Secondhand Lions

I first saw Secondhand Lions on my trip to Singapore way back in 2004. It was part of the inflight entertainment on Singapore Airlines. And I remember having searched for the DVD for quite a while before I eventually found it. Needless to say, I picked it up the moment I laid my eyes on it.

And I do not usually let an opportunity by to watch it again. So, when Prarthana said she had not seen it, I had to make the most of the opportunity. Took us a few weeks to get around to eventually seeing it but I would not be lying if I said that both of us enjoyed it thoroughly. She was seeing it for the first time. I had lost count.

Garth (Michael Caine / Kevin Haberer) and Hub (Robert Duvall / Christian Kane) are seventy something young men – I say young because of their immense zest for life. They are now retired and rumour has it that they are loaded. Not with assets and money in the bank. But with hard cash. Cash they have stowed away somewhere on their estate. Far away from most civilization.

Cash that has various theories about its origin. One of them states that Garth and Hub were extremely famous bank robbers of the 1940s. Led by the brave and courageous Hub. Backed with the intelligence of Garth. A more popular story was about them being bounty hunters and the money was hard earned and to a significant extent given by a Shiekh (Adam Ozturk) who Hub defeated while wooing their mutual love interest – Jasmine (Emmanuelle Vaugier).

So, when Mae (Kyra Sedgwick), gets wind of the fact that her uncles are loaded, she decides that the best way to get her hands on the money is by leaving her son Walter (Haley Joel Osment) with them. Truth is that she wants to leave a life that is far more adventurous than handling an eleven year old. The rest of the story is about how Walter actually builds a strong bond of trust, love and most importantly faith with his uncles.

I must forewarn you that there is a possibility of shedding a tear of joy or two while you watch Secondhand Lions. Thankfully it will be a tear of joy for a wonderful story of faith. Of how we choose to be either happy or sad. To be either trusting or skeptical. And it is the faith that we have around the stories that we hear that gives us the strength and happiness to go though life – one day at a time.

Director Tim McCanlies’ best piece of work would be this one. And he probably had very little to do with it. The sheer ease with which Duvall, Caine and Osmont essay their characters is just stunning. Needless to say, Secondhand Lions is a movie worth watching due to 2 aspects – Story and performances. Both of which are superb. Don’t miss an opportunity to watch this one. 8 on 10.

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

Man On A Ledge

Asger Leth – quite a different name right? He is new to this business with the exception of one arbit TV Series which sounds half French very honestly. Ghosts of Cité Soleil. That’s what it is called. Sounds weird right. But let me tell you that Asger Leth knows how to direct a thriller. I was slowly but surely taken into Man On A Ledge. The trailers seemed interesting enough and the movie turned out to be even better. Asger seems to be one who understands the genre of Thriller movies better than most new directors.

The essence of a Thriller being to begin slowly but surely. Set up the tempo by giving the audience a background of what exactly has happened. Also give the audience a sneak peek into what could happen. Throw in a couple of twists and turns in between this entire shebang to throw the audience just that little bit off track. And then again get them back just as they are about to give up on what is happening. And finish off in style with an ending that the audience could have predicted but yet couldn’t have because of the twists that you have thrown in. That is what one would call great narration. And Asger Leth seems to have been taught by someone who really knows how to create a thriller. All credit to Asger that he has been able to convert what he has learnt into very solid execution.

What helps Asger is also very good support from a cast which is made up of reasonably well known names but no huge stars with the exception of one Ed Harris who plays a negative role – probably the first time after The Rock (which was more of an anti hero). But he sure does deliver. He does have the strongest screen presence of the cast undeniably. Sam Worthington is quite solid as well as the protagonist. Does get over shadowed by Harris in the few scenes that they are with each other but that’s Harris’s experience which gets the better of Worthington.

Elizabeth Banks is probably the only weak link in the entire movie. She has performed reasonably well but in some scenes, where she is unable to pull off a convincing scene. Like when she tries to get a fingerprint off Nick Cassidy by pretending to be a smoker – oops scene very honestly. Doesn’t come off well at all. And a dialogue or 2 where the intensity just doesn’t come through. Other notable performances from Jamie Bell as Nick’s brother Joey and the sizzling Genesis Rodriguez as Angie. Genesis actually shows that there is some acting talent other than just sizzling hot looks.

Net net, Worth spending time and hard earned money for this 6.5 on 10. Deducted half a point for some basic consistency errors. But don’t worry. Most people will not get the errors. Worth watching.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4159021337/