Hackers

She started acting when she was 7 years old in a movie that starred here father in the lead role. The year was 1982. Her first lead role would be 11 years later in a lousy Sci Fi thriller called Cyborg 2 followed by an even worse movie called Without Evidence in 1995 where she played a bit part. Hackers was her fourth movie and I haven’t seen the other 3 that I spoke about. Thank God we have seen Angelina Jolie in movies that have been released in a little over a decade. That she has been inclined towards the action / science fiction / adventure genre of movies is not a worry at all. She is in fact probably the only woman who can really pull it off amongst the current crop of actresses that we have. But that doesn’t change the fact that 16 years back, she could not have been called an actress. The crappy script and the even more horrible direction doesn’t really help her out here. But a little under ten movies down the road, she came up with a performance of a lifetime in Girl, Interrupted (must watch for those who haven’t). So all of you out there who have had a really bad run to begin with – persistence pays. And yes, it helps to have a dad who has been around in the circuit for a while – no insult meant to your acting capabilities at all Ms. Jolie. One has to make the most of the luck factor as well.


“Zero Cool” is the screen name that is used by seven year old Dade Murphy who has taken to computers like a fish to water (could not think of a better line folks – very corny I know). So much so that at this tender age he has the capability of hacking into some of the most secure systems – whatever existed of those in the late 80s – in the US of A. But his luck runs out and soon enough he finds himself in a trial room where the prosecution makes mince meat out of him mercilessly and other than a hefty fine that is imposed on his parents, he is legally banned from being seen around a computer till he is eighteen years old – OUCH!!! That’s harsh. How he manages to stay in touch with the fast moving technology during that time of the world and get to age 18 as “Crash Override” (Jonny Lee Miller) can be understood, only by the director of the movie. When he moves schools he bumps into the much sought after beauty on campus (aargh – Angeliine @ age 18 without cosmetic surgery used to look quite ugly I must say) – Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie) who uses the opportunity to yank his chain like anyone would do with a fresher in school. A few altercations later and more importantly when Dade understands that Libby goes by the screen name of “Acid Burn” is when the two are forced to work together to help a fellow hacker who has been arrested by the FBI.

A barrage of tech dialogues that are absolutely unfriendly even to the biggest of geeks is only the beginning of the list of flaws that in Hackers. The costumes are atrocious but pardonable since the 90s were the most forgettable decade in fashion. Editing and direction are all but absent. And so is acting. So is there anything worth looking forward to here? Not really. And honestly, I tried my best to transpose my brains to 1995 to figure out if there were any pardonable errors. But I came a cropper. When you think hard you realize that a movie like Back To The Future was made in 1985 – a decade before this and yet was so much better in execution. Undeniably a super crappy movie. Playing these days on one of the movie channels. Cannot remember which one. Choose any other movie cause it would be tough to get as low as this one. 2 on 10 and I am being very generous.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2444991257/

Yes Man

Peyton Reed is one of the few successful transitions from Television to the big screen. Those who have been reading me regularly would know how critical I have been of some of the attempts that have been made in the past. But here is an example of one director who knows his limitations and has slowly but surely made a place for himself in the evergreen and vastly successful world of Romantic Comedies. His previous attempts include the musical RomCom starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor called Down with Love which was pretty and decent. And then there was the one which got most tongues wagging about the relationship between Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn which was called The Break Up – didn’t do much for the alleged relationship between Vaughn and Aniston as you can see currently but made a reasonable amount of money at the BO for Reed. And his 3rd attempt is called “YES MAN” which stars that one person who I cannot decide whether to really hate for his histrionics or to love for his capability of pulling off those histrionics better than most people that are doing their rounds these days. At 46 (when this movie released) he still manages to look like a 33 year old and behave like a 3 year one. And whats more he gives most of us average 36 year olds a complex by going around with 24 year old Indian women!!!! :’( :’(:’( WTF!!!! Leave some for us Mr. Carey. Go find someone your own age. As I was saying, don’t know whether to hate him or love him.


Carl Allen (Jim Carey) is (I can only assume) a 30 something banker who is responsible for putting stamps on loan applications. These go by the names “APPROVED” and “NOT APPROVED”. Simple right? The job – Yes. His life – not so much. Its been 3 years since his divorce from the extremely hot Stephanie (Molly Sims). His friends Peter (Bradley Cooper – steady girls steady) and Rooney (Danny Masterson from That 70s show – remember?) have been chasing him loads to get his life back on track. But Carl is just not upto it. He would rather spend his time watching DVDs at home and has made it a habit of ducking everyone’s calls. But this time around Peter is successful in getting him out of home thanks to an important announcement of his upcoming wedding to Lucy (Sasha Alexander). Not that it excites Carl too much. But at least gets him out of home. The turning point in Carl’s life, however comes when he meets an ex-colleague Nick (John Michael Higgins) who has decided to live life and not get into the rat race and seems extremely thrilled about it. Much against his wishes, Carl decides to attend the session of the 'Yes' Guru - Terence Bundley (Terence Stamp).

Yes Man is an atypical Jim Carey movie – like most others that he stars in. Thanks to the immense love that he has to hog screen time. The presence of Zoey Deschanel is refreshing to say the least thanks to her girl next door kind of image and her ease of playing the care a damn, fly with the wind girl which I fear she is getting stereotyped into. The rest of the cast is as good as furniture very honestly. Enough said about the direction earlier but would just add that it is indeed very compact and to the point. A fast paced movie, Yes Man will not let you doze off and is as good as any romantic comedy you would see. I give it 6.5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3042902041/

The Fighter

How many boxing movies can you think of that were utter flops? Hope in hell right? Think as hard and as far back as you may want to. But the stores of the Rocky Balboas of the world and the Reuben “Hurricane” Carters of the world and the Jake La Mota’s of the world make every single hair on your body stand up and take notice. Surely there are a zillion such stories about boxing and boxers but very few which make it to the silver screen. What you can be assured of in Hollywood is that a movie with boxing is what we call here as a “Formula” movie. And so we are now presented with the story of “Irish” Mickey Ward from the small town of Lowell, Massachusetts and his road to fame from extremely backward and not just humble beginnings. True Oscar fodder. Superb use of “Formula”. But backed with tremendous execution capabilities. Lets take a quick look at the story first.

Dicky Eklund Jr. (Christian Bale – and an extremely frail Christian Bale at that) is a crack addict par excellence. His claim to fame other than being in the running for the crack champion of the world is that he once knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard. This was way back in 1978. The debate which started then, continues to date. Did Sugar Ray actually get knocked out or did he trip. There are subscribers to both versions of the story. However, when Dicky dear doesn’t make it to too far in the world of boxing, crack comes along and becomes his crutch, along with that ever faithful friend of crack called alcohol. Combining forces, they ensure that Dicky moves on his way downhill despite the best wishes of his mother Alice (Melissa Leo) who goes by the 2nd name of Ward after she married George Ward (Jack McGee). Alice has tremendous patience I must say coz after having 7 children from her first marriage, she chose to have 2 more from her 2nd. Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) is Dicky’s half brother and a solid boxer at that. Both Alice and Dicky are hell bent on ensuring that Mickey makes a career out of boxing. Probably out of an unfulfilled aspiration. But as manager and trainer respectively their efforts leave a lot to be desired. When Dicky gets jailed for assaulting a cop amongst other offences, Mickey decides that it is time to move on. And so when a sponsor presents himself, he decides to go into full time training and is also persuaded by his girlfriend Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams) to not get Alice and Dicky involved anymore in his boxing.

The Fighter is yet another movie that gives us hope. Truly one which has followed the footsteps of its predecessor. Did it have it to emulate Rocky? Not really. But what it did have is the presence of either Melissa Leo or Christian Bale in almost every frame. Made me wonder half way down the movie if both of them should have been nominated for the lead role and not the supporting role. And let me tell you that if they had been nominated for the lead, Colin Firth and Natalie Portman would have been left sucking their thumbs. In what can be considered as one of THE finest examples of method acting, Bale and Leo keep the audience rooted to their seats. One begins to feel sorry for Mark Wahlberg especially because try as hard as he may, he could not and probably cannot take his performance to the level of Bale in this movie. I also felt that the character of Dicky Eklund is just so much stronger for the screen than that of Mickey Ward – with no disrespect meant to Ward in any ways. Eklund just gave Christian Bale the right fodder to take his acting status from average to superb overnight.

I haven’t spoken about one of my favourite actors yet but much as I am totally in love with Amy Adams (like I am with several other actresses) I think this was a performance that was just above her par level. Superb but not brilliant like she was in Doubt or for that matter even Julie & Julia. Maybe it was also the content and screen time that leads me to give this view. Rounding off with direction which was overall quite solid from David O Russel. Probably his best to date. But could have been cut a little better and therefore got it down to around 2 hours. Nearly 2.5 hours is a little stretch. Overall, I give this 7 on 10 but a clear 9 on 10 t both Bale and Leo. Watch it for them if not anything else.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2330986777/

World Invasion : Battle for Los Angeles

I had this really bad feeling about this movie even when I was watching the trailers which came in about a month or 2 back. Not that the trailers were badly made. Just that sinking feeling which says, “GAWD not another movie about the end of the world”. And then someone sends you a joke which says, “Ever wondered why in all Hollywood movies, all the aliens of the world attack only the US”? A simple and straightforward rhetoric. So I am guessing that our average director Jonathan Liebesman (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Killing Room) wanted to keep the angle from that silly joke covered. And he started the movie that was about an invasion of the world as the title so aptly indicates. So this one is not just about an invasion of the United States but encompasses most geographies that mean a bit to them such as Europe and South Asia and China and Japan and the likes. But mind you that’s only the beginning. You have to remember that Hollywoods first responsibility is towards the less than 400 million people that inhabit the states. And therefore the second part of the title – Battle for Los Angeles. So there is no lack of clarity that this movie is about a bunch of aliens who invade all of earth together. But since we have less than half an hour, we will no focus on what happened in the city of Los Angeles during this invasion and how there were a bunch of unknown people who turned out to be unlikely heroes thanks to this opportunity that life decided to present to them and eventually succeed in bringing down one of the most technologically advanced aliens to have invaded earth – correction – invaded Hollywood.

The story follows Staff Seargent Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) who is about to be moved into training from a field role. Why is that? Because on his watch 3 seargents lost their lives. A story – on a serious note – that would haunt most of us for a really long time. But SSgt. Nantz’s exit from the field will prove to be short lived due to the sequence of events that have been explained in the previous paragraph of this write up. He is now called back to lead a bunch of marines (gawd – why is it that every US soldier in a Hollywood movie has to be a marine?) to help get back a bunch of civilians who are stuck in an area that has been attacked by aliens. And the rest as they say is history 

Such a short paragraph for the story? But that’s all there is. Yes there are a couple of angles explored about how one of the marines is the brother of another who was killed on Nantz’s watch. And the choice of Michelle Rodriguez who seems to be the only female marine ever to be born in the United States. There is also eye candy in the form of Bridget Moynahan who comes onto screen for all of 3 minutes and 28.5 seconds. Damn!!! Just when you think there is something to look forward to in an otherwise drab and boring end of the world movie, you get reminded that all good things in the world must come to an end. Come on Jonathan Liebesman. Surely you cannot be such a spoilsport. I am glad I got this one out of the way on a Saturday night after India lost to South Africa. Trust me, it made me feel so much better that there could actually be something worse than losing a closely fought cricket game which may decide our future in this world cup. If I were you, I would give World Invasion a pass. I give it 4 on 10 for the solid use of special effects and for some semblances of acting shown by some of the better known names.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3897661977/

Hereafter

Over a conversation with a friend, we kind of came to the conclusion that there are very few people (actors and directors specifically) in this world who can visualize the final product while shooting for a movie. More directors can do this (I mean it is their job right) and a few actors can. That’s probably what separates the great actors / directors from the good ones. One such former actor and a phenomenal director who was born way back on the 31st May 1930 goes by the name of Clinton Eastwood Jr. or Clint for short. A man who most of us admire immensely for his more known Spaghetti Westerns and not as much for his directorial ventures that came in much later. Surprisingly so since his best works in the field of entertainment have been after he turned director. And I am at no point of time saying that the Westerns were not good or not watchable. But as a director, he has moved into a different plane altogether. Having said that, Hereafter isn’t one of his best works to date.


It isn’t surprising when people have a gift which seems more like a curse to them. What if you could actually speak to the dead and be that bridge between what they want their loved ones to actually know after they have passed? Kinda gory aint it? That’s the predicament faced by George Lonegan (Matt Damon) who stopped reading because he thinks it is nothing to be thrilled about. His brother, Billy (Jay Mohr) cannot quite understand George’s aversion but resigns himself to it. That doesn’t however stop him from continuously trying to change George’s mind. Simultaneously there are two other lives that are the other dots in the puzzle that need to be connected. Marie Lelay (Cecile de France), an extremely successful French (and it is just coincidence that her last name is France) television anchor is on vacation somewhere in Indonesia with her producer boyfriend Didier (Thierry Neuvic). The year is 2004 and the tsunami hits the island really hard. The near death experience leaves Marie heavily shaken and she is not quite able to focus on her work thanks to the visions that she keeps seeing. And then there is Marcus (George McLaren) who loses his elder twin brother Jason (Frankie McLaren) in a freak accident involving some young dopeys. Their mother is a junkie herself and therefore the twins support each other. A distraught Marcus is sent to a foster home where he begins his search for someone who can help him speak to his brother.

Although the end product has Clint Eastwood written all over it, right from the first frame, it is a bit disappointingly stretched out and not really finished as well. That it was nominated for Best Visual Effects came as a surprise to me even more as the effects were nothing too great honestly. In fact the scene that shows the impact of the tsunami seems very green screen. The strong performances from Damon and France along with the McLarens don’t quite make up for the extremely slow pace of the movie. And you may be wondering now as to why I was waxing eloquent about Eastwood earlier in this review. It is simply because with the exception of the weak SFX in the first sequence, every single frame is as real as possible – exactly the way he visualized it to be. This one is a must watch if you are a fan of the Eastwood genre of movies. I give it 7 on 10. Hoping to see a 9 from your end Mr. Eastwood. Lets have another one as good as Changeling. Sooner the better.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1485637913/

Hall Pass

I have been really busy over the past few days. If I haven’t posted my review for the day or at least watched a movie then I get quite crabby and edgy. But when it comes to Hall Pass, although I saw it 3 days back, I haven’t really regretted not posting the review. I was even contemplating not reviewing it and my conscience said – “Sacrilegoous!!!! How can you deviate from the plan? Your 44 followers (get the hint folks – click on “FOLLOW”) will be so waiting for the review of Hall Pass. What would they say if they didn’t read it”? But the lazy part of me kept pushing it for later – I am a procrastinator. Why do something today when it can be done tomorrow? Nevertheless, my shock knew no bounds when in the movie listings of India’s largest selling tabloid, I could not find The Fighter (yes I haven’t seen it yet and you guys can stone me later) but HALL PASS was clearly staring at me and I almost stopped eating my breakfast. But then thankfully my faith in good movies was redeemed when I checked the PVR website (is anyone from PVR listening? This is free promotion!!!) and found that Hall Pass had only 3 shows and The Fighter had 4. I would probably have been much harsher than 3 shows. Maybe one show @ 9 am in some random cinema in the city just to keep the distributors happy. I mean, what were they thinking? Did they check the product out before putting it out there to torture us simple souls? Or is this their version of some sick joke?


Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Rick (Owen Wilson – heavily made up at that) have been married for a while now and have 3 kids. One cannot say that they are extremely happy or sad (that is the extent of lifelessness in the acting) or in trouble but they seem to be managing things. One thing for sure is that Rick hasn’t been getting any from Maggie for a while now. And Maggie hasn’t been putting herself out there either. Cut to Grace (Christina Applegate) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) who are a bit more animated about their relationship status. Neither Rick nor Fred are the kind of men today that “they used to be” (GOD I have had it with that!!!!). And they are both dead sure that if they were out there for some ass then they would get it hands down. Regular story right? And all of us are well aware that it is not as easy as it used to be. But our 2 heroes continue to live in their false beliefs and are happy taking mental pictures of several HOT women who are on display through the entire movie. But when things get a little out of hand (no they don’t cheat or anything of the sort – just some domestic squabble) then the wives get together to give them a Hall Pass – a week off marriage where the husbands an do whatever they want to no questions asked. What the husbands forget is that the Hall Pass works both ways.

Yet another case of an interesting concept that has been totally hashed up into classic slap stick American Comedy which has more emphasis on showing women than actually showing some quality comedy. I have never been too much of a fan of Peter & Bobby Farrelly who gave us the likes of There’s Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber, Stuck on You and Shallow Hal. All are movies that have been widely viewed – so I guess they make their money. But they still have to learn even the basics of movie making. I guess there are enough and more takers for slapstick. So what if it is cheap laughter. Its laughter anyways I guess. Cannot say much about any of the other aspects of movie making cause they were pretty much absent. If you liked the previous stuff that the Farrelly brothers have dished out then you may find this just a little bit lower in rating. I don’t think it deserved anything more than 3 on 10 and that too because of an interesting storyline and the fact that it was finished reasonably well. Yeah you can also say I give it a point for the hot women on display (I am being honest here). Really – don’t waste your time. Put in half the money into my account for saving it for you.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi811440665/

The Way Back

Based on a true story on which a book has been written, The Way Back, is the story of a few mad men (that’s the only way I can describe them) who would have rather died free in the cold of Siberia than in a prison camp where they were being held. Not many (in fact I cant think of any) movies have been made on the not so fair calls taken by Stalin in the build up to the World War. Maybe it would be fair to say that Josep found himself on the right side of Roosevelt. The book used for the screenplay was called The Long Walk (you bet it was long!!!! – 4000 miles long!!!) by Sławomir Rawicz. But no one said that when you make a movie from a book with the word Long in the title, you have the right to get the movie to associate with the same adjective. Director Peter Weir (Truman Show, Master and Commander) seems to have got it wrong this time around with clichés such as unnecessary long shots of 6 people walking down the desert and arid plains of Mongolia or with his complete lack of continuity between several shots. Unless of course the print that was sent across to India wasn’t the final cut.


Nevertheless, getting on with it. The Way Back is the story of 8 people who are locked up by Stalin in a prison camp in Siberia. Its around 1939 and Hitler has occupied one part of Poland and Stalin the other. The Polish are however stuck right in the middle and are obviously not too pleased with it. This is when Janusz (Jim Sturgess) gets imprisoned for anti Stalin activities. Here he meets an American who has gone as cold as the weather in Siberia and goes by the name of Smith (Ed Harris) and a first name of Mister. He also gets acquainted with five other men – Valka (Colin Farrell) a hardened Russian Criminal, Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean) an artist who survives at the camp by making erotic sketches, Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky) a young boy who suffers from night blindness, Voss (Gustaf Skarsgård) a Latvian Priest and Zoran (Dragos Bucur) an accountant from the erstwhile Yugoslavia. And then there is an actor, Khabarov (Mark Strong) whose only way of surviving in the madness of the prison is to weave fantasies about how it is possible to escape from the camp. But then he meets Janusz who takes the concept too seriously and when he finds an opportunity, the 8 of them decide to take advantage of a blizzard to escape. And so begins the long long walk which they plan to take from Siberia to Mongolia. Along the way, they also pick up Irena (Saoirse Ronan) who claims to have run away from another camp after her parents were murdered by Russians.

The Way Back is an extremely poignant and slow tale of how 9 human beings challenge their limits and walk through Siberia, along Lake Baikal onto the plains of Russia, Mongolia, Tibet and eventually into India. Most of the scenes are of course not shot on location with Bulgaria and Morocco taking up most of the shooting with a small portion towards the end being shot in India. Not that I am taking away any points from the team for choice of location but most of the build up didn’t seem to be finished too well. For e.g., towards the end of the movie, the accents start dropping distinctly and most of the actors of different nationalities start moving towards their natural accents. I was also surprised to learn that the movie had been nominated for an Oscar for Make Up. It was good alright but good enough for an Oscar nomination? Debatable. Or maybe I need to really take that movie appreciation course that I have been putting off for a long long time. The performances by most of the cast are however quite strong with Ed Harris leading the way as the reserved Mr. Smith. Saoirse (pronounced Seer Sha) Ronan stands out again and she is only helped along the way by being the only woman in the group of nine. On the whole, you can watch it if you are fine with watching an extremely slow tear jerker. I give this 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1465030937/

Star Trek

Most of us have grown up with the joke which said why did Captain James Kirk go into the ladies toilet. TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE. These 9 words have always been on top of mind recall the minute you say Star Trek or anything related to the Starship Enterprise. Or for that matter NCC 1701 which is the registration number of the Enterprise. And most of all the magic 4 words that is known to everyone in the enterprise because they are most useful in the desperate times that its members find themselves more often than not – BEAM ME UP SCOTTY (Simon Pegg)!!! J J Abrams (the director of Mission Impossible III) takes us on the journey before getting to the Starship enterprise that you and have seen; with the use of stunning visual effects all through. Would have expected nothing less with Star Trek.


This story begins with a very young George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) who is suddenly saddled with the leadership of the space craft when they get attacked by a huge Romulan Ship out of the blue. The Romulan Captain, Nero (Eric Bana – a very sinister looking one) asks for a face to face with the captain of the ship. He is in search of a half breed Vulcan who goes by the name of Spock (Zachary Quinto). But he doesn’t realize that he has gone back in time and is now over 25 years behind time. Frustrated, he kills the captain and opens fire on the ship which is now led by George who orders immediate evacuation of the flight and ensures that his pregnant wife, Winona (Jennifer Morrison) is taken to safety. Malfunction of the auto pilot forces George to stay back in the craft and eventually give up his life.

Growing up fatherless has its drawbacks and James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine), genius by any standards is a rebel without a cause at just over 20 years of age. He aces all his tests but doesn’t want to join the forces. As if he were trying to prove a point. But all of that is till Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who served with George Kirk, bumps into young Jim at a bar brawl. He spends sometime trying to drill sense into the bull headed young man and asks him to enlist with the forces. The next day, James Kirk enlists himself and begins his training. Over time he gets to meet Spock, who is considered as arguably the best brain in the part of the universe that we come from and also becomes close friends with Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban). Spock and James start off as individuals who hate the sight of each other. Surprising right, considering they are always seen as best of friends. Just one of the few surprising things that will come your way as you watch the prelude to the real thing.

As mentioned earlier in the review, special Effects have always been the hallmark of the Star Trek series and most die-hard fans would not have it any other way for sure. And you will not be disappointed one bit with this version either. That along with Make Up, for which it won its only Oscar last year added with the tremendous fan following that it has ensures that Star Trek finds itself @ 189 in the imdb top 250 list. There are some solid performances as well from the entire star cast. None that are stupendous in anyway but definitely above average. The use of sound and light to deliver the traditional feel of battles in space is beautiful. The only reason it lost the Oscar for Visual effects was that it came up against Avatar in the final draw. I would peg this as a must watch for fans of the series or otherwise. It plays quite regularly on Star Movies I think. Catch it the next time for sure if you haven’t seen it yet. 7.5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1761608473/

Black Swan

Fame hits you square in the face. And before you know it you are a popular household name. I am not talking about Natalie Portman – who you would know by now as the winner of this year’s Oscar for the Best Performance in a Lead Role (Female) for her performance in this movie. I AM however talking about a gentleman who has suddenly gained popularity in Hollywood. His 3rd ballet – The Nutcracker was recently made into a 3D version. And his first one – the haunting Swan Lake – forms an intrinsic part of Black Swan. When are we going to see the movie version of Sleeping Beauty? I am putting my bets on Baz Luhrmann to be the best person to get it onto screen. That would definitely make Tchaikovsky a force to reckon with not just in Hollywood but also in the general music taste of people across the world.


Black Swan is the story of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) who is in her late twenties and continues to stay with her protective mother Erica (Barbara Hershey), a failed ballet dancer who quit her passion for the art when she conceived Nina. However, her love for Nina and ballet lead her to monitor Nina’s every move. Almost like a guardian angel. Nina has been struggling over the years and is a perfectionist at the art. Nina’s only dream has been to get the lead role in The Swan Queen which is the flagship performance of the troupe. The current star of the show is Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) who has played the Swan Queen to date and is extremely popular. But all good things come to an end and its time to select the new lead. Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) – pronounced Toma – the owner of the theatre believes that Nina has perfection but doesn’t really have soul in her ballet – as in its not free spirited like the latest addition to the troupe – Lily (Mila Kunis). But Nina is not about to give up so easily and only throws herself even harder into practice. Thomas however lets her know before the final list is put up that he has chosen to go with one of the other dancers – Veronica (Ksenia Solo).

Darren Aronofsky is known for his previous works as the trailer proudly proclaims – A Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler (Mickey Rourke’s last attempt at an Oscar). But this one would probably be his best to date. Aronofsky converts a harmless sort of a fairy tale with equally harmless music into one that is not only dark but also eerie in parts and the music of Tchaikovsky suddenly starts sounding like it is from a horror flick. He also leaves a lot to the audience’s imagination and keeps the pace up throughout the movie. The cinematography coupled with the right cuts at the right places make Black Swan a complete treat to watch. An amazing talent we have here in the form of Aronofsky.

Coming to the acting part, I thought both Vincent Cassel deserved at least a nomination for this part. And Mila Kunis!!!! What happened to her??? She was that brainless bimbette last seen in That Seventies Show. Seems like Miss Kunis has come a long long way. I would not know both Cassel and Kunis performed better than the winners of the Oscar this year in the supporting role category but I am hoping to be able to reach a decision in a few hours from now. Natalie Portman’s execution of The Swan Queen deservedly got her the Oscar. Whether the talent was always there to be seen but not utilized to date is something only time will tell.

To me, the highlight of the movie was the metamorphosis of the White Swan into the Black Swan which is built up slowly but surely and explodes on screen towards the end. An exceptional movie to say the least. Wonder why people are not too excited about it. I completely loved it. As good as The King’s Speech if not better. The mystery surrounding the Oscars continues. 8.5 on 10 for The Black Swan. DON’T MISS IT!!!!

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3985807385/

Australia

LARGER THAN LIFE. EXTRAVAGANT. BRILLIANT COSTUMES. SUPERB VISUAL EFFECTS. LOADS OF SONG AND DANCE. VEREY LONG. HINDI MOVIE. Just some of the adjectives one would associate with a movie that comes from the table of Mark Anthony Luhrmann more popularly known as Baz Luhrmann. And one wonders why it took him so long to make a movie on his country of origin. It would have seemed the most obvious thing to do. But he did get around to it after 3 movies that have very much established a unique identity for Luhrmann. But Australia is a bit pale in comparison to the ones that Luhrmann has given us before. And I am not sure if my eyes were playing some games with me. But some of the sequences in the movie seemed very obviously made with the use of the blue / green screen. One can easily make out the difference in the colours and the tones between the main story and the background. Something that you would not expect from a Luhrmann. But the rest of the adjectives hold good even this time around. I would have been surprised if they hadn’t.


Luhrmann takes us down memory lane to a story that came to the fore only after the turn of the century, in fact towards the later part of the previous decade. On the 13th February 2008, the then Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Kevin Rudd offered a formal apology to what is referred to down under as “The Stolen Generations”. For about a century from 1869, maybe a bit longer, children of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent were taken away by force from their natural aboriginal parents by the police and handed over to church missions so that they could be bought up in the Australian way. Several of these children were never heard from again. Many movies have also been made which talk about the concept. “Australia” covers the story partly through Nullah (Brandon Walters) a love child of Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) and an aboriginal woman, Daisy (Ursula Yovich) on a cattle farm called Faraway Downs in the Northern Territories. Faraway Downs is owned by Lord Maitland Ashley and is the only cattle farm that doesn’t belong to King Carney (Bryan Brown). Obviously King Carney wants a monopoly and has been trying to squeeze out Faraway Downs from existence. But when Maitland dies in mysterious circumstances – allegedly by an aborigine who goes by the name of King George (David Gulpilil), Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) takes over the reins of the farm. Along with a cattle drover who goes by the obvious name of Drover (Hugh Jackman) she manages to take the first step in keeping the farm alive. Along the way, she builds a close bond with Nullah and wants to adopt him.

Set in the backdrop of the period just before World War II, Australia offers you fantastic visual effects and gargantuan sets ala Baz Luhrmann. But as mentioned earlier, it hasn’t been finished as well. Nicole Kidman is as over excited an actress as she has always been (probably in line with her character) and Hugh Jackman is as ice cold and rugged as he has always been (probably in line with his character again). In between all of this predictable acting, Brandon Walters comes to the fore in his portrayal of Nullah and the relationship he has with Mrs. Boss (Sarah’s name on the farm since she is the Boss’s wife). In short if you like well made larger than life Hindi movies which have acceptable levels of acting on display, then Australia is a fabulous way to spend your weekend afternoon. Preferably watch it on a larger screen TV or at a friend’s place on a home projector. That’s the only way to come as close to the effects that Baz wanted to portray. I give this one 6.5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1784152089/

Hot Tub Time Machine

There are slapstick comedies and there are slapstick comedies and then there are the slapstick comedies which are made for the heck of making a slapstick comedy. And if it is directed by a person who goes by the name of Steve Pink (eh?) then you can be even more certain of being given an average fare. That he has co-produced the likes of Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity (a movie that I had reviewed sometime back) are no reflection on his directorial skills whatsoever but would definitely go a long way to reinforce his complete and utter fascination or love for John Cussack. He has one more slapstick called “Accepted” under his belt. Which would probably explain why Hot Tub Time Machine (HTTM) really did not create too many waves at the Box Office in India. Having said that the movie does have some humour which would explain why I use the term average against the words horrendous or bad while talking about HTTM. Its one of those slapsticks that are barely watchable. For once I wasn’t complaining too much coz I watched it from a copy that was put onto my hard disk by my good friend Parikshit Dalvi (PD – thanks for saving me the money. Knowing me, I would have bought it off the shelf at quite a price).


Adam (John Cusack) and Nick (Craig Robinson) are close childhood buddies who are not too thrilled about their respective lives. Adam has been unsuccessful in love for as long as he can remember and has recently been dumped by his current girlfriend (wait a minute – is that the right way to put it? If he has been dumped then it would be his ex-girlfriend right? Whatever. You guys get the point right?). His nephew, Jacob (Clarke Duke) who is a video game addict. Nick Weber is a henpecked husband who works at a dog spa and has this morbid fear that his wife is cheating on him. They also have another person who completes their circle of friends. Lou (Rob Corddry) who is pathetic at investments and has lost a truck load of money leading him to be debt ridden. He is the true wild child who would rather be a rock star than anything else. When he comes back from a drunken night, he almost dies of carbon monoxide poisoning in his car thanks to a cheap thrill of revving his engine in a closed garage. But he is saved just in time. When Nick and Adam learn of this, they come to visit him and impulsively make a plan to revisit their teenage feral days where they once made a memorable trip to the Kodiak Valley Ski Resort. A very reluctant Jacob tags along. They reach the resort to find a hot tub in their backyard with a dead dog in it. But a few hours later, they find it cleaned and filled up and the night of random partying begins. They wake up the next morning obviously with heavy hangovers but much to their disbelief and surprise – in 1986 – 20 years back. Its now upto them to find out how this happened and more importantly, how they are going to make their way back.

Interesting concept. Could have been executed in a cleaner fashion but Steve Pink is obviously not too capable a director. The acting is again quite average – desperate would be the right word. Cusack should stick to either the acidic comedy genre or the romantic comedy one. Slapstick is just not for him. The only thing us men can look forward to in the uncut version is a fair bit of nudity. In a nutshell – nothing great. I would not give it more than 4 on 10. Watch it if u are a Cusack or a slapstick fan or if you really loved the likes of American Pie.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4173726745/

True Grit

Its been quite a while since I have seen an authentic western. And after Jeff Bridges got his 2nd nomination for the Oscars in as many years, I was even more keen to watch True Grit. Add to it the fact that it has been directed by Joel & Ethan Coen who have very rarely put a foot wrong in most of the movies that they have given us. The combination was sufficient to get me up @ 7 am on a Saturday morning and make it to the 9 am show @ PVR Phoenix (no they are not paying me for this…. Although I do wish they would). I have to confess that I owe all of you an apology for not having posted a review in a while. Have been bitten by the cricket bug myself and didn’t go the distance to make time for putting my thoughts down for the past 4 days. Having said that, I have finally managed to and intend to get it back on track.


It is 1880 in the WWW – Wild Wild West for the un-initiated . Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is a fourteen year old who finds herself in a position that most of us would not want to. Her father has just been murdered and she has to collect the body. She may be fourteen, but she is extremely strong minded and not willing to go back till she gets to the bottom of all of this. She packs her father’s body off back home on the train with a message to her mother that she will be back soon. On finding out that her father was killed over a petty fight by a wanted outlaw Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) who is out scott free, she decides to seek justice. And justice in the WWW follows only one pattern – an eye for an eye. But she also knows that the law will take its own course. If she needs a quick decision, then she needs to find a bounty hunter or a marshall who would do it for some more money (structured corruption makes it legal ). But she doesn’t have any money left with her and so has to use her intelligent ways to wriggle her late father out of a deal that he had made with a local business man and gets enough to hire the services of Reuben J “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) who is said to be a marshall who has “True Grit”. Someone who really doesn’t care much about Outlaws and would rather the world is rid of them. He has to date taken care of 23 of them and is coincidentally being tried for them in a court of law – the WWW version of dealing with Human Rights Violation. He is quite surprised when a spirited fourteen year old approaches him with an offer of a princely sum of $50 – a lot of money at that time – and reluctantly agrees to take up the search for Tom Chaney. The kid wants to join but Rooster gives her the slip and takes off with a Texas Ranger La Beouf (Matt Damon) who is also on the lookout for Chaney for shooting a senator in Texas.

True Grit is about strong performances. You would need to listen to the dialogues extremely closely since they are all in an extremely Southern accent – any further south and it would be Spanish. For most of us, it would be extremely difficult to pick up the heavily accented speech. So listen very carefully or better still watch it somewhere that has sub titles. That however doesn’t change the fact that Jeff Bridges, Matt Daman and Hailee Steinfeld have all come up with scintillating performances to say the least. And most of all Steinfeld, who with an Oscar nomination for her performance as Mattie Ross has come into Hollywood with a bang to say the least. The confidence with which she holds her own in front of two of the best actors of our time is eerie to say the least. What a way to debut I say!!! Jeff Bridges would have picked up the Oscar this time if not for one Colin Firth and another Javier Bardem. That True Grit returned home empty handed from the Oscars can be only explained by the fact that it is a damn good movie but not the best in the 10 categories that it was nominated in. But 7.5 on 10 it is an absolutely must watch.  Just watch out for the accents and the pace that could be perceived as slow by some of us.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1984862489/