Currently Playing: Massive Attack-Teardrop.
I think ‘28 Days Later ‘ and its sequel ‘28 Weeks Later‘
must be the only two “zombie-inspired” movies I know which has a
soundtrack that makes both movies so much better. Composer John Murphy
hit all the right notes with eerie tracks that really help bring out
the horror and fear, especially during the non-dialogue scenes when the
victims are helplessly looking around them as the Infected close in on
them. If you haven’t watched either one of said movies, I recommend you
do. If the plot and gore doesn’t do it for you, then hauntingly
beautiful shots of empty London should. If cinematography still fails
there, then John Murphy’s “In a Heartbeat” composition will win you
over.
If all that doesn’t work, well I can’t help you no more. Go watch The Bourne Ultimatum instead, if you haven’t already. That one I can guarantee a full 5 stars.
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The sibs and I have been watching old Disney movies from our kid
days. Peter Pan, Aladdin…all the classics except my personal
favourite, Beauty and the Beast. It might seem odd, but watching them
again from an older person’s POV, Disney has never been so funny
before. I can’t explain where all the humour comes from; we didn’t use
to snort half so much watching them as children. Now though, Captain
Hook yelling “SMEEEE!!!” sets us off rolling around like it was the
joke of the century. Huh. Are we really that starved for laughter the older we get?
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Speaking of, I’ve got to say this: romantic movies bother me. Not so much because
of its predictability and run-of-the-mill storyline, but because of the
formulaic flow of the plot and how generic it feels. Wait, that sounds like the same thing.
No matter how the
film plays out before it reaches The End, there’s no mistaking the same
ingredients that simply can’t be missed for the perfect concoction. Boy, Girl, Problem/Obstacle,
Confrontation leading to Climax, Solution, Boy and Girl run into each
other’s arms for one last parting shot for the audience before the
camera pans out, leaving the happy couple to be.
The love story is only
told during the courting period. The only difference between one love story
to another is generally how the two leading characters meet, hook up
and eventually decide to be together forever and ever. I have nothing
against this, myself being a fan of Garofalo’s The Truth About Cats and Dogs, but this movie is the exception rather than the rule.
Do you know what would be ideal?
If the camera lingers on a bit more after the dramatic final scene,
after passionate declarations of I Love Yous and everlasting promises
have been exchanged between the pair. It’d be completely
anti-climactic, it’d rob the film of its warm fuzzy feel and on the
whole defeat the purpose of sending out the message that “Love conquers
all”, but I think I’d enjoy that more. I’d like to see love stories capturing what happens next. We know they’re going to get together, then what?
What happens after the wedding? The honeymoon? 10, 20 years on? In
marriage? What happens when there is no love story left to tell?
—————
if there comes a day when I am to move into my own house, I think
the first furniture I’d have put in would be shelves. Lots and lots of
it in one spacious room, to cater to every single book I’ve owned since
I could read, up until that moment of adulthood. It’d be the best room
in the entire house, with cheerful sunlight streaming in through the
window, brightening the place up, betraying little specks of dust
dancing in the air, lighting up my collection of tomes.
Heaven.
What a dream room.
—————
“Et Mathilde s’adosse bien droite sur sa chaise…
croise les mains sure ses genoux et le regarde. Dans la douceur d
l’air, dans la lumière du jardin… Mathilde le regarde… Elle le
regarde… Elle le regarde.”
(Mathilde leans back against her chair…folds her hands in her lap and
looks at him. In the sweetness of the air, in the light of the
garden… Mathilde looks at him… she looks at him… she looks at
him.)
C’est magnifique, this scene from Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Un long dimanche de fiançailles. And terribly sad. Mathilde’s face as she watches him…begitu poignant sekali.
Enough said here.
