Pitch Perfect (2012)

I decided to watch Pitch Perfect only because the sequel releases tomorrow.  Surprisingly – pleasantly at that – I didn’t regret it.  I tread with caution but within a few minutes I was hooked.  It is probably the only movie to date (I haven’t seen the sequel yet) that is centered on the acapella scene in the United States – at least it is the only one that I have seen to date.

The Lucky One

Writer Nicholas Sparks is best known for one of the most spoken about romantic movies of all time – The Notebook.  Dig deeper and you will find that the man has given you 3 block busters other than The Notebook.  All of them are full-fledged romances.  Nights in Rodanthe (2008), Message in a Bottle (1999) and Walk to Remember (2002).

Gulabi Gang

At the end of Gulabi Gang, I was embarrassed.  Embarassed lesser because I had, in my review of Gulaab Gang, called it out to be a fictionalized account.  I should have used fictionalized and severely over dramatized and supremely over the top as adjectives.  Even then, I would have barely managed to scratch the surface of how Soumik Sen has trivialized the true story of Sampat Pal Devi (even though he claimed otherwise).

Le Capital (The Capital) (French)

“Money is a dog that doesn't need to be patted. Throw a ball again and again and it will keep fetching it back” is what Marc Tourneuil (Gad Elmaleh) declares at the beginning of this financial drama by acclaimed director Costa Gravas.  I could not get around to watching the special screening of “Z” on the last day. But Le Capital was not a bad way to start of my experience with Gravas.

Zambezia

There is great Animation (Turbo) and there is good animation (Epic) and there is just about average animation.  Zambezia is unfortunately part of the last of the 3.  Just about average. Sometimes, I guess movie houses get it right by not releasing a movie in this part of the world.  But then, why go through the effort in the middle of year after the release? I wonder.

The Five-Year Engagement

The posters and trailers of The Five-Year Engagement were all over the place for a while early last year.  The trailers seemed intriguing enough and so did the posters.  But if my memory serves me right, 5 Year Engagement never saw the light of day in this country.  I have always wondered why.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Remember what I always say about reading the book before you watch the movie? Well this time around, turns out, it doesn’t matter.  Because the book is ever so slightly evolved and leaves a little too much to your imagination.  The movie on the other hand actually unravels the mystery of the book into a simpler, understandable version to us.

The Place Beyond The Pines

I had seen Blue Valentine when it released a couple of years back and was quite wary about The Place Beyond The Pines.  Derek Cianfrance gave me the impression of being an arty farty director in his previous outing.  Michelle Williams of course did a fine job in that movie one and earned herself a nomination.

The Master

I hate art house cinema.  Primarily because I am never sure if the movie was good or not.  So it becomes extremely difficult to rate or review.  It exposes my limitations and makes me look and feel very vulnerable.  I am an amateur critic but a wrong review will of course go a long way in hampering my credibility. 

Django Unchained

Meet Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).  A gentleman of German descent who has made The US of A his home for a little over 4 years.  He is a dentist by profession but of late, he has been using his fine motor skills and reflexes for something far more profitable.  He is a Bounty Hunter.

Silver Linings Playbook

Of all the movies nominated for the Academy Awards this year, this is one that has got 8 nominations.  But mind you.  Unlike its counterparts, it has got 8 nominations in all major categories – Motion Picture of the Year, Directing, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Editing & Adapted Screenplay!!!

10 ml Love

When you look up 10ml Love on the net, it shows you a year of release as 2010.  But to my knowledge, the movie wasn’t actually released till as late as December 2012.  I remember having missed it in one of my 7 movie weekends (where I have a weak track record) and actually looking for it quite hard.

Zero Dark Thirty

There is a joke doing its rounds of late that is very related to the movie in question.

 

If you pick up a fight with the Americans then they will wage a “War on Terror” against you.  If you pick a fight with the Israelis then they will annihilate you bit by bit.  If you pick up a fight with the Indians then they stop playing cricket with you.

Lincoln

It has taken me 5 days to come around to writing this review.  Primarily because I was trying to play back the entire movie in my head as many times as I could.  I may have been better off going back to watch the movie again when I think about it.  I guess better sense takes its time to prevail. 

Bullet to the Head

One habit that I desperately need to break this year is getting in late for a movie.  I have missed the start of all movies in the last week.  A 100% record for movies released in the week of 1^st to 7^th February 2013!!!! And last night went that much further.  Left home late.  Got stuck in traffic on Aarey Road. 

Les Misérables

5 volumes.  48 books. 325 chapters. 1500 pages (English unabridged), 1900 pages (French Unabridged). A novel that is 150 years old.  A story that is set in a period that is between 190 to 175 years in the past.  All the elements that add to a simple word that most of us associate with near perfection – CLASSIC.

 

The Impossible

I think I now know why I did not write this review late last night and saved it for early this morning instead. I can speak for both Prarthana and I when I say that we were quite overwhelmed from memories of over 8 years back flooding back into our heads. We were left quite muddled and somber.

I can clearly remember the morning of 26th December 2004. It was a lazy Sunday morning to begin with. I was @ my parent’s place for some reason. I woke up around 730 am if I am not mistaken and customarily switched on my television. My mum used to get quite irritated with that (she still does).

But for around an hour after that most of us barely spoke a word because of the shocking visuals all over international television. Every channel from the less astute Aaj Tak to the most composed BBC was airing visual after visual that shocked the living daylights out of us. All of this on the laid back morning after Christmas.

Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry Belon (Ewan McGregor) were a Spanish couple who decided the spend the Christmas and New Years Eve of 2004 @ The Orchid Resort in Thailand – a gorgeous beach facing property. They were based out of Japan because of Henry’s assignment there.

Accompanying them were their three children – Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast), aged 12, 7 and 5 respectively. One big happy family as most would have guessed. With their normal problems and their normal issues. But happy nevertheless.

While their nationalities have been changed in the movie (to address a larger audience I would guess – they were Spanish), the story is true. The family was around the hotel swimming pool when the wall of water washed them away splitting them into two groups. Maria and Lucas managed to find themselves in the raging waters. Henry, Thomas and Simon come up closer to the hotel.

The story, like many others who were devasted in the Tsunami, is about how they managed to not only hang on to dear life but eventually find each other in the chaos and carnage that reigned supreme. All through the movie, I could only think to myself that they family must have been very close to the creator to have found each other. Most of the others were not so lucky.

If you do walk into the cinema hall then brace yourself for a not so pleasant blast from the past. One that has been shot extremely well and directed in a manner that is probably best possible by a 38 year old Spanish talent called Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage). There is a lot of attention to detail. And obviously the effects are fantastic.

I was wondering why it took 8 years for someone to make a movie on probably the biggest natural disaster that most of us have ever seen. My guess – 90 out of 100 dropped out because they could not handle the devastation and the gut wrenching stories associated with it. Of the remaining, very few could have handled the balance between sensitivity and reality. 8 on 10 for the movie and Bayona.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi118006809/

Rise of the Guardians

Most of you would have seen The Da Vinci Code. I would like you to cut back to the final scene wherein Robert Langdon is asked of by Sophie whether she should announce to the world that Jesus was only a human being. Langdon replies, “Would you rather add to the belief of a millions or break it”? A simple statement that leaves a lot of us thinking – at least I was.

Rise of the Guardians is based on this very simple concept of belief. Aptly summarized by a simple line again – Do you stop believing in the moon when the sun comes out? Or another one – Do you stop believing in the sun on a cloudy day? These are the very sentiments that keep The Guardians alive. Who are the Guardians? The answer would include Santa Claus aka North (Alec Baldwin), The Tooth Fairy or just Tooth (Isla Fisher) and The Easter Bunny or just Bunny (Hugh Jackman).

But that doesn’t apply to Jack Frost or just Frost (Chris Pine) who doesn’t really know who he is other than the fact that he has been sent down to earth by the moon. He has no recollection of what happens before he becomes Jack Frost. But he is fun to be with and wants most of the kids to have fun as well. But he would be known as anything but a guardian.

So when their arch rival – Pitch Black or just Pitch (Jude Law) decides to take over earth, the Guardians are quite surprised that The Man on The Moon didn’t ask them to take care of the problem at hand. Instead he asks the Guardian to recruit a new one into the fold. No points for guessing that the latest member is Jack Frost.

Director Peter Ramsey is better known for his involvement in the Art Department of movies like Batman Forever, AI and Shark Tale. The Rise of The Guardians would be his first feature film. An animation movie would have been a risky choice to get into mainstream cinema but Ramsey comes on tops thanks to a heart touching story. The quality of work could definitely have done with some improvement but one would tend to ignore it in light of the sweet story.

The voices are outstanding. Although Alec Baldwin seems just a bit over the top in his Scandinavian or Russian accent for Father Christmas. Jude Law in probably his first negative role is outstanding. But the pick of the voices is Hugh Jackman as the Bunny from down under – very distinctively Jackman.

This is the kind of movie that you need to take your kids to over a weekend. Just to re-emphasize their belief in those wonderful creations of mankind. After all isn’t it what we believe in that makes us who we are. 7 on 10 and definitely in the top 5 animation releases in India this year. Have a wonderful time watching.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2628363545/

Chinese Zodiac (CZ12)

Jackie Chan is back!!! But what you would see is a marginally slow version of a person who has, over the years given us some of the best martial arts displays on screen ever. But I would challenge any of you to find me a 58 year old gentleman (in the truest sense of the word) who can come remotely close.

Somewhere in the 19th century, a French ship captained by the great great grandfather of a famous French socialite – Katherine (Laura Weissbecker) – makes its trip to the orient. The ship is called The Indestructible. When they reach their destination, they ensure that the Old Summer Palace of the then monarch is pillaged to the hilt.

They obviously make away with all the gold that they can muster and artifacts that are rated worth millions of euros today. One such artifact are the twelve Bronze statues of the Chinese Zodiac. The French went off with just the heads of the statues which have now started surfacing in bits and pieces. Katherine herself is in possession of one statue but is unaware of its worth.

The MP corporation led by Lawrence (Oliver Platt) has through the years built its might in this business. They, however, do not deal with the originals as much as they do in fakes. The fakes itself are worth millions but much lesser millions as compared to the originals. But to make a fake you need the authentic piece and helping him source that is JC (Jackie Chan) aka The Asian Hawk.

Most Chan movies do not have a semblance of production values other than the aspect of the action sequences. The action is usually top notch and the primary contributor is Chan himself. Although, as compared to previous movies, you may not find the end titling gaffes as elaborate. But you will definitely enjoy most of the stunts that this absolute artist has come up with this time.

The opening sequence starts with some high speed luging down a hill somewhere in Europe. There is a treasure hunt on a desolate island and a fight with some pirates and sliding down the island on a humongous log. That pretty much peppers the space upto the final climax that has Chan free falling towards an active volcano. Totally brilliant stuff if you are a Chan fan. As a movie just about 6 on 10 I would guess.

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_hXhposGag

Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy

One of the reasons that regional cinema will never do well in India would be the absolute apathy of movie houses towards the sensibilities of the audience. Even a movie house is in the league of a PVR Cinemas shamelessly promotes a Bengali movie only to a Bengali audience. What else would explain the lack of subtitles? It is impossible to get the finer nuances of any language through subtitles but at least a larger audience can understand the movie far better. Common sense, as I am told, is indeed uncommon.

For those who weren’t aware of who Sandip Ray is (like this writer), I am told by reliable sources that he is the great man’s son. And as you watch Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy, you cannot but help draw parallels between the style of cinema of Ray Sr. and Ray Jr. There is the characteristic use of long periods of silence and scenes where little or nothing is said but the music speaks volumes. There are just a couple of ways in which the master continues to be immortalized.

The literal translation of the movie title would be “Where Ghosts are feared”. However, turns out, it is part of an idiom – Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy, Shekhane Sandhya Hoy. What it would mean – Whenever you have the maximum chance of encountering a ghost is when it actually gets dark. The nuances of the language. I was about to call out the former but thought I should check with my aforementioned reliable source for clarification 

JBB is a compilation of 3 short stories. The first one - Bhut Bhabishyat (The past and the future) – is the story of a cocky ghost hunter who wants to have one more experience with a ghost. The second one, and the scariest of all 3 is written by the great man himself and is titled Brown Saheber Bari (Brown Saheb’s house). The story of a Brown Saheb who kept a diary in 1886 and lived in Kalimpong.

The last one and the longest of the three stories is Anath Babur Bhoy (Anath Babu’s fear). A very nicely written story of a very old ghost who makes his appearance in front of a struggling writer (Saswata Chatterjee – remember Bob Biswas?) with an intent of returning back to his currently struggling family what is rightfully theirs.

While all 3 are ghost stories in the truest sense of the word, they aren’t your typical horror movie fare. There is a spine chilling nature to 2 of them. But the last one is more funny than fearsome. Very simple and very well directed indeed by Ray Jr. Make this a part of your first weekend of 2013 for sure. 7 on 10.

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7DNbwuS8VU