127 Hours: Visually Stunning and Surreal

I am not surprised that the Oscar voters chose this film as one of the best of 2010!  It is visually stunning and the soundtrack is fantastic!  Action in half of the movie just happens in one place but I never got bored or felt claustrophobic about it.  Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle are very skillfull storytellers and I'm sure the book version of this would be more serious and plodding, but this movie is definitely not. It just moves the story along and allows the viewers like me to reach a denouement and realization in the end.  Finding out how Aron Ralston moves from being this kind of person to another type of person is fasinating to watch.  That scene where he kept saying, 'This rock was waiting for me my whole life, the moment I started life on earth'.....really shook me.  It made me reflect on my own life too.

Anyhow, I didn't know that the last 10 minutes of the movie was going to be bloody! I was really squirming in my seat.  I did try to cover my eyes with the towel I brought, but it made things worse since I could hear James Franco and my imagination was giving me all these gory images!

Well, that part of the story is probably the most provoking but also the most liberating, at least for Aron Ralston.  His will to live under such very difficult circumstances is incredible!  He certainly lived life dangerously but at least he is living it under his own terms.

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Danny Boyle's Words of Wisdom Re the London Olympics Opening Ceremonies

I was reading Fr. Tito Caluag's Sunday column in the Inquirer today where he featured some of the wise words of Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle, who directed the opening ceremonies of this year's London Olympics.  

Everyone knew it would be difficult to top the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies so Boyle and his team took the next best step!  They just accepted that as fact and moved on.  Instead of focusing on how to upstage what is the gold standard for these momentous event, Boyle decided to focus on the best that Britain could offer and the incredible wellspring of creativity these islands had.  

Below is my most favorite quote from Fr. Caluag's column -

"In accepting their limitations, in acknowledging others were better than them, they attained the freedom to be creative.  They showed the best of who they are.  They excelled by simply being who they are and not worrying about being like someone else."

I actually enjoyed both the opening and the closing ceremonies of the London Olympic Games.  Yes, it was universally agreed that Beijing was still the gold standard for that, but they were just so entertaining and the humor was just downright pat British that those events were able to distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack!  I mean, One Direction in the Olympics, and Annie Lennox!! Worked for me!