The Wolf of Wall Street

WARNING - WHILE THE MOVIE IS MAINSTREAM IT HAS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF SEXUAL CONTENT AND DRUG ABUSE AND FOUL LANGUAGE - THIS DESPITE THE CENSOR BOARD'S BEST EFFORTS TO CHOP AS MUCH AS THEY COULD.  DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT THESE ISSUES.

When you have 2 of the biggest names in Hollywood coming together for the fifth time in a decade, you usually wait with bated breath for the first sign from people who are more fortunate to have seen before you.  You wait to hear if this one is remotely as good as the previous ones – Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and now The Wolf of Wall Street – the 5^th Time Leo DiCaprio and Scorcese have come together.

Iron Man 3

You remember what I always say about sequels and their directors.  I keep insisting that sequels should be directed by the same director.  So in this case it should have been Jon Favreau.  But believe me when I say this.  Moving to Shane Black for Iron Man 3 was probably the best thing that has ever happened to this franchise.

Couples Retreat

There are RomComs that make you go oooh and aaah the entire time in mushiness (I can’t believe there is a word like that in MS Word). And there are RomComs that are nothing but an attempt at soft pornography under the garb of a RomCom or slapstick American comedy. Couples Retreat falls under the second category and that too quite easily. It is actually a no brainer about 15 minutes into the movie. And whats worse is that on Indian television most of the soft porn is edited. So you don’t even have that to look forward to. There would be more soft porn on the trailer that you find on imdb or on you tube than what you would see in the 2 hour slot that the Television channel provides for. So you are now caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. If you are really tempted to watch Couples Retreat then I suggest that you spend some time downloading the uncut version from wherever it is that people download movies. That too if you are that desperate. (if you have time to download stuff, you may as well download porn right why waste your time on soft porn).

Appealing to the Indian audiences however, would be a matter of supposed pride in the fact that this would be A R Rahman’s 2nd movie in Hollywood. Rahman could not have picked up something that was worse. He had Slumdog before this which was quite good as a matter of fact and 127 hours after which was average at best. But he should consider himself reasonably lucky that he got an opportunity after Couples Retreat because the music was an uninspiringly put together combination of songs and music that would be associated with the Caribbean and nothing more. There was hardly anything original about the entire project. And therefore, it is more embarrassing than a matter of pride when the credits say “Original Music By” and not just “Music By”. Regretably it has to do with one of my favourite composers of all time and in fact probably the most popular composer of our time.

Couples Retreat tries to cover the story of 4 couples who are apparently at various stages in a relationship. One is apparently doing reasonably well. The next is in a relationship that can best be described as promiscuous – they are both unaware of the word fidelity. The third spends time making power point presentations about how their married life has lost its spark – rather than do something about it. And the last guy is divorced and general humping around with a girl that is old (or should I say young) enough to be his daughter. All of this along with the direction (or should I say the lack of it) of Peter Billingsley in his first (and probably last) movie provides us with a cheap concoction of what is termed as classic American comedy. A true waste of time. 3 on 10 for some parts that are reasonable.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2681274905/

Cowboys & Aliens

It may seem like ages that we have seen Harrison Ford on screen but when you look at his filmography, there are 10 movies starring what Hollywood has described as, “The Most Bankable Star” which have released including What Lies Beneath in 2000. And there have been only 3 years where a movie has not been released. Now lets look at this gentleman called Daniel Craig for whom it has definitely been the first release since Defiance since 2008. But, he has 4 movies already signed up, 3 of which are in post production and due to release this year – Dream House, Adventures of Tintin and Girl with a Dragon Tatoo – all of which are supposedly solid movies. And if they were not sufficient, Bond 23 is due to release next year. Lastly there is Jon Favreau who is not really the best director in the world but did quite a good job with Iron Man 1 and 2. More importantly, he also has his acting to fall back on. Why then would three people who are reasonably well off sign up for a movie called “Cowboys and Aliens” which has absolutely nothing different to offer in their lives. We are talking about Indiana Jones, James Bond and Iron Man who I am certain can offer and have offered enough and more thrills to Ford, Craig and Favreau respectively – so doing something different is crossed out. And then there is the question of money which the world is quite certain these 3 do not have any less of. So the only conspiracy theory which would hold good are the existence of some photographs in certain compromising positions which involve our 3 stars. I cannot find any other explanation for their presence in this movie.

I am actually struggling a lot to complete this review because I really don’t have much to say. And it is definitely not because of writers block. There is definitely nothing new in Cowboys and Aliens that you have not seen in any other Alien movie. In fact most other movies offer much more. The movie is littered with really bad screenplay and very average direction at best – probably the makers really did not pay Favreau enough. Ford and Craig keep the movie at a reasonable level and full credit to their acting talent. Without them the entire experience would have been really crappy to say the least.

One would see a few “flying machines” in 19th Century USA (when flying was unheard of) whose only business is to run sorties over the topography picking up unsuspecting villagers for research. You would also be privy to some well done special effects which are the only high points of this movie. And yes, the aliens look a bit different. They continue to be ugly and have retractable hands around their hearts – I mean other than 4 appendages that they are normally provided with. Net Net, nothing you haven’t seen before or would miss if you don’t see this one. 4 on 10 is what I would give this at best.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi161586201/