Rambley

Some of you may have noticed the lack of a set of Unlimited stats for this month. It's not that I've forgotten to record which films I've seen - it's that I haven't seen any.

April's been an interesting month. I got a new job, worked crazy hours for just over a week, then quit. It was a wonderful atmosphere, the coworkers were brilliant, but when it came right down to it, it wasn't a job I wanted to do. On the other hand, it left me enough confidence to walk away, knowing that I can find a job I'll love. At the moment, I'm still clearing tables once or twice a week, as well as mystery shopping, which is turning out to be awesome.

Anyway, I haven't really had time to visit the cinema, not with uni as well. I've barely had to watch my Lovefilm stuff - I've had a copy of 500 Days of Summer sitting on my desk for well over a week, and I only just got around to watching it. I did finish watching all thirty-seven episodes of Death Note. I don't think the ending was as good as the beginning, really.

I just watched 500 Days of Summer, as I think I mentioned, although it's now several hours after I wrote the first few paragraphs.

Honestly, at the minute, I'm a little bit of afraid of reading or watching anything that will make me really sad. That will make me care about the characters, and then hurt them. I just don't want to feel that way. I don't want to rewatch My Sassy Girl or read anything by Jodi Picoult. I don't want to get too involved with these characters.

I really couldn't tell you what's up with that.

So, in short, I watched 500 Days of Summer while concentrating on my Welsh textbook.

One thing that did strike me is just how much Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks like Heath Ledger now. The first film I saw him in was 10 Things I Hate About You (with Ledger), and he was tiny then. He still had a baby face, and was quite physically small. Now he's filled out a little more - although he's still very lean - and looks like an adult. In fact, he looks like a cross between Ledger and Keanu Reeves.

See? Maybe not around the eyes, but around the jawline and the cheekbones.

Don't agree? How about this?

This?

Honestly, I think the major difference is in the ears. It's not as apparent in still pictures, but sometimes, while he's moving, Gordon-Levitt looks exactly like Ledger.

Ravel out.

Klaatu barada nikto

I spent part of the morning reading the new year issue of New Scientist - and, honestly, it's rather depressing. Following the lack of success of the Kyoto protocol, the threat of global warming is now more than merely a threat, and the talks in Poznan are not optimistic. Except for the politicians, of course, who fervently believe that dangerous climate change can be avoided if we stop the average global temperatures rising by 2°C - and that this can be achieved by halving CO₂ emissions by 2050. However, it would be more accurate to say that we need an 80% cut by 2050 - and that still only gives us a 70% chance of avoiding the 2°C rise.

Long story short, after our long and strenuous efforts to kill it, the Earth is beginning to die. Well done.

So, following that kind of morning, it made a curious sort of sense to watch The Day the Earth Stood Still this afternoon. A requel of the infamous 1951 sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still seems more poignant today than it probably did back then, what with the focus being shifted from nuclear war to environmental damage. Or perhaps not. Think of the phrase "Jesus wept", from the Biblical event of Jesus weeping tears of blood. This is said to be because he could see the future, and see what humanity would do. Children - and adults - have accepted this without question. Before World War I. After World War I. Before the Holocaust and afterwards. As David Sosnowski pointed out in Vamped, isn't it funny how we keep moving the bar on that?

Of course, the original dealt with the space race, and humanity's first ventures into space. It criticised our violent natures, and basically said that we couldn't be trusted to play nice with other races. This film says something similar, only it's more personal. We cannot be trusted to get along with other races on this planet, not on others.

The film focuses on astro-biologist, Dr Helen Benson, played by Jennifer Connelly, her young stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith), and the strange invader, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), who claims to be a "Friend to the Earth".

...now what could that mean? I wonder.

The film's gripping and absorbing, and yes, suitable for twelve-year-olds. The special effects are fantastic - they're not too flashy or showy, which, after the many years of lasers we've suffered, is a good thing. They're such good quality that, without concentrating, you're unlikely to pay attention to the fact that they are special effects. Good use is made of light - after all, since the audience is sitting in a darkened cinema, blinding them with light is a very dramatic way to bring them into a film where the characters are suffering from the same affliction.

A lot of critics have given this film bad reviews, and I honestly suspect that they were watching a completely different film altogether. The main criticism levied is against the plot, which some say is slow-moving, or against Keanu Reeve's infamous stone-face. Perhaps these critics have seen the original 1951 film, and already had some idea of where the plot was going? Coming to the film fresh, I really enjoyed it. And I also think that Keanu's deadpan was very effective.