About Me

I ramble about a number of things - but travel experiences, movies and music feature prominently. See my label cloud for a better idea. All comnments and opinions on this blog are my own, and do not in any way reflect the opinions/position of my employer (past/current/future).

26 April 2014

Movie: Noah

A vegan, loner, fundamentalist, suicidal, apocalyptic cult leader gets visions of an impending doom, and decides that mankind is doomed and saving all the creatures is a necessity. And thus, he decides to build  an ark and effectively commit the first noted genocide.

Noah, is a far darker tale than any flood story I have read - and the biblical story is not the only one. In some respects it is more futuristic than set in the past - a world that has been destroyed by human greed and industrialisation - so much so; that until a forest sprouts up to aid the building of an ark; the only animal we see is a griffin like creature killed by hunters. Also, apart from reptiles and bears, there do not seem to be any other carnivores including lions, tigers or wolves. 

There are some good performances, the visuals are amazing but the logical conclusions on how it all unfolds doesn't completely tie up. It's a new take on the flood story - a story that is found across multiple cultures across the world - and is one that makes the least sense.

21 April 2014

Movie: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Set in a fictional European country, the story is about a luxury hotel concierge - Gustave M, a murder mystery involving an old Countess (who it turns out, owns the hotel) and the lobby boy (taken under the wing of the concierge) who would eventually end up owning the hotel. The movie is a comedic masterpiece  - without body fluid gags, or slapstick; with amazing performances by non comedic actors such as Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law and Willem Dafoe; and an amazing script. It is really a difficult movie to describe; but is highly enjoyable.