Mr. Holmes

Sometime back, a T Shirt featuring Sir Ian McKellen created a minor ripple (http://weheartit.com/entry/group/100286).  It read, I AM GANDALF AND MAGNETO. GET OVER IT.  Sir I M can now change that T Shirt to read – I AM GANDALF, MAGNETO AND SHERLOCK – BEAT THAT!!!

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 Nutcracker 3D

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky created a ballet called The Nutcracker way back in 1892. Since then there have been a few zillion movies and an equal number of plays have been made with the same name and definitely the same or similar stories. This time around a director with an equally complicated sounding name as the creator has decided to give us the first 3D version of this famed ballet. He goes by the name of Andrey Konchalovskiy. Have we heard of this guy before? Yep. He would be the same guy who gave us those epic movies that we grew up with called “Homer and Eddie” and “Tango and Cash”. He has just added an “i” to his name which hasn’t really helped much. Surely he must go back to the numerologist who advised him to add this to his name to get his money back (Do they have money back guarantees on numerology?)


For those who are unfamiliar with the story of the Nutcracker it is about this teenage girl called Mary (Elle Fanning – yep she is Dakota’s younger sister who is a bit grown up) who is tormented most of the time by her younger brother Max (Aaron Michael Drozin) who breaks up most of her toys. Her parents (Richard E. Grant & Yuliya Vysotskaya – whats with all these tongue twisters???) don’t spend too much time with the kids really parenting. But they care a lot about their children to ensure that the kids have all the comforts in the world including a huge house replete with butlers and a nanny Frau Eva (Frances de la Tour). All seems to be well at the household till one evening around Christmas the children’s godfather, Uncle Albert (Nathan Lane) – an Albert Einstein look alike with an accent that would put most German’s to shame – comes over to give the kids Christmas gifts. He gives Mary a special wooden toy called the Nutcracker whose basic utility as the name suggests is to crack nuts. But it turns out that the toy is a very special one and is actually a Prince (Charlie Rowe) whose country has been taken over by the evil Rat King (John Turturro) and his mother, the Rat Queen (Frances de la Tour – again) who want to “RATtify” the whole world. It is now upto Mary to save the country from being converted to Rats.

The Nutcracker 3D is a fantasy. You must be aware of the love that I have for fantasies as a genre of movies but this one is very honestly not too well executed. I am sure it had the capabilities of becoming a huge hit but the 3D effects are bad and the acting very average. The special effects without the 3D seem to be quite good and the tongue twister director is able to generate excitement about the concept. However, fantasies are expected to be significantly larger than life and that doesn’t quite come through in the final product. Having said that, it would go well with kids because of the entire concept of fairies and flying and talking chimpanzees and jokers and Christmas trees that grow huge overnight etc. etc. etc. Watch it for your kids if you must. 5 on 10 is my verdict. Have seen many better fantasy movies.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3906472217/