Beowulf's Grendel, Dumbledore's Grindelwald

MOVIE REVIEW: Beowulf

WARNING: Pictures portrayed in this article might contain nudity

It's turning into a "movie blog", but with a personal touch and one-of-a-kind Keongomaniac-stlye insights. Oh but let's just say they are vying for the new Keongomania Award for Best Movie Review of the Year. Who wouldn't want to be immortalised, and live on for-ever in people's hearts and minds?

Speaking of immortality, the Beowulf legendary tale certainly has its own rights in claiming that- enduring centuries to be the only surviving Anglo-Saxon work of heroic poetry. So for those ignorant ones out there, this movie was based on this piece of crap poem dated back to the 8th Century.

.

.

Beowulf's Virtual Attraction

As you can see they did attempt to expand the duration and depth of the story a little bit, despite its adaptation limits, and got literary scholars excited when they made the warrior have sex with the monster's mommy. Many did not really like the film but i thought it was brilliant. The premise intriuging, the graphics excellent. Instead of fitting in CG characters into action films (Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four, Yoda in Star Wars, Gollum in LOTR), or great CGI backdrops (Star Wars, 300), why not an entire movie? I guarantee reviews would have been bad if the exact same thing was made into a real action film, with Gerard Butler as Beowulf? (Instead of "This...is...Sparta!!", "I am...Beowulf!!!") But damn, the voice cast relation to their on-screen animation was superb, and Angelina Jolie, was simply, real.

.

Beowulf's Grendel inspired Harry Potter's Grindelwald

However, what actually draws me to the movie was not all that digital techno mambo jambo. When i first read of its production what got my attention was that they are making Beowulf. Yes Beowulf per se, because i recalled that name somewhere. And yes it was our dear Harry Potter, or to be exactly, the creative juices of JK Rowling. I did read somewhere that Dumbledore's famous fight with evil wizard Grindelwald was based on Beowulf's slaying of the monster Grendel. I have since tried to find that source again but to no avail.

Most Harry Potter fans would (or shall i say, should have) known that Grindelwald, despite having a prominent role in the last book, was already mentioned in the very first book. It was written in the Chocolate Frog Card, on the description of Albus Dumbledore -
"Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945..."

.

.

Beowuld-Dumbledore, Grendel-Grindelwald

Though not much was known about this "dark wizard Grindelwald" before the publishing of the last book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, many has gathered that Grindelwald was a powerful dark wizard who would has done his fair bit of terrorising the wizard community, since he was defeated in 1945, the same year Nazi Germany's Hitler fell. Grindelwald was also likened to the monster Grendel due to the likeness of the name, and that Dumbledore's full name (Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore) has "Wulfric" in it, which in Anglo-Saxon means "wolf power" or "wolf ruler". Beowulf on the other hand, derive from "Wolf of the Germanic god Beow" or simply "bee-wolf". So there you have it. Since i do not personally know of the Beowulf legendary tale itself, i thought it was real cool for them to have it depicted in a CGI film. Now we get to see the inspiration for the Dumbledore-Grindelwald fight.

.

Must we be Gay to be caring?

And yes obviously now that we're on the subject it would be ridiculous not to mention it. As much as i had wanted to refrain from touching on the topic, JK Rowling's outing of Dumbledore, and that he had had homosexual feelings for Grindelwald, is too irresistable a subject to be ignored. Whatever people's views would be, readers would certainly question the Headmaster relationship with Harry now. Suddenly it all seem to make sense Dumbledore's over-protectiveness over Harry. Must that always be the case? Does this really proves that there is no such thing as being platonic, that that the only way someone truly cares is when there's love involve, gender regardless?

There is completely no way around it now. Even a seemly harmless picture above, which would otherwise be a completely innocent picture before Rowling opens her big witch mouth, now looks super wrong. Dumbledore's caring "I care for you too much Harry" has now evolved to something more.

.

The Naked Truth: Dumbeldore Strips Naked to Fight Grindelwald!

Taking the cue from Beowulf who strips naked to fight the monster Grendel (which was indeed based on the original poem), perhaps Rowling too envisioned Dumbledore and Grindelwald in the birthday suits duelling. We saw Harry naked in his stupid horse play. It's high time for Dumbledore too i guess. I just can imagine the awkward acting in the future movie adaptation of the last book. And hell, i reckon Gellert Gridelwald now to be a smashingly handsome hot evil wizard whom a young white Albus had the hots for. Be naked. Maybe that was the only way you could defeat a dark wizard. You never know.

Star Light Star Bright!

MOVIE REVIEW: Stardust

Star light, star bright
First star I see tonight.

Wish I may, wish I might,

Get a fallen star and take her for a ride!

OK innuendos aside, the line actually do sum up the main adrenaline rush and main plot of the story. A fallen star name Yvaine in a shape of a really pretty and shapely Claire Danes, (whom i best know her for her role as Juliet alongside Leonardo DiCaprio) causes chaos in fantastical proportions as she became the most wanted creature in the magical realm of Stormhold - chased by an evil witch and squabbling princes, and Tristan (sorry to say, a bastard child of an enslaved princess) from the human English village of Wall.

Surge of Fantasy

After the great phenomenon that is The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which its final instalment won 10 Oscars no kidding (a first for a fantasy-genre in Best Picture), many producers seems set to take over the Great Throne of the Fantasy Universe by finding his own Ring of Power. Some were successful while others were mere posers. But Stardust is definitely a great jump at another print-to-screen attempt. The author Neil Gaiman is a respected fantasy writer joining the legions of Tolkien-inspired literary works.

Fantastical Humour

What actually draws me the most is the great laugh we have watching Stardust, from the saggy-ness of Michelle Pfeiffer as an old witch or the closet gay pirate in the form of Robert De Niro. They definitely cash in with the big names to add the appeal of the movie, and hell they rock big time! Newcomer Charlie Cox (Tristan) is also a new kind of hero in the making, first seen in 2005's Casanova, a comedy film starring Heath Ledger where interestingly we saw Charile Cox being the brother to Sienna Miller, who now plays his love interest Victoria. This is truly a clever way to portray another fantasy genre film, by banking on the comic relief it dwarfs Gimli-Legolas jokes about how many Orcs they manage slaugther.

.

Fallen Star Taking Human Form

The idea that a fallen star taking a human form is not new to the fantasy world, at least not to me. Being a fan of the entire The Chronicles of Narnia series since a very young age (thus explains the love for fantasy genre and the likes), I was exposed to the idea from the fifth book in its reading order, The Voyage of Dawn Treader, where the main characters met two fallen stars in their journey to the end of the world. One was the magician Coriakin from the Island of Voices but the other more famous one is Ramandu (picture below), of whom his daughter was to marry Narnia's King Caspian (the same Prince Caspian film which is now under production).

.

The Intriuging Appeal of Stars

The stars in the story were however kinda of punished, hence being sent down, but when ask why that was so by Caspian, the unforgettable line i always remember was:

"My son, it is not for you, a Son of Adam, to know the faults a star can commit".

And when mentioned that, "In our world, a star is a huge ball of flaming gas", Ramandu answered:

"Even in your world my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of."

It makes one think doesn't it. It is this kind of literary work which convince me fantasy-genre is a more thoughtful piece of literature.

.

On a last note, Tristan fell in love with the Fallen Star and vice versa. You see, more often than not, what we're finding for is right infront of our eyes, but we're very much too blind to see. Yesh wise words by The Keongomaniac.

Stuck in the Peripherals

DVD REVIEW: The Terminal (2004)

A few months back while doing my routine sweeps across HMV Orchard, something caught my eyes in the form of The Terminal DVD, from which i gathered was a great film though i only had minor recollections of it. Seeing that it starred Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, my all-time favourite actor and actress, their combination seem to justify enough reason for me to buy the DVD.

And clearly it did not disappoint. A 2004 comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg (need I say more?), it tells of a man trapped in the JFK International Airport terminal when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot return to his native country due to a revolution.

Tom Hanks's character of Victor Navorski in its innocence later met with a very virginal looking and relatively young Catherine Zeta-Jones and they had a brief romance. Some would have known me to be an anti-White romance movies, but this is an exception, and for one i would not really consider it as a love film. And far from those silly coming-of age movies, The Terminal tells of the complexities of life - a life story, the opposing outlooks of life, and their co-existence.

Similarly too, not unlike the Victor in the movie, we find ourselves stuck in a particular place somewhere in our lives. Even though this goes against my outlook of life being roads or paths that bring us to our various destiny (and thus destination), perhaps there seem to be a necessity in being trapped in a particular place before we embark on the next journey. As a matter of fact we do get lost in roads. At this point it reminds me of the last scenes in another superb Tom Hanks film, Cast Away, where the character stood in the middle of a four-way junction - a symbolic visual imagery.

What if we fall while waiting? I certainly feel so, this being the lowest point in my life so far. Honestly speaking i never did expect me of all people to actually resent it. Me who had previously in my life enjoyed such pomp for years dating back to primary school days - holding such positions only some could even dream to clamour for. Now where I am is not here, not there, nowhere. And no matter how hard I sometimes tried to come into terms with what I am doing, I am too in love with my freedom and access to life to want to enjoy a life without going home or sleeping in the wild. Truly, me of all people? Its a shocking shift in spite of myself.

Could it be the curse of the times, or a momentary ditch necessary in the climb to greatness? A retribution for arrogance? Being stuck is certainly not comfortable, and i feel it is immature for others to say "endure" in such circumstances. What can be more stupid than being in a ridiculous position where stupidity reigns, and where low-lives take on the pretence to call the shots? The world certainly stops to civilise in a place they pride to be the biggest organisation in the entire country.

Sleeping uncomfortably not unlike in a land rover or tonner in the middle of nowhere. Knowing I have a great place to go to after the necessary yet sadly fairly productive place I am now only relieves the pain to a small degree. The end will certainly come, and the light at the end of the tunnel would eventually reveal itself. But yet i guess i can never understand the sudden shift in so many of the values i thought i had once defined myself to hold dearly. To echo Anakin Skywalker - something's happening, I am not the man I should be. Tom Hanks's Victor Navorski found temporal love while stuck in the terminal, befittingly i guess, though i do not expect it would happen here. And just as every story must have a villain, the director of customs in The Terminal takes on a lot of faces.

Yes sad is how it feels, heartbreaking at worst. Having left past grandeurs, and waiting for forestalled freedom and heights of destiny. The character came to the United States for a noble purpose, to fulfil his dear father's incomplete signatures of his favourite jazz group. Victor Navorski went through all the trouble, and yes waiting too, to complete an uncompleted dream. It is then comforting to know, that that may yet at least be a reason to why I am stuck in this peripheral of time.

_________________________________________________

KEONGOMANIA TRIVIA: The article title Stuck in the Peripherals echoes the title of a poem written and published by the author in the old Keongomania Blog on 27 January 2006 - The Force of Zen-Touch: Lost in the Peripherals, about a crime of passion. They however do not have any co-relation whatsoever. That literary work was nominated for the Keongomania Award for Best Metaphorical Expression (Poetry) in that year.

LINK: http://kingkeong.blogs.friendster.com/keongomania/2006/01/the_force_of_ze.html#comments