Fantastic Four (2015)

I can only guess or speculate when I make this statement that even Hollywood seems to be running out of good ideas for cinema.  Why else would one try and relaunch a superhero franchise that was not perceived as a great one to begin with.  More importantly, why would someone try to narrate the same story again?

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

127 Hours

I think I have finally cracked the solution to make really really really big bucks. One has to do something that is super duper stupid under the pretext of having a “sense of adventure”. Maybe play with severely poisonous snakes or crocodiles like that guy from down under used to do. Or follow the footsteps of our protagonist and walk into the Grand Canyon. Alone. And make it a point that you don’t inform anyone – I repeat – don’t mention it to a soul as to where you are headed. They may just about prevent you from taking a step towards your first zillion. Just ensure that in the bargain you don’t kill yourself. Someone else will take all the money instead.

Aron Ralston (James Franco) in one adventure crazy dude. There is no other way I can describe him. His idea of a great time is to take off on the weekend and explore areas of the Canyon around Utah. Just random exploration. And he likes to take challenges that are otherwise not imaginable. If it has to do with the canyon then he would happily hop onto the band wagon and have a super duper time. And if he doesn’t have company – who the hell wants it anyways. He is perfectly capable of doing it on his own.

This particular weekend, he does exactly that and heads out to The Great Drop. A quick drive followed by about 20 kms on his bike and then a bit of a walk and he should be there. The bible for the Canyon has been written by Blue John (Fenton Quinn) who used to be the right hand man of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Blue John makes a brief appearance in the movie when Aron drops into one of his hallucinations). Now Blue John says it will take 4.5 hours to get to this spot but our hero would like to do it in under 3:45. And he seems to be on course. But en route some distraction of the female kind – Kristi (Kate Mara) and Megan (Amber Tamblyn) – 2 damsels in distress who have lost their way. Keeping his aim for the record aside (I would if it were him and women looked like either Kristi or Megan), he decides to show the women a good time – which he manages successfully. Soon enough he finds himself on the way back towards the Great Drop. But a few minutes later, a large, extremely heavy loose rock also finds its way onto his right hand, rendering our man immobile. The count down to 127 hours has begun.

Now Aron Ralston is no fool. After he managed to get himself out (yes that’s the good news) of his mess, he decided to write a book about it. Its aptly titled, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”. And in 2010, one of the most over rated directors in the world, Danny Boyle, sees his opportunity to make a few million bucks by making a movie out of this example of rank stupidity. And what do you know – it gets nominated for a few Oscars as well. Danny Boyle has this knack of making his movies look and feel much larger than life like he did with Slumdog and The Beach (haven’t seen Trainspotting yet). Does he deserve an Oscar nomination over Christopher Nolan – definitely not. Is he going to give the heebeejeebies to his co-nomiated directors? Probably not. Superb editing has been the hallmark of all movies from Boyle’s table to date and that continiues. His use of brilliant sound and light is probably responsible for getting the nomination. Coming to the acting part, James Franco’s best performance to date, but it will not be able to push Colin Firth from being the favourite for the Best Actor Award. Rahman’s music is again not his best to date. Overall an enjoyable movie but not Oscar winner kinds. Above average on all counts but not the best on any. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi768149785/

We Are Marshall

Now this one is an out and out A Grade Sports Movie. Must watch and must rank in the top 10 sport movies of all time. Easy pick for anyone who is looking for videos for a team building or an inspiration building class. And it definitely rates along with the likes of Miracle on Ice & Remember the Titans. However, the message is distinctly different and that makes it even more enjoyable and long lasting.


In December 1970, the entire Marshall University Football Team along with support staff and a few fans – dies in a plane crash. All 76 of them. In one sad but true instance – they are all gone. A team that more or less held the fabric of the town together. They were not really the best ever to play the game. But played it with a zeal and passion that would get them all the way to the top of the ladder when the time for judgement came. All of a sudden, the entire town, shell shocked comes to a grinding halt. Almost every family has lost a dear one – a son, a father, an uncle, a cousin, a very close friend, a hero.

Completely crippled by this, President Dedmon (David Strathairn) is about to call of the entire football programme for the year. However, the football team co-captain, Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie) will not give up without trying. Prior to the fateful game, Nate has dislocated his shoulder and therefore is not with the team when the flight crashes. He rallies every student in the university who assemble that evening to push the committee to reverse its decision to stop the football programme.

Prez Dedmon then begins his arduous task of firstly hiring a coach. Red Dawson (Matthew Fox) Assistant Coach is approached first. Red decided not to take the flight @ the last minute and drive home instead. He is obviously ridden with guilt and shock and still reeling under the impact. He politely declines. No coach, obviously so, is willing to take up the challenge of stringing together a football team when only 3 members of the original team are alive currently. No one with the exception of Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) who in his words thought, “what if I were to lose my kids – that would hurt. And then I thought get that to a family, a team, a whole town – that must hurt real bad”. Much to the surprise of Prez Dedmon, he offers to take up the job and starts with the tiring task of putting together a football team that would get some sense of semblance and self respect back into the lives of the people in the town.

Director McG (surely in the Guiness Book for the director with the shortest name in Hollywood) stitches together a multifaceted movie which examines the stress that we go through with a loss of a loved one. Every possible relationship has been dealt with to the best possible manner. Starting with that of Paul Griffen (Ian McShane) who is one of the most influential people in the town and loses his star quarterback son, Chris, in the crash. Paul goes on to become the biggest stumbling block in the lives of the group that want to restart the Football programme. His inability to cope with the loss of his son has been handled extremely well. Then there is Annie Cantrall (Kate Mara) who is Chris’ girlfriend and is engaged to be married to him. What does she do with the ring that Chris gave her? There is Tom Bogdan (Biran Geraghty) who misses the ill fated game because he overslept. Now how is he going to come to terms with the entire concept of being alive because he was irresponsible?

We are Marshall is one of the sports movies that really takes the focus out of the winning part in most such movies. It focuses more on the building of a team from scratch. It focuses on building relationships block by block, day by day. It focuses on how we need put several times of a higher effort to get things done when the chips are down. It focuses on how we need to really get creative in times like the Marshalls faced in the 70s. It focuses on the all important – never say die – spirit that epitomizes successful sportsmen. Definitely a must watch. Add to your collection if you can – 7 on 10 from my side as a movie.