In Skyfall, you have more of HUmint, less ELINT, Less Gadget, more Traditional Brawn, less flippancy and more serious avatar of James Bond.
Running a specific character oriented film is serious business, that too an imaginary one whose world we are not aware of, which no-no doubt exists.
The maker of Bond probably thought that it was time to change with the times.
But would the change inexorably affect Bond’s unique demand?
The question is tough to answer.
The Makers of Skyfall seem to have latched on to a relevant theme that is being debated in the Intelligence Community, though it is not Publicly debated.
What role do Human Intelligence has to day with Electronic Intelligence with so much advancement in technology?
A Group , which is in the majority in the US prefer is the ELINT(electronic Intelligence,with the slowly easing out Human Intelligence (HUMINT)
If the story line is about losing oneself cutoff from Communication network from anywhere deep in Space, totally at the mercy of Technology, which can fail against the smallest idiosyncrasies of Nature,,well even imagination is bound to fail.
Yet,Gravity does just that ‘conceptualizing beyond the Human Mind and execution beyond technology, that is Human Creativity plus technology.
One is overwhelmed while rating the film, Rate it the Best for Photography,Special Effects. Editing, Music,Script,Dialogues Acting,Direction,or the Best film of all times in this Genre.
A crew aboard a Mission craft are left stranded in Space because of malfunction and the escape routes are blocked by falling man-made Satellite debris, which cuts off all communications,
How the issue is resolved forms the story.
As I have indicated in my earlier post before viewing the film, one does know how to react when lost in Space when you get disoriented.
The fear of Death seems trivial when compared to the primordial fear of the vastness of Space.
The film is both psychological and scientific though not a documentary.
The Director steers clear of commercializing the Movie and at the same has not made this a documentary.
The result is a gripping film with a tight script and excellent acting from Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
The script, what can one say?
One word ‘outstanding’, scientific, early, dry humor breezy, all at the same time.
Ina all a film for the discerning .
Only yesterday I was telling my son that my favorite film on any day on Space is Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind for its original thought on communication with the extra terrestria,l despite the fact that there have been movies on the subject.
I am certain that people would not have forgotten the falling man who tumbled out of the twin Towers in 9/11 terror attack in The US.
This film has evoked strong reactions.
The documentary is worth watching.
On the controversial 9/11 image ,The falling man
‘The Falling Man is a photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Centerat 9:41:15 a.m. during the September 11 attacks in New York City. The subject of the image, whose identity remains uncertain, was one of the people trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who either fell searching for safety or jumped to escape the fire and smoke. At least 200 people fell or jumped to their deaths that day;[1] officials could not recover or identify the bodies of those forced out of the buildings prior to the collapse of the towers. Officially, all deaths in the attacks except those of the hijackers were ruled to be homicides due to blunt trauma[2] (as opposed to suicides). The New York City medical examiner’s office said it does not classify the people who fell to their deaths on September 11 as “jumpers“: “A ‘jumper’ is somebody who goes to the office in the morning knowing that they will commit suicide… These people were forced out by the smoke and flames or blown out.”[1]
The photograph, shown on the right, gives the impression that the man is falling straight down. A series of photographs were taken of his fall and showed him to be tumbling through the air.[3]
Richard Drew, who took the photograph of the Falling Man is a veteran war photographer for the AP.
The following is an interview with Henry Singer. It took place on September 4, 2011. It has been condensed and edited.
Adam Harrison Levy:
9/11 was the most photographed and videotaped day in history. Out of all of these images why is The Falling Man so memorable?
Henry Singer:
What is extraordinary beyond the graphic composition of this image — the parallel lines, the light on one of the towers — is the fact that the Falling Man, as he has come to be known, looks so composed. It’s the most horrific moment but there is a calmness to the image. And I think this is one of the reasons why it is so memorable. It captures the last moments of somebody’s life but it does so in a way that is peaceful and beautiful at the same time. That is one of the many reasons why it has burned itself into the consciousness of anybody who has looked at it.
AHL: Why did you make a film about this particular photograph?
HS: Because it essentially disappeared. It ran in many newspapers on the day after 9/11. In the film we go to a newspaper called the Morning Call in Allentown Pennsylvania. In the film, the photo editor, Naomi Halperin, talks about how striking the image was. There were so many images coming across the wire that day but this one stood out for her because it encapsulated the horror of the day. And yet at that paper, and across the country, there was an outcry from the readership saying how could you publish an image like this? This is offensive, our children could have looked at it, and a result the image basically disappeared from sight. It became a charged image very quickly and it disappeared from sight very quickly. One of the questions the film asks is why did the image disappear? What was it about this image that Americans found so distasteful? There was a kind of censorship that played itself out across the country and that made it an interesting topic for a film.
AHL: Do you think it’s important to look at this image now?
9/11: The Falling Man is a 2006 documentary film about the picture and the story behind it.[10] It was made by American filmmaker Henry Singer and filmed by Richard Numeroff, a New York-based director of photography. The film is loosely based on Junod’s Esquire story. It also drew its material from photographer Lyle Owerko‘s pictures of falling people. It debuted on March 16, 2006, on the British television network Channel 4. It later made its North American premiere on Canada‘s CBC Newsworld on September 6, 2006, and has been broadcast in over 30 countries. The U.S. premiere was September 10, 2007, on the Discovery Times Channel.
Safe houses,Sterile guest houses, Bagran Base ..the movie shifts from one to another capturing the systematic, but less glamorous world of espionage and intelligence gathering.
The film unfolds with the tedious process of interrogating the suspects, piecing the jig saw to arrive at a specified target.
The interrogation Technics are realistic and not beyond imagination as in Hollywood movies.
The film appears to capture the essence of the manhunt rather than the dramatic part of it, as is the case in any man hunt.
People are real flesh and blood ,offices are less glitz..
Personnel deal with papers, for a change.
The choices left for decision making………..is he there or not?
Do we take the house and hit?
The movie moves at pace that is slow for a thriller but then this is not a thriller.
Attempt has been made to be as realistic as possible.
The sound effects especially of Marriott Hotel Bombing, London tube blast are very realistic
It also touches the core issue..did Pakistan know of the impending attack?
A word , better to be informed about the manhunt of Osama Bin laden to be able to follow the story line properly.
A movie of a class on its own not a glitzy Hollywood thriller, nor a dull narration of facts either.
You do not remember the actors, you remember the characters, that’s saying a lot.
Scene from Zero dark Thirty
“After nearly a month in limited release, Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty (review) finally went wide this weekend and it grossed $24 million to top the weekend box office. The film now has a $29 million cume. All eyes were on this one, with the big question being whether critical acclaim and film punditry would translate into mainstream interest. Obviously the current ‘does the movie promote torture?’ controversy brought the film all kinds of free publicity, but I’d argue it scared off just as many as it brought it. By the way, no it doesn’t endorse torture because… well just watch the movie again (essay 01/essay 02)! Anyway, the closest comparison is the Martin Luther King Day Jr. weekend wide-release debut of Ridley Scott‘s Black Hawk Downeleven years ago next weekend, which pulled in $33 million over four days and $28 million over Fri-Sun. The ‘hunt for Bin Laden’ film’s debut is a bit lower, especially when inflation is accounted for (BHD‘s 3-day total is around $38 million in 2013 dollars), but the Scott picture was pretty much a nonstop action picture while Bigelow’s is an icy and often cold 2.5 hour procedural where even the climactic action sequence is meant to disturb more than excite. The film played 59% male and 62% over 30. Sony did a great job selling this one somewhat falsely as a triumphant action drama, although they didn’t seem to make as much of an effort to bring in females for what is indeed a female-centric character drama (Jessica Chastain is terrific here). Despite a merely okay 2.6x weekend multiplier, expect pretty strong legs as this becomes the defacto water-cooler Oscar contender (Oscar nomination essay 01/Oscar nomination essay 02), the one everyone has to see in order to participate in the national dialogue.
Watch the Film on Bin laden in Channel 4 on Bin Laden and his death.
A stellar cast of White House insiders speak on camera about the operation to find and kill Osama Bin Laden, including the first – and extraordinary – documentary interview withPresident Barack Obama on the subject.
From the anxiety-drenched minutes in the White House Situation Room to the deadly stairwells of Bin Laden’s secret labyrinth, cinematic dramatisations take viewers deep inside one of the most important moments of our era, showing the US Navy Seals coming face to face with the most wanted man in history.
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