in the 1995 World Cup final.
Well, watch the movie. Watch it and be blown away by a larger than life performance by Morgan Freeman and a very real performance by Matt Damon.
Damn, I love Clint Eastwood. I hope he keeps making movies till he has to go to that great Studio in the Sky.
So, I did it. I watched 2012. And you know what? It wasn't as bad as everyone said it was going to be. I mean, come on. It's a Ronald Emmerich movie. If stuff isn't blowing up for no good reason (or in this case, very flimsy reasons), then THERE'S NO MOVIE. But before you read any further, please do leave your common sense at the door. Such foolishness as "reason" and "science" shouldn't ruin what would otherwise be a great doomsday film.
So, yes, we were warned. 2012 was supposed to be the date the Mayan calendar ended. But do you know who discovers the first traces of Armageddon?? Is it the Americans in New York? Noo. It's a very sweaty Jimmy Mistry with an atrocious accent in Indian Astronomical Institute, which is, I have to say located in a run down, dilapidated shack, which is where ALL our Indian research institutions are located. In the outhouse. (DAMN YOU, SLUMDOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!)
Anywho, so Mistry tells new
So, they build Arks and John Cussack finds out about them and outruns, and I'm not making this up, (why would I, when everything I've said so far is so believable) the sinking of California, the volcanic eruption of the Central United States and how could I forget, an ash cloud traveling several hundred miles per hour. He then lands in the Himalayas, sneaks aboard an Ark just when the water hits. And then they live happily ever after... hahaha... just kidding. The Ark door is stuck open, water is rushing in, everyone's going to die unless he saves the day. Again. And THEN, they live happily ever after. (Not everyone, just the 10,000 people aboard the Arks)
So, the movie is an apocalyptic one. There are a lot of cool special effects that MUST be watched on the big screen. Trust me, it's not going to blow you out of your seat if you watch it on your TV or computer.
Having said that, please, Ronald Emmerich, please consult a scientist, or even a third-grader. There are no such things as "mutant neutrinos". There are regular neutrinos and then there are neutrinos with an X chromosome thus giving them special powers. I'm kidding. There are no MUTANT NEUTRINOS. The basic particles of the Universe aren't going to change on December 21st, 2009, microwave the Earth and then suddenly switch back on December 22nd, 2009. (When the flood ends and the magnetic South Pole is in Wisconsin).
Woody Harelson has a very funny cameo and his "online blog" was the funniest thing in the movie. A close second was Danny Glover getting smushed by the USS John F Kennedy. Oliver Platt is pretty okay as a conniving politician.
I say, watch it once, and if you have a big screen, then bring out the DVD again for a "End of the World" Movie Marathon.
Oh, yes. Jimmy, the guy who saved (a bit) of the world doesn't get picked up and isn't given a seat on the Ark. So, I end this by saying... DAMN YOU, SLUMDOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!
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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