The orchestra where our protagonist - a cello player played has been disbanded. He realises he is not talented enough to continue as cello player but not before he has spent a few million on a new cello. At this point we are drawn in by the story. He encounters a live octopus, sells his cello and moves with his wife to the countryside into a cafe/house his mom left for him when she died. He is broke and has an irritating wife who keeps smiling (he doesn't think so, but I do) A chance ad leads to a job cleaning, decorating and encoffining dead people (yes I know, you have to be dead to be encoffined - a word I learnt from the subtitles :)) This gives the script a chance to go into dead body humour, heart wrenching sobbing etc etc.
The plight of lonely old women, shunning of people who handle dead bodies, lost fathers and scarred childhoods is all handled in between scenes of the hero playing cello in the green japanese countryside with geese and flowers for company. (Very DDLJ)
I'm not saying it was a bad movie, apart from the wife, everybody else did a decent job. There are a few funny and a few touching scenes and overall it is a sweet movie. The rituals shown are really fascinating and among the best portions of the movie. And maybe if had not won an Oscar for best foreign language film, I might have been a little less harsh in judging it.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Invictus 2009
Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon and Clint Eastwood. The names are enough for a great rating, but somehow it all doesn't come together as easily as I expected. Morgan Freeman gives one of the best performances of his life. Even though he physically doesn't resemble Mandela much, the spirit was there. Matt Damon didn't have much to do but look inspired or look dejected. The rest of the cast also does a good job especially Tony Kgoroge who acts as the head of Mandela's personal security. But somehow the wow! factor is missing. It seems Clintwood sleepwalked through this movie. Everything is in place but the magic is missing.
It is the year Mandela is elected as the President of South Africa, apartheid has been abolished but the wounds still run deep. The economy is not in a good condition, nor is the country. While he should have concentrated on more worthy "presidential" duties, Mandela chooses to encourage the Springbrooks - South Africa's much hated symbol of the apartheid, an Afrikaaner rugby team with just one whitewashed african to win the Rugby World Cup for the new South Africa. Glimpses of how Mandela works, his sad family life at that point and the loyalty he inspired are very well portrayed. The Springbrooks led by Matt Damon are at first resistant but soon fall in line with Mandela's "Human calculation"
If you want to watch a feel good movie that is based on an inspiring true life story, this is for you. But forget about any Clintwood magic in this one.
6/10
It is the year Mandela is elected as the President of South Africa, apartheid has been abolished but the wounds still run deep. The economy is not in a good condition, nor is the country. While he should have concentrated on more worthy "presidential" duties, Mandela chooses to encourage the Springbrooks - South Africa's much hated symbol of the apartheid, an Afrikaaner rugby team with just one whitewashed african to win the Rugby World Cup for the new South Africa. Glimpses of how Mandela works, his sad family life at that point and the loyalty he inspired are very well portrayed. The Springbrooks led by Matt Damon are at first resistant but soon fall in line with Mandela's "Human calculation"
If you want to watch a feel good movie that is based on an inspiring true life story, this is for you. But forget about any Clintwood magic in this one.
6/10
Friday, January 29, 2010
Goa
You have a string of great ideas that you would put in a movie, but no story. So you string these great ideas and jokes together and in between place some songs and a half baked story and voila! You have Goa. I like Venkat Prabhu and he did an ok job with his screenplay's till now (Chennai 28 & saroja) but this time around, he should have hired a good screen writer and a very good editor. I love the irreverence with which he treats certain scenes. A few examples - the statutory warning against smoking changed a teeny bit to hilarious results. The usual introductory aarthi of the amman where the prayer is for rain, well being of all and ofcourse that the movie should do well in b & c centres :) A song with Premji giving a "Tamil Nadu"( a map) to the foreign girl and ofcourse one of the couples in the movie is a bit unusual (hehe I wont spoil the fun)
The Story:
Three guys from a very isolated village near Madurai or Theni. Jai is the wannabe NRI with some great lines, Premji is the guy given to the temple - saamikannu in a hilarious role and the third guy (i forgot his name) is the village casanova. The movie follows their adventures or rather misadventures. And after all the misadventures the movie has had, I was hoping they would have put in some more effort to atleast edit it well and provide a strong story line.May be they thought the publicity (although bad) was good enough. Anyways its supported by the funny scenes and a nice follow up at the ending, though the second half of the movie looks like a mish mash of clips from different movies.
Some of the jokes are great, though most of them have been stretched to almost breaking point. Premgi as usual provides the comic - er relief and Sampath!! I'm not going to give away the suspense but he blew me away! From the adorable macho villain in Saroja to...well, just the opposite! The women provide adequate support, with Pia looking great, a foreign girl who does her stuff and Sneha looking trim and doing a pretty good job.
A 5/10
The Story:
Three guys from a very isolated village near Madurai or Theni. Jai is the wannabe NRI with some great lines, Premji is the guy given to the temple - saamikannu in a hilarious role and the third guy (i forgot his name) is the village casanova. The movie follows their adventures or rather misadventures. And after all the misadventures the movie has had, I was hoping they would have put in some more effort to atleast edit it well and provide a strong story line.May be they thought the publicity (although bad) was good enough. Anyways its supported by the funny scenes and a nice follow up at the ending, though the second half of the movie looks like a mish mash of clips from different movies.
Some of the jokes are great, though most of them have been stretched to almost breaking point. Premgi as usual provides the comic - er relief and Sampath!! I'm not going to give away the suspense but he blew me away! From the adorable macho villain in Saroja to...well, just the opposite! The women provide adequate support, with Pia looking great, a foreign girl who does her stuff and Sneha looking trim and doing a pretty good job.
A 5/10
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Two States, Chetan Bhagat
Frankly speaking I do not understand the hype surrounding Mr IIT Bhagat and his books. Plus there was the film fiasco.(The movie was far better than the book could ever aspire to be) The first one succeeded because he took advantage of the IIT craze that has overtaken the nation. The following books showed that not only was he a bad writer, but one with absolutely no imagination at all. I almost cried over the time I had lost reading one night at the call centre. So when two states came out, I refused to even consider reading it. But then one red coloured copy (i love red) lay on my library desk with no takers, so decided to give in. It was ok, like a blog written by an IIM (yes we know you went to all these prestigious colleges Mr Bhagat) friend. A masterpiece of literature or even a good novel it was not.
It talks about the love story of two people from different states as the imaginative title suggests. They fall in love, the family doesn't. To give him fair credit, he has shown faults of both communities equally and has brought in some interesting conflicts. Apart from that its just a glorified diary.
So I reached the conclusion, when it comes to recounting bits of his life with a little bit of masala added Mr Bhagat does a good enough job. Just as most of us with a working knowledge of English and some spare time can. When it comes to using his imagination, Mr IIT/IIM fails miserably. All said and done, he markets (or is marketed) aggressively and hopefully does not represent the young and upcoming writers of this generation in India. Because if he does, it falls into the same trap that our newspapers, tv channels etc are into - Dumbing down everything.
It talks about the love story of two people from different states as the imaginative title suggests. They fall in love, the family doesn't. To give him fair credit, he has shown faults of both communities equally and has brought in some interesting conflicts. Apart from that its just a glorified diary.
So I reached the conclusion, when it comes to recounting bits of his life with a little bit of masala added Mr Bhagat does a good enough job. Just as most of us with a working knowledge of English and some spare time can. When it comes to using his imagination, Mr IIT/IIM fails miserably. All said and done, he markets (or is marketed) aggressively and hopefully does not represent the young and upcoming writers of this generation in India. Because if he does, it falls into the same trap that our newspapers, tv channels etc are into - Dumbing down everything.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Rocket Singh Salesman of the year
Ranbir Kapoor is a supposedly a straightforward sardar who wants to be a salesman. He gets a job in AYS, a computer supplying and servicing company. The first day he meets his boss Nithin, a hard boiled saleas man who has every trick in the book and some that are not in the book or anywhere else for that matter. He shows the trainee the ropes. We are also introduced to Prem Chopra as Ranbir's grandfather who excels in this movie otherwise populated by youngsters. Singh is sent to a client by himself a few days later and the client asks for a bribe. Now this is the most common thing in India and I found it hard to believe how naive the character was. Apart from refusing outright, he writes a complaint and drops it in the company's complaint box. As is expected he is ostracized in office and asked to cold call till his training period is over, which is kind of wierd because the training period is when you can be fired without a notice. Anyway the siren receptionist feels sorry for him and gives him the number of customer who had sent an enquiry.
During the course of the sale he discovers that the computers can be assembled at a fraction of the cost of the branded ones (something im sure even a 10'th standard kid can tell you) and so sells the client( two pretty girls) the computer he assembles with the help of the office tech support( always on porn sites and never sleeps) Now the story so far was good, from here the scriptwriters who repeatedly paint the hero as a guy with high morals make him run an illegitimate business with stolen clients (The explanation given is that they are clients who are dissatisfied with AYS. But it is a list and its stealing.)The hero has no qualms about using office time, but keeps a list of amenities used so that he can pay his boss back. These idiosyncracies ruin the movie. Your main protagonist never gives bribes but is willing to commit fraud. A half hearted attempt to show him being humiliated and hence his actions are given, but fails to prop the story. If only that had been taken care of, the movie would have not been like reading a horrendous piece of misleading philosophy (eg Ayn Rand).
The hero obviously wins the day, but the message gets diluted. 5/10.
During the course of the sale he discovers that the computers can be assembled at a fraction of the cost of the branded ones (something im sure even a 10'th standard kid can tell you) and so sells the client( two pretty girls) the computer he assembles with the help of the office tech support( always on porn sites and never sleeps) Now the story so far was good, from here the scriptwriters who repeatedly paint the hero as a guy with high morals make him run an illegitimate business with stolen clients (The explanation given is that they are clients who are dissatisfied with AYS. But it is a list and its stealing.)The hero has no qualms about using office time, but keeps a list of amenities used so that he can pay his boss back. These idiosyncracies ruin the movie. Your main protagonist never gives bribes but is willing to commit fraud. A half hearted attempt to show him being humiliated and hence his actions are given, but fails to prop the story. If only that had been taken care of, the movie would have not been like reading a horrendous piece of misleading philosophy (eg Ayn Rand).
The hero obviously wins the day, but the message gets diluted. 5/10.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Three Idiots
All the engineers out there from the gazillion engineering colleges that dot our country know everything that is said and preached in 3 idiots. There may even be 3 million idiots who have gone through the same grind to realise it themselves. I know I am one. (I needed 4 years of engineering and 1 1/2 years of PG to realise what I actually wanted to do) All this said and done, I wondered how many non engineers would like it. I guess they would. There are enough gags, suspense and sentiment to please any average hindi movie goer. Some lines are hilarious, others bring on a smile. Though not a mass pleaser like Munna Bhai, Hirani does bring sparks of brilliance to this movie. All the actors have atleast 2 decades separating them and their college days, yet they manage to somehow convince us, a feat in itself. And Aamir Khan, although I must say is a pain in the wrong place off screen, is a delight on it. Boman Irani as always makes us forget the actor and only see the character. Madhavan proves his mettle as a able support yet again and Sharman Joshi is great too.
The story revolves around ICE, a prestigious engineering college run by a tyrannical Boman Irani nick named predictably as Virus. Aamir Khan is a revolutionary genius who challenges the "by heart" method taught in all our colleges and manages a few inspiring dialogues on the same. There is a suicide, a girl and ofcourse the hero saving the day. But that is only one half of the story. Madhavan is there because his dad has sacrificed everything to make him an engineer, though he wants to be a wildlife photographer and Sharman is a poverty stricken religious boy whose whole family including an unwed sister is waiting for him to get a job and save them. The black & white sequences showing his family plight are a delight! The little jokes sprinkled here and there apart from Omi, the golden boy in college who hates Aamir are like icing on the cake. The story then takes the suspense path and though the ending and the consequent story is a tad predictable, its timepass and in the tradition of great Hindi mass movies takes us through the gamut of human emotions and a few underwear clad butts too. Kareena did not impress except in a few scenes and I was thankful she had very little screen time. All in all a 6/10.
The story revolves around ICE, a prestigious engineering college run by a tyrannical Boman Irani nick named predictably as Virus. Aamir Khan is a revolutionary genius who challenges the "by heart" method taught in all our colleges and manages a few inspiring dialogues on the same. There is a suicide, a girl and ofcourse the hero saving the day. But that is only one half of the story. Madhavan is there because his dad has sacrificed everything to make him an engineer, though he wants to be a wildlife photographer and Sharman is a poverty stricken religious boy whose whole family including an unwed sister is waiting for him to get a job and save them. The black & white sequences showing his family plight are a delight! The little jokes sprinkled here and there apart from Omi, the golden boy in college who hates Aamir are like icing on the cake. The story then takes the suspense path and though the ending and the consequent story is a tad predictable, its timepass and in the tradition of great Hindi mass movies takes us through the gamut of human emotions and a few underwear clad butts too. Kareena did not impress except in a few scenes and I was thankful she had very little screen time. All in all a 6/10.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Why Avatar can not be the next star wars...
Every article written about James Cameron's Avatar touts it to be the next best thing, the next Star Wars to be precise. It is not. The attention to detail is the same, but after a truckload of sci fi movies that have been dumped on us throughout the decade and before that, Avatar does not inspire the same awe and excitement that Star Wars initially did.
It is a great movie, it is a great story and it is path breaking but to the average joe on the ground, its just another great animated movie. I personally loved it. I had read about the attention to detail, including the animals anatomy (the breathings holes that provided direct flow to the lungs) the fact that every bolt and nut on the machines had to be explained, the colours inspired from the deep during his work on Titanic etc so I noticed and I admired. But what about people who had not read all this, they just saw a weird alien looking animal and some cool machines like any other sci fi/fantasy movie. The saving grace here was the visual appeal. Cameron managed to make us gasp and hold our breath at the beauty of Pandora. It took him 12 years to complete and in those 12 years the audience had grown jaded. We will love Avatar, but not with the same intensity that we did Star Wars.
There is another important point against Avatar. Though the story is great, the characters did not have many dimensions to them. In Star wars there was passion and politics and family and intrigue and sentiment and comedy and full on entertainment. With Avatar it gets overcome by the visuals. There is a linear story with mostly one dimensional characters. And with the amount of money spent on the animated characters the least they could have done was to hire a good dialogue writer to make those animated characters sound better and more relatable. Every cliched sentence has been used and abused in the movie.
After all the hype has died down, I wonder where we will place this movie, especially after the same technology spreads and is adapted for better scripts.
PS: I am anyways going to watch it again.
It is a great movie, it is a great story and it is path breaking but to the average joe on the ground, its just another great animated movie. I personally loved it. I had read about the attention to detail, including the animals anatomy (the breathings holes that provided direct flow to the lungs) the fact that every bolt and nut on the machines had to be explained, the colours inspired from the deep during his work on Titanic etc so I noticed and I admired. But what about people who had not read all this, they just saw a weird alien looking animal and some cool machines like any other sci fi/fantasy movie. The saving grace here was the visual appeal. Cameron managed to make us gasp and hold our breath at the beauty of Pandora. It took him 12 years to complete and in those 12 years the audience had grown jaded. We will love Avatar, but not with the same intensity that we did Star Wars.
There is another important point against Avatar. Though the story is great, the characters did not have many dimensions to them. In Star wars there was passion and politics and family and intrigue and sentiment and comedy and full on entertainment. With Avatar it gets overcome by the visuals. There is a linear story with mostly one dimensional characters. And with the amount of money spent on the animated characters the least they could have done was to hire a good dialogue writer to make those animated characters sound better and more relatable. Every cliched sentence has been used and abused in the movie.
After all the hype has died down, I wonder where we will place this movie, especially after the same technology spreads and is adapted for better scripts.
PS: I am anyways going to watch it again.
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