Mortdecai

Kyril Bonfiglioli was an English art-dealer, actor, science fiction editor, champion swordsman, and comic novelist. He is the author of what is apparently a famous series with a lead character called Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) was supposedly eccentric and witty.  The novels that attained cult status were loaded with dry satire and black humour – Wikipedia.

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

Iron Man 3

You remember what I always say about sequels and their directors.  I keep insisting that sequels should be directed by the same director.  So in this case it should have been Jon Favreau.  But believe me when I say this.  Moving to Shane Black for Iron Man 3 was probably the best thing that has ever happened to this franchise.

The Da Vinci Code

What can you get when you get together 3 people – one who has been widely regarded as the top 10 directors of all time if not the top 10. Another who is responsible for giving us one of the biggest block buster novels of the previous decade – probably the #1 bestseller other than the Harry Potter series and definitely THE most controversial of the lot. And the third who has been regarded by most people as one of the best actors ever to be born – one who is known for his “boy next door” looks and yet regarded as capable of taking up any role that is possible (I would like to see him play a villain though – haven’t seen that yet but I am certain he can and will give us the pleasure of that sooner than later). Well what you get is one of the best adaptations of a book into a movie – I would like to stick my neck out at this stage and call it the best after The Godfather and The Adventures of Tintin – Secret of the Unicorn.
Ron Howard would have been extremely challenged at the thought of directing The Da Vinci Code for certain but he smartly roped in Tom Hanks who is known to be an actor who eases the stress out from the director’s head immensely. And they had the support of Dan Brown to try and get this to life. The way Dan Brown has layered the book and keeps peeling it out like an onion is something which can be very difficult to get alive on the silver screen. I can only say that the team that created the movie should be really proud of what they got out eventually.

I cannot think of any scene that was badly executed or any aspect that was missed out from the book. Difficult sequences such as the point where Sophie (Audrey Tatou) and Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) figure out that a pope actually stands for Alexander Pope and the walk to Newton’s Tomb is superimposed with that of the actual funeral of Sir Isaac Newton. Or the casting for Silas (Paul Bettany) which is impeccable. But nearly not as impeccable as Bishop Aringarosa played by someone who I consider is probably more versatile (if there is something like that) that any other actor who I have seen till date – Alfred Molina. Time and again Alfred Molina has stunned the daylights out of me in the way that he gets into his character and makes you believe that the character in the book was created specifically with Molina in mind – simply scintillating I say.

True to the book as they say, The Da Vinci Code is a great movie to watch any given Sunday. It is edited well, has great cinematography, good solid performances and has a story that is great (apart from the ending where Dan Brown always screws up :p). You can watch it even if you haven’t read the book. 7 on 10 is what I say.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2369847833/

Priest 3D

There has always been man and always been vampires. Since the beginning the 2have been locked in conflict. The vampires were quicker and stronger. But man had the sun. That wasn’t enough. And so it went like this for many years. The 2 races not only destroyed each other but almost removed each other from the face of the earth. Facing extinction mankind withdrew behind walls. And then the ultimate weapon was found - THE PRIESTS. They were swift and had phenomenal powers. They put an end to the vampire menace. But after that, the people who created them decided to disband them out of fear. They disappeared just like the vampires did. And as the days and the months and the years went by the last few were counting their final days. But now... They are back…. the vampires that is. They attack a city outpost and take away an eighteen year old Lucy (Lily Collins). They kill the girl’s mother Shannon (Mädchen Amick) and badly injure her father Owen Pace (Stephen Moyer). But the Vampires did not realize who they were messing with. Enter The Priest (Paul Bettany) who is coincidentally Owen’s brother. Oh Oh say the vampires – right? Wrong. The clergy, led by Monsignor Orelas (Christopher Plummer) doesn't support him in his request to chase down the vampires and bring them to justice. They also threaten to excommunicate him if he goes against orders. Monsignor Chamberlain (Alan Dale) knows that it will not be enough to stop the Priest. He speaks to The Priest but to no avail. The mission begins.

Ever get a feeling of not knowing whether there is more to a movie than what you saw? A little under a decade back is when Lord of The Rings would have released right? And the writer of these reviews did not know Tolkien from Adam. Sorry but had that phase in life where I refused to read for some inexplicable reason. But the writer is also maha excited about movies and so with a couple of folks in tow I did land up @ Symphony Theatre Bangalore (such a wonderful place – pity they had to shut it down and hand it over to the BIG guys). After about 3 hours, I was left with a feeling that said, “Unfair!!! This cannot be just it!!! There has to be more”!!! For those who know me, you can imagine how I must have fumed and fretted over the disappointment. A kid who was on the seat in front of me and would have been all of 3.5 feet, turns around and tells me, “Its got 3 parts. You didn’t know”???? Needless to say, I had to fetch my first copy of LOTR within an hour after this. 10 years after, I got the same feeling with Priest. Thankfully no kid this time. Ergo no embarrassment. But I must say that the movie based on the Korean Graphic novels / comics of the same name seems to be setting itself up to go the franchise way. Directed by Scott Charles Stewart, who hasn’t got out of the mould of his previous full length debacle called Legion – I refer to his obsession with vampires. Priest is filled with superb use of Special Effects and Graphics. Why the movie is classified as Horror is beyond me. Humanoid looking vampires who build nests like spiders spin webs don’t qualify as Horror to me. There is nothing much else in the movie very honestly. I would give it a 5 on 10 on the outside – must watch for the graphic novel / comic book enthusiast thanks to fantastic visual effects.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4157250841/

The Tourist

It came as a total shocker to me when I realized that The Tourist is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Guess what? Donnersmarck has also directed a German movie called Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) which deservedly won the Oscar for the best movie in the category of Foreign Films. An extremely powerful movie which had barely any flaws. So to expect something as drab and lifeless as The Tourist from his table was even more disappointing than the pain of waiting for the movie to end. God, I have, very infrequently so wanted a movie to end.


Elise Clifton Ward (Angelina Jolie) is being watched by the Interpol, led by Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany) of Scotland Yard. They are in search of Alexander Pierce who owes the British Government a princely sum of 744 million pounds. A great figure to throw at someone in an story of grand larceny I guess. Elise is spending her time in a plush five star in Paris and makes her way to what I can only imagine is her evening cuppa – I would be very surprised if she were to be dressed up so well around 7 in the morning. She is well aware that she is being watched coz she is Pierce’s girl. She was seeing him during the time Pierce was swindling Underworld Don Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff) of 2.5 billion pounds – another fantastic figure to throw at the audience. But Alex decides to take off and leave Elise stranded without any money for nearly 2 years now. And the Interpol has been desperately searching for him for a much longer period of time. Funnily, no one has seen Pierce. With the exception of Shaw.

As Elise is having her usual snack, she gets a courier delivered to her. No surprise that it is engraved with the letters AP. AP apologises, through the letter, and asks her to take the 8:22 to Venice and instructs her to find someone who is about the same height as his own and strike up a conversation so that the cops are thrown off the trail. For someone who is a gilted lover, Elise surely takes off quickly without a thought – after burning the letter though. She does exactly what is instructed of her and finds herself with Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) on the train to Venice. Frank is a math teacher from Wisconsin and therefore – The Tourist.

What follows is one of the slowest crime capers that I have ever seen. Lives of Others was slow alright Florian but it was also extremely intense and gripping. Just because a movie is slow doesn’t make it good. Surprisingly large number of inconsistencies like the 8:22 to Venice – was it a morning train or an evening one. If morning then why was Jolie decked up @ 7 am? If evening then how in the blazes does she get to Venice when its all bright and sunny? Does it take 15 minutes to get to Venice from Paris? Not sure but worth a dekko. Performances from Johnny Depp and Jolie would easily rate amongst their worst to date. Paul Bettany was probably the only actor who tried to make an impact. Classic case of “never judge a book by its cover and therefore a movie by its trailer or its poster for that matter”. 4 on 10 from my side and I think I am being generous.