Transcendence

Transcendence - trɑːnˈsɛnd(ə)ns,tranˈsɛnd(ə)ns noun – existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level

Synonyms       superiority, supremacy, predominance, pre-eminence, ascendancy, incomparability, matchlessness, peerlessness, excellence, greatness, magnificence, sublimity, importance, rareparamountcy

Dark Shadows

There are 2 kinds of people in this world – Tim Burton fans and people who are not Tim Burton fans. How the latter could exist is beyond my comprehension. It would classify as one of the few unexplained, unfathomable mysteries of the world that we live in. How someone can turn a blind eye or not like one of Hollywood's best exponents of dark fantasia is beyond me. I sometimes wonder if I like Burton for his simple stories or more for his creative brilliance.

Both aspects are amply visible in his latest release – Dark Shadows. The simplest of love stories made absolutely fascinating by the fertile Burton imagination. Barnabus Collins (Johnny Depp), Brit born boy moves to the other side of the Atlantic with his parents who come to money with loads of hard work. They build their own mansion – or should I say palace where Barnabus grows up. When he comes of age, he first falls prey to the charms of Angelique (Eva Green) who is stunningly gorgeous alright but is also a serious witchcraft practioner.

As they go along, Barnabus realizes that there is something fishy about Angelique and she is actually obsessed with him. Her obsession causes her to even kill his parents in what would have seemed like an accident. Barnabus’ doubt and the entry of Josette (Bella Heathcote) leads to further desperation with Angelique. Spurned by the love of her life, she curses Josette to suicide and Barnabus to life as a vampire. She also gets the town folk to bury him alive. But Vampires don’t die do they? 2 centuries later – 196 years to be precise – Barnabus has returned to claim his home back.

Dark Shadows – as the name suggests is actually Dark. But then most Burton movies are. So that’s not surprising at all. All elements of a Burton flick are absolutely intact which would be great news for fans. The humour is very understated but very ice cold. And the overall cinematography makes it even more spine chilling. Most of the make up is eerie but with so much attention to detail that one cannot help but admire.

Burton continues to put his trust on his regular star cast. And why not I say. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter would easily make it to the list of best actors of our time. And with Burton orchestrating things, we see one of Eva Green’s best performances to date. Her essaying of Angelique makes you want to actually get into the screen and strangle her. At the same time, much like Barnabus, you also would find it difficult to keep your hands off her. Michelle Pfeiffer is just right. And Chloë Grace Moretz continues to impress.

I am a Tim Burton fan and Dark Shadows has done nothing to ruin it for me. Loved it totally. 8 on 10. One of the better movies of the year. Definitely in the running for the Oscars for categories such as Art Direction, Set Design, Make Up etc.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi397582361/

Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides

Picture this – Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) has his arms held in a vice like grip, much against his wishes by 2 soldiers in King George’s palace and that too in front of his old foe or pal if you would like to call him that – Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). Not that its going to last for too long. In a swift move, Sparrow knocks the soldiers away with an unexpected jab on their family jewels. He then crosses their bayonets to fire into the chandelier above, jumps onto the dining table and proceeds to use all the lovely eats as his defence against the other charging 20 odd soldiers and running towards the window simultaneously. He uses a chair to shatter the window and also dispose a charging soldier through the same while in the same motion grabbing the curtain cord to propel himself upwards towards a ledge. He uses the same as a launching platform towards the chandelier that is half hanging and is therefore an extremely effective method to swing on to the balcony opposite the window, taking care of a couple of soldiers en route and yes not forgetting the sugar coated croissant that he had kicked onto the chandelier a few seconds before His Majesty came into the room. He then proceeds to knock off a soldiers cap – much like Jack Sparrow does – just to embarrass and un-expectant soldier and in the same breath leads him down towards a room but conveniently loses him by hiding behind a piano. He then goes to the nearest window and is making is way behind the horizontal flag staff but not before a soldier notices this and chops the cord off getting Sparrow to swing down towards the road, barely miss it and conveniently land into a chariot with an old woman who is as surprised as 2 year old getting her first birthday present. He kisses the old woman on the neck and relieves her of her earring (the kleptomaniac that Sparrow is) and proceeds to jump onto the roof of the chariot. He also manages to balance himself on another chariot for a few 100 meters before moving onto the roof of the other and eventually uses the signage of the “Spanish Daughter” to escape from the gaurds.


Hows that for vintage Pirates of the Caribbean???? Watch part of the snippet here http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2399378713/

Sword Fights with gorgeous Spanish women (read Penélope Cruz - Angelica), Mermaids who are fiercely protective about themselves (Astrid Berges-Frisbey – Syrena), the Spanish Armada, The Royal Navy, Ponce De Leon’s grounded ship on a ledge where Barbossa and Sparrow fight for a couple of silver chalices and the piece de resistance – Zombies aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the ship captained by the most feared pirate of them all – George Teach a.k.a Blackbeard (Ian McShane). The fourth edition of this absolutely fantabulous fantasy adventure has it all. The director of Nine, Memoirs of a Geisha and Chicago, Rob Marshall, has set himself up for another slew of nominations (read hopefully wins) at this year’s Oscars – Costumes, Make Up and Art Direction – and hopefully some more. Nearly picture perfect execution with just a couple of slip ups to the very trained eye. Lovely camera work and superb editing along with great special effects make this edition of the Pirates an utter joy to watch. Fabulous entertainment for even the uninitiated because this one is not related much to the ones that came in before. Garnished with the traditional Pirates Track albeit in very small 5-10 second doses, the 4th edition also smartly sets itself up for one more to follow. That would mean more happy Pirate fans all over the world - Lip smacking I say!!! The humour is slick as always and the dialogues nearly poetic in parts. Johnny Depp scores yet again!!!

What amazes you everytime you see a Pirates movie is the sheer capability to take up something simple and blow it into something that’s larger than life to say the least. My Pirates brain gives this a 9 on 10 but the earnest, honest critic in movie says 8 on 10 folks for certain. In pure layman terms - Superb movie!!! Must Must Must watch for both fans and non-fans alike. Would have loved this to be the 200th post of my blog but that credit will go to Arthur unfortunately. This post could not wait till I finish writing Arthur which would be tomorrow morning.

Watch the trailers at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi762617113/ & http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3649608985/. This one truly deserves 2 trailers at least.

Rango

It is inexplicable how movie houses fail to see the magic that a movie creates and move it off the screen within the blink of an eyelid. Just when I thought that I would take the opportunity to add another movie to my “must make everyone see” list, Rango moved out of screens this week. It’s a sad but true story of how quality work will never get enough critical mass in this country. In the same breath, an average animation movie such as Rio – and I tip my hat to 20th Century Fox’s marketing team on timing – is ringing in the cash across the country for over a month now. I say fantastic timing because it coincided with the kids vacations and every parent that I see at the box office counters is going nuts. Thank God for small mercies that there is no merchandise that has yet hit the stores. Is TCF missing a point here? I would guess so. But this write up is more to do with probably the best Animation movie released since Toy Story. An I would not be incorrect if I were to say that Rango moved out sooner than it should have because people just did not get it – because it is not a kids animation movie. It is one, for the more cerebrally evolved.

Lars (Johnny Depp) is a chameleon who has been relegated to the position of a pet. Yep – a pet chameleon who stays in a glass box with a few inanimate objects. A decapitated miniature doll, a plastic toy fish, lots of gravel, a bowl of water amongst other not so exciting things. And I can only assume that the family is shifting or doesn’t want to leave home without their darling chameleon – which explains why Lars is in the back of the car under the hatch. He is biding his time here by honing his acting skills – he believes that he is God’s gift to acting in the chameleon world. However, in between a skillful rendition of a romantic hero, an unexpected bump on the road and a near accident finds him ejected from his comfort into the desert – a place that he has never been in. After saving himself from an eagle on his way to a town called Dirt, he finds himself with Beans (Isla Fisher), a lizard who helps him to the town. He gets there only to find out water is as good as gold. But Lars’s survival instincts get the better of him and using his passion for acting he weaves a story about how he single handedly killed seven notorious brothers and how he is close pals with Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy) the most dreaded animal other than the Chihuahuan Raven. He then begins his conquest, along with the Mayor John (Ned Beatty), a desert tortoise to find out where the water has disappeared.

I would have to agree with my good friend Vinay Zende on this one (not that we agree too much these days). Rango is not an animation movie. It’s a western. And I strongly recommend that you watch it like you would if you were watching a classic Clint Eastwood – who is by the way the inspiration for the character of The Spirit of the West (Timothy Olyphant). The quality of animation is lifelike – almost alive – as good as Clint from TGTBATU – and if u don’t know what that ridiculous abbreviation means I suggest you have a relook at your status as a lover of Western Movies. The voice overs especially the ones by Bill Nighy for Rattlesnake Jake send a cold shiver down your spine. The narration by the four Burrowing Owls is amazingly amusing and yet so creative. I honestly cannot find fault with Rango in too many places, but there are a few consistency errors which can be noticed by probably the seasoned movie watcher only. The Gore Verbinksi and Johnny Depp combination has done it again I say!!!! Don’t miss Rango – its definitely a 7.5 on 10 if not an 8. My first pick for the nominations from 2011 for the Academy awards.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2047646233/

The Tourist

It came as a total shocker to me when I realized that The Tourist is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Guess what? Donnersmarck has also directed a German movie called Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) which deservedly won the Oscar for the best movie in the category of Foreign Films. An extremely powerful movie which had barely any flaws. So to expect something as drab and lifeless as The Tourist from his table was even more disappointing than the pain of waiting for the movie to end. God, I have, very infrequently so wanted a movie to end.


Elise Clifton Ward (Angelina Jolie) is being watched by the Interpol, led by Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany) of Scotland Yard. They are in search of Alexander Pierce who owes the British Government a princely sum of 744 million pounds. A great figure to throw at someone in an story of grand larceny I guess. Elise is spending her time in a plush five star in Paris and makes her way to what I can only imagine is her evening cuppa – I would be very surprised if she were to be dressed up so well around 7 in the morning. She is well aware that she is being watched coz she is Pierce’s girl. She was seeing him during the time Pierce was swindling Underworld Don Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff) of 2.5 billion pounds – another fantastic figure to throw at the audience. But Alex decides to take off and leave Elise stranded without any money for nearly 2 years now. And the Interpol has been desperately searching for him for a much longer period of time. Funnily, no one has seen Pierce. With the exception of Shaw.

As Elise is having her usual snack, she gets a courier delivered to her. No surprise that it is engraved with the letters AP. AP apologises, through the letter, and asks her to take the 8:22 to Venice and instructs her to find someone who is about the same height as his own and strike up a conversation so that the cops are thrown off the trail. For someone who is a gilted lover, Elise surely takes off quickly without a thought – after burning the letter though. She does exactly what is instructed of her and finds herself with Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) on the train to Venice. Frank is a math teacher from Wisconsin and therefore – The Tourist.

What follows is one of the slowest crime capers that I have ever seen. Lives of Others was slow alright Florian but it was also extremely intense and gripping. Just because a movie is slow doesn’t make it good. Surprisingly large number of inconsistencies like the 8:22 to Venice – was it a morning train or an evening one. If morning then why was Jolie decked up @ 7 am? If evening then how in the blazes does she get to Venice when its all bright and sunny? Does it take 15 minutes to get to Venice from Paris? Not sure but worth a dekko. Performances from Johnny Depp and Jolie would easily rate amongst their worst to date. Paul Bettany was probably the only actor who tried to make an impact. Classic case of “never judge a book by its cover and therefore a movie by its trailer or its poster for that matter”. 4 on 10 from my side and I think I am being generous.