I haven't watched a film in ages which makes me want to write something. It's depressing. I liked a lot of films i watched recently, but none of them good or bad enough to rave or rant about. The only one that i was really impressed with was The Dreamers, but i could not get myself to write anything about it. So this blog lies ignored for the time being, maybe i will get the motivation from something great that i watch sometime soon. Till then... well, sigh!
Terminator: Salvation
Director: McG
Year: 2009
Only one word for this. Disappointing.
Maybe expectations were too high, maybe it's hard to make another T2, but then some originality would have been appreciated. Borrowing every single tried & tested method from the first two films (bullets, bazookas, molten lead, freezing... everything has been done before) does not make it a sure shot winner. Neither does the damp squib of a plot. If you haven't seen no 1 & 2 you will probably not even be impressed by John Connor, leader of the resistance, only hope for the humans, blah blah, if it was not for Christian Bale's lovely face it wouldn't have mattered even if John Connor was cut into 50 pieces & fed to mechanical hyenas. Everybody is an accessory in this movie, male lead, female lead, supporting cast, nobody matters, only thing that is good is the camerawork, special effects & the technical shizznit Hollywood is so good at. But then if technicality made good films then we'd see the Resident Evil series screened at Cannes.
Verdict: Watch it if you have time to kill. Otherwise give us Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne any day, we'll pass on John Connor.
P.S: I almost forgot, wait for the scene where Arnie Schwarzenegger appears, it's so funny, you'll probably laugh enough to get your ticket-price's worth.
Year: 2009
Only one word for this. Disappointing.
Maybe expectations were too high, maybe it's hard to make another T2, but then some originality would have been appreciated. Borrowing every single tried & tested method from the first two films (bullets, bazookas, molten lead, freezing... everything has been done before) does not make it a sure shot winner. Neither does the damp squib of a plot. If you haven't seen no 1 & 2 you will probably not even be impressed by John Connor, leader of the resistance, only hope for the humans, blah blah, if it was not for Christian Bale's lovely face it wouldn't have mattered even if John Connor was cut into 50 pieces & fed to mechanical hyenas. Everybody is an accessory in this movie, male lead, female lead, supporting cast, nobody matters, only thing that is good is the camerawork, special effects & the technical shizznit Hollywood is so good at. But then if technicality made good films then we'd see the Resident Evil series screened at Cannes.
Verdict: Watch it if you have time to kill. Otherwise give us Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne any day, we'll pass on John Connor.
P.S: I almost forgot, wait for the scene where Arnie Schwarzenegger appears, it's so funny, you'll probably laugh enough to get your ticket-price's worth.
Gulaal
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Year: 2009
I can't really say whether a release close behind the heels of the very successful Dev D has been good or bad for Gulaal. It has been good in a way, because most people, who would have ordinarily avoided this extremely violent & grim movie, have flocked to the theaters to see what Kashyap has done next. The Indian movie going audience is till date largely composed of people looking for some entertainment & feel good movies work best here, there's nothing to feel good about in Gulaal. Yet it has been given almost 6-7 shows per day at the multiplexes third week into it's release, & the occupancy & response among the audience was surprisingly good even on a Monday afternoon.
And here probably also lies the loss of the movie. Dev D has left the audience confused about the directors intentions. For me at least,it was kind of weird to have a large group of middle aged ladies sitting in the row ahead, laughing away to glory at puns, which were, well, i suppose meant to be funny only in a sardonic, ironic sort of way. Add to it a story line rather difficult to figure out & you can bet people are going to be glad to break into nervous laughter at each opportunity they get, especially with people being shot every other minute at every minor pretext & dialogue corny enough to make the God fearing mommy loving Indian boy shit in his pants.
Gulaal starts out extremely well and stays quite that way throughout it's length, though i have to list out things about it i did not quite like.
Firstly, i felt that the climax was a bit too hurried, unexpected, now that's a good thing generally, but somehow it did not quite satisfy me. But then that could only be me.
Then there is the music of the film, especially towards the end, the songs are not worked well into the shots & stand out & sound rather jarring. But then, that too could be just me.
Thirdly, a few of the characters that started out well, could have been made more significant & meaningful but are only half done. Like Jesse Randhawa's character of the lady proffessor abused by the rowdy students, or the John Lennon worshipping Prithvi Singh & his eunuch sidekick. They are built up a bit & then abandoned as if in haste. Particularly the latter, the little bits of falshback don't go too far to make crystal clear. All the marijuana smoking & twisted song writing does not lead to any end in itself after all, as one may expect early on.
Lastly, i hate to say this, but some scenes toward the end (Dilip spiralling into insanity on being dumped by Kiran) are shot in the Dev D like psychedelic style, but that doesn't fit in too well over here. It becomes too heady a cocktail to be appealing. More so if a different approach is being introduced so late into a film which has progressed in a certain way for the first 1&1/2 hours or so.
(Then again i might be wrong, for i myself loved the sudden digression into absurdity in Magnolia, but somehow i failed to take this one this).
The good things about the movie... well, everything else. The acting, of course, everybody does an award worthy job (don't ask which award, the good ones, lol). Quite a watchable film, a very good film to be precise, in spite of all my criticism, i only criticize because i deem it worthy of being analyzed as serious cinema. Anurag Kashyap is for sure one of the few learned & talented directors in mainstream Hindi films these days, a guy to watch out for. I'll sure be watching out, eagerly for his next.
Year: 2009
I can't really say whether a release close behind the heels of the very successful Dev D has been good or bad for Gulaal. It has been good in a way, because most people, who would have ordinarily avoided this extremely violent & grim movie, have flocked to the theaters to see what Kashyap has done next. The Indian movie going audience is till date largely composed of people looking for some entertainment & feel good movies work best here, there's nothing to feel good about in Gulaal. Yet it has been given almost 6-7 shows per day at the multiplexes third week into it's release, & the occupancy & response among the audience was surprisingly good even on a Monday afternoon.
And here probably also lies the loss of the movie. Dev D has left the audience confused about the directors intentions. For me at least,it was kind of weird to have a large group of middle aged ladies sitting in the row ahead, laughing away to glory at puns, which were, well, i suppose meant to be funny only in a sardonic, ironic sort of way. Add to it a story line rather difficult to figure out & you can bet people are going to be glad to break into nervous laughter at each opportunity they get, especially with people being shot every other minute at every minor pretext & dialogue corny enough to make the God fearing mommy loving Indian boy shit in his pants.
Gulaal starts out extremely well and stays quite that way throughout it's length, though i have to list out things about it i did not quite like.
Firstly, i felt that the climax was a bit too hurried, unexpected, now that's a good thing generally, but somehow it did not quite satisfy me. But then that could only be me.
Then there is the music of the film, especially towards the end, the songs are not worked well into the shots & stand out & sound rather jarring. But then, that too could be just me.
Thirdly, a few of the characters that started out well, could have been made more significant & meaningful but are only half done. Like Jesse Randhawa's character of the lady proffessor abused by the rowdy students, or the John Lennon worshipping Prithvi Singh & his eunuch sidekick. They are built up a bit & then abandoned as if in haste. Particularly the latter, the little bits of falshback don't go too far to make crystal clear. All the marijuana smoking & twisted song writing does not lead to any end in itself after all, as one may expect early on.
Lastly, i hate to say this, but some scenes toward the end (Dilip spiralling into insanity on being dumped by Kiran) are shot in the Dev D like psychedelic style, but that doesn't fit in too well over here. It becomes too heady a cocktail to be appealing. More so if a different approach is being introduced so late into a film which has progressed in a certain way for the first 1&1/2 hours or so.
(Then again i might be wrong, for i myself loved the sudden digression into absurdity in Magnolia, but somehow i failed to take this one this).
The good things about the movie... well, everything else. The acting, of course, everybody does an award worthy job (don't ask which award, the good ones, lol). Quite a watchable film, a very good film to be precise, in spite of all my criticism, i only criticize because i deem it worthy of being analyzed as serious cinema. Anurag Kashyap is for sure one of the few learned & talented directors in mainstream Hindi films these days, a guy to watch out for. I'll sure be watching out, eagerly for his next.
Delicatessen
Director: Marc Caro, Jean Pierre Jeunet
Year: 1991
In spite of a theme like cannibalism, Delicatessen is in fact a fairy tale, & is made like one would tell a fairy story. With large doses of humour, twisted maybe, & a happy ending as well, but that too not in the conventional sense of the term.
It tells the story of a world, rather an apartment block, with the butcher slaughtering humans to cater to his tenants. People are killed for meat, people who die naturally are also cut up & eaten, even relatives are not spared. A circus performer down on his luck comes to work for the butcher, responding to an 'advertisement' in an employment newspaper. The butcher intends to get some work by the young man, before cutting his head off so that the meat supply for the tenants can be replenished. But then things go wrong, as the love blossoms between the butcher's daughter & the young man & then to save her man, the girl goes & joins hands with this (literally) underground group of rebels who are enemies of the cannibals. Thrown in between the main story are sequences involving a woman tenant of the building who is determined to kill herself to get rid of the 'voices in her head'. Each time she devices novel & innovative techniques to get the deed done but in comic & ironic strokes of (bad?) luck, fails every single time. Especially the final time, when she tries to make everything foolproof, aiming a gun at herself, while standing on a chair with a noose around her neck, at the same time popping a bottle full off pills & have the gas running & a flame ready to go off, yet things don't quite go her way, it is bound to have anyone in splits.
The musical sequences, like the ones with the bed springs and the duet between Louison & Julie, she playing the cello & him playing a saw are quite the highlights of the film. The film, even though it could have been tempted to go that way in lieu of the subject matter, does not try to be moralistic or pose any philosophical questions. It is told as a simple story of love, & love & innocence triumphing over the ones who oppose them. The closing sequence, on the roof with the two kids & Louison & Julie playing their musical duet is almost surreal.
Overall, it is a wonderful, eccentric & imaginative grotesque comedy from the directors of 'Amelie' & 'The City of Lost Children'. A must watch for all lovers of the cinematic artform.
Year: 1991
In spite of a theme like cannibalism, Delicatessen is in fact a fairy tale, & is made like one would tell a fairy story. With large doses of humour, twisted maybe, & a happy ending as well, but that too not in the conventional sense of the term.
It tells the story of a world, rather an apartment block, with the butcher slaughtering humans to cater to his tenants. People are killed for meat, people who die naturally are also cut up & eaten, even relatives are not spared. A circus performer down on his luck comes to work for the butcher, responding to an 'advertisement' in an employment newspaper. The butcher intends to get some work by the young man, before cutting his head off so that the meat supply for the tenants can be replenished. But then things go wrong, as the love blossoms between the butcher's daughter & the young man & then to save her man, the girl goes & joins hands with this (literally) underground group of rebels who are enemies of the cannibals. Thrown in between the main story are sequences involving a woman tenant of the building who is determined to kill herself to get rid of the 'voices in her head'. Each time she devices novel & innovative techniques to get the deed done but in comic & ironic strokes of (bad?) luck, fails every single time. Especially the final time, when she tries to make everything foolproof, aiming a gun at herself, while standing on a chair with a noose around her neck, at the same time popping a bottle full off pills & have the gas running & a flame ready to go off, yet things don't quite go her way, it is bound to have anyone in splits.
The musical sequences, like the ones with the bed springs and the duet between Louison & Julie, she playing the cello & him playing a saw are quite the highlights of the film. The film, even though it could have been tempted to go that way in lieu of the subject matter, does not try to be moralistic or pose any philosophical questions. It is told as a simple story of love, & love & innocence triumphing over the ones who oppose them. The closing sequence, on the roof with the two kids & Louison & Julie playing their musical duet is almost surreal.
Overall, it is a wonderful, eccentric & imaginative grotesque comedy from the directors of 'Amelie' & 'The City of Lost Children'. A must watch for all lovers of the cinematic artform.
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Year: 2008
Director: Woody Allen
Vicky Christina Barcelona has Woody Allen meeting Pedro Almodovar, & if you, like myself, love both these directors, you will definitely like this movie. So here you have Woody Allen's typical style, his breezy storytelling, his dry, quick wit & he throws in dashes of Almodovar's raging passions here & there & you get a concoction that is just right.
Woody Allen likes his women beautiful, yet not sexy in their truest sense, not in the wild, free sense of the term at least. Here Allen's latest muse Scarlett Johansson (who has been in all of Allen's last few films) & the equally beautiful Rebecca Hall play the two American tourists going to Barcelona for a summer where their very lives are turned around in a whirlwind of romance, emotions, romance & art. You have the very talented, very handsome Javier Bardem playing the painter Juan Antonio who is the ultimate bohemian & treats life like a piece of art, full of sensual pleasures. Then there is Almodovar's muse Penelope Cruz, playing the free spirited Maria Elena, who is consumed by the passion that drives her, often burning bright, often burning her out.
There is also a scene with the very Almodovarian Spanish soiree with the protagonists being overwhelmed by the music & then falling into passion.
Overall, like all Allen's movies, this one too is witty & funny, never gets preachy or boring & is completely entertaining.
Director: Woody Allen
Vicky Christina Barcelona has Woody Allen meeting Pedro Almodovar, & if you, like myself, love both these directors, you will definitely like this movie. So here you have Woody Allen's typical style, his breezy storytelling, his dry, quick wit & he throws in dashes of Almodovar's raging passions here & there & you get a concoction that is just right.
Woody Allen likes his women beautiful, yet not sexy in their truest sense, not in the wild, free sense of the term at least. Here Allen's latest muse Scarlett Johansson (who has been in all of Allen's last few films) & the equally beautiful Rebecca Hall play the two American tourists going to Barcelona for a summer where their very lives are turned around in a whirlwind of romance, emotions, romance & art. You have the very talented, very handsome Javier Bardem playing the painter Juan Antonio who is the ultimate bohemian & treats life like a piece of art, full of sensual pleasures. Then there is Almodovar's muse Penelope Cruz, playing the free spirited Maria Elena, who is consumed by the passion that drives her, often burning bright, often burning her out.
There is also a scene with the very Almodovarian Spanish soiree with the protagonists being overwhelmed by the music & then falling into passion.
Overall, like all Allen's movies, this one too is witty & funny, never gets preachy or boring & is completely entertaining.
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