Strawberry fields forever

Across the Universe was a very good movie - all of the Beatles' songs had great interpretation, however Strawberry Fields is my favorite by far!

I've always wondered what my life would have been if I lived in the sixties - so many riots and changes, I am sure I wouldn't have been bored :) But back to the movie, the scenes were very rich in symbols and emotions, and I was really happy to notice that most of the main characters had names from Beatles' songs! Another really unique thing about this movie is the live signing from the actors - according to the extra features on the DVD most of the songs were performed live, not lip synced, how often do we see that? Maybe this is the main reason why the soundtrack is so captivating - well known and loved songs got a new life in this movie. You should definitely see it!

Beowulf

I just saw Beowulf and even though the motion capture execution was amazing, the movie itself was a little disappointing ... I did love the details in each character - Beowulf's scars on his skin, his beard and hair or Anthony Hopkin's fat arms, but the motion of the figures was disturbing. They were kind of sluggish and still video game like. And their eyes were completely still! If you want to mimic a human being, wouldn't you want to put as much detail and realistic touches to the most expressive part of the face? I don't really like that part, and the mouths sometimes were not very well synchronized.
Aside from the technical quirks, I did not like how they changed the plot! There were so many Hollywood elements, at times I thought it was ridiculously cheesy, and there was nothing cheesy about life in North Europe in the 600s BC! I still dislike Angelina Jolie, and her character was very flat, unlike the real monster from the story - it is a very fervently discussed figure, especially after the 1970s. Plus, her high heels were ridiculous! The golden streaks of water were very cool though. I am not sure how many people have read the real story, no matter which translation but the screenplay was only a third correct! Why didn't Beowulf kill Grendel's mother? The only thing that made the movie a little more enjoyable, considering my disappointment with the plot, was Ray Winston's character (ok, fine, body). Even just an animated character, he was hot! The accent kind of bothered me throughout the movie, because I knew I've heard it before, and couldn't place it within the accents I can recognize, but apparently it's just plain ol' cockney :)

Go see the movie, it's an interesting experience, just don't expect to see the real literary work in it, just watch it for what it is, and maybe you'll like it.

Labyrinth

I was browsing through my Google Reader, looking through my Flickr Pools, when I found this image, from the group "The Best. Nothing Else". I am really picky about what I like, and on first look it did not get my attention, but when I clicked on the link to see the photographer's other work, when I really noticed it! The light, and the composition reminded me of a movie I saw last January - El Laberinto del fauno by Guillermo del Toro. It was an amazing movie! I've always loved fairy tales, used to read them constantly when I was a kid, from Andersen, through the Grimm brothers, back to Charles Perrault and various mythology books. Movies usually can't do justice to the books though, there was always something missing - the characters were not exactly how I imagined them, or the animation just sucked. "El Laberinto del fauno" was different though. I guess it was a different type of story altogether - a story for adults. I do admit it was somewhat brutal at times, but magical as well. Del Toro did an amazing job of setting the mood, and the soundtrack was one of my favorite parts! The character of the faun was something else I was intrigued by - wouldn't it be awesome if fauns really did exist? Well, they would be kinda ugly, but still very interesting creatures :)

It is strange how one thing leads to another - from reading articles on Web Services with Oracle, through long exposure photography, to this tree root image, that reminded me of a movie. Sometimes I can't really explain how my train of thought works (croquet made me think of Alice in Wonderland, and my coworkes were perplexed why). However, there is always a reason behind my reasoning. Except when I see a bee and think coffee, due to this weird McDonald's commercial of the Bee Movie and premium roast, "the way you take it".