Moving more than Real Estate Prices

Coming off the likes of The American and the Ides of March, George Clooney as the mild-mannered contemplative Matt King makes you shake your head in disbelief at the sheer breadth of his acting talent. While Matt and his cousins are inheritors of a huge fortune in Hawaii – 25,000 acres of land that the former is likely to sell off for a huge sum of money, Matt’s life is anything but picture-perfect. With deliberate incongruity against the backdrop of beautiful Hawaii, director Alexander Payne shows us Matt’s estranged daughters 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley), a comatose and terminally ill wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), and the overtones of a life full of myriad regrets. The Descendants is about reconnecting with family and friends, and with one’s own values, and coming to terms with one’s own failings – including coming to know that the terminally ill wife was in a relationship, and then vacillating in a whirlwind of emotions between hatred and eventually coming to terms. And that is what the movie is eventually about – coming to terms with one’s realities so that one can shoulder the responsibilities for one’s future. Eventually, this movie does not move the Hawaii real estate market, but will definitely move the viewer. Quite exceptional - the best movie I have seen in a while

16/20

Journey, Too

Vernians – fans of Jules Verne who believe in the Nautilius, the Mysterious Island, Atlantis and the like – have been squarely relegated to the children’s section of the action-adventure genre. Hank (Dwayne Johnson) and stepson Sean (Josh Hutcherson) share a terse relationship – and finally manage to find a connect by finding references to a mysterious island that links the works of no less than RL Stevenson, Jonathan Swift, and (of course) Jules Verne. With a hop step and jump to Pulau, with the blessings of mom Liz (Kristn Davis) of course, the duo find help in helicopter operator Gabato (Luis Guzman) and his delectable daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens). Journey 2 – The Mysterious Island - turns out to be a source of much death-defying adventure – all of it incredulous, and, after a point, none of it interesting. By the time the lot gets off the island, one may be faulted for thinking its not a moment too soon

10/20

Falling off, Falling Apart

Standing on a ledge in the Roosevelt Hotel and ostensibly about to plunge to his death, Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is a man hellbent on making a point. While the New York mob, hungry for entertainment, periodically cheers on, and the press collect their sound-bytes, Nick – a man wrongfully charged for a crime that he did not commit – is directing brother Joey (Jamie Cassidy) and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) to commit the very crime for which he was wrongfully imprisoned in the first place. Included in the cast of characters is negotiator Lydia (Elizabeth Banks) and her efforts at making sense of it all even as she tries to put her past track record behind, and businessman David Englander (Ed Harris), the man who was instrumental in sending Nick to prison in the first instance. Movies like Man on A Ledge only serve to show that actors of the caliber of Sam Worthington can hold a movie together in spite of a mediocre storyline

12/20

Lady Fighter

Beauty and.. er.. brawn mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano gets her first break into big-ticket Hollywood with Haywire. In a movie that is rather understated even as it carries the weight of an all-star cast and pans global locales, Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) recounts a mission where ex-boyfriend Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) sends her off to Barcelona, on a mission directed by US Government agent Coblenz (Michael Douglas) and his Spanish contact Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas) to rescue a man in Barcelona. The mission is not quite what it seems – and nor is Mallory's subsequent assignment to pose as the wife of MI6 agent Paul (Michael Fassbender) in Dublin. Mallory has to rely on her own wits and do her own fact-finding in a setup laden with multiple traps. And with the audience on her side, one hopes that she get the better of the nexus in the end. A well-paced introduction to a new action heroine, who will sharpen her thespian skills even as she can clearly hold centre-stage in a tightly scripted Steven Soderbergh thriller

14/20

Weed for All

So Harold (John Cho) is now an established investment banker, married into a rather mercurial Hispanic family with Mr Perez (Danny Trejo) for a father in law. And Kumar (Kal Penn) has not been with Harold for two long years. It takes a Christmas gift to bring them together. And – surprise, surprise, it takes a Christmas tree in flames to keep them together from there on. In the middle of it all, we have babies high on acid, a Neil Patrick Harris in his version of heaven, and a Santa shot down from the skies in the line of duty. And much more besides. While A very Harold and Kumar Christmas is no doubt a one-of-a-kind Christmas movie, and very watchable, in a series of three movies, this installment comes in a reasonably distant third

13/20

Dark City

Two budding American internet entrepreneurs – Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) - find themselves swindled of their business idea in Moscow. Frustrated and hanging out in a discotheque, they hook up with two female American tourists – Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor). Things begin to turn really strange at the discotheque, when a power surge takes out the lights. Certain strange electrical beings are descending from space, and annihilating the human race (yawn). What makes The Darkest Hour mildly interesting is the form (or lack of it) of the aliens, and the mildly interesting pseudoscience consisting of Faraday cages, microwave bursts and whatnot. Even as the last remnants of the human race fight back, this is a movie which barely leaves a trace as you leave the theatre
10.5/20

Monkey Business

Having a young one in the house keeps us in touch with old favorites. When the Hotel Majestic in New York has Lord Rutledge (Rupert Everett) and Dunston the trained-thief orang-utang over, the scene is set for hilarious escapades with a truly comic cast. Dunston and his young friend Kyle (Eric lloyd), son of hotel manager and late convert Robert Grant (Jason Alexander), must navigate a path around a quirky set of characters, particularly the authoritarian hotel heiress Mrs Dublow (Faye Dunaway), and not lose their heads – or their lives – while solving the ever-increasing list of strange goings-on at their majestic property. Needless to say, Dunston Checks In is an all-time favorite

14/20

Tucker and Dale vs Stupidity

Tucker and Dale Vs Evil is a truly unmemorable movie. Director Eli Craig wants to take a potshot at the urban myth of the slasher hillybilly, and the potshot leaves much gore in its wake. The movie begins innocuously enough somewhere in the Appalachians. Hillybilly protagonists Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Lable) run into a bunch of college kids at a gas station, and try to strike up a conversation, and the first signs of frat pack prejudice are all too clear. And when the duo rescue the fetching Allison (Katrina Bowden) from what was a potentially fatal diving accident, the incident precipitates a chain of events where most or all of the cast is accidentally killed, in incidents that are possibly intended to be hilarious. Eventually, this movie is one for the hillybilly, though not one that the latter may want to be associated with

9.5/20

Only as the Chinese Can

Shaolin is set in the early years of the Republic of China, when warlords ruled the provinces and people lived in abject terror. Warlord Hou Jie (Andy Lau) slays his enemy in a Shaolin temple, and schemes to kill sworn brother Song Hu. In a plot that goes horribly wrong, Hou Jie finds himself losing his most precious earthly possession of all – Shengnan (Xiaoliuna) - his daughter. Distraught, Hou Jie finds his way to a Shaolin temple and rescinds his martial life. Converting to a Shaolin monk, Hou Jie finds penance in alleviating some of the suffering that he and his ilk have caused to the populace. But the winds of change – mostly negative – upon the fledgling republic are too hard to bear. Taking the incredulous action sequences that are typical of the genre to a whole new level, Shaolin is a must-watch, with one caveat - the unabashed tragedy will leave the viewer somewhat depressed

14/20

Take it Out

The life of Joel (Jason Bateman) is one of running his humdrum Extract manufacturing and packaging business, with its excruciatingly boring workforce with their excruciatingly trivial problems, a drink with longtime buddy Dean (Ben Affleck), dealing with obnoxious neighbors, and the wife who has virtually shut off conjugal bliss. On the advice of the old pal, Joel lines himself up for one on the side with hot intern Cindy (Mila Kunis), while hooking his wife up with a gigolo Step (Clifton Collins Jr). With several comic turns, this rather simply concocted movie manages to maintain the atmospheric drabness endemic to the central product and its founder, while being a mild low-key entertainer

12/20

In Hell

Why are London-based hit-men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) stuck for two days in the cold medieval Belgian town of Bruges? They do not know, and neither does the audience. In the meantime, the architectural magnificence around him holds no charm for Ray, haunted as he is by his accidental murder of a child. What the duo do not know is kingpin Harry (Ralph Fiennes) has sent them to Bruges for a dark purpose, that will not be known till later. Against the backdrop of the beautiful and relatively unknown town, three cold-blooded murderers play out a dark comedy In Bruges. Hard-to-forget movie because of the deliberate incongruousness of it all

13.5/20

Spread Out

Contagion is a well-paced and largely gripping thriller on the spread of a highly contagious and lethal virus. The movie has one distinctive feature – somehow it manages to hold your attention in spite of every element in it being a cliché. A deadly disease that has its origins in livestock and wild animals in – where else – China. Finds its way to the top of the food chain, to none other than the travelling businesswoman Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her son, but miraculously skips husband Mitch (Matt Damon). Kills millions before the desperate search for a vaccine is finally successful, thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr Orantes (Marion Cottilard) and Dr Cheever (Lawrence Fishburne). In the meantime, notable martyrs include Dr Mears (Kate Winslet), the early health worker, tireless and felled by the disease in the line of duty. The one non-cliched character is the profiteering and rumor-mongering freelancer Alan (Jude Law) – about the only character in the movie who is not a rank stereotype. In the meantime, chew a few fingernails as director Soderbergh (Solaris, Ocean’s Eleven) spreads disease and paranoia all around

13.5/20

Far Below the Belt

Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), Junior Campaign Manager for the sitting Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney), for the Democrat Presidential primaries, learns to be beware of The Ides of March and much else besides. So what is Steve up against, really? For a start, Steve needs to understand the priorities of Senior Campaign Manager Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his respective right and wrong sides. And then there is the campaign manager on the other side – Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) and the latter’s machinations. Throw in a beautiful intern – Molly (Evan Rachel Wood) and her dark secrets, a single senator – Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright) who could be solely holding the key to the campaign, and cut-throat journalist Ida (Marisa Tomei), and Steve may be down to his very last card in surviving the political game. And no matter who the winners and losers are in this cat-and-mouse political game, what is certain through the movie is that Steve’s brand of passion and idealism will meet a terminal end

14.5/20

Monstrous, Relatively Speaking

In the not-too-distant future, the northern half of Mexico is cordoned off on account of an alien outbreak. While army patrols and enormous military defences struggle to “hold the line” as it were, photo-journalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) takes on an assignment to escort wealthy Samantha Wynden (Whitney Able) across to the safety of the United States. Post a river-boat journey followed by a convoy through the jungle, overnight, Andrew and Samantha find themselves the only survivors of an alien attack. As they make their way towards the safety of the US, certain facts of the ostensibly dangerous infestation never cease to amaze. Monsters is an interesting treatment on alien infestations, and brings noveau to a hackneyed genre

13/20

Shadows of the Mind

The first installment taught the audience to stick to deductive reasoning and not to be carried away by the (seemingly) occult. I am not sure what the second installment did, other than remind the audience of the theatrical elements so successfully used in the first installment. The predictive action sequences were hackneyed. The Europe-wide intrigue was anything but menacing. The incursion into Germany and chase sequences distinctly smelt steampunk way before WWI let alone WWII. In the end, we got a reasonably watchable thriller circa 1900, where the deductive reasoning element seemed to have headed to Brighton on holiday (or, case in point, shown in certain hurried sequences). Am not sure if Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows reeked of Cossacks, but it surely smacked of a light-touch and un-originality. And that too from Guy Ritchie. Tch

11.5/20

The Longest of leaps

The ever so predictable Adam Sandler deviates ever so slightly from the familiar canned humor to produce a surprisingly balanced movie in The Longest Yard. On the face of it, the script does not sound particularly exciting – Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler) the ex-football star, disgraced for shaving points in a big game, finds himself serving a three year prison sentence for theft and drunk driving. Riled by the domineering practices of the prison guards, Paul decides to make a football team out of the inmates that will be more than pushovers for the prison guards’ tune up game. With a small core team, and on the way, picks up a coach in Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds), and some valuable players on account of some personal bravado vis-à-vis the theatrically aggressive prison guards. And as the movie progresses towards the predictable climax in the nature of all sports movies, you realize that this is one movie that does balance humor, and old-fashioned inspiration, rather well

13/20

Change the Game

It takes a lot of conviction to bring a new technique – in this case, hardcode quantitative analysis to major league baseball – and then to stick by it. And what does “sticking by” really entail? Well, for a start, being a one-man proponent of a technique that requires the coach replaced, and many star players traded out for unknowns or perceived also-rans. It also means taking hard decisions all too often. So when Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) takes on the unenviable task of resurrecting the Oakland A’s, in the capacity of General Manager, his odds, to say the least, are pretty limited. And, in the tradition of sports movies, Billy makes something significant of that nothing – in his words, he makes a difference and leaves his very own indelible mark on the game – Moneyball. While the movie is generally tipped to go the way of the likes of The Blind Side and Invictus come Oscar night, unlike these predecessors, Moneyball does require a baseball gene to be appreciated, and does not resound with universal appeal

12/20

No one in Nome

For those not on a weekly diet of spooky movies, The Fourth Kind is reasonably creepy – i.e. reasonable enough to qualify as a science fiction horror movie without further qualification, while not quite spooky enough to make hairs stand on end, especially on a 21 inch screen. The premise is simple enough. A mockumentary (in the style of the Blair Witch Project) shows one Dr Abigail Tyler (Charlotte Milchard, and her younger avatar, Milla Jovovich) being interviewed on television, recounting her research into unexplained disappearances in Nome, Alaska. The movie weaves its way through pseudo-real footage, ancient languages (Sumerian!) making inexplicable appearances in Nome, and other reasonably copybook alien abduction routine. However, where the movie succeeds is (as mentioned earlier, if you are not brought up on a one-horror-movie-a-day routine) showing some disturbing footage that appears real, and makes you mildly curious about the strange goings-on in remote Alaskan towns

11/20

Blaze a Trail

In a movie that bears little resemblance to the eponymous TV series, Burn Notice – The Fall of Sam Axe finds US Marine Commander Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) shipped off to a dangerous mission in the jungles of Colombia. However, his mission to unearth the dangerous guerilla group Espada Ardiente (The Flaming Sword) does not quite lead to expected outcomes? How above-board is the outfit that he is working with? And how much of a terrorist group is the Flaming Sword, actually? While the skeletons tumble out of the closet one after another, the admittedly low-intensity action keeps the movie humming along. Truly unremarkable, even in respect of the surprises, and only redeemed by the periodic mild comic turns brought in by Sam Axe

10/20

Puncturing Lives

A needle stick is a regular occurrence across US hospitals – health workers getting accidentally pricked with patient needles – and diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis B spreading as a result. In addition, continued use of plastic, as opposed to glass, syringes, meant that re-use without sterilization was also leading to a large number of needless deaths especially in the poorer countries. So when Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) and Paul Danziger (Mark Kassen) and their small Texas-based personal-liability focused law firm take up the cause of scientist Jefferey Dancort (Marshall Bell) and his safety needle, their case, at the outset, seems to be quite in the clear. What the duo and their client have not reckoned with are the brute forces of the organized healthcare industry, and their deep reach into both the political and legal systems. With their law firm virtually on the brink of bankruptcy, and a somewhat wearied Paul increasingly pitted against an unrelenting Mike, does the duo actually manage to pull off a David-vs-Goliath? Post The Lincoln Lawyer, Puncture is the best law movie that I have come across, and in the nature of those (movies) that suffer without an exalted cast and special effects, vastly under-rated

14/20