Naxalites for Dummies

Whoever knew that the life and times of Naxalites could be summarized in such stirring simplicity? Adil (Arjun Rampal) and Kabir (Bobby Deol) are inseparable friends - Adil being a police officer who is posted to Nandighat to bring a Maoist uprising under control. Lo and behold - Kabir, upon the request of Adil, nearly effortlessly infiltrates the Maoists and successfully provies intelligence that allows the Indian police to gain an upper hand in the conflict. Unsurprisingly, Kabir is not only moved by the stark reality of the marginal existence of the Naxalites, he is also besotted by one Naxal woman - Juhi (Anjali Patil). Inevitably, the paths of Adil and Kabir diverge, and move inexorably towards a climactic end. With one of the most unbelievably inane dialogues ever uttered in cinema, Rhea (Esha Gupta) also makes her presence felt ("Sorry Kabir"). Prakash Jha could have blazed a trail - Chakravyuh is at best ridden with holes. And that too on such a burning issue. Tch

9/20

One for the Soul

If Crash and Babel tried to - and, to much commercial and critical acclaim, did succeed in doing - work the theme of interconnected lives, Cloud Atlas takes it more than a step further, in interconnecting lives through different times in history. So it is that we find that an act of kindness in the South Pacific circa 1850, a musical piece (Cloud Atlas) conceived and composed by a penurious musical genius, an incident involving nuclear safety in the 1970s, the strange events in the life of a spurned publisher in England circa 2012, a clone's coming of age in Neo Seoul in 2144, and eventually the search and discovery of a better life beyond a bleak post-apocalyptic future - are not just intertwined - in a way, they are sequential. Directors Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer must be commended for holding it all together in an intelligible and emotionally charged movie. Quite moving, if not quite deep, Cloud Atlas is definitely worth a watch

14.5/20

Lost and Found

For me, Life of Pi was a yo-yo between overt romanticization of vignettes of Indian life and times by a non-Indian author, and a movie that has some seriously profound insights in spite of the same. The quaintness of a zoo in Pondicherry, finding religion, the mystique of Indian dance, the uprooting of a family owing to economic circumstances - all had an overtly lyrical, if not particularly original - aura. Then, suddenly, we find Piscine Molitor Patel aka Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) - a castaway in the middle of the Pacific ocean - with all his beliefs called into question. Is there a point to overt faith? Can a human and a large carnivore be (to borrow from Star Wars) symbionts? Where does a man who has lost everything find hope, and the will to move on with one's life? Somewhat if not profoundly moving, Life of Pi is about how we are shaped by our bouquet of experiences, and how, from those experiences, one can draw upon great reserves of strength

13.5/20

Phew!

And so The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn II - brings the series to a close - mercifully. While I do not even profess to understand what the series was all about, it seemed to me that the whole point of this movie was a confrontation between vampires and - you guessed it - more vampires - on a frozen lake. As to what the confrontation is all about - Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) are protecting their child - Renesmee Cullen (Mackenzie Foy) - from the Volturi. Outnumbered but in a tightly knit unit, the remarkable powers of the small resistance are put to a reasonably arduous test. But - nothing extreme. This, you see, is a patchwork romance and beyond a stunningly handsome/ beautiful cast, I suppose the rest is peripheral

9/20

Not so good anymore

 

Left high and dry by a cheating husband –State’s  Attorney Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), wife Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), decides to resurrect her 13-years-dormant legal career, joining law firm Stern, Lockhart and Gardner as a junior associate, pitted against competition a fraction of her age. With an incredibly complicated and competitive workplace, two children and a mother-in-law with their own complications, the fallout of the husband’s indiscretions, and the feelings towards law firm partner Will Gardner (Josh Charles) to contend with, it appears that just holding it all together will be a challenge for Alicia, let alone excelling. The Good Wife (TV series) holds together the complexity of the workplace, the family and public life splendidly – a TV series to  watch and remember for more than just a while

 

15.5/20

A Lesser Bond

 

 

Skyfall questions the need for a 007 almost from the word go. Knocks him off a train roof – a shot gone astray, and one that goes unrepented – on the outskirts of Istanbul. Dumps him in London, with his eponymous boss M under threat, and a world of clunky gadgetry replaced with the simple elegance of tracking devices and technology. Age and a declining constitution do not help either. Bond picks up his bearings and chases his quarry – agent gone rogue Silva (Javier Bardem) – into Shanghai, and then Macau. And finally back to good old England, where M liberally borrows from Ulyysses and frankly admits that “we are not the strength that in old days moved earth and heaven…” but promises to continue to “strive to seek to find and not to yield”… even as the climactic scenes drift towards the Scottish moors and the hints of a bleak history. Skyfall is interesting – disconcerting at first, because of its deliberate eschewing of flamboyance, but in the end fairly successful at keeping the franchise relevant

 

14.5/20

Theatrical Escape

 

In the 70’s, when the USA was less than popular with the newly anointed Khomeni and the Islamic radicals that had just taken over Tehran, six US nationals find themselves holed up at the Canadian embassy in Tehran. In a one-man mission led by CIA operative Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), the group attempts to flee Tehran under the guise of being a film crew filming a science fiction movie – Argo. So – does the group pull off a near-impossible – and barely sanctioned – escape? Argo may show up the fundamentalists of Iran as less than bright, but that is not the intent, really. A simple and well-dramatized sequence of events makes this movie worth the while

 

13/20

Lost and Found

A movie that is easy to explain! Here comes retired CIA Agent Brian Mills (Liam Neeson) with wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). In come the mafia – and after some accelerated sightseeing of the bazaars of Istanbul – take the wife and daughter hostage. Needless to say, the CIA will trump Albanian rouges no matter how well-trained the latter might be. It is only interesting that the same could possibly include grenades merrily thrown across rooftops in densely populated areas. I recall being mildly entertained while Taken 2 was on, but not much else.

 

10.5/20