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843, 842 - First Impressions: Gone Girl, Interstellar

Two good days. Two very good days.

There were two rather nice movies - Interstellar and Gone Girl. Interstellar really had me towards the end when the full import of what was being conveyed hit me. Somewhere we look to Science for the same things that we look to God for - a sense of feeling small before something great which is different from daily life. In daily life, one generally feels insignificant before something big - and that is not the same thing at all. If this doesn't make sense, then watch the movie - especially the scenes of dust storms in the beginning, the first sighting of the worm hole, the colossal wave that threatens to knock the spaceship, and the final knock behind the shelves that sorts everything out. It is spine-tingly towards the end. Michael Caine and Anne Hathway grated on my nerves for a little bit but Mathew and Matt Damon are very good. Damon has a really short role but comes with a very important message - nature can be a bit ugly - especially the parts of nature that course through a species as little impulses that spall out 'Survival'.

Gone Girl - I have read and loved the book and the movie had me glued to the end.  But I didn't think Amy Adams quite pulled off playing Amazing Amy. She seemed too 'nice', you know? Someone who will take things at face value and worry whether people like her. Amy in the book was stylishly subversively snarkily the perfect poor little rich girl. In the book, more than the murder, more than the suspense or the big reveal, what held me were her insights. Not just hers - even Nick's (played by Ben Affleck). How he is such a misfit as a writer in the twitter generation, her take on the 'cool girl' phenomenon, and both of theirs chronicle of a decaying marriage with its resentment and its soul-eroding blandness. That stuff was very, very good. (Do read the book.) Rosamund Pike looks a little too sweet to ever entertain those kinds of thoughts. She has tried, though. She is earnest. Affleck IS Nick. With Nck's part, he's hit the right pitch. Overall, it's a good movie.

What else? There was a pit stop at Prithvi where we had iced tea. Then there was a ride back home in the BEST (non-AC bus) which was really comforting.

I love going to the movies! That thrill when the lights go down and the massive screen gets lit with the first scene - that expectation and the thrill is awesome. Maybe I like it for the innocent way a movie hall asks for your complete surrender for a few hours. And how I, readily and simply, give it.

These are things to cherish - moments when one kept it simple.




Comments

I Thotso said…
Amy Adams? Er, wrong movie much. That was Rosamund Pike.
Mukta Raut said…
oh yeah! wonder why i thought it was 'Amy' Adams...thanks though for pointing it out.

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