Penguin RushNarnia, The Fog, The Gardener and The Were-Rabbit (spoilers ahead....) - updated
The Constant Gardener - a movie that is both moving and inspiring. A movie that has put the lovely dovey Rachel Weisz (above) into the limelight as the Golden Globes' Supporting Actress winner plus many other award nominations (including Best Picture). The movie also garnered the most nominations in the BAFTA awards (UK equivalent for Oscar). The story unfolds with the discovery of a body of a British diplomat's wife, Tessa Quayle, in a remote area of Northern Kenya. She was raped and brutally murdered, with slashes of wounds on her face and body. Tessa's traveling companion, a local doctor, is missing, and reports indicate, it is a crime of passion, that she was having an affair with the doctor.
Justin Quayle, the husband, who spends a lot of time in his garden (thus the name of the movie), is very much devastated by her death. Through his eyes, we see flashbacks of Tessa, and why 'she is his home'.
He digs up the ground, this time not to garden (or to uncover his wife's corpse), but to find out the real stories behind Tessa's death. He refuses to believe the alleged affair between his wife and the doctor, although many people do so.
WELL, THAT'S COMMON TO HUMANS NOWADAYS. PEOPLE IS MUCH MORE INTERESTED IN LIES THAN KNOWING THE TRUTH. GOSSIPS AND MALICIOUS REMARKS HAVE MORE BELIEVERS, COMPARED TO WORDS OF WISDOM AND POSITIVE WORDS (i.e. THOSE WORDS UTTERED BY GOD AND/OR GURUS).
MOST OF THE TIME, WE ARE SO STUPID, BLIND AND DEAF TO CHOOSE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG; EVEN THOUGH THE OPTION IS VERY CLEAR AND RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. BUT, NO MATTER HOW DEEP YOU TRY TO BURY THE TRUTH, IT WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO UNEARTH AND SHOW ITSELF FOR THE WORLD TO SEE AND FOR US TO BELIEVE IN ....
The same goes with Tessa's case. The doctor's body is found hanging from a tree at a nearby desert a few days later. He is believed to have been tortured to death. Along with it, comes a conspiracy that Justin, is very close to uncover. This is the same conspiracy that Tessa and the doctor try to expose, but at the cost of their lives. The conspiracy involves high ranking officers in both the UK and Kenyan governments.
At the end of the movie, the conspiracy is finally revealed for the whole world to see, at the cost of another human being. Justin gets to go home; Justin gets to go to Tessa, his home. A sad AND happy ending, I must say.... A MUST SEE !
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (LW2); the movie that was slated to be The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) of 2005. After all, the movie was adapted from the book of the same name, written by Clive Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis), a good friend to J. R. R. Tolkien (author of LOTR). Combining Lewis' sheer talent in writing and his fascination with fairy tales, myths and ancient legends, C.S. Lewis created Narnia over 50 years ago; a land of wonder and enchantment beyond the back of the wardrobe. There are 7 books under the Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader'; The Silver Chair and The Last Battle (awarded the Carnegie Medal, one of the highest marks of excellence in children's literature).
Narnia is a land populated with a rich diversity of beings, mostly derived from his knowledge on myth and fairy tale, and some, from his own pure imagination.
The story is set during World War II. The opening scene sees England being bombarded by bombs. We are then introduced to the Pevensie siblings - Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter who try to hide under a bomb shelter. In order to rescue her children, the mother has to send them away; away from the madness of the war and away from death!
In the rural country home of an elderly professor, while playing a game of 'hide and seek', Lucy accidentally enters the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe. Well, a wardrobe that size and covered with a long piece of cloth, even I, might be attracted to open it up hehe.
Although initally provoked and ridiculed by her sister and brothers when she tries to convince them about the place, when they finally get there, the children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs, and giants. Charm enough, if not for the eternal winter cursed by the evil White Witch, Jadis.
There is only one way in which The Witch's evil magic can be overthrown. It has been foretold that her reign will end when two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve sit on the four thrones at the castle of Cair Paravel. Therefore, the Witch has made sure that anyone who sees a human in Narnia will tell her straight away - or be turned into icy-cold stone.
The four children soon discover that only the lion Aslan can protect them from the terrifying danger. For that, they have to learn how to fight using swords (those swords look pretty heavy for their ages, especially the younger brother), shoot using a bow (Susan hardly utilises the skill, as it turns out...) and remain cute and cuddly in the midst of danger (I'm talking about Lucy).
Somehow I feel Narnia lacks 'ummpphh', even during the climactic battle. They spend so much money and time in creating so many creatures. However, only very few characters are developed. Therefore, I don't really care less about their survival during the battle.
For those who expect gore and violence, they will be disappointed. After all, Narnia (movie AND the book) caters mainly for children. But, Georgie Henley's performance (who plays Lucy) should be applauded.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (W&G) won the 11th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards for the Best Animated Feature. With Chicken Little and Madagascar (to name a few) as other contenders, well, we don't really have much choice to pick a winner anyway. Not that I'm saying W&G is not very good. Actually, it is surprisingly good and very funny.
We have Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Sallis and Ralph Fiennes to provide the voices of the main characters. Wallace & Gromit's neighborhood is holding the annual Giant Vegetable Competition. The two entrepreneurs are cashing in with their pest-control outfit, "Anti-Pesto," which humanely dispatches the rabbits that try to invade the town's sacred gardens.
Mind you, we have contestants growing their vegetables inside green houses with maximum security; alarm systems, pin codes and locks. But no security can prevent a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging "beast" from attacking their gardens at nights, especially during full moon.
Then we have the competition hostess, Lady Tottington, who commissions Anti-Pesto to catch it and save the day. Close in pursuit, is Victor Quartermaine who is not just pursuing Lady Tottington, but also the title 'local hero' and to do that, he is willing to eliminate all competition; men or beasts.
The 'animation' is rather British, from the choice of actors (or voice-overs, as we call it), right down to the set and accent of the character (obviously). But don't let that draw you back from watching it. It's a real fun movie for all; you WILL have a good laugh and a splendid time !
In The Fog (another remake that should have not been remade), we see two up-coming TV stars, Tom Welling (Smallville) and Maggie Grace (Lost) hit the big screen. The story tells (or is being retold) about a small town called Antonio Bay. A thick and deadly fog creeps from the open sea, toward the island. But "there is something in the fog!", as told by the lovely Selma Blair. Some kind of entities are hidden behind the fog - to settle some century-old revenge.
Hmmm...crap, crap, crap ! Acting, script, storyline (how unfair it is, we are being punished for our ancestors' sins), sound effect, directing... Oppss, I guess I really condemn the movie huh?
posted by The Pisces Man @ 2:00 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home