Aravinth's real world

Directed by Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale,” “Mask of Zorro”) who, interestingly enough, is remaking the film from an award-winning six-hour BBC miniseries he directed 25 years ago.
Campbell is working from a screenplay adapted from that series by two seasoned scribes: William Monohan (“The Departed,” another remake transplanted to Boston) and Andrew Bovell (who brought similar, moody twist-turning to 2001’s underrated “Lantana”).
Now 54, Gibson is grayer and grimmer. The part of Craven leaves little room for humor, but the wildness and fire that once exploded unpredictably from Gibson is much dimmed after several hard years for the actor…read more [The Olympian]

Mel Gibson returns to action on the big screen in Martin Campbell’s new thriller “Edge of Darkness,” and while he’s undoubtedly in great shape, the movie itself could do with a little more spice. That said, “Darkness” still qualifies as an entertaining viewing experience I had no trouble enjoying throughout…read more [The Screening Log]

This really is the perfect comeback role for Mel, one that harks back to some of his most memorable roles, but also allowing him to stretch as an actor, returning after eight years with a new perspective and maturity towards what his job as actor entails. There’s little question that when it comes to carrying a movie as a leading man, Gibson is still one of the best, and while his acting starts off shaky, Gibson eventually finds his legs with the character, delivering a heavy Boston accent with the type of nasally voice we might normally expect from Dustin Hoffman. Not that Craven is particularly awkward or shy, because when it comes time to meting out justice and roughing up those who stand in his way, he is surprisingly brutal and vicious

The world won’t be coming to an end on December 21, 2012, as said to be darkly predicted by the Mayan calendar, says an astronomer.

Ann Martin, doctoral candidate in Cornell University astronomy department, points out that the Mayan calendar was designed to be cyclical, so the fact that the long count comes to an end in December 2012 is really of no consequence.

Simply, it is the end of great calendar cycle in Mayan society, much like our modern society celebrated the new millennium. It does not mean that the ‘world will end’, says Martin.

In fact, the Mayan calendar does not end then and there is no evidence to suggest that the Mayans — or anyone for that matter — has knowledge of the world’s demise, says Martin.

For the past three years, Martin has been a volunteer with Cornell’s ‘Curious? Ask an Astronomer’ service, a website founded by astronomy graduate students in 1997, says a varsity release.

Curious? Ask an Astronomer features the answers to over 750 frequently asked astronomy questions, and readers who can’t find their answers there can submit a new question and receive an answer from a graduate student volunteer.

Enduring blow-ups and bloodbaths, crumbling skyscrapers, and a set of fairly compelling characters that fight all the horrible things neither they nor the audience can even imagine.

At bottom, the disaster flick is all about the saga of the unsuccessful and scruffy novelist Jack Curtis who first doesn’t bother a bit about his comely ex-wife Kate and their two kids, but later gets closer to them thanks to the outbreak of quakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. John Cusack and Amanda Peet play the hubby and wife.

Characterization is where the writer-director Emmerich and co-writer Harald Kloser applied good wit and deserve praise.

That said, the eye-bulging visual effects that can shake your sense to the bottom will fetch them more praise.

Reviewers across the media say in unison that 2012 is essentially an outrageous flick that can surely satisfy its very own kind of audience.

What else verdict can they give a movie that vows and amuses you with scenes of tsunami waves climbing the Himalayas?