Foxcatcher

Steve Carell in a role that is not comic and over the top would be perceived by most people as laughable for sure.  But believe me when I say this – Steve Carell as John Eleuthère du Pont will be spoken about for time immemorial.  It is a stroke of casting brilliance and Carell grabs the opportunity with everything that he possibly can.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

What makes your feel exhilarated when you see a magic trick? Is it the surprising aspect of something that you did not expect? Or is it the actual showmanship that the magician gets to the table? Or is it just the awe of seeing something that is so difficult to believe that you start believing that anything is possible?

Crazy Stupid Love

All Steve Carell fans in the house – raise your hands!!!! I am sure there would be millions of you out there. And I am definitely one of you. Always been a Carell fan – even though he does get gut wrenchingly slapstick at times. More often than not, he lives up to the high standards of comedy that he sets for himself. And there is something absolutely hilarious about his brand of “straight faced – expressionless” comedy. Very rarely would you see movements of muscle on the face but yet, you have to give it to the man for coming up with the goods more often than not.

This time around he plays the role of Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) who is a 40 something man and married to Emily Weaver (Julianne Moore) for over 20 years now. Cal seems to think he is happily married. But that may not be the case with Emily who doesn’t waste too much time over dinner and pops out those earth shattering four words – I want a divorce.

It would seem that while Cal has been the loyal husband, Emily thought that the spark was lost and was upto some hanky panky with her colleague David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon – why does he keep getting such roles). A crushed Cal decides to move out of his house asap and start the divorce proceedings. He gets into a life filled with self pity and can use only one line to hope and pick up women – My wife is sleeping with another man. Needless to say, his success rate hasn’t seen a curve going above the level of 0.

Around this time is when he meets Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) – ladies man par excellence who cannot stand Cal wallowing in his heart break and decides to “take Cal under his wing”. With some efficient coaching, Cal soon becomes a ladies man and the scores touch double figures. All going well till Jacob himself bumps into Hannah (Emma Stone) who believes that her stuck up boyfriend is actually going to propose. When he doesn’t, she decides to go out there and have a blast. Jacob becomes the object that is about to be used.

Much as the story may seem to be a soppy RomCom, it is actually far from it. The entire treatment by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa gives the movie a comic twist – and of course ably assisted by Steve Carrel. Good solid performances from most of the cast. Watch out for the bit part from the ever reliable Marisa Tomei – simply superb!!! If you haven’t seen Crazy Stupid Love yet, then please head out to the nearest DVD store and at least rent it if you don’t believe in buying DVDs. Will be well worth the 500 bucks. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3722091801/

Despicable Me

This year’s Academy award for best Animation Feature Film is going to be a bit tough. As of now, we have already seen Toy Story 3 which I believe was brilliant. And now we have Despicable Me which is going to be very close to Toy Story. Maybe a close 2nd but really close nevertheless. The difference being this comes from the studios of Twentieth Century Fox and not Pixar (synonym for Animation Movies) which is a very pleasant surprise to say the least. Finally there is some competition to Pixar. Will definitely ensure that there are better movies that come out in future… oh goody!!!!!

Meet Gru (Steve Carell) – He is really tall, with a large torso and really scrawny legs – like you wud see in a cartoon . He is also quite ugly I must say. He also drives a really really large automobile which bulldozes its way through traffic as if there was no tomorrow. His primary goal in life is to be the best criminal of all time!!! Standing in his way are 2 problems one goes by the name of Vector (Jason Segel). He is younger, smarter and does not have what is Gru’s second problem – Money!!!!!! Gru lives in a very dark house below which he has a massive operation unknown to the general public. He stays there with any entire army of small cute li’l creatures called Minions. He also has a geriatric Dr. Nefario (Russel Brand) as his chief scientist. Gru has also had a not so great upbringing with his mom (surprise surprise – Julie Andrews) not providing him any encouragement whatsoever.

And to make matters worse for Gru, his performance over the past few years has not led to any gain in confidence with the Bank of Evil – the primary bank that funds criminals and criminal activities. The Bank very clearly rejects his request for a new loan to steal the moon citing the existence of a new player who has already proven himself by stealing the Piramyd from Giza – quite a daunting task executed with utmost ease. The same ease with which he allows Gru to steal the Shrinking Device from a high security facility and then steals it off Gru.

In the meantime, we are introduced to Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) – 3 li’l girls from the local orphanage. Now they are obviously not treated quite well @ the orphanage and spend their time collecting funds by selling cookies – as good as child labour  - Not Good!!!! However, on one of their rounds, they knock on the door of Vector who it is a revealed has a fetish for a particular variety of coconut cookies. Gru who has been desperately trying to get into Vector’s lair to get the Shrinking Device back over hears this and cracks upon a plot to adopt the 3 kids and use them to get into Vector’s lair. He uses his “charm” to sweet talk his way with the warden at the orphanage and gets the kids home.

What follows is a lovely comedy of errors. A complete feast for kids and adults alike. Very slickly done animation. Great story line. Lovely humour. Super Family outing, paisa vasool movie. Great action too which doesn’t need a PG certification. Spice it up with even better thrills and joyrides. This one is a must watch in 3D to get the best possible effect.

Steve Carell shows that his versatility is now extended to giving voice overs as well. I think it is time that there is a separate category for best voice over @ the Oscars. The rest of the cast is equally good with the pick of the voice-overs being Elsie Fisher for the very little Agnes.

I give this 7 on 10 definitely. Toy Story will get the Oscar as of now but marginally as i had mentioned.  Go right ahead with your kids and family and have a wonderful Sunday afternoon at the movies.