Windtalkers

Most of you (my regular readers) are aware of my sentiments about Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew.  So it may come as quite a surprise to you guys when I say that I have finally found a movie in which Nicholas Cage does exactly what is expected of the role.  There may be more out there but I haven’t seen the lesser known ones.

The Bourne Identity

A great Espionage novel can be best described by the word “unputdownable”. Yeah I know it is a made up word and doesn’t exist. But how else would you explain the feeling of wanting to continue reading non-stop. How else would you explain the feeling of desperately wanting to turn the pages over, faster than you would normally do because you are that desperate to find out what happens in the end.

The Good Girl

This one is actually 10 years old this year. And I had a feeling I had seen it but could not recollect. About 10 minutes into the movie it all started coming back to me. And so did the reasons for not recollecting the movie. Considering that it was exceptionally slow and bordering on a bit loose in the head in terms of Jake Gyllenhaal’s character. But having committed to it, and not having reviewed it (which is an important reason for me these days to watch a movie ), I decided to stick to it and fight my heavy eye lids on my return flight from Brisbane to watch The Good Girl. Turns out that it was my immature self which found the movie to be not so great. It wasn’t a wasted hour and a half at the end of the day.

From a casting perspective, I would always have cast Jennifer Aniston in the role of Justine Last, a 30 something check in clerk at the local “Retail Rodeo” store. She has the “goody two shoes” aura about her coupled with “girl next door” looks which make her the ideal candidate for the role of a woman who is exceptionally frustrated with her marriage to Phil Last (John C Reilly). Phil is a painter by profession and basically lounges around at home after a hard day’s work and doesn’t make himself useful in any way. Another example of perfect casting. John C Reilly is so capable of playing the loser role that I sometimes think he has been typecast into such kind of roles for the rest of his life. Phil has another loser friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) who gives him company in doing nothing.

Enter the mentally disturbed, Holden Worther (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has renamed himself form his birth name of Thomas after being inspired by Holden Caulfield. He is exceptionally frustrated about how the world doesn’t let people be what they actually want to be and helps Justine bring to life exactly the same emotions. The only difference being Justine is not wonky in the head and young Holden is half way there. But sparks fly enough for them to have an affair and get Justine seriously thinking about running away from the small town that they are in and start a new life.

The performances all round are very good and in line with the characters that the actors are supposed to play. A very young Jake Gyllenhaal exceeds himself surprisingly. However, director Miguel Arteta (6 ft under; Ugly Betty), could have added some amount of pace to the movie. He took the small town laid back life a bit too seriously is what I thought. For the not so regular movie goer, it could be a challenge in parts to sit through The Good Girl. But overall, a good effort form the entire crew for this 6 on 10. Watch it if you are OK with slow movies that take time to build up.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi519242009/

25th Hour

Montgomery Brogan (Edward Norton) has lived his life with his name thanks to his mother being a huge fan of Montgomery Clift. His father James (Brian Cox) wasn’t too pleased with it but doesn’t really bother with a debate with the wife. Monty loses his mother when he is 11 years old and his dad goes into a depression that drives him to alcohol. However, Monty gets into a prestigious school on a scholarship thanks to his above average intelligence. Now it is the same above average intelligence that gets him started very early in life with drugs. We are not talking about consumption – Monty is way too smart for that. We are talking about dealing. Pressures at home are increasing continuously with Dad getting into a financial mess and Monty wants to help him out. So he chooses the easiest way out that he sees at that time. Marks the beginning of a hugely successful and profitably career as a drug dealer which gets him thrown out of school but gets him into the company of Uncle Nikolai (Levan Uchaneishvili) a Russian Drug dealer who has made New York his home and Nikolai’s henchman Kostya Novotny (Tony Siragusa).


Monty seems to be doing quite well for himself not only monetarily but also on the personal front with a very hot Puerto Rican girlfriend with an exotic name – Naturelle Riviera (Rosario Dawson – who of late hasn’t been looking too hot but was quite sizzling in 2002 I guess). He continues to be close to his bum chums Frank Xavier Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) and Jacob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Frank is a successful broker on wall street and Jacob is a high school teacher who is lusting for a 17 year old Mary D'Annunzio (Anna Paquin). Yep its quite a warped bunch I guess. But the story is still due. Monty gets squealed upon to the DEA who raid his house only to find a kilo of narcotics and loads of cash. They try to set him up to compromise Nikolai which Monty wriggles out of. He gets 7 years in the pound in return (surprising coz he should have got 15 for a first offence with so much of narc). He is spending his last day as a free man (didn’t know you could plan your dates for going to prison but I trust Spike Lee to have done his research. Damn convenient arrangement right?) and is tearing his hair apart to figure out who gave him away.

Spike Lee weaves a slow but intriguing story primarily focused on the emotions that Monty seems to be going through and the emotions of people who are closest to him. The fear of being beaten up in prison, being degraded to the level of someone’s bitch and a host of other worries. His doubt about Naturelle being the one who gave him away. His best friends who are caught in the conflict of being there for him through the seven years or just moving on. And most of all his dad who in the hypothetical 25th hour convinces him to run away from all of this into some remote place where he cannot be traced back to ever in his life. 25th Hour is a mélange of emotions which could have been pulled off only by a director as talented and under rated as Spike Lee. Other than the fact that it was very slow, I for one could not find out any errors in the movie per se. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. The acting performances were all above par making it into a movie that more than made the cut but wasn’t too brilliant over all. I give it a 6.5 on 10. Worth a dekko when u find the time.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3350397209/