Mother of Interviews

In an amazing character portrait, director Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Apollo 13) pits the dilettante-ish English talk show host David Frost (Michael Sheen) with all his charm and naivete and susceptibility to “mind games”, against the redoubtable Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) whose pugnacious redoubtable personality was bruised but not beaten by the experience that was Watergate, in Frost Nixon. The clash of unequals is not concluded by any unexpected victory in favour of Frost – it is perhaps more of a case of the former president clearing a heavy conscience, going through a televised catharsis for all to see. Yes, as the movie mentions, television simplifies, and a single shot becomes the summary statement on a complex and difficult presidential tenure. Witness today’s reality shows the need to capture that defining moment that woos audiences and “sums it all up”, while completely missing the undertones, the buildup and the complexities therein. And it takes a brilliant performance by Frank Langella to show us just how acute those nuances can be.

17.5/20

Out.

Once in a while there comes a movie that leaves absolutely no impression of any sort whatsoever. The performances are average, the storyline is reminiscent of many movies that one has seen (in this case, perhaps, that would be say the noble stranger in Norseland of The Thirteenth Warrior, the salivating alien of, well, Alien and the chivalry and romance of say Beowulf), the special effects are nondescript, the emotional content is not engaging. In the last half an hour of Outlander, I guess I had ceased caring about who, including the salivating evil (something called the Moorwen that looks like a Komodo Dragon with lights), lives or dies. Some amount of originality, and a storyline where the producer/director took a few chances with some out of the box thinking, would definitely have helped this movie

7.5 on 20

What Were You Thinking?

W captures the disastrous second stint of George W Bush and the decisions, especially Iraq, that near term history finds difficult to understand. With the highest office in the world, statements of being misled or gullible or plain misinformed are a sorry excuse for taking a country into an utterly pointless war and ignoring a worsening domestic reality. Bush Jr comes across as the quintessential regular guy - authoritarian father who held him in little esteem, a depraved youth of dates and alcohol, the natural abilities shining through through a Harvard MBA, the seemingly effortless journey to the highest office in the land and then all the flaws of character leading to the inevitable. This movie is Oliver Stone's search for why a President was the way he was. Engaging but narrow in its scope

11.5/20