Another screenplay nomination for Woody Allen? Probably yes. If the academy is used to and will continue to endorse his eccentric but totally hilarious style of script writing. Woody Allen – to my knowledge has got the maximum awards for screenplay to date – 4 (none of which have been collected by him because of his commitment to jazz – or the story goes). I personally would not be surprised if this is a 5th. What I am surprised about – and pleasantly at that – is the braveheart distributor in India who decided to release the movie in line with the US Markets – a phenomenon that hasn’t been seen to date with most of his other movies. Good for us I say.
To Rome With Love is, as the name suggests, an ode from the master writer to the city of Rome and the nuances that come from being there. It traces 4 stories through the length of the movie – 2 of which are in Italian and 2 in English. Probably an experiment from Woody – I don’t remember having seen such a combination before. However, unlike our funny Indian film makers, the Italian parts are in – guess what – Italian!!!! Not like a Hindi hero talking to an American or of late Australian cop in pure Hindi
Nevertheless, we have Jerry (Woody) and Phyllis (Judy Davis) who have to make a trip down to Rome because their daughter Hayley (Alison Pill) has fallen for an Italian lawyer called Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti). The name is Michel – not Michael. Mind it. Michel works pro bono (free) most of the time for the oppressed classes and has strong views on stuff like unionism – almost Communist in nature. Jerry is a retired Music Producer and Phyllis a psychiatrist.
In another part of Rome, we have John (Alec Baldwin) who has returned to the Rome that was home to him around 30 years back. He relives the entire time in Rome through the character of Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) who is currently seeing Sally (Greta Gerwig). But is soon to find himself torn between Sally and her best friend Monica (Ellen Paige) who visits the couple to get over a break up with a gay man who she hoped to change.
If you don’t think this is funny then there is the comedy of errors story of a newly married couple – Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) & Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi). The former is in Rome to network with his uncles who are extremely well known in the business fraternity. Milly is a demure, naïve school teacher from a village in Italy. When Milly goes off to get her hair done, Antonio’s friends decide to send in a high class call girl – Anna (Penelope Cruz) to make his day. This story is truly funny.
And if all this fails to excite you about the movie then I suggest you skip the 2 hours because you are not going to be too excited about the prospect of the extremely funny and quirky Roberto Benigni essaying the role of Leopoldo – an ordinary office worker whose life gets thrown into fame thanks to the Italian media who makes him into a larger than life character.
If there is one thing I would love to learn from Woody Allen it would be his capability to bring to life so many characters. Even the most insignificant traffic policeman who begins the movie is fleshed out in a matter of seconds. If you are a Woody Allen fan then this one you cannot miss. If you are not then this one may just about get you to fall for this genre of alternate humour – I love Woody Allen – and let me assure you that it is not because I should love him or it is a very cool thing to say. I think you will enjoy To Rome With Love. 8 on 10. Don’t miss it. Potential Oscar nomination for Penelope Cruz - Best Actress in a supporting role.
Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3170738201/
Showing posts with label Greta Gerwig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greta Gerwig. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Arthur
OK now here is one that seemed to be inspired from Bollywood. It would seem surprising and I was certain by the time I was through with the movie that my previous statement was true. But then again, I thought to myself that is this really possible and dived into some research. Sure enough I found out in a couple of minutes that my speculation was indeed too good to be true. Arthur (2011) is a direct rip off from its namesake made 30 years back starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. And in between all of this, 3 years after the 1981 movie from one-movie-wonder-director Steve Gordon, we saw the Big B starrer – Sharaabi. Yes my dear friends, Ladies and Gentlemen and children of all ages (sorry Vinay for copyright violation but Christoph Waltz already did this earlier this year) – Arthur (1981), Sharaabi (1984) and Arthur (2011) are all the same movie. Apologies if this needed a spoiler alert – I actually believe I have saved you the trouble of going to the movies and spending quite a bit on this. Regretably, the review is about 10 days late so if I haven’t been able to save u the money, my sincerest apologies. I have been trying my best to get the reviews up on time.
Arthur Bach (Russel Brand) is the spoilt rich kid who is heir to nearly a billion dollars ($50 mil short to be precise) and doesn’t give 2 hoots for the money. His mommy, Vivienne (Geraldine James) is more focused on managing the business right from his childhood and has left Arthur to the care of only Hobson (Helen Mirren), his nanny and Bitterman (Luis Guzmán). Vivienne runs the business along with trusted aide Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner). Now Arthur is an alcoholic and a party addict and spends his time only blowing away the money from the empire he is due to inherit. And his wild ways aren’t going too well with the investors who want to see a Bach take over – the stabler Bach the better. Sizing up the opportunity, Susan suggests that it is probably time to tie Arthur down. And what better a way to tie a man down than that glorious institution called marriage. But who will marry Arthur? For billion dollars, my guess would be anyone. But the devious Susan intends to do so herself. Vivienne loves the idea and offers Arthur the dreaded choice – marry Susan or lose a billion dollar inheritance. Arthur doesn’t seem to have a choice but then on the same day he bumps into tour guide operator Naomi (Greta Gerwig – remember Patrice from No Strings Attached).
Not much of a script to look forward to honestly with the exception of some humour that has been enhanced thanks to the slick delivery from Helen Mirren who stands out from the rest of the cast. Russell Brand is surprisingly good in his role as Arthur. The rest of the cast including the cute Greta Gerwig is quite unnoticeable. Even Greta is thanks to her insanely loose and short skirts – seems more like a fashion faux pas than an intentional design. The direction is as good as the sitcoms that Jason Winer does – nothing much to write home about I assure you. Loads of consistency errors and editing is nearly absent. The movie could have easily been curtailed to 90 minutes but stretches a tad too much. Nothing you have missed if you could not catch up with it to date. Its only a 5 on 10 at best and that too only due to Helen Mirren and partially due to Brand.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2575079961/
Arthur Bach (Russel Brand) is the spoilt rich kid who is heir to nearly a billion dollars ($50 mil short to be precise) and doesn’t give 2 hoots for the money. His mommy, Vivienne (Geraldine James) is more focused on managing the business right from his childhood and has left Arthur to the care of only Hobson (Helen Mirren), his nanny and Bitterman (Luis Guzmán). Vivienne runs the business along with trusted aide Susan Johnson (Jennifer Garner). Now Arthur is an alcoholic and a party addict and spends his time only blowing away the money from the empire he is due to inherit. And his wild ways aren’t going too well with the investors who want to see a Bach take over – the stabler Bach the better. Sizing up the opportunity, Susan suggests that it is probably time to tie Arthur down. And what better a way to tie a man down than that glorious institution called marriage. But who will marry Arthur? For billion dollars, my guess would be anyone. But the devious Susan intends to do so herself. Vivienne loves the idea and offers Arthur the dreaded choice – marry Susan or lose a billion dollar inheritance. Arthur doesn’t seem to have a choice but then on the same day he bumps into tour guide operator Naomi (Greta Gerwig – remember Patrice from No Strings Attached).
Not much of a script to look forward to honestly with the exception of some humour that has been enhanced thanks to the slick delivery from Helen Mirren who stands out from the rest of the cast. Russell Brand is surprisingly good in his role as Arthur. The rest of the cast including the cute Greta Gerwig is quite unnoticeable. Even Greta is thanks to her insanely loose and short skirts – seems more like a fashion faux pas than an intentional design. The direction is as good as the sitcoms that Jason Winer does – nothing much to write home about I assure you. Loads of consistency errors and editing is nearly absent. The movie could have easily been curtailed to 90 minutes but stretches a tad too much. Nothing you have missed if you could not catch up with it to date. Its only a 5 on 10 at best and that too only due to Helen Mirren and partially due to Brand.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2575079961/
Sunday, 13 February 2011
No Strings Attached
This one has been made for the die hard RomCom hater. Even if you are one, you are bound to love No Strings Attached (NSA) for its slick direction, brilliant dialogues and superb acting by almost everyone in the cast. I saw the trailer first over a couple of months back and was quite certain that it would be entertaining. That it would turn out to be a great balance between quality comedy and great romance was something that I had not expected really. And a personal word of advise to my friend Sumantra Mukherjee, a die hard Natalie Portman fan – Don’t watch this before you are placed my friend lest you die of a heart attack – Portman looks delectable to say the least.
Adam (Ashton Kutcher) is all of 14 years old and a reluctant member of a summer camp – thanks to his parents getting divorced – when he meets Emmaa (Natalie Portman). He uses the sympathy vote to try and get a feel of Emmaa but our lady is one up on him. She is not one to be swayed by the sympathy vote factor and just lends him a shoulder to cry. Poor Adam. 10 years down the road, Adam and Emmaa meet up once again at a sorority party which is getting really ferrel as she walks in. She doesn’t look too thrilled to be there as such but tries to settle in when she finds Adam having a blast with a couple of chicks – or should we say that Adam finds her. Doesn’t really matter. Emmaa is now @ MIT studying medicine and asks Adam over to her place the next day for “doing something”. Turns out to be Emmaa’s dad’s funeral and Adam is the only person dressed in yellow in a sea of black. Sounds quite morbid right. Not really when you watch it. It is quite funny actually. Fast forward 4 years more and Adam’s friend Eli (Jake Johnson) bumps into an old acquaintance, Patrice (Greta Gerwig). And what do you know? Patrice is doing her internship at the local hospital and is sharing a place with – ta dah – Emmaa. Looks like there is not turning back for this couple considering that they keep bumping into each other once every few years. This time however, it seems to be for good. After a few embarrassing moments for Adam though.
Adam’s dad, Alvin (Kevin Kline) decides to drop a bomb onto him one fine day by informing him that he is actually dating Adam’s ex girl friend. Depressed with the thought, Adam decides to get drunk and call up all the girls on his phone to get laid and eventually wakes up the next morning @ Emmaa’s place. Nope they haven’t done it yet. But they will in a few minutes post which Adam is not able to get her out of his head. Funnily enough Emmaa seems to be all non chalant about it and continues to go on with life one day at a time. She really doesn’t believe in getting emotionally tied down and much to Adam’s happiness proposes to continue seeing each other purely for sexual purposes – a man’s dream come true one would assume. But not if you were to so obviously fall in love with the woman of your dreams.
A predictable flick but very well made. You will kept laughing all through the movie and leave the hall quite satisfied with the way you spent the previous 2 hours. Natalie Portman is fabulous as the girl who doesn’t believe in love and believes that the weight of the world is on her shoulders and that she can go through life alone. Ashton Kutcher is his normal playboy self and the support cast is also quite good. Kevin Kline seems to have settled into playing the role of a father of the lead actor very well and hasn’t lost his comic touch one bit. Ivan Rietman has given us a very compact modern day RomCom with very little wastage of time or anything that can clearly be called unnecessary. One of the better RomComs made. 6.5 on 10. Must watch this Valentines.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1902549273/
Adam (Ashton Kutcher) is all of 14 years old and a reluctant member of a summer camp – thanks to his parents getting divorced – when he meets Emmaa (Natalie Portman). He uses the sympathy vote to try and get a feel of Emmaa but our lady is one up on him. She is not one to be swayed by the sympathy vote factor and just lends him a shoulder to cry. Poor Adam. 10 years down the road, Adam and Emmaa meet up once again at a sorority party which is getting really ferrel as she walks in. She doesn’t look too thrilled to be there as such but tries to settle in when she finds Adam having a blast with a couple of chicks – or should we say that Adam finds her. Doesn’t really matter. Emmaa is now @ MIT studying medicine and asks Adam over to her place the next day for “doing something”. Turns out to be Emmaa’s dad’s funeral and Adam is the only person dressed in yellow in a sea of black. Sounds quite morbid right. Not really when you watch it. It is quite funny actually. Fast forward 4 years more and Adam’s friend Eli (Jake Johnson) bumps into an old acquaintance, Patrice (Greta Gerwig). And what do you know? Patrice is doing her internship at the local hospital and is sharing a place with – ta dah – Emmaa. Looks like there is not turning back for this couple considering that they keep bumping into each other once every few years. This time however, it seems to be for good. After a few embarrassing moments for Adam though.
Adam’s dad, Alvin (Kevin Kline) decides to drop a bomb onto him one fine day by informing him that he is actually dating Adam’s ex girl friend. Depressed with the thought, Adam decides to get drunk and call up all the girls on his phone to get laid and eventually wakes up the next morning @ Emmaa’s place. Nope they haven’t done it yet. But they will in a few minutes post which Adam is not able to get her out of his head. Funnily enough Emmaa seems to be all non chalant about it and continues to go on with life one day at a time. She really doesn’t believe in getting emotionally tied down and much to Adam’s happiness proposes to continue seeing each other purely for sexual purposes – a man’s dream come true one would assume. But not if you were to so obviously fall in love with the woman of your dreams.
A predictable flick but very well made. You will kept laughing all through the movie and leave the hall quite satisfied with the way you spent the previous 2 hours. Natalie Portman is fabulous as the girl who doesn’t believe in love and believes that the weight of the world is on her shoulders and that she can go through life alone. Ashton Kutcher is his normal playboy self and the support cast is also quite good. Kevin Kline seems to have settled into playing the role of a father of the lead actor very well and hasn’t lost his comic touch one bit. Ivan Rietman has given us a very compact modern day RomCom with very little wastage of time or anything that can clearly be called unnecessary. One of the better RomComs made. 6.5 on 10. Must watch this Valentines.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1902549273/
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