2012.. Blah!

I really got to stop wasting my time and money on these kinda crapfests. I mean, I guess I deserve it. What was I expecting? The Dark Knight? But still, I had actually likedone of Emmerich's earlier movies, Independance Day. Atleast that had charming characters you rooted for.

This one was simply a CGI fest, and not too good also I felt. Somehow the effect of the world getting destroyed was just not there. This is what too much of CGI can do. Or it probably is just a vindication of the fact that no matter how much special effects you have, you cannot replace a good script and good acting.

I dont want to give the impression that I'm some sort of art house fanatic or that Cusack and Ejiofor are bad actors. I loved movies like the recent Star Trek and The Dark Knight. Its just that these guys were plain cheesy and over the top in this one. For starters, why the heck are we rooting for Cusacks family when the rest of humanity is going under? There is hardly any connect with the characters, which is required in this kind of flick which focuses on a group of survivors. I can get past the cliches of Cusack and co. escaping from every danger in the nick of time with hardly plausible scenarios. But this was plain bad. Even the supposedly "deep" scene between two monks near the Himalayas somewhere seemed laughably funny. Something about emptying your head and all. Yea, makes sense, if you want to enjoy this movie.

I guess I should not be ranting when it was pretty obvious what will be in the movie. But it is sad when these kind of fare make hundreds of millions and genuinely felt movies hardly rake in anything. I think I will be giving Emmerich's movies a break for some time now. Add that to the Michael Bay list (unless of course, he makes another Bad Boys, which by the sheer force of Will Smith's and Martin Lawrence's charm actually is quite enjoyable).

The Glory of the Old Ones...

These days, i find myself going back in time sometimes. I mean, one pertinent example would be the books I sometimes come across in some bookstore and decide to splurge on. I think it actually started a couple of years back, when something made me re connect with that wondrous land C.S Lewis created for kids, Narnia. I had a craving then to get all the Narnia books and get transported back to the days I had first read them, in the comfortable environs of the library of the Jubail British Academy. Oh, I didn't just want to read them. I also wanted to be transported back to being that kid who lost himself in Narnia along with Peter, Edmund and the rest of the gang.

Since then, I have been trying to get back literature I immensely enjoyed as a kid. I even went back and read a couple of my favorite Enid Blyton series during those days, the 5 Find Outers. Go Fatty! (Though I have to admit, I did not enjoy those as much as I thought I would, and ended up giving them as a birthday gift to my cousin's kid!). A lot of them, I have been able to trace. Though some of them are still lost to me. I would love to get my hands on some of Nina Bawden's work, which I used to love. I remember the White Horse Gang was my fave. But despite this, I was delighted at coming across some which I had even forgotten about. Like the other day, while browsing in Odyssey, I came across the complete collection of The Borrowers. This series, the result of a wonderfully imaginative germ of an idea, of little people who live in the recesses of our houses, was something I had forgotten about. Of course, once I saw it, I had to grab it.

Shucks... where are those old Buster's I used to be crazy about??