Noah: Where are all the other Races?

NOAH: 2014: ++: DRAMA/ACTION:  I wanted to review this movie earlier but I didn't have the chance since I couldn't get to it at the time.  I rented it and had certain expectations because I heard so much acclaim and so many people recommended it.  I wasn't disappointed.  However, I felt some aspects made the movie uneven. There's also another big issue in the movie that I will bring up at the end of this review.  


"Uneven, what does that mean?"

Much of the action occurs in the first "third" of the movie and the action was very entertaining.  The Golems or "Watchers" were a different spin on the story and I enjoyed them, while others had serious questions about why the director/ writer Darren Aronofsky included them.  In some ways, it does "explain" how such as huge ark was created but at the same time this is a biblical adaptation so it doesn't need any "explanation".


I liked the inclusion of the "Watchers".

Noah's cast was right on the money and I liked the fact that Emma Watson complimented the cast of Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, and Anthony Hopkins.  Russell Crowe's acting was almost a carbon copy of his performance in The Gladiator, but that's a good thing as he gave Noah a more demanding presence. Some interpret the Biblical Noah in this fashion so I assume that was intentional direction by Aronofsky.

  
Crowe in Gladiator and Noah, longer hair, same attitude...


Would Christian Bale have been a better Noah?  Hard to say but he was apparently offered this role as well.  I believe there would have been too much cross referencing to Batman and it would have hurt the overall impact and lasting impression of the movie.  

Emma Watson continues to impress in this movie and I feel she had a challenging role.  I won't give too much away because you should definitely watch this movie if you haven't already.  She nailed this role. Her range was really demonstrated here and it overshadows her performances in the Potter movies.  You can almost say she stole the show in this movie!  Along with Jennifer Lawrence, she is among the top female roles in Hollywood.


Emma Watson led the way with one of the better performances in this movie.

Although Anthony Hopkins' role was minimal in this movie, it's hard to ignore or discuss this movie without discussing him.  He plays a somewhat distant but approachable character but this time he isn't planning on biting your ear off.  His role in this movie is instrumental in allowing certain elements to evolve so he makes an impact. 


"Where's Clarice?"

Standout scenes are when the animals arrive, the battle against the unruly humans before the flood and when Crowe fights the leader Tabal Cane at the end.    I also enjoyed the sections where other parts of the Bible were mentioned, especially the Adam & Eve creation story, which is often referenced.  Also, the snakes, snakes, snakes were cool!


Here come the snakes, hey they're creatures too!


A snake within a snake, very original!  The root of all evil!

The special effects were also excellent in this movie and made the animals, the flooding, the action, and the ark very realistic.  


This important scene was done extremely well!

This was an ambitious effort and Aronofsky delivers a great movie. I just thought it could have been a bit more balanced because I felt like I saw some of the best parts after the first third.  

Also, where are the different races?  It seems very racially homogeneous. I deducted major points over this.  This is a glaring problem with the movie and I don't understand how you can leave out other racial classes.  Especially now with the shooting of Michael Brown, I was floored by the absence of other races.  Was this an agenda or symptomatic of Hollywood? Or worse, was Darren's Aronofsky's treatment of the Noah story a reason why?72%


"A 72%, what is he thinking?"

Two Powerful Minds Face Off

         VS      

Pi & A Beautiful Mind  were both great movies about geniuses who were at first misunderstood but then appreciated for their worth to the intellectual community.  Which movie captures the essence of being a brilliant, but obsessive personality?  Find out here...


Pi:  1998:  +-: Pscyh Thr:  Having watched Pi  number of times, simply because I love the mathematical numbers theory elements and the heavy use of electronic synths in the music score, (a cornucopia of extremely well known ambient and EDM artists), I still have an itch to watch it now and again.  Every time I watch it I get something else new out of it BUT every time I watch it, I also get a little disturbed.  That's the point.  This movie really gets you into the psyche of a troubled genius obsessed to the point of losing control over this emotion and rational state of mind.   

 

I actually try to retrace the steps of Max Cohen (played by Sean Gullette), who is a brilliant but extremely troubled number theorists who is trying to use Fibonacci sequences and PI to predict the stock market, in NY.  Many of the scenes are filmed in very famous areas like China town and Mid Town and some common subway hubs.  Sean also wrote the story behind this movie. 

Two different groups of people, as diametrically apart as possible, are drawn to Max because they both follow his work and believe it can further their own selfish pursuits.  One is a group of Kabbalahs and one is a Wall Street Firm executive.  Both need the data that Max is working on but for different reasons.  Max accidentally throws it away in garbage bucket and thus the race and search for it drives the movie's drama.  I won't give away why because it's very interesting and a nice twist in the movie. 

 

Since the whole movie is in black and white, it gives it a very gritty atmosphere which fits the mood rather nicely.  The eerie, static, electronic music also does this with repetitive sections.  After awhile, you forget it's black and white though, the mark of many good movies of this type.  Stand out parts are when he is getting chased by the Wall Street woman, when he finds Sol's Go board in the Pi formation, and of course, when he figures out what went wrong with the motherboard and fixes it. 



I also liked the part where he is in the subway and he is getting his picture taken by what appears to be a student photographer but he loses it and chases him.  A memorable part but one I would like to forget is when he drills his..well I won't give this away. 

 

This movie isn't for everyone, but it has music by Aphex Twin, Orbital and other prominent EDB and Ambient artists.  Sometimes the music itself is what drives the suspense as witnessed when he is having his many migraines and the music throbs like a bad head-ache.  This part will make you cringe.  It will definitely challenge anyone who is interested numbers theory, the Torah, and of course, computers and their ability to crunch numbers relating to Pi.  Darron Aronofsky did an amazing job on this one and didn't hold any punches

This won the 1998 Sundance Film Festival directors award and also the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.  Sometimes I wished the parts with the girl who was good in math stood out more as a contrast and made it a little more light hearted, but this is just about telling the story of a troubled genius:::86%

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A Beautiful Mind: 2001: ++: BIO DRM:  In many ways, these two movies are very different.  The first obvious difference is aesthetically, one is black and white, while the other is in color.  The second is that this is an loosely based autobiography, while in the movie Pi, it's based on a conglomeration of mathematicians.   Then the other difference is in the lead roles; one is very dull looking and the other is more of your usual leading-man.

 

Other than that, they are driving at the some point.  Two geniuses who have so much going on in their cerebellums, that they appear, touched, or troubled, or even a bit off the normal path of what society accepts as "sane".  Then again, the trite expression comes to mind, what is sane in an insane world?

Back to the movie.  Russell Crowe plays his usual soft spoken self, until he gets provoked like in the scene where he beats one of the arrogant fellow colleagues in a game of Othello.  Ron Howard does a great job, as usual, depicting the life of John Nash, Nobel laureate in finance. 

There were some instances where he "left" out certain elements that made this movie a little less accurate like when it leaves out his second marriage and illegitimate son.  These are minor gripes though.  Ed Harris and Jennifer Connolly are also in this movie, but Russell is really the one that captures the show. 



The dynamic between the two main characters is forced sometimes, but as the movie progresses and he locks himself in the room full of his notes, it starts to make sense.  Russell Crowe was actually a great choice for this movie, because his stoic facial expressions contrast when he needs to express emotion.  This is especially seen in the moment at the bar when he approaches the young lady who will be his love interest in the movie. 


As the movie progresses it definitely builds up speed, but it never really delivers the visceral experience that Pi deliver.  Actually, it's not even a movie that I opted to see more than once.  Once I saw it, it was over.  The music by James Horner had some memorable parts to it, but overall, it just was "there".  I did like the scene however when the notes get scattered in the room and he has the epiphany. 


I thought that Adam Goldberg was terrible in this movie and I really don't like him very much in any.  I just find him very annoying.  Maybe it's the fact that he dated Christina Ricci, but he just rubs me the wrong way.  Maybe it was his character in Dazed and Confused & The Prophecy that really made me dislike him. 



(Adam Goldberg, being his usual annoying self)

This movie won 4 Academy Awards but again, was a good drama, but not at par with Pi.  In terms of being a more approachable movie, yes, it's better, but in terms of describing and depicting a troubled genius, it's not even close.  I did like the part with Parcher, but that wasn't stressed enough.  It was almost comic relief. This just glamorizes some aspects of mental disorder like schizophrenia in my opinion while Pi  really nails it.:::81%