Queen's We Will Rock YouBuddy you're a boy make a big noise
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo' face
You big disgrace
Kickin' your can all over the place
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you
Buddy you're a young man hard man
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day
You got blood on yo' face
You big disgrace
Wavin' your banner all over the place
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you
Buddy you're an old man poor man
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day
You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place
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Something inside me popped just now. Something that resembled a neuron connection or axon of some sort. Since I am supposed to start my revision for Biology approximately in a day's time, I decided to set a subtle booby trap on people who do not know their work well enough. It's simple really, yet complex enough to combat the ignorant.
Me: There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary fission and those who don't.
Asswipe: That's only 2 types of people, silly.
Me: You're dumb.
Well, did you get fooled? Deny if you must, but the only one you will ever elude is yourself. (Cue for malicious laughter to fill the air.)
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So today, we watched The Notebook in the hall. I dare say it's a great show, in depth and very heart-warming. It was an NC-16 movie, and being screened last year prevented most of our cohort to be unable to catch it. JUST AS WELL. We were nothing but a bunch of close minded asswipes who criticised anything except our own production. We wouldn't have enjoyed The Notebook anyway.
But this time it's different. We actually complained when Alexis Heng paused the movie for unnecessary interruptions. We actually shut up during a heated scene. Some actually teared towards the end. (DON'T LIE, I CAUGHT YOU.) You see, this story of Noah and Allie was a cradle-to-grave one, seeing as they still acted like babies at 17 years old.
I have not read Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook, but I have heard good word-of-mouth about the novel. Sadly, the elements that made the book special did not survive the transition to the screen. The Notebook, came across as an ordinary romantic melodrama with a maudlin and ineffective climax.
The film unfolds in two time frames featuring the same characters. In the modern day scenes, Noah is played by James Garner and Allie by Gena Rowlands (the director's mother). In the sequences that transpire around World War II, the leads are Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. It turns out that Allie is suffering from dementia, so, to stir her memories, Noah reads from a notebook that recounts their tumultuous, improbable romance. They met as teenagers in pre-WWII America. For Noah, it was love at first sight, but it took him a while to convince Allie. Almost immediately, the disparity of their social classes became an issue - she came from money and he was a laborer. The disapproval of Allie's mother (Joan Allen) led to their break-up. But fate brought them together after the war, and before Allie married her soldier beau (James Marsden).
The 1940s sequences are superior to those that transpire in the 2000s. Admittedly, the love affair between Allie and Noah is typical stuff, but the characters are likeable (you want them to end up together), and there's evident chemistry between Gosling and McAdams. The cinematography is evocative and the music never goes over-the-top (only too loud at times). Unfortunately, things don't work nearly as well when Garner and Rowlands take over the parts. Their aspect of the story doesn't work well enough. Not only are the modern-day scenes dramatically inert, but it's virtually impossible to accept that these are the same people as the ones falling in love in the '40s. I'm not sure if it's because of the wrinkly faces or the lack of resemblence to sexiness like in their younger days. Fortunately, only about 20% of the movie unfolds when the characters are in their twilight years.
Fans of sudsy romances will adore The Notebook, but the film fails to manipulate the intellect with the same effectiveness that it tweaks the emotions, unlike the book. The best thing that can be said about the movie is that it's a worthy antidote to the usual testosterone-driven summer fare, but, in its inability to effectively develop the modern aspect of the story, it fails to throw the tear-jerking emotional punch it might have achieved. I have seen better, but I have seen much worse (I.E. Cold Creek Manor)
That's my review for today's The Notebook movie.
I can't wait for The Dukes of Whatevertheheck to come out. I'm absolutely ready for some major movie dissing. Also, I'd like to comment that Herbie: Fully Loaded is an extremely lameass show. Don't waste your life. Any film featuring either Lindsay Lohan or Hillary Duff has a 90% probability of being congruent to idiocy. Proven fact, don't doubt it. I mean, look at Confessions of a Teenage Superstar, and Lizzie Maguire the Movie.
One word: Stupid.
