Mr. Holmes

Sometime back, a T Shirt featuring Sir Ian McKellen created a minor ripple (http://weheartit.com/entry/group/100286).  It read, I AM GANDALF AND MAGNETO. GET OVER IT.  Sir I M can now change that T Shirt to read – I AM GANDALF, MAGNETO AND SHERLOCK – BEAT THAT!!!

Ant Man

The character of Ant Man is over 50 years old – 53+ to be precise.  It debuted in 1962 and about 17 years on, he appeared on Saturday Night Live.  Of course, it wasn’t remotely popular as the other “mans” around that time which would probably explain the 5 decades that we’ve had to wait for the big screen debut of a character which will be part of the Avengers next year.

Drishyam (Malayalam) (2013)

It took me over a year to watch Drishyam (Malayalam) and I do hope that this review will prevent the rest of you from waiting so long.  Drishyam isn’t a brilliant movie by far in several aspects chief amongst them being its pace in the first half.  But make no mistake.  It is a very very good story and it has some superb performances that come together quite beautifully.

Georgekutty (Mohanlal) is a Cable TV Operator in a small village called Rajakkad in Idukki district.  Its up in the hills – the western ghats – of Kerala right in between infinite shades of green.  Georgekutty is married to Rani (Meena) and has 2 daughters Anjumol (Ansiba Hassan) and Anumol (Baby Ester).  Georgekutty is an orphan who studied only upto Grade 4 and has slowly but surely become reasonably successful.

Jeethu Joseph spends a whole amount of time – nearly an hour and 15 minutes – to build up the story about the middle class respectable life in Rajakkad. He builds the equation between Georgekutty and the local the corrupt cop Sahadevan (Kalabhavan Shajon). A little too much time before coming to the actual plot – one of blackmail, murder and a desperate Inspector General stacked up against a 4^th class pass whose only education comes from the world of cinema.

You will have to be extremely patient with Drishyam because for over an hour, you cannot quite figure out what is about to happen.  Even after you figure it out, Jeetu Joseph doesn’t pick up the pace dramatically till about 15-20 minutes from the end when it all comes together.  So be patient because you will not be disappointed at the end of it all.

The performances are simply superb – as usual from Mallu cinema.  A big part of the performances comes from the casting.  Mohanlal not only looks like your average ordinary middle class fellow from Rajakkad but carries it off with a conviction of your average ordinary middle class fellow from Rajakkad. 

The only minor error in casting – that is more than compensated by performance – was that of Asha Sarath as IG Geetha Prabhakar because she just looked too young to be a mother of a high school boy and the IG of Police.  But the woman can act I tell you!!!  But the pick of the lot had to be Kalabhavan Shajon as the despicable cop who will not shy away from hitting an 11 year old girl.  Class act this man!!!

You could watch Drishyam in one of many ways as under

1. Download at http://kat.cr/drishyam-2013-malayalam-brrip-1080p-x264-aac-5-1-e-subs-mbrhdrg-2gb-t10045310.html
2. Buy a BD version on amazon - http://www.amazon.in/Drishyam-Mohanlal/dp/B00KBN25FO/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1434780768&sr=1-2&keywords=drishyam
3. Watch on your mobile on hotstar - http://www.hotstar.com/#!/watch-drishyam-online-1000051783-m (but this doesn’t have subtitles)
4. Wait for the Hindi version that is scheduled to release on 31^st July 2015 – its an identical remake from the looks of it

Either ways – enzoy!!! 7.5 on 10.

Watch the trailer on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMASubc1y_k

Baby (Hindi) (2015)

One day…. Maybe someday soon, we will see a refreshing and reassuring Bollywood Espionage movie that is action packed from start to finish.  Stuff that most of our aspirations are made of right? Well fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a ride that has been most strangely named BABY.

The Judge

The simplest of stories, with the right casting and writing can turn themselves into extremely intense and “must watch” movies.  The Judge is just one example of such a movie.  Director David Dobkin didn’t have much to work with, in terms of a story that had shades of “Devil’s Advocate” without the Devil of course.  It is a simple family drama. But at the end of it, you feel ever so slightly overwhelmed.

Haider

There could be many of you out there who haven’t read what is probably William Shakespeare’s most popular tragedy – Hamlet.  It was the bard’s longest play and has been the subject of many a movie. For those unaware of the story, you MUST read this section before you walk into watch Haider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet#Plot.

Hawaa Hawaai

It is official.  If there is anyone who can work with children in this part of the world it has to be one Amole Gupte.  And if it is anyone who can write stories that will single handedly double the turnover of organizations who manufacture tissue paper it has to be one Amole Gupte.

The Amazing Spiderman 2

One of the secrets / essentials of making the sequel better than its predecessor would be to first retain the director.  Nothing spurs a director (or so I would assume) more than the desire to better her/his previous work.  Of course, this may not be a guarantee but it is definitely a key to raising the probability of success.  Marc Webb sure comes from the earlier school of thought in this part of The Amazing Spiderman.  Amazing indeed.

Ankhon Dekhi

Esoteric, abstruse, obscure, arcane, recherché, rarefied, recondite, abstract, difficult, hard, puzzling, perplexing, inscrutable, cryptic, complex, complicated, over/above one's head, incomprehensible, opaque – just a few words that come to mind when you watch Ankhon Dekhi.  Sadly the average audience will agree because of their mental faculties not being upto to the levels Rajat Kapoor expects them to be.

300 : Rise of an Empire

Eva Green as Artemisia – The Commander in Chief of the Persian Army – is a master stroke from Casting Director Lucy Bevan.  For all practical purposes, 300 : Rise of An Empire, is the story of Artemisia and Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) set to the background of the war initiated by God King Xerexes (Rodrigo Santoro).

La Jaula de Oro (The Golden Dream) (Spanish) (Mexico)

I was in two minds on the 20^th October 2013 if I remember correctly.  I could have seen Bad Hair directed by Venezuelan director Mariana Rondon or I could have picked up another Spanish movie but one of Mexican origin – La Juala de Oro (The Golden Cage aptly retitled – The Golden Dream).  The “Uncertain Regard” tag on the latter and a newsletter from MIFF calling out the top 20 movies moved me towards this one.  I didn’t regret it one bit.

Autumn Blood (Austria)

Log onto www.imdb.com and search for Autumn Blood – well, lemme save you the trouble - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085752/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.  Notice the roles against each member of the cast.  It gets as simple as that to make a movie right? The Girl, The Boy, The Butcher, The Mayor, The Hunter, The Friend, The Social Worker – how cool is that!!!! Who needs names right?

TimePass (TP) (Marathi)

Ravi Jadhav is one of the reasons for Marathi cinema seeing a renaissance of sorts over the past few years.  From Natarang to Balak Palak (BP) and now TimePass (TP).  He has clearly indicated repeatedly that it doesn’t take mainstream “commercially” acceptable cinema to be commercially viable.  More power to him I say because this is the kind of cinema that audiences should be exposed to and not slapstick sleazy cinema.

Death At A Funeral

This was my way of ringing in 2014.  Once we had decided to spend NY Eve at home, the choice of a movie had zeroed down to a comedy.  The last thing I wanted was to ring in NY 2014 with a sad movie – no matter how well it was made.  And in my not so limited collection – I could easily pick Death At A Funeral as one of the top 5 British Comedies (with all due respect, the Americans make slapstick ;)).

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela

Extravagant. Lavish. Profuse. Gargantuan. Giant. Excessive. Vivid. Rich. Intense. Passionate. Erotic. Sensual. Sinister. Scheming. Blatant. Luxurious. Romantic. Foolish. Stupid. Tragic. Brilliant. Beautiful. Bright. Radiant. Lustrous. Lambent. Splendour. Flagrant. Bold. Dramatic. Stretched. Exciting. Busy. Sharp. Inspired. Massive. Magical. Emotional. Amazing. Superb.

Prisoners

Apparently Canada is looking forward to that annual ceremony held by AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) more than anyone else.  The person responsible for this is one Denis Villeneuve.  His attempts to date haven’t been under a banner as big as that for Prisoners.  However, he has been much lauded over the years both within and outside Canada.

Star Trek – Into Darkness

If it weren’t for Star Trek – Into Darkness, my entire weekend would have been gipped (all pun intended).  I am only sorry that I saw Star Trek first and then landed up ruining the rest of my day with some crap that Bollywood decided to dish out as its summer bonanza of sorts.

Love Actually

How many of you guys remember this sequence from Love Actually where Mark (Andrew Lincoln) tells Juliet (Keira Knightley) what he truly feels about her.  It is titled – To Me You Are Perfect - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7u6bMBlCXw.  If you haven’t seen the movie, watch the clip and you will rush to the nearest store to get your hands on the DVD.

Kai Po Che

This time around, I made it a point to read the book before I said down for the movie.  And I cannot begin to tell you how excruciatingly painful it was to go through 250 odd pages of nearly rotten English.  The writing was anything but grammatically correct.  So it comes as no surprise that the current “Chetan Bhagat generation” thrives in not only reading this crap but using it in their day to day lives. In hindsight, I should not have read the book before the movie.

The Kids Are All Right

Of all the movies nominated in 2011 in the category of best movie, I had not seen this one and Winter’s Bone.  I am told the latter is a fabulous movie.  The Kids are All Right is definitely a good movie without doubt.  But did it deserve to be in the top 10 for 2011 as called out by the Academy?  And leave out that random, average movie called Inception? I guess I have a lot to learn about movies.