Of Ghosts and Political Intrigue

Never expected an ordinary movie from Roman Polanski. Got as close to one as he has ever made. Based on the novel by Robert Harris, The Ghost Writer (Ewan McGregor) picks up an assignment to write the memoirs of the former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), a character based, by Robert Harris’ self-admission, on Tony Blair. The Ghost, though somewhat shaken by the fact that his predecessor on the assignment died under somewhat mysterious circumstances, embarks on his intrepid enquires to get to the bottom of the mysteries in Adam Lang’s life. The search for the truth is made more intriguing by the Ghost’s possession of his predecessor’s manuscript – and the several obvious attempts that unknown people are making to dispossess him of the same. Adam Lang, in terms of political affiliation, was indistinguishable from the US in terms of political ideology – but was there more to that aspect than met the eye? And who else was involved in the same? Travel bleak landscapes and sinister people in the Ghost’s search for the truth

12/20

Lights Camera and All Action

If The Expendables were to be renamed, An Ode to Action may well suit. Sylvester Stallone pulls together a panoply of stars – some current (Jason Statham) others of yesteryears (Dolph Lundgren) – all from the world of action. The overlay is a deliberately loose storyline – opening with a quick sequence on nailing a band of Somali pirates, and then getting down to the business of ending a dictatorship and the dealings of a rogue CIA agent, in an island country in South America. While Barney Ross (Stallone) and Lee Christmas (Statham) form the lead pair, the cast and crew of good guys – Yang (Jet Li), Toll Road (Randy Couture), tattooman Tool (Mickey Rourke) and cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger – is only matched by the evil bunch of Gunner (Dolph Lundgren), James Munroe (Eric Roberts) and Paine (Steve Austin). Fans will remember the movie for the one-man (or few-man) army sequences that have been missing since Rambo took a breather in Afghanistan. Sharp action, wholesome entertainment, and largely interesting dialogue – while Mickey Rourke is not quite his impactful self, Dolph Lundgren with “Insect..” was interesting. Don’t miss this little milestone in action movie history from a living legend

13.5/20

Smokin’ Good

Smokin’ Aces 2 – Assassins Ball is PJ Pesce’s (PJ who?) attempt at Tarantino. While PJ does not pull that one off (phew!), he does manage to put together a rockin’ good movie. Walter Weed (Tom Berenger) is a nondescript paper pusher in the FBI and the latter discover a bounty on his head – with a sell-by date. Led by the intrepid Agent Baker (Clayne Clawford), will the duo manage to keep out a set of remarkable assassins – The Tremor family, Tommy Flanagan (Lazlo Soot) and Martha Higareda (Ariella) among others? Be prepared for over-the-top stylized action sequences through this one... and what makes the movie somewhat above the mundane genre replicator, is the genuine effort to showcase the gradual unraveling of a background – why is there a bounty on the head of a desk clerk? More to it than meets the eye

13.5/20

Out of this World… ?!

Ex Pianist (Adrien Brody) is paratrooped into an alien world, and soon finds himself in the company of the earth equivalent of Predators – cannot help quoting from Gladiator – “ferocious mercenaries and warriors from all brute nations”. They decide to work together – and soon find to their consternation that they are not on a terrestrial forest as they might have imagined. The plot thickens with predator dogs, rogue humans and traps of many descriptions. In the end human morality is called into question – and questions answered. And, as in all previous installments, there are many engaging action scenes, and some but not many survivors. With generous credits to the original throughout the movie through a vast (all?) number of “inspired” scenes and characters, this is a reasonably entertaining movie, but difficult to identify a single feature or character that was truly striking. On to a hopefully better next edition

10.5/20

Not Eclipsed Yet

Like vampires, this series refuses to die. In The Twilight Saga – Eclipse, Bella Swan (Kristin Stewart) has figured that she does want to be a vampire – after graduation of course – to be together evermore with her one (of two true loves) – Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). This is taken none too kindly by Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) who makes no secret of his love, and his intentions of thwarting the above alliance. In the meantime, rogue newborns (new vampires) run amok in Seattle, and it takes the full power and might of a token skirmish to bring law and order back to the world. I have been informed that there is a fourth installment on its way, and have promised myself to avoid it under all circumstances. But this is the issue with sequels – they are so smartly spaced out, that you sometimes forget how pathetic the previous edition was..

7/20

Salt It.

Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie)’s talent for the action heroine is obvious, her choice of plot is two decades too late. Evelyn Salt is at the very least a double agent, but is she a triple agent? It is distressing that every aspect of the plot seems to have been drawn from some currently irrelevant Cold War cliché, and, in spite of the same, some of the sequences are barely believable. Cut to the story. An interrogation of a Russian defector reveals that the CIA interrogator – Evelyn – is possibly a double agent (why he gives this information voluntarily to the CIA at large is but one of the faux pas of the movie). In any case, Evelyn performs her dubious role admirably in battling the forces of law and order while fulfilling her near-impossible assassination missions through various decent to good action sequences, and suffice to say that many realities are stretched. When you have finished yawning through the Defcon II and suicide bomber and Universal Soldier-like sequences, the movie trails off rather ambitiously in the quest for a sequel. All the best on that one, Evelyn

10/20

Racy Romance

Racy script full of, well, races. Beautiful locales - Azores, Seville, some Americana, Salzburg.. good looking cast of Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) and June Havens (Cameron Diaz). Knight and Day is at heart basically a romance built through successive action sequences. So where does it all start. June,on her way home to her sister's wedding, meets Roy at the airport and as co-passenger in a flight that... crashes. June's simple life becomes somewhat complicated as she first works at shaking off Roy and the associated baggage of villians, and then works at survival with him in tow. Entertaining, simple, not much to be said of it besides.. a simple movie for a rainy Saturday evening with hotdogs at the movies and baby in bed

12/20

Character Assassins

With brushstrokes that occasionally border on the noir in the unlikeliest of settings for the same, Assassination of A High School President profiles the socially inept Bobby Funke (Reece Thompson) as the unlikely protagonist as a wannabe journalist – looking for a breakthrough article for the school paper, Funke embarks on an investigation centered around stolen SAT papers, and zeroes in on Paul Moore (Patrick Taylor) as the culprit. But things are not quite what they seem, and with heightened suspicions, not least caused by the behavior of Paul’s girlfriend Francesca (Mischa Barton) and stepbrother Marlon (Luke Grimes), a plot is unearthed that is considerably larger than anticipated, and leads Funke into personal danger followed by adulation. An unlikely candidate for an interesting movie – do not expect a teen flick here – and in case you have a compelling need to watch movies with star power only, Bruce Willis as Principal Kirkpatrick plays a significant if not central role in the movie

14/20

Play, United

The World Cup of Football just got over, and, for the moment, the world does not doubt the capability of sport to unite nations in a shared passion. However, uniting a nation – South Africa - in the midst of cataclysmic change – through sport is another matter altogether. With an insecure and newly disenfranchised white population, and a newly liberated but deeply suspicious black population, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) turns to the captain of the national rugby team – Francois Piennar (Matt Damon) with a mission – win the world cup of rugby. A victory would unite a nation torn by decades of deep-rooted animosity, in a manner that no change in law or governance could possibly accomplish. Another brilliant and award-winning film by Clint Eastwood, and moving like only sports movies can be – the spirit of the movie (and its name) is no better captured than by William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus – No matter how straight the gate/ or charged with adventures the scroll/ I am the master of my fate/ I am the captain of my soul

15.5/20

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

Iron Age - Part II

Director Jon Favreau clearly realizes that he has a good (read lucrative) thing going, and wants to keep his powder dry for later installments, as far as Iron Man 2– the second installment of the irrepressible Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark aka Iron Man, is concerned. This superhero clearly differentiates himself from the rest of the save-the-world pack on two counts (a) his identity is out in the open (b) he is singularly immodest. With a cast that clearly “trades up” from the first installment, Iron Man II runs through Tony’s idiosyncratic jaunts, in particular handing over the Stark empire to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) on what appears to be a whim, and an impulsive participation in the Monaco GP that reveals potential supervillian Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). Lt Col James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) brings the voice of reason, the Hammer empire headed by the unscrupulous Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) is all about bare-knuckles corporate rivalry, and Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) ups the glamour quotient substantially. Endnote – this movie keeps you wholesomely entertained, and waiting for more from Tony Stark. Mission accomplished for now
13/20

Universal quandaries, Irish soul

I caught this movie on a flight, and then had a hard time tracking it down – the unknown cast, and the fact that no one I know has come close to watching this movie, did not help. In Happy Ever Afters, a wedding reception brings two couples close – one is re-marrying the same guy on somewhat dubious grounds, the other is a single mother in an unlikely pairing with an African American for purely commercial (read, legit immigration) reasons. Through a series of faux-pas and misunderstandings, the weddings both culminate in an unlikely turn of events. In the process, each of the cast gets to know the others a lot better, and finally come to terms with who they are and what they really want. A rare comedy that is hilarious nearly in full, while delving deep into believable characters, all delightfully Irish, and carefully develops their interrelationships and the eventual outcome. You could watch this movie for laughs, for understanding marriages, or for a hilarious take on the Irish, and be none the worse for it. If it was not for the utterly unknown cast, this should have been a must-release in India

14.5/20

Get that Marriage Right

Remember Tina Fey? The woman who rocked the world by her hilarious impersonations of Sarah Palin? Well, here is Tina Fey as Claire Foster, in a quiet New Jersey existence with husband Phil Foster (Steve Carrell). A humdrum daily routine, quiet careers, a book club, and a Date Night every week make up their existence. This movie is about one date night that does not quite go as planned. Driven by an irrepressible desire to try something different, the couple head off to New York for a dinner at the super-exclusive “Claw” and pose as the Tripplehorns (?) in order to get a table. Accosted by two perfect strangers who believe that they are actually the Tripplehorns, Phil and Claire find themselves running for their lives across New York at night. Diving headlong into adventure, and with a little help from security expert Holbrooke Grant (Mark Wahlberg), the couple end up heroes in an unlikely adventure that, while unraveling intrigue at the highest levels in the big city, more importantly, rekindles their romance. This movie would have been a forgettable popcorn flick except for the universally recognizable nuances thrown in, about marriages and why stress arises in them, and how couples who want to make it work, well, can. Have fun with this one

13/20

Body of Lies II

Chief Warrant officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) finds himself stonewalled when repeated missions to unearth weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in post-war Baghdad draw a blank, in the Green Zone. An impassionate representation to that effect to his superiors falls on deaf ears – well, almost. CIA officer Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson) lets Roy know that his hunch (about WMDs or the absence of them) is right, and a related tip-off by an Iraqi national leads Roy to the formidable Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor) of the Republican Guards. Fast-paced chases ensue – the murky truth behind the very core of why America went to war against Iraq is unearthed. Loosely based on true events, Matt Damon again pulls off an anchor role with effortless panache. The movie continues a series of takes on the dubious warmongering by America in Iraq/ Middle East on the lines of The Kingdom, Lions for Lambs, and others – and could perhaps have been titled Body of Lies were there not another movie of the same name on the same subject. The stirring honesty in America’s immediacy in soul-searching on the war in Iraq is a well explored theme now – which does not take away from sterling performances and a fast paced action thriller. Eminently watchable

14/20

Timeless De Niro

Take a family of four children dispersed across America – of blue collar origins, but now a successful (?) quartet – one a part-owner of an ad agency, one an artist (as opposed to a painter), one a composer (or is it a drummer), and one a dancer (in Las Vegas? And perhaps a lesbian?). Now throw in Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) as their father, a man of blue collar origins who pushed his children hard, to get to where they are, and ostensibly Everybody’s Fine. So what does one expect when, seeing that the children are too busy in their careers for a reunion, the ailing father sets out across America – by road – to catch up with his children individually. And finds the truths of their individual realities. And while all does not end well – what remains of the family is re-united, with their realities out in the open, and accepted. Even as De Niro just keeps adding to the roster of why he is a living legend, the all-star cast takes the movie to a different plane. A movie about paternal authority and the demands of career, and the varying reactions to the same, and the eventual result of acceptance all round, reminding us yet again that while success matters, in the end its all about the family. Miss this one and you miss something vital about valuing the ties that bind family

15.5/20

Family, Heaven, Anger, Love

A few weeks back there was Shutter Island. Now comes another movie - this time from none less than Peter Jackson - that is truly enthralling in its scope, brilliant in its execution, poignant to the core, and genuinely moving. Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), teenage daughter of Jack and Abigail Salmon (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz), is brutally murdered by George Harvey (Stanley Tucci), and finds herself in the afterlife, in a zone between earth and heaven, in The Lovely Bones. With the power to influence the emptions of her parents and siblings, the anger in her heart against her murderer, the love for her classmate Ray Singh (Reese Ritchie) unrequited, and the call from those in the afterlife to her to cross over to heaven, Susie must face the full complement of her emotions, while allowing her family to move on from the tragedy. I felt weak watching the depiction of a father’s love for his daughter, the great anger of Susie and the humble contrition as her anger leads her father into danger in the real world, and the quiet revealation and eventual poetic justice in respect of her captor. A movie to cherish for a long long time, beautifully woven, not a hint of superfluousness, on human relationships, coping with personal loss, and eventually moving on

17.5/20

Bruce Willis = Funny Cop

Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) are longtime partners in the NYPD, and the former is on the verge of selling his rare baseball card to pay for his daughter’s wedding. A heist at the shop lands the card in the hands of a drug cartel, and after a long chase with much setbacks and hilarity thrown in for good measure, the goal is attained and all live happily ever after. Cop Out is Bruce Willis in an out and out comedy, that is strictly popcorn fare, that does not fall apart

12/20

Titanic ask, passable effort

Perseus (Sam Worthington), son of Zeus (Liam Neeson), finds himself in a family of fishermen, and the latter are annihilated on the periphery of a battle of the kingdom of Argos with the Gods. The Gods have held sway over men for too long, and King Cepheus of Argos launches a campaign to destroy their all-pervasive influence. Faced by the destructive forces of Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and the Kraken, the king calls upon Perseus. Perseus with a band of remarkable men (the Titans) makes a perilous journey to the Stygian Witches, and based upon their advice, slays the Medusa and uses her head to destroy the Kraken and save Argos – not without some help from his father along the way – in the epic Clash of the Titans. Hades’ covert agenda is foiled and Perseus lives on as the hero of Argos. Like all other adaptations of Greek and Roman history and mythology, held to a very high standard, the movie does not make the cut. Notwithstanding the fact that all the characters play their parts admirably, and even the graphics hold together, the movie lacks emotional appeal – moving quickly through the milieu of characters and events. To be fair to the creators, the attempt has been to showcase the character of Perseus herein, rather than attempt a magnum opus. A decent watch, but not quite in the league of the timeless, as all heroes and their eulogies, be they mythology or movie, ought to be

12.5/20

Talent will Out

The Damned United centers around Brian Clough (Martin Sheen), the irrepressible coach of Derby Country and fierce vocal critic of Leeds United and their playing tactics under Don Revie (Colin Meaney), and in a twist of fate, asked to take over Leeds as coach. Cut to the past and Derby United, where Brian, against all odds and far in excess of expectations, takes the club from the bottom of the third division to champions of the League Championship and the European Cup semi-finals. The same brings Brian the opportunity to run Leeds United – an effort that is a disaster from the word go – fierce loyalists of Don and brute football, the team never gets round to Brian’s philosophy, and after a series of disasters, Brian is sacked and takes over at relative newcomer Nottingham Forest, where he again metamorphoses a marginal team to a barely believable two European Club wins. The film is memorable for the roles of Brian and his assistant Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall), and their differences and eventual realization that they are indeed the perfect complememts for each other. An interesting movie, that showcases Martin Sheen well in a highly successful yet barely likeable character’s role, and a must-watch for football fans in particular

13/20

Bring Home the Book

Eli (Denzel Washington) is a lonely man in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. He hunts his own food, and works his way westwards across the wasteland that America has become. Also, he carries a King James Bible – The Book of Eli – and through many readings of it comes to know of its power to motivate, and it becomes his purpose to hand the book to that which lies west. On the way he reaches a hick-town dominated by one tyrant – Carnegie (Gary Oldman) – who is in search of the book himself, as he looks for a means to control the minds of people. On threat of much pain to the mother (Jennifer Beals) he sends daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) on an errand to find out more about Eli. Eli and Solara end up destroying the little evil empire of Carnegie, and deliver the Book into safe hands that hopefully hold the key to humanity. Very clearly a very Catholic movie for the God-fearing kind, the morality tale does not fall through because it never is pretentious nor pompous, but continues in the even dark backdrop and, adjusted for our general cynicism with all things religious, leaves us with a spattering of hope

12.5/20

Blinds Off

Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) is The Blind Side of society. The reject is a giant, a colored, an orphan, a man with no place to go. And finds, however unlikely, a home and a future in the homestead of Sean and Leigh Anne (Tim McGraw, Sandra Bullock) and their sprightly kids SJ and Collins (Jae Head and Lily Collins) – a future that starts with getting into a regular schooling system, and ends with a successful NFL career. The fact that the movies is remarkably watchable owes a lot to the natural emotional appeal of sports movies. While Michael and SJ put in two remarkable roles, especially the latter, the best actress Oscar for Sandra Bullock is somewhat debatable. All in all, this is yet another heartwarming sports movie that does not explore in depth themes of racial conflict and does not mean to. So what does it explore? Exploring as to why people are philanthropic? Is this a heal-thyself story asking rich America to be more generous? Worth a watch and replete with old-school Christian values

12/20

Alice in Blunderland

I was really really hoping that this one had turned out well. Instead I got treated to a seriously flawed screen adaptation that was truly a pain to watch. This current edition of Alice in Wonderland is one wherein the emphasis seems to be on the digital presentation of a magical world. All the characters without exception from the haughty Red Queen to the humble Dormouse are poorly developed – some like the Chesire Cat are excruciatingly poorly developed. Coming to the digital presentation – no redemption herein - garish special effects ensure that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson will gladly have given this rabbit hole a pass. The biggest failure of this movie is the turning of a (part-political) satire, and at the very least a funny story, into a good-vs-evil combat arena with generous pickings from the likes of LOTR (compare the faceoff with the Jabberwocky and the Nazgul faceoff in the first installment of LOTR), Narnia (good and evil – the battle across the plain), and the Golden Compass (riding the Bandersnatch vs Riding the Polar Bear). Is that all? Not quite. There is a perceptible lack of humour through the film. Also, this is a movie which will get a straight zero for costume design with it being hard to tell which is the more horrifying - Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, or Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. The only redeeming feature – half a minute of recap of Alice’s last visit that shows a tiny vignette of what this Tim Burton (believe it or not) movie could have been

7/20

Englishman in New York

Simon Pegg (Sidney Young) is the Englishman in New York, a man of some spunk and, who, by any which means, wants to break into the Page 3 circuit, in particular the Sharps Magazine after-party. The proverbial shot comes by way of a gatecrashing attempt and a call from New York. Sidney in Sharps’ cut-throat culture, makes friends and proves himself after a near-disastrous series of faux pas’ – thanks to the support of girl next door and lead editor Alison (Kirsten Dunst). The other characters make for fair viewing too - the sultry and overtly sexual Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) with an unforgettable across-thre-pool saunter for promoting her latest release “Mother Teresa”, driven entrepreneur with a short fuse Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges) who cannot suffer fools gladly but eventually comes round to Sidney, the ambitious Eleanor Johnson (Gillian Anderson) and Danny Huston (Lawrence Maddox). While How to Lose Friends and Alienate People has moments of genuine humour and introspection, overall this is good rather than remarkable fare, that will keep you occupied, as Sidney remains true to his character

11.5/20

Legion of Nonsense
We watched this movie in a movie hall. Two guys next to us slept through most of it, and left when they were done with their nap. At the end of Legion, the verdict all across that this was about as much nonsense that an audience can take, was almost unanimous. Now to the movie. God has tired of the human race, and would like to end it by turning the human race into a set of ravenous zombies that in turn turn other people into zombies, and so on. No way, says Angel Michael – humans are still full of the milk of (human) goodness – and launches a crusade in hick-town motel Paradise Lost against pestilence, repeated waves of zombie attacks, tests of human weakness, and manages to protect the birth of a baby who will ostensibly redeem mankind. With all the ingredients of a movie that is a thinly veiled attempt to milk sequels, this B-Grader has “flop” written over it in bold. This one will vanish without a trace. The underlying theme though, executed by a worthy cast and scriptwriter, could have had some justice served

5/20

Fun with the Dead

Zombieland is a horror-comedy on America becoming a land of zombies, and four survivors coming together in the unlikeliest of circumstances. The protagonist, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), a self-confessed loner and survivor of many encounters with the zombies through a set of rules that he has made for himself, meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a trigger happy zombie killer on his quest for hometown, Twinkies, and the erasing of the memories of a lost son. They meet two sisters Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin), whose survival strategy happens to be conning the last few survivors (which includes Columbus and Tallahassee), and whose objective is to find their way to Pacific Playland, an amusement park. Through deepening ties in the face of mistrust, and faux pas’ such as killing Bill Murray by accident, the movie ends with a scene of climactic encounters at the amusement park, and the realization all round that without life’s little pleasures, and people you can call family, perhaps we would rather all be zombies. But this is no morality tale, this is an interesting little movie taking the hackneyed zombie theme and bringing it all together rather nicely. Expect Planet Terror style gutwrenching visuals, and moments of genuine human emotion

13.5/20

Watch this movie. Shudder.

Some movies are so good, so watchable, so perfect, they can actually make you go weak in the knees. When Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), the former an US Marshal, step out to Shutter Island, a correctional facility for the psychologically insane, to investigate the disappearance of one Rachel Salondo, I was expecting a Zodiac or Lonely Hearts style period-piece investigative thriller. But this is a Martin Scorcese flim, and to expect the ordinary is to do gross injustice. The movie twists and turns and it is increasingly hard to make out what is real and what is imagined. Where is Rachel Salondo – did she ever exist. What is this facility about. Who is Chuck? Most of all, who is Teddy and what is in his past? While the plot does unravel and Teddy comes to terms – or close – to the ghosts of his past – till the very end the movie remains shrouded in mystery. Is Teddy cured and headed off the island, or is he still “unwell” and packed off to the mysterious and sinister lighthouse. Think of Scorcese laughing uproariously as he plays with your mind till the very end

18.5/20

The Times they are a Changing

Somehow Dylan’s timeless lines come to mind. America is changing, the Age of Superheroes is giving way to the Age of Introspection and turbulence. And the movies are following suit. Motivational guru and executor of retrenchment mandates, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) criss-crosses America in a life wherein emotional detachment is part and parcel of what he needs to be, But how detached is he? Up in The Air is about Ryan making the connection with what he believes to be a kindred perpetually airborne soul, and then losing it. It is about a man, bereft of family and emotion, his only definable goal in life being the accumulation of 10 million frequent flyer miles, landing in bland landscapes, spreading the chill wind even as he ostensibly helps people find meaning in their new state of catastrophe. Most of all, it is about the relationship between Ryan and Natalie (Anna Kendrick), a newly recruited hotshot, who breaks in with new paradigms of operational efficiency in the art of firing people, but eventually finds her soul. This is a difficult movie to watch in parts, and I really wonder what kind of people labeled this in the comedy genre. This is a different Clooney, detached, reserved and vulnerable, as he changes with the ebb and flow of those whose lives he is tasked to change for the worse

16/20

Fake Money, Real Feeling

Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch is perhaps the world’s best counterfeiter – and a Jew in Nazi Germany. Apprehended for using counterfeit money in a casino, and sent to a concentration camp, Sally finds himself part of an elite and select group of people with complimentary talents. Starting with IDs and passports, the group moves on to the defining mission – the forging of the British Pound – and delivers. In the meantime, the war and the horrors of the concentration camp rage on around them – and the question of whether they are actually helping finance the bankrupt Nazi war effort becomes the overarching moral question and Sally’s source of increasing discomfort. In the face of great pressure, the team manages to delay the “delivery” of the US Dollar – enough to see the tide of war turn and liberation ensue. Not without the poignancy of many innocents falling victim along the way. With a narrative that uses a clutch of small incidents – the man who finds his children’s passports in the paperwork, the “second-hand” clothes from the gas chambers of Auschwitz, the TB patient who has no medication and is shot down even as Sally almost trades in the dollar for the medication – to show just how strong and weak people can simultaneously be, in the face of incomprehensible adversity. Based on the largest counterfeiting operation in world history, Karl Markovics (Sally), protagonist of Die Falscher (Counterfeiters) will make you ponder over your own frailty

16.5/20

Human, Weakness
Arthur Lewis (James Marsden) is a NASA scientist who will never be an astronaut, while wife Norma (Cameron Diaz) has lost use of one of her feet in a tragic accident. And they both need the money. Along comes the money in the form of The Box that asks them to choose – and they have a choice of getting no less than a million dollars – with a price tag – they can choose to take the money, but a person, unknown to them, will die. The money is useful, but life gets really complicated. An alien lifeform is invading the minds of people they know, and before they know it, they are subjects of a bizarre social experiment that demands and takes from them the ultimate sacrifice. Hair-raising and genuinely scary in parts, this is worth a watch for the noir-style exposition that all comes together at the end. Richard Kelly is the same man who directed Donnie Darko, remember?

11.5/20

Corn-y

What a twisted world we live in! Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon), family man and star performer of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), blows the lid off a global price fixing racket in lysine, in The Informant!. The same draws the attention of the FBI and together they literally bring the house down. And the movie takes off from there. With generous brushstrokes of noir, the lines between justice being served, and Mark Whitacre’s own relentless pursuit of the ADM corporate ladder become blurred. Things get even murkier as Whitacre is discovered to be on the take well into the investigation, a fact that may destroy the prosecution’s case in its entirety. The movie rounds off with a large sentence for Whitacre – justice served or denied? Well you need to decide for yourself, because director Steven Soderbergh (Oceans 11 to 13, Erin Brokovich, Solaris) wants you to make up your own mind in this dark comedy

14/20

The Arsonist

Here is a modern day top morality play, starring the yet-again wronged-in-respect-of-family Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler). But Law Abiding Citizen is over the top poetic justice! The two men who kill his family – and one of whom strikes a deal with the prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) to do in his partner, do not reckon with a “spy” having plotted and schemed their demises ten years later. After ensuring that the death row inmate does not die a painless death, he takes out the partner, with slowness and cruelty. The rampage continues, Philadelphia is brought to a halt, when will the cleansing of the system end and the rage subside? There are limitations to the extent to which this story has been carried, and even Gerard Butler appears unconvinced in parts about the extent of his actions. All part of the plot – or not?

10/20

Game On

Never never never underestimate Gerard Butler. In terms of the most recent “good to great” finds of Hollywood that need to replace a galaxy of stars that are past their fifties, Gerard Butler does himself little discredit and delivers another great action performance. Not a great character actor in the mold of say Christian Bale, this actor is a perfect compromise between the latter and say an all out action hero like Jason Statham. The plot of Gamer is hackneyed – death row inmates in a live television fight to the finish, a certain (and impossible) number of wins for a pardon. The protagonist does not fail to realize that he is not getting out the easy way, that there is too much at stake if he does. So he gets out the hard way, and with the help of some counter-culturists, gets back his family and ends the TV regime of the aptly named Slayers. Have fun, till the next meaningful Gerard Butler movie

13.0/20

An Unconvincing Love Triangle

The success of Ishqiya is Arshad Warsi to a great extent and Naseruddin Shah to a good extent. The failure of Ishqiya is Vidya Balan. What can you say of a movie in which pretty much everything except the central (female) protagonist came together, where I can imagine the frustration of the perfectly good scriptwriter, editors, cinematographers, etc al, when the central character appears somewhat disinterested in the goings-on. Now to the plot. Arshad Warsi and Naseruddin Shah are “freelance” crooks – needing to repay a large sum on threat of their lives, they flee to a kindred soul’s home in northern UP near Gorakhpur, finding instead his widow. The three hatch a plot to get their required money, while the two men lose no opportunity at one-upmanship in winning Vidya Balan’s attentions. A dramatic and somewhat inconclusive ending wraps up this passable fare, that could have been an Omkara if only the cast cared. For a debutant (Abhishek Chaubey) this is great directorial fare, though Vishal Bharadwaj as producer fails to take the movie to a different plane

10.5/20