The Truth is Out There in Shades of Gray

X Files - I Want to Believe is a brave movie that deviates from the paranormal routine. While it may alienate the die-hard fans of the franchise flocking the halls in droves for what once used to be their daily dose of being privy to sundry government cover-ups, as a standalone movie this one excels. There is a debate through the movie on stem cell research – the dark side of human trafficking and experimentation, and the healing power and potential of the very same research. There is the moral ambiguity of the prescient who can save lives but otherwise has had a very twisted past. This is a very human edition of the X Files rather than being simply a science fiction movie. Looking at the previous edition, the science fiction avatars would have had a limited shelf life anyway. And the ageing of Scully definitely does not help.

How not to do a Heist

Watching Quentin Tarantino movies in reverse has serious drawbacks. The template of quotable quotes, asynchronous retro music, and chapters in movies – it probably all started here. And what a start. A heist is committed. It goes all wrong. The men, none of whom are known to each other by their true identities, are looking for the mole in their midst. You can look at Reservoir Dogs as sheer human cruelty – a man bleeds to death, a policeman is almost set alight and eventually killed almost as an afterthought. In the end, there is a Western-style showdown, out of acrimony, and the movie is over. Another experiential Tarantino tale – over the top, mindblowing, unforgettable. A classic.

Minority Report II

America says – we like our sense of humor, thank you. And the problems of the world – well, don’t bring them here to our homestead. The great insularity turns upon itself, tale a good long laugh, in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Over the top action and downright sleazy humour bring reminiscences of Harold And Kumar and Hot Shots Part Deux. This movie is fun to watch, but you will not leave the movie hall roaring with mirth. In its own way, it touches upon racial conflict, the unchecked might of corporate America, and the simple theme of following your dreams. These themes recur movie after movie because there are no easy answers to any of these.

Play it Again Donna!

I was singing on my way to Mamma Mia. I was singing for hours and hours after. The music is timely and brilliantly intertwined into, well, the musical. For us in crummy Mumbai, the elegance of opera is a far cry. But a good English movie with a high quality cast and great music is truly uplifting. Who would think that the dapper Pierce Brosnan used to be Bond till not too long ago? I guess the mantle of promiscuity went to Meryl Streep (Donna) here, hands down. And what fun it was.

Suspend Belief, Have popcorn and fun

Brendan Fraser is our new Indiana Jones, but in Fantasyland. What is striking about A Journey to the Center of the Earth is that a lot of bogus science is thrown in at the appropriate places to make the movie somewhat believable. There will apparently be a sequel to this, like for The Mummy. Good fun – watch this in 3D with the kids. One of those Use and Forget movies.

Difficult and Depressive

Some movies can be read as easily as a fifth standard textbook. Others are as tough to decipher as the most abstruse poetry. The Tenant is a Roman Polanski movie that perhaps does not have a single interpretation as to its meaning – and that is quite the pleasure of watching a movie such as this. Trelkovski is a perfectly normal, if slightly more sober than the rest, tenant, who moves into the apartment of a woman (Simone Choule) who has recently attempted suicide and is lying in a hospital. The superficial relationship between Trelkovski and Stella, the persecution (or persecution complex) of Trelkovski, and the descent into depression and suicide, and the scream of a dying man (or woman?), bring out the angst of the immigrant, stereotyped, persecuted and inevitably given less than his due.

End of Days

De Niro and Pacino come together after more than a decade (Heat) for the movie Righteous Kill. It is poignant to see the passing of two great stars – the dialogue does not quite carry the punch of yesteryears, and the ending is quite predictable and not much of a twist. Having said the above, the movie is still worth a watch – there is still fire in those old bones, and a good supporting cast make up for some of the ageing in the star attractions. Watch this for its own sake, but comparing it to the likes of Heat and other sundry classics could be disturbing.

A Lesser League

Is A League of Their Own a politically correct movie? Not quite – it goes over the top way beyond a reasonable level of depiction of gender prejudices – a near perpetually drunk Tom Hanks who can barely comprehend the progress of his team, and a talent scout (Jon Lovitz) who is not exactly your average role model as far as his dialogues and general predisposition towards the world at large is concerned. This is a feel good movie that takes more than a passing swing at the prejudices of the time even as it regales us with laughter and all the hackneyed positive elements of sports movies.

Journey of an Era

I watched The Motorcycle Diaries in fits and starts. Yes, that kind of does not allow for one strong lingering lasting feeling. Notwithstanding that, I would rate this movie as easily among the best I have ever seen. Several critics have apparently noted the "uneventfulness" of the movie. I think they could not miss the point more. At a very basic level, the movie fills you with a near-immediate urge to travel. Not out of an itinerary, but travel linked to your specific interests, travel that is all about improvization, travel that widens your horizons in whatever you take an interest in, be it love or leprosy. Then, the travel itself. The journey in the movie opens your eyes to South America in a different age, and the series of influences that could convert an average medical student to an unifying force for a continent. This movie should be made mandatory viewing for studying the "right" kind of influences towards having political aspirations. Somehow, the simple concerns of adequacy and safety when the journey begins, fade away into the distance, and the viewer is left with an experience and message of a lifetime.

Pretty, Quirky

Many of the elements of Quentin Tarantino's cult classic Pulp Fiction are to be found in say Kill Bill. The retro music, the quirky character portraits and disjointed engagements, the engaging dialogues - all combine to give a disengaged portrayal of a loosely connected sequence of events, acted out by unforgettable characters. The movie is a difficult one to judge, inasmuch as it probably defined a (limited) genre in itself. What makes it particularly stand out is the performances of the entire star cast - especially the (questionable) redemption of Samuel L Jackson, the "day in the life" of Bruce Willis, the chemistry between John Travolta and Uma Thurman, and the righteous anger of Ving Rhames. Does it all collectively make sense in the end? No, but that is not quite the point.