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

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.

Cant believe I Watched This

If I were to sum up Funny Games in two words it would be unmitigatedly negative. Terrifying in its casual malice, the sequence of events shocks beyond the expectations of a rational audience. In some odd way this movie reminded me of Apocalypto – whatever can go wrong does – except that Apocalypto ends on a redemptive note while this movie simply leaves you staring and the credits and wondering what just happened. A blend of gorno (Saw, Hostel etc) and the traditional horror movie elements of isolation will leave you gasping at the end. If you know how this movie ends, you probably would not want to watch it. Naomi Watts anchors a difficult role, while Brady Corbet (Peter) and Michael Pitt (Paul) are creepy. Definitely not one for casual family viewing.

Half past Dead

A restless soul seeking to convey to the living her last moments. A woman in search of the truth. A man trying to escape a past. Shutter is predictable, but engaging. The Japanese horror genre has caught on well and this is a good example of a well-paced movie with a strong and unexpected twist near the end

Reality Radio

Good Morning Vietnam is largely classified as a "funny" movie. Apart from the humour in the dialogue, there is very little that is funny about the movie. This is an alternative take on Vietnam from the jungles and trenches, and shows a rapidly escalating conflict through the eyes of an observer who is mirthful, engaged and aware. What better way of bringing out the humanity of war than the fine line between friendship and terrorism, the impossibility of some relationships, and the simple poignancy of teaching baseball and colloquial English to a largely deadpan group of Vietnamese? The fact that there is so much concerted effort to suppress Adrian Cronauer's (Robin Williams) brand of humour only underscores the importance of his message. In a time when the world debates US engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, this is an important movie to watch and understand the simple realities of a zone of conflict.

Lie Low

In Body of Lies, Ridley Scott juxtaposes two faces of America in the War on Terror. The one, cold and aloof, ensconced in comfortable American suburbia. The other, tough and gritty as he is vulnerable, the man on the ground who has fallen in love with the Middle East. While movies like The Kingdom show the war on terror as a series of military actions, Body of Lies manages to capture the human touch of being in the Middle East and having to deal with Middle Easterners. One liners like “Nobody Likes the Middle East” and the potent understated argument against Americans linger long after the movie. For those who would like to know what America is really working on in terms of counter-terrorism in the Middle East, this is possibly the best movie yet. Di Caprio continues where he left off from in Blood Diamond and The Departed and puts in another sterling performance.

The Final Cut

With cult-ish overtones reminiscent of the likes of Pulp Fiction and Fight Club, Pathology profiles a set of deviants in white who bring new meaning to the adage “It is human instinct to kill”. The movie makes no concessions to gruesomeness and gore, and eventually shows a breakdown of reason as killing for achieving one’s desired ends becomes all too easy. I would call this an un-missable movie, but hold back for want of external affirmation, i.e, the utter absence of either critical or popular acclaim for this movie. Maybe they all got put off by the gore. Ha ha.

Mind Less

If you have missed any of the Naked Gun series, like I did Naked Gun 2 1/2 , you have missed out on some Hot Shots meets Police Academy style zany fun that is your right to savour. Mindless fare and good for more than a few laughs. Have fun

Trolls in NY (yawn)

I cannot and will not bring myself to say anything negative about Guillermo Del Toro. Like Peter Jackson, the man has achieved a lifetime of acclaim with Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage, and may well rest on his laurels for the rest of his living days. Hellboy II – The Golden Army liberally uses animal motifs, but in aggregate ends up missing out on both originality and believability. Perhaps it is the backdrop of New York that makes is so over-the-top. Troll gates below Brooklyn Bridge remind one of Harry Potter, while the Troll city itself appears like something out of Star Wars. More Star Wars – Attack of the Clones when the troll army rises. By the end of the movie, I am not sure what to believe. But again, a great movie!!!

Sinner or Saint?

Hoffa stars Jack Nicholson and Danny De Vito at their arsonist best. In times where the divide between labour and management was far wider and more un-bridged that it is now, it is hard to distinguish the business leader from the mafia, the union leader from the law-breaker and anarchist. In a day and age where rampant unionismis bringng down auto majors and sundry others in manufacturing America, the return to outright conflict with labour is a sobering thought

A Mind of Horror

A movie that starts as a horror flick and ends as a thriller, Identity has a motley crowd brought together by sheer chance to a remote motel. While you are speculation on who or which of them is bumping them off one by one in true Agatha Christie “And Then There Was None” style, the movie takes a sudden and unexpected turn. And while you are trying to make sense of the same, the movie again veers unexpectedly in the last one minute or so. A movie for a day when you wouldn’t mind the occasional jaw-dropping surprise or two.

The Truth is Out There in Shades of Gray

X Files - I Want to Believe is a brave movie that deviates from the paranormal routine. While it may alienate the die-hard fans of the franchise flocking the halls in droves for what once used to be their daily dose of being privy to sundry government cover-ups, as a standalone movie this one excels. There is a debate through the movie on stem cell research – the dark side of human trafficking and experimentation, and the healing power and potential of the very same research. There is the moral ambiguity of the prescient who can save lives but otherwise has had a very twisted past. This is a very human edition of the X Files rather than being simply a science fiction movie. Looking at the previous edition, the science fiction avatars would have had a limited shelf life anyway. And the ageing of Scully definitely does not help.

How not to do a Heist

Watching Quentin Tarantino movies in reverse has serious drawbacks. The template of quotable quotes, asynchronous retro music, and chapters in movies – it probably all started here. And what a start. A heist is committed. It goes all wrong. The men, none of whom are known to each other by their true identities, are looking for the mole in their midst. You can look at Reservoir Dogs as sheer human cruelty – a man bleeds to death, a policeman is almost set alight and eventually killed almost as an afterthought. In the end, there is a Western-style showdown, out of acrimony, and the movie is over. Another experiential Tarantino tale – over the top, mindblowing, unforgettable. A classic.

Minority Report II

America says – we like our sense of humor, thank you. And the problems of the world – well, don’t bring them here to our homestead. The great insularity turns upon itself, tale a good long laugh, in You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Over the top action and downright sleazy humour bring reminiscences of Harold And Kumar and Hot Shots Part Deux. This movie is fun to watch, but you will not leave the movie hall roaring with mirth. In its own way, it touches upon racial conflict, the unchecked might of corporate America, and the simple theme of following your dreams. These themes recur movie after movie because there are no easy answers to any of these.

Play it Again Donna!

I was singing on my way to Mamma Mia. I was singing for hours and hours after. The music is timely and brilliantly intertwined into, well, the musical. For us in crummy Mumbai, the elegance of opera is a far cry. But a good English movie with a high quality cast and great music is truly uplifting. Who would think that the dapper Pierce Brosnan used to be Bond till not too long ago? I guess the mantle of promiscuity went to Meryl Streep (Donna) here, hands down. And what fun it was.

Suspend Belief, Have popcorn and fun

Brendan Fraser is our new Indiana Jones, but in Fantasyland. What is striking about A Journey to the Center of the Earth is that a lot of bogus science is thrown in at the appropriate places to make the movie somewhat believable. There will apparently be a sequel to this, like for The Mummy. Good fun – watch this in 3D with the kids. One of those Use and Forget movies.

Difficult and Depressive

Some movies can be read as easily as a fifth standard textbook. Others are as tough to decipher as the most abstruse poetry. The Tenant is a Roman Polanski movie that perhaps does not have a single interpretation as to its meaning – and that is quite the pleasure of watching a movie such as this. Trelkovski is a perfectly normal, if slightly more sober than the rest, tenant, who moves into the apartment of a woman (Simone Choule) who has recently attempted suicide and is lying in a hospital. The superficial relationship between Trelkovski and Stella, the persecution (or persecution complex) of Trelkovski, and the descent into depression and suicide, and the scream of a dying man (or woman?), bring out the angst of the immigrant, stereotyped, persecuted and inevitably given less than his due.

End of Days

De Niro and Pacino come together after more than a decade (Heat) for the movie Righteous Kill. It is poignant to see the passing of two great stars – the dialogue does not quite carry the punch of yesteryears, and the ending is quite predictable and not much of a twist. Having said the above, the movie is still worth a watch – there is still fire in those old bones, and a good supporting cast make up for some of the ageing in the star attractions. Watch this for its own sake, but comparing it to the likes of Heat and other sundry classics could be disturbing.

A Lesser League

Is A League of Their Own a politically correct movie? Not quite – it goes over the top way beyond a reasonable level of depiction of gender prejudices – a near perpetually drunk Tom Hanks who can barely comprehend the progress of his team, and a talent scout (Jon Lovitz) who is not exactly your average role model as far as his dialogues and general predisposition towards the world at large is concerned. This is a feel good movie that takes more than a passing swing at the prejudices of the time even as it regales us with laughter and all the hackneyed positive elements of sports movies.

Journey of an Era

I watched The Motorcycle Diaries in fits and starts. Yes, that kind of does not allow for one strong lingering lasting feeling. Notwithstanding that, I would rate this movie as easily among the best I have ever seen. Several critics have apparently noted the "uneventfulness" of the movie. I think they could not miss the point more. At a very basic level, the movie fills you with a near-immediate urge to travel. Not out of an itinerary, but travel linked to your specific interests, travel that is all about improvization, travel that widens your horizons in whatever you take an interest in, be it love or leprosy. Then, the travel itself. The journey in the movie opens your eyes to South America in a different age, and the series of influences that could convert an average medical student to an unifying force for a continent. This movie should be made mandatory viewing for studying the "right" kind of influences towards having political aspirations. Somehow, the simple concerns of adequacy and safety when the journey begins, fade away into the distance, and the viewer is left with an experience and message of a lifetime.

Pretty, Quirky

Many of the elements of Quentin Tarantino's cult classic Pulp Fiction are to be found in say Kill Bill. The retro music, the quirky character portraits and disjointed engagements, the engaging dialogues - all combine to give a disengaged portrayal of a loosely connected sequence of events, acted out by unforgettable characters. The movie is a difficult one to judge, inasmuch as it probably defined a (limited) genre in itself. What makes it particularly stand out is the performances of the entire star cast - especially the (questionable) redemption of Samuel L Jackson, the "day in the life" of Bruce Willis, the chemistry between John Travolta and Uma Thurman, and the righteous anger of Ving Rhames. Does it all collectively make sense in the end? No, but that is not quite the point.