Reserving Judgement (Day)

Roland Emmerich of Independence Day, The Day after Tomorrow and Godzilla fame brings another doomsday magnum opus that seems to be pieced together from all three, with a few dollops from say Volcano and the likes. 2012 starts well and the heightening agitation of Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) as events start unfolding that give credence to barely believable theories, and the ame along with the sense of urgency of young scientist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are quite well depicted. In fact it is quite remarkable that the failure of this movie is identical to that of The Day After Tomorrow - a lack of believability in the emotional content - beyond the fact that Jackson Curtis does appear to be attached to his kids, every other interpersonal relationship in the movie for some reason appears contrived - and this is just why all of the one hour or so oard the ark is quite excruciating. In summary, it will be difficult for Emmerich/ Hollywood to keep attracting audiences to these doomsday sagas with ever-improving special effects alone - the movie needs to hold together with genunie human emotion - the rest is just programming

12/20

Uncharted Waters

..And every instinct in me tells me to warn you – don’t watch Blue (Hindi). The plot is non-existent. The players are bland and stereotypical. Words cannot describe Katrina Kaif’s lack of emoting ability. Akshay Kumar’s need to acknowledge that he is growing old. Sanjay Dutt’s insult to an action movie by landing up with a devil-may-care resplendent paunch. The fact is – the movie is spectacular. The diving scenes are as good as any (only minor shades of difference from a full blown Hollywood diving movie like Out of The Blue). This is allegedly one of the most expensive Bollywood movies ever produced, it is surely one of the most spectacular. And it is great to see that Indians look at home in what is an out-and-out adventure sport in an international location. Do not miss this movie – the visual spectacle (the Bollywood stars being at home in the water, not the marine life) is quite extraordinary

13.5/20

This is Not It

How much better a documentary could Michael Jackson - This is It have been! Perhaps the makers of the documentary, instead of being in a hurry to cash in on the inevitable interest following the demise of the superstar, should have spent some time and got this one right. While the lack of a voice-over lends authenticity, there is nothing in the documentary that shows any facet of Michael’s personality, nor does it show or purport to show any change in the superstar. What of the clashes with the media, the eccentricisms that finally culminated in the allegations that destroyed his life, the competition and the peers that he left behind. While this documentary is ostensibly oriented around a set of backstage shows in London, the fact of the matter is that this one could have made much more of its subject matter, especially given its timing

8.5/20

Come Confess

As Chuck Barris, Sam Rockwell given the performance of a lifetime, in this intriguing blend of cinema noir foreseeing the coming of the brooding graphic novel movies a half decade or so later, and blending it with a scathing indictment of the travesty that is modern television, in Confessions of A Dangerous Mind. The skewed moralities of adolescent sex, killing without compunction for the greater good of the United States, the numerous women and the singular lack of attachment and the double-crosses, and the overarching peddling of the “lowest common denominator” of reality TV brings to the audience a movie that swings from passion to global intrigue to self-flagellation. A movie that leaves me reflecting on the overarching question of seeking our own individual identities and the eventual price of fame

14/20

Sleepless Dreams

Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale is a haunted man. Of horrifyingly thin visage, tormented by illusions indistinguishable from reality, he has not slept in a year. He tries to come to terms with the present – but strange visitations, bodies in the freezer that do not exist, chased by cars that belong to him, visits to the coffee shop and the lady there, and her son and which of them is real – it is all difficult to make out what is reality and what are, well, the dreams of The Machinist. This is a role that has absolutely no resemblance to anything that I have seen from Christian Bale, and clearly shows just how great an actor this Hollywood find-of-the-decade is. A cathartic movie, that makes clear that the Machinist did sleep at times, and all the visitations were really about his darkest fears and greatest regrets

14.5/20

Little to Report

Observe and Report fits the mood for the lowest common denominator in popcorn fare. While I am about to trash the movie below, because of its sheer lack of imagination, the fact is that this movie does not pretend to be anything more than it actually is – a strictly “one time viewing” experience of a mall security guard and his fantasies of being a policeman, and his trying circumstances – an alcoholic mother, a group of misfits for friends, a bunch of chronic haters at the police force, a two-timing here-today gone-tomorrow girlfriend. Indeed Ronnie’s (Seth Rogen) life is so miserable that you almost end up wishing that the underdog would finally make it. And he does – somehow

5/20

The Strangest Resistance

Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) gives a stunning performance in Tanantino’s latest – Inglourious Basterds, - that sees alternate history as two parallel and similar plots are hatched to put an end to the Third Reich. Rather limited in the insanity quotient, and actually serious in parts, the plot revolves around the Nazi-killer team led by Lt Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and their encounters. Typical chapter-based Tarantino narration – the first scene about the purge and introduction to the central character of menace, the long scene and encounter wrt Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) in the basement, the showdown between Hans Landa and the German actress, are the most memorable. The inexplicable fact of Shoshanna owning a theater in the heart of Paris explained away rather trivially, the sharpshooter Pvt Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) and his mixed emotions, the ramblings on Goebbels’ propaganda, the strange silouhette of Marcel and his giant pile of inflammable film make sure that Tarantino’s quirky touch is very much alive and kicking. A mellower, more circumspect Tarantino, but enough to keep fans engaged

15.5/20

The Darkest District

In Metamorphosis, Kafka explores social reaction to a man being transformed into a giant insect. In Blood Diamond, bounty hunter Leonardo DiCaprio shows the best and worst of humanity as he races through strife-torn Africa to liberate a family. District 9 has a Blair Witch Project style reality TV format buildup – aliens land up in Johannesburg with little to offer and nowhere else to go. They are stigmatized (“prawns” as epithet), victimized (“humans only”), and isolated and forced to live in a giant slum on the city outskirts. Their only hope of returning to their planet finds an unlikely hero in the form of Wikus Van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), who, largely motivated by his own desire to return to normalcy, brings hope of deliverance in a disturbing milieu. District 9 manages to showcase the best and worst of man – persecution and sheer human cruelty, the arms race, and the profiteering from vice, in sharp contrast to the coming of age of Van De Merwe and his last gasp effort that gives the “prawns” their only last vestige of hope for escaping from the cruelty of man. An outstanding movie and one that, irrespective of the analogies I began with, I find it hard to think of a parallel

17.5/20

Taking to Pasture

If U2 were to play in Mumbai or Bangalore, it would pretty much indicate that the band's shelf life in terms of live shows has run its course in the Western World. Why would the likes of U2 submit themselves to poor infrastructure, non-discerning crowds and possibly poor execution. In the same light, I would hope and pray that The Taking of Pelham 123 is not a dirge for two of the greatest stars that Hollywood has ever seen - Denzel Washington and John Travolta. A low engagement movie with poor visual effects, a very weak storyline, and - above all - extremely poor camera shots and - lo and behold - we actually saw two Hollywood greats in a B Grade movie! The list of the number of things that could have been done differently in the movie is endless, suffice to say that we hope that for the continuance of their careers, Denzel and John choose their next respective engagements with a lot more forethought
7.5/20

Go Joes!

Expect the usual blend of high quality special effects and hand to hand physicality from GI Joe - The Rise of Cobra. A circumspect Duke (Channing Tatum) is on a mission to deliver certain warheads, runs into a skirmish with the “Joes” and ends up joining them, an enemy mission with former flame Ana (the Baroness, ie Sienna Miller) steals back the warheads, and a race against time ensues to save the worls from destruction. The series sees the creation of the GI Joe core team as well as their arch villains (Destro and Cobra). This is straight-up unbridled action without the morality tales of the Marvel comics superheroes that held our breath all of 2008. Good entertainment without appearing too gizmo-laden for comfort

14/20

Laying Down, the Law

Rarely do you find a TV series that brings together panache, endless style, and in the same breath cold logic and quality of debate that at moments can leave you breathless. Boston Legal's little caselets seem to veer in one of two distinct directions. The first set throw really unexpected surprises, sometimes a trifle contrived, that nonetheless keep the viewer engaged. The second are the real piece-de-resistance - the cases where there is a slam dunk logical argument presented, where all the facts of the case, dear viewer, were available to you, and you were nowhere close to working it out. And it is this second set that completely distinguishes the serial - at times I fould myself pausing the DVD and asking myself - "What could he possibly say next? What could extricate him from this hole?" A serial focused on litigation sanitizes law, takes away the dust and grime of endless hours of grunt work, and displays the smooth polished surface of glamour and confrontational argumentation. This is a TV series that is near perfectly casted and scripted. Near impossible to better (till the next one comes along, I suppose!)

18/20

Vile Fare

Is Borat degenerate? Is it a bit too over the top? What has the movie tried to depict anyway? Has it poked fun at a particular community because they are the way they are? Or has it picked a community at random and gone over the top? What sense do some of the sequences make, anyway? You Dont Mess with The Zohan is a refined version of some Eastern-Europe bashing, that I happened to see some time before I saw Borat. And Zohan was reasonably entertaining without being offensive. But I come back to the original question - what is the purpose of this movie? What is the reason, notwithstanding all disclaimers, that the sundry communities who are denigrated in this movie, will not find the movie offensive? Sorry, but I tried to laugh right through, but somewhere down the line, felt that this was really tasteless fare

7.5/20

Alas!

Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is the sheet anchor central role in Alias. Without her tantalizing mix of emoting and physicality, this is a TV series that would simply fall apart. Consider the weaknesses in the plot. Do you seriously believe that something like the SD-6 is proliferant in the US in terms of the scale and scope? Are you expected to believe that it occurred to none of SD6's inmates that they have never been to, and never deal directly with, Langley (including to Sydney, for a period of (hold your breath - seven years))? Father and daughter, two double agents living under a knife, and their CIA handler, meet on an almost daily basis and even speak on the phone and exchange messages. And what on earth are the artifacts of Milo Rambaldi and the Nazi - allusion justifications of seeking the occult becoming a matter of national security? If it were not for Jennifer Garner, we would never have heard of this series. Having said that, one has to give some weightage I suppose to the sheer entertainment value of the series. The episodes, standalone, are engaging and if one simply skirts the complicity of believability, Alias is as good a timepass as any

10.5/20

Enemies of an Ineffectual State

Public Enemies tests the thespian skills of Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, but hardly to their limits. John Dillinger, hardened Depression-era bank robber pulls off audacious heists right under the noses of the law, and follows up with equally audacious escapes across state lines. The latter prompts the then head of the police forces, J Edgar Hoover, to set up a law enforcement organization that cuts across state lines called – what else – the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The romance with Marion Cotillard arouses a (on hindsight) misplaced twinge of sympathy for a hardened criminal. The movie is about the chase and how John’s world is slowly decimated, not only in the face of concerted legal action, but also on account of the return to prosperity of America that takes away several of his partners in crime. An interesting movie, but could have had a lot more to offer

13/20

Stalking and Entering

Mickey Rourke continues where he left off with The Wrestler, and in the tradition of gracefully ageing Hollywood stars, to deliver quiet menace as a cold blooded murderer in Killshot. Diane Lane and Thomas Jane (the Colsons) are witness to a crime, enter witness protection, and then are hunted down by Armand “The Blackbird” Degas (Mickey Rourke) and the hare-brained violence-prone character of Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The performances are hard, the pace engaging, the outcome uncertain till the last minute. This is the return of the unadulterated thriller. Best watched in a movie hall, though. What next from Mickey Rourke I wonder? Or from John Madden (the class that brought you Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Proof clearly shining through)

14.5/20

Echelons of the Inquisitive State

What is the Echelon Conspiracy? Max Peterson (Shane West) can hardly believe his luck as he receives phone messages from an unknown source – the first saves his life from a plane crash, the second makes him a lot of money in a casino. The gravy train abruptly ends and Max finds himself in the custody of the FBI trying to help track down the “sender” of the messages. Nothing is quite what it seems, and the messages are discovered to come from a wholly unexpected source on the lookout for an “upgrade” denied to it by Congress. A fast-paced movie with a somewhat lame ending. Shane West would have a future in thrillers, though

14/20

Faith Cures All

A modern day fairy tale, a heartwarming drama with a positive ending, a man with a terminal disease and sundry others cured, the power of prayer. It would be touching if it was not a trifle trite. A movie like Henry Poole Is here panders to a certain type of gallery. While I have all respect for faith, I cannot condone movies that take self-renewal to a level beyond believability. But then, I suppose that a movie like this is meant to be low on realism and high on faith. Whatever happened to Bucket List style pragmatism and courage in the face of adversity? Why the recourse to such easy ways out? But do listen in to the soundtrack

9.5/20

Four of Five was Enough

With twists that start about fifteen minutes into the movie and end in the last fifth, Five Fingers is an engaging drama that brings out the nuances of the war on terror and throws up questions on aspects of interrogation technique. On the surface, Ryan Philippe is this Dutchman with a Moroccan girlfriend and a happy idealistic life, a job at a bank and a passion for working with an aid program for “the children of the Rif mountains”. Scratch the surface and nothing is what it seems, and the twists in this movie and the cat and mouse game between Ryan Philippe and Laurence Fishburne will leave you spellbound. Once you figure out the context of the movie, I have no doubt that you will rank this among the best on the war on terror – the element of surprise taking it to a league above the likes of Body of Lies

16.5/20

Dino and Depth

In Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the lead pair of Manny and Ellie have a baby, whom they name Peaches. The other concurrent trail that runs right through is the discovery of a huge enclave (shadows of The Lost World) of dinosaurs that have survived the Ice Age, ostensibly by being proximate to a lava pool and below the ice shelf. The stand-out character of the movie is undoubtedly Buck, a weasel with an eye patch that sees himself as the somewhat indulgent caretaker of naïve mammals is what is a world of largely ferocious reptiles. Like the many Pixar masterpieces, this is another movie where the personality that is imbued in animated characters simply takes your breath away (not the least because of 3D – the first such movie that I can recall seeing). This seems to me like a good avenue for a hobby, or perhaps even a long shot career option, away from the relentless stress… but I digress. This is a remarkable movie in the way pretty much every animated movie out of America seems remarkable. While special effects in the context of action sequences has become somewhat been-there-done-that no matter which the movie, the world of animation is just about entering a Golden Age with the likes of the Ice Age series

16.5/20

The Free Generation

Harold and Kumar is one of the most interesting media to convey the immigrant dilemma in America with startling clarity. Here in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, the intrepid duo escape inhibition and racist slurs, angsty trysts with extended families and oppressive Investment Banking bosses, run-ins with “white boys” that give them a hard time – all in their singleminded quest for those little things that embody the Great American Dream – coke and pizza, hash, and pussy. Yet again the movie trails off with Amsterdam and free will. Yet another entertainer, but not one that deals with quite as many issues as its successor (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay)

12.5/20

Get This Message

I am bigoted, biased, or maybe plain discerning (:-))– but while I watch a fair number of Hindi movies, none seem to move me. There is the mediocre acting, the cinematography that is usually decades behind Hollywood, the emoting that is so contrived that I am shocked as to how it manages to consistently move people, but most of all – the movies do not seem to have anything to convey. And it is the last of the tests that New York fails to meet. Forget the acting, and do not even begin to compare the cinematography with the dozens of stunning Hollywood movies that use the Big Apple as backdrop. What will move you is the consistent message that terrorism just cannot be condoned, no matter what the motivations of the terrorist and no matter how much such motivations may draw our empathy. So, be it torture in custody or or be it abetting in the name of love – whatever be the insinuation or emotional reason – terrorism does not work. The positive message in all this – the dark shadow of this relentless persecution of terrorism shall not fall on the near and dear ones of terrorists – no matter how close the latter are. And this is the greatness of this movie, the way it rounds it all off and makes sense of the need to purge violence with violence, but highlights equally vehemently the need to show compassion for those that are left in the wake

15.5/20

Museum of Horrors

After the first edition, one could at the very lest expect that Night at The Museum II - Battle of the Smithsonian would only build upon the excitement of museum exhibits coming alive. After all, could the theme of a museum – with untold possibilities in terms of exhibits – possibly go wrong? Yes it can. It is possible to go overboard with too many characters, completely misplace characters (a pathetically funny Kamun-ra who is neither menacing nor amusing), a Capone who has nothing to do in the movie to speak of, an Amelia Earhart who seems to have confused irrepressible flirting with a sense of adventure, and, in the middle of it all, a Ben Stiller – why he is posited as a millionaire entrepreneur in the overall context of the movie is the only mystery that lingers in my mind after this movie. One movie that I will forget overnight, not in days

7/20

Someone Transform this Series

One part of me wants to trash Transformers II – Revenge of the Fallen so bad that Michael Bay and his merry men would think twice before turning this into a trilogy. Another part, however, asks – what is it we were expecting anyway. Sam Witwicky, vulnerable and quite the center of affairs. Megan Fox, sizzling, a modicum of dialogue also thrown in for effect. Relentless action sequences (with the added side effect of trashing the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World). This is a teenage movie series, and we stepped in, forewarned of the same, and got everything that we might have expected. The question is – did this movie lift the franchise to a higher level? Did it lend character to Optimus Prime the way it clearly sought to do. Did you want us to make up our minds about whether humans should be taking sides in an extraterrestrial battle, or whether the Autobots should be sharing their technology with humans. I guess not, because this movie did not quite click

9/20

While You were Sleeping

Once in a while comes a low budget movie that literally sweeps you off your feet. While I cannot in all honesty accord such generous description to The Hangover, this is unqualified wholesome entertainment. After a long time comes a comedy that does not involve romantic tiffs and goofy slapstick. What makes The Hangover stand out is that a lot of the audience can relate to the overall theme, and the escapades are hilarious without being ludicrous. There is also the element of unraveling the events of the night past step by step, which, while not always consistent, does keep the audience engaged. One of the best comedies going in a while

12.5/20

You Wont Like Me When I'm Angry Part IV

I first saw X-Men Origins - Wolverine in a truly disastrous edition on the PC. The graphics were incomplete, and Hugh Jackman and the rest of the cast and crew were justifiably livid over the release of this pirated edition. Wolverine’s beginnings have shadows of that of Magneto – a repressive family bringing memories of a Nazi concentration camp. A complex relation with a brother who falls astray and a few twists later, one could well be convinced that there was sufficient provocation behind the coming-of-age of a truly angry (young?) man, But then, I don’t think the audience needed any convincing on that front anyway in respect of Wolverine. A watchable movie but superfluous in terms of its contribution to the X-Men franchise

12/20

The Franchise Stands Salvaged

What clearly stands out in Terminator – Salvation is the liberal usage of the last editions’ unforgettable snippets. From “I’ll be back” to the cryogenic freeze, to the eponymous bike-over-truck reversal, the elements mercifully do not appear out of context though. The one other aspect that stands out is the performance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) who brings out his conflict and clear loyalties through a great performance. The movie is unmemorable in terms of the storyline, and, as may be expected, will lead to one or more sequels, and trails off that way. A movie that clearly keeps the franchise alive and kicking without Schwarzenegger, and with much more conviction than say Rise of the Machines

14.5/20

All Movie

Another good site abt the movies: http://www.allmovie.com/

Christendom Overdose

Dan Brown’s eponymous novels clearly do not translate to the silver screen. While The Da Vinci code was merely insipid, in Angels and Demons, the latest edition, the incredulity of generating antimatter in a pilferable bottle in Zurich that Implodes in 24 hours (remember cold fusion in Moscow in The Saint?), the agony of following antagonists that need to commit heinous acts in indecipherable patterns, the casuality of interaction between papacy and the hoi polloi, and the overarching theme of an irrelevant conflict in today’s day and age (Illuminati vs the Church) – if it were not for pleasant movie halls and the visual spectacle that is Rome, this would be agony compared to its predecessor’s light torment. Besides, Tom Hanks is ageing and in a merely ageing kind of way, ie not the graceful Harrison Ford way

9/20

The First Trek

The first thing that struck me about Star Trek is the simplicity of execution. For a TV series that I remember for its inherent complexity in terms of the issues depicted, the introduction to the key characters, their motivations and their budding interrelationships is surprisingly devoid of complications. The special effects though undoubtedly top of the line (and hence in sharp relief to the TV series), are by no means the focus of the story. This is about how young leaders take responsibility for thinking through and resolving challenging situations, well too aware of the consequences if they take a misstep. In terms of characters, while Kirk is a little over the top as a brash young man, Spock comes across as the conflicted half-man half-Vulcan with all the inherent conflict in such a character. Not worth # 46 all time on IMDB, but definitely an un-missable movie of the year

16.5/20

If Truth Be Told
Kate Beckinsale puts in a stellar performance in Nothing But The Truth, where a matter of principle is taken to its morally logical end. Much suffering is endured – a family broken, a child’s custody lost – because of the need to protect a witness. The identity of the witness, though, comes as a surprise to all. A movie that has overtones of Angelina Jolie in Changeling – and all the associated undercurrents of prejudices against a woman taking up a cause. This is a movie that gradually builds up in its intensity and rounds off with a delectable surprise. After a long hiatus, a thriller worth the time

14/20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQxdIjyujZA
Times We Are In

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQxdIjyujZA
Times We Are In

Out of this World Consistency

What can I say about the Dreamworks franchise except that for me the name has become an eponym for the perfect animated movie. Monsters Vs Aliens is no exception. Will remember this movie for the fact that Rikk (all of 1.5 yrs old) watched it in total silence. And that is no mean feat for a movie, notwithstanding the large screen and digital audio et al. Reese Witherspoon anchors a near perfect animated performance that sees her co-star with a snob fiance, a genius cockroach, a "missing link", a jello and a giant larva. And it all makes sense, and mankind is saved once again, and none of it looks trite or boring. Rob Letterman (Shark Tale fame) roduces another near perfect entertainer. Go watch it irrespective of age. Any age

15.5/20

The Long Watch

To do justice to a critically acclaimed movie like Watchmen one should have done one’s homework – i.e. have read the cult 12 part graphic novel series. Perhaps that in itself explains the movie’s principal failure. Throught the movie, the viewer does not for a moment doubt that he is watching a remarkable visual spectacle and possibly the most intricate character portraits of superheroes since The Dark Knight. The additional challenge being that unlike The Dark Knight and its likes, Watchmen profiles several different characters at a difficult time for America, juxtaposing their individual moral ambiguities against the tribulations facing a nation. The failing is the attempt to try to condense a 12-part series into a single movie. It is a surfeit of emotions and animation, and the viewer would find it difficult to absorb any train of thought before the movie moves on. This is not a movie to be watched over a 2 hour popcorn munching session. This is incursion into serious moral territory and at the least one should have read the related novels and braced oneself for a 3 hour

10/20

Intrigue Entree

Clive Owen and Naomi Watts lead in The International, that dwells on a topic close to every Swiss Banker’s (at the time of writing) heart – the world of offshore private banking. A personal rant would be that the offshore private banker has really little chance of escaping vilification in this tumultuous economy. Cut to the movie. Fast paced script, action scenes that range from good to exceptional (the one at the Guggenheim in New York), great locales. On the other hand, not much of a storyline, a complete absence of suspense, and the rounding off in an unconvincing morality tale fashion. Worth a watch, but definitely not one for posterity

10/20

Charmed
Vicky Christina Barcelona, like good food or fine wine, lingers in the senses long after the movie. Vignettes stick in one’s mind – in no particular order:
- The beautiful sights and sounds of Barcelona, in a lovely yellow tint. Last time I remember it is the no less beautiful French countryside in A Good Year
- A strictly right-side-of-the-brain movie with art and spontaneity and passion
- Vicky’s confused affections that cannot reconcile till the very end
- Christina’s clarity about choosing ambiguity in relationships
- The torrid Hispanic Elena
- The matter-of-fact narration that lets you draw you own conclusions, unhindered
Watch the movie as a strictly sensory pleasure without judgement. With of course Woody Allen’s masterful hand at depicting relationships

14/20

Grappling with Fate

The hardest thing in life is to reclaim it from your own mistakes. Gradually, you fade into the sunset, or, in the case of Randy the Ram in The Wrestler, into an existence where reconciliation with one’s daughter and seeking means of leading a so called normal life with so called normal jobs, has become one’s raison-de-etre. And then, over a night of being spurned in love, relapse into the ghosts of the past, and estrangement all over again are all brought to a head over a minor incident at the butcher’s shop. And Randy the Ram becomes a wrestler again, and stops running away from his place in destiny. This is a movie without a definitive storyline, and without a definitive end. But you will share the journey of a man trying to find his calling, While the story is heartwarming, the vignettes are somewhat repetitive and the movie a tad too inconclusive.

13.5/20

French Fun

True to the first installment, The Pink Panther 2 begins with much promise by way of Inspector Clouseau’s own brand of semi slapstick humour, loses its way somewhere around the middle, and then finds it again to round off a fairly watchable movie. As far as humour is concerned, one gets the feeling that there is an overlap of far too many elements – the stereotypes, the action sequences, the warped logic, the karate kid family create sequences that are delightful but in certain instances a trifle too much. Good to see Aishwariya in a substantial role, not the least towards the end. The ending is definitely not guessable, though I am not sure whether it is entirely logical. Well, all is fair in Clouseau’s end-justifies-the-means-and-hilarity world

12/20

War of Conscience
What makes Valkyrie clearly stand out from the common or garden Third Reich movie is the depiction of the careful build-up and execution of a plot where a majority of the participants are engaged throughout in a zone of ambiguity where while they are fairly sure of what to believe in, they are not clear about what their role in the same should be. Apart from the clear ideology of von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise), the indecision of the likes of Olbricht (Bill Nighy) and the ostensible undying allegiance to the Fuehrer from the likes of Fromm (Tom Wilkinson), make for immense viewing pleasure. In the end, this is a movie set in war where there is not a single genuine battle scene, just the air raids in different circumstances – with his troops and with family respectively – that reinforce in von Stauffenberg his belief in the futility of it all. Rather, this movie is all about strong and carefully constructed character portrayals of a set of distinct individuals who chose to differ from the establishment, but in their own separate ways

15.5/20

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

LA Changing
Clint Eastwood continues his glittering directorial second coming with Changeling. While Angelina Jolie is better known for her more “commercial” performances (with the possible exception of A Mighty Heart), here is a clearly well-deserved Oscar nomination. The movie is about a single mother and her boy that goes missing and her search for that boy. In the course of that search, many wrongs are righted – the LAPD is reformed, laws regarding detention without sufficient evidence are passed, a serial killer is unearthed and executed, a boy returns to his family. And in the middle of all this is the poignant undertone of the search by Christine Collins of her son Walter Collins, alternating between hope and despair and taking the viewer along with both

Rating 16.5/20

Thanks for All the Fuss

Slumdog Millionaire, for all the great cinematography, does not really capture the essence of Mumbai. Plenty of Indian movies capture the true stigma of poverty, or the true horror of the underworld, far better. Let us for a moment give Danny Boyle the artistic license, and run through the vignettes here. The depiction of poverty is a sham. The rioting is unconvincing. The beggary racket is trite and equally unconvincing. The fact that each answer coincidentially relates to each (painful) vignette in the life of the protagonist is a cruel joke? Is this even a movie worth making a fuss about? There is great cinematography, but in the end I feel sorry for the legions of Indian directors, unwept unhonoured and unsung, whose far better portrayals of Mumbai go unnoticed simply because they lack the "brand" of a Danny Boyle. If this movie is worth four Golden Globes, some of our movies of 2008 are worth at least as many Oscars

PS: The BBC's Soutik Biswas seems to echo my thoughts - saw this link on 25th Jan 2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7843960.stm

Rated 10.5/20

Rating System

With a vew to "crystallizing" my overall feeling about a movie, which is usually difficult, I will apply a holistic single digit as a "rating" to future writeups. This will follow a 1 - 20 scale. Why 20? Because it is easier to think of movies as being in four distinct quadrants:

1 - 5: The truly avoidable movies

6 - 10: The worse-than-average movies (the "average" being the average movie that I watch)

11 - 15: The better-than-average movies

16-20: The good movies, with the upper end of this quadrant being the must-see movies

A Different Western

Appaloosa is not Ed Harris’ directorial debut (there is the movie Pollock from 2000) but is quite a movie. Unlike the conventional Western (and the last I saw was the copybook 3.10 to Yuma), this dwells on a morally ambiguous woman (Alison - Renee Zellweger) and the cast’s interrelationships with her. There is the very public romance with the marshal (Virgil - Ed Harris), the ambiguous relationship with the deputy (Everett - Viggo Mortensen), and then the obvious promiscuity and Everett’s final solution that is as abrupt as it is surprising. Life does not always take the paths that one desires, and sometimes one takes ingenous solutions to get it around to our choices. What truly is the moral high ground of a mere vigilante prone to violence, or the calumny of a villain (Randall Bragg – Jeremy Irons) who is erudite and convincing and commits little that can be unequivocally labeled as villainy in a difficult time.

Society without Vision

If you have not read the novel by Jose Saramago (and I have not) it is difficult to be prepared for a movie like Blindness. In a regular orderly urban society, a man gets afflicted by a sudden attack of white blindness. So does his wife, and all those who get in touch with him - notably an eye doctor. The doctor's wife is the only one who miraclously escapes getting affected - and gives an increasingly large group leadership through the repression of state confinement and a complete degeneration of law and order within that confinement. The group moves from the hopelessness brought about by individual tyranny, to freedom and the order that voluntary and symbiotic coexistence brings, even in an outside world where all familiar institutions, including things as disparate as electricity and family - have ceased to exist. Perhaps it is because each individual in the milieu is dealing with his or her own personal tragedy, that there is no place for collective uprising or protest outside of a world where the ward defined the physical boundaries of groups of people. Blindness is about forms that society takes when faced with crisis - the disorder that stems from individual hubris and inevitably leads to ruin, and the empathy and coexistence that raises us above mere animals. A remarkable movie, though difficult to watch at times.

Always a Mumbaikar

There is not a single hindi movie reviewed on this site till date. Till this. I want to place on record that in the year of tribulation of Mumbai, in a year where the financial crisis took the life out of Mumbai while the Taj attacks seared its soul, a movie called Mumbai Meri Jaan was released that captures all the poignancy and dichotomous character of Mumbai and Mumbaikars while clearly preceding both these incidents at the time of release/creation. There is the idealist whose notion of public transport and the greater Indian idiom is ripped apart. There is the policeman searching for meaning to his career on the day it concludes. There is the simple Hindu individual who represents all the communal suspicion and stereotyping that has become our norm rather than exception. There is the tea-seller from somewhere in South India, alienated by development and consumerism, who creates his own brand of protest. There is the journalist who becomes a soundbyte in her world of seeking soundbytes - a undifferentiated TRP source. In the end, the milieu will leave you stunned. There is so much this movie has captured through six characters. This is the soul of Mumbai - this pinpoints all the reasons why this potentially great city needs so much healing.

Horrific Reflection

The best horror movies of late have ingenious takes at commonplace objects. Moving into a motel (Vacancy), taking the simplest of photos (Shutter), watching TV (The Ring). Mirrors is about the nether world trapped behind the glass that we look into everyday. The evil that lurks right across turns a man's life into a living hell. Until the end, where, well, the man and his reflection redefine the nature of their relationship. The movies continues the trend of (successfully) distilling our fear and uncertainty surrounding everyday objects.

No Method to This

It is disappointing when the so called school of “method acting” chooses Elizabeth Hurley as their mother goddess. Now Liz Hurley, notwithstanding her (rather obvious, and re-iterated in this movie as well) other attributes, is not a Method actor, and it is difficult for a person who somewhat extends herself in attempting to be merely bitchy, to being a convincing serial killer. The other thing that is lacking in the movie is the near complete absence of star power. The end result – a movie with promise, that would have been well enacted by half a dozen actors (remember, for instance, Salma Hayek in Lonely Hearts?) but it seems that coming up with anything bearing a semblance of the right cast was not high on the list of priorities here. Method acting and b grade do not mix.

Yes Yes Yes

What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stop and stare? Yes Man says yes to stopping and staring at life – be it Korean lessons or the guitar, or the alternative music girlfriend. An endearing movie that is not steeped in the seriousness of say Fun with Dick and Jane, nor is the slapstick school of most of Jim Carrey’s fare. The movie makes a statement about independence of action that is hard to miss.

Something is Missing

The period drama Australia has all the elements to warm the cockles of one’s heart – the widow duly wronged reaches out to the cowboy knight in shining armour and the child with no identity. The child does not quite come across as aborigine, Hugh Jackman is too suave to be the perfect cowboy, and Nicole Kidman – well, the fact is that she looked better as a prim and proper English lady than a cowgirl. The movie is worth a watch but misses making an indelible impression in your mind or anything close to that