Musings of an Idiot

Stop Animation

Hotel Rwanda is a difficult movie to watch because of it's subject matter but it is a must watch for everyone. It is beautiful, brutal and moving. Definitely puts the human psyche on full display. The acting is powerful and so is the soundtrack. The movie is based on the true life account of Paul Rusesabagina -who saved about 1000 refugees during the genocide in Rwanda, when every nation closed it's eyes to the massacre. The behind the scenes interview with Paul was sad to watch but at the same time shows how developed nations work and how their definition of 'saving' a country depends on what they can get out of the country. {examples: iraq= oil; afghanistan= oil pipeline route etc..etc...}. The song - 'Million Voices' on the original soundtrack touches your soul.

What a relaxing day it has been - started off with Lance texting me, asking if I would like to attend an advance screening of 'Corpse Bride' {it doesn't release till 27th October here} for which he had 2 free passes. I jumped up and down and straight into the car to get to Lance's office since the screening was at 10.30 in the morning.

Bumped into a few people from last year - Lavinia and Tiana before the screening while saw Doug and Annette after the movie in the same row of seats that we were sitting in. That aside the movie itself was a drag - technically brilliant but has no omph or comedy whatsoever. There were a total 2 moments when I laughed but other than that it was really predictable and the pacing was indulgent for the most part. The movie did not have a heart even though it was a love story. There weren't many kids in the audience, so don't know how it will play out to the kids {there are bits which will scare the children}.

After coming back from the screening - I watched the first three adventures of Wallace and Gromit and was pleasently delighted by them. The stop animation was classic in the true sense of the word, since they were made between mid 1980's-mid 1990's and one can certainly see the trademark elements which make them true classics. They are funny and have an attitude. Stop animaton requires endless patience, attention to detail and passion - technology has eased up somethings but it still remains a hands-on craft which still requires deft story telling. Off the two stop animation movie releases this year - I think 'Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit' stands a few planets above 'Corpse Bride'.

Finished reading 'Fray' and it ended too quickly. I wanted it to go on, especially since the story just gets started when it reaches the end of the TPB. Maybe there will be a second series sometime in the future. But having read the comic - there seem to be elements which Joss Whedon tends to repeat in everything he writes as I could see some of them used in 'Firefly'.


Yeah - I know it is old news but found this image on the official Bond website. It is an interesting choice and can possibly work well for the Bond franchise - am saying this after seeing this image because it shows signs of a grittier James Bond rather than the eye candy Pierce Brosnan's Bond was turning into. It looks like Daniel Craig might have his hair dyed black for the role (???) -if the photo is sign of things to come. I seriously hope that Martin Campbell does justice to the project instead of turning it into a horrible sequel like 'The Legend of Zorro' - which has had some pretty bad advance reviews. His first outing for Bond in 'Goldeneye' was good but still a bit tame.

I feel clear but restless. I wonder how the screening in Toronto went.


Amit

posted by Amit @ 7:45 PM