Testing, Tasting ..

Doubt

http://doubt-themovie.com/

This is a superbly played film. I think that the Academy Award nominations are fully deserved, especially by Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

It's a bit strange to see Meryl in this serious role after seeing her last year in Mamma Mia -- I'm more convinced than ever that she can play anything.

As for Philip -- I don't like his roles generally, but I must admit he's a very good actor.

Now for the film itself -- well, all this set-in-stone moral certainty is a bit scary in the sense that it can go to extremes and adversely affect people's lives. It hasn't been definitively proven that Father Flynn (Hoffman's character) was guilty of anything. And as it turns out, even the most certain people have doubts and there's some truth in that doubts brings us together, as Father Flynn says in one of his sermons. But so do joys and misfortunes.

What I like about this film is that in a comparatively short time (less than 2 hours), a truly complex story unfolds -- we see the strict discipline of a church school in the late 60s in Bronx, we see the complications arising from the first black student there; we see the family problems this boy has, we see the inner squables, the tensions between the priesthood and the nunnery, etc. It's quite a multi-layered snapshot.

Worth seeing.

Not for cheering oneself up, though.

Just Throwing it In

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0345413350/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

I've wanted His Dark Materials since last summer when I saw the series in Dublin. Twilight was priority then and I couldn't squeeze everything in my luggage. But Pullman's time came last week in Cologne.

I've started The Golden Compass and am reading happily along. It's got a sense of mystery to it which turns the pages, though the amount of detail gets me pausing from now and then, but I expect this will stop when I am better acquainted with the world of the book.

From my cursory internet research on Pullman and the trilogy, it seems to me that it's not pure fantasy; Pullman put quite a lot of science fiction in it. I'm not a huge science fiction fan generally, but we'll see.

What originally caught my attention was the daemon idea. I enjoyed The Golden Compass film as well. I hope there's more of daemon theory in the course of the plot.

I'm still not sure if Lyra is my type of character. I hope she is, because I like books better when I like the characters in them:)

Cologne Revisited

I spent almost six months in Cologne, Germany more than ffour years ago. As it happened, together with a friend, we retraced our steps this past week.

I didn't notice any major changes, it's as colourful and multicultural place as it used to be. (OK, a bit on the grey side, but that's because it's winter.)

All the same, I was struck anew by the Cathedral. It's imposing and huge. You can't take one look at it and be done. The amount of detail that went into its construction was amazing.

Here it is:

Other favourite towers and turrets:

But Cologne is not only about spires. It's also about chocolate. The best place to learn about it is the Chocolate Museum:

Irresistable spots (especially in rainy, windy weather):

And of course, it's not only Cologne we went to. But that's for another post.

P.S. A mystery unsolved:

Why do they lock the rubbish containers?

First Thoughts on Hopping Pots, Hairy Hearts and Death

http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Beedle-Bard-Standard/dp/0545128285/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232712855&sr=8-1

SPOILER WARNING!

Death has always been a major theme with JK Rowling, both in her personal life (her mother's) and in her Harry Potter series (the death of Harry's parents).

And so it is in Tales of Beadle the Bard, her collection of fairy tales for the wizarding children. My favourites are the Fountain of Fair Fortune and the Tale of the Three Brothers /familiar from the Deathly Hallows, but as good as ever/.

The Fountain deals with the perennial quest of happiness and the mistaken idea that it comes from the outside and not from one's inner self and that there's a panaecea that can solve all your problems.

The Three Brothers is a tale of escaping death. The morale is that it can't be escaped, let alone be outwitted; the best one can hope for is to delay it as long as possible so as to have time to lead a rich and fulfiling life.

This story isn't as scary as it sounds, though. The most scary for me was the one about the Warlock's Hairy Heart. The images are pretty gruesome; cutting out heats, shrivelling hearts, etc. Hardly looks like a children's story, but then JK Rowling's belief is that children should meet serious stuff as early as possible in books so that they are prepared for it in real life.

The best thing about the book is Dumbledore's commentary. I expected less but they are quite detailed covering the possible origins of the tales, their morale, various historical notes, etc. Some are quite fun, the quirkiness of Dumbledore shines through:)

Twilight the Second

SPOILER WARNING!

http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

It's been a while since I saw Twilight again, but it's been pretty busy so I didn't get a chance to visit my blog until today.

Eerie. That's the prevailing feel of that film. Lots of factors contribute to it. The romance of the story, the vampire link, the cloudy, deep-green of the scenery, the mysticism of the Quilettes ...

I think Rosalie could have been prettier, but apart from her and Charlie, I'm quite happy with the cast. The chemistry between Bella and Edward is superb, the director and the actors can take full credit for it. I think this is the most important aspect of the film and they simply nailed it. I hope it won't be lost in future films of the series with the change of directors, etc.

I think we could have seen a bit more of Jasper; he hardly talks and there is no mention or example of his powers ... I hope he's not downplayed in the future.

On the whole, it seems that the filmmakers show some respect for the Twihards, the film being as true to the book as it is.

That's all, folks:)))
For this viewing, at least

Twilight - 1st Viewing

SPOILER WARNING!

http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

I've decided to push the thought of the Twilight movie to the very back of my mind - I expected a looong wait. And yet, towards the end of the abnormally long 1st post New Year workweek, I got it!

It's as good as I expected; judging from the trailers and clips I've seen before. And I agree with most of the reviewers -- Kristen and Robert did a great job, especially Kristen. She got both the ordinariness and the depth of Bella. As for Robert, I'd say that he was more reserved than he should have been; I'm afraid that most of the time the nonTwilight fans of the audience wouldn't get him. I guess that it is for that part of the viewers that we have that scene in the forest (it's in one of the trailers, too) when Bella says that she knows what he is. That looked a bit cheap to me.

Apart from that, I think the movie is very true to the book; all that should be in the movie is there. The casing is great, all vampires (nomads included) look like the classic Hollywood stars (as they should). I would have liked to see a bit more of them, it wouldn't have taken so much time. I'm a bit unhappy with Charlie: I don't know if it's the casting or the script, but he came across as too sad and unemotional. OK, Charlie is like that, but not to that extent.

Cinematography is fabulous. Loved the scenic shots. The way that they filmed the vampires walking was great as well. Maybe the battle scene in the end, in the ballet studio, left something to be desired in the realistic corner, but that's not the most important thing. It's a book about two people finding each other and trying to deal with the consequences. The movie is about the same.

And I'd see it again. And again.