Viraj's Weblog

So here is an MP3 of a creation I made in Garage Band, attempting to do the Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven guitar solo. It's pretty bad, but hopefully has at least some resemblance to the song heh.

I totally expected this to be a chick flick, and in many ways it was. However, the high ratings made me want to see it. I am wholly impressed. This was a great movie, not to mention the cool music. Honestly, it was the first movie that I've seen that looks at childbirth as a completely ordinary thing, and not a wondrous climax. The characters give off the impression that this sort of thing has been going on for a hundred thousand years, and they all take on the heir of nonchalance and understanding. The parents especially react to their 16-year-old daughter's pregnancy in a way that is very unconventional and refreshing for a movie.

The star is Ellen Page, whom I remembered as a vengeful girl in Hard Candy. Her acting here is rather flawless, and I think she is one of the best of her generation. It's rather amazing to see someone so young with such skill. She will definitely be winning some awards, and keep an eye out for her in other movies.

There were many scenes that made me laugh because the characters seemed so genuinely unique. The music throughout is some great indie music that contributes to all the scenes wonderfully. The movie is generally about adolescence, maturity, and pregnancy. It sounds serious, but is actually rather charming. I guarantee you'll find at least one character in the movie you can identify with. I definitely recommend it.

This movie was hyped as being produced by Guillermo Del Toro, who directed the pretty awesome Pan's Labyrinth. It's strange how a director's fame is used to sell another movie that's not even directed by him. Anyway, it got me interested as well as the good reviews, so I went and saw it.

The theater had a lot of kids in it likely expecting some shock/horror. In fact I saw a few leave after the movie didn't turn out to be what they expected. One thing about artsy theaters is the moviegoers have more respect for the film and stay quiet. At the big AMC's, the benefit of stadium seating is devalued by being packed with noisy kids. I sometimes feel like donating some money to the small theaters so they can improve their seating.

Anyway, 'The Orphanage' is a rather slow moving ghost story. It's a bit similar to 'The Others', but I thought that film was better. This film definitely has a lot of atmosphere and has that going for it, but the slow storyline almost seems abrupt as it's punctuated with some shock moments. Even the non-shock moments, where things get lively and adventurous, almost seem pushed onto the audience and don't transition well. However, it does give a dream-like quality to it, where things are disjoint and emotions change frequently. That was likely the purpose, but I just knew very early it was too dream-like and could expect that things are not as they appear.

It's generally about ghosts and children. There are actually very few shock moments, some of them formulaic, but others actually pretty tense. I was rather bored until the end where the mother finds clues to the disappearance of her child and slowly reaches the explanation. The audience is played beautifully and the tension is palpable. It was more suspense than shock, and definitely had a Hitchcockean feel to it.

I'm not sure if I can recommend the movie. If you like ghost stories and psychological suspense, you will like it. But if you are not a big fan of 'things are not as they seem', you will hate it. The movie did have nice cinematography that really contributed to the feel of the movie.

It's been awhile since I've posted a movie review. It's not that I haven't been watching movies. In fact I would say I've been watching too many movies to review .

Today I saw There Will Be Blood. I've been anticipating this film for some time, as Paul Thomas Anderson is such an awesome director. I loved some of his previous films such as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Hard Eight. His direction is so nicely woven together that his movies seem like musical pieces.

'There Will Be Blood' is no exception. Granted, this was a pretty long movie, almost 3 hours. It was also playing on one small theater in my area, which was of course packed, and of course doesn't have stadium seating, and of course a big-headed dude sat in front of me. But this didn't distract too much from the movie. It's really a masterpiece, and the best way I can describe it is a modern Citizen Kane. If you didn't like that movie, you definitely won't like this one. It's rather slow, but punctuated with spurts of violence and intense drama. There is even some comedy in there. The final scene starts out comedic, with the audience even laughing, but it almost immediately turns horrific. These type of scenes are amazing because the audience is almost in guilt that they were laughing a second ago. For a director to pull it off seriously is a testament to his or her skill.

The movie is about oil. In fact an alternate title for the movie is 'Oil!'. That was a book by Upton Sinclair (whom I have not read). The film conveys the sheer danger involved with oil mining in those days, where there was the possibility of limitless wealth and virgin land to be divested of the treasures underneath. At many points in the movie something deadly happens while digging for oil. It's almost as if tapping into that massive ancient reserve of liquefied animal remains releases some kind of evilness before its blessing on its founders. This deadliness is shown throughout different times, as technology changes from humans wielding hammers to machines.

The scenes are very simple, and the camera-work is just beautiful. There are shrills of violins and classical music throughout which somehow complement the barren landscape. Oil is almost portrayed as a monster, similar to how drugs are portrayed in Requiem for a Dream, but in a much more subtle way. Daniel Day Lewis is absolutely amazing and embodied his character completely. He bounces from loving father to pure evil flawlessly. The scenes where there is anticipation of finding treasure underneath the land are just great. You feel that power and limitless wealth being tapped into by the oil drill.

There is a constant battle between religion and atheism throughout the movie, and at one point you can almost see the birth of evangelical Christianity. One thing about movies these days is there always seems to be a snub towards religion, almost as if atheism is the new intellectualism. Audiences seem to love this, as if they are craving to be taught there is no God. The movie does poke fun at religion, but it equally portrays the irreligious as not something to admire. I have a feeling that people will take the ending the wrong way. In fact I heard some conversations after the movie more in admiration of the violence than anything else.

There is actually not much blood in the movie (except for the end). I think blood is more a metaphor for oil, and there is definitely lots of that. Do yourself a favor and go see this masterpiece. Everything from the music, to the direction, to the acting is just flawless.

Really good documentary on ExxonMobil's role in global warming.