Destroyer of Worlds

Maybe at some level Oppenheimer was a psychopath. And that is why he was chosen to lead the Manhattan Project. And that is why there is high drama with Strauss, and the differences with Teller. And the split personality that cannot resist the adulation and attribution of having won America the War, but on the other hand has to live with the horrors of the outcome. The sins of Oppenheimer are the failing of mankind itself - in spite of the sheer destructiveness of its creations we tread the very same paths time after time. Nolan departs from the storytelling of Interstellar and Inception, and delivers a drama with sensitivity and a poignant sense of history

15/20

Fear the Water

In the Heart of the Sea had all the ingredients for an epic spectacle. Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) is listening to a first person account of the sinking of the Essex in 1820 (itself an adaptation from Nathaniel Philbrick's 1920 novel). Owen Chase (Chris Helmsworth), First Mate, has many ruboffs against Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) of the great Pollard seafaring family, but none can doubt the former's seafaring talent and navigational skills, in leading the crew of the Essex. Driven further and further into the Pacific in search of whaling grounds, the Essex finally meets in match in a feared sea-dweller - the legendary Moby Dick. So what doesnt work in all of this? The heroism does not click. The fearsomeness of the whale does not click. It seems that the sum total of the cinematography of Hollywood is no match for the evocative prose of Melville. Or maybe the cruel killing of whales just draws a different kind of empathy in our time

13/20

All the Time in the World

In the Orwellian In Time, people stop ageing at 25 – and post that, need to use time as the new currency, for consumption or for continued existence. While in the decrepit ghetto, inflation and daily-wage earning means that running out of time – i.e., dying – is a common occurrence, in other Time Zones, notably New Greenwich, the residents have an abundance of time at hand, in excess of hundreds of years. Enter protagonist Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), and a chance encounter with one tired Henry Hamilton (Matt Bomer) in the ghetto, where the latter voluntarily hands Will a hundred years and then some. Will makes the journey to New Greenwich, pursued by the Timekeepers, led by the assiduous Jaeger (Collins Pennie). Will makes his way to the Weis family, and strikes up an unlikely bond with the daughter of the family - Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried) - in the fight for restoring justice in the world. We are not meant to live forever. Indeed

14/20

Dream Merchants

Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb) continues his winning streak with Inception – a taut sci-fi thriller about men that construct dreams and through them seek to prise out the secrets of their fellow men. Lured by Saito’s (Ken Watanabe) promise of being re-united with his children, Cobb embarks on a mission fraught with danger – the inception of an idea in Saito’s arch-rival Robert Fischer Jr (Cillian Murphy) – to break up the latter’s business empire. Aided by a core team including architect Ardiane (Ellen Page), Cobb and his team must travel successive levels of dreams to seed the idea – and see the fruition of the same in the real world. However, the memories of Mal (Marion Cotillard), the ex-wife of Cobb, cloud Cobb’s presence and his dream, and imperil the success of the mission. With the slightest hint of the Matrix, and of Shutter Island (the movie trails off in a fashion where the eventual truth is unclear), this is a carefully crafted movie with moments of brilliance, and sterling performances all round. But good enough to be cult?.. as in Matrix/ Dark Knight class? Didnt think so.

14.5/20