Kill The Messenger

Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner) died a very unhappy man in 2004.  He spent the last 7-8 years of his life chasing a story that was “too true to be told” as one of his sources put it.  A story that the government (read CIA) was aware (not complicit in as many words) about of the explosion of Crack Cocaine in  Los Angeles and how it was used to fund the Contra rebels of Nicaragua.

Rio 2

I am at the outset going to make a candid confession.  I didn’t like Rio too much.  I found it to be too much of an avian fantasy.  It seemed force fitted into one of the most gorgeous places on earth and that didn’t go too well with me.  I found a lot of characters to be over the top and frankly the concept was nowhere close to animations like Lion King or Finding Nemo or even Shrek (not one of my favourites).

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

Oceans Eleven

I have always wondered what the original Ocean’s Eleven would be like. From what I hear, it was stunning to say the least. From what I hear as well, Steven Soderbergh’s tribute, 40 years since the release of the original was equally brilliant, if not better. I haven’t seen the original and for my money’s worth, the 2001 version is one of the better movies made in the past decade. It is fast paced, slick, super funny, extremely stylish, with loads of eye candy for both genders, contemporary, believable and yet totally edge of the seat – kind of like the James Bond of thievery – for lack of any other words to describe what I had seen. Considering that I had the great fortune of watching both Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve back to back last night, I thought it would be great to begin 2012 with the review of 2 classics. Old but evergreen.


For those who are unfamiliar with the concept and story (and believe me there would be quite a few out there who haven’t seen Ocean’s Eleven) of Ocean’s Eleven, the story revolves around Daniel Ocean (George Clooney) a conman par excellence who decides to rob three casino’s in one night. Did we mention that this was immediately after his release from prison? Danny doesn’t waste much time in rounding up his old cronies and I will not take up space here by calling out their names – suffice to say that each one of them is a great conman in his own right. And once they find a sponsor for their little adventure, it is only a matter of time before they really get down to executing their daring but as mentioned before – very believable plan.

Ocean’s Eleven is a fantastic story independent of any originals. The casting is simply superb. I am quite certain that there has been a tremendous amount of effort put into ensuring that the right people were picked up for each role. Maybe it was decided well in advance that there would be a trilogy and the cast was signed up for all of them put together. Smart idea I must say. Goes a long way in achieving consistency. Needless to say, the performances are simply superb. Each member of the cast has been given just the right amount of screen time irrespective of the stature of the star. And each one has delivered – no questions asked. Soderbergh can really take a course on how to manage multiple stars at one go – seems to have become his specialty of sorts after Ocean’s Eleven.

One of the hallmarks of Ocean’s Eleven would be the editing. The number of cuts in the first 10 minutes would make your head reel just that little bit but Soderbergh has stitched it all up so beautifully that it adds significantly to the intrigue. I am certain that if I would have paid more attention, there would be quite a few consistency errors but I can also vouch for the fact that it would not be visible to the human eye. And then there is the music which I have been searching for since I first saw the movie. It is one of the finest soundtracks used in a movie to date for my money’s worth.

Is Ocean’s Eleven Oscar material? Not by a country mile for any category. But is it an outright entertainer? No questions there for sure. I call it as 7.5 on 10. Playing on WB TV – Channel 353 on Tata Sky

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1822294297/

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,