It was only
after I began my research that I realized that Big Hero 6 is actually a comic
book series from Marvel. The comic book
premise is actually quite different from that of the movie. The names of the characters stay the same but
the story is actually nowhere close (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hero_6).
Showing posts with label James Cromwell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Cromwell. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 November 2014
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
The Artist
One of the best parts about writing reviews – other than watching some stellar movies of course – is the research that I have to do before and sometimes after the movie. And the number of interesting tidbits it throws up is just amazing. I came across a dime a dozen interesting facts and figures while researching for The Artist. However, the one that is bound to get repeated over the next few weeks, leading upto the big day – 26th Feb 2012 – is the 1927 movie titled Wings which is the only silent movie to have ever won an Oscar for Best Picture. An effort that The Artist is touted to soon emulate. Now lets see why people say that shall we?
What shall we say, goes into making a movie? Theres firstly a story that needs to be interesting enough to hold the audience’s attention for about 90 minutes or thereabouts. And the story should have 3 parts – The start (5-10 mins or so), the body or the middle (60-70 mins or so) and the end (10-15 mins or so) – the ratios can change depending on the movie but not too much. A good movie creates enough excitement in the first few minutes to generate enough excitement in the audience’s mind to want to watch the balance isn’t it?
Lets now move onto an integral part of movie making i.e. direction. The guy behind the camera who is responsible to paint a vision of how the story needs to come to life. The person who is the brain of the project – a leader who is capable of carrying the entire crew with him. The clearer this guy is in his head, the better movie is right?
Forming an integral part would next be the cast – the lead actors (female & male) who need to be capable of translating the director’s instructions into exactly what is expected. There is the support cast who is there to perform a role and must do so to the best of their ability. There is a possibility of some animals in the story and therefore it is important to get some who are great @ following instructions i.e. very well trained.
Lastly there are the support staff i.e. camera men, light men, editors, special effects guys, pre-production people, post production people – all of who need to ensure perfect execution for that perfect movie. Right?
Chances are that if a movie were to score 8 on all counts – unlike a few who score 9+ on some and less than 6 on the others – would be more likely to win awards and accolades right? The artist checks all the boxes at 8 or more. And who says you need talkie to get across a story. The expressions of the actors and the placards which come in between to call out the dialogues more than make up for the lack of spoken word. I could not find a flaw in The Artist at all. If I were forced to find some, I would say, it is just too simple and straightforward – but who says that’s bad eh? I am going to stick my neck out on this one. Close call between The Artist & The Descendants for best movie this year. I would say The Artist just for refreshing our memory on that old adage that a picture paints a thousand words. 8.5 on 10. And not to forget that the Academy will have only one statue to give out against 3 for The Descendants :):):)
So rest at ease folks. It is not for nothing that the Academy has put this one up for 10 nominations. Simply put, it scores more than 8 in all of them!!! Therefore not surprising either that it is @ 126 in the imdb Top 250 movies of all time. I have a grouse though – why not Bérénice Bejo for Best Actress and why put her in the Supporting Actress Category? Nevertheless ….Do not miss this one!!!! It is fantastic!!!
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2003082265/
What shall we say, goes into making a movie? Theres firstly a story that needs to be interesting enough to hold the audience’s attention for about 90 minutes or thereabouts. And the story should have 3 parts – The start (5-10 mins or so), the body or the middle (60-70 mins or so) and the end (10-15 mins or so) – the ratios can change depending on the movie but not too much. A good movie creates enough excitement in the first few minutes to generate enough excitement in the audience’s mind to want to watch the balance isn’t it?
Lets now move onto an integral part of movie making i.e. direction. The guy behind the camera who is responsible to paint a vision of how the story needs to come to life. The person who is the brain of the project – a leader who is capable of carrying the entire crew with him. The clearer this guy is in his head, the better movie is right?
Forming an integral part would next be the cast – the lead actors (female & male) who need to be capable of translating the director’s instructions into exactly what is expected. There is the support cast who is there to perform a role and must do so to the best of their ability. There is a possibility of some animals in the story and therefore it is important to get some who are great @ following instructions i.e. very well trained.
Lastly there are the support staff i.e. camera men, light men, editors, special effects guys, pre-production people, post production people – all of who need to ensure perfect execution for that perfect movie. Right?
Chances are that if a movie were to score 8 on all counts – unlike a few who score 9+ on some and less than 6 on the others – would be more likely to win awards and accolades right? The artist checks all the boxes at 8 or more. And who says you need talkie to get across a story. The expressions of the actors and the placards which come in between to call out the dialogues more than make up for the lack of spoken word. I could not find a flaw in The Artist at all. If I were forced to find some, I would say, it is just too simple and straightforward – but who says that’s bad eh? I am going to stick my neck out on this one. Close call between The Artist & The Descendants for best movie this year. I would say The Artist just for refreshing our memory on that old adage that a picture paints a thousand words. 8.5 on 10. And not to forget that the Academy will have only one statue to give out against 3 for The Descendants :):):)
So rest at ease folks. It is not for nothing that the Academy has put this one up for 10 nominations. Simply put, it scores more than 8 in all of them!!! Therefore not surprising either that it is @ 126 in the imdb Top 250 movies of all time. I have a grouse though – why not Bérénice Bejo for Best Actress and why put her in the Supporting Actress Category? Nevertheless ….Do not miss this one!!!! It is fantastic!!!
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2003082265/
Friday, 4 February 2011
The Longest Yard
Never been much of a fan of Adam Sandler and this movie doesn’t really do much for his position on my rating scale (not that he would care). And by this I don’t mean Adam Sandler cannot act. Its just that I cannot keep up with his goofy, slapstick ways of putting himself on screen under the pretext of comedy and qualify to be a good actor. Add to that his capability of taking obnoxious roles such as Little Nicky and making a complete fool of himself on screen. Having said that, he is fairly successful thanks to his brand of comedy being popular with a fair portion of the audience I guess. And even in my books he is miles ahead of the absolutely despicable Ben Stiller.
Paul “Motley” Crewe (Adam Sandler) is a washed out quarterback from the NFL. He was, if I remember correctly, the first player from the NFL to be officially indicted and tried in a court of law for shaving off points in a game. Crewe had managed to get himself into a compromising situation with some not so compromising people it would seem. But it was never really proven in a court of law. He walked away a free man but a much hated man. Throwing a game away and getting caught in the bargain is the biggest mistake any sportsman can make surely. He now finds himself in a situation where he has a rich wife (a very slutty looking Courtney Cox after her boob job) who considers our hero (if we can call him that) to be her boy toy but there is this hole in his life which just doesn’t seem to get filled. That hole is usually called love which is definitely missing in this relationship.
One fine day, Paul decides that he has had enough of this and takes off with his wife’s Bentley, gets into a fight with the cops and some civilians too en route and finally after a high speed chase crashes the Bentley (ouch! Ouch!! Ouch!!!) into a melee of cop cars. A classic example of extremely cruel direction. Before you know it, Crewe finds himself in a Texan Correctional Facility (Cannot call them jails any more is what I hear) where he is given a rather crude welcome from the Captain of the gaurds – Knauer (William Fichtner) who asks him to keep away from the football field during his stay there. A few minutes later he finds himself in the Warden Hazen’s (James Cromwell – don’t ask me what he is doing in the movie) room who wants Crewe to hop on board the Football band wagon and consult the Team of the Gaurds who apparently are hot property in that part of the world. He now finds himself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and add a third element which is an entire jail full of criminals who don’t really like him. Now how in the blazes does he get out of this situation?
The Longest Yard is the kind of movie you would watch on a Thursday evening because its playing on Star Movies and you are too darn tired to sleep and too darn tired to do anything else. You just lie down on your bed and gaze at the TV screen and maybe glance towards your mobile phone to see if you have received a message that maybe more interesting. Now its not a really bad movie considering that its about a sport and about a bunch of criminals beating a bunch of cruel gaurds in a game of touch football and you feel all good at the end of it all. And you really cannot expect “quality” cinema from the likes of an Adam Sandler and Chris Rock pair. You do get several slapstick one liners and a few good ones thrown in to retain the title of a comedy. And at the end of the day despite the lack of direction, you feel reasonably satisfied. 5 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi821428505/
Paul “Motley” Crewe (Adam Sandler) is a washed out quarterback from the NFL. He was, if I remember correctly, the first player from the NFL to be officially indicted and tried in a court of law for shaving off points in a game. Crewe had managed to get himself into a compromising situation with some not so compromising people it would seem. But it was never really proven in a court of law. He walked away a free man but a much hated man. Throwing a game away and getting caught in the bargain is the biggest mistake any sportsman can make surely. He now finds himself in a situation where he has a rich wife (a very slutty looking Courtney Cox after her boob job) who considers our hero (if we can call him that) to be her boy toy but there is this hole in his life which just doesn’t seem to get filled. That hole is usually called love which is definitely missing in this relationship.
One fine day, Paul decides that he has had enough of this and takes off with his wife’s Bentley, gets into a fight with the cops and some civilians too en route and finally after a high speed chase crashes the Bentley (ouch! Ouch!! Ouch!!!) into a melee of cop cars. A classic example of extremely cruel direction. Before you know it, Crewe finds himself in a Texan Correctional Facility (Cannot call them jails any more is what I hear) where he is given a rather crude welcome from the Captain of the gaurds – Knauer (William Fichtner) who asks him to keep away from the football field during his stay there. A few minutes later he finds himself in the Warden Hazen’s (James Cromwell – don’t ask me what he is doing in the movie) room who wants Crewe to hop on board the Football band wagon and consult the Team of the Gaurds who apparently are hot property in that part of the world. He now finds himself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and add a third element which is an entire jail full of criminals who don’t really like him. Now how in the blazes does he get out of this situation?
The Longest Yard is the kind of movie you would watch on a Thursday evening because its playing on Star Movies and you are too darn tired to sleep and too darn tired to do anything else. You just lie down on your bed and gaze at the TV screen and maybe glance towards your mobile phone to see if you have received a message that maybe more interesting. Now its not a really bad movie considering that its about a sport and about a bunch of criminals beating a bunch of cruel gaurds in a game of touch football and you feel all good at the end of it all. And you really cannot expect “quality” cinema from the likes of an Adam Sandler and Chris Rock pair. You do get several slapstick one liners and a few good ones thrown in to retain the title of a comedy. And at the end of the day despite the lack of direction, you feel reasonably satisfied. 5 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi821428505/
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Secretariat
The year is 1969. Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane) is a happy woman. She is married to Jack Tweedy (Dylan Walsh) and is blessed with 4 wonderful children Sarah (Carissa Capobianco), Kate (Amanda Michalka), Chris (Sean Michael Cunningham) and John (Jacob Rhodes). They live in Denver. As a child, Penny was extremely into horses. Her father Chris (Scot Glen) owns a stud farm and is extremely well known in the business. It is a difficult business to be in but he has seen it through its several ups and downs. But of late, he has been suffering from dementia and has made some decisions which have almost cost them the farm. However, thanks to Penny’s mother, they have managed to stay afloat so far. As a child, Penny grew up on the farm with a special liking for the equine. Under her father’s tutelage she learnt pretty much everything there was to know about the business. But with marriage and starting a family, she was forced to put her familial responsibilities before her and let her first love take a back seat.
However, a strange and sad twist of events gets her back to what she completely loves doing. Penny loses her mother and has no choice but to go back home for the funeral. After the last rites are completed, she quickly realizes that her father is not quite capable of running the business on his own. Her brother Hollis (Dylan Baker) is of the opinion is that they should start looking at selling of a few of the horses and maybe even the farm in the long run. But something tells Penny that this is the opportunity she was waiting for. At the funeral, she meets Bull Hancock (Fred Dalton Thompson), her father’s close friend and financial associate who offers to help her out with anything that she needs.
Now Penny is no mug with respect to horses. And she quickly starts sending the message out that she is here and she means business. She starts with firing her trainer who has been making utmost use of her father’s illness to short change the Chenerys of a few million dollars on the sale of some of their best horses. Then will the support of her father’s secretary, Ms. Ham (Margon Martindale) and Bull, she tries to put things back together. Firstly there is a small matter of the Toss. Chris Chenery Sr. may seem to be not business minded but has taken some really good decisions in his life. Where everyone was investing in studs, he also understood the importance of mares and has invested in a few solid ones during his life time. Two of his mares are due now thanks to the efforts of a leading stud owned by the then richest man in America, Ogden Phipps (James Cromwell). However, since Ogden owns the stud, he gets to choose which foal to pick up. As luck would have it, Penny loses the toss but gets to keep the foal that she wanted in the first place. That is the story of the birth of “Secretariat”.
Secretariat is Randal Wallace’s 3rd attempt @ direction. He is best known for directing the Man in the Iron Mask and writing cult movies such as Brave Heart and Pearl Harbour. With Secretariat, he also proves that his direction capabilities are not just a flash in the pan. It is most difficult to direct movies when you are working with animals. The unpredictability makes it even more exciting. And Wallace comes out of this effort not just much richer in experience but also has not done any damage to his credibility. I may be downplaying the quality of movie making but Wallace did miss a thing or two. Firstly, the movie is extremely slow. It meanders along its way and slowly builds up pace. But doesn’t really reach an extreme peak till the last few minutes. The change of gears, if any, goes unnoticed. As if one has moved from 1st to 6th gear and then comes to a stand still. Therefore the movie doesn’t qualify as the most compactly made one to date. However, the editing and cinematography is very good to say the least. Lovely use of camera angles to get the right measure of the situation that is being shown.
The acting, however was just about adequate. But for a superb performance from John Malkovich as the trainer Lucien Laurin, there is nothing really worth writing home about. Malkovich, however comes trumps in his role of the eccentric but honest trainer who helps turn around the fortunes of the Chenery family business. He is effortless and takes away the screen presence factor from everyone in the movie. Diane Lane is also very good with the role of Penny but not at her best. Secretariat is based on the true story of the horse which goes onto become America’s most successful one to date. It has its moments of thrills but is also significantly about one woman’s fight to make her mark in what is otherwise considered to be a man’s world. Overall a good solid effort. To put it in a sentence – If you loved Sea Biscuit, you will like Secretariat. To me Sea Biscuit is an 8 on 10 – a movie worthy of its Oscar nomination. Secretariat doesn’t come close but is reasonably entertaining. 6 on 10.
However, a strange and sad twist of events gets her back to what she completely loves doing. Penny loses her mother and has no choice but to go back home for the funeral. After the last rites are completed, she quickly realizes that her father is not quite capable of running the business on his own. Her brother Hollis (Dylan Baker) is of the opinion is that they should start looking at selling of a few of the horses and maybe even the farm in the long run. But something tells Penny that this is the opportunity she was waiting for. At the funeral, she meets Bull Hancock (Fred Dalton Thompson), her father’s close friend and financial associate who offers to help her out with anything that she needs.
Now Penny is no mug with respect to horses. And she quickly starts sending the message out that she is here and she means business. She starts with firing her trainer who has been making utmost use of her father’s illness to short change the Chenerys of a few million dollars on the sale of some of their best horses. Then will the support of her father’s secretary, Ms. Ham (Margon Martindale) and Bull, she tries to put things back together. Firstly there is a small matter of the Toss. Chris Chenery Sr. may seem to be not business minded but has taken some really good decisions in his life. Where everyone was investing in studs, he also understood the importance of mares and has invested in a few solid ones during his life time. Two of his mares are due now thanks to the efforts of a leading stud owned by the then richest man in America, Ogden Phipps (James Cromwell). However, since Ogden owns the stud, he gets to choose which foal to pick up. As luck would have it, Penny loses the toss but gets to keep the foal that she wanted in the first place. That is the story of the birth of “Secretariat”.
Secretariat is Randal Wallace’s 3rd attempt @ direction. He is best known for directing the Man in the Iron Mask and writing cult movies such as Brave Heart and Pearl Harbour. With Secretariat, he also proves that his direction capabilities are not just a flash in the pan. It is most difficult to direct movies when you are working with animals. The unpredictability makes it even more exciting. And Wallace comes out of this effort not just much richer in experience but also has not done any damage to his credibility. I may be downplaying the quality of movie making but Wallace did miss a thing or two. Firstly, the movie is extremely slow. It meanders along its way and slowly builds up pace. But doesn’t really reach an extreme peak till the last few minutes. The change of gears, if any, goes unnoticed. As if one has moved from 1st to 6th gear and then comes to a stand still. Therefore the movie doesn’t qualify as the most compactly made one to date. However, the editing and cinematography is very good to say the least. Lovely use of camera angles to get the right measure of the situation that is being shown.
The acting, however was just about adequate. But for a superb performance from John Malkovich as the trainer Lucien Laurin, there is nothing really worth writing home about. Malkovich, however comes trumps in his role of the eccentric but honest trainer who helps turn around the fortunes of the Chenery family business. He is effortless and takes away the screen presence factor from everyone in the movie. Diane Lane is also very good with the role of Penny but not at her best. Secretariat is based on the true story of the horse which goes onto become America’s most successful one to date. It has its moments of thrills but is also significantly about one woman’s fight to make her mark in what is otherwise considered to be a man’s world. Overall a good solid effort. To put it in a sentence – If you loved Sea Biscuit, you will like Secretariat. To me Sea Biscuit is an 8 on 10 – a movie worthy of its Oscar nomination. Secretariat doesn’t come close but is reasonably entertaining. 6 on 10.
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