Samrat & Co.

The first thing that cheeses you off with Samrat and Co. is that the lead character is referred to as STD.  Apparently that expands into Samrat Tilak Dhari (Rajeev Khandelwal).  That it would send us back in time to the days of expensive phone calls or remind us of some unwanted diseases really didn’t cross the mind of anyone in the entire team.  Maybe it was intentional.

Woh Kaun Thi (1964)

A few days back during my stint in hospital for my back problems, I had an opportunity to wake up in the morning to a movie on cable that I have not seen in a really long time.  Raj Khosla’s alleged adaptation of that Alfred Hitchcock super hit called Vertigo is anything but an adaptation.  Other than a few scenes that may be called as “inspired” there is very little or nothing similar to Vertigo.

Angels and Demons

Most people in Hollywood state that if there was a contest for the most effective combinations between director and actor – Ron Howard with Tom Hanks would be right up there with the best.  They had 2 movies under their belt before Angels and Demons.  The Da Vinci Code & that classic called Apollo 13.  Both extremely well made.

Traces of Red

Someone was mentioning not 2 days before I saw Traces of Red that he or was it she who keeps confusing James Belushi with someone else (I cannot remember for the life of me who it was). And whaddya know. A couple of days later, I am sitting at home flipping channels and this movie pops up and it was the only one playing, that I had not seen before. And it seemed to have a decent story line. But then most movies seem to have a decent story line when u press the “i” button on your Tata Sky remote (makes mental note - must evaluate that as a possible side career option. I am quite certain I can do it extremely well :D). Movies made in the late 80s / early 90s have this really weird feeling about it right? And I have kind of come to the conclusion that it is totally due to the entire fashion disaster that this period actually was. I mean who really invented baggy pants must be rolling in his grave as of now and if not then I condemn him to roll in his grave :D – show of hands for how many people agree with me.

Anyways, moving on to the crappy movie that Andy Wolk – no prizes for guessing how many movies he has made and the reason for the number after he delivered Traces of Red. In parts, Traces of Red just seems like a soft porn movie. In fact it is just that – a soft porn detective flick where the lead role is of a police officer – Detective John Dobson (James Belushi) and his partner Detective Steve Frayn (Tony Goldwyn) are like 2 sides of a coin. Different but yet the best of friends. The latter is married and settled down with sort of hot wife who is willing to have sex with him in the patio of his house (now how many wives would you know who do that?). Which would kind of explain why he has been loyal to his wife – or has he? On the other hand, Dobson is this casanova of sorts who changes his women by the night if not the minute. Adding the element of mystery is Ellen Schofield (Lorraine Bracco) who is an extremely rich and influential woman and also promiscuous – a very lethal combination and Donson and Frayn are about to realize when they start investigating a series of murders that start plaguing the town. Is Schofield the killer or is it someone else?

Now I would not want to spoil the movie despite the fact that it is not the best made movies of all time. The element of mystery is definitely existent and kind of manages to keep you held to the screen. What is really bad is almost everything else. The acting is obnoxious and totally gets to you within a few minutes of starting. There is absolutely no semblance of direction or screenplay or dialogues or editing or anything else that one can associate with movie making. Thank goodness for the element of mystery else this 1992 flick would not have seen the light of the day for certain. That and of course the sleazy soft porn scenes are what would have got this movie a release. 3 on 10 is what I say.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUidYmbrl44

Murder 2

This is the country of the formula movie is what they say. And who better to understand the fine art of formula movie making that the Bhatt family. They have cracked it ages back and continue to dish out the same stale formula time and over again. But whaddya know??? It still works. The full houses @ movie halls would indicate that. Murder 2 has opened to a strong reception from the audiences who have lapped up every one of the formula movies that the Bhatts have released over the past couple of decades. And what was surprising from my perspective was the fact that the couple which was making out right next to me in the hall was actually seeing the movie for the 2nd time!!!! Aaaargh!!! Let me assure you that there is not much in Murder 2 that can make you come back for a second helping. But the woman next to me would disagree with what I say. If she had it her way, she would have jumped onto screen and licked the serial kisser to death when he says – “Haan teri biwi ne thappad maara tha jab meine uske saath raat bitane se mana kar diya tha” (your wife slapped me when I refused to sleep with her last night). Pardon me if the narration is not verbatim but it was definitely to that extent. That the crowd didn’t explode into a huge cheer and throw money on screen was only because it was Emraan Hashmi narrating the dialogue and not Rajni Saar.

Mohit Suri continues his love story with the Bhatts which started back in 2005 I think with Kalyug & Zeher – another one of those lucky directors like Abhinay Deo who gets 2 movies in his debut year. Deo can take heart coz Mohit Suri has delivered 5 more pot boilers after that and is considered to be reasonably successful. That Suri has not improved in his direction capabilities should not bother Deo much because he has definitely shown marked improvement with Delhi Belly. Mohit Suri on the other hand trusts the standard formula which distracts the audiences from seeing the oh so startling flaws in consistency. The formula is very simple actually. Every once in a while get Jackie Fernandes to take her top off and stand in a bikini and the male part of the audience is staring at the screen with the jaw on the floor and the tongue that has rolled on about 6 feet in front under the seats. The ladies are probably at the same time fuming through their ears about how anyone can look so hot. That Jackie’s role is restricted to making phone calls which don’t get a response, stripping off her bikini in a loo, smashing wine glasses, trying to act drunk (and badly at that), kissing Hashmi (and really well at that) and getting tied up at the end with scotch tape and almost killed is the disappointing part. I have always thought she is a decentish actress. This one doesn’t help her cause in Bollywood much I can assure you.

The only acting visible in the movie is that of Prashant Narayanan who is quite solid actually and a contender for this year’s awards in the Best Villain category for certain. He is ice cold and definitely makes you feel a chill down your spine. I am glad because it was time that he got a break that makes use of the immense talent that he has and doesn’t portray him as the usual “Sadak Chhap Mawali” (Street Urchin – crudely translated) that he lands up playing. What is also disappointing about this Bhatt movie is that there is only one song worth its while. Overall as below average as any of the movies starring the serial kisser. 4 on 10 is what I would give it. If I had a choice to watch Chillar Party and Murder 2, I would go for the former.

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

Game

A seemingly successful actor – and I wonder how you can give this role to Jimmy Shergill – Vikram Kapoor kills a random girl in a pathetic display of drunken driving somewhere in Mumbai on the 22nd August 2007. A despicable looking politician is fighting elections in Thailand – uh? Thailand of all places – and he goes by the name of O P Ramsay (Bomman Irani). And then there is the so called Crime Reporter – how exotic – Tisha Khanna (Shahana Goswami) who has been completely distraught since her mother’s death. She is completely in denial but finds herself Driving Under the Influence way too often for the comfort of the London Police. Even more surprisingly, the London Police seem to be very kind to her and keep letting her go for some weird reason. By the way, is this just me or does everyone suddenly believe that there is too much drunk driving happening around in this movie – hmmm – whatever. Rounding off the quartet is the young Indian owner of a discotheque in Istanbul which is seemingly a front for the drug mafia. He goes by the name of Niel Menon (Abhishekh Bachchan) – good lord now there are mallus in Istanbul also??? No offence meant to my friends from across my state border – even I am almost mallu btw :P. Well this Menon finds himself owing $20 million to the Columbian Drug Mafia – now where did the Columbians come into play here. Anyways, he is an expert in self defence and he manages to get himself out of the attempt on his life using techniques which can be seen in any Steven Seagal Movie and can be comfortably achieved using some slick camera work as well.


And where exactly is this display how far the Indian’s have reached across the world actually headed to? It is moving towards the exotic island of Samos in Greece where yet another Indian worth $16 billion – and yes this time is the B word and not the M word – who goes by the name of Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) has just been given confirmation by his “Executive Assistant” Samara Shroff (Gauhar Khan) that the four would be landing into Athens soon. Very soon. A very pensive Kabir Malhotra declares – Let the Game Begin – And suddenly you are wondering if you are @ the Olympics. What with several Greek references in the first few minutes.

Well, Game then follows the route of any standard Bollywood attempt for a crime caper or a murder mystery. Extremely predictable for the just above average movie goer and quite long drawn as well. With both direction and acting seemingly absent from the movie, you start wondering what is keeping you stuck to your seat and then maybe your rational side tells you it is the 200 bucks that you paid for the tickets and the hope that it will actually not land up meeting your predictions and just about surprise you. But that’s not going to happen I assure you. The acting, in fact, gets worse with the movement of Kangana Ranaut – Senior Officer of the International Vigilance Services – walks in and starts off with her severe emphasis on syllables. I wonder if there is a term for people who speak in the manner that she does. Sarah Jane Dias doesn’t have any respectable amount of screen time. If anything saves the movie it would be the natural performances of Boman Irani and Anupam Kher who people expect to deliver at these levels anyways. Nothing worth mentioning per se in the movie. I give it a 4 on 10. Definitely missable. You could catch it on cable or on DVD when it gets out and save some money.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2743639321/

The Prestige

Every magic trick has 3 parts or Acts. The first step is the pledge where an ordinary object is introduced and if required the audience is invited to check on. Then there is the Turn which is the first part of the trick like making the object disappear. But the most important part is the third. The audience needs to see the object coming back before they genuinely place their faith on you and applaud. This is THE PRESTIGE.

In the late 1800s, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) & Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are 2 up and coming artistes who work for an elderly magician Milton. Cutter (Michael Caine) is Milton’s Engineer – the person who controls the backend of all the tricks. Lastly there’s Julia (Piper Perabo) is the beautiful distraction to the audience, Angier’s wife, Milton’s assistant / helper who also is part of the lead trick – the underwater escape. In one of the attempts, Borden ties Julia’s hands in a different knot. Unable to escape, she drowns. And the story of vengeance between Borden and Angiers begins.

Since Milton’s show is now officially closed, our protagonists decide to start making a living off their own skill sets. Borden is convinced that good magic is all about getting ones hands dirty and is in his first show itself attempts to catch a bullet. A trick that can get a bit nasty if not executed well. Angiers shows up here and demands to know if Borden had tied the knot differently when Julia died. Borden maintains that he does not remember. In disgust, Angiers shoots 2 of his fingers off leaving him almost incapable of performing any further magic.

Both Angiers and Borden continue their rivalry over time and keep sabotaging each other’s shows with a pure intent of vengeance. They are now known as The Great Danton and The Professor respectively. The Professor, however, continues to be a better magician and Angiers the better showman. The constant attempt to stay ahead of the competition leads The Professor to his latest trick – The Transported Man – A seemingly simple trick of getting into a closet at one end of the stage and reappearing through a door at the other end in a split second. The trick, of course turns out to be a huge hit.

Incensed by the success of the Transported Man, Angiers now is desperate to get a trick of his own which is as impactful. However, his limited intelligence only leads him to resort to a body double and launch The New Transported Man which receives reasonable favour with audiences but does not manage to satiate Angiers’ apetite to know what exactly is being done. He starts going to great lengths to find out what is being done. He sends across his extremely attractive assistant Ms. Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson) as a defector to the Professor’s camp. Gets her to steal the Professor’s book to which he needs a key to crack the codes. Kidnaps the Professor’s engineer, Fallon who he buries alive all just to find out the secret to the Transported Man. Borden succumbs into the pressure and gives him a one word answer – TESLA

The movie is set in the late 1800s, as mentioned earlier. It is slow but amazingly gripping – atypical Nolan style. This was Nolan’s 5th movie and by now the signs were ominous enough that we have with us someone who is going to be talked about in the movie business for eons to come. The magic that Nolan weaves by taking us way back in time through a rivalry between 2 professionals who are willing to go to any extent possible to be termed the best is simply superb. The cinematography is as always brilliant – with a golden hue that we have come to associate with most of Nolan’s movies to date – even those that have been released in the recent past.

The performances by almost everyone is simply amazing. Even David Bowie in his bit part of Tesla is immaculate to say the least. By now, quite surely, Nolan and Tarantino would be the most sought after directors to work with from an actor’s perspective.

I had mentioned in one of my earlier write ups that Nolan has raised the bar with almost every movie that he has made. One has to watch Batman Begins followed by The Prestige to really make this out. Slightly different genres of movies but distinct improvement in all aspects with no offence meant to any of Nolan’s works prior to The Prestige. I give this 8 on 10.

Wait Until Dark

Been reviewing most of the new ones lately. So about a couple of weeks back I decided to go back a bit in time. Actually almost 50 years back in time, in Technicolor however. Sometime back on a Facebook update I had mentioned that Katherine Hepburn is probably the best actress ever to be born. I still hold on to that opinion. Although it’s the other Hepburn, the Audrey variety, who would take the title of probably the most beautiful actress of both her time as well as the decades to come. Marrion Cotillard probably comes really close but just not up there. Now some of you may debate that Catherine Zeta is incomparable, but you will kinda figure out what I am talking about if you see Audrey in her element.


In Wait Until Dark, Audrey plays the central character of Susie Hendrix, the twenty something, blind protagonist. A role that would remain as probably one of the best that she has ever executed in her career (other than Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s)

Sam Hendrix (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is a reasonably successful photographer who bumps into the sexy looking Lisa (Samantha Jones) who uses him, without his knowledge, as a mule to transport a good quantity of coke across customs. The coke is slipped in neatly into a doll which Lisa leaves with Sam in an attempt to avoid her contact. She kinda wants to go out on her own in the drug business. But she does not realize that Roat (Alan Arkin – who looks much younger than the Arkin we know who won the academy award for Little Miss Sunshine) is not going to be pleased with the idea.

Mike Talman (The incredibly handsome Richard Crenna) and Carlino (Jack Weston) are 2 small time criminals who run suspicious odd jobs for a fee. They come over to the Hendrix residence thanks to a message assumed to have been sent by Lisa. A message on the door asks them to be comfortable but there is no sign of Lisa. Warily they make their way inside but quickly do as instructed – get comfortable. A few minutes later Roat walks in but without Lisa. As of now, both Mike and Carlino have no idea that this is the Hendrix residence.

Roat offers them a large sum of money to recover the doll which obviously get the 2 suspicious. They casually start searching the house only to find Lisa’s body stashed away in a cupboard. Their obvious immediate attempt to pull out of the deal comes to naught coz by then they have left fingerprints all over the place.

Around this time Susie returns home. Although she is blind, she does sense something amiss but is not sure. Once she leaves, the trio of Roat, Mike and Carlino decide to leave and work on a plan to figure out what needs to be done to recover the doll.

What follows is an extremely thrilling 60 minutes which show several layers of emotions. On one side there is Sam who is a caring husband to a blind wife but still pushes her to be independent in every way possible. He does not hand hold her for every small thing and does his best to ensure that Susie lives as normal a life as possible. Then there is an extremely soft corner that Mike develops towards Susie during his efforts to recover the doll posing as Sam’s close friend from Philadelphia. The tension between Roat, Mike and Carlino is way too obvious to be missed with Mike and Carlino on one side as the bad guys with heart and Roat on the other as the really mean drug dealer who will go to all extents possible. Last but not the least, there is the most pivotal character of the movie – a ten year old – Gloria (Julie Herrod) who is the next door neighbour of the Hendrix’s and helps Susie with odd jobs around the area. She shares an extremely bitter sweet relationship with Susie. But all she does is act her age.

Terence Young’s claim to fame is that he directed the first few Bond Movies Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball. He far exceeds these performances with Wait Until Dark. Fredrick Knott was the original playwright for the Broadway production. I get goose pimples by simply thinking about how powerful the play would have been. Rest assured, dear Mr. Knott would be extremely pleased at the conversion to celluloid.

Performances are brilliant. I really cannot say enough about each an every one of the 6 main members of the cast and the 2 supporting actors. Each person delivers exactly what is expected of him or her. Surprisingly Julie Herrod did not take up a career in acting. Her performance as a 10 year old should have given her enough encouragement to take a career in acting very seriously.

For those who love the classics, a simply MUST WATCH. A clean 8 on 10!!!!

Fracture

Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is an up and coming attorney @ law. He works on crucial cases at the District Attorney (DA) office and has a 100% track record – especially at the tough ones. Little does he know what is going to hit him over the next few weeks – A 50+ year old problem called Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins)


Mr. Crawford is a successful engineer who has smelt a fish about his young, extremely attractive wife, Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz). Most of us would have probably felt this gut wrenching experience, doubled up and died. But not Ted. Ted needs to ensure that his deepest darkest fears are confirmed or not (hopefully). He leaves work early one day and drops into an inconspicuous little motel in outskirts of the city to find Mr & Mrs. Smith (Jennifer) having a romp in the pool.


His fears being confirmed, Ted returns home and waits for Jennifer to get back home. A few hours later and few cold blooded dialogues later (no one else can be that cold blooded on screen than Hopkins) and shoots her in the face.


Now Mr. Smith goes by the actual name of Detective Robert “Rob” Nunally (Billy Burke) who, as bad luck would have it, lands up being the lead detective on the case. It would seem that he doesn’t have much on his hands coz Ted confesses to the crime @ the scene and is promptly put behind bars, pending trial.


Willy, in the meantime has landed up a great job in a leading law firm thanks to the recommendation of Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike). However, before he leaves for good, he has one small case to take care of – that of disposing off a deranged man who has killed is wife and has confessed to it as well. Piece of Cake right….. Not as much.


Mr. Crawford, true to his profession in a manner of speaking, seems to have engineered his wife’s killing and is not about to give up without a fight. He does just enough to ensure that the young Willy Beachum is enticed enough to take up the case against him who Ted decides to defend himself. What follows is a brilliantly crafted murder mystery which holds you to the screen for the next 60+ mins. Like a good 10 round World Boxing Championship match where one is a super experienced crafty fighter and the other who has raw energy and strength on his side.


Gregory Hoblit (Director – Fallen, Hart’s War, Frequency and also NYPD blue) sure had his work cut out for him when he signed on Hopkins for the role of Ted Crawford. But I have this feeling that it was not too challenging. Just run through the role with Hopkins and he delivers yet another one of his masterpieces – but then with Hopkins, every one is a masterpiece to say the least.


Ryan Gosling is good in his performance of the young, raring to go attorney who has not learnt to give up. The rest of the cast really doesn’t have much of a presence but kinda do what was expected.


Like Hoblit’s previous attempts, this one centres around just a couple of characters backed by a really really strong story line.


Playing on one of the movie channels (cant remember which one) in June / July. Worth a dekko. I give it 6 on 10.

Duplicity

How many movies have you seen where the good guys finish last. I mean, in real life they always do. Which is probably why most of us are suckers for the feel good finish in reel life (like me :P). If, you come from that school of thought and are rigid about it (unlike me) then I would suggest you avoid Duplicity. Its not a sad finish. Just different.
Garsick (Paul Giamatti) and Tully (Tom Wilkinson) are rival CEOs in a supremely competitive FMCG world. Given a choice, they would tear not only the other organization but also themselves apart to shreds. Their rivalry is one for the record books in a manner of speaking.
Claire (Julia Roberts) and Ray (Clive Owen) are rival secret agents. They work for the CIA and MI5 respectively. They are both distinctively attracted to each other but share a bitter sweet relationship. Ray is typically left feeling bitter more often that not 
Work fatigue catches up with both Ray and Claire and they get their minds together on how to break away from their respective agencies and go off on their own. After all the best person to work for is oneself right? The target is to make $40 million between the two and then retire in peace. That’s how they get together into the wonderful world of Industrial Espionage. Does something like that exist in the first place in the real world? Are organizations really as competitive as shown, that they go to almost every extent as possible to achieve their goals?
However, Claire and Ray do not quite get off on the right foot. Their intrinsic tendency to doubt, thanks to years with the agency, is obviously not good for any enterprise. As luck would have it, both land up separate assignments and break the first rule of keeping the other person informed. They pan through the next 5 years of constant doubt only to land up with a situation where Claire comes across an opportunity to seed Ray into Garsick’s team of spies. Claire herself is part of Tully’security team but working undercover for Garsick to uncover any interesting developments @ Tully’s end.
Director Tony Gilroy has about 15 movies under is belt as of now as a writer. But his previous and only directorial venture was another brilliant movie called Michael Clayton. In Duplicity he does recreate some of the magic. But is unable to exceed the previous benchmark. The narration is quite intense and keeps you on the look out for the “what next” but is not the most gripping of movies.
Clive Owen is as always ice cool. Julia Roberts, I have for the first time seen, as a secret agent. Not something that I would have associated with Ms. Roberts. But she does quite a good job out of it. Paul Giamatti has always been one of the actors that I have admired. He plays the role of the power hungry sinister CEO to near perfection. Lastly there is Tom Wilkinson. One of the few actors who I believe gives a 110% almost every single time he gets in front of the camera. A Director’s dream come true.
Duplicity is an exciting movie to watch. Keeps you quite engaged. And also explores an otherwise not so experimented with topic of Industrial Espionage and the dangerous nature of the concept. Its not just about transferring information from one organization to the other. I liked the movie. I am quite sure you guys will. This ones a 6 on 10.