Noah (2014) (English)

I missed the preview show of Noah because I wanted to catch up with it at an IMAX Theatre.  I did so, on Friday after India qualified for the semi-finals of the World Cup.  A 22:55 hrs show @ IMAX Wadala with a guarantee that I was spending in excess of `1500 for the entire experience (`1060 for tickets + `300 for the cab back home + `300 for snacks).  Was it worth it? HELL YES!!!

Winter’s Tale

Its Valentine’s Day (or it was yesterday :-p) and one had to expect a slew of either RomComs or Romance movies.  Surprisingly, Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of the 1983 Mark Helprin novel, A Winter’s Tale is the only Valentine’s release that is truly targeted at all those couples who are very much in love (read louv).

Blood Diamond

Now here is a movie worth watching over and over and over and over again. And then when you have seen it enough times over you can watch it once more for good measure. I think Leonardo DiCaprio came of age somewhere in 2002 when he did Catch Me If You Can. I could give him credit for The Beach as well but I guess he was just starting to warm up. But my word did he take off after his portrayal of Frank Abagnale Jr.!!! As the corny one liner goes – there was no turning back. Danny Archer was his 3rd role after Frank Abagnale Jr. and man did he get it to rock. Truck loads of effort gone into getting the accent right. Another few truck loads of effort gone into getting the overall feel of a diamond smuggler. Quite a bit of hard work Leo boy and a pity you could not grab hold of Uncle Oscar despite all of the effort. Hope in hell that you would have known about Mr. Whitaker and his portrayal of the Butcher of Uganda. Tough Luck Leo. I am quite certain you will get this sooner than later.
Now let me see. Why do you think Blood Diamond was never even nominated for an Oscar. I have tried to rack my brains for a long time over this. But then the Academy may have its fetishes for finer nuances which us lowly mortals are not familiar with. Did Blood Diamond have a storyline – hell it did. A cause that no one had picked up to date which also made it fresh i.e. never before told story of conflict diamonds which had started getting into the news a while before Edward Zwick picked it up. And it is an original. So was it the performances? Maybe. But then both Leo and Djimon earned nominations. So I guess it cannot be acting. Yeah I guess no one else had much of a role to play in the entire movie which I agree to but one cannot fault either Jennifer Connelly or Arnold Vosloo with bad acting. It was a well knit movie in terms of performances.

So it has to be editing right? But there again there was a nomination for the golden statuette. Well I kind of gave up after going through the list. Maybe the direction was not upto mark or maybe the screenplay. What it was, none of us will ever know. If there the nominations are based on a voting system then I would guess Blood Diamond would have lost out extremely marginally for some more awards. Or put this entire concept of a doubt to my account because I am an amateur critic – probably need that FTI class really really soon (makes mental note).

If you haven’t seen Blood Diamond yet then I suggest you catch up with it whenever it plays on any of these movie channels or better still – buy your own copy ASAP. It will truly be worth it. I give it an 8 on 10 easy. Yenjoy the show I say!!!!

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi180027673/

He's Just Not That Into You

I love the way this movie starts. The first few statements are simply superb. It actually solves the age old mysteries that I had about the female mind. You start watching He’s Just Not That Into You (HJNTIN) and it clears every little doubt about the convoluted female brain (I am certain to lose some female fan followers after this) that you may have had in your mind. Heres the way it goes. The theory says that as children most parents teach their young girls that, “Boys who behave badly with you actually have a crush on you”. This theory then morphs into statements such as, “He cannot handle your emotional maturity” OR “He cannot handle the fact that you are good looking” Or his capability to manage your success is very low”. All of these are statements made by closest friends and relatives who will follow it up by promptly saying, “But he loves you a lot you know”. And dim witted women actually get suckered into it!!!! =)) =)) I mean how difficult is it to believe that, “HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU”??? I could not have said it better.

HJNTIN follows the lives of 9 people who are in various stages of a relationship. And this narration is going to get very complicated. So please bear with me. We start with Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) who believes in putting herself out there as often as she can irrespective of whether her heart gets broken or not – lovely approach but needs an immensely strong heart. She is on a date with Connor (Kevin Connolly) who isn’t too interested in her but more interested in the sizzling hot Anna (Scarlett Johansson). But Anna doesn’t really care much about Connor. To her, Connor is just a squeeze which she uses when she is feeling low. Why she doesn’t see the merit in Connor is beyond my reasoning. Anna bumps into Ben (Bradley Cooper) at a supermarket. Ben is extremely smooth with her and charms her off her feet despite openly declaring that he is married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly). Janine and Ben are having severe problems with their married life and Anna is just the release Ben shouldn’t be looking for. His closest buddy, Neil (Ben Affleck) definitely doesn’t approve of this. Ben has been in a seven year releationship with Beth (Jennifer Aniston), is truly in love with her but doesn’t believe in marriage. Something that Beth is not willing to live with. Now Beth, Gigi and Janine are colleagues. In between all of this is Alex (Justin Long) who is Connors room mate and has trust issues. He appears to be extremely happy go lucky but does let anyone too close to himself. And yes, there is Janine’s good friend Mary (Drew Barrymore) who is struggling to come to terms with technology and how it has affected relationships.

Thrown into this complicated Khichdi (Goulash) are some great one liners (watch out for Drew Barrymore’s small monologue on the tech bit). The 9 people in the lead roles are given pretty much equal screen time and deliver some really solid performances. Ken Kwapis is the guy who also directed Dunston Checks in (Remember the chimpanzee movie?). Predominantly a TV director, he seems to be one of the rare cases of a TV director being quite good on his big screen ventures as well. Some good humour thrown into this heady mix of complicated relationships makes HJNTIY a very enjoyable flick – chick flick nevertheless and my love for them keeps growing. 7 on 10. I liked it. A lot. Most guys may not (I am the exception). Most girls will.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1239875865/