Who's the Man?

It seems that Pixar will be the most defining force in the history of animated movies. Every movie seems to set a new threshhold of the kind of content and emotive appeal that can be delivered through the animated medium. Wall-e is more thought provoking than say Ratatouille but far from being a grim morality tale. This is the first movie that I can think of that truly brings life to robots - does not "humanize" them in an I, Robot kind of way but gives them unique attributes. If acted out by humans this would be a truly dystopian tale, curiously enough, it is the mechanical Wall-e and Eva, along with the maverick robots on board the Axiom that deliver a telling message without making it too depressing for comfort. A truly un-missable movie.

Decisions, Decisions

Indian-born director Bharat Nalluri brings easy familiarity to his portrayal of a love quadrangle, and disentanglement by a governess short on luck thus far, in Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day. What is unexpected is the near-perfect casting and depiction of London society in the 1930's. A simple movie about choices - wealth, fame, or love? - and a resolution of the same in Bollywood-like morality tale style. Nor is Miss Pettigrew left behind in the derservedness sweepstakes as she finds a man who too would like to break free from the dilletante posturing world - and the fact that he is rich, successful and handsome does not hurt one little bit. This is a movie for a day when you are short of faith in the goodness of the world, but cannot quite tolerate the saccharine overdose of Bollywood. You will find it difficult to pin down a specific reason for overly liking or disliking a movie like this one, though.

Ahead of Its Time

In a world where sting journalism and "We Got It First" stories stand poised to wipe out any semblance of sanity and the human touch in journalism, it was interesting to watch a movie that was way ahead of its time in profiling the Rise of the Paparazzi. In Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole, a bounty hunter gets trapped in a cave, and dies an agonizing death thanks to some truly amoral opportunistic reportage (Kirk Douglas), helped along in no small measure by vixenish wives, ambitious sheriffs, and the competition with whom Kirk Douglas has more than a score to settle. And this casts the sanity of a grieving mother or a few voices of reason that question the sense of a convoluted procedure that ultimately takes too long, far into the background. Charlie Tatum watches the rise of a Great Farce where the object of an exclusive scoop gradually becomes the focal point of a great (and somewhat exaggerated) circus. The end is sombre as the reality of news served as entertainment sinks into our protagonist, and he makes some amends to that effect. A movie to make one pause and think, but given that this was made back in 1951, and journalism, well, is what it is today, it is quite clear that the world did not pause and think all that much.

Leave us Alone

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanomo Bay can be watched at two levels. At one level is the obvious frivolity and cock-a-snook at a dozen different themes ranging from homeland security and racial profiling, to the untamed South (overtones of O Brother Where art Thou) and the dark side of politics. At a more subliminial level is an America, or at least some of its minorities, gasping for breath and clamoring for its constitutional right to be just left alone, the right to smoke weed and have one-on-one consensual relationships, without judgementality creeping in. This movie is worth a watch at this time - none of the fervour of say a Lions for Lambs or the Michael Moore kind, but no less effective in delivering a clear undertonal message of individual freedom. Quite a change for Kal Penn from The Namesake, is it not?

Cop or Criminal?

One of the best gangster movies ever, The Departed is a Martin Scorcese triumph of 2006 that finally got the great director his just desserts at the awards sweepstakes. DiCaprio and Matt Damon square off superbly in a cat-and-mouse game in the ganglands of Boston. The former is an insider spying on the redoutable Nicholson, while the latter uses every trick in the book to keep the police off his foster father. The thrill of the movie lies in the continual deception, the characters in shades of gray, the fact that virtually every second sentence in the movie - especially the colourful utterances of Mark Wahlberg and Nicholson - are eminently quotable, and the amorality of it all - especially towards the last fifteen minutes and the breakneck pace of events in the same. The Departed refines the gangland genre, and the study of characters, especially that of DiCaprio and Matt Damon, is unforgettable.

What a Good Movie!

Spartacus like Ben-Hur exudes grandeur. All I can say in summary is that they dont make movies like that anymore, because they dont make men like that anymore. I am a great fan of Gladiator, but Russell Crowe would come across as Crocodile Dundee in the Colloseum compared to the toughness of Kirk Douglas and the guile of (Sir) Lawrence Olivier. A long movie but engrossing in the fullest - I especially liked the little vignettes, like two Romans casually discussing politics while two men fight to the death, a few feet away. I would think Maximus' throw of his sword at the stands in Gladiator and the memorable lines "Are You Not Entertained?" are a tribute to Graba's throw of the trident in this movie. Yes, we are entertained and much moved. Thank you.

Mummy Mia!

I would not be surprised if The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was the result of a vast conspiracy to clinically destroy the perfectly good franchise. Maria Bello is ashen and would have come across with better chemistry with Brendan Fraser were she cast as his mother. In other casting gaffes, Luke Ford looks pretty much as old as his father. The script is hideous with the China fixation now becoming de rigeur for Hollywood. Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh find themselves utterly out of place smack in the middle of some really poor casting. Even the special effects dont cut it - the only redemption being the endearing troll-like yetis. A movie that will be forgotten in a hurry. Lets hope John Hannah does survive the box office and the critics and make it to Peru for the next installment.