R.I.P.D.

At first it was Tommy Lee Jones & Will Smith who took us through 3 movies where they save us all from the “Scum of the Earth”.  Apparently there are people out there who believe that despite the success of the franchise, there is space for yet another bunch of guys who can save the earth from aliens… or should I say, the Undead.  In this case, they are cornily called, “DEADDOES”.

Crazy Stupid Love

All Steve Carell fans in the house – raise your hands!!!! I am sure there would be millions of you out there. And I am definitely one of you. Always been a Carell fan – even though he does get gut wrenchingly slapstick at times. More often than not, he lives up to the high standards of comedy that he sets for himself. And there is something absolutely hilarious about his brand of “straight faced – expressionless” comedy. Very rarely would you see movements of muscle on the face but yet, you have to give it to the man for coming up with the goods more often than not.

This time around he plays the role of Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) who is a 40 something man and married to Emily Weaver (Julianne Moore) for over 20 years now. Cal seems to think he is happily married. But that may not be the case with Emily who doesn’t waste too much time over dinner and pops out those earth shattering four words – I want a divorce.

It would seem that while Cal has been the loyal husband, Emily thought that the spark was lost and was upto some hanky panky with her colleague David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon – why does he keep getting such roles). A crushed Cal decides to move out of his house asap and start the divorce proceedings. He gets into a life filled with self pity and can use only one line to hope and pick up women – My wife is sleeping with another man. Needless to say, his success rate hasn’t seen a curve going above the level of 0.

Around this time is when he meets Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) – ladies man par excellence who cannot stand Cal wallowing in his heart break and decides to “take Cal under his wing”. With some efficient coaching, Cal soon becomes a ladies man and the scores touch double figures. All going well till Jacob himself bumps into Hannah (Emma Stone) who believes that her stuck up boyfriend is actually going to propose. When he doesn’t, she decides to go out there and have a blast. Jacob becomes the object that is about to be used.

Much as the story may seem to be a soppy RomCom, it is actually far from it. The entire treatment by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa gives the movie a comic twist – and of course ably assisted by Steve Carrel. Good solid performances from most of the cast. Watch out for the bit part from the ever reliable Marisa Tomei – simply superb!!! If you haven’t seen Crazy Stupid Love yet, then please head out to the nearest DVD store and at least rent it if you don’t believe in buying DVDs. Will be well worth the 500 bucks. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3722091801/

Footloose (1984)

I have finally added another genre of movies to the list on my blog. Its called “Dance”. And the only movie that could have been better than Footloose (1984) to start this with would have been Dirty Dancing. That too will be added shortly I am certain. But occupying the #2 slot of all time in this genre would definitely be the 1984 version of a movie which starts with that exceptionally addictive Kenny Loggins number of the same name. I am quite certain about most of you playing the opening bars of the song in your head as you are reading this. I can tell you that the song’s playing in my head already as I am typing this…. Been working…. So hard…. I’m punching my card… eight hours…. for what?.... I’ve got this feeling… that times just holding me down…. I’ll hit the ceiling… or else i’ll tear up this town…. Now I gotta cut loose…… Footloose…. Kick off the Sunday shoes…. For more on this visit http://www.lyrics007.com/.

Footloose epitomized the spirt of the youth in the late 70s / early 80s in the US of A. With most of them wanting to get out and really be something and not get stuck in the backyards of the small towns or villages where they have been bought up. They did not want to get stuck in the rut that their parents have been for the past few decades. Now isn’t that what a lot of us have wanted from our lives? To do something different? Whether it is the characterization of Ren McCormick (Kevin Bacon) or that of his lady love Ariel (Lori Singer) who is the preacher’s (John Lithgow) daughter. The common thread that passes through the movie is that of breaking free. All portrayed through a small town where there has been a ban on any activities that could lead to loss of control over oneself. So no drinking under 18, no unsupervised partying and wait…. NO DANCING. Why? All perpetrated by an incident where the preacher loses his son in a road accident after a party. Not that the preacher has any ill intent. He does all of this only because he doesn’t want to see it repeated. The city council agrees. All till Ren comes in and starts questioning the norm.

Footloose can easily be classified under the genre – Drama. But the music and the few dance sequences just compel me to put it under – Dance. A very young Kevin Bacon is at his aggressive best. And one cannot help but wonder how skinny Lori Singer would be in real life if this is what she looks like on screen. The acting part comes later. The support cast includes an extremely young and much better looking Sarah Jessica Parker and also the motherly Diane Wiest who is somewhat the equivalent of Nirupa Roy in Bollywood (or maybe the other way round). Footloose is a great movie again for a Sunday afternoon. Just good fun with some lazing around. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAZvnPkFpHM

Hollow Man

It has been 11 years since Hollow Man released. I should have managed to see it a lot earlier right? Definitely a lot earlier than last evening. But then there are loads of movies that I haven’t seen as soon as they have released. This year itself, I would have missed about 20-25 movies already. And hold your horses. I had not seen Deewar till about 3 years back. OK I can already feel the brickbats coming in. *sigh* what can I say. Deprived childhood  (grinning simultaneously at silly joke).

One thing I can say for certain though is that I don’t think I missed much by delaying Hollow Man by 11 years. Maybe it would have been a different reaction 11 years earlier for certain considering the amount of special effects used in that day and age would make it a great attempt and that the likes of Inception and Avatar would make Hollow Man seem pale in comparison. Yes, there would be a bias to that extent. But even if I were to eliminate the bias and look at the concept and the way it has been fleshed out and executed, it leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. The absolute casual manner in which genetic changes are discussed and played around with makes the experience of the movie exactly that – casual. Actually one could have expected a director like Paul Verhoeven to deliver exactly this considering. His previous sci fi movies were good, in fact great at effects but not too great at execution – Total Recall and Robocop being good cases in point. Guess Mr. Verhoeven did not learn much. Got swayed with his experience in Basic Instinct – but not every movie has a Sharon Stone that will distract people’s attention right Paul Sir?

What Paul Verhoeven has done right though is to show the negative side of having the gift of invisibility and how much one can misuse it. The transition of Dr. Sebastian Caine (Bacon) from being obsessed with being the first person to crack the code of invisibility to going insane with the power of his very creation has been shown quite well I must admit. If only the passion of the character was transalted into the passion of movie making by coming closer to perfection and not giving a half baked product. Forgive me for the repeated comparison with the likes of Christopher Nolan but I guess that’s what differentiates decent directors from great directors. The complete focus on attention to detail and thereby getting an end product that is super memorable.

Cannot say much about the casting either. Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Shue would have made for a solid combination for certain. But all seem quite listless. The only person who seems to have given close to a 100% is Kevin Bacon who is quite intense through the entire movie. Overall, a barely OK watch. Would have been great in its time but did not stand the test of time for certain. 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI4uJec4qHc

X Men First Class

This one is actually a slight dampner of sorts. Although the effects make up for a lot that it seems to have been missed in other departments and the fact that the number of X Men fans across the world aren’t going to reduce with probably the first effort that has been just over average would put the owners of the franchise at some ease. The mutants are here to stay just as they sign off by saying – MUTANT AND PROUD. You can expect many more stories going forward from this “different” bunch. In fact, X Men First Class has set it up beautifully for several sequels in the coming years. Rest assured, the impact from the previous 4 have left enough of an impact on fans and non fans alike to keep coming back to the movie halls. It will take quite a disaster to make any dent on the fan following.

The producers, however, have to really take a long hard look at the past 3 directors and they would probably find an answer there. Brett Ratner (X3), Gavin Hood (Wolverine) and Matthew Vaughn (XMFC) just don’t measure up to the magic that was created by Bryan Singer in X1 and X2. Ratner, Hood and Vaughn seem to rely much more on the effects and really don’t focus as much on building a story that is irresistible. Although XMFC does try to build up the background on the entire concept, I felt they tried to do just that little too much and lost out on the story somewhere in between. I wouldn’t be wrong if I were to say that the term First Class actually came to life – The movie seemed more like a class room session. Something like Course - XMen Class – 101 – I hope u got what I meant to say. It would be clear when u do watch the movie.

My intent till now has not been to blast XMFC at all and I must apologise if it was perceived as a whipping. The movie is definitely worth a watch and you will not get bored. The classic fan though may land up being a tad disappointed. But his passion will drive him to give the movie a score that is more than what it deserves. I would give it a 6 on 10. Maybe a bit harsh. But I am also pegging it against the previous editions and I find that this one was just about par for the course. And if the characters were not fleshed out as well as they were – especially Xavier, Magneto and Raven – I would have given it 5. But for these aspects, there is nothing much other than effects. Acting is just about there to create some aura around the characters. The casting is apt but then this is as much as what McAvoy and company can get upto in terms of acting in a super hero movie. It’s a big screen watch for certain – you cant watch XMFC on the small screen and miss out on the effects.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi168926489/