World trade Centre

Think WTC & what comes to your mind..the destruction..the mayhem.. the sheer magnitude of such an attack that put the spanner in the works of an entire populace..now if you want to make a movie of this..what do you want to show? obviously the above said stuff..but no.. the makers of WTC had different thoughts.. they picked 2 survivors & showed us what they went through..how they got buried while trying to go about their rescue work...& how they are rescued..filled in between by how they try & stay alive(which btw is not filled with inspiring lines at all )..the pain their families go through when they can't hear from them..the slow pace did not help at all..i am sure the same plot could have been dealt with more effectively with just half the running time..maybe it would have been more watchable then..
how can you make a movie on a disaster & not show the disaster..to give them credit they do show a couple of shots of the WTC going down..but all that was from footage that we already have seen a gazillion times from CNN to NDTV to i am sure some bizzare station in Timbuktu..
The story starts with our protagonists starting the day..ending up at WTC..obviously at the wrong time.. the building collapses & they are stuck in the rubble..pinned & at the mercy of fate..waiting for someone to rescue them..as you'd expect they do get rescued in the end..you see the WTC when they are going down & then when they are rescued you see the remains of the WTC as they are lifted out of it.. what happened in between is all left to your imagination.. what about the people who were stuck on the floors above?..what about the ones who jumped?.. none of that is shown..what about the other rescue people who went down? what about the impact of this on the city? I am sure that would have made for a more gripping tale..
i am sure the story as told now will tug at a few heartstrings.. but if only it was not such a narrowed down version of a huge story..
& there is a small last ditch attempt to garner some of the magnitude into the proceedings by scrolling some stats of the toll..if only they were more evident during the couple of hours i squirmed around in my seat..

The lake house

Before you go any furthur.. spoilers here.. so if you're planning to watch this movie..skip this..come back after watching the movie..
Now.. under normal circumstances would i watch this movie? most probably not.. but then here i am in korea..alone..its the weekend..i am done with all my work.. have absolutely nothing to do... so instead of vegetate i go out for a walk.. there is amultiplex close to the hotel..i walk in & the only english movie playng is..you guessed it..The lake house.. I am not in the modd to walk anymore.. or go back to the hotel & be aware of the lack of company again.. so i decide to watch the movie..
This is the story of Kate & Alex.. kate moves out of the lake house.. an absolutely wonderful structure.. its right on the edge of the lake..the whole house is built on stilts..& is made of glass & wood.. a house that lacks privacy!..but beautiful nonetheless..so..kate is movingout of this house..& she leaves a note in the mailbox for the next owner to forward any mails that she gets..
the catch is that the person who lives next in this house..is actually the previous one..ok that surely left you confused..
by some time warp thingie..the letter reaches Alex..2 years before Kate moves out..eh? yeah.. 2 years.. the idea os sort of ok.. all mushy mushy.. but then with this you tend to get a lot of loose ends..which ultimately is the downfall of this whole thing..
The time warped mailbox soon becomes the connection between the past & the future..between alex & kate.. they soon realise that they like each other but cannot meet..since they are 2 years apart!..
but then..they have met each other in alex's present...in kate's past.. the story keeps switching between alex & kate..the future & the present..or the past & the present..which every way you prefer:) as one the lines go..they are having a long distance relationship..
alls well until the ending of the movie..kate prevents alex from death... because she is in the future you see & she can tell him what is going on...& this experience is from one of the times before she has started her communication with him.. so that is where this whole idea takes a hit.. if she has intervened in his fate..then doesn't that change the fate of a lot of other people too?
too many loose ends in this theory.. She asks him to wait for 2 years so that they coud meet up.. but in between he was supposed to be dead..
ok this won't make any sense.. maybe you should watch the movie after all & then bash it yourself...
the future has always been an intriguing thing..if you can see the future. you should obviously not be able to change it.. if you can, then what you have seen is not the future.. right?