Change Your Image
ritvikbhawan
Reviews
Twelve (2010)
Teenage Angst and pain
From the outset, the title in itself really does not signify much, especially if you have not read or heard of the 2002 eponymous novel by Nick McDonell. But the minute it starts, the narration by Sutherland just puts you into the tone of things. You can sense that this movie is not going to skirt around the issues.
Remaining true to the novel, the screenplay introduces all the characters in their right settings, and the teenagers have all been able to portray the angst in their acting. Chace as White Mike captures the aloofness amazingly well and the non – committal narration helps to place him miles away from the rest of the characters. He is the central pivot around which the rest of the movie rotates but you don't get the feeling of his involvement at all. The story does a good job of developing some very strong characters who threaten to take center stage a few times. But, the narration brings us strongly back to White Mike again and only during a few moments, do you really sense the deep emotional fractures within him.
The movie does uses a lot of clichés around drug abuse, high society spoilt kids, morality and teenage violence. You can also sense some of the characters are being put into situations where the end result is almost a foregone conclusion. But, the director has kept the story fast – paced and the theatrics to a minimum. It is a story of disjointed teenage lives getting caught up in the same predictable mess. This is a nice movie and a must watch if you like hard hitting movies.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010)
All the buzz of the first part is building up to what can be a fantastic finale !!!
At the outset, I have to say that I went to see the movie with hardly any expectations as like all Harry Potter movies, the ending is always the best part, where the various disjointed characters and acts come together to create a spectacular finale. So in stark contrast, the viewer knows that this movie is not going to reveal the final symphony and that is a spoiler as the viewers know that this part will be dreary and boring; mostly due to the original script of the book. The fact that Deathly Hollows is considered the weakest of the Harry Potter series does not really help this movie. On top of that, the story meanders away from the flow in the book and leaves the viewers with a sense of Jamais Vu.
The three protagonists have tried to hold this first part of the two-part finale, but honestly, it becomes boring as the majority of action and the brilliant supporting cast will play their true part in the coming half. The original book script had a more prominent role for a few of the characters in the first half, but the movie script stays very close to the Harry, Ron and Hermione; almost following them in a true reality TV fashion. The book, in the early half, develops some very strong strands of narrative, which come together in the last chapter and provide a semblance to the dissonance so evident in the first half. This screen adaption has almost given those narratives a go-by and the fact that they had actors like Bill Nighy and they didn't take advantage of him is really sad. The characters in this part, though have played their part well; and most of them have been able to convey the sense of brooding and depression truly enough.
I feel that if the movie producers had to split the movie in two halves, they should have sat with Rowling and reworked the script so that the first part feels more complete. The ending seems very disjointed and is almost anti – climatic. But, all this hasn't stopped this movie from grossing over $60 Million over the opening weekend. I only hope that the second part is able to bring alive the explosive finale which is outlined in the book.