An Equal Music

I am not particularly a fan of romantic movies, but the combination of Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, albeit neither at their best, makes for a particularly heady combination that makes you want to forget your ghosts of the past, make great music like they did in the old days, write very well – so well that others sing the stuff, and fall in love – all at the same time, in Music and Lyrics. And since none of the above activities could possibly harm – not at least the first three anyway (!) – this movie is a petit indulgence that you should not deny yourself. Karmic Cora, a take on the pop icons of today, does not hurt in her smoldering sexuality with a heart of gold. Just the right entrée for a romantic movie – a modern-day success who is nice, even. Indeed.

Good Transport

Jason Statham will never be a James Bond. Thankfully he is not trying to be yet – at least not too much. There is too much “establishment”, too much large scale intrigue and political undertone in Transporter 3 to attribute the same to a mere amoral “transporter”. Like the previous editions thie pace is relentless. The bond between the man and the car that cannot be broken makes parts of the movie tantalizing. And we did not miss Audi trashing the Merc down a cliff and surviving multiple challenges in what was not so subtle surrogate advertising. Yes, a Russian damsel in distress, the French countryside, good food (at least a lot of talk of it) and the pace make it a value for money movie, and the franchise definitely survives to move on to a fourth edition

And the Point of the Movie is..

There is no doubt that the advent of technology in cinema is making remakes of cult classics irresistible. However, sometimes the point of making a remake, as in the case of The Day the Earth Stood Still, is hard to understand. This is about aliens that want to warn us against the perils of environmental degradation. Hard to discern for example why a seventy year old resident would miss the conclusion about the UN not quite being the forum for speaking to the leaders of the world. The nanoworms bit was delicious, but other than that there is very little gong for this movie sixty years on. If you are concerned about man and his impact on the environment, watch a dystopian movie like Children of Men and feel duly scared

Another Scam War

John Cusack, no stranger to quirky roles, is an over-the-top assassin in an imaginary country in Central Asia, in War Inc. The country is the next large market for the largest gun-running corporation in the world. There are seductive Middle Eastern songstresses and aggressive journalists, and other sundry strange characters – but one cannot help wondering whether the makers of the movie mixed up central Asia and the Middle East respectively. These would be about as distant geographically as say Alaska and California. Now only if the average American could find those on a map.

Dig this Onion
You like the site. You like the videos. Most of all you like the fact that it is all free – at least for now. You will love this movie. Like the site, the movie spares no one in its inscrutable style. Enjoy. I hope they make an encore of The Onion Movie

Pelican Speed

The Pelican Brief, unlike the other Grisham movies, is more of a thriller in the Ludlum-Forsyth genre inasmuch it does not rely on courtroom sparring as its focal point, but intrigue at the highest level. Julia Roberts underplays her thespian talents to be part smart law student part damsel in distress. The anti-establishment strain runs strong throughout the movie, and this is more entertainment than legal intrigue.

The last few movies reviewed herein have been John Grisham movies. In retrospect, the novels and movie adaptations of John Grisham have one commonality – the Memphis southern town with its issues of racial prejudice, distance from the power centers of the American north, and simplicity. None of the world headline grabbing Enron Worldcom style glamorous giant litigation here. This is the practice of law with a heart. And the last bit is what distances Grisham books and novels, however gripping, from the “lawyer joke” reality that lawyers actually are.

The Lobby

The Runaway Jury covers the science and scheming behind professional lobbying in America. The gun lobby with its vast resources versus a single widow fighting for her right to justice. The story of John Cusack and Rachel Weisz is a bit of over-the-top idealism, but this movie unlike the former two reviewed here should be treated purely as entertainment perhaps a shade more than the others. The right to bear arms for self defence and for sport is supported even by Obama – and that means a 5 year lease of life at least! And not quite as slam dunk an argument as rejected insurance claims, or racism.

A Time for Friends

With strong overtones of To Kill a Mockingbird, A Time to Kill shows how little has changed In America in fifty years (or has it?) White supremacists still walk free, the racial debate is still the subject of angry politics, and the relationship between the black man and the white man strained at best. The relationship between Matthew McConnaughey and Samuel L Jackson is the highlight of the movie – terse, quiet, the latter never believing in the former’s empathy, the former always on the back foot in establishing himself as a legitimate “white” lawyer for a black man. The summation scene lacks the intensity of most Grisham adaptations

Rookie Rainmaking

Matt Damon gives an understated and brilliant performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker. A human story, the rookie gets attached to the life stories of each of his 3 clients – a woman writing a will to ingrate children, a victim of domestic violence to whom he becomes romantically attached, and the pivotal case – a son that is denied an insurance claim and dies of leukemia. The appeal of the movie, as well as perhaps its drawback, lies in its simplicity – all black and white with no shades of gray. The protagonist and rainmaker eschews stardom to fulfil his obligations to those towards whom he has become attached. Like the stories of John Grisham, this one too makes you want to jump out of your hum-ho existence skin and become a lawyer who does not lose his moral compass in “lawyer jokes” America

With Malice towards One

Bill Pullman plays the aggrieved husband in Malice, whose cup of woe keeps running over till he figures out exactly what are the forces shaping his life. The approach of the storyline is strange – the initial mysteries becoming almost an oversight and getting solved in an unexpected and not particularly interesting direction, while the main story develops into something else altogether. Nicole Kidman’s performance makes this movie worthwhile – tramscending from a wronged wife, to something else altogether, vehement, and with a brimful of malice

Max Wahlberg

Max Payne offers little original amidst a plethora of big screen adaptations of popular animated characters and games. These are interesting times in Mumbai (the siege of the Taj ended yessterday) - the themes that stick in one's mind are clearly that of individual courage, loss of family and of course the ubiquitous floors of scyscrapers exploding and burning. Perhaps not the best of times to review a movie, or watch one in a hall - cant remember the last time when I saw less than twenty people in a Sunday evening primetime movie. To continue, Mark Wahlberg exudes character as always and brings his force of personality to bear on an otherwise hackneyed plot of catharsis and revenge in a Batman meets V is for Vendetta like dark urban milieu. Kudos to John Moore (Flight of the Phoenix, Behind Enemy Lines) for some really smart cinematography.

Chronic Persistent Hunger

Ambition drives men to suceess but very few know where to draw the line. In Woody Allen’s Match Point, Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) does not know where the line is, paradoxically for a successful tennis player. Lust and betrayal draw him from the very edge of success and fortune to a terminal outcome. Not quite game set and match. A strong drama but with the exception of the lead, the performances are not convincing

Game Cars

Another game adaptation, Death Race locks hardened criminals on an island in a gladiatorial car chase combat. The movie would have been quite intolerable except for decent performances by Jason Statham and Joan Allen. Not a movie to proactively go out and seek unless it, well, comes and hits you much like the cars here

Moneyed Family
Nicolas Cage perhaps finds it more difficult to portray an investment banker than A Family Man. And therein lies a tale. The conflict was all too real, the first part of the movie unconvincing. No, Nicholas Cage does not come across as a man who works through 13 barren years and Christmas Day with nary a whimper. While a pleasant movie as movies go, herein lies its big failure – the protagonist does not transcend both roles - investment banker and family man - equally convincingly. Not quite a great movie

Banker Jeykll and Hyde

In American Psycho, Christian Bale shows early promise that for some reason went into limbo for half a decade. A close adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel, it shows an investment banker’s continuous struggle with himself to eliminate the demons within that have zero tolerance for failure, lack of refinement, tolerance for the success of others. The ending is one of the most tantalizing I have seen on film – were the ghosts real or of the mind? Unilke say Wall Street or Boiler Room this is not a movie that has anything to do with the world of finance per se. Perhaps the leitmotif is – we all hate various aspects of our lives – do we hate them enough to destroy them at any cost? An intriguing book and movie, as they are gory

Planet Eccentric
It is difficult to comprehend a movie that is eccentric even by Quentin Tarantino/ Robert Rodriguez standards. Planet Terror makes the cut and more. Suffice to say that you would not have seen a movie that is anything like this. Part Resident Evil style action cameos, part Harold and Kumar meets Zohan style incongruous humour, you will never know what to expect next in this movie. It would all be very amusing if it was not, in addition, so in-your-face gross as well. After watching this movie, it would really be difficult to take any zombie movie seriously. Not that any of us ever did.

The Eagle hasn’t Landed

America is threatened by terrorism and this time the threat emanates from within its own borders. Part science fiction and part action flick, Eagle Eye delivers. The movie is fast paced and that takes care of the fact that it is barely believable, because you will not pause to think. Shia LaBeouf does not hurt his progression as one of the rising stars of Hollywood, while not accreting much to the same either. There are remarkable moments but on the whole the extent of power attributed to Eagle Eye is a little over the top. Good entertainment

Can you Keep a Secret?

Jon Voight’s moment of triumph in The Odessa File is the beads of sweat as Herr Kolb works at a (short-lived) infiltration of the ODESSA. An old style tale of intrigue, and the second of my day since Quantum of Solace, this is investigative journalism sixties style ie, with all the intensity but sans the glamour. A truly talented actor and easy to see the reasons for the sustained long career

Lend me your Ears

Eccentric but engaging, Noise takes a man’s fight against the urban menace through an illogical path to an acceptable end. This is a twisted vigilante role that steers between self-remonstrance, provocation, action and then brushes with the law and collapse of family. The remarks on Hegel, sex and promiscuity make this a movie about free will and personal space rather than a limited movie on individual activism. And on the activism – yes, our man does work the court to a positive outcome on his pet peeve. So there.

Quantum of Entertainment

The James Bond movie is measured to a near impossible benchmark. Literally anything could kill the next installment – too much violence or too little, plot too weak or too abstruse, the lead too stiff or too much swagger, too little that is new or too far from the traditional Bond elements. Thankfully, Quantum of Solace, like Casino Royale and unlike the Brosnan editions, does not look like a directorial tightrope trying to manage all these elements. The story is predictable but taut and watchable. The villains are malicious without being over the top. The women are attractive without being come hither. There are two elements of the movie that I could not help noticing. First, Americans being portrayed as outright villains, which is rare. Second, the Bond girl simply takes his leave and them parting ways somewhat Western-style and not Bond-style. This is a good movie in its own right, and as long as you stop running comparatives in your head in the theater, you will do all right.