You know those times where NO-ONE notices you're going through a tough time and you feel completely isolated from the rest of the world even though you act happy in front of your friends because you don't want to impose your problems on them.
Yeah.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Protip:
Writing a novel is not as smooth a ride as one might initially perceive.
Also; testicles.
That will be all.
Also; testicles.
That will be all.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Green Zone
So I finished up a pretty hellish week today, four SACs (School Assessed Coursework, I think the abbreviation is for) in three days of school. So, as I do, I relaxed by seeing a movie with a couple of mates. The usual mini-review:
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God damn Americans and your war. So, Green Zone is about Jason Bourne who is a chief in the military. He is stationed in Baghdad, 2003, in the time following the ousting of Saddam Hussein. Jason Bourne is trained to find and dispose of weapons of mass destruction, the existence of which is the focus of this film. Naturally, Jason Bourne, with the help of Mad-Eye Moody, uncovers some sort of conspiracy which inevitably leads to the mind-blowing revelation (hurr durr) of where the WMDs actually are.
By the end of the movie, a general consensus of the movie would center around one word: 'Alright'. How was the acting? It was alright. How was the action? It was alright. Story? Yeah, it was alright. And the script? You guessed it; alright. The story meets a couple of interesting twists, but in the end you know exactly where it's going so that kind of makes them obsolete in a sense. It's not quite the roller-coaster narrative of the Bourne series, but it certainly isn't bad. Matt Damon and Brendan Gleeson play their roles well, but surprisingly enough, the star turns out to be relative unknown Khalid Abdalla, who pretty much serves as a symbol for Iraq as whole; conflicted, broken, yet nonetheless very much human, and just wishing for all this shit to end.
The action is reasonable, but it isn't a focal point of the movie. Some of the action is marred by some overly shaky camerawork, and some of the later, more action packed scenes are extremely grainy for some reason; perhaps it was added as an effect on purpose - either way, it doesn't work. The story, the main aspect, is also decent, but it's simply too late for this film to say what it wants to as it's referring to things that happened seven years back.
One of the things the film could be commended for, however, is the depiction of Iraq at the time. The chaos is well acted out, and the long shots of Baghdad are very effective, and the imagery of guns blazing away into the night and flaming buildings really works well.
Overall, the film is a solid political commentary, one that Americans won't like; but in the end, as was aforementioned, it's just kind of late. Yes, we know the WMDs aren't real. We know this war is silly. Otherwise, it's a decent flick. There is obviously a film Green Zone will be compared to immediately by those who watch it: The Hurt Locker. Green Zone and The Hurt Locker approach opposite ends of the spectrum; Green Zone is a film that incriminates America for its invasion of Iraq, and The Hurt Locker, while not quite blatantly stating its case for the war, does make some attempt to justify it, and that is why The Hurt Locker has been received so well. It sure as hell wasn't as good as six Oscars. Unfortunately though, while Green Zone does state an obvious point of view, in the end the fact remains that the film is mostly fictional; it's kind of a fictional version of the truth, if you can make sense of that. I won't spoil it too much for you.
So - consensus? It's alright. It's a reasonable film, but nothing memorable. Probably not a recommended watch in the theatre, just rent the DVD or catch it on a plane.
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God damn Americans and your war. So, Green Zone is about Jason Bourne who is a chief in the military. He is stationed in Baghdad, 2003, in the time following the ousting of Saddam Hussein. Jason Bourne is trained to find and dispose of weapons of mass destruction, the existence of which is the focus of this film. Naturally, Jason Bourne, with the help of Mad-Eye Moody, uncovers some sort of conspiracy which inevitably leads to the mind-blowing revelation (hurr durr) of where the WMDs actually are.
By the end of the movie, a general consensus of the movie would center around one word: 'Alright'. How was the acting? It was alright. How was the action? It was alright. Story? Yeah, it was alright. And the script? You guessed it; alright. The story meets a couple of interesting twists, but in the end you know exactly where it's going so that kind of makes them obsolete in a sense. It's not quite the roller-coaster narrative of the Bourne series, but it certainly isn't bad. Matt Damon and Brendan Gleeson play their roles well, but surprisingly enough, the star turns out to be relative unknown Khalid Abdalla, who pretty much serves as a symbol for Iraq as whole; conflicted, broken, yet nonetheless very much human, and just wishing for all this shit to end.
The action is reasonable, but it isn't a focal point of the movie. Some of the action is marred by some overly shaky camerawork, and some of the later, more action packed scenes are extremely grainy for some reason; perhaps it was added as an effect on purpose - either way, it doesn't work. The story, the main aspect, is also decent, but it's simply too late for this film to say what it wants to as it's referring to things that happened seven years back.
One of the things the film could be commended for, however, is the depiction of Iraq at the time. The chaos is well acted out, and the long shots of Baghdad are very effective, and the imagery of guns blazing away into the night and flaming buildings really works well.
Overall, the film is a solid political commentary, one that Americans won't like; but in the end, as was aforementioned, it's just kind of late. Yes, we know the WMDs aren't real. We know this war is silly. Otherwise, it's a decent flick. There is obviously a film Green Zone will be compared to immediately by those who watch it: The Hurt Locker. Green Zone and The Hurt Locker approach opposite ends of the spectrum; Green Zone is a film that incriminates America for its invasion of Iraq, and The Hurt Locker, while not quite blatantly stating its case for the war, does make some attempt to justify it, and that is why The Hurt Locker has been received so well. It sure as hell wasn't as good as six Oscars. Unfortunately though, while Green Zone does state an obvious point of view, in the end the fact remains that the film is mostly fictional; it's kind of a fictional version of the truth, if you can make sense of that. I won't spoil it too much for you.
So - consensus? It's alright. It's a reasonable film, but nothing memorable. Probably not a recommended watch in the theatre, just rent the DVD or catch it on a plane.
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