A great Espionage novel can be best described by the word “unputdownable”. Yeah I know it is a made up word and doesn’t exist. But how else would you explain the feeling of wanting to continue reading non-stop. How else would you explain the feeling of desperately wanting to turn the pages over, faster than you would normally do because you are that desperate to find out what happens in the end.
Showing posts with label Clive Owen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clive Owen. Show all posts
Monday, 14 January 2013
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Shoot 'Em Up
Are you in the mood for TNA (Total Nonstop Action for the not so educated with wrestling as a sport). But the TNA that I am talking about now has nothing to do with wrestling. Just a TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation) that I wanted to use for a long long time. But then the movie that I saw around 2 pm this afternoon was a heavy load of TNA in the style of Clive Owen. It had guns, guns and loads of guns. It had a chase or a fight sequence every 38.37 seconds. And for most part, you will be wondering as to why are these fights happening in the first place? Thankfully you will not need to wait for too long to find out. Thankfully. The pace of the movie is fast enough through its 86 minutes – 80 minutes thanks to the editing that has been done on Warner Brothers Movie Channel – and you will reach the levels of understanding that you want to reach sooner than later.
Smith (Clive Owen) is waiting at a bus stand in the middle of the night (or so I assume) when he sees a woman (Ramona Pringle) in a bright yellow coat walking past holding her stomach and crying out in pain. Yes – she is pregnant but doesn’t really seem like she is about to deliver immediately. A few seconds later, she is followed by a villainous looking man with a gun. She runs into a warehouse of sorts and the man follows, obviously with an intent to relieve her of her life and the life that she is carrying. Smith, obviously cannot look the other way and mind his own business. Only cowards do that right. So he follows the 2 into the warehouse and just as the man is going to kill the mother to be, Smith stops him and follows it up by killing 10-15 other men while simultaneously helping the woman in the yellow coat deliver her baby. Once the baby is delivered, he is confronted with another bunch of shooters, this time led by the lead villain, Hertz (Paul Giamatti) who is after the girl and her new born. This time around, hero not only manages to keep the bad guys away but does it with the woman and baby in tow – in his arms – after a point of time, you check the screen again to see if its Clive Owen or Rajani Saar. So when they show the woman with a bullet in her head – our hero is unable to save her – you are reassured that Rajani Saar is still in India.
A few more bullets and a few more car chases later, you are more clear on what the entire story is about. Expected a bit better from Clive Owen – in his choice of movies that is. This one is more like a mindless Vin Diesel movie and not one for Clive Owen. Clive Owen is a bit more classy than this. And what the hell is Paul Giamatti doing here? Taking his new found love to be a villain a bit too seriously? Hello – both of you – stick to roles that demand a bit more of you. And if you are running short of money then the find yourself an investment consultant soon. But don’t stoop down to these levels. The silver lining in the movie – and this has nothing to do with good movie making – is luscious eye candy in the form of Monica Bellucci – red hot furniture (a term I have used previously with Eva Mendes in The Other Guys). The direction is average at best. And I would not put too much of money on Michael Davis henceforth if I was a producer. But, if you like action movies of the mindless Vin Diesel, as mentioned yesterday, variety then this one is definitely for you. As a movie – 5 on 10 is what I can give this on my best days. Today isn’t. So it will be a 4 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2256994585/
Smith (Clive Owen) is waiting at a bus stand in the middle of the night (or so I assume) when he sees a woman (Ramona Pringle) in a bright yellow coat walking past holding her stomach and crying out in pain. Yes – she is pregnant but doesn’t really seem like she is about to deliver immediately. A few seconds later, she is followed by a villainous looking man with a gun. She runs into a warehouse of sorts and the man follows, obviously with an intent to relieve her of her life and the life that she is carrying. Smith, obviously cannot look the other way and mind his own business. Only cowards do that right. So he follows the 2 into the warehouse and just as the man is going to kill the mother to be, Smith stops him and follows it up by killing 10-15 other men while simultaneously helping the woman in the yellow coat deliver her baby. Once the baby is delivered, he is confronted with another bunch of shooters, this time led by the lead villain, Hertz (Paul Giamatti) who is after the girl and her new born. This time around, hero not only manages to keep the bad guys away but does it with the woman and baby in tow – in his arms – after a point of time, you check the screen again to see if its Clive Owen or Rajani Saar. So when they show the woman with a bullet in her head – our hero is unable to save her – you are reassured that Rajani Saar is still in India.
A few more bullets and a few more car chases later, you are more clear on what the entire story is about. Expected a bit better from Clive Owen – in his choice of movies that is. This one is more like a mindless Vin Diesel movie and not one for Clive Owen. Clive Owen is a bit more classy than this. And what the hell is Paul Giamatti doing here? Taking his new found love to be a villain a bit too seriously? Hello – both of you – stick to roles that demand a bit more of you. And if you are running short of money then the find yourself an investment consultant soon. But don’t stoop down to these levels. The silver lining in the movie – and this has nothing to do with good movie making – is luscious eye candy in the form of Monica Bellucci – red hot furniture (a term I have used previously with Eva Mendes in The Other Guys). The direction is average at best. And I would not put too much of money on Michael Davis henceforth if I was a producer. But, if you like action movies of the mindless Vin Diesel, as mentioned yesterday, variety then this one is definitely for you. As a movie – 5 on 10 is what I can give this on my best days. Today isn’t. So it will be a 4 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2256994585/
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Duplicity
How many movies have you seen where the good guys finish last. I mean, in real life they always do. Which is probably why most of us are suckers for the feel good finish in reel life (like me :P). If, you come from that school of thought and are rigid about it (unlike me) then I would suggest you avoid Duplicity. Its not a sad finish. Just different.
Garsick (Paul Giamatti) and Tully (Tom Wilkinson) are rival CEOs in a supremely competitive FMCG world. Given a choice, they would tear not only the other organization but also themselves apart to shreds. Their rivalry is one for the record books in a manner of speaking.
Claire (Julia Roberts) and Ray (Clive Owen) are rival secret agents. They work for the CIA and MI5 respectively. They are both distinctively attracted to each other but share a bitter sweet relationship. Ray is typically left feeling bitter more often that not
Work fatigue catches up with both Ray and Claire and they get their minds together on how to break away from their respective agencies and go off on their own. After all the best person to work for is oneself right? The target is to make $40 million between the two and then retire in peace. That’s how they get together into the wonderful world of Industrial Espionage. Does something like that exist in the first place in the real world? Are organizations really as competitive as shown, that they go to almost every extent as possible to achieve their goals?
However, Claire and Ray do not quite get off on the right foot. Their intrinsic tendency to doubt, thanks to years with the agency, is obviously not good for any enterprise. As luck would have it, both land up separate assignments and break the first rule of keeping the other person informed. They pan through the next 5 years of constant doubt only to land up with a situation where Claire comes across an opportunity to seed Ray into Garsick’s team of spies. Claire herself is part of Tully’security team but working undercover for Garsick to uncover any interesting developments @ Tully’s end.
Director Tony Gilroy has about 15 movies under is belt as of now as a writer. But his previous and only directorial venture was another brilliant movie called Michael Clayton. In Duplicity he does recreate some of the magic. But is unable to exceed the previous benchmark. The narration is quite intense and keeps you on the look out for the “what next” but is not the most gripping of movies.
Clive Owen is as always ice cool. Julia Roberts, I have for the first time seen, as a secret agent. Not something that I would have associated with Ms. Roberts. But she does quite a good job out of it. Paul Giamatti has always been one of the actors that I have admired. He plays the role of the power hungry sinister CEO to near perfection. Lastly there is Tom Wilkinson. One of the few actors who I believe gives a 110% almost every single time he gets in front of the camera. A Director’s dream come true.
Duplicity is an exciting movie to watch. Keeps you quite engaged. And also explores an otherwise not so experimented with topic of Industrial Espionage and the dangerous nature of the concept. Its not just about transferring information from one organization to the other. I liked the movie. I am quite sure you guys will. This ones a 6 on 10.
Garsick (Paul Giamatti) and Tully (Tom Wilkinson) are rival CEOs in a supremely competitive FMCG world. Given a choice, they would tear not only the other organization but also themselves apart to shreds. Their rivalry is one for the record books in a manner of speaking.
Claire (Julia Roberts) and Ray (Clive Owen) are rival secret agents. They work for the CIA and MI5 respectively. They are both distinctively attracted to each other but share a bitter sweet relationship. Ray is typically left feeling bitter more often that not
Work fatigue catches up with both Ray and Claire and they get their minds together on how to break away from their respective agencies and go off on their own. After all the best person to work for is oneself right? The target is to make $40 million between the two and then retire in peace. That’s how they get together into the wonderful world of Industrial Espionage. Does something like that exist in the first place in the real world? Are organizations really as competitive as shown, that they go to almost every extent as possible to achieve their goals?
However, Claire and Ray do not quite get off on the right foot. Their intrinsic tendency to doubt, thanks to years with the agency, is obviously not good for any enterprise. As luck would have it, both land up separate assignments and break the first rule of keeping the other person informed. They pan through the next 5 years of constant doubt only to land up with a situation where Claire comes across an opportunity to seed Ray into Garsick’s team of spies. Claire herself is part of Tully’security team but working undercover for Garsick to uncover any interesting developments @ Tully’s end.
Director Tony Gilroy has about 15 movies under is belt as of now as a writer. But his previous and only directorial venture was another brilliant movie called Michael Clayton. In Duplicity he does recreate some of the magic. But is unable to exceed the previous benchmark. The narration is quite intense and keeps you on the look out for the “what next” but is not the most gripping of movies.
Clive Owen is as always ice cool. Julia Roberts, I have for the first time seen, as a secret agent. Not something that I would have associated with Ms. Roberts. But she does quite a good job out of it. Paul Giamatti has always been one of the actors that I have admired. He plays the role of the power hungry sinister CEO to near perfection. Lastly there is Tom Wilkinson. One of the few actors who I believe gives a 110% almost every single time he gets in front of the camera. A Director’s dream come true.
Duplicity is an exciting movie to watch. Keeps you quite engaged. And also explores an otherwise not so experimented with topic of Industrial Espionage and the dangerous nature of the concept. Its not just about transferring information from one organization to the other. I liked the movie. I am quite sure you guys will. This ones a 6 on 10.
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