Away From Her-Stories involving Alzheimer and so on are always mishandled,characters limited to Hallmark types like Grief-Stricken Husband,but here it's a miracle that their personalities come out pretty clear so that they're people more than anything,their pain genuinely affecting and the story honestly heartbreaking.I love how the story unfolds,and how the emphasis never strays from the main couple's relationship even as it progresses past terms like cure,treatment,affair.A beautiful film that comes in as one of the year's best.
28 Weeks Later-Having worked for the first movie,the same formula is once again relied upon-minimal words,an extravagant use of vast scenery and eerie instrumental music,but characterization this time around lacks that umph the first one had-whereas the original duo were able to remain totally kick-ass while seeming vulnerably human,the survivors here are merely just that:survivors.Sure there's that brother-sister relationship playing at the center,but there's still a cold,unvaried quality to them and the other characters that make them a horribly uninteresting bunch.Despite that,the film manages to remain frightening and sufficiently plausible plot-wise: at least up to a point near the end where the surviving trio venture the unlit recesses of an underground train station littered with corpses and not to mention flesh-eating psychozombies,with the surviving pack's leader confidently proclaiming to the others"Don't worry,walk on,I've got night-mode on this (her gun)",and then onwards it's all downhill-all the way to it's lame,unremarkable ending.
30 Days of Night-Well,it sure felt like it.Crap,save one scene when the vampires or whatever overturn the vehicle-that was crazy vicious.Casting Josh Hartnett as the lead to an already sleepy film was plain suicidal.
Eastern Promises -I thought A History of Violence was nothing to shout about,but there was something truly brilliant about the violence/sex in that movie.Same goes for this film,in which the violence (no sex here) is executed in this swift,nakedly raw but still amusingly comic manner.In the opening scene,where a guy's neck is sliced open-it's not disgusting or scary,but I felt curious and fascinated somehow.Satisfied even.There's this very unique way director Cronenberg uses violence-the controlled,and more often savage nature of it to achieve something that enlivens the scene and makes it peculiarly interesting-always leaving the characters totally exposed,but newly strengthened somehow.
+Ah,08's gonna be a year for music in Melbourne!Luck enough to get ticks for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah & Feist (both part of the St Jerome's Laneway Festival 2008 in Aus-you could get the general ticket for the half-day performance in which both of them perform,along with a couple other bands most notably Broken Social Scene-side note:they're performing more songs off Kevin Drew's recent solo album,which I'm not too keen about-or you could get ticks to individual solo shows-which I opted for),Jack Johnson in March & Foo Fighters in April!Yes,good love is on the way!I love it that they've got the balls to take up a big name like Feist to headline the event,instead of simply reaping up a pack of unknown people & boring has-beens then hyping it up as a fest for the sake of it (*cough cough* Live & Loud KL).I'm pretty contented with 08's itinerary for now,but I'm still hoping The Strokes would bloody hell get off their asses and come down to Melbourne already.
Deviantart updated.
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