The Bourne Supremacy

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) wakes up yet another day from what can only be described as a nightmare for him – flashes from the past. While this is not new to Jason, he does find some comfort in the fact that he is not alone. He has Marie (Franka Potente) who he caught up with towards the end of Identity.

Veer Zaara

Now this is the kind of movie that reeks of Yash Chopra all the way from start to finish. And it also reeks of being written by Aditya Chopra. Because it is a larger than life and unbelievable kind of romance. The one that transcends all sorts of boundaries – in the literal sense of the word. One that can be described using the word – unrequited. Very few instances where this ten letter word can be used.

Cellular

The concept is one that is really hard to believe. But as you watch the movie, you get a bit carried away with the continuous thrill and the well directed chase sequences that pepper the entire movie. Cellular is an average thrillers which the boys will lap up like fodder and the girls may or may not be too excited about. It is an edge of the seat drama in almost the truest sense of the word. But mind you all of this doesn’t mean that it is a well made movie. The action sequences over power the plethora of errors that are all over the movie.

Jessica Martin (Kim Bassinger) is your average everyday mother who is extremely concerned about the well being of her only son Ricky Martin (Adam Taylor Gordon) – yes her son’s name is actually Ricky Martin (ROTFL). Anyways, she is a teacher at the local school but in secondary school. Her son’s concerns are oriented around how his mother will be in the same class as he will be in the next year. All of that is soon to pale in comparison when unidentified gun men (and a gun woman) barge into her house and kidnap Jessica.

Although they smash the phone in the cellar where she is held, our heroine manages to get some wires together and inadvertently connect to Ryan (Chris Evans) a good looking but not good for much bloke. Ryan takes a little bit of convincing but decides to focus on getting Jessica freed from the clutches of her kidnappers. Hard to believe that there would be someone like that in today’s day and world no? Guess it wasn’t the case in 2004. Where most of us would have hung up the cell phone especially when we are running a girl friend’s errand, Ryan believe in some social service. But that’s what gets us most of the excitement I guess and therefore warranted.

Cellular cannot be held up there for performances of any kind despite Basinger’s pouting and crying repeatedly over the phone. There is not much of a cast anyways to be held accountable for acting. Even Jason Statham is an action hero and not an acting hero but it is definitely interesting to see him in a negative role. The only person one can expect something from could be William H Macy who is as focused and solid with his execution as always. Someone who can always be depended upon.

Overall, Cellular is quite an enjoyable but brainless action movie. There is enough to keep people interested for an hour and a half. Definitely worth watching when it plays on Television. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-wO0kG8as

The Incredibles

It was only by chance that I saw The Incredibles (yet again :D) while channel surfing last afternoon. In a way, I was trying to get over the near disastrous impact that 4084 had on my brains and the really bad taste that Alvin and the Chipmunks – The Squeakuel had left me with a couple of days back. One way to get over a bad movie is to watch a really good one to balance things out. Sometimes you get lucky and a good one pops up on TV immediately after. This time around, I had 2 good movies on TV on a Sunday both of which I had send before but I wasn’t complaining at all because my mind was actually crying out for quality cinema in 2011. Notice that all the movies that I have seen this year haven’t been that great. So thank you very much once again to Walt Disney & Pixar for having given us this Academy Winner for 2005.


While The Incredibles may not feature in my list of top 5 Animation movies of all time, there is absolutely no taking away from it the fact that it has an Oscar to its credit and that it is an excellent example of good quality animation and screenplay. While I cannot quite understand the technical aspects of movie making such as Sound Editing (another category in which The Incredibles won an Oscar), it would probably suffice to say that the quality of sound and the use of the same is simply stunning – sorry but my understanding in this part is fairly limited .

I had always thought that The Incredibles was another comic book from the stable of Marvel or DC Comics or the likes. It came as an Incredible surprise to say the least when I figured out during my usual research after the movie that the movie was actually written by the director Brad Bird – who I coincidentally lambasted a few weeks ago for his really bad execution of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. However, in the creation of The Incredibles he has hardly put a foot wrong. A nomination for screenplay was well deserved to say the least. I cannot actually think of too many super hero movies which were created for the screen. What he lost out to was Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind which was indeed nothing to feel sorry about.

The Incredibles gets to the fore a set of characters, super heroes, who will not catch the fancy of only the segment upto tweenagers but extend itself to much older age groups like this author. Whether it is the lead role of the beefy Mr. Incredible (Craig T Nelson) himself or the minor side role of Edna aka E (The voice of Brad Bird again – how versatile is this guy?). Even the character of Syndrome (Jason Lee) is so clearly sketched out that you cannot but appreciate it. That Bird has prequalified the Incredible nature of his characters helps significantly in building the expectation from the crowd to, “Expect the Unexpected” like any other super hero movie. So even the surprising additional sper hero qualities which appear in Violet (Sarah Vowell) would go pardoned in a manner of speaking.

The Incredibles ended with The Underminer (John Ratzenberger) making his appearance and I wonder why the follow up hasn’t made its appearance yet. It would be so much better than the “squeakuels” that we have been forced to sustain. 7.5 on 10 for The Incredibles from my side. Must watch if you haven’t yet. Playing on Star Movies these days.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2963250457/

Oceans Twleve

Although Steven Soderbergh didn’t make it very obvious that there was a sequel in the offing when he closed Ocean’s Eleven, it is the sheer method of making the movie that left all options open for the makers. And why just a sequel? Why not sequels would have been a thought always. I for one believe that the contract was signed with the cast and crew for 3 movies irrespective of whether 3 were made or not. It was then just a matter of time to get the right idea in place to maximize what can be generated from a bunch of nearly twenty immensely talented actors. Can anyone confirm this minor conspiracy theory?
Ocean’s Eleven had about 13 very well known faces. Ocean’s Twelve sees the addition of a fantastic face. One of favouritest (if there is a term like that) faces of a lot of people. One who can easily pass off as a South American beauty but is actually Welsh!!! Now how much of a campaign can that be for welsh women!!! We are – for the record – talking about Catherine Zeta Jones, who plays the role of the Interpol officer, Isabel Lahiri. OK now she pulls off being Turkish as well.

We also see the introduction of the charismatic (as if there wasn’t enough of it) and the extremely talented (as if there wasn’t enough of that either) Vincent Cassel. A little bit of French never hurt anyone right. Only makes things more exotic – maybe sultry. Cassel plays the wily François Toulour aka The Night Fox whose only ambition in life is to be known as the best thief ever to have lived. So when his mentor Jaspar LeMarque arguably the best thief to have ever lived doesn’t object to a claim that Daniel Ocean and his team pulled off the biggest heist ever @ the Bellagio, his ego gets the better of him. And he breaks the #1 rule – never rant on a fellow thief.

Ocean’s Twelve takes off pretty much from where Ocean’s Eleven left in terms of all aspects of film making. Soderbergh lends the consistency to the fabric of the movie with his inimitable style and at the same time ensures that he has kept in touch with the times to ensure that the movie looks and feels contemporary. The signature editing and the superb music seem to be blend in beautifully into the final product – the benchmark for which was set in the previous part itself.

Does it live upto the billing of Eleven? Probably falls a tad short but mind you – only a tad. Not terribly short in any manner. A well balanced effort overall which unlike reglar sequels, retains the essence of the first part and adds value in terms of movie making to the 2nd part. It is probably the freshness of the story which falls just a bit short and hence my rating of 7 on 10. Where Eleven was something most people in the audience were watching for the first time as a concept, Twelve didn’t have the novelty. Definitely worth watching despite this gap. Playing on WB TV – Channel 353 on Tata Sky

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1989804313/

Cast                 George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Bernie Mac, Elliott Gould, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, Michael Delano, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Robbie Coltrane, Vincent Cassel, Eddie Izzard, Albert Finney

Layer Cake

When was the last time you saw a movie on VCD? I just did last weekend. Was browsing through a friends collection of movies and found L4yer Cake. I had been looking for the DVD for a long time now but had not found it. So it wasn’t the least surprising that I was thoroughly excited at the prospect of watching it. But then it turned out to be a VCD – I don’t remember the last time I had seen one. The worry with watching a movie like L4yer Cake is that it is extremely dialogue intensive. And VCDs don’t have subtitles. Lowly mortals like yours truly are unfortunately not blessed with a capability of being able to listen to dialogues on media that has truly low quality audio (excuse to ignore the 3 pegs of whiskey that was already in the blood stream ). So it is with great difficulty that I managed to push myself through one whole CD of L4yer Cake. Needless to say, I was hooked and had to watch the 2nd as well (in case you have forgotten, VCDs come in 2 discs and not one like DVDs do :D:D:D)

This is the 2nd Matthew Vaughn movie I am reviewing in as many months, the previous one being X Men First Class. The only complaint I had about XMFC was the lack of consistency between the Bryan Singer version and the versions all through. However, there was no such worry in L4yer Cake for certain. Matthew Vaughn makes his debut in Hollywood in 2004 with L4yer Cake. An exceptionally strong movie to start one’s career with for certain. Guess it merits giving his other 2 movies – Startdust and Kick Ass – due consideration.

Based on a JJ Connolly novel of the same name, L4yer Cake tracks the life of an un-named drug dealer, called XXXX (Daniel Craig) in the credits who decides to call it quits but is convinced to run a couple of more jobs by his supplier Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham). X doesn’t quite like the idea but is pushed to accept the assignment. As if it wasn’t bad enough. His last deal with an extremely shady character called Duke (Jamie Foreman) goes woefully wrong. Duke is trying to palm off a million ecstacy tablets to X. The trouble is that these tablets have been stolen from Serbian war criminals led by a guy called Slavo (Marcel Iureş).

L4yer Cake offers just the right heady mixture for a thriller that takes Guy Richiesque proportions. Its pacy and with barely any drops in excitement levels, makes for a wonderful watch any day of the week. The only complaint one may have is that Sienna Miller isn’t shown enough during the movie. There is enough of action though to compensate for the lack of any women in the movie. Be prepared for edge of the seat British action. 7 on 10 for this one.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2510946585/

Chasing Liberty

Being the president’s daughter can never be easy. And definitely not the most enviable position to be in on the planet. Especially if the President goes by the acronymn of POTUS – President of the United States, Mr. James Foster (Mark Harmon) – The most powerful man in the world. Lets make this worse. The president’s daughter is an 18 year old!!!! Just about the time when you are hormones are on overdrive even naturally. How can one make any effort to constrict them with rules and regulations and Uniformed Secret Service Agents???? Its only going to lead to a situation where the pressure cooker explodes in your face and that will not be a pretty sight for sure.

Ana Foster (Mandy Moore) is going through just this kind of teenage crisis. She cannot go more than 5 feet away from any surveillance whatsoever. And the guys who are responsible with the surveillance are quite fearsome who you would want to run away from at the first available opportunity. But they are good at their job. That is till the president has to visit Europe – specifically France. Ana meets up with a friend Michelle (Beatrice Rosen) – coloured hair, pierced tongue, tattoos et al. Frustrated with her 24 x 7 coverage, she seeks Michelle’s help to escape from the clutches of the secret service and explore Paris and Europe on her own. Funnily enough, she succeeds. Not the best campaign for the United States Secret Service. But…. Not to worry, we have our plain clothed agents – Cynthia Morales (Anabella Sciorra) and Alan Weiss (Jeremy Piven) who have always been on the job. US SS gets back its reputation thanks to our under cover agents who are on their toes.

And they also manage to locate special agent Ben Calder (Matthew Goode) who is in the same area and has just finished his current assignment. So the President in all his wisdom assigns Ben the task of befriending his daughter and not giving her even a whiff of him being a special agent. What the president does not factor in and is not expecting is the impact of raging teenage hormones. Like Salman Khan proclaimed in Maine Pyaar Kiya – “Ek jawaan ladka aur ek jawaan ladki kabhi dost nahin ho sakte” (A young boy and a young girl can never be “Just Friends”). But President Foster obviously hadn’t seen our Indian block buster from the early 90s and hence would have to eventually pay the price for his oversight I guess.

Director Andy Cadiff is a consistent guy. He has consistently directed TV Series. Why did he think that he would be good at directing a full fledged 70 mm is beyond me. But then, everyone is pardoned one moment of insanity I guess. Thankfully, it was his last moment to date. But can’t say the same about Mandy Moore. She has been, is and will continue to be one of the most awful actors to have ever hit the screen. There is just no emotion that comes up on screen. Just sheer frustration of the viewer onto the screen. Thank God that she is at least reasonable looking. The only saving grace would be the good looking Matthew Goode – purely because he is good looking. Nothing worth writing home about from this RomCom. 4 on 10 is the verdict.