It's been long since I updated this blog, since I thought that no one would be reading it anyway. However, I decided to update it again, starting with 2 fantastic movies I have watched over the week.
Julie Taymor's Across the Universe is nothing like I have ever seen before in a cinema. It is actually a musical-film, one of my favourite genres for a movie. The movie poster itself strikes as another "Shakespeare in Love" or "Titanic" lookalike poster. But still, it's captivating. The movie tagline, "All You Need is Love" is a song by The Beatles. And it definitely encompasses the whole idea of the movie. The movie takes place in the 1960s, in the era of the Beatles, and also coincidentally, the period where US went into war with Vietnam. So as you would have expected, the movie is peppered with lots of political issues. But the main theme of it is still "Love", as a remedy for all sorrow, all unhappiness, and so on. And "Love" indeed, transcends all boundaries, across the universe, as explicitly explained in the movie. The movie started out with the lead actor, Jude(Jim Sturgess) sitting by the beach, and it immediately reminded me of the James Blunt look. He started out with a heartfelt song called "Girl". Amazing vocals I must say. As a music maniac, this is a great way to start a movie. Soundtracks are the soul of the movie. They bring the movie into life, sets out the atmosphere and make the plot and acting all so plausible. The magic that is woven into this movie are the songs and the visual cinematography. Absolutely breathtaking. An average movie-goer would find the transition of the scenes rather abrupt, but to me, I would think it's an intention of the director. A technique, though not very likeable.
This is the first time I'm watching a Julie Taymor's movie and I must say I'm indeed impressed. Throughout the entire movie, I gasped out countless times of "Wow". And I find that I can't help but blurt them out. It is a bold work of art, daring in the sense that Taymor goes all out to experiment new styles of visual cinematography. The result? A wonderful blend of fairytale-like imagery, blended with colourful scenes that were all so irresistable and fun to watch. There are many parallels made in the movie, and I'm intrigued to see how the songs and scenes blend in almost perfectly. I especially like Prudence(T.V. Carpio's) rendition of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", another song by the Beatles. Songs sung by Jim Sturgess are all nice, but Sadie(Dana Fuchs) was the one who stole the show with her powerful performances and singing. As for the acting part, I find it rather mediocre, but still passable.
The main draw of the movie is not on the acting, but on the visuals, as well as the wonderful soundtracks. In fact, the songs are the main factor that give an extra "woosh" to the movie. The only downside of this movie is that it is rather draggy. And some scenes are unnecessary. Other than that, a wonderfully crafted work of masterpiece with a palette of refreshing and appealing colours bound to captivate and pull on your heartstrings.
My rating: 4.3/5
Highly watchable, but if the genre is not your cup of tea, give it a miss. However, if you are in need for a feast for the eyes and ears, go for this movie.
This was sketched by me a little more than a year ago. It was inspired by a meeting on Valentine's Day night with a girl whom I have known. I used to have mixed feelings for her. But it all came to light that it was but a mistake. But anyway, I was inspired to draw this pic, not because of the girl, but because of my desperation for a company at that moment of time. Of course, right now, this sketch can be aptly applied to someone else. :)
Let's see. I sketched this in my bunk on one of the beginning days of coming to the unit I was posted to. This was the exact arrangement of my little corner, but it all shifted soon after. Still, it depicted how I used to feel. The emptiness of it all. Not very well drawn though. I'm not an artist anyway. 
I remember drawing this out of idleness in bunk. In fact, most of my sketches were drawn while I was in camp. This was some random design I came up with. The odd shapes all joined together. Random shapes, random shades. Kinda quirky though.
