Inside Out (Animation) (2015)

Disney Pixar, should do something really special for Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen for coming up with a concept like Inside Out – something like a lifetime retainer.  Docter made Up in 2009 but first time director, Carmen, does not have too much to catch up with from the looks of it.

Imitation Game

The toughest movies to review are those that leave you enamoured.  I saw Imitation Game last Saturday and over the past 6 days I have been thinking about whether I was blown away by the person called Alan Turing or the actor called Benedict Cumberbatch or was it the story and the narrative that eventually turned into an end product called The Imitation Game.

Boyhood (2014)

In the period 2002 to 2013, Richard Linklater had the following achievements

1. Full Length Feature Films – 8 (including the likes of Before Sunset & School of Rock)
2. TV Film – 1
3. TV Series – 6 episodes of “Up to Speed”
4. Documentary – 1

Interstellar

The most difficult movies to review are the good ones.  That is the only excuse I can offer (and I will use this in the near future as well) for this late review of Interstellar.  The critic in you finds it extremely difficult to focus on the good in the movie and is constantly looking for what was missed out – inadvertently or otherwise.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

In 6 editions of the franchise, X Men has generated $2.31 billion at the box office.  That is billion with a “buh” as Alan Harper (2.5 men) would put it.  Now the sad part is that despite this massive level of success, it is still not in the top 10 franchises of all time.  Embarassingly below the Twilight series.  With Days of Future Past, they should easily surge ahead of the silly tweenage romance.

Her

The sheer ingenuity of the concept of someone falling in love with his Operating System should be enough to draw you to watch HER.  If that is not sufficient then I am hoping that by the end of this review, you will be compelled to at least consider a watch.  Because if you don’t catch up with the movie, you are missing some really great cinema.

Highway

Before I start waxing eloquent, and deservedly so, about Highway, I would like to take this opportunity to call out 3 names that don’t feature on most sites as part of the cast of Highway.  Durgesh Kumar who plays Aadoo, Pradeep Nagar who plays Tonk and Saharsh Kumar Shukla who plays Gaurav aka Goru.

Le Passé (The Past) (French)

Much like I was looking forward to an experience with Gravas, Le Passé (The Past) was probably the most eagerly awaited screening for many at the Mumbai International Film Festival.  I was eager to see Asghar Farhadi in action because I had just heard so much about him after A Separation that it was impossible for me to give this one a pass.  I haven’t seen A Separation yet but I am more prepared for what is in store.

12 Years A Slave

My first experience with Steve McQueen (the director not the actor) was with a movie titled Shame that I saw nearly 2 years back during my trip down under.  I was a novice at reviewing (marginally better now) and didn’t quite take too kindly to the bold moves that McQueen confronted us with (http://kartikr.blogspot.in/2012/02/shame.html) and of course his favourite actor – Michael Fassbender.

The Wolf of Wall Street

WARNING - WHILE THE MOVIE IS MAINSTREAM IT HAS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF SEXUAL CONTENT AND DRUG ABUSE AND FOUL LANGUAGE - THIS DESPITE THE CENSOR BOARD'S BEST EFFORTS TO CHOP AS MUCH AS THEY COULD.  DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT THESE ISSUES.

When you have 2 of the biggest names in Hollywood coming together for the fifth time in a decade, you usually wait with bated breath for the first sign from people who are more fortunate to have seen before you.  You wait to hear if this one is remotely as good as the previous ones – Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and now The Wolf of Wall Street – the 5^th Time Leo DiCaprio and Scorcese have come together.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Several factors have contributed to this extremely later review of The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug.  Firstly, I saw the movie on a Sunday (15^th December 2013) as against the Thursday (12^th December 2013) preview that was organized @ PVR Juhu – Now that was on principle because it is nothing less than rank insulting to watch The Hobbit at any other screen but for an IMAX one.

Fandry

My year started with a bang thanks to a wonderful piece of Marathi Cinema.  It then went onto a couple of good pieces of work and then kind of petered out.  Despite that, I did believe that the buzz that went around about Marathi Cinema having come of age was kind of true.  Fandry only helped me seal that notion.  Marathi cinema has DEFINITELY & FIRMLY come of age.

Gravity

How many screenplays do you know of that are written by a father and son team? If anyone out there knows the answer, do let me know.  My research shows that Alfonso and Jonás Cuarón have achieved a first of its kind.  Whats more, they could not have a better job.  Although the rest of the world seems to be panning the script, I thought, it was well written and effective (but then I am just a lowly amateur).

Dabba (The Lunchbox)

Some of the most difficult reviews to write are the ones where you have just seen a movie that is so good that you cannot come to terms with its perfection.  So you get caught in the vicious trap of being on a witch hunt.  That my friends, is exactly what I got drawn into with Dabba aka The Lunch Box (for international audiences).

Rush (English 2013)

It will be quite easy to list down the things that Ron Howard did wrong with RUSH.  A full day of research after being swept away by RUSH, I could find 5 mistakes. Nothing more

1. An F1 Car doesn’t fly over a hill when it is trying to catch up especially when it is a driver as safe as Niki Lauda
2. Not sure if Hunt beat up a reporter for asking Lauda a question about his wife accepting him after half his face had burnt off
3. Nürburgring was not known as the Graveyard.  It was called Green Hell.
4. Howard has chosen not to cover the aspect that Hunt & Lauda were friends who actually stayed together when in London.
5. The penalty to Hunt for the Brands Hatch race resulting in disqualification wasn’t covered.  This was actually a very pivotal point in the season.

The Hobbit – An Expected Journey

I wonder what the problem was last morning and surprisingly there is no coverage over the press about the delay in the screening of The Hobbit across Mumbai yesterday. That is the reason this blog has been delayed by nearly 24 hours. What should have gone up last afternoon @ the same time is going up today. Sorry folks. Some problem between the distributor and movie screens I am told. But no idea about the truth. Anyone?

Having said that, my joy knew no bounds when I walked upto the PVR counter in Mulund later last night and was told that the screening has started. Yipee!!! And although I did walk in a minute after the start, I was completely in awe of what I walked into as soon as I did. One would have thought that the magic that Peter Jackson have woven with LOTR would be difficult to continue with? You could not have been further from the truth!!!

The Hobbit (for those who are unaware), like LOTR is broken down into 3 parts – A Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and There & Back Again. It is (again for those who are unaware), a precursor to LOTR. If I were Peter Jackson, I would have probably made this before ;) :-p .

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) – a Hobbit, is smoking a pipe and blowing smoke rings in yet another laid back, lovely morning in the shire when a very tall person in a grey cloak with a long grey flowing beard and a grey pointy hat, wielding a staff that is as long, walks upto him asking if he is ready to go on an adventure. The tall man is of course Gandalf the Grey (Ian Mckellan). But, Baggins, being the Hobbit that he is declines – not so politely at that. You see Hobbits are not the adventurous kinds.

But the sly Gandalf ensures that the Dwarves led by Thorin (Richard Armitage), son of Thráin, son of Thrór, make themselves welcome @ Baggins’ place. They share with Baggins their plan to travel to The Lonely Mountain – the Dwarves erstwhile homeland – that is currently guarded by the deadly Dragon Smaug. If anything, Baggins, freaks out more and refuses to accompany them. But the Took (his mother) blood in him ensures that he joins the gang the next morning – The Unexpected Journey.

There are 2 kinds of people in the world. Those who love The Lord of The Rings & those who do not know about The Lord of The Rings – if you know about it, you cannot, not love it. The Hobbit falls into a similar category mix. And no one but for Peter Jackson could have bought this project to life with the same consistency. It is a visual treat and definitely in line for the top 10 of the year. It may not win because The Academy may want to pick something different.

One cannot help but have the same feeling that you had at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. This 3 part affair gets really irritating. You want to see all parts at one go. IMMEDIATELY. But then That’s Peter Jackson for you. So, if you want to watch the next 2 parts – 2013 and 2014 Christmas it will have to be. 8.5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi650683417/

Finding Nemo 3D

For those who came in late, Finding Nemo (Alexander Gould) is the story of Marlin (Albert Brooks) – Nemo’s father – who is a single father of a single fish thanks to a shark attack that leaves only one egg and takes Nemo’s mother away. He is over protective about Nemo to the point of suffocation. But on the 1st day of school, it takes a silly challenge for Nemo to leave his natural habitat and swim out into the open sea. His excitement is short lived thanks to P Sherman who lives @ 42 Wallaby Way in Sydney. He is a dentist who is on a diving trip and promptly picks up the clown fish for his monster niece – Darla.

Marlin isn’t one to give up easily. He decides to chase after Nemo. He meets a the forgetful Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) who offers to help in his search. And the adventure takes you from the Great Barrier Reef – Nemo’s habitat – all the way to Sydney. En Route they make friends with 3 “Vegetarian” Sharks, some really old turtles, ride the East Australian Current aka the EAC and manage to spend sometime inside a whale. All in a day’s work for the typical Aussie I am quite certain .

Nemo, in the meantime, finds himself in a fish tank with 5 other fish who are characters in themselves. Together, under the passionate leadership of Gill (Willem Dafoe), they hatch a daring plot to escape from the tank and more importantly save themselves from the deadly Darla.

Finding Nemo is the kind of movie that makes your scream out at the Academy and demand that voice overs should be nominated along with regular actors and actresses for mainstream awards. Performances from Willem Dafoe and Ellen DeGeneres will leave you spell bound to say the least. Finding Nemo is the kind of movie that should have made it to the Best Movie category in 2004 and I can only say that it is a travesty that animation is not treated at par with regular feature film.

Andrew Stanton must be an extremely talented person. Not only has he co-directed what is arguably in the top 5 animation movies of all time but he also lends his voice to one of the characters – Crush. Dig a bit deeper and you will find that this is the 6th time he is doing the voice over in a mainstream animation movie and has been part of quite a few good ones. Finding Nemo – undoubtedly – was and will probably be his best attempt. Because, in my books, there can only be 2 movies better – The Lion King and Jungle Book. Emulating them in itself would be asking too much from Stanton leave along beating them.

When Finding Nemo released a couple of weeks back – or should I say re-released in 3D – I was quite certain to be in line for the tickets. Took me till the Sunday of release to get around to finally watching it unfortunately. Now while the movie in itself was and has been an 8.5 on 10 in my books for nearly the decade since its release, I must say that the technology used in movie houses in India probably did not do justice to the 3D version. It is a damp squib at best. The saving grace is that the movie on its own will keep you riveted to the screen. Watchable – Now and Forever

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2687214105/

The Artist

One of the best parts about writing reviews – other than watching some stellar movies of course – is the research that I have to do before and sometimes after the movie. And the number of interesting tidbits it throws up is just amazing. I came across a dime a dozen interesting facts and figures while researching for The Artist. However, the one that is bound to get repeated over the next few weeks, leading upto the big day – 26th Feb 2012 – is the 1927 movie titled Wings which is the only silent movie to have ever won an Oscar for Best Picture. An effort that The Artist is touted to soon emulate. Now lets see why people say that shall we?

What shall we say, goes into making a movie? Theres firstly a story that needs to be interesting enough to hold the audience’s attention for about 90 minutes or thereabouts. And the story should have 3 parts – The start (5-10 mins or so), the body or the middle (60-70 mins or so) and the end (10-15 mins or so) – the ratios can change depending on the movie but not too much. A good movie creates enough excitement in the first few minutes to generate enough excitement in the audience’s mind to want to watch the balance isn’t it?

Lets now move onto an integral part of movie making i.e. direction. The guy behind the camera who is responsible to paint a vision of how the story needs to come to life. The person who is the brain of the project – a leader who is capable of carrying the entire crew with him. The clearer this guy is in his head, the better movie is right?

Forming an integral part would next be the cast – the lead actors (female & male) who need to be capable of translating the director’s instructions into exactly what is expected. There is the support cast who is there to perform a role and must do so to the best of their ability. There is a possibility of some animals in the story and therefore it is important to get some who are great @ following instructions i.e. very well trained.

Lastly there are the support staff i.e. camera men, light men, editors, special effects guys, pre-production people, post production people – all of who need to ensure perfect execution for that perfect movie. Right?

Chances are that if a movie were to score 8 on all counts – unlike a few who score 9+ on some and less than 6 on the others – would be more likely to win awards and accolades right? The artist checks all the boxes at 8 or more. And who says you need talkie to get across a story. The expressions of the actors and the placards which come in between to call out the dialogues more than make up for the lack of spoken word. I could not find a flaw in The Artist at all. If I were forced to find some, I would say, it is just too simple and straightforward – but who says that’s bad eh? I am going to stick my neck out on this one. Close call between The Artist & The Descendants for best movie this year. I would say The Artist just for refreshing our memory on that old adage that a picture paints a thousand words. 8.5 on 10. And not to forget that the Academy will have only one statue to give out against 3 for The Descendants :):):)

So rest at ease folks. It is not for nothing that the Academy has put this one up for 10 nominations. Simply put, it scores more than 8 in all of them!!! Therefore not surprising either that it is @ 126 in the imdb Top 250 movies of all time. I have a grouse though – why not Bérénice Bejo for Best Actress and why put her in the Supporting Actress Category? Nevertheless ….Do not miss this one!!!! It is fantastic!!!

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2003082265/

The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of The Unicorn

The ever revered and loved Herge (may his soul rest in peace) had once gone on record to state that if there was anyone who could have made Tintin into a movie it would have been Steven Spielberg. Now why would anyone else not dare to challenge this statement? To figure out the answer to this conundrum, you will not have a choice but to watch the movie. It is only Spielberg who can do justice to an enigma that has regaled us for over 8 decades now. A fantasy, that has transformed every child’s ambition at sometime or the other from wanting to become a pilot or a businessman or a doctor or an engineer to just that of an investigative journalist. A cult classic that has been enjoyed by even those who have crossed the half century mark in terms of years walked on earth. A phenomenon that took the world by storm in 1929 and has truly stood the test of time. On a different note, only Tintin could have inspired Spielberg to make his first animation movie. Spielberg was meant for Tintin and Tintin (the movie) was meant to be made by Spielberg and no one else.

For those who have not had the good fortune of being Tintin slaves, I can only quote the term, “deprived children”. Do take this opportunity to read The Secret of The Unicorn before you watch this movie because it personifies another term that expresses the desire of any book lover (comic or otherwise) – being true to the book. Spielberg has turned every single window from the comic book into a frame and not left anything to chance. Every single detail has been brought to life and that would hearten both the Tintin maniac or otherwise alike.

John Williams start to the movie with the jazzy tune does remind you a bit of “Catch Me If You Can” (DiCaprio, Walken) but I don’t think it could have been done better than what you hear. The soundtrack is simply stunning and one track is aptly titled “Loch Lemond” (visit any of the Tintin fan sites to research this piece of trivia). I could not resist smiling when I read this in the credits.

The casting is picture perfect. Jamie Bell is superb with the voice of Tintin but the highlight to me was Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock and Daniel Craig as Red Rackham.

What catches your eye immediately after the titling are the blue grey eyes of Tintin. Herge would have been thrilled to bits (and I would be putting this mildly) with the idea of the simple dots being replaced with “eyes”. The attention to detail is stunning – including the simplest of details like the anchor on Captain Haddocks jaded blue sweater. And yes, one cannot help but wait for the “Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles” and “Thousands of Thundering Typhoons”. If it would get a tear to your eye – fear not my fellow Tintin Crazy Fan because it is indeed worth shedding a tear on.

The trailer calls it - A Race against Evil. A World Beyond Imagination. An Adventure beyond belief. I don’t think words would do this masterpiece any justice. It hurts me to say this but my lead runner for this year’s Oscars in the animation category, Cars 2, has just found itself some really stiff competition. It would break my heart to see Cars lose out yet again but Spielberg has given the jury enough to chew about. I give this 8.5 on 10. I leave the judgement to you as to which one was better.

One last point - This is the first Hollywood movie to be premiered in India.  Over the world, it is releasing only Christmas Day.  Rocking I Say!!!!!!

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2415828505/

Cars 2

It was Pixar’s 20th Anniversary in 2006 when they made Cars. And while there may have been several other movies that Pixar could have chosen to make a sequel to, Cars 2 would have been as good a tribute as any other to Pixar’s existence. Yes Toy Story 3 could have been released a year later to commemorate the silver jubilee of Pixar (coz that’s what started it all) but then the magic of Cars is still up there. And Cars 2 doesn’t disappoint you one bit. Through the two hours that you would spend in the movie hall for this one, you would be reminded about the older characters which were so clearly sketched in the first edition of this superb franchise (buy it on DVD if you haven’t seen it yet) and you would also add a few more beautiful and memorable characters to a list that you would remember ever so fondly for the rest of your life. Kids, teenagers, tweenagers, or the older ones would all love Cars 2 in the same way.

One had to wait for a long time to see Cars 2 – something that I wasn’t too sure about after Cars 1 because they hadn’t really left it open ended enough to have one – but John Lasseter (who also gave us Cars) continues to spin the magic that he started off 5 years back. This time around the story revolves around a magic green fuel called Allinoil invented by the great Sir Miles Axelrod (Eddy Izzard) who is not only an adventurer but also one of the richest men – oops cars – in the world. To promote Allinoil, Sir Axelrod, organizes the race of all races – across 3 race tracks which would test the best race cars from all across the world. With race tracks that combine the best conditions for a variety of cars, Formula 1, Rally Cars and of course Indi Cars. Our hero Lightning decides to opt out but with the right instigation from the famous F1 Car Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro) he decides to take the challenge on. However, there is something fishy going on which gets 2 characters into the fray – Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) – 2 secret agents who are onto something here. And when cars start blowing up they know that something is not right about this race.

Lasseter continues with what he is great at – character detailing. He leaves very little to imagination and covers as many traits of the characters as possible in the short time available. He continues to be aided by great casting – Caine is slick as McMissile and Mortimer is equally good as Shiftwell. The other voice overs continue to be the same as the first part with Larry the Cable Guy as Mator is outstanding!!! While the message in the previous edition was mainly about humility, this one is mainly about valuing friendships – a trait in Pixar animation that I truly admire. It is essential for movies to carry a message – even more so with animation cause we influence the younger ones even more. Although Cars 2 is for young and old alike. I give this an 8.5 on 10 yet again. Loved it completely!!!! This years academy awards line up is ready – Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda and Rango. No one else comes close.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1822465049/