127 Hours

For those of you who don't know, 127 Hours is Danny Boyle's latest foray in his broad spectrum of films. If you don't know who Danny Boyle is, shame on you. Stop reading this, and go pick up Trainspotting, 28 Days later, Sunshine, or Slumdog Millionaire (in fact, you should probably pick them all up and have a marathon, because Danny Boyle is amazing). Based on the real life ordeal of Aron Ralston, 127 Hours is the story of a man who goes on a backpacking trip in the remote Blue John canyons and gets his arm trapped beneath a rock. This film is not particularly plot heavy (in fact, the previous sentence was the entire plot) so if you're really into a good story, you might want to skip this one. It's much in the same vein as Cast Away (less so I am Legend, which, let's face it, has zombie/vampires in it) in that it is a film that's focused on one character, in this case, Aron Ralston (played by James Franco).

Late one night, Aron Ralston decides to go on a backpacking trip without telling anyone where he's going. His mother calls as he leaves, but he decides to ignore the call in favour of getting an early start to his adventure. Soon he's blasting across the canyon side, listening to music and loving life. The next day he happens to run into two girls who are also hiking, a coincidence as they are in perhaps the most remote place in Utah. These girls are significant only insofar as they are the only two people who know that Aron is around in the canyon area. He guides them to an underground pool, hangs out with them for a bit, and then heads off to pursue his own adventure. From then, it's only a matter of time until an ill-fated decision to cross a canyon on an unsteady boulder causes him to fall and dislodge the boulder, getting his right hand crushed between the boulder and canyon wall. The next shot is a face-on of Ralston, with the title credit, 127 Hours, beside his head. It lingers for a few moments and then leaves us alone with Ralston. The rest of the film chronicles Ralston's attempts to remove his hand by trying to chip away at the boulder with nothing but a small multi-tool, and more importantly his attempts to stay hydrated and the slow degradation of his sanity as he remains immobile for 5 full days (127 hours), culminating in the cutting off of his own arm with a dull multi-tool blade.

The first thing i'd like to say is that, as it's based on a real life event, this is perhaps one of the most frightening scenarios I can think of. Indeed, i'd like to publicly declare to all hikers everywhere, but particularly to my friend Brendan Spafford, who reminds me very much of Ralston, to please please always let someone know where you're going. I know it should be old hat for anyone who's actually an experienced hiker, but sometimes we forget things.

I'd like to discuss Mr. Franco's performance, as he is the sole focal point of an hour and a half of your time. I think James Franco did an excellent job of holding the audience's attention, first by making some adjustments to his predicament (he manages to snare a rock with his rope and attach it to his climbing harness, so that he's not holding all his weight with his crushed arm) and later, as he slowly starts to lose sanity, by having a colorful conversation with himself as a talk show host and guest (shot beautifully, more on this later). On a side note - I hope they never do this, because Heath Ledger was legend, but if Christopher Nolan decides to have a replacement for The Joker, I would strongly advise him to put James Franco in the role. The scene in which he begins to lose his grip on sanity, and repeatedly tells himself "don't lose it" is eerily reminiscent of The Joker's mannerisms and tone of voice. While Franco, as Ralston, doesn't quite go completely batshit insane like I would've liked him to, he successfully portrays a man who's clinging onto the last vestiges of sanity and more importantly, hope. The climactic scene in which he finally amputates his own arm is so brutally realistic that you have no choice but to feel what Ralston is feeling. By the movie's end, when Ralston finally gets rescued, you feel as though you've experienced the entire ordeal in the place of Ralston, and your spirits will literally lift off with the medi-vac helicopter. Kudos to James Franco for bringing this horrifying tale to life.

I mentioned before about the scene in which Franco talks to himself as though he is both talk show host and guest. It's shot in such a way that it actually seems as though there are two characters, host Ralston and guest Ralston. Danny Boyle makes use of the in-film camera (which Ralston uses to record daily video journals) to represent the 'guest' and the regular mise en scene camera to represent the host. It is edited in such a way that Ralston is very much having an ongoing conversation with himself.

A.R. Rahman returns to collaborate with Boyle (they previously worked together on Slumdog Millionaire) and he creates a rollicking, heart pounding soundtrack that plays on the feeling of anticipation throughout the entire movie. This is a union that I heartily approve of, as Rahman's music and Boyle's direction go together like Eddie Brock and an alien symbiote suit.

Ultimately, 127 Hours is a tale of idiocy (not telling anyone where you're going), endurance (surviving 5 days with little food and water) and finally, a tale of perseverance and the lengths to which we will go to survive. It's an emotional roller coaster that runs the gamut from joy, to anxiety, to downright fear, and finally, to elation as we see Ralston finally get rescued by people who aren't mirages. Danny Boyle hits another one out of the park, and i'm going to revise my original statement, and say that even if you ARE a plot-heavy movie viewer, check this one out - if nothing else, you'll get to see a pretty gruesome scene of James Franco cutting his own arm off.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows a.k.a. the beginning of the end

So unless you've been hiding under a rock or been severely cracked out for the last decade, you're aware that the Harry Potter franchise has reached it's culminating film adaptation. And as per tradition, I braved the crowds and long line ups (surprisingly short considering it was the first part of the last HP movie EVER) to catch the first viewing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at 12:02 in the am. Now as a devout Harry Potter fan (I used to write HP fanfiction) I can say that I haven't been terribly impressed by the movies as a whole. While I understand that the films have to be adapted to fit the silver screen, I feel as though the previous movies have cut several crucial elements that were present in the books, as well as changing some things outright. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the films, I just don't think they stood up to their original source material. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the first Harry Potter film that did justice to its book counter-part.

If you've read the book (and in my opinion, you shouldn't even be THINKING of going to see these movies without having read the books) than you're familiar with the plot, and you can skip ahead a few lines. For those of you who have not read the books (shame on you), here's a brief recounting of the plot.

After the death of Albus Dumbledore (played by Michael Gambon), Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) set out to destroy the remaining Horcruxes which hold fragments of Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) soul.

Right from the get go, this movie is intense, starting with a very emotional scene that is only talked about in the book: Hermione obliviating (memory wiping to you non Pottheads) her parents. This scene was a change from the book that I actually heartily approved of. As the books are from Harry's point of view, we rarely get an insight to what is happening to any of the characters, unless it is mentioned through dialogue. Here, we're able to fully comprehend exactly how much it's costing not just Harry, but Hermione and Ron as well, to complete the task that Dumbledore left them.

The movie moves forth at a blistering pace with all sorts of edge-of-your-seat tension, mixed with expertly timed comedic relief. Radcliffe and Grint have been at this for so long that their banter has been honed into a finely tuned weapon and Watson handles much of the heavy lifting with ease, being the second most prominent character in this film. The scope of the entire film, plus the fact that much of it takes place outside the walls of Hogwarts, really gave the trio a chance to show their acting chops, and they did so admirably.

Quite honestly, there's nothing much to say about this film except go see it. Besides being the motion picture event of a lifetime it is, very simply, a good movie. If anyone plans to go see it anytime soon, let me know because it is definitely a multi-viewer.

Long live J.K. Rowling.

Skyline

This may be the first time that I am outright recommending anyone to avoid this movie. A friend asked me how much of a trainwreck it was, and I replied that it wasn't even as spectacular as a train wreck, it was more like a train that derails but stops a few feet away: not exciting or newsworthy at all.

This is the plot of the movie: A couple, Jarrod and Elaine go to visit Jarrod's best friend Terry in LA. During their stay, Elaine finds out she's pregnant, Jarrod has an anger management problem, and Terry is cheating on his girlfriend Candice. But none of that matters because then Aliens come and they have to avoid abduction, even though the rest of LA has been abducted.

That's it. And if you feel that that plot synopsis is a bit lacking, then you definitely don't want to waste your time on this movie. The cast is made up entirely of unknowns, and while having unknown actors doesn't necessarily mean that the acting sucks, having shitty actors definitely does, and this film is rife with them. Not once did I feel moved by the plight of any of the characters in this movie, not because their predicament wasn't frightening, but because not a single actor could portray the feelings of fear, loss, or hopelessness that one would feel during a globe-wide abduction. The acting is such that you can tell that's exactly what these people are trying to do - act.

Further to the lack of an actual plot, there's a severe lack of dialogue, and again, although a lengthy script doesn't necessitate a good movie, the seeming lack of one in Skyline just detracts from the already low quality of the film. For the bit of dialogue that IS uttered in the movie, I have to say that it's all very cliche and for the most part, inconsequential. "You have to stay strong" is literally a line of dialogue in the movie and at that point my brain melted. Also the script features a lot of dialogue between characters that is and remains unresolved by the end of the movie - such as the reason for Jarrod to be in LA, his anger management, the infidelity of Terry, and Eliane's pregnancy. All this dialogue happens within the first half of the movie, and by the end, the only thing that is touched on again is Elaine's pregnancy, and only by the virtue of her being spared because she IS pregnant. The movie ends in a way that screams "SEQUEL?" to the audience - with the question mark not because it's ambiguous, but because it's a cheap cliffhanger ending designed to draw viewers into supporting a sequel.

The best thing that I can say about this movie is that it is a good vehicle for any pro-cg lobbyists, as the entire movie relies heavily on CG to move it along. As for the rest of it, it remains a plot-less, inconsequential and quite boring movie, with atrocious acting, and a desperate bid for a sequel as an ending. Whoever made this movie should be ashamed to call themselves a film maker. Definitely don't waste your time watching this movie, and if you want to watch it even after reading this, you've been warned.