Olympus Has Fallen

I have always been a firm believer in Antoine Fuqua.  I have an exceptionally firm belief that he has far from reached his best.  And I firmly believe that if he doesn’t really pull his pants up sooner than later, he will lose whatever possibility he has to deliver a stunning piece of work.

Playing for Keeps

When you have the name Gabriele Muccino associated with your movie, you have to expect a lot of – and I really mean it when I say it – A LOT OF TEARS. He has that innate capability to build in moments that are poignant and force your lachrymal glands into overtime action. And if you don’t believe me then you have to watch Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds.

But, if you walk into the screen expecting a tear jerker but intense movie like what you have seen Muccino make in the past – you are in for one hell of a shock. Playing for Keeps has only some amounts of background music that shows some semblance of his previous work. If anything, PFK, looks more like Nancy Myers has somehow found her way into Muccino’s mind.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am a huge Nancy Myers fan. But Muccino is expected to get some really intense and gut wrenching scenes into the movie. He is supposed to make you think about stuff. He is supposed to make you debate about right and wrong. Not trail the life of an erstwhile soccer player who is separated from his wife and kid and is now looking at some kind of redemption by trying to get back with them.

George Dryer (Gerard Butler) is our victim of a failed marriage. A famous soccer star in from Scotland in his hey days, his relationship with the love of his life – Stacie (Jessica Biel) – has always been strained thanks to his priorities being slightly warped. It has nothing to do with the fact that Stacie comes from across the Atlantic. However, when the marriage fails, George makes the arduous trip across the Herring Pond to do the right thing – finally.

He tries his hand at sports-casting without success. And after watching his son Lewis’ (Noah Lomax) soccer coach teaching the wrong things, he steps in to be the school soccer coach. Of course, doing that comes with its benefits (read – 3 soccer moms). Denise (Catherine Zeta Jones), Patti (Uma Thurma) & Barb (Judy Greer) are either divorced or cheating on husbands with guess who – George!!! – I thought you would never guess.

By now, you are sure that this is anything but a Muccino movie right? So you will agree with the disappointment that I faced. However, to its credit, it is only the story that is not Muccino. Everything else is. I am also convinced that if there is a serious romance movie that you need a lead actor for then Gerard Butler has to be your man. No one else can get the male emotions of being in love better than Butler. And of course it is an added benefit for you women that he is eye candy. 6 on 10. Decent watch. But wait for the DVD.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3070338073/

Chasing Mavericks

This one is based on a true story and released last week. Didn’t post the review earlier because most of you would have missed out on reading it on Sunday. Diwali typically assures me some solid hits :-P and more importantly, I thought you should not miss out on a good movie – at least a good concept.

Jay Moriarty lived for all of a little over 22 years. 1978 to 2001. But in those 22 years he set an example for people across all fields of work. A simple concept of being in love with something so much that you don’t need to be asked twice to do it. A concept of having a passion in life that supercedes everything else that you have. For Jay Moriarty it was surfing.

He grew up in Santa Cruz, California where there were myths of what were called Mavericks. Waves which could touch upto 80 ft – all rumoured with absolutely no confirmation whatsoever. As a child of nearly 9 years, he is saved from drowning by Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler) who eventually goes on to become Jay’s father figure of sorts. Jay’s father leaves him and his deranged mother, Kristy (Elisabeth Shue) around the same time.

Jay grows upto be a champion surfer at the age of 16 and rules the roost in the Santa Cruz circuit. But there is something about Frosty that Jay intends to catch up on. Every once in a while Frosty leaves home @ the unearthly hour of 4 am. One such morning Jay jumps onto the van (the back side) and gets to where Frosty goes. Only to be introduced to – The Mavericks – they actually exist. This time around they were only about 30 ft or so but that itself is quite a bit right?

What follows is a rigorous training programme that Frosty puts Jay through so that Jay can ride the mavericks before the end of the season – something similar to what Miyagi does in Karate Kid. But a very effective programme focused on the 4 pillars of human strength – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

I liked Chasing Mavericks because of the inspirational story that it provides. Unfortunately that is where it ends. Gerard Butler is less than his usual intense self. Michael Apted (World is Not Enough) & Curtis Hanson (L A Confidential) are both Academy award nominated directors but don’t really come up with the goods this time.

There has been an effort put in to give a feel of the 80s / 90s visually. And the surf sequences are quite well done and keep you on the edge of the seats. But the overall finishing, the attention to detail, the finer nuances that one would expect from the likes of Apted and Hanson are sorely missing.

To end with, I quote, “We all come from the sea. But we are not of the sea. Those of us who are, we children of the tides, must return to it again and again”. Inspiring story. Average movie. But watch it. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3341722905/

Coriolanus

Ralph Fiennes’ first movie as a director leaves a lot to be desired to say the least. First of all, I have no clue to why he would experiment with his first movie in a language that is not really up everyone’s comfort level. I mean it is English alright but why Shakespearean English????? And that too in verse????

And the morons who seem to be running the movie houses in India could not think of adding subtitles to the movie? Else they should have sold 2/3rds of the tickets and kept a translator for every 2 patrons walking into the hall. Not a feasible solution right? SUBTITLES YOU MORONS!!!! As it is, we aren’t the largest market for Hollywood in the world. Your rank stupidity is not helping the cause. Surely Ralph Fiennes had his reasons to convert a lesser know Shakespearean play in Shakespearean but what is your excuse darlings? And then there is PVR who super intelligently decides to play J Edgar in Juhu and Phoenix but decide to release Coriolanus across all PVRs in the city. I cannot begin to imagine the plight of the Gujju Bens and Bhais (Sisters and Brothers) in Mulund and Goregaon wondering how to pronounce the movie – leave alone walk into the hall and try to understand it. Weird people have infested this industry I tell you.

Coriolanus is about this Roman general called Marcus Caius (Ralph Fiennes) whose arch enemies, the Volscians are led by Tulius Aufidius (Gerard Butler). Marcus Caius has fought several wars for Rome and has successfully defended its pride and honour not just by leading from the front but also by ensuring that orders are followed to the T. So much so that the people of Rome do not quite like him much. But a few wise people in the right places appreciate his efforts and would like to annoit him as Counsellor (the highest authority) in Rome. His closest friend, confidante and Senator of Rome – Menenius Agrippa (Brian Cox) lobbies really hard for his case. However, as luck would have it, he faces severe opposition from not just some of the common people of Rome but also the Tribunes (Paul Jesson & James Nesbitt) who not only oppose him but also get him embroiled in a serious scam which questions his integrity and also get him banished from Rome. Incensed, Marcus Caius Coriolanus, approaches the Volscians and joins hands with them to conquer Rome.

In terms of acting talent and execution, the movie doesn’t leave too much to be desired. It takes great courage to use a dialect of English that may not be best accepted by the people. And even more to get the likes of Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave to narrate with consummate ease. So hats off to Ralph Fiennes for the same. He has also converted the story into a modern day setting with the use of costumes which is equally good. But watch it only if you have subtitles or else you will definitely be left groping in the dark for what was said. OK to watch on DVD. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2877398553/

Machine Gun Preacher

Marc Forster has given us quite a few movies over the years which are memorable. Not in the league of a cult movie but just about enough to leave a lasting impression. Finding Neverland, Quantum of Solace, Monster’s Ball and that really cool movie called Stranger Than Fiction which I had rated as a 7 on 10. So it came to me as a bit of a surprise that the in the first half of Machine Gun Preacher, I felt a bit let down and as my movie mate in Bangalore, Kevin Mendonca, stated, “Not able to connect with it”. I think somewhere Forster took just a tad too long to get to the actual crux of the topic which was the orphanage in the war zone between South Sudan and Northern Uganda. Forster peels off layer by layer of the Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) onion. Could he have made it a bit faster and a bit more tight – I would guess so. I have seen most of his movies and haven’t found them to be ones that meander about aimlessly. Maybe he had a solid creative reason for taking it slow but I thought he could have ct about 15 to 20 minutes of the movie which lasts eventually for over 2 hours. Makes a world of a difference to the audience and critics alike.

The posters may belie your expectations about Machine Gun Preacher. I had seen the trailer a while back and could not recollect the South Sudan part till I walked into the hall. It was an eventuality before they made a movie on the South Sudan formation was the thought that crossed my mind. But it turns out that MGP was about anything but random conflict between nations. It is the true story of one man’s steely determination to not give up on the one thing that finally gives his life some purpose. From his days of being a biker gangster and drug dealer, Sam Childers came back home to a wife, Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) who has quit stripping to be a born again Christian. But Sam wanted nothing to do with it. He decided to stick to his gangster ways till he killed a hitchhiker in self defence and eventually finds the path to god. He visited Africa to do some social work but the experience influenced him like nothing else in his life and drove him towards starting the orphanage.

Trauma to the Lips, A child killing his mother, land mines blowing kids legs away, Children being burnt to death, snipers who are no more than 10 years old – Marc Forster has tried to make it as real as he possibly could. The version on screen these days seems to be heavily and obviously censored. As the movie moves along, it distinctly grows on you and you begin to relate with Childer’s statement towards the end, “If your child was abducted by a mad man or a terrorist and if I could tell you that I would get her home, would it matter to you how I got her back”? 7 on 10 yet again for Forster’s capability to keep the movie as true to life as possible and Gerard Butler’s solid portrayal of Childers.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3407191065/