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/