Brave

Sorry! Sorry!! Sorry!!! Like Really Really Really Sorry!!!! Most of all to Disney and more to the readers of this blog. It has been nearly a week since I saw the best animation movie of the year to date and I haven’t done anything to urge you folks to make your way to the nearest theatre to watch an absolutely gorgeous Red Haired Merida (Kelly Macdonald) ride through not the just the woods but into your hearts with absolute ease. And I know I sound like a fan boy but what the heck. I love animation and I love Disney Pixar. So all bias forgiven.

The essence of Brave – and there is no need to scream “Spoiler Alert” – is summarized in the last 2 lines of the movie. Something that all of us could actually take away a lot from. “Our fate lives within us. You only have to be BRAVE enough to see it”. That one line is what people keep giving us but very few of us are actually BRAVE. Princess Merida definitely was.

Not because Princess Merida was a brilliant archer – which wasn’t what a princess is supposed to be. Not because Princess Merida could ride like the wind (especially on her favourite steed Angus) – which wasn’t what a princess was supposed to be. Not because Princess Merida wanted her frizzled red hair to be open enough to breath (or for that matter her clothes) – which wasn’t what a princess was supposed to be.

It was because she had a belief in herself that pushed her to stall a wedding which was all but sealed in blood. A belief that got her to run away from home and do something really stupid i.e. get a witch to create a concoction that turns her mother into a bear. But the same belief that gets her to stand up to the situation and find a way out of the mess that she has got herself into.

Brenda Chapman was the first American woman to direct a full length animation feature film from a major studio in Prince of Egypt. Why did she stop is something I am not familiar with. But the magic that she created in 1996 is only magnified significantly with the use of technology that is accessible to us these days. She has also partnered in the screenplay with the lead directors Mark Andrews and Steve Purcell both of whom had no major experience in directing before. Surely Chapman was of great help.

Original music by Patrick Doyle (also the voice of Martin) & fabulous editing by Nicholas Smith come together to give us an extremely enjoyable movie from the house of Disney Pixar (tell me something new… yawn!!!...). The good news for us animation fans is that Dreamworks is also doing fabulously well. So one can expect more such blockbusters in the near future. 8 on 10 for Brave. Watch out for the slow motion release of the arrow when Merida challenges her suitors – makes the entire movie totally worth while.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi678863641/

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/