I Am Legend - Francis Lawrence
19 January 2008If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I was drawn to this Francis Lawrence work and Will Smith starrer because of its rather exciting premise of being possibly the last man on earth in a post apocalyptic, 2012, Manhattan after a deadly man made virus decimated 90% of the world’s population. This virus was initially thought of as a cure to cancer but mutated. Those who survived were either transformed into blood thirsty and light fearing monsters who only come out at night or were eaten by them.
Col. Robert Neville with dog Sam prowls the decaying streets and landscape of these famous but now deserted city being overrun by nature. Going about their daily routine: renting DVDs, looking for supplies, hunting deer, waiting for other humans, if there are any, who might have heard his all AM frequency broadcast, finding a cure to the virus at his basement laboratory and sealing his house just before darkness falls.
The film, clearly, a star vehicle for Smith has to carry the movie on his shoulders, especially the first part where he is all there alone with his dog in the wild trying to survive against a bleak backdrop of urban decay. And his acting prowess really doesn’t disappoint. However, while there’s no doubt about his capabilities, the movie in general left me with some questions. These might be trivial to some but nevertheless, are still questions that the movie tried to wiggle out by way of a line or two of dialogue.
A year short and it might have marked the decade after Diana, Princess of Wales was mourned that Stephen Frears’ The Queen was released. Focusing much on the week that the fateful accident happened, it’s not much about Diana herself, but how this tragedy has put a spotlight on the role of the monarchy in Britain in the face of a more demanding society.
Against the lovely and sweeping backdrop of a wintry landscape, where the almost infinite white of snow blanketed the sparse surface of the mountains, a terrible tragedy happened when a student filled bus suddenly lost its bearing, skidded and plunged bringing all, except two, to their icy grave. This has largely changed the small and sleepy Canadian town of Sam Dent.
Nine hours and I was glued to my seat as I watched the world premier (final cut) of Lav Diaz’s Heremias, Unang Aklat: Ang Alamat ng Prinsesang Bayawak (Heremias, Book One: The Legend of the Lizard Princess) as the closing film of the 2006 Cinemanila International Film Festival held in Makati City. Whew! That was the longest movie I’ve watched but this still is an hour short of his other work, Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino (2004) which clocks in at 10 hours but 4 hours more than his other critically acclaimed Batang West Side (2002). I really don’t know what to expect from a Lav Diaz work as I wasn’t really able to catch the other two. The lead actor, Ronnie Lazaro, was present as well as Tikoy Aguiluz, the festival director introduced the film while Lav was at the projection room.
Will Lies, Politics and Corruption ever go hand in hand with Truth? Confessional is a story of Ryan Pastor, a small time filmmaker who got tired of all the lies and manipulations not only on his work, splicing and editing footages to come up with a story that may not always be truthful, to life in general as one handle relationships and lives in society.