Movie Roundup 11-23-08

I've decided that making single posts for all movie reviews, previews and such is too much of a hassle these days. So i've decided on quick weekly roundups that have several small aspects. Movie of the Week where I make a quick review of a film. Movie Preview of the Week, where I preview a movie to watch out for and its trailer (HD and youtube link). We'll then have poster of the week where I show the best looking poster released this week. Finally we have some occasional big stuff for the end of the months like Movie of the Year, Star of the Year etc... So let's get started shall we?

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

Quantum of Solace

Directed by Marc Forster

Starring Daniel Craig

Quantum of Solace is disappointing, considering Casi

no Royale was a brilliant piece that reinvented the series as a serious film where heart-stopping action was merely means to a plot and not the other way around. It also happened to feature the arguably one of the best bonds ever cast since Connery. 

Quantum is not so bad as the awful last films of Brosnan, in 

fact it is quite good. It lies in one of the upper batch of Bond films and is in fact very well made. The action is superb, but it does go a bit overboard by putting confusing Bourne-like scene after another. It borrows heavily from Bourne which is fine if I wanted a Bourne action film. I don't, however, prefer it for my Bond films and still like the cleaner actio

n sequences of Casino Royale.

While the films is not nearly as good as its predecessor, Craig is st

ill just as excellent as Bond, if only he had been given more material this time around. Still, it drowns Bond in a slew of emotional self-finding, with revenge in mind Craig is by far the most ruthless Bond yet. 

This movie is good, and while indeed disappointing, it still makes for an excellent film experience. Casino Royale was a huge leap in the right direction for the franchise, think of Quantum as a followup jog in the same direction.

8/10

PREVIEW OF THE WEEK

Wrestler

This trailer made me tear up. Now a movie has to have a lot in it to make me tear up, much less cry. This single trailer did what few movies could do. It is brilliant and Mickey Rourke seems poised to make the performance of his career. Watch the trailer because it is definitely going to be one of the highlights of the year.

 

HD-> CLICK HERE

YouTube-> CLICK HERE

POSTER OF THE WEEK 

Benjamin Button is about a man born old and grows younger as he ages. Some my find the backward poster gimmicky, but I find it kind of smart. Plus Pitt's eyes just keep staring at you like that, it's unnerving in a way. Good poster, not great though. Still, nice idea.

OBAMA

Haven't written anything in quite a while, and as since I'm in the lab at this moment, it's as good a time as any to write a little tidbit.
And if there's anything I'd like to make a quick note about, it's about Obama.
In case you don't know, I've been following the exploits of the man in his exploits for the presidency ever since the start of the year, when he went toe-to-toe with the Clintons. And I have been mesmerized by him ever since I first heard him speak.

So just in case you haven't heard, the man is now President-Elect Obama, winning a landslide victory over Senator John McCain. Now I can go on about how John McCain lost (erratic behavior, dirty tactics, Sarah Palin) but the fact of the matter is John is a pretty good candidate. In fact, if it had been John Kerry's or some other less formidable campaign, he could have very well won. But it wasn't he who lost the battle, it was Obama who won it.

The man for one thing is a man of substance, and someone who can weave it into a speech that inspires. His high-flying rhetoric was once his greatest strength until McCain likened it to being a celebrity. Nonetheless it was his initial speeches that inspired more than anything else and he got back into it in the latter days, but this time with more meat on the bones.

He also happens to be so cool and disciplined, and this reflects in his entire campaign. Every gaffe or mistake was handled decisively, corrected and then put aside. The main focus of the campaign always revolved around Change and Hope, and never did they strayed from that.

But the most inspiring of all is his story and what he did to achieve this. This is not a man who became a president despite being black, but regardless. That is because he is a man filled with intelligence, charisma and the inherent desire to do what is right. I've come to realize this whenever he has tried his best to uphold a clean campaign. And sure, no campaign is ever squeaky clean, but he never struck back below the belt.

Even his choice for VP, Joe Biden, shows that he cares more about doing it right in the White House than getting enough popularity to get there. You have to realize that Joe was almost invisible compared to Palin but the fact of the matter his he is more than qualified and Obama has consistently done this throughout his campaign (and even after as is evident in Chief of Staff pick Rahm Emmanuel).

But the most striking thing also happens to be the most touching. Seeing the Obamas walk up on stage, a family very different from previous first families. But there they were, the epitome of goodness, of what people strive for. Here was a man who came out of nowhere, with a skin, a name and cultural roots very different from everyone else. But there he was. The scenes of people crying, shouting out how the never thought they'd ever see this day in their lifetime: it all amounted to one thing. This was Change in its utmost being, this was hope for the future and for every person who dared think that they could not achieve their dreams simply because they were born in the wrong race, culture or social class.

This is a story for the ages, not just because of a black man becoming president, but because of how he did it. It makes me glad that I was alive to see this, to see history in the making, and it fills me with hope. It makes me wish that I could have voted, because as you see I'm not even American. But that's not to say I hate my country, I just wish we could do so here too. I wish we could have the sense of unity and hope that America just showed the world, and the pure desire to see our country rise. America love their country, most of us have abandoned ours. But then again if Americans can unite under the banner of a black man to change the world for the better, then we should be able to unite under the banner of any man with an honest desire for change and unity. We don't need another people power, we just need true leadership to get us out.
I do not hope for our Obama, because he is one-of-a-kind. But after watching him, I do hope for our country.