The story starts again and that is a good thing.

Two very different movies turned out to be gems – one a Hollywood summer movie, and the other a small budget Canadian flick.

1) Batman Begins (Directed by Christopher Nolan): Rating 10/10

WOW. Amazing! I have to admit, I was bowled over. I didn’t have too many expectations before hand but this one is just perfect. Nolan who hit it big back in 2000 with Memeto, a small budget movie with only a handful of actors, has assembled a collection of major stars and has used each actor appropriately. Christian Bale is perfectly cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne and really brings the role alive. When he dons the bat suit, he does sound a bit like Michael Keaton (original Batman) but he lets his anger resonant through. Then there’s Michael Caine (Alfred), Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson (what a role), Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon), Tom Wilkinson and Ken Watanabe. To his credit, Nolan also manages to extract a solid performance out of Katie Holmes who plays a District Attorney and Batman’s love interest.

The movie shows aspects of Batman’s lives that other movies have never touched upon – his fear of bats, how Bruce Wayne overcame his fear, how the Wayne family made its fortune, etc. Now, there have been some different interpretations made about the story but they all fit perfectly in the movie. For example, the movie starts off with Bruce Wayne hiding in a Far Eastern Prison camp. He is there by choice – he wants to study the criminal mind and so he wandered from Asian country to country to find his answers. These are story topics only addressed in the later version of the Batman comics.

Overall, the movie shows the darkness that is Gotham. Once again, WOW!

2) The Dark Hours (Directed by Paul Fox): Rating 9/10

An excellent Canadian thriller! The majority of the movie takes place in an isolated cabin located in the middle of snow land. We get to see a version of the truth, but in reality, the story is not as it seems. Is it real? Is it fake memory? The movie is edited very well and manages to splice enough clues along. But the end is very open ended but leaves the entire movie open for interpretation. Hopefully, this movie gets the attention it deserves.

Also some Hollywood movies to pass along as well!

3) In Good Company (Directed by Paul Weitz): Rating 8/10

Only in today’s North American corporate age can you have a 26 year with no practical experience become the boss of a 51 year old with decades of experience. The Weitz brothers tackle the topic of modern evil corporate companies in this light hearted romantic comedy. The Weitz brothers have been evolving with each movie. They started back in 1999 with the hilarious American Pie, a movie about young horny teenagers. Then they switched gears to portray the live of a single male in About a Boy. Now they tackle the life of a married man (Dennis Quaid) who has a teenager daughter (Scarlett Johansson). The only negative for this movie is that is a bit long.

4) After the Sunset (Directed by Brett Ratner): Rating 5/10

This is a terribly boring movie with too many script loop holes. Pierce Brosnan is playing the same role as he did in the Thomas Crown Affair. The only difference is that instead of robbing paintings for fun, he robs diamonds. Salma Hayek struts around wearing skimpy clothes and gets annoying after a while. Woody Harrelson tries to play the smart-ass cop but he does such a poor job of it (Denis Leary did a great job with this role in Thomas Crown). And Don Cheadle is there just to make up the numbers. The only positive is the charming accent of Naomie Harris who plays the local island cop.

La Cinema: Film festivals and Assorted flicks

The annual Waterton French Film festival had an interesting line up. On tap was Tony Gatlif’s excellent Exiles, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement, the 2005 oscar nominated Chorus and a collection of Quebec movies. I was only able to watch two Quebec movies but they both turned out to be excellent choices.

1) Memories Affectives (Directed by Francis Leclerc): Rating 9/10

Another alternate title for this movie is ‘Looking for Alexander’. This movie won three major awards at the 2005 Canadian movie awards and rightly so. It is a very well done movie. Roy Dupuis plays Alexandre Tourneur, a man who suddenly awakens from a long term coma. Tourneur is declared physically dead and when someone pulls the plug on his life support system, it suddenly brings him back to life. He has no idea who he is or anything about his past. His wife, who was on the verge of leaving him, suddenly changes her mind and starts feeding false memories to her husband. Tourneur’s daughter has another version for her father and he tries to believe her version of their relationship as well. In the meantime, a police inspector is trying to investigate the incident which led to Tourneur’s accidental coma. As Tourneur tries to piece his life together, he finds out some very interesting things about this past. The best part of the movie is that we arrive to the conclusion at the same time as Tourneur does. And not everything is answered in the end, we actually have to figure some things out for ourself.

An excellent movie and the best part, it is MADE in Canada.

2) Camping Sauvage (Directed by Andre Ducharme, Guy Lepage, Sylvain Roy): Rating 8/10

Guy Lepage was in attendance to present this movie. This is a movie packed with typical Quebecois humour and that means it might not go down too well with everyone. So either one will love this movie or find it pointless. I for one, loved it.

Pierre-Louis (Guy Lepage) plays a strict by the rules stock broker who can never resist correcting someone’s grammar or proper French pronunciation. One day he witnesses a hit and run accident – a hummer runs over a pedestrian and drives off. Pierre-Louis immediately calls the police on his cell phone. As it turns out his anonymous call to the police is not so anonymous. The arrested hit-and-run person finds out who put him in jail and goes out looking for revenge. Pierre-Louis’s car is blown up and well that strikes fear in him. The police offer to give him a different identity as part of their witness protection program. In his disguise, Pierre-Louis is sent to live in a trailer park. But the trailer park is no ordinary place either. A series of hilarious characters live there and well, Pierre-Louis is not very safe. The park is located next to a biker gang hideout and the hit-and-run perpetrator was the head of a biker gang himself.

Documentaries:

1) Based on a True Story (International doc directed by Walter Stokman):

Rating: 7/10

This is a directory made about the real incident which inspired the 1975 movie, Dog Day Afternoon. The Sidney Lumet directed movie starred Al Pacino Sonny ‘Dog’ Wortzik, a man who had robbed a bank to pay for his lover’s sex change operation. The entire bank robbery turned into a 12-14 hour hostage crisis and a media fiasco. But was the Hollywood version the true story? This is the question that Dutch film-maker Walter Stokman set out to answer when he wanted to make his movie. However, Stokman’s task is made difficult because the real Sonny is not easy to work with. Sonny wants a lot of money for his version of the truth and he threatens and even abuses Stokman along the process. Stokman pieces an interesting movie with clips from the Hollywood flick, real media footage of the incident, Sonny’s phone calls talking of the incident and interviews with some of the hostages/police officers involved.

2) Janela Da Alma (English Translation, Window of the soul): Rating 7/10

Joao Jardim and Walter Carvalho have made a very off beat documentary which tries to ask and answer questions about reality, perception, images, and along the way leave the viewer with more questions and some eye opening views. There are interviews with a very learned group of people: Jose Saramago offers his views about reality and how he was inspired to write his famous novel, ‘Blindness’; Film-makers Wim Wenders and Agnes Varda are also interviewed extensively.

Foreign Flicks:

1) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972 movie directed by Luis Bunuel):

Rating 7/10

A movie about nothing. Ok, not really. A movie about dreams and fantasies and nothing else. A set of friends want to have a dinner party but for one reason or another all their attempts at dinner are thwarted by them waking up from a dream or having their dinner interrupted by an incident involving death. After some time, it is quite easy for the viewer to figure out which sequence is a dream, which is a fantasy and what is ‘real’. Along the way are elements from other Bunuel movies – the hint of terrorism lurking around every corner, characters playing multiple roles and changing identities. It is a fairly interesting movie.

2) Contempt (1963 movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard): Rating 7/10

A very talented cast grace this movie – Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Fritz Lang to name just a few. Loosely based on Albert Moravia’s book, it is an abstract movie which is to be enjoyed on a warm summer day. I didn’t totally enjoy every frame but it was worth seeing.

Hollywood:

1) Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Rating 7.5/10

Angelina Jolie steals this movie, whereas Brad Pitt recycles his character from Ocean’s 11 and The Mexican. The dialogue is interesting along with the story line -- two spies married to each other yet are unaware of each other’s identities. What sinks this movie is the last 20 minutes of action. Ofcourse, since it is a summer movie, action is a requirement. But if all that action was stripped away, it would be a much better movie. Alternatively, if all the dialogue was taken away, then we could have had a loud annoying movie.

2) Spanglish (Directed by James L. Brooks): Rating 7/10

Only if the movie was not so long, it might have been much better. It is a interesting movie, clichéd as it may be, but not a bad watch. Another tame quiet role for Adam Sandler and an English debut for the charming Paz Vega (Sex and Lucia). In a nutshell: a cultural coming of age meshed with troubled American household story. The weakest part is the overall structure of the movie – that the entire story is an actual essay submission to Princeton. Oh and Tea Leoni’s role as Sandler’s wife is a bit drab.

Bollywood:

1) Kaal (Directed by a former factory and sugar production): Rating 4/10

The only reason this movie does not get a zero rating is because of the technical merits. The movie is shot neatly and the editing is good. But the acting is terrible, the script pathetic and the direction non-existent. This is shameful even by Bollywood standards.

2) D (another Ram Gopal Varma factory movie): Rating ?

Very poorly scripted and laughable even by the factory movie standards. Calling this movie a prequel to ‘Company’ is a joke.

International Flair

1) The Sea Inside (directed by Alejandro Amenabar): Rating 8/10

No matter what movie Amenabar makes in the future, I will duly watch his work. Why? Because a man who can make conceive such movies as Thesis, Open Your Eyes and The Others is no ordinary film-maker. With The Sea Inside, Amenabar changes gears and goes for a dramatic movie as opposed to a thriller. But as Amenabar mentions in the DVD his fourth movie still contains the notion of death, like his previous three movies. This time however, it is a question of having the right to die – Euthanasia. The movie is based on the true story of Ramon Sampedro, a man who lost the use of his limbs during a swimming accident at the age of 19. Since then, Ramon has wanted to die. The movie picks up 26 years after that incident and Ramon still persists in ending his life. His requests are constantly denied by the courts. So finally, he hires a lawyer who has a physical disability hoping that she can help him, that she can understand his frustration of being bed-ridden and not being able to move.

The movie contains engaging performances by all the actors; Javier Bardem (as Ramon) plays his role wonderfully. The cinematography is just excellent, especially the camera work when Ramon imagines himself flying through the Galician skies. My only complaint is that the movie was 20 minutes longer than it should be. This is a fact that both writers (Amenabar and Mateo Gill) acknowledge in their interviews as well. But both felt that this movie had to be this long to show all the aspects of Ramon’s life – his writing, his accident, the women in his life, his daily struggle with the authorities, etc. Nonetheless, it is a very interesting movie which highlights a sensitive topic – assisted suicide.

2) Days of Being Wild (1991 movie directed by Kar-Wai Wong): Rating 7/10

Unlike Wong Kar-Wai’s other movies (Chunking Express, In the Mood for Love), I was not bowled over by this effort. Sure it is a simple story told at a leisurely pace but I just didn’t find it interesting enough. The story starts off with a bored young man (Leslie Cheung) stopping by a food/drink stand. The young man, Yuddy, takes a liking to the girl working there (Su Lizhen, played by Maggie Cheung). Yuddy duly asks her out, and after sleeping with her, dumps her. That is how Yuddy is -- he moves from one woman to another. Afterwards, he goes to threaten his mother’s boyfriend (over a pointless pretext) and picks a fight with him. While smashing stuff at the club, he asks the by standing exotic dancer out. When Su Lizhen discovers Yuddy’s affair, she is dejected and leaves him. Andy Lau plays a police officer who takes a liking to Su Lizhen and tries to console her after witnessing Yuddy’s behavior. Eventually Yuddy tires of the exotic dancer and leaves her as well. She is distraught and finds it hard to come to terms. In the meantime, Yuddy decides to leave to the Philippines where his anger gets him into trouble with some gangsters. What follows are sequences that I felt could have been left on the editing table.

On the plus sides, the movie has a soothing background score with good mood cinematography (rainy streets, dreary rooms, picturesque Philippines landscape, etc).

3) House of Fury (directed by Stephen Fung): Rating 8/10

Spy Kids meets Kung-Fu. A retired secret agent tries to keep a low profile by running a medical centre. He has spent his life raising his kids by telling them stories of his secret agent days, his adventurous exploits. When the kids were younger, they believed his stories. But after their mother passed away, the kids just considered their father’s tales as make-believe and nonsense. Now in their teens, the kids can’t stand their father – they find him annoying. One day, the father disappears. When his son goes to his father’s office, he finds everything broken. He stumbles into his father’s secret office where he sees proof of his father’s secret agent days. Everything starts to make sense now to the son. All those years of martial art training by his father, his father’s advice, etc seem to fall into place. When the son goes to tell his sister about all this, he finds that she is being attacked. The two kids manage to escape and start to go about finding the truth. Where is their father? Why are people after them? What follows is an entertaining action movie where the two kids (the son is played by Director Stephen Fung) manage to fight their way to the truth.

June happennings

Movies and Documentaries:

Before I get to the few documentaries I have recently seen, let’s get some of the commercial flicks out of the way.

1) National Treasure (2004): Rating 6/10

This movie feels like a rip off of the ‘Da Vinci Code’ with the only difference being that the story is set in USA with a few elements of American history tied together. Also, tied in the story thread are elements of Knights Templar and the Free Masons. The result: another typical commercial flick. For all the potential, the movie screws up on its own accord. Firstly, the start of the movie is terribly boring. In fact, the first 30 minutes or so are wasteful and not at all interesting. Secondly, Nicolas Cage is wrongly cast for his role as Treasure Hunter. He looks bored and un-interested for most of the movie. Thirdly, Diane Kruger is wrongly cast as well. But after the first 30 minutes, the movie settles into a fairly entertaining story with the only problem being that the story feels like an episode of the Amazing Race.

2) Meet the Fockers: Rating 5/10

I was never a fan of the original ‘Meet the Parents’ and this movie does not add anything to the series. Maybe the only positive is that Ben Stiller’s parents are interesting characters played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand (Note: The parents do feel like clones of Greg’s parents in ‘Dharma and Greg’). Roberto De Niro acts just like he did in the first movie, maybe because he does not have any different or interesting material to work on. Throughout the movie, you just feel sorry for Ben Stiller as it is obvious things will keep getting worse for him before they get better.

3) Victory (1981 movie directed by John Huston): Rating a solid 8/10

I had never heard of this movie. And when I saw the names on the cover, I felt it merited a seeing. The names were ‘Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max Von Sydow and Pele’. It was obvious this was a soccer movie with Pele, Bobby Moore and Osvaldo Ardiles credited on the back cover. The story revolves around a ‘friendly’ soccer game between the German National team and a team of captured British Allied Prisoners of War in 1942. Max Von Sydow (who plays a German General, Karl Von Steiner) spots Colby (Caine) teaching soccer for the captured prisoners. Since Steiner was a former soccer player for the German National team, he recognizes Colby as a former professional player (Colby played for West Ham and England). He proposes a soccer game between Colby’s students and a collection of German soldiers/captains. After negotiating for extra food rations and better sports equipment, Colby agrees. When news of the games reaches the German high administration, they decide to use the game as a means of propaganda. The stakes are raised with the German National team playing not just against Colby’s boys but an allied World team of British colonies. The game would be held in Paris. The British hate the idea of the game, and decide to hatch a plan to let the entire team escape – they feel this is the only way they can make the Germans look bad.

What is interesting about this movie is that real soccer players were used, with the exception of Caine and Stallone. The soccer game footage is shot very well and the match is quite interesting. The movie came long before ‘Lagaan’ or other sport movies of the 1990’s. And Pele was a joy to watch.

Documentaries:

It is that time of the year again when documentaries flood the festival circuits. Here are some notable ones that I have been fortunate to have seen:

1) The Future of Food (Directed by Deborah Koons): Rating 9/10

This is chilling documentary about the abuse of genetically engineered foods and spray chemicals used by some of the major food corporations. Also shown are the illegal and stupid methods that some corporations are using to patent seeds, food genes and even food itself. A must see movie. The movie is along the lines of ‘The Corporation’ and ‘Super Size Me’ but it is much more relevant because it tackles the topic of everyday common food, whose quality is increasingly being tarnished by some companies.

2) Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land (Directed by Sut Jhally and Bathsheba Ratzkoff): Rating 7.5/10

This is an interesting movie which outlines the methods and techniques used by the American Media to portray a one-sided account of the Middle East conflict. The movie is not as interesting as ‘Check Point’ and ‘Control Room’ but it puts forward a lot of interesting ideas. The scenes which show Israel’s plan of establishing settlements in the West Bank in strategic locations are very interesting and eye opening indeed.

3) The Letter: An American Town and the Somali Invasion (Directed by Ziad Hamzeh): Rating 8/10

What happens when a bunch of Somali refugees are dumped into a quiet all white American town? A timer starts and the tension keeps building until something explodes. In this case, a tragic situation is averted but not before the entire town and even the entire country is dragged into a mess perpetuated by a single incorrect and racist letter written by the town’s mayor.

4) Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (Directed by Alexandra Cassavetes): Rating 9/10

A movie for all movie lovers! I had no idea what Z Channel was before I saw this movie. And after watching this movie how I wish we had such a great channel in this day and age. A channel dedicated to only showing foreign, independent and even commercial movies rejected by the main-stream audiences. A channel dedicated to providing information about film makers, genres and showcasing great actors.

This documentary talks about the famous Z channel and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey, who brought the best in cinema to households in L.A. Not every region in L.A got this pay cable channel but those that got it, cherished it. The movie has notable interviews with film-makers and critics (Robert Altman, Jim Jarmusch, Alexander Payne, Tarantino to name a few) and includes clips from some long forgotten gems of cinema.

Real Cinema

It has been a while since my last update and I have seen some good flicks in the last few weeks. But I want to get the commercial movies out of the way, and none are more commercial than Episode III.

1) Star Wars, Episode III: Rating 8/10

Well I held out for 13 days before I succumbed to the final episode. And I was pleasantly surprised. The movie is miles better than Episode I and Episode II. No doubt about it. The movie does a great job of tying up all the story pieces and makes it much more enjoyable to watch Episode 4, 5 & 6. Once again, the biggest weakness in the movie is the terrible dialogue. Also, the love story is so amateur that it is embarrassing. I really wish Lucas would have sub-contracted the dialogues and love story to someone else, but this is his story and his project. So he can do as he pleases. The story is complete now, finally. Will we have ever see Episodes 7, 8 & 9? Time will tell.

2) The Interpreter (directed by Sydney Pollack): Rating 8/10

It was a rainy night. There was no decent movie playing anywhere in the city. But I had a feeling a movie with Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman and Catherine Keener couldn’t be all that bad, could it? Well I am glad to know I was not wrong. The movie is not bad at all. In fact, it is a very good movie. Well made and quite absorbing. The story starts off in the fictitious African country of Matobo. A jeep of three men head off to a soccer stadium for a meeting. One camera man stays behind and the other two enter the stadium. But the two don’t make it out alive. The movie then picks up in New York, where the crust of the action takes place. The important scenes of the movie are shot on location at the U.N headquarters, and those scenes give the movie its authenticity. Nicole Kidman is an interpreter working at the UN. One night she over-hears an assassination plot to kill the head of Matobo who will be visiting the UN in a few days time. Since only few people know this language, so what are the chances that the only person in the UN who can understand this language overhears such a plot? That is the FBI’s problem when they come to investigate Kidman’s confession. And the case takes on an interesting twist when Kidman’s past reveals her hatred for Matobo’s leadership.

The only problem with the movie was some of the contrived Hollywood scenes regarding some of the movie’s main action points. Also, Sean Penn’s character was a bit too clichéd – once again he played a sulking brooding man. And there were a few scenes where Kidman’s accent changed quite a bit. One good thing about the movie is that it is not reduced to a love story and Kidman’s relationship with Penn’s characters is very natural and compassionate. The movie also does an excellent job of taking African and current Middle Eastern politics and wrapping it around a U.N setting. Worth seeing.

3) Chunking Express (directed by Wai-Kar Wong): Rating a very solid 9/10

Long before ‘In the Mood for Love’ and ‘2046’ was Chunking Express. And when this sweet movie came out, it won rave reviews (especially from Quentin Tarantino). The movie has two separate stories connected by a loose thread – the take out place where not only quality food is served but dreams are dished out as well. The first segment involves an inspector who has broken up with his girlfriend. He is lonely and miserable, so when he misses a blond femme fatale, he falls for her. The femme fatale is a self-described cautious person, who always wears a raincoat (just in case it might rain) and sunglasses (just in case it might be sunny) while donning a blond wig. She runs a drug operations using Pakistani immigrants as drug mules. She has a one night stand with the inspector and leaves him in the morning. Disappointed, the inspector heads to his favourite take out place. He brushes against a new employee there but he passes on the chance to ask her out. Instead, the new employee falls for another inspector. Both stories have a prominent song which plays continuously and sets the mood for each story.

A simple yet beautiful movie! And one can see the seeds of ‘In the Mood for Love’ and ‘2046’ in here.

4) Bad Education (directed by Pedor Almodovar): Rating a perfect 10/10

I am big fan of any movie by Almodovar. But I was told by a lot of people that Bad Education misses the mark. It is too much to endure and hard to sit through. Maybe in a theatre it is. My verdict on this movie: Perfect, Vintage, and just magnificent. I saw the movie without knowing the story. And that is the best way to watch this movie. So I won’t give anything away.

5) Stella (1955 movie directed by Michael Cacoyannis): Rating 4/10

Supposed to a classic movie but maybe some movies lose their impact with time. And so it is with this one. I just didn’t find anything enjoyable about this one. The end is quite interesting but I was bored long before that.

6) Stachka (English title ‘Strike’, 1925 movie directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein)

Rating: Interesting watch.

This is a classic movie in a lot of ways, not only regarding when it was made but the different techniques used. Cinema was definitely much more creative in the initial days when directors were experimenting and learning to use their new found tool of movie making. The movie’s story involves around a Russian factory revolution – workers are plotting to strike and the owners hire spies to foil the workers plan. If Eisenstein would be making movies today, then we would be truly lucky.

7) Gothika (Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz): Rating 6/10

Kassovitz has been responsible for directing powerful movies like Crimson Rivers and Hate (La Haine) and starring in hit movies like Amelie. But for some reason, I had not seen Gothika when it came out in 2003. Seeing it two years later, I can safely say that there was nothing I had missed in not having watched this movie. It is shot well but I just wished the story had more depth and did not go for the obvious angle that run of the mill Hollywood flicks take.

The movie starts out with Halle Berry listening to her patient, Penelope Cruz in the mental asylum. Cruz claims that the devil raped her, but Berry does not believe her. Driving home on that rainy night, Berry sees a girl standing in the middle of the road. She swerves to avoid hitting her and crashes her girl. When she gets back to the road, she inquires to see if the girl is all right. But the badly scarred girl suddenly bursts into flames. And just then Berry wakes up, only to find herself as a prisoner in that same mental asylum. How did she get there? It is an interesting setup but as the movie progresses, it just gets worse and worse. And the ending is very disappointing.

May showings

Comic books galore:

May started out with watching some overdue comic book movies.

1) Blade 3: Rating 4/10

I really enjoyed the first Blade movie. The second one was ok, with some interesting stuff. But the third one is the worst of the lot by a long shot. There is nothing worthwhile in this movie and it is a complete waste of time. The plot and characters are a hash of the first 2 movies with nothing new added. This time Dracula is around to challenge Blade. It seems that the pure blood of Dracula is needed in the evil Vampires plan for dominating Earth. Yawn. Ryan Reynolds character tries to add humour (in a manner similar to certain Jason Lee roles) but instead of making the movie enjoyable, those quirky lines are just annoying.

2) Spider Man: Rating 8/10

Believe it or not, I had not seen Spider Man until now. The trailers led me to believe it was passable. I am glad to find out that I was wrong, well mostly. The movie is indeed enjoyable with the only negative aspects being Kristen Dunst (wrongly cast and poorly acted) and the fake costume/setup of the Green Goblin. Other than that, the movie is not bad at all. Some scenes (like Spider Man’s wrestling stunts and tracking down uncle Ben’s killer) are very true to the comic book.

3) Spider Man 2: Rating 10/10

This is indeed a very good movie. For once, the critics got it right. Dr. Octopus is played brilliantly by Alfred Molina and Spidey’s inner conflict is perfectly conveyed in the movie. Once again, the only weakness in the movie with Kristen Dunst but other than that, this is a well scripted and directed movie. One important note: one of the screen writers of the movie was Michael Chabon (author of Wonder Boys). No wonder some of the scenes were so fresh and well written.

And now for some of the non comic book movies!

4) Why has Bodhi Dharma left for the East (1989 movie directed by Yong-Kyun Bae).

I can imagine when this movie was released, it would have appealed to people for the simple reason that there were not many movies like this out there. But now, having seen such movies as ‘The Cup’, ‘Samsara’ and ‘Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter..and Spring’, I found Bodhi Dharma not interesting at all. In fact, there was nothing new that these other movies had not covered in some aspect or the other.

5) That Obscure Object of Desire (1977 movie directed by Luis Bunuel): Rating 7.5/10

This is probably one of the more interesting movies I have seen in a while. Bunuel used a tactic not seen in movies. He used two actresses for the same role of Conchita, switching the two women based on the mode of the role. If he wanted to portray the woman with some French dignity and coldness, he used Carole Bouquet. And if instead he wanted to highlight the woman’s fiery Spanish roots, he used Angela Molina. At first you are confused but once you catch on, you can predict which actresses will appear in which scene. Also, Bunuel tucks away the topic of terrorism in the background and bringing it in the forefront on certain occasions. It is another tactic done very well. Now, the reason I didn’t fall head over heels over this movie was that I didn’t find it completely engaging. It is still worth a watch though.

End of April notes

1) What’s Cooking (2000 movie, directed by Gurindher Chadha): Rating a solid 8/10

Thanksgiving movies are a genre in themselves but this one manages to stand on its own. How many thanksgiving movies exist out there whose main characters are portrayed as Latin, Vietnamese, African-American and Jewish? Chadha excels in such movies (like Bhaji on the Beach). She knows how to portray the tiny family problems while not blowing things out of proportion like she did in Bride and Prejudice. The movie shows the four families as having their own share of problems while preparing their variation of a traditional Turkey dinner, with the problems being typical teenage parental conflicts, parents difficulty in accepting their lesbian daughter, a father’s clash with his son over their political differences, a husband wanting his wife back after he had cheated on her, etc. Initially, the four families seem separate but slowly we realize that they are more closely tied than we are led to think. Well worth watching.

2) Mean Girls: Rating 8/10

High school movies often fall in a clichéd category, so it was refreshing to see a different take on high school problems. In this case, the story involves Lindsay Lohan playing a girl who has never been to a public school before. Her parents lived in South Africa where she was home schooled. So when they move back to America, she has to attend the regular high school. High school can be daunting as it is but for a complete newcomer, it can be a completely eye opening experience. So Lohan’s character soon learns the ropes on how to survive in the high school jungle and she comes to realize, her high school is not that different from the animal kingdom. A funny and sensible movie.

3) In Praise of Love (Directed by Jean-Luc Godard):

Simple review: I didn’t get this movie nor did I care to. It is quite abstract and trying to evoke sentiments of 1960’s cinema verite but it just does not translate. Interesting to note that the indie movie, Nobody Needs to Know, really tried to copy this Godard movie but that movie was not slightly more watchable because it limited its scope to one city.

4) The Ugliest Woman in the World (1999 Spanish movie directed by Miguel Bardem):

This one is not a bad flick to watch. The story is set in a future Spain but nothing about the story needs to be in the future. Lola was born as the ugliest baby in the world and made fun of constantly while growing up. Thanks to some plastic surgery and a certain experiment, she is transformed into the most beautiful woman in Spain, but there were some complications with the surgery. Those complications lead to her retreating to her old ugly self. Lola sets about killing women in brutal ways to achieve her dream of becoming Miss Spain.

5) Soul Plane: No need to rate this one.

It is worth some funny laughs but as a movie, it just does not translate.

6) Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: Rating 5/10 (even a 5 seems too high)

What is so great about this movie? I have no idea. Ok the idea is great – make a movie without ever leaving one’s apartment. Have all the actors act in front of a blue screen and add the rest later. And the fakeness of it all does show. Maybe that is the point, maybe we should really know that this is not all real. That being said, the movie has no life in the first hour or so. It is cold, soulless and just trudges along. The actors (Paltrow and Law) are both inept and can’t generate any interest in that first hour. All that changes when Angelina Jolie enter the movie. She sparks some life into the movie but her role is too limited to make the movie interesting.

There are shades of several movies in this one – The Rocketeer, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Spy Kids 2, Jurassic Park, etc. But the movie was just not interesting enough. Maybe it looks better in a theatre, but on DVD, it looks rather dull.

Mid April Showings

1) Closer (Directed by Mike Nichols, with a brilliant screenplay by Patrick Marber):

Rating 9/10

This is a marvelous movie. The beauty of this movie lies with the screenplay. Sure the acting and direction are very very good but if it were not for the screenplay, the movie would not be as interesting. Unlike other movies which bore us with annoying details about a man and woman’s (or girl) daily happenings, this movie jumps around to only show us the relevant portions of their relationship. Jude Law meets Natalie Portman, and after a short conversation, the movie flashes forward in time when the two of them are officially a couple. We are not told what happened in that time period as we infer from their current behaviors. Law then meets Julia Roberts but she turns his down. In a joke, he sends Clive Owen to the same aquarium where Roberts goes (Jude Law meets Owen on an online chat site where Law pretends to be a woman; this scene is just hilarious). Roberts and Owen become a couple much to Law’s annoyance. The movie then moves onto some murky areas of affair, love and heartbreak, all the while retaining the flash forward method. And only when needed, the past incidents are spliced with the present in quick flashbacks. Well worth the watch.

On a side note: Interesting to compare Jude Law's character in this movie with his role in 'Alfie'. If Jude Law is to be the next bond, then it is good to see him get all his broken hearted roles out of the way. Neither Alfie or Closer ends on a happy note for his character.

2) Sideways (Directed by Alexander Payne, Novel by Rex Pickett): Rating 9/10

This is just a charming movie. I never ever expected it to be this good but it is. Part of my pre-conceived notions had to do with all the hype about the ‘wine’ tour and ‘wine’ talks in the movie. But the critics blew it out of proportion. The movie is NOT about a wine tour, but the wine only serves as a background in the lives of two troubled men – one a week away from getting married and the other struggling to get his novel published. Along the way, they meet two women and well sparks fly and emotions run high. Yet the two friends understand each other really well and try to look out for each other, in their own ways. Very well acted, especially by Thomas Haden Church (the groom). The first half of the movie is fast paced and funny with the second half being a bit slower.

3) Jisatsu Saakuru (Suicide Club) -- directed by Shino Sono. Rating 4/10

This is a huge let down; nothing worth seeing here! The opening scene was much talked about -- 54 high school girls jump off the track into the path of an oncoming train which mashes their bodies and spews blood in all directions. Why did the girls jump? And what is the mysterious package found by the train tracks? So we are lead to believe there is a mystery about this so called suicide club. A web site features red dots indicating the number of people who have died. And the mysterious package appears to be a rolled up chain of human skin, from people either dead or about to commit suicide. Unfortunately, the movie does not offer a proper answers to any question it throws our way. The entire mystery of the club even when partly revealed is well, plain dull. I kept thinking of ‘Battle Royale’ in some instances of this movie. In BR, the adults wanted to punish the children for being a trouble. But in this movie, the children try to get back at the adults simply because they feel the adults have ‘lost connection’ with their inner selves.

April Thrills

1) Sin City (Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller).

Hmm. On one side are critics calling this the best movie of the year, best comic book translation ever, great film noir, etc. And on the other side are a few critics calling this a violent movie, with too much blood and degrading to women, etc.

The truth is in the middle. First off, the movie is not close to being as violent and bloody as some are making it out to be. The black and white does offset some of the violence, and then the really gory elements are implied not shown.

Ok, now to the good part! The movie is not a graphic novel adaptation; IT IS a living breathing graphic novel. Rodriquez has taken each panel of Miller’s three Sin City graphic novels and put them on screen. That is just an amazing accomplishment. The black & white with shades of colour, the impressive lighting are just marvelous! Colour against black and white was used much better in Pleasantville but it makes a mark in some places here.

So how good is this movie? It’s good but not that great. Why? Well for a graphic novel, the story lines are perfect. But in order to make a movie, one needs to cut down on the narration -- the first 20 minutes or so are packed with too much narration. But after the first 20 minutes or so, the movie settles in, and the story takes over; I even forgot to pay attention to the visuals because the characters the interleaving story was interesting.

The film noir elements are all there but where were the femme fatales? I hate to say it but none of the women were appealing at all. Ok, maybe except the brief cameo by Carla Gugino was good. And Jessica Alba was plain wasted.

Acting wise, all the leading men did a good job with Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke being the best. This movie has been compared to Pulp Fiction. That is a shame really! Because Sin City may be good but nowhere near as good as Pulp Fiction. And the guest appearance directed scene by Tarantino is nothing to shout about.

Elijah Wood is a great addition as the soul eating killer. His white shades against the black background look very very nice.

Overall Rating: It was worth watching but I was not bowled over as most other people.

2) Spartan (Directed by David Mamet)

I had such high hopes from this movie. David Mamet writes such interesting story lines (The Spanish Prisoner) and characters that I thought this would be an intriguing crime thriller. But I was seriously wrong. The movie starts off interesting but it goes off the rail after the 50 minute mark. After that everything looks fake with the ‘Dubai’ scenes being the worst; we can clearly tell everything in ‘Dubai’ is a set and the movie does nothing to hide that fact.

But once again, it amazes me that critics praised this movie. Seriously, it is not that complicated. The plot is so easy to see through that there is nothing to ponder about.

Overall Rating: Not worth watching.

3) The Bourne Supremacy

This was much better than I had expected. It is a fast paced thriller, which does run a little bit longer than it should have. The movie starts off in Goa and then winds it way past Naples, Berlin, Amsterdam, Moscow before ending up in New York. There are some long car chase scenes and extended periods of the movie contain no dialogue.

Overall rating: Much better than Spartan, even if the dialogues and scenarios seem clichéd.

End of March Notes

1) Open Water: Rating – Worth a look but overall, ok

This Independent movie made a splash last year at Sundance and the critics. It is a simple store – an over-busy couple quickly find time for a last minute diving vacation. During their diving trip, they are left behind in the middle of the ocean. At first, they believe a boat will come rescue them. But after a few hours, they begin to fear the worst. And to top it off, the husband notices a shark fin nearby. Sure there are some scary moments, but I was not bowled over as most of the American critics. One thing annoyed me – when the couple are drifting alone in the water and they see a boat in the horizon, NONE of them actually shouts for help. Why? How is that believable?

2) I love Huckabees: Rating – Good and worth a watch.

This is an existential comedy. Not that there is such a genre out there. It is funny movie with lots of interesting ideas tucked away. No point in talking about the plot as that is something one must guess for themselves. But I can’t understand why this movie was slammed by American critics? Could it be that they hated the movie because they have to think what the movie is about? As opposed to singing praises for a movie where one character leads a miserable life and cries and sobs all about it?

3) Alfie: Rating – Good and worth a watch.

The trailers don’t do justice for this movie. The trailers give us the idea that the movie is about Jude Law bouncing around from one woman to another, having fun along the way. Sure Jude Law’s character, Alfie, has fun. But after the first 20 minutes, his life ends up becoming miserable. He is forced to question his life and face to his consequences. One can call the movie a slowed down dramatic version of ‘High Fidelity’. The movie looks at the decisions men make and why men are the way they are.

The camera work in the movie is just great. The camera moves along with Alfie as he is required to keep talking to the camera throughout. I have not seen the 1966 version but going by the clips, the camera work and overall movie is much better than the original. The women in the original were highly boring, which is not the case for this version. The only boring role belonged to Susan Sarandon, who is completely miscast for her role.

In the end, this is a very mature movie.

4) Ring 2: Rating – Terrible waste of time.

I really liked the first Ring movie. It was great but the sequel is a waste of time. There is nothing interesting to add to the story and the characters are not given a chance to expand from their previous role. There are some scary moments but by the end, the movie feels incomplete and forced. If further Ring movies are made, this movie will easily be forgotten.

5) Girl with a Pearl Earring: Rating – Good.

This is a good movie. I didn’t know the story when I started watching it, which was a good thing. Because judging by the first painting I saw in the movie, I guessed the movie must be about Vermeer. I like his paintings – they are so real and full of life. And the movie does give us an idea on how Vermeer made his paintings so life like. Colin Firth, who plays Vermeer, surprisingly does not say much. Scarlett Johansson does a great job in her role though – her expressions are spot on.

6) The Dreamers (directed by Bernard Bertolucci): Rating – Ok, not that great.

This is a movie loved by critics who spent the 1960’s in Paris watching European/American cinema and inhaled the political atmosphere in the city. To others, it may seem like a waste of time. In reality, the movie falls in between. Some parts are really good and others tend to drag on quite a bit.

7) Unfaithful: Rating Good.

For the longest time I thought this movie was going to be plain terrible so I stayed away. But I was wrong. It is not that bad of a movie only because of one reason – Diane Lane. She has acted really well. If not for her, this movie would have been just a run of the mill affair movie. The ending is open ended but there was no other way to end the movie though.

8) Punch-Drunk Love: Rating Very Good, worth a watch

Yes this is a different movie. But one worth the watch! The craziness of Magnolia combined with the dark comedic touch of the Coen brothers (shades of The Big Lebowski). Adam Sandler retains his angry flair (Happy Gilmore) but cuts down on his over the top humor for this one.

9) DodgeBall: Rating – Poor but has some funny moments.

There are some genuinely funny scenes in this movie but overall it is not that great. The good thing is that Ben Stiller is not afraid to keep trying different things with his on-screen characters.

10) Super Size Me: Rating – Excellent!!!

This is an excellent documentary on the evils of the Fast Food World we live in. I can’t understand why there were critics of this movie – Morgan Spurlock does not openly slam the fast food company without some investigation and even some objective view points.

11) Under the Tuscan Sun: Rating – Good

This is a light hearted fun movie. Nothing serious or sad in this one! And Diane Lane looks great in this movie as well. She had to as the entire movie rests on her shoulders.

12) Dark Water (original Japanese movie by Hideo Nakata): Rating – Ok, not that great.

The movie has shades of Ju-On and the Ring but is not that great. The story is streched longer than it should – if this was a 20 minute short, it would have been perfect. The viewer can easily guess what the big mystery is early on.

13) Wasabi: Rating – Good with some fun moments.

This feels like a Luc Besson run of the mill product. After the Professional, we have seen quite a few such movies (the Transporter being one) – bad cop takes on the gangsters. It is clichéd in parts but overall, it’s not that bad.

March scribbles

1) Constantine: Rating Very poor

Comic book movies are always hard to make. Mostly, they translate into action packed movies which are trashed by all critics. And if on the odd chance, the movie tries to put an artistic twist on the comic book, then the audiences stay away. Constantine tries to combine both action and artistic genres and ends up failing horribly on both accounts. The action and visuals have all been seen before and average at best. And then there’s the acting. Or lack of it. Keanu Reeves is the wrong choice for this role. This role demanded a brooding miserable performance right out of a Film Noir movie and Reeves sounds like he is still in the Matrix movies (even some of the scenes and his poses are right out of the Matrix). A real waste of a movie!

2) Beautiful Boxer (directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham): Rating 8/10

An interesting movie, which is based on the true story of a thai boxer who gets a sex change operation to become a woman. The movie tells the story in flash back; the ex-boxer boxer narrates his life story, of how he first noticed that he wanted to be a woman, of how he got into Thai boxing and why he decided to postpone his sex change operation. It is a very well done movie which handles the topic with the right amount of sensitivity and emotion.

3) Bride and Prejudice: Rating – Not worth it.

A horrible horrible movie! It is an example of poor cinema. No words can describe how bad this movie. It pretends to be funny but it is not! The jokes are poor in any language. And the acting by a certain beautiful woman is non-existent – she can’t act. Simple as that!

Feb Wrap Up

1) Japanese Story (Directed by Sue Brooks):

This one is hard to judge because it is a movie not made for commercial success. Ofcourse, such a movie would garner critical attention but it is not a movie to judge, rave or slam down. The story is simple enough – Toni Collette (perfectly cast in her role) plays a hard working Aussie woman who is roped into giving a guided tour to a visiting Japanese client. Collette’s character is not happy with the idea of acting as a guide, but she has no choice – she has been told that the Japanese client might buy her software. Gotaro Tsunashima plays the Japanese client who is not interested in the company’s software but more interesting in seeing the Company’s real sites likes the mines, the desert, etc. While driving through the desert, a series of incidents occur but one of the incidents comes as a major shock. I don’t want to give it away but it is something that is not seen coming. And the way the incident happens makes one care for what is going on in the movie. This is not a happy movie, but it is a poetic tragedy. Worth seeing.

2) The Forgotten (Directed by Joseph Ruben): Rating 5/10

This one feels like an episode of X-files crossed with The Arrival (1996 movie directed by David Twohy) and spliced with ideas of Dark City and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. However, the movie ends up being boring and dull. The big failure is because the big suspense is given away too easily. The movie starts off with some suspense but while we are trying to think what is going on, we are shown exactly what the conspiracy is. And from then on, the movie goes through the motions. That being said, there are 3 brilliantly shot scenes while jolt the viewer – the visuals and the sudden action takes one by pure shock. Unfortunately, 3 scenes can’t save this movie. And what’s worse is that neither the director or writer are first time movie makers, but they make such poor mistakes that one normally attributes to a new film-maker – for example like making things too simplistic, not paying attention to details, etc.

3) Gong Fu (English title, Kung Fu Hassle, Directed by Stephen Chow):

Rating 8/10 overall
Visuals, Entertainment Value: 10/10

It is a hard act to follow an entertaining flick like Shaolin Soccer. And this is what actor/director/writer Stephen Chow had to do. And he does not disappoint. Gong Fu is highly entertaining with some brilliant fight sequences. The story is basic – The Axe Gang is a notorious band of thugs which terrorizes innocent people. But when the gang tries to demolish the residents of a certain pig sty community, they run into their match! The gang is duly defeated. So the gang turns to outside help to take revenge. Fight Fight. But oh what amazing fights. The first half of the movie is slow with enough time given to introduce us to all the characters and lay the foundations of the story. There is even a tender love story threaded in the movie. Unlike House of Flying daggers, the love story does not dominate the movie but stays one step behind the action. Pure Fun though!

4) Gadjo Dilo (Directed by Tony Gatlif): Rating 7/10

Tony Gatlif movies are not an acquired taste – either you like them or you don’t. If you don’t like them, then seeing more of his movies won’t change your view. Like most of his movies, this one centers around the Gypsy life, theme of alienation and is peppered with music/dance. The story is as usual wafer thin but in Gatlif’s movie, the story is not the driving force – it is always the music and the characters. This time the characters are interesting enough – Romain Duris plays the Frenchmen who travels to Romania to hunt down a singer whose music his dad loved; Rona Hartner (a Kate Winslet look alike) plays the passionate Gypsy who detests Belgians and Izidor Serban plays the hilarious villager who adopts the Frenchman for his own selfish interests. Themes of alienation and traveling to understand one’s father are explored further in Gatlif’s Exils (2004).

5) Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (Directed by Danny Leiner): Rating 5/10

A poor cross between American Pie and Dude Where’s My Car? Both those movies were funny. This one is not even though there are some decent funny elements. It tries to play the ethnic card but wastes it.

6) Shark Tale

I am the wrong person to judge these animation movies. Even though the animation is great and the dialogues funny, I find these movies pointless. As per the standard for all animation movies, there are countless pop culture references in this movie (some references clearly for adults). I have to admit portraying the sharks as a Godfather mafia was a funny idea. These movies try too hard to be funny and cute -- as a result they are huge commercial successes. Perfect fluff movie!
I do acknowledge the amazing amount of work that goes into making such movies but they are being made to fill a niche….

7) Shaun of the Dead (Directed by Edgar Wright): Rating 8/10

A really good spoof idea of comparing the Zombie concept to modern consumer culture! The movie stays true to the spirit of Zombie flicks (mindless creatures who moan and stagger around) but at the same time wraps a hilarious story around it. I liked the movie but after the first hour, I found it too dry and well, not funny anymore. Worth a watch though just for some of the ideas.

Io non ho paura

I am not scared (directed by Gabriele Salvatores, based on the novel by Niccolo Ammaniti):

Rating 10/10

This one is brillaint, touching and well, purely Italian. Set in Southern Italy in 1978, the story is about a small Italian village inhabited by only a few families. The story starts off with some of the village kids playing around a deserted house. One of the kids happens to come across a covered hole in the ground. When he lifts the cover off the hole, he sees a tiny leg in a corner. Shocked, he runs away. But the image of the leg lingers in his mind, and he duly returns the next day. This time he throws a rock near the leg, nothing happens. He turns around to pick up another rock but when he turns back, the rock is gone and so is the leg. As the boy peers his face into the hole, he is shocked to find a pale white boy come in front of him. Horrified, he runs away again. Who is the boy in the hole? The movie unfolds the story slowly yet beautifully.

Watching the movie, one can sense how the film will end, but Salvatores manages to hold our attention. Io Non Ho Paura is not at the same level as Salvatores's 1991 award winning Mediterraneo but is still a very good movie.

On the commercial movie path

1) Enigma (directed by Michael Apted) -- Rating 8/10

This is a pretty engaging movie about the English-German Cryptography battle during WWII. The movie shows how the English had to battle against time to break the German codes transmitted via the Enigma machine; the Enigma machine was considered unbreakable and believed to be the most perfect machine of its time.

The lead actor, Dougray Scott, is ok in his role. He does nothing special as he is given a very boxed incharacter -- genius code breaker who falls for a femme fatale, loses the woman, turns to alcohol, is washed up, hated by his superiors, is written off, and at the end of it all, saves the day. Kate Winslet does a good job in her different watered down look. But the real juicy role belongs to Jeremy Northam, a shady inspector who has all the airs of a classic Film Noir character -- mysterious and untrust worthy.

Overall a worthy watch.

2) Vanity Fair (directed by Mira Nair) -- Rating 7/10

Reese Witherspoon plays her role to perfection in this classic Thackeray novel adaptation -- herexpressions, dialogue delivery, etc are all well suited for the chirpy role of Becky Sharp.
That being said, all the supporting cast do indeed support her with a good performances.

The all women production and direction crew do make a worthy team but what bored me was the overall length of the movie. Given the movie had to work off a lengthy novel, one can't really blame the screenwriter/directorfor the tedious pace. But after the first hour, all the buzz dies down. And only near the endare things lit up again before ending on a Colorful note.

From the Arabic belly dance sequence and the beautiful Rajasthani shots, you can tell thatMira Nair was aching to add colour to this movie. And that she does, as there is quite a bit of colour present equally in between visuals of dark and gloomy London and Brussels.
It started off really good, ends pleasantly enough but in the mid hour was pointless, boringand seemed to crawl on for no reason.

3) Stepford Wives (directed by Frank Oz) -- Rating 6/10

The trailers do a poor job of giving away the key sequences of the movie. So I knew what the big twist was (since I never saw the original movie, I was not aware of the story). But the movie moves at a brisk pace of only 90 minutes. Almost everything in the trailers is shown by the first hour, but there is atleast one suprize by the end. The movie is never over the top nor too serious -- there are quite a few snide remarks made towards some of the current pop culture trends (internet, reality shows, men/women steroetypes) but they are made only inpassing (as opposed to harboring on each point, the remark is made and things move on to the next scene). I would have given the movie a higher rating were it not for some of the glaring technical problems regarding the true identity of the Stepford wives -- there are few scenes which contradict each other and it seems that the writer/director were too busy trying to make cute scenes that they failed to realize the ending exposes loop holes in some ofthe earlier sequences (how can the end and the ATM machine sequence co-exist?).

4) Human Nature (directed by Michel Gondry, written by Charlie Kaufman) -- Rating 7/10

Human Nature (2001) was released in between Kaufman's Adaptation (2002) and Being John Malkovich (1999). Hmmm...that sums if up, doesn't it? The movie starts off slow but then gets fairly entertaining before heading towards an interesting ending. The premise has been done before though -- humans come in contact with a person raised entirely in the jungle; this person knows nothing about societyand human behavious. So the people who found him go about trying to civilize this ape like person. There are some funny moments in this and some different ideas from the usual run of the mill movies.

5) A Touch of Pink (directed by Ian Iqbal Rashid) -- Rating 8/10

This was an enjoyable movie even though the story has been done in various shades before.
But this time the few differences are funny enough. Boy meets boy, boy loves boy
but boy can't openly declare his love because boy's mom won't understand, so boy lies about
his life, mom finds out, boy loses boy, but eventually everyone understands and boy lives
happily ever after with boy. Oh boy also has an imaginary friend who helps the boy in his
decisions. The humour is never over the top nor too cynical.

6) The Terminal (directed by Steven Spielberg) -- Rating 4/10

Yes, Steven Spielberg directed this movie. If any other director has made this movie, it would
have been trashed by all the critics. But because of Tom Hanks and the director's name,
the movie is praised. Agreed the sets are amazing -- the terminal sets look like a real airport
indeed. The germ of the story is interesting enough, a man is stranded in the terminal
because his country has ceased to exist during his fligh duration. But what happens afterwards requires one to suspend all belief. The movie is best described as a cross between a Disney movie and a Bollywood flick (minus the songs ofcourse).

Yuck!!!!!

2005 -- New year, new movies

Back to movie watching!

1) Ocean’s Twelve – Rating 9/10 for Entertainment value, Story (what story?)

This was the first Hollywood movie I have seen in Madrid (or in Europe for that matter). It was difficult to find a theatre which showed movies in English but I managed to find the single theatre that showed English movies with Spanish subtitles as opposed to all the other theatres which have Hollywood movies dubbed in Spanish.

If I had not seen this movie in Europe I would have hated it. This movie is not even close to the cool factor of Ocean’s Eleven. But all the European references (two mentions of Madrid), one huge plug for Arsenal, the amazing selection of Gotan Project’s music and the jazzy role given to Vincent Cassel made this enjoyable. There is a complete lack of story and the screenplay is to be taken with a huge slice of disbelief.

2) The 39 Steps (1935 movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock) – Rating 10/10

This is vintage Hitchcock. Despite being an early film, it is technically excellent. A simple story which movies at a brisk pace. A man is watching a theatre show. A gunshot causes commotion and as he leaves the theatre, he runs into a woman who asks to leave with him. Since he is taken by her, he agrees. When he reaches home, the woman mentions that she was the one who fired the gun. Why? Because she is a spy and her life is in danger. Ofcourse, the man does not believe her and laughs it off. She mentions that the two men standing on the road across his apartment are trying to kill her (and indeed there are two men underneath the street light). In the middle of the night, the man is woken up as the woman blurts something and falls dead on his bed. He then notices the knife stuffed in her back. From there on, he tries piecing what she said and in the morning, he finds himself as a wanted fugitive. Just a good movie!!!
One can see how in the upcoming decades a lot of films 'borrowed' Hitchcock's elements from this movie.

3) Man on the Train (original title Homme du train, directed by Patrice Leconte)

I started watching this movie but due to a DVD technical problem, most of the opening scenes were skipped. I never did finish this movie but it looked dull enough. I might revisit it one day.

4) Beyond Borders (directed by Martin Campbell) – Rating 6/10

Such promise but a real disappointment in the end! The tag line leads us to believe this is a love story set against the backdrop of some of the World’s dangerous spots – Ethiopia, Cambodia and Chechnya. But the big problem is that the love story never feels real and the entire plot seems forced.

5) A World Without Thieves (original title Tian Xia Wu Zei directed by Xiaogang Feng) – Rating 9/10

This is hugely enjoyable movie except the ending. Andy Lau and Rene Liu are two con artists who excel in their field. But Rene’s character is having doubts and wants to quit -- she even insists on visiting a Tibetan monastery to pray. When she finds out that her co-partner stole from innocent people at the temple, she is disgusted. She briefly parts ways where she encounters a village simpleton who helps her (they don’t get much simpler than this guy). After she gets back together with her co-thief, they find themselves at a train station seething with thieves. The village simpleton is also looking to catch the same train and is taking his entire life savings with him – he wants to return to the village, buy a house and get married. Everyone warns the simpleton not to take the money on the train as there are thieves around. To prove that there are no thieves, he loudly announces at the train station that how much money he is carrying. Such a public announcement attracts all the thieves. The con couple take to him and look out after him (the woman treats the simpleton like her brother and the male counterpart wants to steal the simpleton’s money to teach him about life). But when another rival thieves group go after the money, the movie develops in a rivalry contest between the two groups of thieves. A very good movie! And then there is the ending. No one in Hollywood or Bollywood will have guts to make such an ending. In some ways it is poetic and given the movie context, it is logical.

6) 2046 (directed by Kar Wai Wong)

The supposed sequel to 2000’s In the Mood for Love is an intriguing watch. However, since the movie did not come with any English subtitles I am not yet qualified to fully rate it. One can clearly find traces of In the Mood for love in this flick. For the record, Ziyi Zhang is absolutely perfect in her role.

7) Raincoat (directed by Rituparno Ghosh): 9/10

This is a play. No question about it. One only wishes it was a pure play as that would have saved the horrible flashbacks which add nothing to the movie. That being said, it is a very good story indeed. But what spoiled the movie for me was the poor work of Ashwariya. I don’t know if I should blame her or the director or both. Ashwariya’s character is supposed to be a simple villager yet in the flaskbacks (before she moved to the city) every sentence spoken by her contains words of perfect English and her manners show plenty of sophistication. Yet when she movies to a big city as Calcutta, she behaves more like a villager than she did while living in the village! She claims not to know any English but every now and then, she speaks some words with perfect English such as ‘Dietitian’ and yet in some words her village accent returns (like ‘phone’). Her dress sense seems to represent complete abandon, maybe to point towards her village care free sense of life?


Why am I being so harsh on such a good movie indeed? I have to. Given how much praise is heaped onto Rituparno and Ms. Rai, one should expect a completely polished product with no room for errors. Yet there are errors. That being said, Ajay Devgan is perfect, as is Annu Kapoor.

8) Other Bollywood flicks:

Musafir – Good idea despite a few Hollywood copied scenes. However, poor direction, lack of acting from the actresses and a dull screenplay are the bad parts. Heck, even the item songs are badly choreographed.

Naach – Shades of Rangeela all over the movie. It starts off really good but the last 30 minutes are a drag. If the main point of the movie is to portray dance as an art form (be it expressionism, ballet), then how come at the crunch moment, the dances are reduced to traditional Bollywood item numbers? There are some scenes of sheer goodness though.

Hulchul – Surprizingly I enjoyed this more than the above two movies. A lot of parallels with Priyadarshan’s ‘Doli Saja Ke Rakhana’. A good watch overall.

Swades – The less said the better. It could have been a good movie if it was not busy preaching a sermon every few minutes. Is it so hard to make an honest real movie? Apparently. This movie tried to Bollywood-ize reality and that never works.

9) The Whole Ten Yards – Rating 4/10

I really loved the original but this sequel is plain bad. There are a few genuine funny scenes but overall it is a highly dull flick.