Jupiter Ascending

The biggest selling point for Jupiter Ascending would have been the fact that The Wachowskis (no longer the Wachowski Brothers) are back after a hiatus of nearly 3 years.  The siblings have never given us a disappointing movie to date.  Complicated yes.  Disappointing never.

Foxcatcher

Steve Carell in a role that is not comic and over the top would be perceived by most people as laughable for sure.  But believe me when I say this – Steve Carell as John Eleuthère du Pont will be spoken about for time immemorial.  It is a stroke of casting brilliance and Carell grabs the opportunity with everything that he possibly can.

White House Down

There are bad movies and there are bad movies.  And if that is not sufficient then there are even more horrible movies.  What gets to your nerves is when otherwise excellent directors such as Roland Emmerich suddenly decide to tell you that you were wrong about them all this while.

21 Jump Street

The confidence that the makers of 21 Jump Street had about its success can be measured by the fact that Michael Bacall (Project X, Scott Pilgrim v/s the world), who has written the screenplay has already been identified as the writer for sequel to be released next year. Erm… how in the blazes did they think that a run of the mill slapstick attempt at remaking a reasonably successful TV serious from the late 80s/ early 90s starring Johnny Depp would be a success?

Something that my limited intelligence is able to fathom at this stage but then numbers do the talking and I would guess the numbers tell a different story for 21JS. Well, I have been surprised before and I continue to be surprised at what works in the movie business. Guess one has to stop thinking too hard and look at it from the heart as many of my friends have advised me of late. Be assured that all these fundas aren’t going to help you out when you are watching this pathetic attempt at comedy.

21JS is the story of Schmitt (a very slimmed down version of Johan Hill) and Jenko (I still cannot act too well Channing Tatum). Schmitt is the complete loser that one sees in most high school movies. One who cannot achieve much in life but for being an expert at nerdism. His nemesis is the college hottie Jenko. Whose sole purpose in life is to remind Schmitt about his loser status. As luck would have it, they both find themselves in the police force about 7 years after high school. They soon go on to become best friends because of their complimentary nature – Schmitt is the brain and Jenko the brawn.

They may be complimentary but they are definitely a recipe for disaster which definitely gets them into more trouble than required. As a punishment they are designated to 21 Jump Street where the qualifying criteria is that one has to look like they are high school students. 21JS is a programme to work under cover in high school.

Phil Lord & Chris Miller are in their 2nd movie – the first movie being an animation effort which I haven’t seen yet. But 21JS does not inspire much confidence in me to watch Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs. They are definitely set back a few notches by some really disgusting (pardon my lack of vocabulary but I really could not find any other words to describe it) screenplay.

The attempt at humour falls as flat on its face like tom falls prey to one of jerry’s antics. The story doesn’t even begin for over 30 minutes into the movie. That the cast cannot quite act is an added egg on the face. Jonah Hill left his acting prowess in Moneyball and Channing Tatum I cannot comment about. The only one who comes close would be Ice Cube who embodies the frustration of a police chief like very few others could.

In short, 21 Jump Street is one of THE most avoidable flicks released in the recent past. I took a wrong call and picked this over Mirror Mirror. Now I have to catch up with that as well. 3 on 10 would be liberal for 21JS. Sorry for the late review and if you have already fallen prey to it I assure you that my endeavour is to always publish on time. But then this is a hobby and not a full time profession. Appreciate your understanding.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1681366553/

The Vow

What better timing than the weekend before Valentine’s Day for an absolute tear jerker romance movie – not a romcom fellas – full Romaans happening in this one. It seems that the movie is based on a series of true events. Which makes things even better for the viewer. There will be I can assure you, several “Awwww” moments throughout the 2 hours that you will spend watching The Vow.

Paige Thornton (Rachel McAdams) comes from an exceptionally affluent family. Father Bill Thornton (Sam Neill) is a lawyer and mother Rita Thornton (Jessica Lange) is a socialite, housewife etc. Why would she then consider to be in a relationship with someone who is just about middle class, works at a flower shop, has a passion for music and hopes to have a recording studio someday and lives in something that can only be called a warehouse. The guy is Leo (Channing Tatum) who wins over Paige’s heart through simple sincerity. All this happened 5 years back when Paige was studying Art at the Chicago School and had moved out of a relationship and her parent’s place for reasons not revealed in detail to Leo. She is just enamoured by the absolute honest display of affection that Leo showers on her and within a year, they are hitched. What gets the twist in the story though is an accident that leaves Paige in a coma. When she does recover after a while, she has forgotten everything in the past 5 years. Her last memory is being engaged to Jeremy (Scott Speedman). Of course, Leo doesn’t exist.

The Vow tries to capture the emotions and trauma that a husband goes through because the love of his life, suddenly, has no place for him at all. In Paige’s defence, she is going through as much pain struggling to come to terms with the fact that she is indeed married to Leo but simply has no clue to how it happened. The Vow shows you both sides of the coin during the time frame of the movie. One would be faced with a stance for both parties but really, is it fair to blame one and support the other in a situation like this? Tough call eh? Now imagine that it really happened with someone and is not a work of fiction. Hope and pray that none of us have to go through it.

Cannot say much about Michael Sucsy as a director. Loads of ways he could have focused a little more on. Lots of attention given to the conflict between the love birds. Very little attention given on the time after Paige decides to stay with Leo eventually. Maybe a few minutes there wouldn’t have hurt. Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum both disappoint with their less than intense performances. The intensity does go up at times but these are far and few between. Overall, must watch with someone you love. You can choose to download it instead of going to the theatre though. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi236559897/

The Eagle

Yes this is yet another one of those Gladiator kind movies. But this time in Anno Domini. 140 AD to be precise. Around the time when the Roman conquest had reached the northern part of Britain. Marcus Aquilla (Channing Tatum) asks to be posted as a commander in Britain much to the surprise of the legion. Rome’s conquest of Britain is not going too well with the spirited Northerners pushing the Romans back. This led to the creation of what we know today as the Hadrian’s Wall which runs right through the centre of Great Britain. In times like these, it is indeed surprising to see a young man who could have been posted anywhere to specifically ask for Britain. The previous commander doesn’t even wait to be formally relieved by Marcus and takes off. Marcus, however is quick to earn the respect of his soldiers when he commands an ambush on a local tribe that is after Roman blood. The respect for Marcus only increases manifold when during a second fight, he shows exemplary valour in standing up and facing near certain death.


It is only around this time that it becomes a bit clear as to what is his driving force of moving to Britain. His father was the commander of the ninth when the legion’s golden emblem was taken away in an ambush. His father lost his life in the bargain and could not save The Eagle. Now there are way too many old mother’s tales doing their rounds about what exactly happened and Marcus wants to know the truth and put an end to all the speculation. His plans are set back significantly thanks to a very bad leg – remember he stood up and faced death. He loses consciousness and almost his leg. We he does come around, he finds himself at his Uncle’s (Donald Sutherland) place somewhere in Britain. During his recovery, he saves a local boy from being killed in a regular fight against a gladiator. Esca (Jamie Bell) becomes his slave in return for saving his life. Things come to head when a couple of politicians come to visit his uncle and talk loosely about his father and how the loss of The Eagle was an insult to Rome. Having said that, they are still not willing to do anything about it. Marcus decides to take matters into his own hands and crippled leg and takes off with Esca to find The Eagle.

The Eagle exposes director Kevin MacDonald’s inability to produce a solid movie like his previous attempts in the absence of a good cast. For that matter, any director with a cast like this one would have struggled to give a decent end product. In that context, I tip my hat to Kevin Saar. Although the movie tends to be a drab in parts and MacDonald fails to hold your attention throughout, the end product would have been much worse with someone else if I were to hazard a guess. The sheer incompetence of Channing Tatum to emote on screen is not only very obvious but also gets onto your nerves after a point in time. And Jamie Bell doesn’t help too much either. What stands out is that in a movie like this – all Gladiator – Spartacus type is the absence of a woman and therefore thankfully the movie doesn’t drop to being soppy. One of the few saving graces. Needless to say, I don’t have anything against actresses and all of you would be very familiar with my stance on the fairer sex. Its just that I have always strived to find a reason to have an actress and unnecessarily up the romance / glamour quotient in a movie about the Roman Legion. On that hopefully “not perceived as sexist” note, I give this movie a 5 on 10. Kevin MacDonald – better luck next time with the casting.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2014091801/