the life of wacko (*´∀｀*)

The Soloist

There are 90,000 homeless people in the Ground Los Angeles Area, but how many of them are schizophrenic? We get to follow a true story about a genius who developed schizophrenia and later become homeless.

In the streets of Los Angeles Steve Lopez search for the next story to write about. By coincidence he meets Nathaniel, a deranged homeless man who plays the violin beautifully. There is something about Nathaniel that Lopez can’t shake off, and he decides to look into his story.

“The Soloist” is off to a great start. The characters introduction is brief and interesting, but it doesn’t get further than that. The story loses its touch somewhere in the middle and it just drags on. The extra spice to take it to another level isn’t present. It’s just bland. Neither boring nor interesting. The ending is predictable and the in-between as well. Robert Downey Jr. plays his usual neurotic character and Jamie Foxx is spectacular as Nathaniel.

The streets of Los Angeles is full with homeless people, and in this movie we get to see a side of them you usually don’t get to see, the mental picture. So many homeless people ends up as Nathaniel, they live a normal life until they develop a mental illness. It’s just brief, but these encounters lets the viewer take a closer look how problematic it is today with all the diagnoses and medicine people presumes is going to cure someone. It isn’t that easy, and “The Soloist” shows us that.

It feels like it should be something more. Something awaiting around the corner that will blow my mind away. But there’s not. It’s just the regular walk outside without something spectacular. That is the feeling “The Soloist” will give you. Quite nice, but were expecting more.

The Soloist -

2013-09-24 @ 20:43:33 Permalink Film Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

1001! Number 4 - Mr. Nobody

Every path we choose is the right path.

The year is 2092. Nemo Nobody is the only mortal left alive, and his days are soon over. But there is no records of Nemo’s past. So he begin to tell his story; his marriage with Elise, Jean, his search for Anna and the travels to Mars. How the different choices he made in life had different outcomes. Which life is the one he really lived?

“Mr. Nobody” is a masterpiece created by Jaco Van Dormael. Not only is the story itself a masterpiece, but the cinematography exceeds by far. It’s just a joy to the eyes to watch all of its wonders. First it’s the eyes that screams with joy, then the ears bleed sugarcanes while listening to Pierre Van Dormael’s magnificent soundtrack. And then as deeper into the story we gets, it gets more intriguing and you are hooked. Because it peels of layer after layer until it reaches the core, and makes your body shiver with excitement.

The story of making impossible choices, or what consequences one choice can have really makes you think. What interest me the most is how different Nemo is depending on the choices he makes. Even though he is himself, Nemo, in every life his characteristics are so different. Is one person really that dependent on other people to shape one’s personality? It seems like so many choices made Nemo unhappy, and he can’t create his own happiness but is letting the people around him shape who he is. Do we humans really have that little force to change ourselves?

But the movie doesn’t say that there is a right or a wrong answer. It encourages people to live their life despite the choices they make, because every path we chose is the right one. Jared Leto as Nemo covers all of the feelings one can get from a choice – pleasure, pain, heartbreak, desperation, indifference and so many more. Although he only plays Nemo, he plays so many different aspects of Nemo, one can’t help but wonder over his beautiful performance.

This is a movie you can enjoy no matter how many times you watch it, because every time you watch it you realize something that you missed the last time, a clue to a story. “Mr. Nobody” is a masterpiece for ears, eyes, and your mind.

Mr. Nobody -

2013-09-20 @ 17:06:21 Permalink 1001 Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Once in a while you discover a rare gem, something that you can look at over and over again but it never cease to lose its magic. It's just as magical every time you look at it as it was the first time. Ruby Red is gem like that.

Gwendolyn Shephard is a normal teenage girl, but her family is everything but normal. They have a timetraveller gene in the family, and Gwen's cousin Charlotte is next in line to inherit the gene, except... One day Gwen finds herself in the past and her life changes. She is the chosen one and gets thrown into a new life, secret society and handsome man Gideon. The only advice her mother gives her is; trust no one, not even your own feelings. Something that is easier said than done.

"Ruby Red" by Kerstin Gier is the first in a triology which comes with a whole new story that invites the reader to something new and fresh, a world of timeravellers and secrets. The idea is terrific, entertaining and always make the reader think. Because timetravelling always (always!), creates consequences! How the future can change the past, but is the past really changing or was it like that from the beginning? In timetravelling stories it's important to remember all the details, characters and events to have a chance to be one step ahead, or at least the same page. But being as confused as the our heroine is, is not something particulary bad either.

It's not only the story itself that is intriguing, Kerstin Gier has created a whole ser of interesting characters. Gwendolyn feels real, genuine, a heroine you can't help to like. Gideon is mysterious, but at the same time a normal boy, with a touch of timetravelling. But the most interesting is that you don't really know who the Big Bad is, which makes it all so much more exciting!

The book is ended abruptly, and it doesn't feel like tge end of a book, rather the end of a chapter. This, and the tima aspect (everything happens in just a couple of days, it should be longer), makes the book drop a notch. But, since you got hooked after the first chapter I assume you already have "Sapphire Blue" ready in hand to satisfy your needs!

Ruby Red -

2013-09-11 @ 23:45:18 Permalink Books Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()