The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017) (English)

I have never been a fan of using English as a primary language of communication in a movie that is set in a country where English is not a first language; even more so, in a period drama.  To me, that is where The Zookeeper’s falls short.  There is a dialogue in the second half that made me cringe. When Antonina Zabinski (Jessica Chastain) tells Urszula (Shira Haas), “I have always wanthed tu dhraw”.

Interstellar

The most difficult movies to review are the good ones.  That is the only excuse I can offer (and I will use this in the near future as well) for this late review of Interstellar.  The critic in you finds it extremely difficult to focus on the good in the movie and is constantly looking for what was missed out – inadvertently or otherwise.

Zero Dark Thirty

There is a joke doing its rounds of late that is very related to the movie in question.

 

If you pick up a fight with the Americans then they will wage a “War on Terror” against you.  If you pick a fight with the Israelis then they will annihilate you bit by bit.  If you pick up a fight with the Indians then they stop playing cricket with you.

Mama

I walked back home after watching Mama and that too to an empty house that is currently in a situation that can be best described by one word – DARK.  All of it thanks to a process of shifting that will take till the weekend to get done and dusted.  But for the time being it was not a very comfortable position.  Wonder how all the dark areas in your house get magnified when you are alone after a horror movie.

Madagascar – Europe’s Most Wanted

There is an interesting piece of trivia that I bumped across over the past few days of Madagascar advertisements on the radio. What are the team of Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer) and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) called collectively? If you said Zoosters then you are right. If not, then you haven’t been listening to the radio. I guess one cannot underplay the popularity of a lion, a zebra, a giraffe and a hippopotamus together on the screen. With their past 2 roaring successes, it was only obvious that a 3rd edition was around the corner. And it has only added to the previous 2 blockbusters.

Madagascar 3 – Europe’s Most Wanted is definitely going to be loved by one and all. I can assure you that I found it quite difficult to stop laughing my guts out. The Zoosters are in their natural habitat (Africa) but are severely homesick. So they decide to all head back “home” i.e. New York. But for that, they have to first find the Penguins who are in Monte Carlo blowing up all their money. Their Mission Impossible type attempt to grab the penguins turns into a public riot. And in walks their worst nightmare ever to date – Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand) of the Monte Carlo

DuBois has the reputation of having the head of almost all animals in the world on the wall. All but for the king of the jungle. And the prospect of capturing Alex is just to mouth watering for her. The chase takes the Zoosters and DuBois all through Europe’s exotic locations. En route, the gang meets up with a travelling circus which they also buy out and then go to work to repair the confidence of a bunch of animals who have not been so low in their lives.

Madagascar 3 introduces some new characters such as Vitaly (Bryan Cranston) the Russian tiger who can pass through a ring, Stefano (Martin Short) an Italian Sea Lion and the gorgeous East European cheetah Gia (Jessica Chastain) amongst others. The strike team of our 4 heroes are brilliant as they have been.

Primarily due to the consistency factor yet again. Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath who directed the earlier editions of this brilliant comic caper are joined by Conrad Vernon of Shrek2 & Monsters v Aliens fame. The 3 team up to give an awesome sequel and will definitely be back with more in the not so distant future for certain. For those who are Madagascar fans, the brilliant dialogues continue. For those who aren’t – u will be tempted to convert for certain. 7.5 on 10. That rounds up a brilliant weekend at the movies after a really long time. Three movies. Three scores of 7.5. Aaaah the joys of cinema!!!!

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1169137689/

The Debt

Now here is a director who has successfully transitioned from the small screen to the silver variety. Afer a string of TV serials, John Madden stormed into the scene with Shakespeare in Love – and what a storm it was. Post that, he has had some low profile movies like Captain Correli’s Mandolin and The Debt which released a couple of years back. I believe he has The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel releasing this year which promises to be a laugh riot. So I guess there should be no question on Madden’s capabilities as a director right? More or less right I guess. But not the whole nine yards right unfortunately.
Firstly, I get quite peeved when directors take the path in between in case of movies which are set in a geographic region where English is not the primary language. Why then do you need to use actors / actresses whose preferred language happens to be English. To make matters worse, you get the likes of the hugely talented Dame Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson to speak with an accent which I am not sure is truly Israeli or Hebrew if you would like to call it that. In contrast, in the same movie, he has got the younger lot of Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas and Sam Worthington to speak in German. So why then would Madden not consider getting them to speak Hebrew instead of English with a forced accent? I was very disappointed within the first few minutes itself. A mark of a director who is probably not brave enough and not common sensiscal.

But the performances and the story line more than make up for this really bad call from Madden. There are 4 key characters in the entire movie. Rachel Singer, Stephan Gold & David Peretz who are Mossad agents sent to East Berlin to track, capture and bring back alive one Dieter Vogel. The 3 agents are played by Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciarán Hinds in the current day i.e. 1997. In 1965 which was the time of the assignment they are played by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas & Sam Worthington respectively. All 6 have performed quite exceptionally I must say. Even Jesper Christensen who playes the sinister Dieter Vogel is brilliant.

What takes the cake though is the premise of the movie which is one of an assignment that goes horribly wrong and how the 3 agents deal with the consequences of the same not only in the immediate future but over a period of 30 years. Will they get any retribution whatsoever? Or does the failure get the better of them? Mind you, Mossad doesn’t take too kindly to failure – or so we have heard. A very different spy story. Exactly the type that audiences would lap up. Put it on your must watch list @ 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1506057497/

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/

The Help

Who is Tate Taylor? Male. Aged about 42. Has acted in bit parts in about 7 movies to date including the much acclaimed Winter’s Bone and starting with the not so acclaimed Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion (Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow). He was classmates and great friends with Kathryn Stockett who made it to the big league as an author when her book titled The Help was published in 2009 – spending over 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. Well turns out that Taylor chose his friends wisely and eventually his projects too. His first movie as a director– Pretty Ugly People – wasn’t received too well. But I guess he fell hard and learnt really well. With “The Help” he has pretty much dispelled all doubts that people may have had about his capability to direct and write screenplay. Kudos to the winning pair for having given us one of the better movies from Hollywood this year (at least those released in India).

Something that has never ceased to amaze me is the absolute racial discrimination that existed (some say it continues to exist) in the southern states of the US – especially one town called Jackson in Mississippi. Now my information is limited to what I have seen in documentaries and movies but it has always made me feel so much better of the world that we currently live in. Kathryn Stockett has picked up the topic of coloured household helps in 1960s who had to face probably the most organized and gut wrenching experiences through their lives. Young American women in the 60s had their lives pretty much cut out I guess with college followed by marriage and eventually a litter to manage. But the ones bringing up the kids were called “The Help”. They were pretty much surrogate mothers and responsible for everything else @ home. Only to watch the kids grow up exactly into what their parents were and look the other way when it came to the topic of being treated equally. Painful right?

The movie is slow alright but keeps you engaged through great screenplay and fantastic performances. Viola Davis in superb the role of Aibileen Clark – who first decides to break the shackles by agreeing to interview with Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan played by the extremely talented Emma Stone. And Octavia Spencer in the role of the spunky Minny Jackson was as good. One cannot but appreciate the performances of the supporting cast – despite their not so positive roles – namely Bryce Dallas Howard. And then there was Jessica Chastain. Both are clearly asking Hollywood to take more notice.

I don’t remember the last time I saw a movie which was so dominated by female characters – all powerfully essayed. Long and as mentioned earlier, slow, but must be added to your watch list for the year. Not necessarily on the big screen but watch it because there are at least 3 Oscar nominations coming up – Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Mind you this is from the limited number of movies released in India this year. I hope I am right. If not, there are at least 5 more movies to be seen for performances which are much better. Good news either ways. 7.5 on 10 from my side for The Help.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi809278745/

Tree of Life

Now these are the times when you really really really believe that the existence of the amateur critic is threatened. How do you expect us lowly mortals to first of all sustain nearly two and a half hours of psychedilia and then understand the depth with which it was made and then write a review about it? Mind you the world seems to be raving about Tree of Life. The imdb rating is 7 on 10. But then when you go through some more research about the movie – you have to, just so that you can be sure that you are not the only person in the whole wide world who almost slept through a movie that the whole world seems to be raving about – you finally find out that you are not alone. It seems to be a movie with ratings that are poles apart. There are 9 / 10 on 10s and there are 0/1 on 10s. So either people have totally loved it or totally hated it. Phew. That was a relief. Because I was all this while thinking that I was the only one who was part of the latter group. Such a welcome relief.

The only Terrence Malick movie that I had seen before Tree of Life was one called “Thin Red Line”. In part though I must confess. And I do not remember it being psychedelic and so lateral as Tree of Life. The movie – Tree of Life that is – is littered with lines from the Bible which are whispered all through the movie and ring in your head as if it were someone speaking in your head and you so desperately want to get that person out. And then there are visuals of asteroids crashing into planets like Saturn and Jupiter to the background of arias ala 2001 a Space Odyssey – only Malick should have realized that he is not a Kubrick and Zarathustra wasn’t on his side unfortunately. After a while (not more than 30 minutes) it gets really really really irritating and you yearn for the movie to end sooner than later. Only you have to wait for nearly another 2 hours before you can make it through. I swear I caught myself sleeping at least 4 times in the 2 hours and then also almost fell asleep on the way home.

It is called as impressionist cinema by some websites. Simply put, art cinema for the likes of us. But really, Tree of Life, is not meant for the regular movie goer at all. It is meant for only those who are studying the so called “impressionist” cinema and are going through the formalities for a class project. It takes a while for one to figure out that the movie is about Jack (Sean Penn) who has been bought up by an exceptionally stern but typical father O’Brien (Brad Pitt) in the 50s. Today Jack is kind of going through his childhood days and actually trying to figure out the actual nature of the relationship that he had with his father. Malick sure knows how to make a story like that so complicated and convoluted. Avoid the movie if you aren’t into art cinema in its truest form. 1 on 10 just for the courage to put it out there.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi612735001/