Norse Gods – An Approachable Bunch

Scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) and mentor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) are confronted with a strange weather phenomenon – an unexpectedly intense storm - and crash their vehicle into a man in its midst. The man turns out to be the god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) – banished from Asgard by father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) on account of needlessly waging war upon the Frost Giants of Jotunheim. Thor needs to confront his scheming brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), get back to his ailing father and end his banishment, and deal with his growing fondness for Jane. While the movie begins with much promise, it concludes squarely as light entertainment. The casual banter of Thor and the gods with humans, and the easy transformation of Thor from arrogance to an empathetic self, are but a few pointers to the fact that this movie will be one of the really light interpretations of the Norse Gods and totally in line with the Marvel Comics character. Worth noting in passing that even the Gods seem to fall in love with Natalie Portman these days

11.5/20

Birds Beasts and Beastly People

The eponymous Rio plays out the story of Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Anne Hathaway), two Spix’s Macaws, the former a pampered pet from Minnesota, the latter a wild bird kept in captivity, in the city of the same name. The two are the last of their species and have been brought together to (hopefully) mate. Stolen by smugglers, the duo manage to escape into the rainforest, but are constantly constrained by the fact that Blu cannot fly, and also that the two are chained to each other. With the help of Rafael (George Lopez), the two birds get to Luiz (Tracy Morgan), but danger is not far behind, and the owners Linda and Tulio are also hot on the trail in their search for the missing birds. A riot of colour – an outstanding visual spectacle, and an entertaining children’s adventure. In the inevitable comparison, Rio does not capture the wry humour of Rango, but nor does it seek to – it is intended for a simpler audience, child or adult

13/20

True Colours

Pet chameleon Rango falls off his owner’s vehicle in the middle of the desert, and finds his thespian skills – well, all skills – tested to the hilt in the obscure desert town of Dirt. A series of serendipitous circumstances make the denizens of Dirt believe that they have a hero in Rango, who will solve their water problem and save the town. However, while Rango’s first few lucky exploits reinforce his reputation, luck soon runs out and he has to find his true calling – aided by the Spirit of the West – a Man with No Name (a spoof on Clint Eastwood and the likes and a moment of much hilarity among many in the movie), Rango returns to much distrust. But will Rango help provide not just water, but unravel the machinations of the unscrupulous as well? An all-star cast (albeit only in voice-over), hilarious characters (with the piece de resistance being the out-of-the-world hombre owl band - see above pix), laugh-a-minute jokes, and some serious storytelling included – this one is quite the exceptional animation movie. Too bad it is trailing Rio in the 2011 summer animation release sweepstakes

14.5/20

The Beast Cometh

Longtime train engineer Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) is training newly recruited conductor Will Colson (Chris Pine) in the town of Fuller in northern Philadelphia. In the meantime, a combination of carelessness and unforeseen circumstance puts one freight train # 777 on a collision course with several others. A few other facts come to light as the situation unravels – the runaway train has no air brakes on, it is on full power, and – hold your breath – it has four containers of molten phenol – a highly inflammable and toxic substance that could decimate one of the many towns on its way. Will the Unstoppable train finally yield to the elaborate attempts to get marines on board to cut the power, or some old-school thinking and brave execution by the protagonists? Veers on edge-of-the-seat, appears technically sound without too much artistic license, and opens up the train-related adventure genre after a long spell of myriad Hollywood vehicular misadventures

13.5/20

Morning Crusade




Morning TV is kitschy, perk-you-up content that is not to the liking of much decorated veteran-of-many-Pulitzers-and-warzones journalist Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) – once a star, the IBS (channel) veteran now likes to keep his talent and his thoughts mostly to himself. So, in the tussle between Mike and Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams), the latter being the rookie IBS producer of morning show Daybreak trying to find her footing with a disillusioned team and a bottom-of-the-barrel show to manage, the expected outcome is somewhat foregone. Er.. not quite. Never underestimate the power of positive energy, which Becky carries to a superhuman degree, in rousing up the workplace and soporific old-timers. No wonder Becky rises to Morning Glory in her morning show fraternity, but will she eschew great offers for her new-found family? A charming and uplifting tale, albeit a slightly tall one.

12/20

Darjeeling?? Never mind.

This is not a 2010/ 2011 movie, but thought I would put in a little note in any case. A train that looks suspiciously like the Palace on Wheels, and travels entirely through scrubland and desert, incongruously named The Darjeeling Limited, is the focal point of the movie by the same name. The train is the meeting point of brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzmann). With misunderstandings of the past, including events related to their estranged and semi-ascetic mother, and their father’s funeral, on their minds, the trio spend a few days on the Indian subcontinent, in seeking bonding and certain inner realizations available in the Indian Subcontinent to occidentals. One can watch it as an apt precursor to Slumdog Millionaire, a movie made with equally amazingly miniscule empathy with India (with due leeway for the fact that the movie in question is principally intended to be a comedy), but one that nevertheless strikes a chord with an audience that is equally ignorant

7.5/10

No Way Out

Is there a way out of a lifetime of crime? Not in Charlestown, Boston, it appears. DougMacRay (Ben Affleck), longtime crook, leads a successful heist on a local bank, and then another, in The Town. But, life gets complicated as Doug gets romantically involved with one former heist hostage - bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). An uncertain relationship with an imprisoned father who never quite reveals the truth about why his mother left, and then the ghost of old relationships with people with whom he would rather not associate with any longer, further complicate Doug’s existence. In the meantime, the FBI have their quarry, but continually want for evidence. Unremarkable fare albeit well-executed, with fairly standard treatment of the subject matter

12/20

The King Speaks

The King’s Speech is a much-reviewed and much-awarded movie, and the toast of the awards season just past. A discussion as to whether it is deserving of such sweeping accolades is somewhat academic. What offsets the rather narrow subject matter is two aspects of the movie that make it absolutely memorable. The first is Colin Firth (King George VI) playing a King-elect and then a King with a stammering disability, his battle against it, and the tribulations and setbacks along the way. The second is the remarkable relationship between the King and his speech instructor Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) – born out of necessity and occasionally showing the consequences of a large class divide, with the (inevitable?) results and conviction eventually following. Forget the awards, it is these two reasons alone that make this movie eminently watchable. As to whether the movie is broad enough in scope to be a Best Picture Academy Award winner? Why does it matter anyway – you can watch Black Swan and The Fighter as well!

14.5/20

Dead Genre

Mary Shaw breathed life and unspeakable horror into inanimate ventriloquist's dolls. Dead Silence seeks, with the help of the long-dead Mary Shaw and her dolls of small-town Ravens fair, to breathe life into the near-dead horror genre. When wife Ella Ashen (Amber Valetta) is brutally murdered, husband Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) embarks on a fact-finding mission that delves into local lore, and is punctuated by much copybook horror sequences at motels, graveyards (!), and abandoned theatres. What could set this movie a bare notch above the mindless horror flick, is a few reasonably unexpected twists in the tale. A recommended movie only for those hellbent on picking on the last vestiges of an idea-starved genre

11.5/20

Such a Long Journey!

At long last, an adventure movie to crow about, in the copybook inspirational adventure genre. How far would you walk to escape the dreaded Siberian Gulag? To India?! In 1941, Polish prisoner of war Janusz (Jim Sturgess), hardened resident criminal Valka (Colin Farell), American actor Mr Smith (Ed Harris), and three other Gulag inmates – Voss (Gustaf Skarsgård), Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean), and Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky) – escape imprisonment in a labour camp in the Siberian Gulag, in The Way Back. The first step in a great southward journey is to reach Lake Baikal – a journey of months and hundreds of kilometers. On the verge of death by starvation and exposure, most of the escapees manage to reach the lake, where they are joined by Irena (Saoirse Ronan). Irene has a questionable alibi, but brings much needed morale to the team with her effervescent personality. In an unbelievable trek across snow, the plains, the desert and again the snow, will any of this unlikely band survive? The movie is based on a novel by Slawomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Siberian Gulag, and has the twin challenges of making an excruciating ordeal believable to an audience, as well as depicting emotional connect between a diverse group of individuals bound by the same challenge. It succeeds commendably on the former count, but falters somewhat in the latter – in the end, creating a striking end-product nevertheless, that is at the very least inspiring. Director Peter Weir (The Truman Show, Master and Commander, Dead Poets Society) does not do any injustice to his specialization of depicting the inspirational, across multiple settings

15.5/20

Gambling the Nation

Welcome to the workday of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Kevin Spacey) – that starts with explaining to himself – in the mirror as part of the morning ablutions – as to just why he is the hardnosed gut that he is, in Casino Jack. As a super-lobbyist Jack was willing to walk the fine line between justifiable promotion of others’ quasi-legitimate interest, and serving himself and his ego – and was to be found very often on the wrong side of it. Questionable advocacy of US offshoring circumventing minimum wage laws, and mispricing deals with American Indians for lobbying for the latter’s gambling rights on grounds of highly dubious benefits, were but some of Jack’s transgressions. The act comes to a halt in late 2004, and in 2006 Jack pleads guilty and the law takes over. While arguably not the best-made of movies, this one will strike a resonance with the anti-corruption crusade that seems to have taken over as our current national obsession at the time of writing, as an effective example of justice served even in the case of powerful defendants 13/20

Punched Down

If I interpret Sucker Punch as the generally mindless action entertainment genre, full of innuendo and game-like action sequences, the movie is a pretty solid achievement. On the other hand, if the movie was meant to be an insight into the overly imaginative workings of a girl’s mind, who is the victim of just about all the abuse and mis-accusations that a human can bear, this movie makes a mockery of Baby Doll’s (Emily Browning’s) condition. So, staying on middle ground, if the movie is simply an uncomplicated meshing of erotic action genre meets loosely scripted morality tale, this movie is a reasonably entertaining watch. Babydoll is institutionalized by her stepfather, in a mental institution. While in real life she mesmerizes audiences with a particularly erotic dance routine, behind the scenes she and a small band of fellow inmates plot an escape. Every stage of the execution of the plan is depicted as a clichéd action sequence played out in Babydoll’s overly active imagination. Zack Snyder unfortunately does not quite pull off this one into 300 and Watchmen-class exceptional category 12/20

Song and Dance

The appeal of the Great Indian Wedding to.. well.. Indians is obvious. What is unexpected is finding a different angle into a hackneyed topic. Enter the new age wedding planner – a class of noveau entrepreneur that aspires to take their businesses from the couple-of-lakhs weddings to the multicrore palatial affairs that are the fodder for the Page 3 mill. In Band Baaja Baraat, Bittoo (Ranveer Singh) falls for Shruti (Anoushka Sharma) and the two start off a wedding planning venture. While success comes rather quickly, given a pretty potent blend of charisma, hard work and organizational skills, the personal soon starts getting in the way of the professional, and it remains to be seen if the dynamic duo can find some middle ground and get back on track for professional success. Smartly executed, and with a fresh and bubbly lead pair, watch this one for why the latter have become the talk of the town

12/20