Kingsman: The Secret Service

I love Matthew Vaughn movies – Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick Ass, X Men – First Class and now Kingsman Secret Service.  I have seen them all and I have realy loved watching each and every one of them.  And therefore this review may just be a tad biased towards one of my favourite directors from Hollywood.

Baby (Hindi) (2015)

One day…. Maybe someday soon, we will see a refreshing and reassuring Bollywood Espionage movie that is action packed from start to finish.  Stuff that most of our aspirations are made of right? Well fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a ride that has been most strangely named BABY.

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.

3 Days to Kill

“Kevin Costner seems to be making a comeback into mainstream cinema”. That’s what a fellow writer / critic said at the preview of 3 Days to Kill.  My response was that legends like Costner really don’t need to make a “comeback”.  They will always have age appropriate roles available for them – if they want to give it a shot.

Jack Ryan : Shadow Recruit

It all started way back in 1990 when Alec Baldwin essayed the role of Commander Dr. John Patrick Ryan aka Jack (because Tom Clancy felt he was a Jack of almost everything) in Clancy’s Hunt for Red October.  People remember that one more for Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) than for Ryan.  That anomaly was rectified when Hollywood’s most bankable star (read Harrison Ford) took over the role in the next 2 movies.   Ben Affleck wasn’t too bad as the young Ryan.

Madras Café (Hindi 2013)

I think I had my typewriting class on the 22^nd May 1991 around 9 am.  I was eager to attend because I was struggling to get the hang of it.  But when I stepped out of home (and I hadn’t read the newspaper that morning) I was greeted by empty streets.  I walked all the way to the station only to be greeted by silence.  It was only about 20 minutes later when I got back home that I realized what had happened less than 12 hours back.

Those who were around at that time know what I am talking about.  Those who weren’t, can look into their history books because it was one of the darkest days in the history of this country.  I would have expected Shoojit Sircar (fresh off the success of Vicky Donor) to have done more justice to a man who was arguably the harbinger of change into this country.  Sadly, he turns it into yet another mockery.

A Major in the Indian Army, Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is roped in for a covert operation in Sri Lanka as part of the RAW.  His mission is to infiltrate the rebel army and cause a rift in the line of power so that the rebels can self destruct.  He lands up doing everything but that.  He also gets caught in the bargain and is saved, only to go back pretending as a news reporter – in Sircar’s world, all this is a walk in the park.

He also, happens to meet an international Indian journalist Maya Sahni (Nargis Fakhri) who is dressed like Maddy Bowen in Blood Diamond but shows a bit more cleavage through her maroon wife beater vest.  She also happens to speak only in English (Thank God!!!) but for some reason Vikram speaks to her in Hindi only.  There is no justification given for the same but as I said, it happens in Sircar’s world.

Of course, in Sircar's world, RAW Agents dress up in jazzy denim and speak in Hindi and don’t get caught in the bargain either.  In Sircar’s world, things of utmost importance cannot be spoken over the phone but can wait for 2 days when Maya will travel from London to Delhi.  In Sircar’s world, Tamil refugees coincidentally have developed a Malayalam accent.  Of course.  Cochin is closer than Chennai.

Horrible editing, disastrous work with the sound, dialogues that inspire no confidence and a script / story that is absolutely baseless ensure that Sircar’s follow up to Vicky Donor is just about short of a disaster.  To his credit, he at least pays attention to some details to recreate props from 1991 such as VHS Tapes, manual telephone exchanges, green screen computers and dot matrix printers.

But there is no other aspect that makes any sense.  Nothing is logical or sensibly arranged.  It was as if, “I have tried my hand at comedy, it worked.  So let me try my hand at a Political Espionage Drama revolving around the assassination of one of our most preferred Prime Ministers.  It should work.  No”?

No comments on the performances but I wasn’t expecting anything great.  John Abraham is sincere as always but this is as much as he can deliver.  Nargis Fakhri thankfully doesn’t have too much of screen time.  Siddhartha Basu & Piyush Pandey appear lost more often than not.  Disappointed, both with the effort and a wasted opportunity to tell a story that most of India would have been eager to know about.  4 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA9EF75Xc-8

Red 2

I just realized a few minutes ago that I haven’t published my review of Red.  I would have thought that I had seen the movie after I started putting down my thoughts in cyberspace but I guess it would have been a little before that.  Red was an action movie par excellence.  Standard espionage story but great dialogues and fabulous performances.

D-Day (Hindi) (2013)

Nikhil Advani’s rap sheet in Bollywood is not the most attractive to begin with.  Salaam E Ishq was too long, Chandni Chowk to China was horrible, Delhi Safari was an animation disaster.  He was tolerable in Patiala House.  But with D-Day he seems to have learnt the fine art of Bollywood cinema – doesn’t say too much about him though. Because it is still B Town.  Not H Town.

Vishwaroopam (Tamil)

Confucius says, “People who live in glass houses, should undress in the dark”.  He also says, “Man with forked tongue should not kiss balloon”.  Aaah what am I doing.  I am probably making an ass of myself just like one of the finest actors in Indian cinema.  The worry is that he will be making the same mistake again – about 2 years from now.  A fact that is made amply clear at the end of Vishwaroopam.

The Bourne Supremacy

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) wakes up yet another day from what can only be described as a nightmare for him – flashes from the past. While this is not new to Jason, he does find some comfort in the fact that he is not alone. He has Marie (Franka Potente) who he caught up with towards the end of Identity.

The Bourne Identity

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.

Argo

I have always respected Ben Affleck as a director in comparison to Ben Affleck the actor. Most movies where Affleck has been in the lead role have exposed his weakness. I can think of probably one movie where his performance as an actor was quite controlled and well executed – Valentines Day (if I remember correctly).

But the minute our man dons the director’s hat, he seems to be much better placed. I thought The Town was slow but it was quite well made. There was an effort to paint a picture with each character and the overall story. Ditto with Gone Baby Gone. Both were very intense movies.

I have heard that both Affleck and Matt Damon – the young guard of Hollywood about 20 years back are great thinkers when it comes upto cinema. Screenplay and direction. With Argo, Affleck has definitely taken himself to the next level – both as a director as well as an actor.

Cora Lijek (Clea DuVall), Mark Lijek (Christopher Denham), Kathy Stafford (Kerry Bishé), Joe Stafford (Scooty McNairy), Bob Anders (Tate Donovan) and Lee Schatz (Rory Cochrane) owe their lives to one Antonio Joseph Mendez (Ben Affleck). Tony was or should I say is an exfiltration expert of sorts – someone who specializes in getting people out a particular troubled country and take them back home.

Why does he need to do that because the 6 of them are holed up @ the house of the Canadian Ambassador to Iran – Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). This is after the revolutionary Iranians take the US Embassy Hostage on the 4th November 1979. Our 6 diplomats escape just in the nick of time and find their way to Ambassador Taylor’s house after being rejected by a couple of other embassies.

Along with Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) and Academy award winner John Chambers (John Goodman), Tony hatches a plot to make a sci-fi movie – Argo. It would be set in a middle eastern location. To ensure that there are doubts which creep up, the team does everything that a movie maker would have been expected to do from the script to the director to press releases to posters – the works.

Argo differs from most other espionage movies on two major counts. Firstly there is a distinct addition of humour that makes it easy to watch. There are almost no action sequences but enough and more of edge of the seat drama. Other than these 2 aspects there is a stunning start with a background of the revolution which grabs you by the scruff of your neck and pushes you down to your seat.

Great use of fade in and fade outs at the appropriate moments. Some really good camera work there. The use of 2 audio tracks overlapping like when the Iranians are proclaiming that severe action will be taken on the hostages and the Argo screenplay reading is being done for the press – superb!!! The screenplay is fantastic.

My prediction – Argo should get nominated in the top 10 of the year. It would get a nomination for screenplay and just maybe (an outside chance based on the Hollywood movies that I have seen this year) a nomination for direction for Affleck. If none of these work out… Argo Fuck Yourself  (watch to understand). 8 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1537319449/

And read the article on the Canadian Caper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Caper

Ek Tha Tiger

If there was a contest for the biggest fan following that an actor has in India, then it would undeniably come down to the 3 Khans. But if there was a contest for the most intense fan following that an actor has in India then it would have to undisputedly go to the most notorious Khan of all.

How else could you remotely explain a line of over a 100 people @ lined up outside one of the least attractive theatres in Goa? Well we are not talking about 100 people @ say noon. We are talking about 100+ people squashing themselves against a closed shutter @ 8 am. All for a 9:20 am show for which they may or may not get tickets. Incredible isn’t it????

That I was one of them and got back drenched in sweat after an hour of jostling and pushing and abusing the people around me was enough reason for me not to give up the 1:10 pm show for which I eventually got the tickets. I was not about to get out of THAT line without a ticket. And now all that was left was to keep my fingers crossed and hope that Ek Tha Tiger was remotely worth it.

And luckily for me, it turned out to be a pretty decent watch. After Salman’s continuous demotion i.e. ACP (Wanted), Inspector (Dabang) and Bodyguard I was half expecting it to be a watchman this time. But he got down to a level lower. A genre of people who no one has any clue about. A fascinating and yet very hush-hush profession. And debatably the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of appreciation for work done – a RAW Agent.

And this RAW Agent goes by the name of Tiger and has a boss called Shenoy (Girish Karnad). Tiger’s latest agenda is to track the workings of a Professor Kidwai (Roshan Sheth) who stays in Dublin. This is after a street fight in some village in Northern Iraq where he gets a few ISI Agents and a rogue RAW Agent killed. And like a RAW Agent would, he smartly befriends Zoya (Katrina) who helps the professor with some house work and is a choreographer by profession.

Ek Tha Tiger is actually a fairly well made espionage movie at the end of the day. Most of the stunts and chase sequences are logical. They may be quite James Bondish in execution and not something that the “evolved” Indian audience may look down upon. But I have said this for Agent Vinod and I think Ek Tha Tiger follows suit. Yes it tends to get too soppy in between but I guess the soppiness is in line with the story.

The music is decent from Sohail Sen & Sajid Wajid but I thought a couple of songs were not required and out of place – but this is Bollywood. Rameshwar S. Bhagat’s editing was quite decent. Director Kabir Khan gave us Kabul Express where he did a damn good job and a decent one with New York. Ek Tha Tiger gets him back level pegging with Kabul Express. Good show from the man.

Don’t look for acting talent. Be tolerant about the action sequences – you will enjoy the 2 chase sequences where Kat and Sallu Bhai (their body doubles of course) give some really good display of Parkour. I thought it wasn’t bad. I think Sallu Bhai comes on tops this time. Good way to say Eid Mubarak to all of us I guess. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlorjdK8cI

North by Northwest

I wasn’t aware that North by Northwest was nominated for 3 oscars. And I must say that embarrassingly so, my research finally revealed that Ben-Hur actually never lost an Oscar in editing (despite the infamous red or white Mercedes). So all this while I have been led to believe that my favourite question in a quiz never existed. Damn. This is embarrassing. And what led me to this revalation is that George Tomasini – one of Hitchcock’s favourite editors (Psycho, Vertigo & Birds to his credit) – was nominated for North by North West and lost it to Ben-Hur. And my embarrassment suddenly hit an all time high. I cannot even recollect the number of times I have asked that question only to be told several years later that the question didn’t exist. Damn! Damn!! Damn!!!

Well we need to move to the crux of the matter which revolves around successful advertising executive Roger O Thornhill (Cary Grant). Now Roger finds himself in a club for a meeting when the bell hop goes around calling for George Kaplan. Roger, inadvertently bumps into the bell hop for different reasons completely but a couple of suspicious looking bystanders mistake Roger to be Kaplan and kidnap him @ gun point. They take him to the residence of one Mr. Townsend (James Mason) where he is grilled to no end and then force fed a bottle of bourbon in an attempt to make his death appear like a car accident under the influence of alcohol. Little do they know that Roger can hold a drink better than most people.

Whats worse – Roger is now determined to prove his innocence to the police. A determination that leads him into a web of high level espionage that involves organizations and people that Roger cannot even imagine being involved with. But the romance with the mysterious and gorgeous Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) keeps him in the hunt for the truth and gives us a heady concoction that one can expect only from the great Alfred Hitchcock’s table.

Now who am I but a mere mortal to comment on the #37 in the imdb’s top 250 list. North by Northwest was an absolute hit in its time and over 50 years since its making continues to be rated as one of the best movies of all time. Thanks to wonderful cuts from Tomasini and a tight screenplay with very little wastage from Ernest Lehman (The Sound of Music, Sabrina, West Side Story, King and I, Hello Dolly).

Hitchcock’s direction is unquestionably brilliant. Especially in the cult sequences of the aircraft chasing Roger over the Prarie grasslands and the most spoken about climax on Mount Rushmore. A movie in which the technical aspects far outshine the performances, North by Northwest will forever find itself in the list of best Hollywood movies of all time. The only thing I would change in hind sight would be the undue emphasis on the romance between Eve and Roger. But then it sold in 1959 and I guess it would sell even today. 8 on 10 for certain.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi473956889/

Agent Vinod (2012)

In a recent quiz, I had asked this question - The kidnapping of a prominent scientist, Ajay Saxena (Nazir Hussain) prompts the Chief of Secret Services (K.N. Singh) to assign flamboyant X (Mahendra Sandhu) to this case. While on this assignment, X meets with Ajay's daughter, Anju (Asha Sachdev), who insists on assisting him. The duo is further assisted by Chandu aka James Bond (Jagdeep) and his gypsy girlfriend (Jayshree T). The two couples will soon have numerous challenges thrust on them, and will realize that their task is not only very difficult but also life threatening. Which 1977 movie am I talking about? The answer was the 1977 movie Agent Vinod – In service of the nation. I was surprised that a team actually cracked the answer.

The biggest controversy of course leading upto the movie was that involving our very own inspired music director Pritam. The Pyar Ki Pungi Song which was apparently lifted from the Iranian Song “Soosan Khanoom” bears little resemblance to the so called original. I think the Iranian Band Barobax should listen to some of Pritam’s other inspirational numbers to understand where the person can go down to. In fact they should thank Pritam because thanks to him, the hits on their you tube video have crossed a million. Judge for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE63JoBA6iI. And they should also feel better because almost all songs have been copied. Including inspiration from that great ode to Russia’s Public Enemy #1 from BoneyM – Rasputin (in case you were wondering).

Now that we have got the useless pieces of trivia out of the way, lets get down to the review of the movie. Do not let the detractors tell you that Agent Vinod is a waste of time or torture (as someone said while exiting the theatre). It is in most parts a smartly made espionage movie – with loads of inspiration from our friend from MI5. It is great to see one from our part of the world. If you keep aside the corny one liners that Vinod makes – attempting to be slick like bond, you will breeze through the movie. And hope that you don’t get into a PVR which takes 30 minutes to start the movie and has a 20 minute interval!!! The cinematography is good. The titling is very well done and gives you feeling of a well made movie in the first few minutes only. The disappointing part was the lack of good finishing towards the end but one could overlook that I guess.

Sriram Raghavan (Ek Hasina Thi, Johnny Gaddar), claimed all the way through the build up that the 2012 movie which released today was in no way inspired by the 1977 hit (if I may call it that). I am quite certain there was an inspiration hidden somewhere. While I liked Raghavan’s previous 2 movies – and I wasn’t alone there, Agent Vinod I would guess falls short significantly. The last time Saifeena paired on screen in that famous size zero movie, audiences reportedly left the hall tearing their hair apart – or so I am told. I guess Raghavan had more confidence on them but the chemistry fails miserably. Mostly from Kareena’s side – and it has nothing to do with the absolute bias I have against her. Guess they are one of those couples who have chemistry where it matters to them as a couple.

I must confess that I found myself really enjoying the movie in parts and then Raghavan kind of stretches a point too far and lets the movie wander all over the place before getting it back on track. The good scenes like the fight between AV and Prince of the LTTE have been edited exceptionally by Pooja Ladha Surti (Ragini MMS, Johnny Gaddar). I thought it AV was enjoyable. I leave it to you to decide. 6 on 10. Definitely the movie to watch out for this weekend.

And watch out for the hotties - Maryam Zakaria, Vasilisa Petina, Leeann Roberts, and Malika Haydon

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi929669401/

Kahaani

Trust Vidya Balan to make the right choice of a potential story line. Every time she exceeds herself in terms of the quality of the character that she plays on screen. A trend that probably started with Paa. Since then she has played a village wife with truck loads of spunk, the sister of a girl who is part of national folklore searching for justice and immortalised arguably the only hero amongst heroines in Indian cinema last year. Each performance has earned her a truck load of accolades. So it didn’t come as much of a surprise when she was chosen to play the role of a pregnant woman who has been abandoned by her husband.

Not much was expected from Sujoy Ghosh after atrocious boo boos like Home Delivery and Aladin. But then there was Jhankaar Beats also as a debut. So I guess somewhere the makers would have seen a spark that was left over and not doused after the Box Offices did everything but physically throw him out. Well Ghosh Dada doesn’t disappoint which is the good news for those who pick Kahaani for the weekend. He creates a story that makes us seasoned movie goers say that it was kind of predictable. But the regular average every day Joe or Jane would say – It kept us guessing.

What I did not like about the movie is the complete lack of credibility that Ghosh has given to the audience. Sujoy Sir – we don’t need to be told every single thing that has happened. Leave it to us to guess or interpret the movie in a way that we would like to. Also, avoid the use of long shots and people travelling on trams smiling to themselves just for the heck of it. Put it there if there is a reason. Else save on film and time. Will make the film tighter and more enjoyable.

Try and focus the spare time that you so get on more attention to detail. Such as ensuring that the female lead doesn’t look like she is 10 months pregnant with triplets. Or explaining to us how a low level cop from the Baangal can speak such good Hindi without any accent whatsoever? Or taking a step back to wonder why you need a body identification when you have a photograph.

I cannot think of anyone else who would have the courage or gumption or guts to play a role that demands so much intensity. Vidya Balan was the perfect choice. But her execution of the role was much below the bar that she has set for herself in the recent past. Or was that probably due to the superb acting from almost the entire cast. Not one of them seems to have been perturbed with the presence of a huge star.

Vishal Shekhar’s music is just about at par. Editing could have done much better. The Big B adds another Kolkata movie to his narration repertoire. He also adds a Bengali song to his CV. All going in to get probably the best movie this year to date (I haven’t seen Paan Singh Tomar yet mind you). 7 on 10. Watch it.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FMvJ1i_ixI

The Debt

Now here is a director who has successfully transitioned from the small screen to the silver variety. Afer a string of TV serials, John Madden stormed into the scene with Shakespeare in Love – and what a storm it was. Post that, he has had some low profile movies like Captain Correli’s Mandolin and The Debt which released a couple of years back. I believe he has The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel releasing this year which promises to be a laugh riot. So I guess there should be no question on Madden’s capabilities as a director right? More or less right I guess. But not the whole nine yards right unfortunately.
Firstly, I get quite peeved when directors take the path in between in case of movies which are set in a geographic region where English is not the primary language. Why then do you need to use actors / actresses whose preferred language happens to be English. To make matters worse, you get the likes of the hugely talented Dame Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson to speak with an accent which I am not sure is truly Israeli or Hebrew if you would like to call it that. In contrast, in the same movie, he has got the younger lot of Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas and Sam Worthington to speak in German. So why then would Madden not consider getting them to speak Hebrew instead of English with a forced accent? I was very disappointed within the first few minutes itself. A mark of a director who is probably not brave enough and not common sensiscal.

But the performances and the story line more than make up for this really bad call from Madden. There are 4 key characters in the entire movie. Rachel Singer, Stephan Gold & David Peretz who are Mossad agents sent to East Berlin to track, capture and bring back alive one Dieter Vogel. The 3 agents are played by Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciarán Hinds in the current day i.e. 1997. In 1965 which was the time of the assignment they are played by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas & Sam Worthington respectively. All 6 have performed quite exceptionally I must say. Even Jesper Christensen who playes the sinister Dieter Vogel is brilliant.

What takes the cake though is the premise of the movie which is one of an assignment that goes horribly wrong and how the 3 agents deal with the consequences of the same not only in the immediate future but over a period of 30 years. Will they get any retribution whatsoever? Or does the failure get the better of them? Mind you, Mossad doesn’t take too kindly to failure – or so we have heard. A very different spy story. Exactly the type that audiences would lap up. Put it on your must watch list @ 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1506057497/

Safe House

Safe House rates amongst one of THE most anticipated movies of the year 2012. It released yesterday in the US and I wonder what the response has been like. I honestly was disappointed to see yet another CIA movie with little or no difference in either story or the making of the movie. It is the same old stale CIA story that the audiences would probably yawn through this time. I know that I did. In fact, in a rare instance, I walked out mid way to get myself something to eat. Something my close friends know that would be impossible unless 2 conditions are met – 1. I am extremely hungry and 2. I am not terribly excited with what is happening on screen. Both necessary and sufficient conditions were met this time around.

Daniel Espinosa is another one of those newbie directors who has joined an endless list in Hollywood (and for that matter even Bollywood). A list which grows by the day. A list that includes all newbie directors who need to move back to film school or get an internship or Assistant Directorship under a big name for a few years and then come back to attempt direction.

But in all fairness, Espinosa is not the only one to blame this time around. The writer of this story is David Guggenheim again a newbie who seems to have created Safe House as a mishmash of several espionage movies from the past and presented a goulash to the audiences who he definitely believes are not intelligent enough to work out that it is just “old wine in new bottle”. The only difference in angle that I could see is the introduction of the concept of a place where CIA suspects or “guests” as they call them are taken. This place is called a “Safe House” – no points for guessing that.

Denzel Washington is far too talented and mature an actor to be caught wasting his time with silly stories like these. I would have expected Ryan Reynolds to also look the other way when approached with the concept but then Reynolds hasn’t had his share of action / Espionage movies in his resumé. And what was Vera Farmiga doing there with a silly outfit which does no justice to the fact that she is one of THE most good looking women in Hollywood today – not to mention one of THE most talented actresses as well.

Saved by the cast is what Espinosa would be thinking to himself currently. Without this the man could have kissed everything he had good bye. Lucky Espinosa. Not so lucky producer. 5 on 10 for this average spy story. Can download instead of watching on big screen. Maybe rent a DVD.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3006438937/

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Did you know that Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (with commas) was a 1979 TV Series starring Alec Guiness? It ran for a full 7 episodes it would seem. I tried my best to get my hands on the book before I saw the movie but sadly could not find it . Will keep the search on for a while – not just for academic interest but because the movie is so heavy and slow that ironically you find it difficult to keep pace with it. Funny right. But one has to read the book before you can understand the movie completely. I guess you will experience it when you watch it. It is difficult to explain it in words. I will now add the mini-series search to the list of must watches as well.

Tomas Alfredson peels out the story layer by layer by layer and that too in a very disjointed manner. That’s what I would call giving exceptional credit to the audience’s intelligence. Sometimes it backfires like it did with Tree of Life. At other times it comes out exceptionally well like in the case of Pulp Fiction. And then there are really good movies such as TTSS which kind of lose it in an attempt to increase the intrigue.

TTSS is an espionage movie that forces you to concentrate. Despite its slow pace, you could actually miss the plot if you miss a few seconds – like I did. The good news though is that it allows you to catch up unlike a lot of other movies which don’t. It traces the story of British Intelligence which suspects a Russian mole in its highest ranks. The task of unearthing the same is given to George Smiley (Gary Oldman) who builds his own mini team of sorts and starts the arduous task of figuring out who is the actual culprit – Toby Esterhase (David Dencik) OR Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) OR Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) OR Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds). They are code named – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier and Spy – not respectively.

TTSS has some really solid performances by the entire cast. Little known names such as David Dencik and the vastly under-rated Ciarán Hinds have come up with really solid performances. The movie has some outstanding editing and cinematography which is apparent within the first few frames. The use of light and colour is quite stunning. The only thing, if any, which could have been in doubt were the costumes. Not sure if there were some errors on that count – pardon me for not being familiar with the kind of clothes which were worn in the 70s. Cannot comment on the screenplay either because I haven’t read the book. However, independent of the book, the screenplay would be OK in my books. Overall, one of the better movies of the year. 7 on 10. Must watch again to be totally sure of the concept – willing to do it too.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3394673689/

The Spy Next Door

Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) is a plumber by profession and he stays in a quiet suburb somewhere in the US. He is of Chinese origin (of course) and is single. He is an exceptionally sweet guy to say the least and helps the people of his neighbourhood at the drop of a hat. Especially if the person is Gillian (Amber Valletta) who is his next door neighbor. With Gillian he doesn’t have much of a choice honestly. He is well and truly head over heels about her. A fact that Gillian is well aware of and endorses. So much that she has already said yes to his proposal for marriage. Something that hasn’t gone too well with Gillian’s 3 kids – Farren (Madeline Carroll), Ian (Will Shadley) and Nora (Alina Foley). I would be unfair if I said that all 3 hate him. It would seem that Ian and Nora are fine but are under the influence of Farren who is Gillian’s step daughter actually. So as you can see, it is all a very complicated situation that these five people find themselves in.

Complicated? You must be kidding me. Ho is regarded as one of the best spies to ever have existed in the world and is on loan from Chinese Intelligence. In fact, he goes by the pseudonym – Super Spy Man – in most inner circles of spydom. He also has a lovely song that has been written for him like there is one for Spiderman or Fireball XL5 (if you remember). In short, he is a revered person in his circles. And he has already called out to his colleagues Colton James (Billy Ray Cyrus – I thought the only time he acted was in Hannah Montana) and Glaze (George Lopez) that he is on his last assignment which has to do with the capture of renowned world terrorist and most wanted Poldark (Magnús Scheving). After that he will retire for good and settle down with Gillian and her 3 children. He does catch Poldark in the first few minutes of the movie. But then the movie would be finished right? And as expected Poldark manages to escape!!!!

The Spy Next Door is one of the four movies of Jackie Chan that released last year. And for those who do not know, he turned 57 this April. 57!!!! And I am struggling to get to work @ 36. He does 4 movies that involved all of his antics and more in the same year???? He is indeed Super Spy Man. I have always loved Jackie Chan for his absolutely humility on and off screen that makes him an actor who is so sought after no matter what genre of movies you like. I have yet to meet anyone who really hates Jackie Chan movies. If there are any, I say – get a life guys. The man has enthralled us for nearly 50 years now. And with stunts that most people cannot even imagine. I liked The Spy Next Door since it is vintage Jackie Chan again. The rest of the cast pales in comparison. They do their jobs for certain but it is the Jackie Chan Show all the way. You will not get bored for the 90 odd minutes that the movie runs for. Director Brian Levant ensures that there are enough and more action sequences with the little master and lots of slapstick comedy also thrown in. I may not a give it a great score at 6 on 10 but I do believe that it is extremely enjoyable for both Jackie Chan fans or otherwise alike.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3031631129/