Foxcatcher

Steve Carell in a role that is not comic and over the top would be perceived by most people as laughable for sure.  But believe me when I say this – Steve Carell as John Eleuthère du Pont will be spoken about for time immemorial.  It is a stroke of casting brilliance and Carell grabs the opportunity with everything that he possibly can.

Windtalkers

Most of you (my regular readers) are aware of my sentiments about Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew.  So it may come as quite a surprise to you guys when I say that I have finally found a movie in which Nicholas Cage does exactly what is expected of the role.  There may be more out there but I haven’t seen the lesser known ones.

Now You See Me

The dictionary defines magic as the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature. Now if that doesn’t confuse you then you have a tremendous command over the language.

The Kids Are All Right

Of all the movies nominated in 2011 in the category of best movie, I had not seen this one and Winter’s Bone.  I am told the latter is a fabulous movie.  The Kids are All Right is definitely a good movie without doubt.  But did it deserve to be in the top 10 for 2011 as called out by the Academy?  And leave out that random, average movie called Inception? I guess I have a lot to learn about movies.

All The King's Men

Before you watch the movie, first watch this snippet of about 7 minutes. This is a speech that is given by Willie Stark (Sean Penn) when he first realizes that he is being played for, in the upcoming election. More importantly, he realizes somewhere in his head that he has what it takes to be Governor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw_uTjf6VPc&feature=related

Based on the 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warner of the same name, All The King’s Men tracks the life of Willie Stark who is married to a school teacher. An accident in his county where a school caves in due to poor construction moves him to take up the cause of ensuring standards. One thing leads to another and before you know it, he is running for governor.

But as mentioned earlier, he was only being played for the part to ensure that there is a vote split between the other chief competitors. The scheme fails thanks to some great campaigning by Stark and he wins the race. The rest of the story is Stark’s movement from being an up-country politics unfriendly person to one who climbs the learning curve of dirty politics at the speed of light. He moves into being a dark scheming character – continuing to fight for the deprived – but playing his cards like a pro.

The director, Steve Zaillian, is actually better known for his prowess in screenplay (Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York, Moneyball, The Millenium Trilogy) and has had several nominations in the category. But when it comes to direction, he had two, not so well known but decent movies to his credit before he made ATKM. Arguably, ATKM was his best effort to date. There are a lot of segments where you maybe a bit lost but the pieces fall together as the movie trudges along.

One can fault Zaillian for pace but as I have always said, there is a thin line between slow and intense and I thought Zaillian did a good job flirting with the line. What works for him are the right cuts that ensured that moves the unnecessary stuff out. And of course the screenplay that’s Zaillian’s forte anyways – rocks.

ATKM is otherwise an actor’s movie. Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson & James Gandolfini. All Zaillian had to do was not screw up. And these 7 names would have done the rest. That’s exactly what happened. You will not get bored for certain. But as warned earlier – slow. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV_Yad1i36w

The Avengers

Bleddy Hell!!! If there was ever a super hero movie which was every man’s dream come alive then it has to be this one right? Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) all packed into one adrenaline pumping, edge of the seat riot in an attempt to save the world from Thor’s psycho brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). And yes, before I forget, the glam quotient is covered by undoubtedly the hottest woman in Hollywood today – Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).

The much awaited Avengers was actually a sequel of sorts into which we got a sneak peek at the end of both Iron Man 2 and Thor if I am not mistaken. The Avengers programme run by the secret organization S. H. I. E. L. D. had been disbanded many years back by the Council. But Director Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) chose to keep the programme dormant over time with our six super heroes.

He didn’t kill the programme completely. All for the day when there would be something undesirable that would take us by surprise. He was also working on a secret programme to build a machine using THE CUBE (a source of unlimited energy) that would be capable of taking on any alien invasion whatsoever. Therefore, when Loki decides that he needs to pay earth a visit so that he can trade it for getting back onto the throne, Director Fury has no other choice but to activate The Avengers.

Non Stop Action is the hall mark of The Avengers. As they say in advertising parlance – You wanted it. You got it!!! Whether you are watching The Black Widow take on the Russians in a supreme display of acrobatics and fist fighting OR you are watching The Avengers, together taking on the aliens which come in towards the end. Either ways, you are in for a visual treat that you will remember for a really long time. One can argue that it is only special effects all the way but then the effects are completely mind blowing!!! It could so easily have been ruined with a lack of attention to the minor details.

I walked into The Avengers expecting a damp squib. While it may not have the class of great Oscar block busters or not find its way into the imdb top 250, it sure checks all the boxes that good action movies do. Do not go expective performances – one cannot when you have the likes of Evans and Hemsworth playing pivotal roles. The rest of the cast is however quite good. Expect some super one liners from Iron Man such as when Captain America tells him, “Stark – we need a plan of attack” and he responds, “I have a plan – Attack”!!! Non stop entertainer as I mentioned backed with a good story. 7.5 on 10. Watch it!!!

Oh and yes, once again – released one week prior to US release in India (so the press releases said)!!! WOW!!! We are getting there folks.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3899040025/

The Brothers Bloom

If you are in the mood for some not so light comedy (cannot call it dark really). Something that is not run of the mill and bordering on esoteric (for lack of any other word). Something different or Hat Ke (off the beaten path) as we would like to call. And yet, something that keeps you entertained and rooted to the screen. A movie that keeps you interested and eager to find out – what next? A movie that has its dull moments but they are few and far between. Then I would recommend that you don’t miss The Brothers Bloom the next time it plays on Television. For the life of me, I cannot remember which channel it was playing on. But I do remember that it will play all this month and you will have many an opportunity to catch up with it. Keep your eyes open for that promo that calls out the time or the TV Schedules that appear in the TOI every day and are reasonably accurate.


The Brothers Bloom is directed by Rian Johnson whose only reasonable claim to fame seems to be another off-beat movie called Brick starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and is rated at 7.5 on imdb which is quite high I must say. So I need to now add Brick to my watch list. But independent of that, Johnson seems to be the one who believes in disjointed stuff which keeps the audience engaged. But he may just be flirting a bit too much with the disjointed in an otherwise quite straightforward story. The experiement therefore leads the movie to be a tad slower than the pace it actually should have set. When you have a storyline about 2 brothers whose only skill set has been conning people since their childhood, one would expect that the movie would be a bit more pacy than the final product.

The Brothers Bloom has a cast which is extremely talented. Despite the scowl that he has on his face most of the time, I have always felt that Mark Ruffalo is a tad under-rated. He is definitely capable of much more than what we have seen – an aspect that is evident with his very strong performance as the elder brother Stephen whose aim in life is to come up with the perfect con – one which is so life like that it is perceived to be true by all those who were involved or affected. And the trust one can put on the youngest winner of the Best Actor Oscar is unquestionable. Even the supporting role played by Rinko Kikuchi as Bang Bang (now hows that for a name) is good. But of course, taking the cake not just with her looks but also with another super performance as the versatile heiress of a huge fortune is the current Mrs. Craig (Rachel Weisz for the ill-informed). It would suffice to say therefore that The Brothers Bloom is a movie led by a strong star cast. It is definitely watchable. In fact you should make an effort to see it. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi457245465/