Two Kinds of Pain

First Impressions

The first thing I did today, as any day, was check Twitter. I had no memory yet of what day it was, or if anything special was going to happen. Then I read the following tweet:

T-minus 3hrs 18 min til Netflix's House of Cards is live. Practise your fake cough, call in sick and enjoy the ride. 

- Beau Willimon

It was posted four hours before I got up, and I knew what I had to do that day. I got out of bed, turned on my laptop, ran my browser and quickly searched for 'House of Cards' in the already open Netflix tab. I sat down with a bowl of cereal and got comfortable. 

The first episode, creatively titled "Chapter 1", started of introducing the main character Francis Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey. No more than five minutes had gone by and I understood this character completely, I knew who he was, I knew what he wanted, I just had to figure out what he was going to do. Any show that manages to introduce its characters this well, this fast, is good in my book. I'm a strong believer of characters being the most important in any story, the plot itself is just a tool for the character to expose herself. But even though the character work was great, I can't say I was already a fan. I was on the fence about whether or not to bother continue watching, and contemplated going back to watching Star Wars: Droids, an animated series about C-3PO and R2-D2 from the mid-80s. A brisk comment from a friend advised me to continue watching, and so I did.

Episode two ("Chapter 2") is where the series really shows its guts. Francis starts exposing himself like a cat in heat, he proves that he really knows everything there is to know about how the capitol works, and more importantly, that he knows how to spin it his way. We get to more closely meet and understand the journalist Zoe Barnes and see how Francis is using her drive to be respected for his own political gain. There is never a doubt that Francis Underwood is an asshole, but he is an elegant asshole, and he will make you feel like the most important person in the world if he needs something from you. But if he needs you gone, you will be to your shoulders in reporters asking questions about the age of that prostitute in those pictures.

I have only watched the first two episodes so far, and the why is really simple, I don't want to "use up" this series right away. As it stands now it's set to be one of my favourites series of 2013, and I don't want it to be a one-night thing, I want it to last. I'll be back with a full report upon series completion. 

First Bits of Cinema 2013

I've seen two films so far on this sixteenth day of twenty thirteen, and luckily for me they were two really good films.

- Also, let me just say right away, these are technically 2012 films, but not where I live, so there! -

First of all! On the ninth of January I watched Life of Pi directed by Ang Lee. I had rather high hopes for this one, it was a high contender for the Academy Awards's Best Picture at the time (and was nominated for it later) and it got high praise for many of my film related idols. I even watched it in 3-D (which I am not a fan of what so ever) because some had said it was the best 3-D to date, I can say right now that I didn't even really notice the 3-D, so it was alright. 

The film itself I found to be nothing too new, I had seen similar things before, things that I liked more. The visuals of the film were stunning at times, but seeing how most of the film is the exact same scenario, it actually got old quick. 

The acting by Suraj Sharma (Pi) I found remarkable, and I was rather surprised that he didn't earn an Oscar nod, he carried the entire film by himself. Even when there was a giant tiger right next to him, he owned every scene he was in. 

Overall, I left the cinema pleased, but not really having my expectations met. It was a good film, but it was not a great one.

I watched the second film on the fourteenth, the film by the famous name Les Misérables. I had never seen any iteration of the story beforehand, and therefore knew little of what to expect. The little of promotions I had seen intrigued me, and when it was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards I knew I had to go watch it.

I was very wary, I had never seen a musical I had liked to any significant degree, and this was a close to three-hour musical about people living between two French revolutions. If you know me at all, you'll know that this is not exactly the formula for a Markus-film. 

I got into the theatre by myself, sat alone on a row in front of a group of elderly women with tissues on the ready. The film begun, and when the first song started roaring over a magnificent scene filled to the brink of singing slaves I was hooked. This was like nothing I had ever seen before, and I am still thinking about it two days later. 

There was not a single character I didn't immediately love, just one look at any of the characters and you know who they are. The costume designs perfectly compliments their wearers in the right ways. 

I won't go and say that the story is remarkable, but then again, which stories are these days? The point is, Les Misérables did its story fantastically. I am not ashamed to admit, that a few tears actually rolled down my cheek throughout (that's a first for me). 

And not to mention the songs, when I got home I bought the highlights album off of iTunes, and have been listening to it more or less non-stop as I've been working the past few days. 

If I could've seen Les Misérables before New Year's Eve it would've made fourth place on my Top 10 of 2012 list easily, hopefully it hasn't set my hopes for Cinema 2013 too high.