"don't be confused by my apparent lack of ceremony, my mind is clear..."
Can I just say that this is going to be an expensive month?
This weekend we're going to see Spiderman 3 on Saturday. Next weekend we're driving down to my parents' house for the weekend for mother's day. The next weekend we're going to see Shrek 3. Then the weekend after we're going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3.
I would also like to see 28 Weeks Later, but I don't know if that's going to happen. We'd have to get a babysitter. Which would make it more expensive. It might be one of those movies that I just wait until it's out on video. Besides, the last few movies i've been to have been too loud. Sometimes I want earplugs. We take earplugs for the munchkin anyway.
Anyway. Last night we watched Flags of Our Fathers and i liked it. I am a sucker for anything WWII. I will admit, without too much embarassment, that I liked Pearl Harbor and I don't quite understand what all the fuss was about when it came out. No one complained when Titanic came out. As i was saying though, I do have a soft spot for WWII movies (but not really the old ones from the 50s and 60s--i would prefer something a little less, oh, propagandist, or downright jingoistic. I do own Tora! Tora! Tora! though. I don't really know why.
I read Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance last year, and even though it's sort of dated and is a work of fiction, it's remarkably well-researched and gave me a good view of the strengths and weaknesses of all the major players in the war. Reading that book, I came to realize how incredibly close we came to losing the war, and how basically we only won because of a series of accidents, bad judgments, and foolish mistakes. I love that book.
Anyway. Flags of Our Fathers. I already knew the story of Iwo Jima (at least the story of the flag raising), but it was interesting to see it, and I thought the narrative structure of the movie was interesting.
i'm not sure how spoilery it could be, considering it is an actual historical event. Oh, by the way, the Allied Forces won. Spoiled you! Now you can't watch the movie! HAHA.
It made me really sad. I think it was because it was a framed narrative, and the frame was of the surviving soldiers as old men, retelling the story. That's something that always makes me sad; that time in the history of this world was/is so important, but all the people who were there are now dying. And they were such vibrant times! When you might die, you cling to life's good experiences when they're presented to you. Seeing all those young boys, so alive, vibrantly so, so intent on having fun while they could, it just breaks my heart to see them die so young, many of them not really ever expecting that particular outcome.
It all goes back to my profound dislike of (for the lack of the proper term I'll have to explain it) moving outside the timeline. For example, I do not like the idea of going on to read Pern fiction that takes place hundreds of years after Lessa and F'lar. Why? Because Lessa and Ramoth, and F'lar and Mnemoth (or however it is spelled), and all the other characters, won't be alive. I can't bear to think of them cold in the ground, or in the cold between. It's like imagining someone great and powerful gone. It's the same feeling I got when I watched The Last Samurai. I can't stand to contemplate the world without them in it, i can't stand to think of what the world has lost. In the case of Pern, that Weyr will always be Lessa's and F'lar's, and anyone else is just an intruder.
So, in that respect, movies that show a young character framed by that character in his or her old age (think: A League of Their Own), really makes me sad. Even Titanic made me sad in that respect. I think the root of it is that the vibrancy of life has past, and now they seem to be waiting to die, letting their children and grandchildren take their places in the world. It just seems so unjust (that word looks funny). Another part of it could be that they achieved such greatness in youth, did such wonderful things, crazy, wild things, and no one knows about it now. They're just old people, they become just grandma or grandpa, not the dashing young war hero.
It makes me sad even to write about it.
But Adam Beech does make me happy as Ira Hayes.
This weekend we're going to see Spiderman 3 on Saturday. Next weekend we're driving down to my parents' house for the weekend for mother's day. The next weekend we're going to see Shrek 3. Then the weekend after we're going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3.
I would also like to see 28 Weeks Later, but I don't know if that's going to happen. We'd have to get a babysitter. Which would make it more expensive. It might be one of those movies that I just wait until it's out on video. Besides, the last few movies i've been to have been too loud. Sometimes I want earplugs. We take earplugs for the munchkin anyway.
Anyway. Last night we watched Flags of Our Fathers and i liked it. I am a sucker for anything WWII. I will admit, without too much embarassment, that I liked Pearl Harbor and I don't quite understand what all the fuss was about when it came out. No one complained when Titanic came out. As i was saying though, I do have a soft spot for WWII movies (but not really the old ones from the 50s and 60s--i would prefer something a little less, oh, propagandist, or downright jingoistic. I do own Tora! Tora! Tora! though. I don't really know why.
I read Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance last year, and even though it's sort of dated and is a work of fiction, it's remarkably well-researched and gave me a good view of the strengths and weaknesses of all the major players in the war. Reading that book, I came to realize how incredibly close we came to losing the war, and how basically we only won because of a series of accidents, bad judgments, and foolish mistakes. I love that book.
Anyway. Flags of Our Fathers. I already knew the story of Iwo Jima (at least the story of the flag raising), but it was interesting to see it, and I thought the narrative structure of the movie was interesting.
i'm not sure how spoilery it could be, considering it is an actual historical event. Oh, by the way, the Allied Forces won. Spoiled you! Now you can't watch the movie! HAHA.
It made me really sad. I think it was because it was a framed narrative, and the frame was of the surviving soldiers as old men, retelling the story. That's something that always makes me sad; that time in the history of this world was/is so important, but all the people who were there are now dying. And they were such vibrant times! When you might die, you cling to life's good experiences when they're presented to you. Seeing all those young boys, so alive, vibrantly so, so intent on having fun while they could, it just breaks my heart to see them die so young, many of them not really ever expecting that particular outcome.
It all goes back to my profound dislike of (for the lack of the proper term I'll have to explain it) moving outside the timeline. For example, I do not like the idea of going on to read Pern fiction that takes place hundreds of years after Lessa and F'lar. Why? Because Lessa and Ramoth, and F'lar and Mnemoth (or however it is spelled), and all the other characters, won't be alive. I can't bear to think of them cold in the ground, or in the cold between. It's like imagining someone great and powerful gone. It's the same feeling I got when I watched The Last Samurai. I can't stand to contemplate the world without them in it, i can't stand to think of what the world has lost. In the case of Pern, that Weyr will always be Lessa's and F'lar's, and anyone else is just an intruder.
So, in that respect, movies that show a young character framed by that character in his or her old age (think: A League of Their Own), really makes me sad. Even Titanic made me sad in that respect. I think the root of it is that the vibrancy of life has past, and now they seem to be waiting to die, letting their children and grandchildren take their places in the world. It just seems so unjust (that word looks funny). Another part of it could be that they achieved such greatness in youth, did such wonderful things, crazy, wild things, and no one knows about it now. They're just old people, they become just grandma or grandpa, not the dashing young war hero.
It makes me sad even to write about it.
But Adam Beech does make me happy as Ira Hayes.