47 Ronin

A Samurai without a master or one who has lost his master’s privilege was as good as one without a home i.e. a wandering man.  Loosely translated, in Japanese, it meant “wave man” or Ronin – How's that for a piece of trivia to begin 2014 with.  Although I ended 2013 with the preview of 47 Ronin, you will be able to catch up with it only from the 3^rd January 2014.  A decent watch I must say.

Pacific Rim

Lets begin by picking out what was right about Pacific Rim.  Quite a few things actually.  Loads of refreshing angles.  For one, The aliens have invaded all of earth and not just the United States of America.  In fact, the final show down of the movie happens off the coast of Hong Kong and not in Los Angeles or New York as the case is usually.

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/

Shanghai

Sincerest of apologies to my half a dozen followers. I had seen this one a week ago but for some reason completely missed out posting the review. I assure you that such lapses will not occur in the future.

The year is 1941. Most of china has been taken over by Japan. But for a small sea port towards the south east of China – Shanghai - A cosmopolitan pot pourri which hosts people from several nationalities. America has not yet entered the war. Paul Soames (John Cusack) comes into Shanghai looking for his close friend Connor (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Soames is an undercover spy who poses as a journalist who would be working for the Shanghai Herald. To add to his cover, he writes articles that also provide readers the counter point of view – a softer stand in favour of the German position in the war. Most people don’t like his stand but the Germans aren’t complaining. It helps Soames get into several parties hosted by Germans.

By the time Soames gets into Shanghai, he has made friends with Mrs. Meuller (Franka Potente) who has moved to Shanghai with her husband who is a Naval Engineer. But he doesn’t land up in time to prevent Connor from being murdered in a dark alley. Soames is positive that Connor has stumbled upon something which is of great importance but didn’t have complete concrete evidence of the same. He tries hard to convince his boss about it but without proof it falls flat. So he sets off on his own little adventure to uncover what Connor knew.

Now Shanghai is controlled by Anthony Lan Ting (Chow Yun Fat), a gangster who is married to Anna (Gong Li) – the daughter of the leader of the resistance in China at that time. Knowing fully well that it will be difficult to swim against the tide, Anthony bites the bullet and does key odd jobs for Tanaka (Ken Watanabe) who is a Japanese colonel based in Shanghai. Soames knows that for him to make any headway to uncover Connor’s killer, he has to get through to Anthony

It has been a really long time since a quality war movie has been made. The last one would have been the double header that we were treated to from Mr. Clint Eastwood. I guess the wait will have to continue. But then Shanghai cannot be termed as a war movie in the true sense of the word. Its got a heavy dose of romance and loads of espionage also thrown in for good measure. Although Mikael Kalstrom’s direction is just about at par, what takes this movie to the next level is the absolutely amazing screen presence and execution by our Asian Stars. Ken Watanabe has been and continues to be one of my favourite actors. And Chow Yun Fat has come a really long way from his days of Kung Fu. Gong Li in her role of the distraught daughter of the slain resistance leader is simple magnificient. Not to mention that she looks ethereal. John Cusack suddenly pales in comparison to these phenomenal actors. And mind you, Cusack is no push over when it comes to the acting department.

The rest of the cast is quite passé. Nothing else really stands out in the entire movie. I was a tad disappointed. The edge of the seat excitement is definitely missing. The story winds as much as the yellow river I am sure – for a little under two hours. What makes it worse is the predictability of the entire plot. Doesn’t take more than 20 minutes into the movie to figure out what and how its going to end. Full credit, however, to the art director. The sets were superb!!! That, unfortunately cannot carry the entire movie on its own. Shanghai gets a 5 on 10 from my end.