206
*will post icon later as i'm
at work and can't upload it*
random comments:
_greetings from natá de los caballeros! (i'm on a work trip atm).
_i hate election season >.<
_there will absolutely be no mention of bleach in this post. well, save for the one i just made. wait, does that one count? dammit.
and now a review:
slumdog millionaire: great movie. yes, it was very straightforward. yes, the "destiny" angle was pointless. yes, the WWTBAM questions were ridiculously stupid (especially that last one: whatever happened to particle physics as the topic of a super hard trivia question?). yes, perhaps life in the slums of india isn't quite what was presented in the movie (i wouldn't know; i've never been to india and probably never will. i'm too ignorant to be offended by anything in the movie). yes, the slum kids learned almost-perfect english seemingly out of nowhere. yes, there was no reason for the blind slum kid to know who benjamin franklin was. yes, the guy dying in the money-filled bathtub, smirking as he whispered an islamic mantra, tried to be tarantino but made no sense (i'm as clueless about this as you are-- but then again, i don't get tarantino either). yes, all these things happening to jamal were perhaps a bit too much of a coincidence...
...but i loved it.
(hey, if verbal kint can spin us into a very convenient, convoluted story centered around this mythical keyser soze fellow and take his movie to cult-following status, i don't see why jamal's story has to be "something that may happen to anyone." so it's all too convenient-- so what, that's what happens in movies. nobody said it was a true story).
still, as the movie went to a close i found myself not only believing but wanting to believe. it's not a guilty pleasure; it's a movie that is written specifically to cleverly tug at your heartstrings without you even noticing that it has inspired you. despite the dark aspects (which i surprisingly didn't find myself cringing through), it's feel-good, true. it's romance for the hopeless romantic. it's sappy, and cliched, and maybe not-quite-bollywood but it's fantasy. and despite all of that, it's lovable. that's when you know the casting, the writing and the cinematography have been effective: when, despite the fact that you can see obvious flaws, and you find yourself going "THAT doesn't happen!" eighty-seven times, you find yourself thoroughly enjoying the experience and hoping to go down the ride again. the flaws become more charming and quirky than annoying, and you end up shrugging and thinking "hey, sounds reasonably plausible to me." and you end up thinking it would be really awesome if things like love conquering all and young boys overcoming horrible odds against adversity really existed. and they do; maybe not quite like this, but they do. and this movie does what it's supposed to do in reminding people of that.
so i'm a sucker for feel-good movies. sue me. i don't like going to the movie theater to suffer, you know.
dev patel was amazing as jamal. it certainly wasn't the most complex character ever written but dev gave it a je-ne-sais-quoi that made him adorable and admirable. there was a strength to his jamal, and he had a shine in his eyes that just makes you root for him, you know? the writing, despite the fact that it left us hanging in many aspects (i would've loved to know more about their mother, or latika's background), was riveting. I loved how they wove the WWTBAM segments with jamal's life experiences, it was flawless how they linked the little details. and it let you know that, just for remembering there was a bow and arrow in rama's hand even though half the world was crashing around him, that it wasn't just luck, it wasn't just destiny, that let jamal get as far as he did. He had some sort of a gift there; he had the stuff. And the music, i can't honestly say that i paid a lot of attention to it but that makes it even better in my eyes-- it didn't stand out. It went with the flow, it added to the feel of the scenes. That's what good movie scores should be, for me: undetectable, rather than standing out in a negative sense.
so once again, loved it. definitely going to get the DVD as soon as it's available. what can i say? it's my new "favorite movie du jour"-- may sound shallow but i don't take those lightly (it really felt like this year's little miss sunshine and you guys ought to know that i absolutely adored LMS, so that's saying a lot!). in fact, these "movies du jour" may not be my ultimate favorite movies of all time, but they're all really high on the list, and are the movies that i can watch over and over and over without ever getting tired of them. a gem of a movie, really. can't say it really deserved best picture because i haven't seen the other nominees to compare, but it was certainly wonderful. and i should shut up before i gush you all to death xDD
(it really is that good, though. even alfonso duralde loved it. and that is saying a lot, because that dude hates everything).
and now, in the spirit of the movie, a ficlet (i watched the movie for the second time on tuesday and fell in love even more). and no, i'm not the first person ever to write slumdog fic... i'm actually the second. i think. now i don't know if that makes me more pathetic or less pathetic, for writing about a non-existent fandom, but heck, i'm proudly pathetic either way xDDDD
BOARD GAME SUNDAYS
a slumdog millionaire ficlet
rating: PG.
genre: TEH MOOSH. might be the sappiest thing i've ever written. but come on, y'all know you love it...
pairings: jamal/latika.
disclaimer: i don't own slumdog millionaire, a bunch of folks who are a lot cooler and have a lot more money than i do own it...
warnings: spoilers all over for the movie, especially the ending.
summary: she often tells him it's a good thing that he went on millionaire when he did, because god-- whichever god there is-- made him good at one game, and one game only, and he'd found just the one.
----------
She often tells him it's a good thing that he went on Millionaire when he did, because God-- whichever God there is-- made him good at one game, and one game only, and he'd found just the one. Of course, her tone is teasing, as she says this when she's absolutely creaming him in a match of Scrabble.
And how unfair it is, he thinks, that she's so good at this particular board game; considering they're both uneducated non-native speakers, her English should be just as bad as his, if not worse (he may not have passed as Sean Connery's neighbour, but he likes to think his admittedly limited
international experience, aka the Call Center days, give him an edge). In fact, he half suspects her to be cheating, but he doesn't care; the glow in her eyes when she puts down some word he's never even heard before draws him in, and the curve of her lips as they draw a teasing smirk makes him want to kiss her. He'll let her have this victory, so long as it makes her happy.
After all, she does have a point (he is absolutely horrible at almost every other game either of them can think of) and while he does consider himself the luckiest man alive, it's got nothing to do with the 20 million rupees he won on the show.
She bites her lower lip as she thinks of her next word.
He loves her... so much.
He never gave a thought to whether his feelings for her would change when they were finally together. He'd spent what felt like a lifetime with no other goal in his life but find her; one would think things would be completely different once that goal was achieved...
And things are different, in a sense. They are now living in a quiet little city near the east coast of Britain. It isn't a small town, nor is it a big metropolis. It is small enough that some people still stare as they walke by, wondering why this pretty indian girl likes wearing yellow so much; but at the same time it is big enough that these people eventually learn to ignore their particularities.
They live in an inexpensive flat near the center of the city. It isn't all that big-- he wouldn't know what to do with a big house anymore than he knows what to do with all the money he now has. But it is comfortable, and it is home. Their home.
She is taking acting classes. It is an uphill climb, but she has nothing but drive. At times she doubts herself, it is inevitable. But he believes in her; her scar, her accent, the fact that she is a minority, or whatever it is she is fretting about at the moment... those are all things that can be overcome, he tells her. And if her audience loves her even a fraction of how he loves her, she will be the brightest star in the marquesine. His determined words never fail to make her smile.
As for him, he is working at a quaint little café just a few blocks away from their flat. He's not serving tea anymore (although he does offer to wait tables every once in a while, to help any of his coworkers that can't make it to their shift). Instead, he's the assistant to the general manager. It's not the most amazing job, but it's more than he ever thought he would have. Other than for plane tickets and those first few days of having to stay in hotel rooms, he has not touched his prize money. They don't need it, and she hasn't asked him to use it. Perhaps they will some day (he wants to take her to so many places), but for now, what they have is enough. Love is enough.
So yes, things had changed in his life. But not when it comes to his feelings. She is his destiny, forever-- he is as sure of that now as he had been so many years ago, on a dark train wagon after she had been left behind. She is still the center of his life, perhaps even more than she was before. Because now he can be with her, and hold her, and hear her laugh wholeheartedly during their improvised "board game Sundays."
And when it feels like he can't love her any more than he already does, the next day comes and he wakes up to see her beautiful face beside his, her arms wrapped around his waist as she unconsciously snuggles closer to him, and there it is... he loves her. So much that it amazes him, because the feeling never fades away; it just grows. And he is so happy, just there, right there, that he wouldn't trade this for all the millions in the world.
After she is done putting down the letters on the board, she notices he's staring at her, apparently lost in thought. She amusedly chucks one of her remaining tiles at his head, which effectively draws him out of his reverie. Then she smiles brightly at him, leans in and gives him a kiss, because she knows him, and she knows where his mind has wandered, and she loves him for it.
So he's awful at all sorts of games. It doesn't matter. He's got her now, and he doesn't have to do it alone. Together they'll win the world.
----------
okay, so apparently this movie has made me less of a cynic about love. it's... odd, to be honest. ^^;;;
i really hope they'll make a SDM page at ff.net so i can post this there! D:
at work and can't upload it*
random comments:
_greetings from natá de los caballeros! (i'm on a work trip atm).
_i hate election season >.<
_there will absolutely be no mention of bleach in this post. well, save for the one i just made. wait, does that one count? dammit.
and now a review:
slumdog millionaire: great movie. yes, it was very straightforward. yes, the "destiny" angle was pointless. yes, the WWTBAM questions were ridiculously stupid (especially that last one: whatever happened to particle physics as the topic of a super hard trivia question?). yes, perhaps life in the slums of india isn't quite what was presented in the movie (i wouldn't know; i've never been to india and probably never will. i'm too ignorant to be offended by anything in the movie). yes, the slum kids learned almost-perfect english seemingly out of nowhere. yes, there was no reason for the blind slum kid to know who benjamin franklin was. yes, the guy dying in the money-filled bathtub, smirking as he whispered an islamic mantra, tried to be tarantino but made no sense (i'm as clueless about this as you are-- but then again, i don't get tarantino either). yes, all these things happening to jamal were perhaps a bit too much of a coincidence...
...but i loved it.
(hey, if verbal kint can spin us into a very convenient, convoluted story centered around this mythical keyser soze fellow and take his movie to cult-following status, i don't see why jamal's story has to be "something that may happen to anyone." so it's all too convenient-- so what, that's what happens in movies. nobody said it was a true story).
still, as the movie went to a close i found myself not only believing but wanting to believe. it's not a guilty pleasure; it's a movie that is written specifically to cleverly tug at your heartstrings without you even noticing that it has inspired you. despite the dark aspects (which i surprisingly didn't find myself cringing through), it's feel-good, true. it's romance for the hopeless romantic. it's sappy, and cliched, and maybe not-quite-bollywood but it's fantasy. and despite all of that, it's lovable. that's when you know the casting, the writing and the cinematography have been effective: when, despite the fact that you can see obvious flaws, and you find yourself going "THAT doesn't happen!" eighty-seven times, you find yourself thoroughly enjoying the experience and hoping to go down the ride again. the flaws become more charming and quirky than annoying, and you end up shrugging and thinking "hey, sounds reasonably plausible to me." and you end up thinking it would be really awesome if things like love conquering all and young boys overcoming horrible odds against adversity really existed. and they do; maybe not quite like this, but they do. and this movie does what it's supposed to do in reminding people of that.
so i'm a sucker for feel-good movies. sue me. i don't like going to the movie theater to suffer, you know.
dev patel was amazing as jamal. it certainly wasn't the most complex character ever written but dev gave it a je-ne-sais-quoi that made him adorable and admirable. there was a strength to his jamal, and he had a shine in his eyes that just makes you root for him, you know? the writing, despite the fact that it left us hanging in many aspects (i would've loved to know more about their mother, or latika's background), was riveting. I loved how they wove the WWTBAM segments with jamal's life experiences, it was flawless how they linked the little details. and it let you know that, just for remembering there was a bow and arrow in rama's hand even though half the world was crashing around him, that it wasn't just luck, it wasn't just destiny, that let jamal get as far as he did. He had some sort of a gift there; he had the stuff. And the music, i can't honestly say that i paid a lot of attention to it but that makes it even better in my eyes-- it didn't stand out. It went with the flow, it added to the feel of the scenes. That's what good movie scores should be, for me: undetectable, rather than standing out in a negative sense.
so once again, loved it. definitely going to get the DVD as soon as it's available. what can i say? it's my new "favorite movie du jour"-- may sound shallow but i don't take those lightly (it really felt like this year's little miss sunshine and you guys ought to know that i absolutely adored LMS, so that's saying a lot!). in fact, these "movies du jour" may not be my ultimate favorite movies of all time, but they're all really high on the list, and are the movies that i can watch over and over and over without ever getting tired of them. a gem of a movie, really. can't say it really deserved best picture because i haven't seen the other nominees to compare, but it was certainly wonderful. and i should shut up before i gush you all to death xDD
(it really is that good, though. even alfonso duralde loved it. and that is saying a lot, because that dude hates everything).
and now, in the spirit of the movie, a ficlet (i watched the movie for the second time on tuesday and fell in love even more). and no, i'm not the first person ever to write slumdog fic... i'm actually the second. i think. now i don't know if that makes me more pathetic or less pathetic, for writing about a non-existent fandom, but heck, i'm proudly pathetic either way xDDDD
BOARD GAME SUNDAYS
a slumdog millionaire ficlet
rating: PG.
genre: TEH MOOSH. might be the sappiest thing i've ever written. but come on, y'all know you love it...
pairings: jamal/latika.
disclaimer: i don't own slumdog millionaire, a bunch of folks who are a lot cooler and have a lot more money than i do own it...
warnings: spoilers all over for the movie, especially the ending.
summary: she often tells him it's a good thing that he went on millionaire when he did, because god-- whichever god there is-- made him good at one game, and one game only, and he'd found just the one.
----------
She often tells him it's a good thing that he went on Millionaire when he did, because God-- whichever God there is-- made him good at one game, and one game only, and he'd found just the one. Of course, her tone is teasing, as she says this when she's absolutely creaming him in a match of Scrabble.
And how unfair it is, he thinks, that she's so good at this particular board game; considering they're both uneducated non-native speakers, her English should be just as bad as his, if not worse (he may not have passed as Sean Connery's neighbour, but he likes to think his admittedly limited
international experience, aka the Call Center days, give him an edge). In fact, he half suspects her to be cheating, but he doesn't care; the glow in her eyes when she puts down some word he's never even heard before draws him in, and the curve of her lips as they draw a teasing smirk makes him want to kiss her. He'll let her have this victory, so long as it makes her happy.
After all, she does have a point (he is absolutely horrible at almost every other game either of them can think of) and while he does consider himself the luckiest man alive, it's got nothing to do with the 20 million rupees he won on the show.
She bites her lower lip as she thinks of her next word.
He loves her... so much.
He never gave a thought to whether his feelings for her would change when they were finally together. He'd spent what felt like a lifetime with no other goal in his life but find her; one would think things would be completely different once that goal was achieved...
And things are different, in a sense. They are now living in a quiet little city near the east coast of Britain. It isn't a small town, nor is it a big metropolis. It is small enough that some people still stare as they walke by, wondering why this pretty indian girl likes wearing yellow so much; but at the same time it is big enough that these people eventually learn to ignore their particularities.
They live in an inexpensive flat near the center of the city. It isn't all that big-- he wouldn't know what to do with a big house anymore than he knows what to do with all the money he now has. But it is comfortable, and it is home. Their home.
She is taking acting classes. It is an uphill climb, but she has nothing but drive. At times she doubts herself, it is inevitable. But he believes in her; her scar, her accent, the fact that she is a minority, or whatever it is she is fretting about at the moment... those are all things that can be overcome, he tells her. And if her audience loves her even a fraction of how he loves her, she will be the brightest star in the marquesine. His determined words never fail to make her smile.
As for him, he is working at a quaint little café just a few blocks away from their flat. He's not serving tea anymore (although he does offer to wait tables every once in a while, to help any of his coworkers that can't make it to their shift). Instead, he's the assistant to the general manager. It's not the most amazing job, but it's more than he ever thought he would have. Other than for plane tickets and those first few days of having to stay in hotel rooms, he has not touched his prize money. They don't need it, and she hasn't asked him to use it. Perhaps they will some day (he wants to take her to so many places), but for now, what they have is enough. Love is enough.
So yes, things had changed in his life. But not when it comes to his feelings. She is his destiny, forever-- he is as sure of that now as he had been so many years ago, on a dark train wagon after she had been left behind. She is still the center of his life, perhaps even more than she was before. Because now he can be with her, and hold her, and hear her laugh wholeheartedly during their improvised "board game Sundays."
And when it feels like he can't love her any more than he already does, the next day comes and he wakes up to see her beautiful face beside his, her arms wrapped around his waist as she unconsciously snuggles closer to him, and there it is... he loves her. So much that it amazes him, because the feeling never fades away; it just grows. And he is so happy, just there, right there, that he wouldn't trade this for all the millions in the world.
After she is done putting down the letters on the board, she notices he's staring at her, apparently lost in thought. She amusedly chucks one of her remaining tiles at his head, which effectively draws him out of his reverie. Then she smiles brightly at him, leans in and gives him a kiss, because she knows him, and she knows where his mind has wandered, and she loves him for it.
So he's awful at all sorts of games. It doesn't matter. He's got her now, and he doesn't have to do it alone. Together they'll win the world.
----------
okay, so apparently this movie has made me less of a cynic about love. it's... odd, to be honest. ^^;;;
i really hope they'll make a SDM page at ff.net so i can post this there! D: