Hellboy II: The Golden Army sadly does not fare well neither for a filmmaker (Guillermo del Toro) whose forte is dark fantasy nor for a franchise that is deeply rooted in mythology and occult in the graphic medium. My rebuke is more so because the film has the writer/creator, artist aboard as screenwriter. Sin City had Frank Miller aboard and it is history. Perhaps, Sin City is a hard act to follow, that is, without deviating from the standard set by for a fictional world in the graphic medium. Well, no, look at what Nolan has achieved with the Batman universe. Nolanverse deviated from the graphic medium yet inspired every bit from it adding a great deal to it. To critique the former in light of the latter, the translation is overall tragic and bleak.
It would be wrong to say I didn’t enjoy the film at all. I was awestruck by the portrayal of magical creatures, namely Tooth Fairies the seemingly adorable tiny things with wings, until a bunch of them feed on a live human and display his skeleton in a minute; the Troll infant that says I am not a kid, I am a tumor grown out of the interrogated Troll; surrealist Cathedral Head, who provides Princess Nuada with the map, with crown like miniature cathedral and a goblin that has wooden cart for back; and the Angel of Death who ironically helps Hellboy survive. Del Toro is at his finest when dealing with surrealism and magic. When comes to connecting it with the alternative world is where his film falters. He did it with his seminal Pan's Labyrinth, alas! Not here. Mignola's Hellboy is a demon who chose to fight for planet earth instead of being its destruction. Such a protagonist and his surrounding world are brought to life in a horror series inspired by folklore in graphic genre. But this is like uninspired Harry Potter and Narnia series that haven’t been touched by the light of Lord of the Rings or Nolanverse.
RATED 5/10; MISS IT BUT NOT AT MY EXPENSE
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sequential Art and Hollywood Pact!
What if some of the finest works in literature are shelved in comics section where one would fear to be spotted and mistaken for a giant kid? I must eventually confront my onlooker. So, I call him forth and point to him the tag at the back of the cover that reads “Suggested for Mature Readers,” and The Comedian molesting Silk Spectre from the pages of Watchmen or Dream Lord cutting Lucifer’s wings off from Season of Mists, and read from Rorschach's Journal in Watchmen, “The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!' And I'll look down, and whisper 'no.'” Now you may wonder if such materials are thus shelved. Yes, I am positive, and I am thinking a great deal telling the shop guys to put such titles in the top shelf where it is unreachable to a kid except, of course, if he be a giant. Graphic Novel, the pioneer of the medium Will Eisner suggested it to be called, so they now call it: a genre directed towards adult readers.
Hollywood’s pact with this medium is history in itself. A work that serves as storyboard to the other no surprise must be in its hunting A-list. Alas! But there was something devised by the god of that art form that made it so unique left the other yet cracking the code. When discussing the nature of comic art in an essay written in 1985, Alan Moore asked: Rather than seizing upon the superficial similarities between comics and films or comics and books in the hope that some of the respectability of those media will rub off upon us, wouldn't it be more constructive to focus our attention upon those ideas where comics are special and unique? Rather than dwelling upon film techniques that comics can duplicate, shouldn't we perhaps consider comic techniques that films can't duplicate?
Nearly all of Moore’s works translated to films have turned out to be tragedy, From Hell to Constantine, excepting V for Vendetta to an extent. Now, his seminal work Watchmen is being filmed, a work that once was said loudly to be un-filmable by screenwriters. This Graphic Novel—a heavy meditation on the pitfalls of masked vigilantism, impending nuclear warfare, amorality of so-called heroes, and the corruptibility of power set in the backdrop of an alternative America that had won Vietnam War; one giant twisted beast containing in itself brilliant panel-to-panel transitions, red herrings, tongue-in-cheek characterization, overlapping storytelling tricks—for all my worthy bets must take a trilogy to flesh out faithfully on silver screen. To do it in one film, and even portray half the brilliance the original work has, should be nothing short of a miracle and a stroke of genius.
For now, I must wait and watch.
Hollywood’s pact with this medium is history in itself. A work that serves as storyboard to the other no surprise must be in its hunting A-list. Alas! But there was something devised by the god of that art form that made it so unique left the other yet cracking the code. When discussing the nature of comic art in an essay written in 1985, Alan Moore asked: Rather than seizing upon the superficial similarities between comics and films or comics and books in the hope that some of the respectability of those media will rub off upon us, wouldn't it be more constructive to focus our attention upon those ideas where comics are special and unique? Rather than dwelling upon film techniques that comics can duplicate, shouldn't we perhaps consider comic techniques that films can't duplicate?
Nearly all of Moore’s works translated to films have turned out to be tragedy, From Hell to Constantine, excepting V for Vendetta to an extent. Now, his seminal work Watchmen is being filmed, a work that once was said loudly to be un-filmable by screenwriters. This Graphic Novel—a heavy meditation on the pitfalls of masked vigilantism, impending nuclear warfare, amorality of so-called heroes, and the corruptibility of power set in the backdrop of an alternative America that had won Vietnam War; one giant twisted beast containing in itself brilliant panel-to-panel transitions, red herrings, tongue-in-cheek characterization, overlapping storytelling tricks—for all my worthy bets must take a trilogy to flesh out faithfully on silver screen. To do it in one film, and even portray half the brilliance the original work has, should be nothing short of a miracle and a stroke of genius.
For now, I must wait and watch.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Delicate Silence
Delicate is the silence that keeps away from noise.
Like dark corners that stay away from sunrays.
The delicate silence that hears no sound, but its own.
The silence that does not drift past, but stays.
The silence that does not speak up, but still says…
The quietest of moments are the noisiest,
But keep the promise that objects make to surroundings.
Delicate it is, the silence, and breaks not due to sound,
but due to its aim to isolate itself.
Like dark corners that stay away from sunrays.
The delicate silence that hears no sound, but its own.
The silence that does not drift past, but stays.
The silence that does not speak up, but still says…
The quietest of moments are the noisiest,
But keep the promise that objects make to surroundings.
Delicate it is, the silence, and breaks not due to sound,
but due to its aim to isolate itself.
Friday, November 14, 2008
FASHION by Madhur Bhandarkar
Have you guys seen this movie?
I believe it is the the weakest execution by Madhur Bhandarkar ever.
Did he do a research on a variety of subjects and then decide that it would be safe to call it Fashion?
I don't know. Where is the spark that he showed in Chandni Bar?
Where is the smart direction we all witnessed in Corporate?
Where is the reality-edge that Page 3 carried and shook us?
I guess this is where Madhur Bhandarkar is transforming from a real-film maker to a real film-maker.
I believe it is the the weakest execution by Madhur Bhandarkar ever.
Did he do a research on a variety of subjects and then decide that it would be safe to call it Fashion?
I don't know. Where is the spark that he showed in Chandni Bar?
Where is the smart direction we all witnessed in Corporate?
Where is the reality-edge that Page 3 carried and shook us?
I guess this is where Madhur Bhandarkar is transforming from a real-film maker to a real film-maker.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
http://pradeeprajendran.blogspot.com/
unedited. uncut and unashamed. I'm still working on this
You can send feedback. Grammar Sucks incredibly.
http://pradeeprajendran.blogspot.com/
You can send feedback. Grammar Sucks incredibly.
http://pradeeprajendran.blogspot.com/
Monday, November 10, 2008
Corruption
Where did it all start?
Did it start due to our government’s negligence to issues that are important, but are buried somewhere in the rack of old files?
Did it start due to the young generation’s transparent protest for a better society, which slowly transformed into an opaque and endless disagreement?
Or did it start in the insignificant goals of these decision makers who are not leaders, but solicitors of our country’s values for money.
I’ ll tell you where it started.
It started in our minds. It started because of lack of determination.
It started because we allowed it to start.
And it goes on because we all allow it to go on.
It started from the extra bucks we pay to get our jobs done quickly in government and private offices.
Let me tell you something.
India has amazing guidelines in theory, but not in practice.
Why is that?
It is because our opinion leaders fail to reinforce them at the grass root level.
Let me ask you a question.
How do you know that the money in your pockets right now is white or black?
How do you know where it came from?
I won’t be surprised if the money in my pocket has come to me, roaming from a poor father who paid an unnecessary donation to admit his child in the school.
It must have come to me, roaming from a retired citizen who has to put his assets at stake to make sure he gets his pension.
I don’t know.
I wont say all of us, but most of us have witnessed corruption and not many of us have made an attempt to stop it, or even question it at that point in time.
Even if we believe that we are not responsible for all this, we should understand that we need to be responsible enough to put an end to it.
I can see a lot of opinions building about what I said. I hope it also builds the determination in you to challenge the corrupt system and get an optimistic reply called change.
Did it start due to our government’s negligence to issues that are important, but are buried somewhere in the rack of old files?
Did it start due to the young generation’s transparent protest for a better society, which slowly transformed into an opaque and endless disagreement?
Or did it start in the insignificant goals of these decision makers who are not leaders, but solicitors of our country’s values for money.
I’ ll tell you where it started.
It started in our minds. It started because of lack of determination.
It started because we allowed it to start.
And it goes on because we all allow it to go on.
It started from the extra bucks we pay to get our jobs done quickly in government and private offices.
Let me tell you something.
India has amazing guidelines in theory, but not in practice.
Why is that?
It is because our opinion leaders fail to reinforce them at the grass root level.
Let me ask you a question.
How do you know that the money in your pockets right now is white or black?
How do you know where it came from?
I won’t be surprised if the money in my pocket has come to me, roaming from a poor father who paid an unnecessary donation to admit his child in the school.
It must have come to me, roaming from a retired citizen who has to put his assets at stake to make sure he gets his pension.
I don’t know.
I wont say all of us, but most of us have witnessed corruption and not many of us have made an attempt to stop it, or even question it at that point in time.
Even if we believe that we are not responsible for all this, we should understand that we need to be responsible enough to put an end to it.
I can see a lot of opinions building about what I said. I hope it also builds the determination in you to challenge the corrupt system and get an optimistic reply called change.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
An unremarkable existence
An unremarkable existence
is like a quickly smoked cigarette.
that life will be short.
like shortcuts lazy people take
cigarettes shall cause short lived writings.
they will bring down a curtain of smoke
and death by asphyxiation.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Shards
In darkness
Alone 4a smoke
An open door to the roof
Beams across the light
The quiet & light shatters
Explodes with several tinkles
Barefooted in the dark
Walk around & prevent being shard-ed
Heightened state of fear; the idea of pain
Bulb fragments & tungsten?
How many bulbs blew up in Edison's face,
He was saying that Genius was a % of inspiration & 99% perspiration
The light bulb is a connection
Walk in circles
Walk a random pattern
Walk the chances of being shard-ed
Walk the smoke
Feetless for a few days
Brainless for life
Gamble, its all a half chance
Chance, Louis Pasteur saying; Gamble, it favors the prepared mind.
The walker didn't get shard-ed
I'm footloose & free
& a real oddity
Alone 4a smoke
An open door to the roof
Beams across the light
The quiet & light shatters
Explodes with several tinkles
Barefooted in the dark
Walk around & prevent being shard-ed
Heightened state of fear; the idea of pain
Bulb fragments & tungsten?
How many bulbs blew up in Edison's face,
He was saying that Genius was a % of inspiration & 99% perspiration
The light bulb is a connection
Walk in circles
Walk a random pattern
Walk the chances of being shard-ed
Walk the smoke
Feetless for a few days
Brainless for life
Gamble, its all a half chance
Chance, Louis Pasteur saying; Gamble, it favors the prepared mind.
The walker didn't get shard-ed
I'm footloose & free
& a real oddity
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Cinema Paradiso
Noon after noon, he comes to see her. Her haughty talk makes him dream and as she sways his eyes widen. She rarely looks at him but he senses the corners of her eyes.
“I know… I know…,” he tells himself laughing silently.
“Dali would have painted you but I can only write,” he regrets and scribbles secretly in the tiny book he always carries. When the music comes, she sings and dances, and everybody whistles at her.
“Love me, baby”, they all shout and scream from everywhere around him.
The medley puts him off. “I wish I was the only one who could see her,” he curses at the people around him. Whenever she goes away, he starts scribbling hurriedly; and she shows up again.
Even in the evenings he goes to see her, again the same act, music and medley. The only time he misses her is in his sleep. The movie ends but her act, never. For he knows, she’d come tomorrow again.
“I know… I know…,” he tells himself.
“I know… I know…,” he tells himself laughing silently.
“Dali would have painted you but I can only write,” he regrets and scribbles secretly in the tiny book he always carries. When the music comes, she sings and dances, and everybody whistles at her.
“Love me, baby”, they all shout and scream from everywhere around him.
The medley puts him off. “I wish I was the only one who could see her,” he curses at the people around him. Whenever she goes away, he starts scribbling hurriedly; and she shows up again.
Even in the evenings he goes to see her, again the same act, music and medley. The only time he misses her is in his sleep. The movie ends but her act, never. For he knows, she’d come tomorrow again.
“I know… I know…,” he tells himself.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
And justice for all
Scurrying rats
For an ounce of grease
Lethargic pigs
Feeding on muck
Hungry hyenas
Ogling at flesh
Sleek serpents
Spewing on foe
Eyeless bats
Gouging for blood
Creepy lizards
Charging at wings
Savage lions
Ravaging at prey
Covert insects
Infecting the healthy
Miserly Gods
Helping with death
Sordid humans
Seeking at dogma
Maimed innocence
Writhing for justice
For an ounce of grease
Lethargic pigs
Feeding on muck
Hungry hyenas
Ogling at flesh
Sleek serpents
Spewing on foe
Eyeless bats
Gouging for blood
Creepy lizards
Charging at wings
Savage lions
Ravaging at prey
Covert insects
Infecting the healthy
Miserly Gods
Helping with death
Sordid humans
Seeking at dogma
Maimed innocence
Writhing for justice
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