Friday 12 April 2013

The Place Beyond The Pines


The Place Beyond The Pines is a glacial-paced movie that you yearn to move faster, but realise that by doing so, loses the dexterity with which the film is built upon. Its the kind of movie that has to move slowly because it draws out the repercussions of a single event that haunts the characters' lives as they move on from the said incident. 

Ultimately, I feel that the film is based upon the concept of redemption even though the bleakness of the situation makes it seem as though the world out there is a dark, dangerous place without hope. Ryan Gosling's character seeks to provide for his son, with whom he has no prior knowledge of. To do so, he thought, why not rob a bank? And therein lies his misfortune of getting caught after one too many tries. After a hostage situation in a perfectly quaint suburban home, Gosling's character, Luke, knows that he's got no way out, and was shot by a police officer, played by Bradley Cooper.

Cooper's character, Avery, then suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because he also has a baby boy and he cannot shake off that feeling that he's caused someone's child to be an orphan. Add to that a series of police corruption, and America the beautiful isn't that pretty after all. The two baby boys grew up, and they turn into sullen, drug-taking boys, who's lives get intertwined. 

This is where I feel that the film jumped off the railings a little bit because the flash forward was abrupt and sudden and completely unexplained. In one scene, you have these two cute little boys, and the next, they're the brash-talking, drug-taking, troubled teenagers. But I can live with that since the actors were really good. Luke's son found out about his father through newspaper articles and clippings, and sought to take revenge on Avery. But he is a boy after all, and could not go through with the slaying, and ultimately runs away. He just wants to be closer to his father, and emulates his father's love for motorbikes. So, in a way, the movie ends in a full circle that gives you a little bit of hope after all.

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Big Boys Grow Up

I started work today. It's my first experience at holding down a proper job and I was quite apprehensive at first. Many people might consider serving National Service as "work" but to me, that was just me putting in the time to carry out a life sentence and it was nothing more than that. I'm still currently on probation, and I'm only working for three hours a day, but it's something, and since I'm not doing it for the money, I'd figure with the flexible working hours, I could get used to this.

I also came to a sudden realisation that I am a floater. I float through life without so much as a blink to my surroundings, and I don't know if that's made me less empathetic of others. I've been extremely lucky to have parents who are actually still financially supporting me, when I know a lot of my friends have been cut off by their parents. I'd go ape shit if that were to happen to me, because I've been pretty sheltered my whole life despite my always daydreaming that I am an independent soul, so that's quite an irony right there and then. I want to break away from my parents, but I love their money too much, and I don't necessarily want to be in a position where I'm destitute so I guess my parents are stuck with me for as long as I have this mindset.

I've been procrastinating a lot as well regarding the solo holiday of mine so that's still at the top of my agenda. Then there's also a short getaway to KL which I'm planning with a few of the friends so that's also another headache because money doesn't just fall off from the tree, and I'm especially resistant to using my own funds so I might have to get the parents to be agreeable with this trip in order to get some sponsored cash.

Life isn't that difficult, and sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that's complicating everything with my wants and needs. I sometimes wonder, if I had a different personality, and a different set of values, would my tastes remain as expensive as it is now? Because God knows, I'm not exactly a thrift-shop kind of a person.

Monday 1 April 2013

Neither Here Nor There


Rooney Mara was wonderful as an unhinged, distressed psychiatric patient in Side Effects I couldn't look away from the screen; not even for a single second. The pacing of the film was superb, and the score complimented the scenes wonderfully. 

From the start, perceptions would be formed on who's the 'hero' and who's the 'villain' and all that got blown out of the water as the film progresses on. Human beings are shades of grey; you could neither be all good, nor all bad, and it showed in the film. Each character was masterfully crafted that you're rooting for everyone to make it through with their life and sanity intact , but when push comes to shove, we are all more than willing to sacrifice the person next to us for our own benefits.

The whole time at the cinema, Jonathan and I were squealing because we didn't expect this drama to be so action-packed. And by that, I mean of course there were no explosives and robots. Just the engaging performances of actors that managed to capture the neurotic nuances of being someone pushed to their edge, and the choices that they make. 


I was truly very excited to watch The Host, because Saoirse Ronan is one of the most talented young actresses out there, and ever since Atonement came out all those years ago, I've always loved her. But God bless her lovely soul; The Host is a mess.

I've come to the conclusion that as an author, Stephenie Meyer is hopeless. Her stories lack depth, plot, and heck, even story-telling. When you've got such crap material to work on, sensational it might be, it's just never going to work out.

The first half of the film, I was trying to figure out what the whole plot was about, and then within the hour, I was checking my watch, because this "action-packed science-fiction'" film lacked all those adjectives that I've just written. I've never been one of those people to walk out of a theatre, but I was close to doing just that. The only thing that kept me seated to my comfortable cushion were the pretty mugs of Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons. And I think that's the only redeeming quality this film has.