The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I saw the trailer of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (TBEMH) over 3 months back down under. I was actually quite certain that some moron somewhere in this country will find some of the things said offensive enough to file a Public Interest Litigation and ensure that the movie never sees the light of day in India. Something like the powers that be did with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Thankfully that didn’t happen unless of course there is something that was done behind the scenes that we are unaware of. I was not complaining either ways.

TBEMH traces the lives of 7 people who have one foot in the grave – each with a secret of their own who find themselves in India at the same time. Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench) has just lost her husband who she was severely dependent upon. Graham Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) leaves London on a whim of sorts – just like that in the middle of a speech from his colleague – he packs his bags and heads off to India. Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton) Ainsley are a couple who are dealing with coming to an age where they cannot afford to buy more than very basic accommodation in an old age home.

Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) has come to a point where her hip bone has given way but she is some sort of a racist and doesn’t like to be touched by anything that’s not white. Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) and Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) are 2 people who do not believe that age has anything to do with being sexually active. In the case of Cousins, he just wants to get laid. But Madge’s desires extend to finding a single man of royal blood.

Norman and Madge are actually the funniest characters in this geriatric Romantic Comedy from the table of John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, Captain Correlli’s Mandolin) who is known for spinning stories that touch your heart. Madden has once again stuck to his strength of fleshing out each character beautifully. Each of the 7 people are introduced in just under a minute right at the beginning before the actual credits start. The sequence is really well done.

Madden need not have worried about the acting department in this one (or previous ones) because he has picked up his cast to a perfection. To me the outstanding performance came from Maggie Smith who will definitely stake a claim to Uncle Oscar this year. Add to the performances some vintage British humour and dialogues that will stay with you for a really long time such as, “I am single by choice. Not just my choice” OR “When I want your opinion I will give it to you” or the more serious, “The only real failure is the failure to try. And the measure of success is how we cope with the disappointment that comes with trying”. Beautifully written words from Ol Parker. Adapted from the book Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach, this is one Brit RomCom you must add to your weekend watches. 7 on 10.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi929996313/

The Ghost and The Darkness

One of the biggest conundrums I have had in recent times. Should I classify The Ghost And The Darkness as an Action movie or a thriller or a horror movie. In the end, I went with Thriller and Horror both. You would not have much or a debate with the rating once you have seen it. I have probably seen it over 10 times to date and each one of those has been an experience that was as scary as the other. Without any exception.

I first saw the story of the worst place on earth - yes that's what Samuel (John Kani) calls Tsavo - way back in 1997 if I remember correctly. The impact that it left on me has been identical ever since for some eerie reason. The fascination that Col. James Patterson (Val Kilmer) has with Africa is a huge driver in his decision to leave a pregnant wife Helena Patterson (Emily Mortimer)

The commitment is that he will build the bridge across the river Tsavo within 6 months. He wants to be back before his first born comes into the world. His wife is supportive of his decision. But the acidic Robert Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) doesn't really care much about his family or anyone else. Just the bridge. Patterson doesn't really know that there are aspects about Africa that are far more scary than some cheap heartless people like Beaumont. His worst nightmares are about to come true with The Ghost And The Darkness.

Stephen Hopkins is very good to say the least. The use of music during the hunts for the 2 man eaters gives me goose bumps even thinking about it. One can imagine the fear you will feel while watching it. The editing and cinematography is perfect to create and even more intense fear of the unknown. Look closely into the grasslands and u will see silhouettes of the feared beasts walking through. Some sequences such as the one where Patterson's wife comes to see him with his first born only to be mauled @ the railway station are horrific and scary. And the use of enhanced sound for the petrified baboon is just stunning.

4 of the finest actors that I have known in my lifetime come together for one of my favourite movies of all time. Val Kilmer, Tom Wilkinson, Om Puri and the evergreen Michael Douglas. I have taken it upon myself to get everyone that I know to see it. I loved it. I am sure most of you will. 8 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCb6-Nz0Nkg

The Debt

Now here is a director who has successfully transitioned from the small screen to the silver variety. Afer a string of TV serials, John Madden stormed into the scene with Shakespeare in Love – and what a storm it was. Post that, he has had some low profile movies like Captain Correli’s Mandolin and The Debt which released a couple of years back. I believe he has The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel releasing this year which promises to be a laugh riot. So I guess there should be no question on Madden’s capabilities as a director right? More or less right I guess. But not the whole nine yards right unfortunately.
Firstly, I get quite peeved when directors take the path in between in case of movies which are set in a geographic region where English is not the primary language. Why then do you need to use actors / actresses whose preferred language happens to be English. To make matters worse, you get the likes of the hugely talented Dame Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson to speak with an accent which I am not sure is truly Israeli or Hebrew if you would like to call it that. In contrast, in the same movie, he has got the younger lot of Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas and Sam Worthington to speak in German. So why then would Madden not consider getting them to speak Hebrew instead of English with a forced accent? I was very disappointed within the first few minutes itself. A mark of a director who is probably not brave enough and not common sensiscal.

But the performances and the story line more than make up for this really bad call from Madden. There are 4 key characters in the entire movie. Rachel Singer, Stephan Gold & David Peretz who are Mossad agents sent to East Berlin to track, capture and bring back alive one Dieter Vogel. The 3 agents are played by Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciarán Hinds in the current day i.e. 1997. In 1965 which was the time of the assignment they are played by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas & Sam Worthington respectively. All 6 have performed quite exceptionally I must say. Even Jesper Christensen who playes the sinister Dieter Vogel is brilliant.

What takes the cake though is the premise of the movie which is one of an assignment that goes horribly wrong and how the 3 agents deal with the consequences of the same not only in the immediate future but over a period of 30 years. Will they get any retribution whatsoever? Or does the failure get the better of them? Mind you, Mossad doesn’t take too kindly to failure – or so we have heard. A very different spy story. Exactly the type that audiences would lap up. Put it on your must watch list @ 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1506057497/

Batman Begins

I could not have missed the opportunity to kick start my movies for the weekend with a Saturday nite show of Batman Begins. And it obviously helped that on a Saturday I had been movie free!!! Sacrilegious I say!!! So I wasn’t going to let this pass. And my respect for Christopher Nolan keeps going up every time I see a movie. I wasn’t watching Batman Begins for the first time mind you. But each time I see it, I build a deeper sense of respect for Nolan who is not just one of the finest directors of our time but also one of the visionaries of cinema. Bob Kane couldn’t have asked for a better director to bring to life “Batman” – the way it was supposed to be.

People must have been doggone bored with Batman by the time this one released. 4 Batman movies had preceded Batman Begins – none of which had told the story of Batman, the way it was supposed to be told. More importantly, there were 3 Batmans in 4 movies. And 3 directors. With the exception of the Tim Burton / Michael Keaton combination, the other 2 not only failed to excite the audiences but also left them with a distaste for Batman movies like never before. Thankfully, Batman Begins came in after a hiatus of 8 years and audiences had probably forgotten the trauma that they went through with Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. One of the few movies on imdb that has a score of below 4 (from what I have seen). Thankfully Catwoman (2004) didn’t feature Batman and so people were fine with another Batman movie.

They wouldn’t have regretted spending the better part of nearly 2.5 hours watching the saga of Batman unfold from Bruce Wayne’s “scaredy cat” days as a child with fear of bats to his nerdy looking days when he is studying at college to a point in time where he decides to really follow best friend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) advise and decides to really do something about the grime around him rather than just claim to be a good man below his façade. Batman Begins sees the introduction of Ra’s Al Ghul and The Scarecrow aka Dr. Johnathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) both of whom are portrayed brilliantly by Nolan. It kind of sets the tone for the sequels to come where very clearly, the villain would have as much screen time & content of role if not more than Batman himself. A fact that had till then been vastly underplayed with the exception of the first Batman where Jack Nicholson played the role of The Joker.

Batman Begins is the truest and the most sincere representation of the Batman Story that I have seen so far. It was no surprise that the movie closes with the introduction of the “calling card” and sets things up beautifully for Dark Knight. Must watch. 8 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2743468569/

The Ghost Writer

No amount of controversies can take away someone’s talent. And no one can personify it in recent times more than the much hated Roman Polanski. Eccentric, different, slow, unconventional are some of the words one would associate with the extremely talented director. Over the years, Polanski has given us many a movie that may not have been liked by people but 2 words that could not be associated with his style of movie making would be bad and boring. One cannot fault him too much with areas such as attention to detail – or maybe I am not that experienced with Polanski movies. I have seen Chinatown and The Ninth Gate to date both of which were very well made. It is therefore a surprise that there are some very obvious pieces of his work with The Ghost Writer that come across as jarring errors in otherwise very clean movie.

Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) is the ex Prime Minister of Britain and is a much maligned person. More so in recent times when his older adversaries are pinning the blame of war crimes in Iraq onto him and calling for his head. His old friend Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh) has now turned enemy thanks to Lang moving him out of office during his days in 10 Downing Street. Rycart is leading the band of protestors that are asking Lang to be tried by the International Court of Justice. But not that easy since Lang now stays in the US where he cannot be arrested for the allegation. Lang is clearly uncomfortable with the arrangement and wants to get back home but stays back reluctantly. His wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) is quite convinced that the US will support him in his fight against these allegations.

Lang is writing his memoirs and needs the services of a Ghost writer. Especially because his current one dies in quite mysterious circumstances and is found washes ashore one day (Lang lives on an island close to Boston – like his wife says its like being married to Napoleon on St. Helena). The new Ghost Writer (Ewan McGregor) takes up the job – who wouldn’t if you were paid quarter of a million pounds to do that? He quickly finds out that there is a lot of mystery around this entire ghost writing thing and wonders what the secrecy around the entire book is. Especially since he is mugged – rather unconvincingly – right after he decides to accept the contract for ghost writing. As he goes through the manuscript, which he finds atrocious to say the least, he finds out that there is more to the death of his predecessor or should we say murder.

Polanski builds up the tempo and the mystery in the entire movie slowly but surely like some eerie ghost story with fabulous use of the dark – which is typical Polanski. Add to that the haunting music that keeps you squirming in your seat. But as mentioned earlier, there were times when you could not help but cringe that there were enough and more errors. Like most of the photographs seem to be too obviously photoshopped. But these are definitely over riden but the great dialogues and quite good acting on display. Ewan McGregor with his usual confused expression carries out the role of the Ghost Writer with great ease. Pierce Brosnan is at his confident arrogant self that we have come to associate with. The support cast is also quite solid. This one is a movie worth watching whether you are a Polanski fan or not. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3376022553/

The Green Hornet

I think this one started off as a radio show in the 1930s. And has since then transcended itself through almost every conceivable form of media – comic book, TV show, Film serials et al. It has finally reached its current destination – that of a full fledged feature film – only a matter of time I guess.


Britt Reid (Joshua Erenberg) is all of 8 years old when he is dragged into his father’s office from school. His father, James Reid (Tom Wilkinson) is the owner and Editor in Chief of The Daily Sentinel which is a leading newspaper in Los Angeles and obviously has absolutely no time for Britt’s tantrums @ school. All Britt was trying to do was help a girl in school who was being harassed by a few bullies. But James is least interested in listening to his side of the story. All he wants is that Britt stays out of trouble and doesn’t mince any words whatsoever when he tells him that – in the rudest possible manner that a father could tell a son. Now you would ask about Britts mother – no points for guessing that she is no more and Britt has to survive life with his cruel, insensitive father.

The upbringing has effects that are not very surprising at all. Britt Reid (now Seth Rogen) grows up to be a care a damn young man whose only aim 20 years later is to blow away as much of his father’s hard earned money as possible. He doesn’t pass an opportunity to hit on anything that moves – the fairer sex primarily – lest you start getting any ideas of a gay super hero (that’s a possibility though which I am sure someone has capitalized on already). Our irresponsible friend is however in for a rude shock when James suddenly kicks the bucket thanks to an extremely allergic reaction to a bee sting (eh?).

Obviously Britt has no clue whatsoever of the newspaper business and leaves it to his dad’s trusted aide, Axford (Edward James Olmos) to manage it as he deems fit. He has however, in the heat of the moment, also fired all the staff @ his dad’s estate including the person who makes his morning designer coffee with a leaf designed on it et al. Meet Kato (Jay Chou) who was primarily employed by James to take care of the dime a dozen classic cars in the garage but also has a unique skill – making superb coffee. But there is more than what meets the eye. Kato is also a superb mechanic, a martial arts expert and like Brett doesn’t think too highly of James. In the spur of the moment, the two of them decide to become anti super heroes and start off their escapades by decapitating James’ statue and taking off with the head. They then start off with their project of using the newspaper to blow these antics through the roof. They need a name for themselves and land up with The Green Hornet and his nameless side kick.

Surprising to see that The Green Hornet (TGH) is directed by Michel Gondry (Be Kind Rewind & Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind) who would be associated with more esoteric cinema and not something as mainstream as TGH. His discomfort with the concept shows very clearly but the fact that he is a good director helps him hold his own and come up with a product that is pretty decent. The use of Special Effects is quite good. The story keeps continuously moving along and doesn’t meander along the way unnecessarily. The lead roles consist of the irritating Seth Rogen, the exciting Jay Chou and furniture in the form of Cameron Diaz. What are class acts like Tom Wilkinson and Christoph Waltz doing in a time pass movie like this is beyond my levels of understanding. They are way to classy for TGH. Tom Wilkinson is probably the only actor who has carved a niche for himself in Hollywood for playing roles that demand a crabby old man. No one else can do it better. Overall, a reasonably entertaining movie but not too great. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi21600537/