Yes, I realize I’m a bit slow on the uptake. Blame it on extenuating circumstances. Blame it on global warming. Blame on the teddy bears’ picnic, but please don’t hold it against me. I finally got to watch M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village last night. And let me just say that I am fast becoming a fan of the man’s work.
I was first introduced to Shyamalan thought The Sixth Sense, a psychological thriller that shocked me with its startling ending twist. Then, I was disappointed with Signs, an abysmal alien invasion movie that smacked of V but without any of the interest or action that made the TV series so good. And finally, I discovered Unbreakable, an dark film about real-life comic book heroes.
Brief Spoilage: Consider Yourself Warned
The Village was brilliantly written. I was a bit wary of it for quite a while, having heard and read a number of reviews for the film that thrashed it soundly – poor plot, poor story, horrible development, bad lighting, too scary, etc. The premise of the story is a village that is nearly crippled by its fear of a group of mysterious creatures who live in the forest that surrounds the village. The people and the creatures abide by a tenuous truce – the people do not cross the borders into the forest, and the creatures do not cross into the village.
Shyamalan skillfully sets the stage to reveal a secret that has been kept for decades by the elders of the village, a secret that must now be passed on to the next generation if the village is to survive. Each piece of the puzzle is revealed with agonizing torpescence. From the significance of the color red to the punishment of the Quiet Room to the skinning of livestock, the portrait is painted of a village hobbled by fear. Visual clues dot the landscape of the village – utility poles with power transformers that line the perimeter of the village and porcupine quills on the backs of the creatures hint at the deceptions that have been effected to protect the village from the outside world. It is only in the final few minutes of the film, when the elders’ secrets are removed from black boxes and when the ranger casually reveals his secret that the totality of the plot is brought to light.
Shyamalan once agains writes a captivating story of fear and suspense that leaves his audience breathless as the mysteries of The Village are exposed. The artistry and beauty of the writing make The Village a thoroughly enjoyable experience, one that I highly recommend for anyone who thrills to psychological thrillers.
Tags: m.-night-shyamalan, movie-reviews, movies, Reviews, the-village
I finally got to watch this movie tonight. I was expecting a cheesy ‘B’ movie and was, instead, pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing with a well-done action/comedy/romance. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie team up in this film to play assassins working for competing companies who discover each other’s secret. The ensuing action is fast-paced without being overdone and without destroying any semblance of plot. The dialogue is witty and hilarious, the scripting well-written, and the soundtrack outstanding. Acting is as much body language as delivering lines, and Pitt and Jolie are masters of their craft. Much of the communication between the two heroes was done through subtle facial expressions that left me either writhing with laughter or empathizing at their emotional plight, as they struggled to discover each other, even as they struggled for their lives.
Of course, with any shootout it is always amusing to note how little injury the heroes sustain. Hundreds of bullets fly through the air and nary a one inflicts any significant wound, either speeding past and around the heroes or impacting ‘harmlessly’ on their body armor. Pitt’s friend Eddie was also somewhat less than believable as a fellow assassin, providing only minimal comedy relief with his inane babbling about armchair psychology.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a wholly enjoyable film, one that I watched twice and laughed out loud in all the same places both times. Despite the irony of trained assassins working to save their marriage, the message of commitment in the face of adversity was strong and heart-warming. Now, if only Pitt and Jolie can make it work in real life…
Tags: Entertainment, movie-reviews, movies, Reviews
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
How do you condense a 734 page book into a 2.5-hour movie? The answer is that you don’t. Goblet was an exercise in thumbnail moviemaking. Each scene was little more than a visual sketch of each chapter in the book, jerking through the plot with all the grace of a wounded bird in flight. Each episode in the movie was clipped, transitions between abrupt. It was very obvious that the point was to get to the final graveyard scene, where more time and energy were spent on development and detail.
That said, I did enjoy the movie. It was interesting to see where the shortcuts were that made up for the lack of detail everywhere else. Character and relationship development were made more obvious, dropping subtlety in favor of the conspicuous to develop the storyline. The challenges were well-done, even if everything else was a bit shallow or gaudy. Most of the important parts of the story were brought out, and the things that were dropped or ignored were ultimately the bits that have no real effect on the final outcome of the story.
Tungsten T5 from Palm 
I recently purchased a Tungsten T5 from Palm. I probably wouldn’t have had I not received a bit of cash as a gift for the completion of my Master’s degree. Prior to owning the T5, my PDA had been the original Palm model—the M100, a monochromatic, 2 MB dinosaur that finally failed several months back. The upgrade from the M100 to the T5 was extreme, and I was exceptionally pleased the moment I got the battery charged and the device fired up.
The T5 has a color screen, optional Portrait or Landscape viewing, a new version of Graffiti®, and Documents To Go®. It plays mp3s and video, and you can create, carry, and move documents from your Palm to any PC with a USB port. The ability to add storage and functionality to your Palm via memory cards is another powerful feature.
The only problem I have had with my Palm is that Windows does not always recognize it when you plug into the USB port to perform a HotSync®. It has been very problematic, and as yet I still have no solution to the problem. But my T5 has been a workhorse already. Add the infrared keyboard, and I have the ability to write whatever whenever and wherever the urge strikes.
Empyrion I: The Search for Fierra
Stephen R. Lawhead’s Empyrion saga is science fiction with a Christian perspective. Orion Treet is sent on a mission to a colony world and, along with his companions, is quickly thrust into a world of mystery and intrigue. His mission requires him to seek out a lost colony of humans before the rigors of barren Empyrion can claim his life and those of his companions.
The Search for Fierra is the tale of a man on a journey, one that is as much spiritual as it is physical. His trek and transformation across the desert is symbolic of the rebirth of the Christian faith, and his discovery of a utopian culture of love is a glimpse of what the future could be for those who follow the Infinite Father. The story is strong, though perhaps a bit clichéd at times, and the characterizations are, for the most part, believable. Fierra is the first of two books and ends with a cliffhanger as Treet heads back to the cesspool of Dome to find a way to prevent the inevitable war that will destroy Fierra utterly. Treet, in essence, becomes a missionary of hope to a dark, dying land slowly being undone by its own selfishness and lack of vision.
Fierra is a good read—a little less than engaging at times, but the plot drives forward to the promise of an explosive confrontation with the leaders of Dome.
Tags: book-reviews, books, empyrion-i, harry-potter, harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire, j.k.-rowling, movie-reviews, movies, palm-pilot, Reviews, stephen-lawhead, Technology, tungsten-t5
Roger Ebert’s critique of The Passion of the Christ.... One of the best analyses of the film I’ve heard yet (outside of church and away from a pulpit) from someone who will be viewed by the rest of the world as ‘objective’.....
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/cst-ftr-passion24.html
Tags: Reviews, the-passion-of-the-christ
