Hollow Man

It has been 11 years since Hollow Man released. I should have managed to see it a lot earlier right? Definitely a lot earlier than last evening. But then there are loads of movies that I haven’t seen as soon as they have released. This year itself, I would have missed about 20-25 movies already. And hold your horses. I had not seen Deewar till about 3 years back. OK I can already feel the brickbats coming in. *sigh* what can I say. Deprived childhood  (grinning simultaneously at silly joke).

One thing I can say for certain though is that I don’t think I missed much by delaying Hollow Man by 11 years. Maybe it would have been a different reaction 11 years earlier for certain considering the amount of special effects used in that day and age would make it a great attempt and that the likes of Inception and Avatar would make Hollow Man seem pale in comparison. Yes, there would be a bias to that extent. But even if I were to eliminate the bias and look at the concept and the way it has been fleshed out and executed, it leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. The absolute casual manner in which genetic changes are discussed and played around with makes the experience of the movie exactly that – casual. Actually one could have expected a director like Paul Verhoeven to deliver exactly this considering. His previous sci fi movies were good, in fact great at effects but not too great at execution – Total Recall and Robocop being good cases in point. Guess Mr. Verhoeven did not learn much. Got swayed with his experience in Basic Instinct – but not every movie has a Sharon Stone that will distract people’s attention right Paul Sir?

What Paul Verhoeven has done right though is to show the negative side of having the gift of invisibility and how much one can misuse it. The transition of Dr. Sebastian Caine (Bacon) from being obsessed with being the first person to crack the code of invisibility to going insane with the power of his very creation has been shown quite well I must admit. If only the passion of the character was transalted into the passion of movie making by coming closer to perfection and not giving a half baked product. Forgive me for the repeated comparison with the likes of Christopher Nolan but I guess that’s what differentiates decent directors from great directors. The complete focus on attention to detail and thereby getting an end product that is super memorable.

Cannot say much about the casting either. Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Shue would have made for a solid combination for certain. But all seem quite listless. The only person who seems to have given close to a 100% is Kevin Bacon who is quite intense through the entire movie. Overall, a barely OK watch. Would have been great in its time but did not stand the test of time for certain. 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI4uJec4qHc

The Dish

Its not for the heck of it that they say it is important “To be at the right place at the right time”. The scientists / engineers and Parkes, New South Wales, Australia would not have in their wildest of dreams imagined that they would be remotely important. They had the largest radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere alright, build right in the middle of a sheep paddock for making things a little more exotic, but what use would that be to anyone. Least of all NASA. Right? Wrong. They not only find themselves useful to NASA but also at the right time – the 3rd week of July 1969 – The build up to the Apollo XI landing on the moon. Why is that? Because they were the largest in the southern Hemisphere and were to be one of the 3 stations to receive signal from Apollo XI for the world wide broadcast. Houston started the telecast of the moon landing through its receivers in Goldstone and Honeysuckle Creek (Canberra) but a few minutes into the transmission they switched over to the transmission from Parkes because the clarity was far superior to the other sources.


The Dish tracks the build up to the moon landing and the preparations that get underway in a small but insignificant town in South Eastern Australia which in 1969 may have had less than a thousand people residing there. The character sketches for each and every person is strong and begins with that of Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill) who is the head of the observatory or the “Dish Master” as he is fondly referred to by his 2 trusted aides – Glen Latham (Tom Long) and Mitch (Kevin Harrington). The 3 are totally satisfied with life in general between themselves and whatever semblance of family lives that they have and find this sudden attention a little difficult to manage with initially. The initial friction between Glen and the NASA representative Al Burnett (Patrick Warburton) is very obvious. With Al wanting to ensure that everything moves smoothly and therefore double checking, triple checking and if required checking once again. But Glen believes that it is stepping onto his toes. The calming influence of Cliff is what keeps the ball rolling. And then there is the aspect of Mitch being smitten by Janine (Eliza Szonert), a feeling that is mutual but since he is quite a nerd, is unable to pick up the right signals. Even Janine’s brother, Rudi (Tayler Kane) who is the over excited security guard (because he has been asked to keep a gun by NASA security rules) can make out the chemistry between the two.

Rob Stich has beautiful shown all the emotions that go through in a small town when there is a sudden burst of popularity that comes in and that too when they are least bit prepared for it. The characterization of the mayor Bob McIntyre (Roy Billing) and his entire family starting with his wife May (Genevieve Mooy) who is the village newspaper, his elder daughter Marie (Lenka Kripac) who is a severe cynic and doesn’t trust anyone in the government or associated with the government and finally his son Billy (Carl Snell) who is the proudly self proclaimed geek of the family is simply superb. Each character in the movie is well thought out and is there for a reason. This is Stich’s second movie that I have been privileged to watch in as many days and it is just surprising that he has made only 2 movies to date. The 3rd one, 25, is in post production and should be good as well. Superb acting from the entire cast makes it a solid combination and a must watch movie. I give this one 7 on 10.

The trailer can be viewed on http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3817537817/

High Fidelity

Aah the pleasures of inflight entertainment on an international flight!!! There are so many movies that don’t see the light of day back home.  And I wonder why?  During the flight to down under, I happened to see 2 such movies.  High Fidelity is a funny RomCom with some serious acting talent on display.

Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is a loser of sorts.  He has the opportunity to make it big but is too darn lazy to move his ass in a positive direction.  He drops out of college and keeps doing odd jobs till he finally lands up doing something that he really wants to but doesn’t pay him enough to keep up with the rent and expenses.  He owns a music store along with his friends Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black).  Dick is a diminutive, reserved kind of a person who barely speaks but has a supreme command over music.  Barry on the other hand is a riot.  He is reckless and has a huge liking for rock / cult music which is different and not run of the mill.  So much so that he would refuse to sell stuff to people who he believes don’t have the right taste in music.  The trio struggles through life but have that one thing that binds them together – music.

However, Rob’s life is turned a bit topsy turvy when his girlfriend of two years, Laura (Iben Hjejle) decides to dump him.  A distraught Rob tries his best to stop her but she is not willing to go through this anymore.  Rob is even more crushed when he realizes that she has temporarily moved in with the guy next door, Ian ‘Ray’ Raymond (Tim Robbins), a karate expert and a weirdo.  Unable to figure out the reason for this sudden turn of events, he tries to wind the clock on all his previous relationships which have failed and boils down to his top 5 break ups starting from a passing high school romance that lasted for a few hours but left him completely shattered.

High Fidelity is a dark RomCom – if there is room for any such classification.  Director Stephen Frears has been around for over 40 years now (30 at the time of making HF).  He spent a better part of the first half of his career on Television – primarily with short films and TV movies.  But he kind of burst into the silver screen with the 1988 block buster – Dangerous Liaisons. His last known work was the Oscar nominated “The Queen”.  One cannot help but notice that his movies are studded with supremely strong actors.  A trait that he uses in HF as well – very successfully.  John Cusack’s portrayal of the loser character of Rob Gordon is simply superb.  He is not just ably but wonderfully supported by one of the best comic actors of our time – Jack Black.  Together they completely light up the screen on what could be otherwise considered as a not so strong script or story line.  The supporting cast is also superb – so is it kudos to direction or just that Mr. Frears picks his actors very carefully? Doesn’t really matter I say.  The output is a very strong movie which could probably have been pushed to the next level with a stronger script.  7 on 10 from my side for HF.  Watch it if you are a lover of Dark Comedy.