Dark Shadows

There are 2 kinds of people in this world – Tim Burton fans and people who are not Tim Burton fans. How the latter could exist is beyond my comprehension. It would classify as one of the few unexplained, unfathomable mysteries of the world that we live in. How someone can turn a blind eye or not like one of Hollywood's best exponents of dark fantasia is beyond me. I sometimes wonder if I like Burton for his simple stories or more for his creative brilliance.

Both aspects are amply visible in his latest release – Dark Shadows. The simplest of love stories made absolutely fascinating by the fertile Burton imagination. Barnabus Collins (Johnny Depp), Brit born boy moves to the other side of the Atlantic with his parents who come to money with loads of hard work. They build their own mansion – or should I say palace where Barnabus grows up. When he comes of age, he first falls prey to the charms of Angelique (Eva Green) who is stunningly gorgeous alright but is also a serious witchcraft practioner.

As they go along, Barnabus realizes that there is something fishy about Angelique and she is actually obsessed with him. Her obsession causes her to even kill his parents in what would have seemed like an accident. Barnabus’ doubt and the entry of Josette (Bella Heathcote) leads to further desperation with Angelique. Spurned by the love of her life, she curses Josette to suicide and Barnabus to life as a vampire. She also gets the town folk to bury him alive. But Vampires don’t die do they? 2 centuries later – 196 years to be precise – Barnabus has returned to claim his home back.

Dark Shadows – as the name suggests is actually Dark. But then most Burton movies are. So that’s not surprising at all. All elements of a Burton flick are absolutely intact which would be great news for fans. The humour is very understated but very ice cold. And the overall cinematography makes it even more spine chilling. Most of the make up is eerie but with so much attention to detail that one cannot help but admire.

Burton continues to put his trust on his regular star cast. And why not I say. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter would easily make it to the list of best actors of our time. And with Burton orchestrating things, we see one of Eva Green’s best performances to date. Her essaying of Angelique makes you want to actually get into the screen and strangle her. At the same time, much like Barnabus, you also would find it difficult to keep your hands off her. Michelle Pfeiffer is just right. And Chloë Grace Moretz continues to impress.

I am a Tim Burton fan and Dark Shadows has done nothing to ruin it for me. Loved it totally. 8 on 10. One of the better movies of the year. Definitely in the running for the Oscars for categories such as Art Direction, Set Design, Make Up etc.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi397582361/

Hugo

Hugo is already @ 198 in imdb top 250. One of the movies that has entered this list in Calendar Year 2011. And it has been nominated for 11 Oscars. Yep. You heard me right. 11 Nominations. Which if my research serves me right, is the highest number this year after which we have The Artist. The categories are Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Editing, Motion Picture of the Year, Adapted Screenplay, Music Written for Motion Picture, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects. Once you have seen it, you would not be left with any questions in your head as for the reasons for the same.

Now I have always maintained that I have no clue in my head about Sound Mixing and Sound Editing – never had an ear for it I guess. And I cannot comment on the Screenplay bit since I have not read the book written by Brian Selznick – childrens book writer – The Invention of Hugo Cabret. But in the other 8 categories Hugo is definitely one of the front runners this year. Probably the only reason Hugo will not win the Motion Picture of the Year would be a the lack of a lead actor or support actor nomination. Although I seriously thought that Ben Kingsley did a fantastic job as George Milies. Hugo is as good if not better than either The Descendants or The Artist which undeniably are the favourites for this year’s Motion Picture of the Year but would miss it by a whisker.

It was only a matter of time before the likes of Martin Scorcese dabbled with the genre of Fantasia and The Invention of Hugo Cabret probably gave him the best platform to come up with one of his best movies to date. The thought process behind movies in the Fantasia genre just blows me to bits. There is just so much that you can assume to be possible under the genre but it does take great writing and better execution with the movie for it to be viewed as believable. Even if it means inanimate objects or robots such as the Automoton to be created using the basic principles of winding mechanisms as in a watch. Objects which then can become the object of affection for a 13-14 year old who has just lost his father and takes upon himself to get it working by stealing odd parts from the railway station in Paris. Simply stunning I say.

It does surprise me that the likes of Ben Kingsley, especially with his endearing performance, didn’t get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Or for that matter Asa Butterfield or Chloë Grace Mortez who have both come up with such sincere and heart touching performances that they definitely deserve a strong mention. Hugo joins another endless list of movies which haven’t been considered by a bunch of morons to deserve a release along with the global release in India. 8 on 10 once again. I would think The Artist was just a tad better. Difficult call to take though.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2781978137/

The Resident

Cinema houses should actually start watching movies before they classify them under a specific genre. With a truck load of confidence they classified the Hilary Swank – Jeffrey Dean Morgan starrer The Resident as HORROR. 10 minutes into the movie, you are quite excited since the aura or mystery around the entire concept of the house is building up slowly but steadily. 20 minutes in and you are still rooted to the screen thanks to some great camera work and some brilliant use of sound as well as light by Finnish director Antti Jokinen who seems to be a great find – has done quite a good job for his first English movie (his previous works were some random science fiction pieces, short videos and TV documentaries all of them probably for TV Finland or something). 30 minutes into the movie, you start wondering when the alleged horror is about to start. Another 10 minutes and you are quite convinced that there is something missing out here and that there is no horror. 50 minutes in and you want to scream out, “Paisa Wapas”!!!! (I want my money back). At the end of the hour you are quite certain that this is not horror flick by a country mile. It is a random sex offender thriller which involves the so called villain watching the heroine through peep holes and one way mirrors and making out with her in the night when he has drugged her enough. What starts off quite promisingly completely loses steam mid way through and of course leaves you with a feeling of a wasted 2 hours.

Juliet Devereau (Hilary Swank) is a nurse at a local hospital. A complete workaholic, she finds her boyfriend Jack (Lee Pace) in bed with another woman – in THEIR bed!!!! Like most sensible women she walks out of the relationship (although you would be surprised at the number of women who are willing to accept their partners cheating on them) and starts her search for a new place to live in. But with her kind of budget in New York City, one can get a pigeon hole at best. So she goes from pigeon hole to pigeon hole till she finally finds a place which is ….. hello…. As good as a mansion – it is a bit away from the city and has the railroad running close by and some signal problems but for the price that is being asked it is a steal to say the least. It is owned by an extremely good looking young landlord, Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his grandfather August (Christopher Lee). The place has a very eerie feel to it but Juliet lets her desperation get the better of her and takes the place. Needless to say, there is a spark that builds into a fire between Juliet and Max. But will Jack be too thrilled about it?

As the risk of repeating myself – great start but doesn’t sustain the momentum. Antti could have done a much better job. Swank and Morgan come up with significantly below par performances. Disappointing overall. 5 on 10 at best. Actually missable.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4101347865/

The Season of the Witch

All actors have to keep themselves busy. Some more than the rest. And Nicholas Cage falls in the former (more) category. The Season of the Witch is Cage’s desperate attempt to tell the rest of the world that he is still around and still acting. So what if he is pushing 50 and has acted in over 50 movies in his 30 year career? He released only 2 movies last year as compared to the 4 in ‘09 and 4 in ‘07 (only 1 in ‘08). And so what if he has 6 other movies on the table that are going to be released over the next 24 months. Man’s got to act to make money right. Maybe the bank balance has dwindled too much eh Mr.Cage?


Continuing with the fantasy genre of movies that he left with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice last year, Cage now plays the role of Behmen, a 14th Century Knight who has enlisted himself in the service of God, to rid the world of all pagans far and wide. He is a crusader and along with Felson (Ron Perlman) has been responsible for killing hundreds of such outcasts who have sinned. All of this in the name of the Church. After a few years of mindless killing, he is severely upset for the first time when one such crusade results in the killing of innocent women and children. He questions the religious leader of the crusade and on not getting a satisfactory answer decides that he cannot serve the purpose anymore. He and Felson are now outlaws for defecting and therefore are charged with treason effective immediately.

They manage to survive for a while on their own and finally land up around a hut where they find the owners dead for a reason they will find out soon enough - Plague. Soon enough, they find themselves in front of a town that Felson wisely recommends that they avoid since they are outlaws. But they need horses and don’t have a choice but to go into the town to buy some. No points for guessing that they get caught and presented in front of the cardinal (Christopher Lee) who has himself been struck by the plague. News is that the church has captured a witch (Claire Foy), who has confessed to being one (Yeah Right!!!) and now needs to transport her to the Monastery @ Severac where Monks will read from the only copy of “The Book of Solomon” that is left and rid her of the witch craft that seemingly has possessed her.

The Season of the Witch is yet another random story about the Devil with special effects thrown in for impact. Nothing that we have not seen before. But what is surprising is that it is directed by Dominic Sena who is best known for his slick thrillers of the likes of Swordfish and Gone in 60 seconds. How he got conned into directing this below average flick is beyond me. Nicholas Cage is as constipated as ever and Ron Perlman provides him with the support that barely keeps acting alive in the movie. Claire Foy doesn’t have much to do since most of her expressions are controlled clearly by a computer. Acting – Lead of supporting – is not the hallmark of this movie. A bit of interesting SFX and some reasonable fight sequences get this movie to the 4 on 10 mark. Not going to miss much if you don’t see it though.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3830683929/