All The King's Men

Before you watch the movie, first watch this snippet of about 7 minutes. This is a speech that is given by Willie Stark (Sean Penn) when he first realizes that he is being played for, in the upcoming election. More importantly, he realizes somewhere in his head that he has what it takes to be Governor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw_uTjf6VPc&feature=related

Based on the 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warner of the same name, All The King’s Men tracks the life of Willie Stark who is married to a school teacher. An accident in his county where a school caves in due to poor construction moves him to take up the cause of ensuring standards. One thing leads to another and before you know it, he is running for governor.

But as mentioned earlier, he was only being played for the part to ensure that there is a vote split between the other chief competitors. The scheme fails thanks to some great campaigning by Stark and he wins the race. The rest of the story is Stark’s movement from being an up-country politics unfriendly person to one who climbs the learning curve of dirty politics at the speed of light. He moves into being a dark scheming character – continuing to fight for the deprived – but playing his cards like a pro.

The director, Steve Zaillian, is actually better known for his prowess in screenplay (Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York, Moneyball, The Millenium Trilogy) and has had several nominations in the category. But when it comes to direction, he had two, not so well known but decent movies to his credit before he made ATKM. Arguably, ATKM was his best effort to date. There are a lot of segments where you maybe a bit lost but the pieces fall together as the movie trudges along.

One can fault Zaillian for pace but as I have always said, there is a thin line between slow and intense and I thought Zaillian did a good job flirting with the line. What works for him are the right cuts that ensured that moves the unnecessary stuff out. And of course the screenplay that’s Zaillian’s forte anyways – rocks.

ATKM is otherwise an actor’s movie. Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson & James Gandolfini. All Zaillian had to do was not screw up. And these 7 names would have done the rest. That’s exactly what happened. You will not get bored for certain. But as warned earlier – slow. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV_Yad1i36w

Stick It

The Vickerman Gymnastics Academy is run by a hard driving coach who goes by the name of – no points for guessing – Vickerman with a Burt before it (Jeff Bridges). He is responsible for putting together some of the best gymnasts that America has ever seen. He isn’t the most loved person around in the gymnastics world because of his outspoken behavior and because he pushes the game to the limit – his students, the officials, everyone around him actually. But that’s what makes him a successful coach I guess and he isn’t about to change the way he is.

Cut to – Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym) – Amercian gymnastic team @ the World Championships. Leaves her team in the last round for reasons best known to her. A rebel without a cause. Her sole purpose in life seems to be to buck the system. Her team mates are obviously shattered because suddenly a potential gold medal turns into no medal – yikes. Most peeved is Tricia Skilken (Tarah Paige) who was most looking forward to it. A few years later, as she continues to break the rules – and coincidentally break the law as well a few times – she finds herself in a situation that pushes her back to gymnastics And again – no points for guessing where she lands up.

Stick It takes a look at the fascinating sport of gymnastics, and how some silly archaic rules have taken away the beauty of the sport and pushed it down to controlling what is termed as “deductions”. So you don’t score a perfect 10 because you are brilliant but more so because u did nothing wrong, By wrong, one would mean not showing your bra strap inadvertently. Or not picking a song that is without lyrics for your floor exercise routine. It comes down to Haley to pick up the courage and as the title says – Stick it – to the face of these officials who take away the joy from a difficult and beautiful sport.

I am not sure if there are any other movies made that cover the topic of gymnastics or gymnasts and that is such a pity. On that count, full points to Jessica Bendinger to have picked a topic that has not been dealt with before. Add to it the fact that she has, as a first time director, probably cast everyone who has been or is a gymnast. If not, then she has done a fabulous job editing or morphing it or doing whatever it is that is done to make the stunts and performances look just brilliant.

Although it isn’t much of a movie for the acting performances, I would still recommend it to audiences. I think its playing on Sony Pix or Zee MGM or something like that. Worth spending a couple of hours on. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDExqBXKw4k

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/

Blood Diamond

Now here is a movie worth watching over and over and over and over again. And then when you have seen it enough times over you can watch it once more for good measure. I think Leonardo DiCaprio came of age somewhere in 2002 when he did Catch Me If You Can. I could give him credit for The Beach as well but I guess he was just starting to warm up. But my word did he take off after his portrayal of Frank Abagnale Jr.!!! As the corny one liner goes – there was no turning back. Danny Archer was his 3rd role after Frank Abagnale Jr. and man did he get it to rock. Truck loads of effort gone into getting the accent right. Another few truck loads of effort gone into getting the overall feel of a diamond smuggler. Quite a bit of hard work Leo boy and a pity you could not grab hold of Uncle Oscar despite all of the effort. Hope in hell that you would have known about Mr. Whitaker and his portrayal of the Butcher of Uganda. Tough Luck Leo. I am quite certain you will get this sooner than later.
Now let me see. Why do you think Blood Diamond was never even nominated for an Oscar. I have tried to rack my brains for a long time over this. But then the Academy may have its fetishes for finer nuances which us lowly mortals are not familiar with. Did Blood Diamond have a storyline – hell it did. A cause that no one had picked up to date which also made it fresh i.e. never before told story of conflict diamonds which had started getting into the news a while before Edward Zwick picked it up. And it is an original. So was it the performances? Maybe. But then both Leo and Djimon earned nominations. So I guess it cannot be acting. Yeah I guess no one else had much of a role to play in the entire movie which I agree to but one cannot fault either Jennifer Connelly or Arnold Vosloo with bad acting. It was a well knit movie in terms of performances.

So it has to be editing right? But there again there was a nomination for the golden statuette. Well I kind of gave up after going through the list. Maybe the direction was not upto mark or maybe the screenplay. What it was, none of us will ever know. If there the nominations are based on a voting system then I would guess Blood Diamond would have lost out extremely marginally for some more awards. Or put this entire concept of a doubt to my account because I am an amateur critic – probably need that FTI class really really soon (makes mental note).

If you haven’t seen Blood Diamond yet then I suggest you catch up with it whenever it plays on any of these movie channels or better still – buy your own copy ASAP. It will truly be worth it. I give it an 8 on 10 easy. Yenjoy the show I say!!!!

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi180027673/

Cars

OK. Here we go. Focus. Speed. I am Speed. One winner. 42 losers. I have losers for Breakfast…. Breakfast… wait, maybe I should have had breakfast. A little brecky could be good for me. No no no. stay focused. Speed. Faster than fast. Quicker than Quick. I am Lightning. Oh Yeah!!!! Lightning’s ready!!!!
Now how many movies do you know that start off with something as fascinating and memorable as this. Right from the first shot, John Lasseter (Toy Story 1 and 2) and Joe Ranft have you captivated. The story of Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) starts off with the build up to Lightning’s chance at winning the Piston Cup in the final reason of the year. The build up to the stand-off between The Legend, The Runner Up and The Rookie – The Blue Car No. 43 The King, Strip Weathers (Richard Petty), The Green Car No. 86 Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) and The Red Car No. 95 Lightning respectively who are tied @ same points at the beginning of the final race. And as luck would have it, the final race doesn’t prove to be the final race. Despite the mean efforts of Chick Hicks to cause the other of all crashes, Lightning squeezes through and is about to win the race and become the first rookie to win the Piston Cup. However, the haughty McQueen doesn’t heed his team’s instructions for a tyre change and finds himself at the last corner with two blown tyres, barely manages to cross the line and is tied with The King and Chick forcing a play off or should we say race off in California in a week. Phew!!! So much excitement in the first 10 minutes of the movie!!! You just know it that you have on your hands a phenomenal next 90 minutes.

What strikes you about Cars and puts it comfortably in the top 10 Animation movies of all time in my list – one that includes Lion King, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Wall E, Up, Ice Age & Kung Fu Panda – is the clearly fleshed out characters. Even the insignificant ones such as Jay Limo or the hottie twins i.e. Tia and Mia or the “Biggest Lightning McQueen Fan” are so nicely called out. The more important ones have almost nothing that is not clear by the end of the story. And the voice overs are simply perfect. I could not have thought of anyone better than Owen Wilson for Lightning and Paul Newman for the Hudson Hornet – a classic combination of a rookie learning from a veteran. Package all of the above with a solid message of humility and you have yourself an entertainer par excellence. One that can be seen with the entire family in town – correction – one that MUST be seen with the entire family in town. Don’t ask me how Happy Feet won the Oscar in the same year as Cars. I would not have in my wildest of dreams thought of handing over Uncle Oscar to anyone else in 2007. Cars 1 is definitely an 8.5 on 10 at least and one that everyone must not only watch but also own.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2483750681/

Scoop

“Never miss a Woody Allen movie if you have the choice” is a mental note that I had made a long long time back. I have kept upto the mental note to date. All of last afternoon post the doctor’s visit was spent in bed thanks to the antibiotics which put me off to sleep. I wouldn’t have gone to sleep had there been something reasonable playing on the tube. But the evening did have a silver lining on one channel. Zee Studio was screening “Scoop”. And adding to the eccentricities that a Woody Allen gets to the table, it stars who I consider the hottest Hollywood star – and I mean super sizzling flash point of water hot – Scarlett Johansson. Suddenly my flu had taken the back seat and almost disappeared – momentarily. About 2 hours later it was back to torment me and the antibiotics kicked in and started doing their job.

Joe Strombel (Ian McShane) is a dead man. Dead as a Dodo. In fact he is about to be buried. And in a different plane, he is being taken by The Reaper or Death (Pete Mastin), on his boat which is probably on its way to the ass end of nowhere. On the boat, Joe bumps into Jane Cook (Fenella Woolgar) who as you would have guessed by now, is also dead. Jane has a strong doubt in her head that she has been poisoned by her boss Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman) who is the millionaire son of a Lord. Jane used to be Peter’s secretary. She also believes that she was murdered because she was on the verge of confirming that Peter Lyman is the dreaded Tarot Card Killer whose resume of serial killing has recently crossed double digits. The journalist in Strombel is unable to control his instincts since he believes that he is onto something. But how can a dead journalist make any difference to the scoop of a lifetime???? Simple. He jumps of the boat of dead people. He is bound to appear somewhere after that right.

Sondra Pransky (flash point of water sizzling – Scarlett Johansson) is studying journalism and is living with her friends in London. She is an absolute amateur. So much so that she lands up getting laid by famous director Mike Tinsley (Kevin McNally) and doesn’t get anything out of him. But her life is about to change really quickly thanks to her visit to see a magic show. The Magician Sidney Waterman a.k.a. Splendini (Woody Allen) gets her on stage for his disappearing act. But Sondra is not alone in the Chinese Box. She has company. Company in the form of extremely famous but recently deceased Joe Strombel. Strombel quickly passes on the message of the scoop of the century to Sondra and urges her to take up the case like an investigative journalist would. That’s when Sondra decides to go under cover and befriends Peter Lyman as Jade Spence along with Sidney acting as her father Mr. Spence for lack of any first name. As the Tata Sky information bar would say “hilarity follows” over the next hour or so in the Spence’s attempts to expose Lyman.

A movie that is shot in typical Woody Allen style. Eccentric, unstable, funny. Woody Allen has never changed his style of acting no matter what role he is playing. He continues to awe his audiences with his capability of doing the same thing over and over again but still getting a fabulous response. One can never tire of him I guess. Scarlett Johansson can act reasonably well – yes I was watching the acting as well – but she does get a bit over what is required many a time. Hugh Jackman is quite good in his portrayal of Peter Lyman – very British – although he is Aussie by birth. Extremely watchable whether you are a Woody Allen fan or not. Easily a 7 on 10. One more if you if you dig Woody Allen.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2146763545/

Stranger Than Fiction

“As Harold took a bite of Bavarian Sugar Cookie he finally felt as if everything was going to be OK. Sometimes when we lose ourselves in fear & despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness & tragedy – we can thank god for Bavaraian sugar cookies. And fortunately when there aren’t any cookies we can find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin or a kind and loving gesture or a subtle encouragement or a loving embrace or an offer of comfort. Not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish and soft spoken secrets and Fender Stratocasters and maybe the occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all these things – the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties – which we assume only accessorise our days are for a much larger and nobler cause - They are here to save our lives. I know the idea seems strange. But I also know that it so happens to be true” – Zack Helm, Writer


Quite a long way to start off a review. I know. But definitely a line worth sharing. Written by Zack Helm, Stranger than Fiction, is about Harold Crick – someone who would auto qualify for the “World’s Biggest Nerd” contest. He may in fact go on to win it. What with his capabilities of being able to multiply 11503 x 3486 on the fly (don’t hold me to the numbers please)? He is single. He counts the number of strokes he takes to brush his teeth every morning after he wakes up at exactly 7:13 am. He goes through the same routine diligently every morning before he gets to work by the 8:17 Metropolitan Bus. Now wait a minute – the worst is yet to come – He works for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS for short) – HE IS A TAXMAN!!!!!

All is seemingly fine in Harold’s life until one Wednesday morning he begins to hear a voice in his head describing everything that he is doing. A first Harold ignores it but after a few minutes it begins to get really irritating. Nothing that he does seems to get the voice out of his head. His structured days start going for a toss. As the constant narration gets to him, he has no other option but to see a shrink, Dr. Mittag Leffer (Linda Hunt) who diagnoses it as schizophrenia. Harold would hear nothing of it. His constant denial gets the good doc to guide him to Prof. Jules Hilbert who is an expert in Literature – since the Voice (Emma Thompson) is extremely eloquent and speaks in proper English. Adding to the spice, in a manner of speaking, is Ms. Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhall) who is a rebellious civilian who has not paid part of her taxes the previous year due to her objection to the money in which the taxes are being used.

The essence of STF is captured in the first paragraph of this review. However the core twist in the tale, the USP has to be seen to be believed. It is truly Stranger than Fiction to say the least. Zack Helm’s writing is superb and the narration is extremely tight. One may say that it gets slow in parts but that was absolutely required. Anything faster and we could have lost the plot. I have never been a huge fan of Will Ferrel but he has come up with an outstanding performance here. Probably his best to date. He is supported ably by Maggie Gyllenhaal who is definitely not THE most talented actress these days but can definitely act. Add to the fact that she looks normal which gets her to look just that bit sexier as well. I like her.

Add to this the extremely super talented troika of Emma Thompson, Queen Latifah and Dustin Hoffman. Emma plays the role of the voice and that of acclaimed author, Karen Eiffel who is stuck with the task of finishing her novel but is unable to do so since the lead character has to be killed. She is as always effortless in her acting. And that voice – so calm and composed and soothing to the ears. Rounding off the acting talent on display with Queen Latifah who plays Karen’s assistant and the oh so 60+ but yet cool and confident and still baby faced Dustin Hoffman. Marc Forster is indeed extremely lucky to have worked on a concept like STF with the cast that was on offer. STF is indeed a “different” movie – but even different movies have to be well executed. Very clearly a 7 on 10 minimum.

We Are Marshall

Now this one is an out and out A Grade Sports Movie. Must watch and must rank in the top 10 sport movies of all time. Easy pick for anyone who is looking for videos for a team building or an inspiration building class. And it definitely rates along with the likes of Miracle on Ice & Remember the Titans. However, the message is distinctly different and that makes it even more enjoyable and long lasting.


In December 1970, the entire Marshall University Football Team along with support staff and a few fans – dies in a plane crash. All 76 of them. In one sad but true instance – they are all gone. A team that more or less held the fabric of the town together. They were not really the best ever to play the game. But played it with a zeal and passion that would get them all the way to the top of the ladder when the time for judgement came. All of a sudden, the entire town, shell shocked comes to a grinding halt. Almost every family has lost a dear one – a son, a father, an uncle, a cousin, a very close friend, a hero.

Completely crippled by this, President Dedmon (David Strathairn) is about to call of the entire football programme for the year. However, the football team co-captain, Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie) will not give up without trying. Prior to the fateful game, Nate has dislocated his shoulder and therefore is not with the team when the flight crashes. He rallies every student in the university who assemble that evening to push the committee to reverse its decision to stop the football programme.

Prez Dedmon then begins his arduous task of firstly hiring a coach. Red Dawson (Matthew Fox) Assistant Coach is approached first. Red decided not to take the flight @ the last minute and drive home instead. He is obviously ridden with guilt and shock and still reeling under the impact. He politely declines. No coach, obviously so, is willing to take up the challenge of stringing together a football team when only 3 members of the original team are alive currently. No one with the exception of Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) who in his words thought, “what if I were to lose my kids – that would hurt. And then I thought get that to a family, a team, a whole town – that must hurt real bad”. Much to the surprise of Prez Dedmon, he offers to take up the job and starts with the tiring task of putting together a football team that would get some sense of semblance and self respect back into the lives of the people in the town.

Director McG (surely in the Guiness Book for the director with the shortest name in Hollywood) stitches together a multifaceted movie which examines the stress that we go through with a loss of a loved one. Every possible relationship has been dealt with to the best possible manner. Starting with that of Paul Griffen (Ian McShane) who is one of the most influential people in the town and loses his star quarterback son, Chris, in the crash. Paul goes on to become the biggest stumbling block in the lives of the group that want to restart the Football programme. His inability to cope with the loss of his son has been handled extremely well. Then there is Annie Cantrall (Kate Mara) who is Chris’ girlfriend and is engaged to be married to him. What does she do with the ring that Chris gave her? There is Tom Bogdan (Biran Geraghty) who misses the ill fated game because he overslept. Now how is he going to come to terms with the entire concept of being alive because he was irresponsible?

We are Marshall is one of the sports movies that really takes the focus out of the winning part in most such movies. It focuses more on the building of a team from scratch. It focuses on building relationships block by block, day by day. It focuses on how we need put several times of a higher effort to get things done when the chips are down. It focuses on how we need to really get creative in times like the Marshalls faced in the 70s. It focuses on the all important – never say die – spirit that epitomizes successful sportsmen. Definitely a must watch. Add to your collection if you can – 7 on 10 from my side as a movie.

The Prestige

Every magic trick has 3 parts or Acts. The first step is the pledge where an ordinary object is introduced and if required the audience is invited to check on. Then there is the Turn which is the first part of the trick like making the object disappear. But the most important part is the third. The audience needs to see the object coming back before they genuinely place their faith on you and applaud. This is THE PRESTIGE.

In the late 1800s, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) & Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) are 2 up and coming artistes who work for an elderly magician Milton. Cutter (Michael Caine) is Milton’s Engineer – the person who controls the backend of all the tricks. Lastly there’s Julia (Piper Perabo) is the beautiful distraction to the audience, Angier’s wife, Milton’s assistant / helper who also is part of the lead trick – the underwater escape. In one of the attempts, Borden ties Julia’s hands in a different knot. Unable to escape, she drowns. And the story of vengeance between Borden and Angiers begins.

Since Milton’s show is now officially closed, our protagonists decide to start making a living off their own skill sets. Borden is convinced that good magic is all about getting ones hands dirty and is in his first show itself attempts to catch a bullet. A trick that can get a bit nasty if not executed well. Angiers shows up here and demands to know if Borden had tied the knot differently when Julia died. Borden maintains that he does not remember. In disgust, Angiers shoots 2 of his fingers off leaving him almost incapable of performing any further magic.

Both Angiers and Borden continue their rivalry over time and keep sabotaging each other’s shows with a pure intent of vengeance. They are now known as The Great Danton and The Professor respectively. The Professor, however, continues to be a better magician and Angiers the better showman. The constant attempt to stay ahead of the competition leads The Professor to his latest trick – The Transported Man – A seemingly simple trick of getting into a closet at one end of the stage and reappearing through a door at the other end in a split second. The trick, of course turns out to be a huge hit.

Incensed by the success of the Transported Man, Angiers now is desperate to get a trick of his own which is as impactful. However, his limited intelligence only leads him to resort to a body double and launch The New Transported Man which receives reasonable favour with audiences but does not manage to satiate Angiers’ apetite to know what exactly is being done. He starts going to great lengths to find out what is being done. He sends across his extremely attractive assistant Ms. Olivia Wenscombe (Scarlett Johansson) as a defector to the Professor’s camp. Gets her to steal the Professor’s book to which he needs a key to crack the codes. Kidnaps the Professor’s engineer, Fallon who he buries alive all just to find out the secret to the Transported Man. Borden succumbs into the pressure and gives him a one word answer – TESLA

The movie is set in the late 1800s, as mentioned earlier. It is slow but amazingly gripping – atypical Nolan style. This was Nolan’s 5th movie and by now the signs were ominous enough that we have with us someone who is going to be talked about in the movie business for eons to come. The magic that Nolan weaves by taking us way back in time through a rivalry between 2 professionals who are willing to go to any extent possible to be termed the best is simply superb. The cinematography is as always brilliant – with a golden hue that we have come to associate with most of Nolan’s movies to date – even those that have been released in the recent past.

The performances by almost everyone is simply amazing. Even David Bowie in his bit part of Tesla is immaculate to say the least. By now, quite surely, Nolan and Tarantino would be the most sought after directors to work with from an actor’s perspective.

I had mentioned in one of my earlier write ups that Nolan has raised the bar with almost every movie that he has made. One has to watch Batman Begins followed by The Prestige to really make this out. Slightly different genres of movies but distinct improvement in all aspects with no offence meant to any of Nolan’s works prior to The Prestige. I give this 8 on 10.