"Bottle Shock" (2008) - Movie Review

Any art form suffers from an ego of the talent for its uniqueness and mainly an arrogance of monopoly claiming himself/herself/themselves the victorious of it. Doubting their talent is not the issue it poses. It is the blockage to any more good talent. Marking a territory within a small area makes them feel good being the single creator patting their back as the best. When it takes a more common form of collectiveness, it becomes a region, country, cult or anything which suits the purpose being the best. In “Bottle Shock” we see it was the case when in the 70s French wine were universally the only place for wine. Anything else from across the globe was discarded and considered a sin of standing together with the line of the elitist mode of French wine. Thank god it does not happen that much for films.

There is British wine expert Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) residing his shop in Paris and very much is confirmed living on a heaven of wines and there are no other possible tasting wine to match it. But he also needs to run a business which is only gets occupied by his neighbour American business owner Maurice (Dennis Farina) who does not stop on the possible chance for American wines making it up for French. Steven being a British is about class and as he puts it, sophistication. In the meanwhile there are the acres of vineyard with one of them being managed by Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman). He has his hippie son Bo (Chris Pine) and his buddy Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez) working for him. He is broke and he lays all his chances on his coming wine which he is detailing it to perfection, mounting immaculate to its place of origin.

Now you see what is happening, Steven and Jim collaborate to popularize the trend of wines, right? Not really. “Bottle Shock” is a mellow play without any signs of an effort to be great or even good. It allows its characters to develop and thankfully denies having plots for manipulating the script or the characters. There is the new hot throb in the form of intern Sam (Rachael Taylor) who of course is in the middle of these two young men but how subtle and peachy it is handled with ease is comforting. It of course ends in a “sports” film fashion because it has to and it did in real life. The melodramatic effects are eliminated and drama in its texture of a real life over the screen is maintained.

“Bottle Shock” intends to say is more than a single wine making it out there amongst the class of wine experts. It has Pullman and Rickman actually becoming a stereotype of their country. Pullman being the hard working American who does not stand to take an opinion from British who come all classy and down on the level of wines. Rickman of course has no tough time being the English. His compliments are the most egotistical and convincing a recipient of it might feel. But on the outside it gives that predominance and in reality it is the same road both the characters side on. While Jim says to Steven that he is limiting himself in this opinion, he himself does not come down when he has to make compromises and mainly a second chance. It is this thing which holds the scenes of Rickman and Pullman on a higher note than many other scenes.

A film becomes good when you sit through without restlessness and while not getting involved with the character, you still like to see how they are going to be. A great film though gets you involved and completely gets in the emotions and often putting the audience in the character’s position. “Bottle Shock” is a soothing good film where the characters are there for a reason and claim their place. It does not aim for high skies and yet it has the clarity in its story telling clear and mainly concise.

But “Bottle Shock” indeed has to be the way it has been said. Dramatizing it more would have only ruined. Avoidance of the film “Sideways” when a film involves a wine is near to impossible. Both the films have their central characters passionate for wine and connect them in the drama. What is noticeable in both the films are the handling of details yet not sidestepping the non-wine appreciators. It is no denial that wine enthusiasts will admire both the films a bit more than the regulars but it is the expressions and emotions for the drink through the characters which reels the real film. And “Bottle Shock” does that as smooth and sumptuous as the drink would do.

"Tropic Thunder" (2008) - Movie Review

What run where the actors face and what happens beyond the boundaries of the screen has been a territory for shady glamour and glorified disasters as how the most of the entertainment industry itself depicts it. It has taken predominantly as a dark satire and “Tropic Thunder” not alone succeeds in it but also has characters within characters making sense than as spoof props. While self centered actors have been a known phenomenon, Robert Downey Jr. plays a dedicated method actor Kirk Lazarus with the sharpness he exhibited in “Iron Man”. He is so good in fitting a confident, adamant and authoritative character that he demands a respect and fear on audience. And how much more funny that can be.

The film follows a crew filming three big stars in a Vietnam War film. An action hero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) declining in his status after a failed box office film portraying a mentally challenged person as a chance of appealing to the critics has his hopes tied up on this film. His counter part Kirk, an Australian actor is full on in dominating him. Kirk is a zealous method actor who went through a medical procedure to portray an African American. The third wheel is Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) an unstable comedian. Along with them is a young upcoming rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and a dedicated geeky actor Kevin (Jay Baruchel) who is the only man with no issues. The film within the film’s director Damien (Steve Coogan) decides to put them in real jungle on the advice of the Vietnam veteran “Four Leaf” (Nick Nolte) only to be amongst the biggest drug lords.

Ben Stiller also directing the film marches confidently on satire with a sharp eye for seriousness with a great set of actors for the comedy. It does not spoof the war film and definitely does not to be those regular spoofs trying to mimic and fall flat. Instead it has performances buried under those funny faces. When one watches a drama film there is all the strain to follow the wrinkled emotions of an actor which nevertheless is a feat to pull off but in a comic film laughing lightens and dampens those performances under it. As always and as I have many times said, comic film performances and mainly films as such do not get credited as it supposed to. And in a film like “Tropic Thunder” it is paramount and anchors a script dependent on them.

What can be made about “Tropic Thunder”? What are the surprises it has to offer? For one is that we see a Tom Cruise let alone one could possibly have seen but never been imagined. Cruise playing an entertainment mogul does not express fun doing it but the exercising performance tells that he worked for a cameo so hard and it is hands down rioting. And add Mathew McConaughey to the list to get hard laid cameo casting done to perfection.

A mind seeing a film and especially one like mine which has laboriously watches one too many of them of course enjoying it will try to categorize. Categorize into existing and if not creating one. Every time a film comes and teaches it to not do it since it not alone circles the thought but also has a muddles the mind to pen down a review in my case. “Tropic Thunder” is one of those and I have a long way to go. In a comedy there are bland gaps in between laugh out loud moments. Those are considered inevitable and based on the scale of comic moments it gets the forgiveness. Hardly films make it through without one and it especially happens in the end. “The 40 Year Old Virgin”, “Knocked Up” and many other go through it as part of the process. While “Tropic Thunder” does not line up as the greatest comic film it does not go through those gaps either.

The art of film is a genuine work of team and an art made by a team amongst the politics of corporation, finance, ego and lot of external factors takes a breath to acknowledge it. The process which I can only imagine is an ordeal capable of faltering every step through it. “Tropic Thunder” cuts one part of it to make a funny film. Recently I saw comedy series called “Action” which ran one season a long time back. It had Jay Mohr as a producer trying hard to make his next film complete and mainly a box office. It is devilishly darkly comic in giving a Hollywood to wince at. This offers the same only that you do not wince much.

In the film “Knocked Up” the character of Paul Rudd says that life is an unfunny version of the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Any sitcom can be substituted for that with the relationship or work in place of life. “Tropic Thunder” can be vice versa-ed on it. It is a funny version of a completely serious film industry.

"Chennai 600028" (Language - Tamil) (2007) - Movie Review

More than the international game of cricket, the nativity and zeal come in for street or gully cricket. The competition in a child or a grown up child are imminent when it comes to the game of cricket. While Aamir Khan went to the roots of fiction through period in “Lagaan”, this form of cricket which originates with rules of getting out if some one hits on the window of a neighbour is where director Venkat Prabhu has found “Chennai 600028”. The cricket played in the film is a little above gully cricket and grounds below the professional cricket. Asides the rival nature among teams, this form is cornerstone for comedy because end of day it becomes a fun game mingling among the obsession of winning.

As the title says the pin code area for Visalakshi Thottam in the city of Chennai is the “Sharks” trying hard to win their arch nemesis “Rockers” from Raayapuram. With a year left for the grand gala tournament which Sharks have always lost to Rockers, we see the lives of these young men with a fun very new to the tamil films and an unnecessary drama and romance sequences routine for the same film industry. But even after a forty five minutes of a compromise made by the director for the term of “commercial” running among the film makers in the industry for years and years, it is a film made of comedy effortless but effective in its execution.

The film builds up on the characters which can be identified by almost every one who has played gully cricket in India. And those are every one. It has the funny guy who is poor in fielding, a confident batsman overconfident in his attitude and many other elements which would float around the memory lanes of the streets we have grown up. Even among the breaking of glass windows, the people in the neighbourhood represent themselves through their children in these games. Especially when it comes to the clash of teams, the anger becomes pride to support and cheer for their kids. And among those always lives a middle aged man Manohar (Ilavarasu) using his authority of age over the youngsters for a chance to play which he never was able to in his old times. These people become the symbol of a neighbourhood in pure aspect of cricket.

If Venkat Prabhu had the option of using sepia colour tone all through the film, then he would have relished that opportunity, but the duty of presentation withheld him from the very minimal scenes he decided to use normal tone of colour. While it suited the songs and some shots, a considerate decision of it would have spared eye strain a lot. The film’s sub plots of whatever (for lack of better term) are the “love” and “friendship” sequences in the middle holding the banner of “entertainment”. But if some one can had a hard time composing back ground score for a comedy film that had to be Yuvan Shankar Raja who in the thought of adding the mood for a joke spoils it with his score overacting. The songs while survives its tenure does not linger long enough for a repeat play except of course a jolly song “Jalsa” which has been choreographed playfully and cheerfully.

End of everything is how the tight rope walk of parody and simplicity in the humour the team brings in which makes it a good fun ride. In the initial hour of the film, it is all over the screen of how much the director had a passion for fun than for the making. In those honest moments it transpired that into a film of passion. The characters that bring those deliver it with the same sense of accomplishment but astonishingly go back into a bad acting in the next scene of drama. Hence the level of liking is a sinusoidal wave which evens out in the end.

In tamil film industry “attempts” are considered great than a good film. I have talked about the automatic forgiveness to a film compromising it for business factors but the current term for it is the “attempt” I have mentioned. “Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi” if not a good movie is a good attempt and for that people flag it high and proud. “Chennai 600028” is a good attempt and contrary to “Imsai Arasan…”, it is genuinely good movie only that it takes a tough route. As many say about Indian Cricket team and the character of Manohar says in the film, “Easy aah win panna vendiya match aah, kadaisi varaikkum vetti kku izhuthu jeyichaanuga”, which means “A game which should have been won quite easily was stretched unnecessarily till the end”, it runs for “Chennai 600028” too.

"The Siege" (1998) - Movie Review

“The Siege” is the film which is hard to forget personally. Not because of its movie making but seeing it at home in India right before the September 11 attacks and unknown about the disaster, myself and my brother were thinking how terrifying it would be to have army in the city. After seven years, as a film it remains as one overly Hollywood-ized under the shady lights of true events forming a plot. It is not thrilling as it is meant to be and it sparsely gets up to talk about the rights which of course are amplified strong enough by the power voice of Denzel Washington as FBI Agent Anthony Hubbard.

New York City is put in complete disarray and chaos by series of bombs starting off with a tricky prank in a bus blowing blue paint with no casualties mounting up to bringing down the FBI head quarters to ground. Watching the blasts and after math was unsettling considering the reality which happened later. The investigation and the crooked display of how it is been handled by the fictional government is the film which falters way beyond than I remember viewed seven years by me in bits and pieces. Bruce Willis as Major William Devereaux wears a constant smirk of patriotic stupidity and the uptight conversations delivered as an exercise than from a character. Does military personnel are devoid of sense of humour or a slight smile on their face even in the mildest conversation involving work? How do they get by without smiling or a piece of compassion to their fellow mates or country men? If Arab Americans are told to be depicted as stereotypes, then Devereaux is a stereotype Hollywood military General whom no one likes.

There are crucial scenes which have made a mark on me and one of those will be Washington astonished by the simplified discussion of torture techniques Devereaux contemplates on exercising over a prisoner clearly deemed as innocent. It loses its moment right after it when a gun shot is heard as soon as Washington walks out the door. Why would they kill if they want to extract information? It is clearly a shot made for an effect of the blunder the army does in the name of saving lives. Unfortunately it is more ridiculous than it sounds when looked on the screen.

The film focuses on three faces comprising defense, offense and covert operations of United States government being the FBI, Army and CIA. Introducing herself as Elise comes Annette Benning who obviously seems to know more than Washington and less to reveal to any one including herself on the horrendous gullibility of her improper trust. Of course there is a back story for her behaviour which comes way too late than it should have been. What “The Siege” ignites though is the pre and post 9/11 followed by a war and how much it had which the current films on post 9/11 tries to tell. And the information and emotions are used off hand in a serious compromise for thrill.

Director Edward Zwick’s film has a pattern which seems to be predominant. It has the Hollywood action glorification with a perspective on issues really on hand. It is a flimsy side to go through as the compromise is critical. The art of balancing has been exemplified in many of his films and muddled in few films too. “The Siege” falls in the latter. The symbols of the polished cut out characters are too dramatic and procedural which puts doubt on the level of commitment Zwick had in talking about the problems of fear and discrimination.

I have believed that this film was good. The impact of the army people with equipments on the streets of New York City brought lot of questions and considerations during that time. It got written hard enough by the tragedy that followed the day. I watched it merely to see how it appeals now and it was not nearly as good or thought provoking as I used to think. Zwick’s “Glory” had problem of losing its charm in unnecessary dramatization. “The Siege” is no different.

Its about time !

As many might have been wondering already (with lots of hopes of course!), that this space is not getting updated at all for quite some time now and it is time for some explanation and a possible sleep mode till I get space to view some movies. Most of my friends might know and the readers of the review “The Dark Knight” might have noticed that I am in India right now under the wings of mom, dad, brother, his wife and mainly the king of all, my nephew. He is about to complete his 6 months in becoming and advancing the realm of cutest baby as it would run for any one who see a baby in their family. Hence you can understand it is not the matter of being hands full but the slightest sensation of disturbance for regular naps of the little emperor. But even beyond that are the soap operas at critical time of 9:30 PM to align my brother to view films I have brought on, it is more of family time too.

But that should not stop me from posting or even writing something, yet there are some conditions laid upon to open this laptop too (and a fairly deteriorating one). I believe to have surpassed jet lag but a tooth extraction yesterday has done craziness to the routine which I thought have mastered in 5 days and that makes this post to be typed around 5:02 AM Indian Standard Time.

Anyways, while I strongly feel lot of guilt in not quenching the film spree and writing about it, I eat amazing foods home made with unexplainable taste quality like Remy does in “Ratatouille”. My mom does it with such simplicity and consistency that it simply blows the senses out of this world. Truly an enthralling treats for the demised taste buds eating the great cuisines of subway, early morning break fast restaurants, drunk foods (sparsely), taco bell (Instant guilty pleasure and punishment by the time reach my home) and finally the deadliest of all, my own.

Of course, I still get complaints on not considerably dedicating “family” time which I sadly have to admit that I need to put effort upon in the midst of uneven sleeping and going outside to meet a friend and with my brother too. Week One is already over and it is running great and at the same time fast. In the meantime, I managed to make my brother sit and watch “Once” which he liked. Hopefully I am able to sneak him out along with Mathi to view “The Dark Knight”.

In the couple of days, I have been thinking a lot about films and how they make such a mark on many of us and especially it ignites a passion in me. Clearly I have transferred on to a level of taste, tolerance and appreciation for any kind of films. And more than that is the obsession I have created in the past one and half years. In fact I have kind of become a “film viewing Nazi” in “Seinfeld” term. I have come to get annoyed by any small interruption, whoever it might be. Of course it goes inside as frustration than anger; I still wish and love to watch films with the people who I want to discuss that with. It is contradictory as it seems but it is the pure pleasure of appreciating films as such. I have been planning to do that with my brother Barath and of course Mathi which seems to appear bleaker and bleaker. Yet, hope is there and wish I could capture those discussions in this space and relish with you all.

Again, I am terribly sorry if some of you have visited/is visiting this space with the expectation I have set in frequency of postings (I cannot be desperate than this). I will try to make up after returning. It is going to be a special agenda which would trump many other important appointments (actually there are none). I would obviously try to post one or two reviews by the time of return to keep this blog alive. Till then, keep your fingers crossed because I might just surprise you with sporadic postings.

"The Dark Knight" (2008) - Movie Review

I am sitting at my home waiting for a friend to pick me up and drop to the airport in Chicago. Yes, I am leaving to India for a month vacation and I booked ticket July 19th than a convenient Friday July 18th just to see “The Dark Knight”. Such has the personal attachment to this film’s predecessor “Batman Begins” that amongst the dubious looks and curses from fellow colleagues, I watched it in a busy Saturday morning. While I was already biased, the early reviews made it even more one sided praising the film far beyond than the hype it produced. Instead of going on a Friday, I went today morning easing down the expectations but still the fairness disturbed. And I would say it is more complex than I thought and definitely good but is it a great movie or does it surpasses its origin “Batman Begins”? As the film’s content, the stand on this is complex too. When I finish, I should have a fair answer.

This is as serious a batman or for that case a super hero film gets but that is the feeling I had for “Batman Begins” and hence who knows what would be the next installment get into. It has multilayered storylines with multifaceted characters running deeper than the darkness and as we are entering the sick minded personality of The Joker (Heath Ledger) and into the tired millionaire and a vigilante Bruce Wayne with his Batman (Christian Bale) seeking passion for his righteousness, we are in a state of stalemate to take sides. The mind game and the perspective of these two individuals clashes on many philosophical, ethical and moral levels of social existence that disturbs the realm of right and tips us to look the demons in us. It starts off a year after the first one finishes and begins with the machinations by this scarred face freak to loot a bank carried out with easy betrayals and pleasure killings. In the meanwhile people did get inspired by the iconic status of Batman through his goodness but it has only produced copycats than real do-gooders. Along with Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman), Batman is fighting crime and their new figure of hope is Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who is dating the lady love of Wayne, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes).

So what does Joker want? Does he want money or his zealous for chaos? Heath Ledger is a brilliant actor for which his “Brokeback Mountain” solely brought upon and while many speculate his posthumous Oscar award for the psychopathic Joker, I am indifferent to it. But it is a performance which has evidence of the character extracting a lot of emotional energy unlike the character itself void of any empathy. In Joker he gives a man suffered so much from a society through the formulation of family which has failed to act according igniting his mind in menace. His pleasure of violence is disturbing for its meticulous planning even though he claims he does as he goes by. It is the step by step approach in moving people as his puppet and booby traps in the most unexpected manner. He talks with the mob boss and in his creepy facial make up; he brings the scare of their life time in people doing business of crime as their back yard dart game. This is a performance to remember of this late actor.

In “Batman Begins” there were cartoonish elements in certain stunts and in philosophical front but this shows a year matured Bruce Wayne struggling to find what he stands for and how much he needs to endure to sustain that passion. He is crossed in the love for Rachel and his hope of Gotham City no more in need of Batman for him to return to his regular life seems dreamy and delusional. His denial becomes a false hope and that drives him mad. In this madness comes the pundit of chaos and anarchy. As Bruce thrives to stand for his principles which is to make Gotham a crime free city, Joker would torture his life for the principles too which are destructive anarchy and to be the reigning king of that society, strangely ironical.

“The Dark Knight” is no more about Batman alone but the characters which moulds him and get painted by the actions of him in a society mimicking a behaviour pattern predicted close to perfection. And in Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman it has a cast which has not alone belief in this comic man but a dedication in absorbing the realism out of it. Christopher Nolan in bringing them together and putting them in places unpredictable yet immaculate with an approach only other super hero movies surfaced is a class of its own.

When I was watching, the affection I have created was in the air enjoying this sight of those nuances in the costume details, history, and complexity of the characters and the outlook of the life emerging out of this comic book hero. And the movie where it gives the illusion of the ending comes up further more not boring or for demanding action but a completion much more in sculpting this story.

I started writing the review at my home in Peoria and now finishing it in Airport waiting to board. When I came out of the movie hall, I was damn sure having seen a good movie but the cloud of doubts and bias mounted because I wanted to love this film. It sure was supposed to be good is how I entered the cinema hall. In the intensity of the film going webs and webs and layers and layers of story and character details, I was blasted with a seriousness surplus in abundance than expected. Hence the process of digesting began as I came out. In these past four to five hours, thinking and rethinking about Batman, Joker, Harvey Dent and Gordon, I have come to love it. As I would be in Bangalore, I am sure to revisit the film again and a lot in coming days. When I first watched “Batman Begins”, I liked it but I came to love it more in multiple viewings. “The Dark Knight” is truly a film which very much brings the comic hero to the society of people behaviour, social aberrance and this puzzled hive of sanity and insanity co-existing rubbing shoulders.

P.S: I am posting this from India and will continue to provide reviews based on my viewing out there which should be good enough with time to chew. But more regional might be in this time.

"The Yakuza" (1974) - Movie Review

I got educated that Robert Mitchum is the life line of film-noir when I read about the film “The Yakuza”. He is apathetic and hardly sweats expression of some kind. Whether it is a style aptly in place for this film is one question. Or whether the culture and the code the Japanese tradition dictates anesthetize the characters is another question though. Either way “The Yakuza” is good but the placidity of it is little bit too long for me to love it despite a violent climax shot with affection for the martial art and the adrenaline.

We are told that the “Yakuza” are the gangsters or clan having originated as old as Samurai code of bushido and in fact is followed with rigorous devotion as that of it. For those who are not aware, I adore and get fascinated by the code of Samurai. For a person not believing in religion or particular rule book, this is a contrast. Samurai code does the acts with an acceptance so pure and clean that it makes the insane ritual bliss of art. It is not driven by rage, money or carnal pleasures but an honour as I would rarely use that term becomes the surviving factor. My thoughts are reflected through the character of Dusty (Richard Jordan) an American body guard getting attracted by the code and the lovely face of Hanako (Christina Kokubo) but not quite able to understand or attach much reason to it.

“The Yakuza” plays like a stage drama and decorates the back drop with Japan and this group of men who are strange soldiers having a principle in an illegitimate business. Harry played by Mitchum knows about this culture and has a failed love out there in the deeps for twenty years. He knows about the pattern of the men because he was an enemy and a grateful person for Tanaka Ken (Ken Takakura), the brother of Eiko (Keiko Kishi) whom Harry rescued. The complex perspective of Ken being grateful and has an enmity because he is an American in war time makes him to order Eiko to stay away from him but promises an obligation to Harry for life time. Harry’s friend George Tanner (Brian Keith) is in trouble with another Yakuza Tono (Eiji Okada) for which Harry along with Tanner’s body guard Dusty goes to Japan to ask Ken’s help.

Harry, Ken and Eiko are caught up in this whirl wind of tradition and giri which means debt for Harry while Ken says it as a burden. But Harry tells “debt” and explains in it such that he understands the behaviour and also ridiculed by the force of it. Ken saying it as “burden” in negative expression actually gives an optimist feeling of how repaying it is the only way for unloading it. In these two answers Dusty draws one conclusion is that one can take the word of a Yakuza even if it is a nemesis swearing to kill you.

The phlegmatic nature of Mitchum is the pathway to an otherwise cold proceeding for a noir styled film. But learning about the history of the three people and an unexpected suspense revealed, that would break down any one who has been terribly hurt and waited so much. Director Sydney Pollack with screenplay by Paul Schrader (later went on to write “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull”), Leonard Schrader and Robert Towne want that character to be a man of few muscle movement over his face and terse words addressing the job and problems in hand than talking it out in sentences. This in staying true to the personality is a stretch and made it indifferent for me.

In spite of the vague flow, “The Yakuza” has a passion for this tradition and equally perplexed by it. In trying to understand and find reasons for this culture, they are come to be aware of its endless ocean of ambiguity in a principles of serene, lethal and immaculate conduct. And it directly is screened in the movie through characters in balance and truthful to what they are in achieving their goal of living true to themselves.

"Three Days of the Condor" (1975) - Movie Classics

Read the following conversation,

Man on Phone: The package got delivered?
The Assassin: I am waiting for the delivery confirmation receipt.
Man on Phone: You should have delivered it yourself.
The Assassin: I know but I concentrated on other package.

The above laughable discussion about a hit is the only thing I could find fault on this thriller classic “Three Days of the Condor”. I quoted that portion of a fantastic film because I could not stop myself laughing when they were talking with a stern voice. But the1975 Sydney Pollack’s movie is far ahead of its time adapted from a novel titled “Six Days of the Condor” by James Grady. It is a truly mysterious piece working through the screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel which would have been an inspiration for David Mamet.

Under the banner of American Literary and Historical Society operates a small group of book readers for “The Company”. Turner (Robert Redford) a talented man in this clan comes to office as usual, discusses some report with his old boss, chews and spits up offhand information to colleagues to exemplify his presence of mind and goes to get lunch through a security back way. Comes back only to find all his colleagues killed. He panics and calls up the headquarters he never dreamt of says his code name, Condor. He is not a field agent and he is scared. The man (Max von Sydow) who wiped up Turner’s office knows precisely the state of mind of Turner and that is he is lost and unpredictable.

This forms a riveting ploy for a film tightened with a screenplay of ingenuity and precision. Even though with the CIA department, Turner is a mere book keeper in the stand point of combat and field action. We in fact have little knowledge about what he does and hence we are more befuddled than Turner. In a time of macho action, this is a thriller which has simple use of tactics to perform the operations of intelligence gathering. Turner once threatened comes aware of his career of dealing with unknown faces high up in the ladder. When he is asked to meet up personnel by his New York head Higgins (Cliff Robertson), he says he does not know the personnel and also says he does not know Higgins either. It is a dark office he has been working along only that he opened his eyes right now. But he learns quickly and formulates quick plans for quick results. His usage of telephone lines, forming a group to escape a sniper shot and many other things looks readily available but life saving.

Now we have seen Matt Damon with super human abilities in Bourne series employing his training skills in action but Turner is nothing like that. He wanders and goes against the orders. In the way how the plot works upon, I gave in to the film. I gave up while I gave in on the plot because I knew that they are not going to reveal anything. It is not about the reason or the truth but the survival of this Ronin kind of young man and the deceiving world of CIA. But the film trumps us and seeing it now after thirty three years, every single explanation in the end has come up true in the real world. I was astonished by the clarity in which it was delivered. “It is economics” Higgins says about the “games” he explains in the end for which Turner had to suffer three days of fear and hidings and mainly losing all his friends and colleagues.

And how a man in such tight corners able to find a woman such beautiful as Faye Dunaway’s Kathy and she is readily gives her to this unknown “kidnapper” obviously after some doubts and clashes. Of course he is Robert Redford will be the answer. He takes her in as a hostage to escape from his pursuers and we know they are going to end up in bed but how classily does it come to that point. Simple observations and weird eye connections not alone manages but easily sweeps all the doubts and possibilities over this impulsive relationship. Their relationship does not become a sexual toy for the film but an extended ease of relief for the character who has hard time understanding what is happening in his life.

It is a terrific thriller classic which we see as puzzles, deceptions and a clandestine world of any one working for any one and nobody is working either. Among are the interim politics, ruthless killings and Sydow as a man as comfortable and peaceful he can be in doing his job of killing develops an unexplainable clinical connection not alone with Turner in the end but with the audience. We see him as the executioner and the nemesis of Turner but we learn on the go as the coin movers and men with suits calling the shots are the real players.

Thriller is a genre which is a region for film enthusiasts and audience claiming that their money needs its worth in the form of “entertainment” coming in peace together. It has taken and given the appearance of striking a balance for these two different kinds of viewers. Indeed it is but “Three Days of the Condor” is not a thriller aimed upon or targeted on wide variety of audiences. It is a film making careful and precise in giving this classy underworld run by government which in the name of protecting country and resource supplier has comfortably cuddled itself under the blankets of do gooders and patriotic citizens. “Three Days of the Condor” with an end very much true and leaving Turner loose end achieves a classic status of spectacular film making.

"The Secret Life of Words" (2005) - Movie Review

In the deep surface of tragedy over the air, “The Secret Life of Words” begins to follow the cliché independent movies have acquired. Yet the sorrow in the poetry of it touches some where. Mostly because of Sarah Polley in her childish faces with pain beyond those soft and tender layers of hidden skins. And supported always ever in an effortless but a character in presence is Tim Robbins. It has voiceovers, calmness, and serenity with obvious but artful silences which in its subtle indulgence creates an emotional suspense when unraveled comes out as the sentences under the lips unuttered and swallowed within.

Like a branded drama film we see Sarah Polley’s Hanna does a clock work in a factory. Her deafness is understood when she is the only employee not taking a noise reducing headphones. Her solitude and adherence to routine is through her sitting alone in cafeteria eating rice and chicken for lunch while the same as dinner aloof in her house. So much have the films of drama fell through the paths of stereotypic that the character of Hanna are seen as a character seen sufficient number of occasions. She is asked to take a month vacation by her boss in order to give a break to her and to other workers who seem to think of her as non-social person. Of course she is and the reason for her state will obviously be revealed by the end of the film.

There is a child’s voice narrating about her or Hanna through broken sentences cryptic and remotely having a dying feeling in it. She overhears an employee (Eddie Marson) while lunching in a restaurant that a person injured in an oil rig fire needs a nurse. She volunteers and along with several other men she takes care of a funny, flirty and deeply talkative Josef (Tim Robbins). He has temporarily lost his sight and Hanna is joked around, flirted around and some times deeply touched to see a life out of the ordinary through Josef.

There are long talks and awkward discussions ending without an end. The location and the origin of the each character remains a mystery and as Hanna keep her identity a shade for Josef. Director Isabel Coixet chooses an odd location with people we can guess about. Simon (Javier Cámara) the chef with high connoisseur for cuisine, a lonely old man Dimitri (Sverre Ousdal), a young oceanographer Martin (Daniel Mays), Liam (Dean Lennox Kelly), Scott (Danny Cunningham) and a goose. All of these men except the goose (which has a deepening surreal sensation) but including Josef are tilted in their balance with a female entity in the isolated place engulfed by the enormous sea water. But they are subtle with shyness and possess withdrawing symptoms. Even before these men she temporarily meets the Doctor (Steven Mackintosh) who attends Josef. He too wants to leave an impression over this recluse woman only to be gloomed by her reply of calm rage.

We see Hanna as a deeply disconnected and hurt person. Her connectivity has become invisible and hopeless. There is a cessation and repression of the anger, hatred and unbearable sorrow beneath her sunken face. And not much does it take her to mingle with the crew. The socializing capabilities look magnified and slightly exaggerated without any reason and it appeals to us so because when we met Hanna, she was a hard nut not to break but to have a microscopic pore to breathe some life.

Whom she ends up is rhetorical question but how she ends up is “The Secret Life of Words”. Julie Christie in a guest role of one who explains the actual tragic beyond Hanna’s and many others appeared secluded from the film. While the tragic and truth of it is not questioned, it was disjointed and in a sad way emotionless about the tragedy she explains.

Tim Robbins in his casual and smooth voice handles Josef as the man who could get into a bar and make friends in no time. The sexual remarks and the flirtation he makes are not crass or sugary rather an unguarded personality with chances as his life and impulse as his tool to access people. And the very much of those is needed for Polley’s Hanna. In “Go” Polley was an active young girl letting the night take control of her and in the blasé “The Weight of Water”, she was a house wife of deepest secrets and agony. And the later very much coincides with Hanna, may be because both are depressed and living in a life they do not want to lead on. One gets into the endless beauty of Sarah Polley which is unusual, inviting and has a mysticism of giving everything and in a silent rejection there is a pleasure but it is the performance which gives those.

"Deliverance" (1972) - Movie Review

Any trip to dense woods has a mark of silence hidden in shadows of the trees and whiteness of a waterfall. The danger for getting in trouble with the nature is as high to the peace which is gotten out of it. The risk grows exponentially because the reason for escape from the civilization becomes the killing factor of not having it. But along being challenged by nature if there is adverse attack from personalities ravishing for their barbarism it is hell being helpless and dying alone. Four city personalities go through that ordeal in “Deliverance”, a chilling exploration on a human’s limit and capacity.

Lewis (Burt Reynolds), Ed (Jon Voight), Bobby (Ned Beaty) and Drew (Ronny Cox) get to the south on a river which is going to be demolished into a stagnant lake by dam construction. Lewis is strong and a commanding personality leads his mates which has his good friend Ed. Ed is a level headed calm one who enjoy and get scare by these daring drags of Lewis. Clearly Bobby and Drew are new to this party. Drew a guitar player appreciates the nature and communicates with music and rhythm.

They land in a small settlement where people see them as aliens. They get terse answers with dislike in its tone. That does not stop Lewis to be hard man with them on asking them to drive their cars to a place Aintry where they would come by in their canoe through the river. Paddling begins as in two canoe these four city men find their limits on nature. The rush is good when Lewis drives them into rapids and come out unharmed. But the real terror happens during a stop by the shore for Bobby and Ed. Two mountain men (Bill McKinney and Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward) tie Ed up while one of them rapes Bobby. From that moment on, “Deliverance” tests the limits of these people having to question their strength, endurance, trust, death and conscience.

There are no overpowering back ground score. The score is the sound of the woods. “Deliverance” is not scary but psychologically impacts on what if scenarios put on to us in the character’s shoes. Where is law or what is right on a ground present of soil, leaves and insects but absent of human existence and the one who are have devious plans. Predicting the consequence slides the scale enough to change any views and judgments to put in to ashes. The film though has the undeniable fear of sourly things happening to them putting scare on us; it needed more of the past from these people. While Reynolds, Voight, Beaty and Coxx do an incredible job on letting their character represent for what they are, the view on what exactly is on stake would have been able to empathize with them more thoroughly. Maybe director John Boorman did not want that to be revealed to deviate from the point of thought but an emotional attachment does not ring out on them as individuals.

Despite that, “Deliverance” is a terror flick putting shame on to the horror sick fest produced with high budget and human carnage now a day. We are on this trip and how wonderful the places they go on. It is filled with solitude and thrill of diving into a momentary death are the adrenaline forces city people would not have even dreamt of. In city life every one is shelled in and the immune system has been weakened and acquainted to the surroundings of comfort and essentially safety. Nature as such has lost its presence in that where the beauty and fierceness of it is unknown. Human dangers dominate the urban life than the nature. Here we get both of the bad side to put these men in excruciating physical and psychological strain.

The crew and the actors take immense risk while producing this film since they were not able to get insurance. Hence not alone their lives were in danger; financially they would have been in dire situations. The commitments of these four actors are unimaginable and as one would judge an extreme sports junkie on the looks, some times gives a feeling of whether they are stupid. But no, they have taken this journey seriously and carefully for a dedicated effort from their side. I had been informed of the infamous rape scene when I said “Deliverance” is the queue. Did it steal the horror of that scene? It definitely did downplay it as I was expecting it any moment to get it over with.

In spite of the film doing everything perfect, I was not extremely affected or moved. That is basically the detachment with the characters. The real friend never forms or at least not known to us. Lewis and Ed have some conversations on their friendship and the game Lewis thinks of it in for survival but what is the chemistry in terms of relationship bounds does not get exposed. They are neither strangers nor friends. Does it get altered in the pains they go through? Again they remain as they were. In fact Bobby says to Ed in the end that he would not be seeing him for a while, quite understandably. May be those are not the worrisome issues in a film stomping on minds of respecting the comfort and the nature have on us. Either way, watching “Deliverance” is a peek on how would one behave when they are in the wrong side of Mother Nature with devils to torture?

"Runaway Train" (1985) - Movie Classics

Films like “Runaway Train” have the title say everything. It of course has the train and the rule of thumb is high speed action by driving it on ridiculous speed unstoppable in its pursuit. Icing on the top, make the Engineer get heart attack and jump of the train just before he throttles to full speed. That is high tension action pounding time on our hearts skipping beats. “Runaway Train” is all of that and a lot more than that. It has the legendary adaptation from the screenplay written by Akira Kurosawa, director Andrei Konchalovsky and Jon Voight in a performance hard to get a grip on as an amicable person but shades of those in patches of creepy smiles.

Manny (Jon Voight) barely is out from welded prison for three years breathing fresh air not out in the free society but in prison yard. His nemesis Warden Ranken (John P.Ryan) on hate and passion to keep Manny on leash did that lock down and Manny now has to flee out of the prison which more importantly associates to beating Ranken than the freedom. Buck (Eric Roberts) idolizing Manny is a boxer and takes a last minute decision on tagging with Manny to break out of the prison.

As most of the films tell that escaping the prison is easier because making it out from the natural fences is merciless and mean slow killer. The prison is situated in Alaska and it is not a good idea to be wandering outside below thirty Fahrenheit. Manny and Buck survive the cold walk to the train station and Manny picks the train to ride. As told before, the driver is out and these two riders have no idea that the train they are thinking as the messenger to freedom is hitting high hell.

Voight’s Manny is the mover and he is a tough man. In a prison boxing match Buck wins his opponent and looks up to Manny for acknowledgment. In that time, a man from behind attacks Manny stabbing in his arm and a hole straight through the palm of his hand. Manny stands fearless picks up the chair and hits his attacker hard. He knows that the man is now terrified and he gives out the Warden’s name who is watching from the top. Voight looks up and asks to shoot him and that scene is the differentiation of physical toughness of Buck and the actual fearless toughness of Manny. No wonder Buck considers him as his hero.

Then the usual happens where the kid talks too much and Manny does not like it but their relation is on and off bound in rubbing shoulders and smiling in content. Manny neither does love nor hate the kid because he is a loner and in all these rough years has made him to be individual undisturbed man as to train for him alone. He speaks what he feels not because he is mean but it is the crystal truth of undeniable factor. He is as solid as a rock and physical pain does not bother him on putting brakes on achieving his mission. Manny and Buck obviously are convicts and rooting for them is not in place but we begin to see the human in them. In these men of declared aggression and violence, the brotherhood is begged for in silence and shouts. Buck is like a puppy running around the legs of Manny. Yet he wants to be treated with respect and Manny gives a fierce stare. Buck realizes not alone does Manny care but his chance of getting it is by proving he would bend backwards.

“Runaway Train” unveils its supporting characters in Jonah (Edward Bunker) in initial scenes of prison and then the control station of the train system with the office environment going berserk through Barstow (Kyle T. Hefner), MacDonald (Kenneth McMillan) and Dave (T.K. Carter) banging heads for stopping the train. The technology is challenged and challenges the human judgment on these people on sudden chaos. And Ranken desperately begs god to not kill these convicts since he wants the pleasure. Then comes the woman on board (Rebecca De Mornay) out of nowhere in the train. Everything is happening for Buck and Manny and it is not the better things.

I have seen Voight play the old man roles in the current movies. The classic period of his reign is on the queue to be viewed. Most of the times, he comes as a clean white teeth villain with wise touches or plainly as a wise man. In Manny the balance is not alone perfected but is so unpredictable. Or to be precise more human than the stereotypes I expect out of in coming films. He is a rugged wrong doer who robbed banks and may have killed too and would not decide to that again if it beckons his win over Ranken. Being at a cell for three years has made him depend only one soul in this planet and that would be him. Seeing the kid tag along and also annoying him awakens his anger for ruining plans and in letting Buck near him for a good time uncovers a tiny bit of emotion too. Voight grins and grinds shouts and talks taciturn logics behind his Fu-Manchu moustache.

“Runaway Train” is alarmingly cold and has a metal sheath for its killer sword screenplay rubbing and sharpening it with constant usage written by Edward Bunker, Djordje Milicevic and Paul Zindel. Alan Hume’s camera hangs on around the train and an aerial shot zooming into this monster of devastating force. It has the wind chill on faces and window shots from the train on looking up for a realistic view from the train. The stunts are daring with nail biting cling on for a purpose and slip ups to stop a fraction of second in hearts. It is a film getting right just about on everything. That would have obviously made a good film but Jon Voight’s performance takes it to a classic.

"Marathon Man" (1976) - Movie Review

I gave up in early years of attempt on book reading due to the monumental word play the novel piled up in tasteless pages which I survied for sufficient number of it. Why do I want to bother on the curly curve of a dress in a murder mystery? What significance of suspense does it add to know that the man about to be killed had a chiseled body? Patience is an impatience to master for books on those days and sometimes now too. After pages running like decades, stars align for that part when everything makes sense and the true pleasure of the reading is awarded. Such happened in the very first book I managed to gain the patience for nearly hundred and fifty pages called “Honour Among Thieves” by Jeffrey Archer. I say this because “Marathon Man” adapted from the novel of same name by William Goldman is in heart and soul a novel over the screen. Chapters in pages of no relation to one another are the scenes of characters in the film. Clueless and in a mild distress “Marathon Man” is a suspense and a thriller assimilating in fragments when that part of reward in book comes undead and chilling.

Dustin Hoffman as Thomas “Babe” Levy is a history student living with his father’s suicide ashes over chapters in thesis dissertations. And for all the mighty title, he runs and runs and runs and when his gasps of breath are a long awaited gush of releasing tiredness, it is truly deserved. In another clunk of scene we see a spy or a government agent in suits and shrewdness is Doc (Roy Scheider). Hoffman’s character is in New York and when Doc lands in hotel we are led to believe he is in the city. But in subtle touches sloping up with obviousness director John Schleslinger reveals the place is actually in France. He is carrying a box of mints which of course does not have mints and we would not know what is in it till the third act. He is strong and sarcastic, full of energy and suspicion but mainly knowing the readings of a person he communicates, friend or foe or a stranger. Even before all this, an old man walks in a bank and gets the box of mint from his safe to be later handled to Doc gets into an accident. We cannot connect any of this except the box in two stories which adds up to nothing.

But there is a meandering presence of detail when the part of jolting pain and chase happens. When Hoffman and Scheider meet, their connection is by watching their body language and the words they choose to communicate. Often in films materials are written in order for the clarification and detailing to say these are the people and they are related. And too often we forget the fact the mannerisms are the unsung and invisible being to believe in that. Scheider and Hoffman tip toes each other in the familiarity and the reaction of Scheider on his student single place and hence forth by Hoffman teaches to aspiring actors. And Scheider repeats it with the deadly villain Szell (Laurence Oliver).

Oliver’s Szell is a restless old man with his clock running fast to grab his fortune. He is suspicious, threatened which brings out the worst in him. The most celebrated and shocking scenes of those times is the torture he orchestrates on Babe later in the film. In current so called horror films eyes are popped out, mutilation and invention of torture methods are performed with a dedication for disgust. It indeed is a sick fest but the idea of putting forth such an event is the pain and suffering felt in a psychological trauma. Instead of that, the coming films have used it as the Viagra for a pleasure of gore with emotional barfing before going onto the screen. When Szell inflicts his dental acupunctural skills on Babe, the pain pricks in gums and deeper than that on the watching people. The terror does not stick with the screen afterwards. And we want Babe to run as he did healthy and peaceful in central park except health and peace are substituted with pain and fear.

“Marathon Man” created the buzz obviously for its grim portrayal of a thriller in a pace and tone that was not tried before. The state of mind and the more importantly the handling of a history student and a son trying hard to make sense of his father’s end to the dangerous situation are real. After the suffering when the tables are turned which is bound to happen, Babe is level headed and the moral dilemma with anger and action is truthful. It is a kind of its own thriller in noir form which some might not agree. The uniqueness has of course been roughed up by time but it is a class apart for it started off and revolutionized the genre of thriller. And it said that it could be detailed, slow and painful to culminate marvelously.

"Hancock" (2008) - Movie Review

“Hancock” which is advertised as comedy superhero film and even Wiki saying so are misspoken both by the film makers and the site. Having Jason Bateman and Will Smith with a comedy action they have often portrayed, that notion deceives and in fact proves fatal to the film. It is obviously a super hero film but the hilarious scale is not a ruling theme. This is a very serious look on a self loathing and underappreciated power man for most part of the movie. He sighs and appears without any empathy well before and after his publicity aider Ray (Jason Bateman) comes.

Unlike fictional cities, Hancock (Will Smith) resides in Los Angeles. He sleeps on street benches drunk and hung over being waken by a small boy to stop crime. His crime stopping is a damage invention without any strain. He destructs highway road signs and buildings like a regular human being would permeate through a cardboard box. He is clumsy and it can be mostly associated to his unstoppable alcohol intake. In another costly save of a civil man, Ray the publicist gets acquainted and sees beyond the stern faced and careless super hero. He invites him to his house where he is disdained and doubted by Ray’s wife Mary (Charlize Theron) and it appears that she might have more than an opinion created by his action and media.

Ray in his big “hearted” attempt on changing the world takes up Hancock as his personal marketing campaign and comes up with a better strategy. Generally in grumpy mode, Hancock is pulled back by Mary’s untold tension to take up this offer. Theron and Smith embody this unseen power of attraction inhibited in between them to make us think stuffs as an outsider would look at. And Bateman’s Ray in his naïve loyalty and happiness does not see through. What happens in the next half hour is not important rather the history which unravels after that between Mary and Hancock is the subject which tries hard to stand out in this flurry of super hero movies.

Summer action super hero movies are dime a dozen. While “Iron Man” did its charm, “The Incredible Hulk” is a show to forget. The biggest awaiting film of the year personally would be “The Dark Knight”. But in this crowd also comes “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” whose foundation I have not seen jumps and peeks out its head. Clearly the viewers are divided in two, one relishing this overabundance and other getting tired of it. It is the trend as one would put it to dig the gold and collect it as much as possible. But in it dies the uniqueness and left is the stereotypic caricatures fading further and further with every film. “Hancock” while is a step above in terms of material and attempt is the first victim of boredom.

Hancock is one of his kinds and he abuses that power. Once the history is revealed out of the couple, I was wondering what drove Hancock to alcoholism. Bateman’s Ray initially gives single line advice points as a shrink on as an attention seeker failed in his attempts. The coming high actions are then substituted and used for amnesiac blanket over the audience. Coming out of the theater it would be discovered that nothing greatly explains his recklessness. The idea is to give a feel on untold psychological troubles in a man mighty to do anything he wants. It germinates into something else which is also equally intriguing but the film pulls the screen down before that.

The predominant idea in a film of concentrating ultra powerful personalities is the discovery, application, misuse, recovery, near death and set up for sequel. And Hancock mixes it up with lost for identity, self pity, unknown forces, and discovery but obviously cannot escape from set up for a sequel. The best thing about “Hancock” is the absence of alter ego. He is a known man secluded by the society not of his powers but behaviour. It is a wonder on that what would be the purpose of living in a situation like that. He has omnipotent ability to take what he wants and be what he wants. He can roam around the world visiting all the incredible tough places. He can start a space travel and check out what is there beyond the last known planet and the space-time continuum. But Hancock got to be sober to do all that.

It is a strange feeling to be indifferent. And it is challenging to express that with lot of words. Peter Berg with jittery camera movements he employed in his previous action film “The Kingdom” and which we have seen in The Bourne series uses in “Hancock” too and it is out of place on occasions. It is a film with good ideas undernourished in screenplay. If there is a “Hancock – 2” in development, I would not be surprised, in fact it would do lot of justice on creativity basis to this character. It is contradiction in the statement made couple of paragraphs before on the countless invincible heroes but Hancock deserves one and may be he might be able to tell us the regularity of being a super hero without any job (eliminating the people saving business) and challenge. Do not jump on with a hat of condescend to say “boring”, you will never know!

"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) - Movie Review

In today’s corporate recruitment procedures behavioral interview constitutes a deciding round for selecting a candidate. It is a series of questions for which the candidate tells an incident or an event which would be guiding factor for the interviewers to analyze and judge his personality by his past, his attitude in particular. How much better a new lock gets invented, there would emerge a method from locksmith to crack it with time and practice. It is the same with these and forming stories and telling what the interviewers want to hear can be mastered to perfection. For a time period, they alter their attitudes and behaviours in order to achieve their goal of winning the job. The psychoanalysis has gained so much of attention in determining of a candidate to perform in a team, as a team. Does the same can be applied to exist in the society? Does the criminal can be mastered of their attitude and rehabilitated by prison or is there a serum and psychoanalytical procedure that can bend the inclination for violence and sexual aggression into pain and sickness when he/she attempts those? “A Clockwork Orange” is a cold attempt in precisely giving that.

Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of novel of same name by Anthony Burgess is a neo Shakespearean play with pompous dialogues spitted out from the vicious character of Alex (Malcolm McDowell). He is a teen with a taste for mob violence and classy ears for Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony which would later turn to be his weapon of death. With a lovely home environment and parents naïve enough to believe he is sick for bunking schools, nights are his pleasure periods. Leading his team of young sociopaths, he beats up homeless old man, wars against rival clan, rapes and sweetly drinks the milk potion in a bar with an art galore to repel and appreciate simultaneously on its interior design. It is right away known that Alex is an unsympathetic and unbelievably psycho-chaosed teen when the camera fixes on his face with those eyes of hypnotic deviousness and pans away to his whole gang.

In circle of his arrogance and ego, his buddies sabotage to get him caught while he bludgeons a lady in a health farm. He goes to prison for murder and after two years of dipping wicked smiles to accept religion as his trump card for escape; he lands in the hands of an experiment. It is a cruel experiment which makes him watch violent sexual films with a drug shoot up. His eye lids are tied up so that he cannot shut it away. So whenever he is on the verge of violence or sexual aggression, he goes into the sickness which would drive him to surrender and thereby making him “good”. How this is going to affect his rejoining with the real world? Whatever it might be, it would be interesting to see.

What the film does is drive us away using its emotional vacuum. Not because of Alex’s unmerciful acts but by the other characters. If only there is a clear indication of some goodness in the film, it would be his parents. But their expressions are so mechanical that we indeed wonder whether that is one reason for this boy’s social insolence. Amongst the moody and misty tints of layered chaos, it loses us as soon as the face of Alex reeks out such immense force of brutality against the order of existence to detach that string of expression which keeps a viewer to the screens.

“A Clockwork Orange” despite is a daring exhibition of an arduous artists uncompromising skill. Kubrick places the elements of sexuality in a raw form which spats up on the screen. It has a lyrical arrogance to it which perplexes us. Anything stranger and especially sexual is an alarm bell for reclusion and rejection instantly. That does not make this maker to stop it. He dares the viewer as Alex to look into these provocations and digs the introspection for a wild ride.

I neither love nor hate “A Clockwork Orange”. It is one of those films which baffles you for words and has a story telling in solidarity of images and expressions powerful yet pressing. It picks up the pressure points of delicacy with an iron force and rips it from the veins, except there is no reality but a visual visceral jitter in brains and skins. Whatever said on its fierce nature of story telling in 1971 which does not loses its property after thirty seven years is a film to shake the balance, if there were any. But as any film which tries to be anti-violence becomes the most violent films of those times and that catching up on this film is not a shocker. Then again Kubrick does not intend as anti-violence but a simple dissection of human flexibility and rigidness to the nature of choices and behaviour. While I might not like the film, it creates a respect. Women will be offended, men will be ashamed but the back bone of the film is the human attitude which has the capability to be changed, only by him/her.

"WALL•E" (2008) - Movie Review

“WALL•E” in its presentation is a form of silent film and it has two electromechanical beings developing emotions similar to humans. Pixar’s new creation and director Andrew Stanton’s work after “Finding Nemo” has a peculiar approach in “WALL•E”. Apart from the imaginative visuals and a spectacular screenplay, the film is given in the form of an auto focus camera. Its lull moments are nothing and with full gear on this geeky cuteness of this worker bee robot, “WALL•E” is the summer film for the family.

In the far ahead future of our earth is a lonely robot WALL•E (robotic voice of Ben Burtt) building boxes out of garbage and piles of it becoming an architectural structure. It has survived the deactivation of rest of his compatriot versions and even an emotionless robot longs for company. It has a cockroach pet which again is a micro mechanical device with a wit of its liking towards this worker. They wander like a happy family and do the boring monotonous work of arranging and disposal of the waste. It sees an old classic film of a couple holding hands and that is taken as the indication of love for him. Now all he needs is his love.

One fine bright day lands a space object to put a white egg shaped angel robot with blue digital eyes which scans things amongst the dirt. Soon both the devices meet up and catch up. WALL•E goes bongos for his new “lady” robot EVE. It is beauty and geek for these androids. In his den of residence, WALL•E presents her with his new found material, a plant. This triggers her command system and we learn that EVE is Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator. Her job is to detect the vegetation and report to the far ahead space ship provided by a giant consumer market seven hundred years ago.

See the earth got consumed itself in the consumer existence by the giant company aptly called BuyNLarge. The same company took off to space with lot of earth members into its full automated space resort. No one walks and each person has a traveling bean bag glued to a projected visual of chatting and entertainment. Food are made into drinks and the resultant is bunch of lethargic obese people in the AXIOM space ship where WALL•E chases to rescue EVE.

It is a challenge for the creators in physical comedy. Dialogues are next to nothing and the sounds of communication between WALL•E and EVE are scrambled robotic speeches with each other calling their names umpteen times, which never gets boring and resonates the sweetness in these two. In a digitized system of enormous opportunities of made up run downs and comedic eventualities, “WALL•E” develops into a plot of substance and entertainment.

These two characters entirely take the story line with other side kicks having their boxes of material arranged for the screen. WALL•E will be adored by kids and the irony will be that corresponding toys, video games and advertisement would have already basked through super markets and outlet stores. The Captain‘s (voiced by Jeff Garlin) numbness in all these years with excellent slaves of comfort and the knowledge kicking the instincts of the human quality makes us wonder the possibilities of our extension in this current luxurious environment.

As the reviews are raving about the film, I would take couple of steps back and see what the whole some value of this film is. The film does not in anyway make compromises in either technical or creative department. It works with the passion the team has brought upon in previous ventures. Given that, “WALL•E” is a film I had fun and quite extraordinarily woven a futuristic science fiction romance animated feature with great success. While the charts go off on this, “WALL•E” did not entirely cover me with the zeal what “Ratatouille” gave. But it is unfair to compare it with that as the individual film characteristic represents each of its own. It is a cute little robot story with a doubtless heart for family audience.

"Wanted" (2008) - Movie Review

How many times you have gone into a theater with notion of hating the movie? I guess not. How many times have you decided to judge a film by its trailer? Always. “Wanted” is a film I judged by its trailer and went in to hate it. And I was quite successful in doing that for a sufficient number of times and then I realized in the mean time. I am not bored or irritated or condescended. I am having fun of this pure adrenaline rush with defying plausibility of everything in this film. At the end of it, I completely got caught in to this insanely violent and ridiculously designed super hero stunts. What happened to me? I could not properly explain but let me make an attempt.

There is this “Fraternity” found thousand years ago when guns were not yet made its presence but the extremists of eliminating the “bad” people are omnipresent in individuals though. In this clan, there are “selected” few with super hero instincts and capabilities. Some of that would be bending gravity and come unscathed. If scathed, there is the bath of healing. Cut to current world with boring people and one of those will be the loser in identity crisis, Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy). A dude with serious problem of getting pushed over to be screwed around in work by his obese boss (Lorna Scott) with the title of Account Manager and in personal life by his girl friend (Kristen Hager) and best friend Barry (Chris Pratt).

Rules of cinema speak that his reincarnation should be coolest, meanest and bloodiest man by getting absorbed in to Fraternity for avenging his dad. Reason, do we need one? Blow up, shoot up and do cool stunts. They get orders from “fate” or who knows on a coded fabric, says the Sloan (Morgan Freeman) to assassinate. Why? Again, do we need one? Alright, it is to set “balance” and avoid chaos, as if the current earth is in complete order. But lets us bring the lovely vixen Fox (Angelina Jolie) to have the violent sexual tension along the twisting bullets and jumping cars, you get one of the most ancient form of action entertainment done million times. Yet, “Wanted” survives those clichés. Alas, it worked on speechless level. When Wesley questions the morality of this killing, Fox explains the cause and effect of killing one to save thousands. Yes, the very old greater good but what happened to the thousands they kill in the wrecked train, buses, countless cars and the missed bullets? For the zillionth time, do we need a reason?

“Wanted” is not the category wherein it is so bad that it becomes good fun. It seriously creates a side to side on in the end. But clearly its driving factor is the brainless chases and fights orchestrated in a manner I might hate myself saying this, to appreciate. The simplicity and the agility in which Jolie’s Fox lays down to avoid the tunnel on top of a fast moving train and the mere power presence she makes is fabulous. McAvoy gets the job of transforming from nobody in to this fearless man yet boyish in his charm and stylish in his execution.

The film is been adapted from a miniseries comic book by Mark Millar. It does not become a comic bookish in the environment but in the powers. The film deserving its R-rating pumps the energy in all the right senses. Since the idea of assassins is morally tips off the viewers to have a doubt on this clan, so does Wesley. The film which I insisted does not have lot of reasons for its behaviour acts on one in the end. And I was stunned by the placement of it when the mind has attuned to the flying gravity and intelligent ignorance to the viewers.

Director Timur Bekmambetov debuts in the Hollywood whose previous films are in Russian language. The neatness of the script is the placement of the scenes. It does not get embarrassed in the openly declared idiotic flying stunts but takes pride in the shot of the kinetics it provides with sufficient beauty. Something similar in the violence and graphically choreographed stunts was done in “Shoot em Up” which I got bored after a point. “Wanted” is in the same category but it limits when it knows. The film’s protagonist constantly questions his existence and identity which is not the case of the screenplay. It is more than aware of the people’s view on their Physics defying glamour and a plot weaved blatantly with big holes. And in making peace with their film making, they have escaped a death blow and amazingly used that force to lift up the film.

“Wanted” is mindless action film which does not pretend to be real. And when it tries to be real, it exists in the universe it created. These kinds of movies surprise me and I wonder within on what caused me to like this brainless flick. More than that, I have been questioned by friends on the scale level I put on each film. I have been said to take high pedestal on very many films and if that is the case, “Wanted” would have been thrashed to many levels. I believe the standard is set by the film itself, how moderately financed or has a bar low set for itself. I might not be able to come up with set of rules to define those but it floats in the film. “Wanted” is an example on a film which can be entered with preconceived notion to be proved otherwise even with unbelievably chaotic idiocy and stupendous insanity.

"Persepolis" (Language - French/Perisian) (2007) - Movie Review

Why would “Persepolis” take its form as an animation and in a perused manner of observation opt for the traditional method of hand drawing? One of the directors Marjane Satrapi and it is her autobiography which is the film explained in the interview that it eliminates the confined walls of addressing one nation or people or religion. I did not necessarily notice that but the artistically distorted and hallucinogenic poetry in a reality infested film is a commentary of a woman’s life in an oppressed society and how did it shape her life.

Growing up in Iran in the days of its revolution against Shah’s regime, it is past in black and white animation for the young Marjane Satrapi (voice of Garbrielle Lopes) getting educated in opinions, politics and liberation by her dad (voice of Simon Abkarian), her mother (voice of Catherine Denevue) and the wonderfully cheerful grand mother (Danielle Deroux). Along with them are the tragic and eclectic enlighteners like Uncle Anouche (voice of François Jerosme). Merrily dancing it goes through the darker phase of the revolution, arrests and killings. After the revolution and in surviving through the war and its implication over her attitude and morality, she is sent later to Vienna for her schoolings. There she becomes a lady Marjane (voice of Chiara Mastroianni) and from one end of spectrum in stringent rules to walk, talk and dress she goes into this land of cultural paradigm shift.

Yet as more it looks like the narration of the Iran’s cultural inhibition of creativity and fundamentalist rules, it is Marjane’s behavioral science drawn and invented by the society and influences. Being brought up in an open minded family, she is a fan of Bruce Lee and wonders the move of Michael Jackson. When ABBA wins over the coolness of Bee Gees at early age, it is Iron Maiden’s hard metal to shoot Bee Gees in her teens. It shows an irony of rock musical stereotypes over the judgment of the present culture on viewing any Middle Eastern origin people as extremists and fundamentalists. The black market of regular luxury of ours as cosmetics, music and movies on to the streets of Iran is tragically comic.

The audience of “Persepolis” will be limited to the art house group which would appreciate the nuances of the aesthetic appeal of the animation having an antique outlook over a predominant cultural and oppressive issue of a nation. But it is a universal concept of women able to stand up for their rights and if it means leaving their homeland as their rejuvenation into liberation, so be it. Marjane’s father and mother were open minded people to grow her daughter up into some one they got to live under the roofs and shades of a time and people most of their life.

My friend always says that the best artistic work in films comes from Iran while most of it gets banned in the country. That opinion runs synchronous seeing Marjane’s story of survival. Beyond that, “Persepolis” is actually the hearty story of a woman seeing and comparing worlds she was brought up, the world she went out to learn the liberty and the world she created for herself through the intricate minds of prophet images, clouds and her ever loving grandma’s words of wisdom. It has the humour of the tragedy in the denial and just the tragedy itself of how religion morphs into the clutches of the men and women into narrow minded path of distress, pain and violence.

Seeing the traditional animation reminded the good old National Film Development Corporation of India producing general animated concepts of morals and values for Doordarshan Television, a government run telecast. Those had the creativity and finer concepts of individuality in it which I never really appreciated. And Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud magically state that the material dictates through this creativity which I imagine would have been the great cases of those people in the NFDC.

“Persepolis” is not condescending or pseudo intellectual on the Iranian religious rules. A young naïve enthusiastic girl exposed to suppression and strangeness through her walk of child hood and adult hood is the common line of observation. The presentation is new to the eye and the comedy of the animation is how it originated but the drama of the reality apart from the graphic novels of such form is feat which stylistically appeals. It deals with the men than the philosophies of the cult. It deals with the good will of the forward thinkers than being sarcastic and degrading as blind protestors. And in the median of those grows Marjane confused and maturing in her own terms. It while finally dictates the term of a society controlled and closed, Marjane’s journey is “Persepolis”. It is more of a film than the city it takes the title of.

"The Final Cut" (2004) - Movie Review

Clearly the third act of the film has been edited completely out by the director Omar Naim of the film “The Final Cut”, a thought provoking and profound science fiction with intense psychological drama. It puts forth a theory of imagination manufacturing in the brains as memories to be an hour and half film best scenes possible from it. This would enable a psychopath to have a film with empathy and sweet moments and the possibilities are endless. It is a film without any doubt cleverly and characteristically made but leaves you begging for a lot more. As mentioned a proper finish which it deserves and it could have been delivered by an able man Omar Naim in his feature film debut.

Some where in future time emerges a biological implant which can be embedded into some one as old as few second out of mother’s womb to begin recording what he/she sees through the eyes and what it get pictured in the mind. When they die, “cutter” or a life editor would assemble those with moving pianos and melancholic violin in back ground to lay out as a tribute to their life. This they call beautifully as “Rememory”. The cutter out here is Alan (Robin Williams), the best in the job who has a child hood memory turning him into what he is now. Cutter has three rules and one of them is that they should not be implanted with this device. A detached and insipid personality as he is sees life as a fictional account completely unrelated to his moral and social conscience. That’s what makes him numero uno in his line of work.

With privacy issues ripped off and vandalized, there are anti-group which has advanced from protest to devious violence. The company EYE Tech is the villain for these people and their lawyer’s life is given to Alan for Rememory. Fletcher (Jim Caviezel) an ex-cutter a current group member of the anti-group wants that badly since it would reveal the cruelty shoved under the basement of Rememory. But Alan discovers something very important to him, the child hood friend he motivated to take risk in an abandoned ware house which led to his fall and demise.

“The Final Cut” is not a thriller and surely not aims for cheap plots and obvious suspense. Thinking about the life being recorded every single fraction of second; right now we are surrounded by media with uber digital storages for many life times. We edit our own life using photos and videos only for marked occasions with guaranteed happy moments. But to acquire those real emotions on simple times can be captured with these implants. And the cost of it will be the entire nakedness of one’s life. The machine which is the editing hardware with the software tool is called “Guillotine”, a creative ironical name. A sudden death and butchering of the head dismembered but not damaged. The scientific machine and processing looks real and the tool separates the life history in to key topics. Childhood, School, University, Puberty, Masturbation, Romantic Life and it goes on and on filling the paranoid in the current media flooded world.

Robin Williams out here does not complicate things and the material drives his character. He is lonely and workaholic. Having seen many histories of human, he could only manage a night date with a librarian Delila (Miro Sorvino). And his capability gets unrevealed due to the shortage of further acts. The film with focused creativity and laying out the details and plot wraps itself well ahead. It is not that Naim did not want to take risk or afraid to dig the morality of the implant system and the rebels but it is a beauty of work left unfinished.

The investigation of Alan’s guilt comes into light when he gets to peep into his own thoughts clearer. Something sparked in me. It is a day to day event of convincing ourselves to do things what we want to. Accept it or not, there are multiple personalities in each of us fighting constantly and one of it wins. We do not know who it is but some one wins for the moment and the guilt or pain or regret or anything comes as the runner up shouting for help and even pounding on this external person we carry on. Did that happen to Alan in rewriting the truth for his convenience for escaping the guilt? In that case, does the whole notion of memories clearly been recorded as mind perceives might be after all, skewed as the videos and photos we take? “The Final Cut” is a movie I would strongly advice some one to watch. Yet it would be a constant reminder of a movie well made from start to credit roll only that it should not have ended out there.

"Layer Cake" (2004) - Movie Review

I saw “Layer Cake” two years back and at the first viewing, it is a highly entertaining crime flick with “Guy Ritchie” influences here and there. I was not able to find any depth into the story. I did not get to know the unnamed character played by Daniel Craig. Watching it now, the unknown emotional details of this protagonist is the signature of the film directed by Mathew Vaughn, a frequent collaborator with Ritchie. They gave us the trend setter cult “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch”.

This man with no identity (name per se) is a smooth player. He is a business person whose business just happens to be drugs, as he says. He has played the cards clean till date when the film opens and means everything is going to crumble down. As expected there is one final assignment he got to do for his boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) and things goes haywire. Old revenge, double crossing, mishaps, stupidity and plot intended to twist and turn is spun closed and the tension makes to obey their story telling. And it has a faithful unique mark of tribute to the gangster films and yet does not mimic it but fort in its territory.

As said earlier, almost all details of this character are under the sands. We get the character plainly and solidly in a pure condensed form. His reactions are on the grounds of this business and personally he is nobody. We know he knows the games and we know his thoughts are far from the time. He is the sanest street smart and drug middle man with so much clarity in his business. His skill in swindling marketing with Duke (Jamie Forman) a nerve wreck glittering show man with nothing but turmoil is a talent display of this sharp cleaner. He tells with much sincerity the facts of street sales and yet we know the mockery he is making out of the loud attention seeker. These are the conmen we appreciate over screen and scowl at ourselves when blank shots are pulled on us.

He does not have passion for becoming a gung ho gangster. He honours his line of work and the details of death lists happening around him. It has the personalities accustomed to unique practiced dialogues and attire with immaculate suits and bloody face bruises. We are fancied by these testosterone hallucinations. The same kind which we have seen as a boosted shot of eroticism in violence painting blood along with an existential philosophy in “Fight Club”. “Layer Cake” is not profound in human inner meanderings but an English thriller mastering wit and plot twists native to the director Mathew Vaughn.

Craig’s pre James Bond avatar would have been a trump card for the polished flesh and blood gadget man for “Casino Royale”. His veins sprout through skins when he helplessly begs his mates to believe in the incredible lies and cheats they have been caught late in the film. But all before that, it is how the dirt free man in muddy waters get soaked and drenched in a mess which keeps getting deeper and deeper through the plot. The plot which takes through not alone the astuteness of Craig’s character but his friends, boss and the stupid people who potentially get him into the hole are interesting and funny.

A man playing his part wisely in an ugly business with surgical approach behaves on knee jerk reaction. He is close to his retirement dreams and gets a baby sitting job from his boss and to deal with frenzy man written trouble all over his recent robbed goods. Beyond that his trusted buddy Morty (George Harris) beats an unknown man to pulp and flees while he is left aloof in a situation which pretty much threatens his savings and his life. He overcomes it beyond the odds digging tunnels predicting the people’s reaction which he has used to avoid but this time around depend on facing it.

“Layer Cake” disguises as a dark comic thriller is more than it advertises. The film starts with an argument very much true in the future as the protagonist says and a man sticking to his plan till the last moment. He comes out clean with consequences but we want a good ending in our hearts for him. His world is detached and flourishing for screen writers. Indeed it is prolific for his finances but he pays the ultimate price day in and day out. Even after that his sum of all accounts comes close to death and makes him do the act he advices us not to do if in business of drugs. That is the lesson learned for him that getting out is a dreamer’s term. It might be washed away but the stain continues till the life time haunting and making peace is a process attained by distance and death.