Big Eyes

My first preview for 2015 was a movie that released last year in the US.  I had in fact asked a question about this movie at the Entertainment Quiz @ Oasis 2014, BITS Pilani around 2 months back. I must admit that I had no idea who Keane was till I researched stuff for my question – such is the importance given to art and artists out here.  Sad but true.

Stolen

2 movies from Simon West in about the same number of months and in both of them he comes kind of a cropper. Expendables 2 did not have anything worth writing home about at all. Stolen, again, doesn’t give too much to look forward to. I wonder when it will start turning around North for West (that was really corny wasn’t it? :-p).

Written by David Guggenheim (as if it matters to anyone – I just picked out the name because Guggenheim sounded exotic :-p. Geez this review is getting cornier by the sentence. Just like the movie), Stolen is Nicholas Cage’s answer to Liam Neeson. It is as if Cage has decided that if Neeson (who is 60) can search out his daughter in 72 hours in Paris then he can do better. As if that wasn’t bad enough for Cage (who is 48), Neeson does it again and this time faster.

So Cage says, lets make a movie where my daughter (in the movie) gets kidnapped by a friend who is also an ex-con like me. OK hang on. Lets spice things up a bit. Lets make Nicholas Cage the best bank robber in all of the US. Lets give him a name – Will Montogomery aka Gom. He is being sought by the FBI for multiple robberies in New Orleans. And is responsible for many a sleepless night for Tim Harlend (Danny Huston) who is the FBI lead on the case.

A tip-off to Harlend and Gom who has planned a heist with Vincent (Josh Lucas – what the hell is a gorgeous RomCom lead actor doing here?). 2 other people in the heist – The absolutely gorgeous Riley Jeffers (Malin Åkerman) & the utterly misbehaved and ugly Hoyt (M C Gainey). When Vincent decides to do away with an innocent bystander – a janitor – after the heist, Gom stops him and in the process, Vincent gets his leg blown off – figuratively of course.

The three stooges make away but Gom gets left behind. A chase sequence that reminds you, why Gone in 60 Seconds is one of the best car chase movies ever made, ensues. Gom gets captured but before that happens, he burns $10 million of hard cash. Yep. He burns it. So he doesn’t get 18 years. But gets away with 8 years in the slammer. But that’s when the party begins. On the day of his release, One-legged-Vince, now has kidnapped his daughter Alison (Sami Gayle). He wants $10 million.

While Stolen has its moments, overall, it is a yawn feast. Thankfully, it is only about an hour and a half short. And the fact that I am not a Nicholas Cage fan didn’t quite help much. Thank God for the brief period of time that Malin Åkerman comes onto the screen. Helps have some eye candy. Quite avoidable. And if you have seen Taken then immensely avoidable. 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3234440473/

Wrath of The Titans

Remember Clash of the Titans from nearly 2 years back. The One directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 1 & 2)? The one where a Greek man by the name of Perseus (Sam Worthington) finds out that he is no ordinary human being. That he is the son of the great God Zeus. And that makes him a demi god. He then goes on a great adventure to save the world and kill the mighty beast called Kraken. Remember?

Well I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t but I wouldn’t be surprised if you did either. Clash of the Titans was as my close friend Sandy says, “Pop Greek Mythology”. What made Clash even more Pop was known as “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”. But they were both that kind of a movie. Imminently enjoyable when you watch them but with not much shelf life. Well the news is that, Wrath of the Titans is the much awaited sequel and is probably a bit better and maybe a bit more memorable than the first one.

What started off in the Clash has moved a decade and Perseus has decided that he wants to have nothing to do with the Gods or godliness or anything that is prefixed with the “G” word. He wants to move back to the “F” word. OK now don’t get all excited we are talking of the word called “Fisherman”. He is peacefully settled on a coastal village with his son Helios (John Bell). That’s when his father Zeus (Liam Neeson) decides to come back and ask him for help. He doesn’t reveal much but expects Perseus to trust him and leave his son to save the universe once again. This time from the Supreme God Kronos – the father of Zeus, Posiedon (Danny Huston) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes).

I must accept that Wrath of the Titans is definitely better made that The Clash of the Titans. The Clash also had its thunder stolen by Percy Jackson who was I would guess more contemporary (or pop as mentioned earlier). The Wrath doesn’t have that problem lurking around for certain. The Wrath also sees a change of directors and for the first time probably, the direction to a sequel is distinctly better. Jonathan Liebesman doesn’t waste too much of time building up the story and doesn’t leave you short of action at just the right moments.

The use of special effects this time around is also much better. Especially the quality of the 3D which I thought was probably the best since Tintin last year. The recreation of the larger than life demons and the aspects such as Hephaestus’ (Bill Nighy) maze to the underworld prison of Tartarus is simply superb. This one has to be seen on the big screen to get the real impact. Without the effects, there is not much to the movie. Definitely worth a dekko for this weekend. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3446710553/

21 Grams

This one is going to be extremely difficult to write. Anything that I write could be considered as a spoiler alert for the story. Advance apologies if at any given point of time I land up giving away something that I probably should not have. Have never found a more challenging movie to write about to date. Add to that the factor that it has been directed by someone who I consider to be one of the most talented directors of our times - Alejandro González Iñárritu. 21 grams is his second movie. After he stormed into the circuit with another masterpiece titled Amores Perros. Urban legend would say that Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel are a trilogy but that’s definitely not verified on date by the man himself. Would be glad if someone could. They all however deal with the same topic of life and death and how everything in the life seems to be interconnected in some way or the other.


The basic essence of the movie can probably be surmised with one dialogue. I quote, “They say we all lose 21 grams at the exact moment of our death. Everyone. And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost? When do we lose 21 Grams? How much goes with them? How much is gained? How much….. is gained? 21 Grams – The weight of a stack of 5 nickels, a humming bird, a chocolate bar. How much do the 21 grams weigh”? Coming in a review it may seem like a whole bunch of philosophical words that you stare at. Watch the movie and these words suddenly take the form of poetry or fall into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

The vagaries of death and the complications that come with it are brilliantly portrayed in atypical Iñárritu style by blending the lives of three completely unrelated people (or for that matter their families as well) and building it up to a superb climax. Paul (Sean Penn) and Mary Rivers (Charlotte Gainsbourg) are a couple struggling to keep their relationship alive. Paul is counting his days thanks to a bad heart and a chronic smoking problem. Mary is desperate to conceive before Paul passes away but cannot thanks to a bad abortion earlier. Cut to Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), an ex-convict and a born again Christian who is married to Marianne (Melissa Leo). They have 2 children and are struggling to earn an honest day’s living. Jack also tries to get more people into following The Saviour. Completing the trio is Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) a reformed drug addict, now happily married to Michael Peck (Danny Huston). They have 2 daughters. Unfortunately, anything more I say would probably ruin the viewing experience.

21 Grams is a film maker’s delight to say the least. It has the powerful performances of 3 of the most talented actors ever to have hit the screen along with the direction of Iñárritu. Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro are exquisite to say the least. Naomi Watts, however, does show some gaps especially in the scenes that involve shedding a few tears. The editing is near perfect with the story shuttling back and forth and left and right all through the nearly 2 hours that it runs. The screenplay from Guillermo Arriaga is superb. The supporting cast is also very good. Melissa Leo is outstanding in her portrayal of the wife of an ex-convict and the desperate attempts that she makes to keep the family together. Funnily, all of this got it only nominations in the major awards for 2004. Maybe well worth the effort to find out which were the movies nominated for the Oscars in the same year. If there is anything that the movie falls short on, it is pace. The above average movie follower will be rooted to your seats and waiting to catch what happens next. Definitely not one for the masses though. I would be very harsh if I were to give this less than 8 on 10. Guess the academy thought otherwise. But then again, I am an amateur critic.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3383951641/

The Edge of Darkness

Do you like Mel Gibson? Do you like the intensity that he gets to the movie screen. Do you like the fact that he hogs most of the screen time in most of his movies probably because the others in the movie are lesser known or unknown actors. Do you love Lethal Weapon and Ransom and Payback. Well if the answer to all of these was in the affirmative then Ladies and Gentlemen – He is back!!!! And back with a bang.

Detective Thomas Craven is an experienced detective in the Boston PD who receives a surprise when his 24 year old daughter, Emma Craven (Bojana Novakovic) who decides to visit. However, it isn’t the best of surprises since she turns out to be extremely unwell – she throws up in the car. As Tom is about to take her to the doctor, calamity strikes with Emma being shot dead right @ his doorstep.

Obviously the case takes high priority since it involves a cop’s family. The cops believe that the assassins were after Tom and not Emma and begin a massive investigation.

However, Tom not only believes that the cops are in the wrong direction, but also starts a covert investigation of his own which leads him to find a gun in Emma’s baggage. However, the gun is not registered in Emma’s name but is in the name of her boyfriend (Shawn Roberts). Tom tracks him down and after a minor fight contains him. David is petrified but not of Tom. He believes that the organization he and Emma are working for, Northmoor, is spying on them.

He returns home and as he is burning Emma’s effects in the lawn, he encouters Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a consultant in clearing up government messes. The kinda guy like Wolf (Pulp Fiction – Harvey Kietel) – only this time its kinda official and not ganster. Jedburgh would usually have disposed off the problem but somehow decides to just forewarn Tom about the mess he is getting into.

Failing to heed Jed’s warnings, Tom makes his way to meet Jack Bennet (Danny Huston), CEO Northmoor to figure things out about what his daughter was working on. However, he only meets with the word – CLASSIFIED.

Further investigations lead him to understand that Emma was working on something that was sensitive enough not to come out in the open and that somehow it was also linked to 3 bodies that were found on the banks of the Connecticut river, the night before his daughter was shot dead. Obviously it was also intriguing that everyone else Tom speaks to is not just worried but scared of losing their lives.

The movie is peppered with shots where Tom speaks to Emma as if she were still there next to him. As if he would rather be with her than alive. Like he regrets not having spent enough time with her when she was alive and is trying to make it up to her.

Martin Campbell does not create as much excitement as he does in Goldeneye and then Casino Royale. There are enough thrills and loads of intensity but honestly its not like anything you haven’t seen before.

As the story builds, one gets the distinct feeling that it is another typical Mel Gibson movie where he is the good guy ensuring that the bad guys are beaten up. Dear Mr. Gibson – u r pushing 60. need something different at least now. The intensity is still there but need a new concept folks.

Other than Ray Winstone who is really good in his minimum screen time, the others are not too great or just don’t have any significant part to play. All in all, as mentioned earlier, great for a Gibson Fan. But nothing new. 5 on 10 for this one.

X Men Origins - Wolverine

What defines a successful movie franchise? Or for that matter, any successful franchise? I would guess it would be scalability. In the easiest possible manner. When the first edition of X Men, directed by Bryan Singer was released 10 years back, I think the makers would have given serious thought to ensure that it was not the last time an X Men movie was released. 3 successful movies later, it was only natural that they go into letting people know how they all started in the first place. One can’t help but think that Wolverine is the first in the series of X Men Origins. Actually, one would hope that this is not the last coz they are all very well made to say the least. And they have Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to thank for starting it all nearly 50 years back.
James Howlett, as a young boy, kills his biological father Thomas Logan in a fit of rage when Logan Sr. kills his father John Howlett. Logan Sr. leaves behind Victor, who is James’ elder brother. Both of them then take off and Victor gets James to promise that they would look out for each other for as long as it takes. What they don’t quite understand is that they have natural regenerative powers. In other words, it would take a lot and I mean A LOT to really kill them. Over the next few decades, they grow into James (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schrieber) Logan through all possible wars from the late 1800s to date.
As the years roll by, Victor’s rage gets completely out of control till he kills an officer who stops him from raping an innocent girl in ‘nam. After a while, Major William Stryker (Danny Huston) offers the brothers a place in the Team X which includes Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) who can control electricity, Wade (Ryan Reynolds) and manic swordsman, Agent Zero (Daniel Henney) an expert marksman, John Wraith (Will I Am) who can teleport and Dukes (Kevin Durand) who is indestructible in a manner of speaking. However, with Victor’s rage not improving and not being in agreement with the concept of Team X, Logan decides to part ways.
Six years later, Stryker tracks Logan who is now settled with Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins) and informs him that someone is killing the members of Team X one by one. Stryker asks Logan to help him in vain. However, when Kayla is killed shortly after, Victor agrees and gets enrolled into a programme where his bones are bonded with a new substance called Adamantium which is literally indestructible and recovered from a meteorite. However, he hears Stryker asking the team to erase his memory and flees. Knowing that Kayla was killed by Victor, Logan begins the search for his brother so that he can get his revenge. The transition is complete when he changes his dog tags from Logan to Wolverine.
Wolverine is directed by little known director Gavin Hood whose claim to fame before this would have been the 2005 South African Academy Award winning movie Tsotsi. That one was quite critically acclaimed. I haven’t seen that one yet and Wolverine does not completely inspire me to either. Hoods direction is just about at par and does enough to ensure that the excitement of the X Men franchise continues and keeps you looking forward to the next one.
Hugh Jackman continues to play the role of Wolverine like no else I can think of. The rest of the cast is quite passé. The movie overall is very exciting and quite full of action. Similar to the previous 3 editions of the X Men. Special Effects are definitely up there. Overall I would give this a 6 on 10. Worth a watch for sure. Preferably on the big screen though.