The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
- Comments
I admit that I never read any of the Narnia books. So, when the first Narnia movie arrived, in late 2005, I watched it very open minded and zero biased. This is relevant, because - very much like with the Harry Potter community - some of the people who appreciate the books, tend to go blind and also appreciate the movie, no matter what.
"Narnia 1" is a very good movie!, but with strong imbalances.
This is the story of four children, during World War II (WW2), yet there are no airplanes, nor machine guns. In fact, after the first five minutes, it is like if there was no [human] war going on.
But there is a wardrobe and a mythical war: Lion versus Witch.
The four children are brothers and sisters: Edmund, Peter, Lucy and Susan. The most obvious imbalance is the performance of Georgie Henley, who plays the young Lucy: Georgie appears to be light years ahead, as an actress, despite her tender age. It is a fact that her character is "central", but her array of expressions is just superior.
Skandar Keynes (Edmund) knows only two expressions: angry and fear - and he had many opportunities.
William Moseley (Peter) isn't convincing, as a leader. The script forces him to play "Mr. sweet sensible" for too long, so when he must lead an army of hardened creatures, his authority isn't believable.
As for Anna Popplewell (Susan), she is very confined, nearly non existent.
Tilda Swinton (the White Witch) is superb on her role, as always - or since Orlando.
The script is all about a fantastic world [at war], with impressive creatures. The Narnia world is very black-and-white: the Lion people are the "good" team; the Witch people are the "bad". There is absolutely nothing in-between. This is good for children, because it makes it easier to understand what is going on.
I am very sorry for the minotaur creatures: they are big and scary, but they deserve no more than a couple of minutes of action. The lion is just a big cat...
My Rating: 7/10
External Links:
http://www.libertyfilmfestival.com/libertas/index.php?p=1176
http://www.moviefreak.com/artman/publish/movie_narnia.shtml
Shop: DVD** (USA) | DVD** (Europe) | Poster*
*Poster info:
Title: Chronicles of Narnia-Advance
Type: Poster
Size: 69 x 102 cm
Usually ships in: 24 hours
**
WARNING: the Narnia DVDs on sale, are NOT the 2005 version!
20061229 - The Girl Next Door (2004)Comments
I really enjoyed "The Girl Next Door" (tgnd).
This is an extremely professional movie, that - despite its downtrend, from half point - regularly surprises the viewer and is very efficient on sparking emotional responses, like nostalgia, laughter and even sexual arousal!
The first sign of professionalism, is the choice of Elisha Cuthbert, for the role of Danielle. For many, Elisha is best known, as "Kim Bauer", from the "24" TV series. "Kim" is an ungrateful character, because she is the daughter of the series' main man - Jack Bauer - which means she spends most of the episodes running around, screaming here and there, hardly having a chance to shine... still, those short sequences were enough to exhibit a very attractive 20 years old girl.
[By popular request,] tgnd shows Elisha's body a lot more, without full disclosure... and - again - without giving her the full means to really perform.
The young actors and actresses in tgnd, play believable main characters, although the secondary personages aren't as solid.
The script is about the effect Danielle had on the life of Matthew (Emile Hirsch): about the limbo between pure hormonal drive and more complex feelings; and about how friendship can help flip the most daunting situations.
The reason I consider there is a "downtrend", is because the Danielle character fades, as the Matthew character rises - it would have been great to conciliate the two.
The sex industry is considerably present: (1) there are chapters shot at the annual Las Vegas adult movies convention; (2) the xxx video where Matthew's friend, Eli, finds that Danielle is/was a porn star, actually includes a real life xxx actor (Steven Croix); and (3) the woman shown in the magazine at the beginning of the film is Brianna Banks.
Despite these xxx elements, tgnd is far from "offensive": I label it an intense comedy!
My Rating: 7/10
External Links:
http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/review.asp?ID=188
http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=2861
Shop: DVD (USA) | DVD (Europe) | Poster*
*Poster info:
Title: The Girl Next Door (2004)
Type: Framed Art Print
Frame: SoHo (3 cm)
Finished Size: 36 x 51 cm
20061223 - B&W P5 
Comentários
Está disponível o artigo "B&W P5 ", conforme publicado pela revista ÁUDIO, a pedido de Rusel Barroso (Brasil).
Estão disponíveis: PDF
Estão disponíveis mais de outros 100 artigos sobre áudio e AV, na página respectiva.
20060122 - iLong online - Contribua para uma comunidade!
A partir de agora, todas as actualizações, permitirão comentários dos visitantes - espero que você participe.
A plataforma de publicação, para este espaço interactivo, é a WordPress 2, com MySQL 5. Infelizmente, desde a "luz verde", identifiquei pelo menos três bugs, que impedem características interessantes, como o envio de ficheiros. Espero que que sejam resolvidas, em breve...
iLog significa "interactive Log".
20060122 - iLog online - Help build a community!
From now on, all posts will allow commenting - I hope you'll participate.
The publication platform for the interactive space is WordPress 2, using MySQL 5. Unfortunately, since the "green light", I identified at least three bugs, which are preventing interesting features, such as file uploading. I hope the developers can fix them, soon...
iLog stands for "interactive Log".
20060120 - Internet & Economia do Conhecimento @ IPJ
Por convite do Instituto Português da Juventude (IPJ) à Área de Informática da ESGS, acabei por ter a oportunidade de fazer uma apresentação, na delegação de Santarém, intitulada "Internet e Economia do Conhecimento".
Esta apresentação foi pensada para uma audiência de ensino secundário e ensino superior.
Eis o PDF do powerpoint, com que conduzi a apresentação.
Deveria estar disponível um vídeo de toda a apresentação, gentilmente gravado por Jorge Constantino, mas a câmara de vídeo corrompeu o áudio, ao cabo de poucos minutos de vídeo!
20060106 - Lisbon-Dakar 2006 - Day 0
This year, the world's most defying rally, started at Lisbon, Portugal.
Here are 320 photos of the competing cars and trucks! You can sample the whole collection, @ 400x300 pixels, for free.
The corresponding commercial product, features the same photos, but @ 1856x1392 pixels and without "watermarks". If you are a Dakar fan, make sure not to miss this product!
320 sample photos from "Lisbon-Dakar 2006 Day Zero"
External Links:
http://www.dakar.com/
Shop (for the Americas):
Book: From Paris to Dakar in the World's Most Dangerous Race (Hardcover) - $28.00
Shop (for Europe):
Book: Dakar Rally 2005 - £16.99
Poster:
Title: The Mosque Of Plage D'Ouakam., Dakar, Senegal
Type: Digital Print on Archival Photographic Paper
Size: 61 x 46 cm
The Lisbon Zoo is one of my favorite places for a walk.
Here are 225 photos of the local mammals, reptiles and birds. You can sample the whole collection, @ 400x300 pixels, for free.
The corresponding commercial product, features the same photos, but @ 1856x1392 pixels and without "watermarks". If you are looking for animals' pictures, give this product a try.
225 sample photos from "Zoo LX - Volume 1"
External Links:
http://www.zoo.pt/
Shop (for the Americas):
Children kit: Little People: A to Z Learning Zoo - $42.99
PC Game: Zoo Tycoon 2 - $29.99
Audio-CD: 10.000 Maniacs - Blind Man's Zoo - $9.98
Shop (for Europe):
PC Game: Zoo Tycoon 2 - £14.97
Audio-CD: 10.000 Maniacs - Blind Man's Zoo - £6.97
Poster:
Title: Zoo Grosste Sehenswurdigkeit
Type: Giclee Print
Size: 46 x 61 cm