Movie Review – Ford v Ferrari

Vrooming to Victory

The first impact the movie would have, would be on your ears. Especially, if you had watched the movie with earphones like I did. Either you’d be enjoying the sound of cars whizzing from one ear to another like it happened with “Omahaziya” in your Sony Walkman or you’d be complaining of pain in your ears. Whatever may be the case, like the imaginary sparrows spinning around Tom’s head when Jerry makes him hit any roadblock with his mischief, the imaginary sound of the elite cars of the sixties would be buzzing in your head.

I’m a big fan of racing games, even though I’m not good at it. Just like how I like Mathematics even though I don’t get good marks in that subject. In Need for Speed, there used to be a stage where we would get slow cars and great environment. It would be easier to handle the cars around the corners, it doesn’t skid and other cars don’t cut corners every now and then. That used to be my favorite part of the racing game, I couldn’t proceed post that. Ford v Ferrari gave that vibe. This film would have felt lot more clinical if it had used the color of that era. Because if someone sees the film just out of the blue, by ways of film making, no one would be able to tell the time period. It feels recent. But I do understand that it’ll make the film artsy if made that way.

It was a film which was long impending in my list and just like anyone I thought it’d be a movie about two giants and their fights. When I started watching it, I understood it had two leads. I thought I was right. At least till the first half an hour of the movie I was of the opinion that one person out of the two would go to the other company and that’s what the film is about. But the director James Mangold cleverly doesn’t do that. A nice way to mislead the audience right from the way posters, title etc. were made.

The movie starts with Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) retiring from racing due to a health issues. It’s lovely to notice his composure. What I thought would be about his revival story or rage wasn’t there at all except for the one scene and my favorite one, where he takes Henry Ford 2 (Tracy Letts) for a spin. Reminded me of the story Lokesh Kanagaraj told as an idea for ‘Vikram’, where the lion says to the fox, “even though I’m old, I’m still a lion”. Apart from that Matt Damon doesn’t have much to do.

The movie is about Ken Miles (Christian Bale) entirely. May be that’s why Christian Bale would have agreed to do it. Bale was phenomenal in the movie. It’d have been a treat to his fans. Even for a non-fan like me, it felt like one of his best performance, if not the best. I generally feel he overdoes his role and spoils the flavor of the movie. But here it was to the point. From the posters I thought it’d have been Matthew McConaughey. Just imagine if the same movie had been made by Scorsese or Fincher and had McConaughey and DiCaprio as leads. It’d have been truly legendary.

There is no risk taken in the movie and that’s why the universal impact and that’s the reason the movie suffers from normalcy and doesn’t become a legendary movie. It’s a movie which anyone would like if they watch but if you ask me whether it’s a must watch movie, I’d say rather not, because the same feeling would be got from any movies of this genre like may be say a ‘Real Steel’. That’s the problem with making risk free movies. It’d be neither like a guilty pleasure movie like a ‘Death Race’ or ‘Fast and Furious’ nor like a cult movie like ‘Baby Driver’. It’d come and go, entertain, but wouldn’t impact.

Movie Review – Remember the Titans

A Fool Proof Sports Drama

Sports drama are always fool proof, isn’t it. All you got to do is stick to the template, put some decent actors and bam! You’ve got a winner on cards. There are very few sports films which goes out of the template, which are usually make or break. But when considering other genres, sports films are the only ones which people wouldn’t get bored because everyone like to see the underdog winning, everyone likes the passion on field and embraces the unity off it. ‘Remember the Titans’ too is one such film which does its job properly.

Seeing the title I thought it was a parody of movie like ‘300’ but thankfully not. Knowing that it had Denzel Washington, I was rest assured that whether the film gives me profound experience or not, it’d at least be a movie that I’d not regret watching. That’s exactly how it was. It kept me glued to the film for a sport which I didn’t know and the topic which was clichéd and beaten to death so many times. Yet the ever inspiring storyline and great actors keep us hooked to the screen. That’s the power of cinema.

The movie starts with Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) being appointed as an assistant coach to Bill Yoast (Will Patton) for the newly integrated T. C. Williams High School’s Football team (or in common terms, Rugby Team) in Alexandria, Virginia. Boone then has to take head coach position and the role gets reversed. Beautiful thing here was, how Boone’s character doesn’t change whether he was an assistant or the head coach. The rising was not shown dramatically or heroically yet Boone commands respect once he takes the position.

It’s a regular expected stuff from then on with whites and blacks not mingling and not playing the sport together. In the camp they are forced to obey and later become friends. Unfortunately as I had no knowledge about sports I couldn’t follow what was happening on screen but to be honest it was not necessary to know the sport completely. It’s not ‘Moneyball’. All you got to know is the emotion, which works, thanks to some great performances and music. The latter of course was a regular template music but mostly works. Because it’s a film like this.

The bonding between the boys were lovely to watch. Just like how it was in ‘Chak De India’. Of course it’s not an Indian film, didn’t have a sport we understand and of course didn’t have Shah Rukh Khan, yet the emotion was the same. It works and would give anyone a grin who’s watching. Gerry Bertier’s (Ryan Hurst) action felt a little bit over the top and felt like it was glamourized but the boys were too sweet to be criticized. Also it was nice to see a young Ryan Gosling in the background. As there were too many boys and not everyone had proper screen time or a background story, it was not easy to follow what’s happening to whom but the overall picture was clear and satisfactory.

For some reason, this film reminded me of ‘American Pie’ and ‘Harry Potter’. ‘Harry Potter’ may be because of their camp to Gettysburg College but ‘American pie’ mainly because of Gerry Bertier and his girlfriend Emma Hoyt (Kate Bosworth). They felt like a ditto to Oz (Chris Klein) and Heather (Mena Suvari). Because Oz and Gerry had a similar frame and Emma Heather had the same blonde charm. I’m sure both the films had not done this on purpose as a tribute because both released around the same year but it was just a lovely coincidence. Only made me wonder who if both the world had got intermixed. What a riot it would have been.

Movie Review – Oppenheimer

A staggering achievement

‘Oppenheimer’ is nothing like anything which has come to cinema before. To restrict the film as just a biopic is an understatement. Nolan does everything he does to perfection. The template is set right from screen one, through music, shots, timeline etc. It’s the most Nolanisque film, yet it’s the complete opposite too. Through craft he does everything he’s known for in his films and through art he touches the deepest of human emotion. Sorry to spoil it, but the silence at the end of film felt really like the end of it all, end of the world and in so many years of film watching, I’ve never witnessed anything like that in cinema halls before.

Right from screen one, Nolan gets you on hook, first through music and then that ever piercing camera. Together it gives a feel that it’s penetrating inside you. I watched it as a night show in big screen and I couldn’t sleep for a good couple of hours, i could feel my heart still racing. But mind you it’s not a thriller like ‘Interstellar’ or a non-thriller made like a thriller like ‘Dunkirk’. It’s one of the films were all the pieces come together. Post ‘Inception’ it felt like he was doing those back and forth shorts with that tension inducing music of his, for no real reason. But here it just felt apt.

Especially after a disastrous ‘Dunkirk’, a drama film, which was needlessly made a thriller, I had very little hopes for ‘Oppenheimer’ as it was a real story. Meanwhile by trying to prove his mettle, he went overboard in ‘Tenet’ I feel (which I haven’t watched it yet), and incurred the wrath of even people who normally would watch his film just for the entertainment factor.

Nolan has always come out as a guy who’d make you think and that was taken for granted by his fans, who mostly are fan boys, who get under your skin when you watch in A-list theatres like Sathyam or Escape. Just by the looks of it you can identify who are those smart asses who’ve come for his movies. They’d be explaining to one naïve guy or a new girlfriend about the formulas and equations. That herd was there for this film as well, with of course the other “cool guys who kalachify anything English” group. But this film was a slap on the face on everyone. It was a statement by Nolan saying, “don’t you dare reduce me to your level with your cheap antics”. And it was a statement not wanting to prove anything but only to outdo himself and make a truly staggering quality cinema. His march towards excellence.

It’s not necessarily a film where you need to understand everything but it doesn’t put you down like an ‘Inception’ or ‘Interstellar’ where the one who explains you gets an imaginary halo of being the know it all. The film can be enjoyed, no, enjoyed is not the word, it’s too less an emotion. The film can impact you in numerous ways, through moralistic questions, exposing your views, make you numb but more than anything, it gets you astounded by the way it was made.

I watched ‘Capote’ sometime back and thinking of biopics or otherwise, it was one of the truly beautiful movies I’ve ever watched. Not even taking into consideration the story and direction. Just by the shots and the frame, I’ve never felt this poetic in a while. So at the top of my mind, that’s the best biopic I’ve watched. But this film overdoes it. Because it couldn’t be restricted as just a biopic, not just another movie like ‘The Imitation Game’, which of course was lovely for its template. ‘Oppenheimer’ talks to you in much different ways and impacts you multifold with its show.

Recently I had a chance to watch ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’. I say “chance to watch” and not “watched” because it happened. There was something about ‘Rocketry’ which was putting me off. Even though the story was a strong one, it felt forced and the making was bad. While watching ‘Oppenheimer’ it showed, how through a good director, a similar story can be elevated exponentially. Direction is not just about shooting a story. It’s much more than that.

When talking about ‘Oppenheimer’, everyone talks about the bomb and the blast. But it’s not just about that. In fact it’s not at all about that. It’s not a stunt like much latest ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’, it’s the story to it. It’s like an enigma to which we’re going towards. In fact it’s philosophical. The blast was just a metaphor. Of course it’s made well and shocks you but the shock was more due to what had happened rather than how it had happened. You’re not awed by how well it was shot. You’re shocked by what it can do. If that’s not master filmmaking I don’t know what is.

Nolan blends Aronofsky in the form of the leading ladies, Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt) and Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) and Terrence Malick in the form of bomb (think ‘Tree of Life’). Emily Blunt looked bony, weak but with a heart of a warrior and Florence Pugh, was both enigmatic and sad. She felt like one of those Woody Allen’s Femme Fatale. Nolan has always had great female characters but the Aronofskian way of dealing them was something unexpected.

Coming to Cillian Murphy. In a world of McConaughey’s and Bale’s he doesn’t get noticed enough but its one role which I’m sure Tommy Lee Jones would have been proud of. He almost gets to the level of ‘There Will Be Blood’ but of course ‘Oppenheimer’ is not a film like that where it’s only about him. The makeup and the way he’s worked in his body was done to perfection, without any show off.

This is a once in lifetime film. In fact this phase from ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Mission Impossible’ to ‘Oppenheimer’ could be the greatest one month for any Hollywood fan. But it was more than that for me. I felt like my life has become a complete circle by watching some of my most memorable characters on screen in a span of one month for one last time. It’s a phase where one gets to watch great films and probably, when I look back at old age, this might be the greatest phase of my movie watching. From Archimedes to Albert Einstein, I’ve seen it all. This part of my life, this little part, is called happiness.

Movie Review – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

One way ticket to thrill

I read a comment somewhere saying, “Tom Cruise runs, rides, jumps, flies, clings to his dear life and does every possible stunt on Mother Earth. What else can he do in the grand finale?” But isn’t it the question which people have been asking since the second part, which at that time felt too good to be true. That’s what Tom Cruise can do. A true blue action junkie for the big screen. The one who makes everyone feel young and plausible. I’m sure no one who came out of the movie would have come home sane without raising the throttle at least once.

The movie begins with a submarine and a kind of superpower which was hidden in it. There was some sort of missile showing in the radar. They keep on stating that they’re invisible and don’t understand what’s that coming towards them. But the missile coming at them also becomes invisible. I thought the sequence would end then and there by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) coming inside the submarine by being invisible and it’ll all be a little joke of the Russians but unfortunately that was the plot of the movie.

We get to the see the very first troupe of mask change at the start of the movie, followed by the template title cards. The mask scene didn’t work but the title card was lovely. In fact the best from what I can remember. Whatever the “Entity” is and what it does is not a problem for anyone because the director, Christopher McQuarrie, doesn’t let you think beyond it as an invisible villain. What a combination, McQuarrie and Tom Cruise are. Should be hailed as one of the best combos of Hollywood.

Hunt and his friends, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) try to go after one part of the key first up but in turn get robbed by someone. It was far-fetched to see such an intelligent team getting robbed by a petty thief, Grace (Hayley Atwell), who was downright annoying, as opposed to an effervescent Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) from a much recent ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’. In fact when Hunt sticks on to her, tries to save her in a car chase and from White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), it was irritating. She couldn’t get the sympathy of me. Especially the scene where she handcuffs him to the car, was limits.

What follows is a series of Mission Impossible troupes, which keeps us engaged but feels repetitive and compulsory. There were high octane scenes of course and keeps us glued to the scene but there wasn’t any surprise element. None of the troupes give a wow moment. Be it the bike ride, the running, Benji being delirious etc. It was like watching a big star movie who does his trademark thing time and again. Fortunately or unfortunately it works but a bit of innovation would have been nice.

The other characters have nothing to do and apart from a series of action scenes there weren’t a single scene which people could connect. Thanks to the bad audio and no subtitles, audience started chit chatting and munching popcorn as soon as action scenes get over. The movie is worth the time, they forget the popcorn. But thankfully it was a whole lot of time.

Coming to the greatest action scene as advertised by the makers. It feels like the whole film happens for that. But to be honest, it happens too fast without letting anyone feel it. It’s just the one shot. The making felt lot better than the actual scene. With any other film, the train stunt post that would have felt unnecessary but the director and actors make that work too. We can see how they are seeing the film. It could have easily looked like a circus with people jumping like clowns here and there. But it’s the sincerity which propels the film to the next level. In fact god level. I don’t know whether I should be happy that everyone could feel the film as their own and root for the protagonist or worry about how the fans of certain actors could only wish that their hero makes such films.

See, in short, I can never write a good review for this movie, but I can never hate the movie. Mission Impossible series more than anything is a part of our life. It’s the last of something great. Like how, even if the final part of the Indiana Jones was a bomb, how the last book was unnecessarily made into two parts for Harry Potter, this too is one such series you can’t miss out. It’s to be watched in theatres and relished. Reviews are for another time.

Movie Review – The Pursuit of Happyness

A feel gooder to start with

Guess, feel goods are meant to be felt good once and left as such. In my urge to pursue happyness one more time, all I was left with was, mehness. ‘The Pursuit if Happyness’ was undoubtedly one of the heartwarming films that I had seen. Every time I used to see some scene or the other from the movie, it used to get on me. So I did a hard thing of revisiting this movie after a long time, with heavy preparation to cry buckets, but in the end the experience was far from what I expected.

There are certain iconic scenes in the movie. Probably to watch this movie without knowing any of it would have been a great boon but watching it knowing them also is a kind of joy as to wait for the scene. Even though it’s a movie where we can vaguely assume, is going to make us happy in the end, doesn’t work as much as viewing it without knowing the ending. Probably that’s the difference between a Hollywood feel gooders vs. Indie feel gooders. A movie like ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and ‘Juno’ are never going to be boring, until it’s overdone.

The movie is about a father and son duo, Chris Gardener (Will Smith) and Christopher Gardner, Jr. (Jaden Smith), broke and hope lost in America. The film is very American with its setting but an amazing Jaden Smith and a soft-for-a-change Will Smith make us root for it. The film for some reason felt rushed. The events were happening thick and fast. One part I’d have liked to have thrown some more light was the relationship between Chris and his wife, Linda Thandiwe Newton, rather than making Linda a plain villain out of the relationship. Of course it’s a film about Chris but rather than just crying and expressing her displeasure, something from the side of Linda too could have been done.

I used to jokingly say, that its “‘Mahanadhi’ made merry”. But maybe that’s the reason that impact is missing which would never go missing in case of ‘Mahanadhi’. Chris who sells some sort of machine gets into worst possible situation and has to suffer for his daily living. He and his son are literally on the streets. Of the numerous touchy moments, the one which worked for me best was the scene where he says that he can’t leave his child alone and they’ve to stay together. That’s a splendid acting.

Jaden does a fine job of course but it’s the kids’ character in the movie I liked more. The scene where he accepts that “possible” means that it might never happen was a gem of a scene. The attitude of the kid was lovely. May be kids would understand the situation depending on their condition. I got reminded of the kid in ‘Capernaum’ where he acts much matured to his age.

One of the scenes which could have been made better was the one where his machine gets stolen. To have two machines stolen in a short span and make a chase in a similar way was far-fetched. May be it could happen but it could have been shown cinematically well.

It’s understandable that to have a proper closure, Chris goes to the kid and the film ends on a happy note but it’s that one scene where he stands out among the crowd, which makes for an iconic shot. It would have been great if the film had ended there.

May be I was a bit harsh on my review or the words came out so. Even though it’s a criticizable movie, it’s not a movie to be missed.

Movie Review – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

An Indy to Remember

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ has everything you want in an Indiana Jones movies. It’s commendable that James Mangold could match Spielberg’s vision and make a near perfect film using his template without having any self-righteousness finding its way. Generally, in a series when the director changes, the tone of the film gets affected but here it was lovely. An advantage which Mangold had was that he could work with Indy of different age but that’s not as easy as its being said and he nailed it to perfection.

When the masked Indy entered the screen, I couldn’t help but hum, “Nayagan meendum varan”. What an apt song it’d have been at that juncture. It was such a pleasure to watch the old Indy. How lovely was the de-aging technique evolved. But a part of me was not accepting the technology too. It felt as if giving a false dream to people. As if they can get into a young body. Something like the concept of ‘Get Out’ The first episode, even though intriguing didn’t keep me cent percent comfortable due to the antics. It’s only when I saw the old Indy, it got me comfortable.

The one thing which was messed up in ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ was Indy’s ageing. He was neither here, nor there. Instead of him, it was us who were caught in the mid-life crisis. But here we see an age old wrinkled Indy. In fact the very scene where the transformation happens we see a physically weak Indiana Jones getting ready for the day. For a moment, it made me wonder, whether the director was going to go ‘About Schimdt’ way and deal with his loneliness and stuff but thankfully Indy is Indy and he can’t get old at heart. The adventure did happen.

Probably it’s the only Indiana Jones movies where someone, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), was more vibrant than Indian Jones Himself. Even though Harrison Ford could hold his charm. His other accompanies couldn’t. For they looked way too old and weak. May be a script involving them doing all the math and less of action could have been a fitting climax.

Luckily or fortunately, Harrison Ford didn’t look old or misfit for all the stunt sequences. The pacing of the film and next to next stunts were superbly choreographed and were at the perfect setting. Thankfully Indiana Jones had the age old charm and didn’t let the new age cynicism creep in. The last thing I would have wanted is to see a dark Indy movie.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is someone who must be talked about. What charm she packs and it’s not easy to come into a hero oriented movie and perform better than him. Not only did she have a chemistry with Indy but her chemistry with Teddy Kumar (Ethann Isidore). It looked as if they were real sibling. The scene where she changes to whites before the climax, she looked ravishing and the wink to kid was so charming. What a woman!

For a film which goes on this pace and with great objective, there has to be a big bang climax. The walk into the Archimedes’ tomb was adventurous enough but the next great twist and a date with Archimedes himself was something which made my movie watching experience, worthy. If not for that twist I would have still been a happy man and would have been a nice trip down the memory lane but with the Archimedes twist, it was wholesome and gave me a heartfelt satisfaction.

PS: How lovely was it, that the final clue to enter the tomb was Archimedes’ principle itself with water spurting out.

Movie Review – Everything Everywhere All at Once

For Everyone

Easily one of the greatest theater watches for an Oscar film. One of the good thing about the movie was, it was entertaining and didn’t feel like, it was made for Oscar.  Of course with great films gaining on popularity, this film would have its fair share of non-likers but it’s a relief to see an entertaining movie get an Oscar. For now, the focus shifting on Asian lifestyle seems to be good, more so because, it was made well no matter what the story was. Wish this doesn’t become a trend, like ‘War’ movies or ‘Black’ movies in the Oscar race and become redundant.

The beauty of ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ is how it bundles a message movie into something fun for everyone to watch. If I had to say in a single line, Everything Everywhere is for everyone. There was an interesting thing I noticed in theatre. In the front row, there were a group of boys, guess one among them was a film buff or something and had brought a group of people to theatres. For all the jokes at the start, his friends were commenting whether they were supposed to laugh. But after a period of forty five minutes, they were so engrossed in the movie that they couldn’t chide their friend. The last I noticed such an incident was during ‘Avatar’ which is a legendary movie on its own. This shows how much command the director had in the movie.

Making a clumsy movie is not as easy as being clumsy. If there is one thing I would have given sure shot award for the movie is the Art Direction. Just look at the amount of props around Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh). You can’t just throw in random stuff around and make it clumsy. Everything must add value to the shot and it does. I’m sure so much effort would have gone through making those bills she presents to the IRS Inspector, Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis). There were other more glossy aspects like Joy Wang (Stephanie Hsu) changing costumes walking in the aisle, but it’s easier to appreciate it as its straight on the face. It’s the universe changes and the stuffs in the universe, mainly the Laundromat universe, is the one that should be given the highest credit.

The first twenty minutes or so of the movie was so tense, not thinking of what’s going to happen next but just thinking of Eveyln’s life. It was depressing and almost makes us sympathize with her in that short time. That’s when the verse jump happens and that’s where the film grips. Easily, the ‘Everything’ part was the best of the lot, one, because we were getting to see something new and two, because there was no morality associate to it, just pure randomness.

Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) reminds us of Jackie Chan a lot and even his fight sequences were choreographed like that. While we wonder how lovely if it’d have had Jackie Chan, there is an interesting story doing rounds. Initially, the makers supposedly approached Jackie Chan to be the protagonist but he didn’t like the idea of a female doing kung fu. Not sure, how authentic the story is or its just plain gossip. On the downside, if Jackie had acted in the movie, the surprise factor would’ve been lost because right from scene one we’d have been waiting for him to explode at some point. And eventually it’d have become a Jackie film. In that way, it’s good that it didn’t happen.

For a movie this clumsy, it was brilliant how they kept the emotional part intact. This film would have easily failed if the emotional part had not been handled well. But towards the climax, the scene where Eveyln and Deirdre talk it out in the open would challenge even a full length emotional film. This scene has to be appreciated much more here because, there was a shift in the tonality of the movie, which, if not done right would have irritated most of the people. On another plate was a number of jumps and lot of action happening, to make people come out of it, and sit through dialogues was no mean task. The well played emotion also helps people to sit back from rather mind numbing frenzy on the other side of the universe.

When talking about this film, you can’t skip the intelligence part. Not only does it explore human depths and humor, it explores in a very short time. When we see Eveyln’s story of struggle because of her choice to marry Waymond, we get emotional within minutes but it’s overcome by Waymond in another universe where he tells how Eveyln is such a loser. Such a superb dig that.

For a movie which had so much happening, my favorite scene would easily be the rock scene. It’s like being at the tip of roller coaster and waiting for the fall. With subtitles being played, as wind was only sound in the scene, the audience were holding themselves from guffawing, thinking that they too shouldn’t make any noise to disturb that silence. A clever dig of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ became an even better scene when the supposedly unmovable rock moves and hit each other. Did anyone get probably the biggest joke of the movie there – The Big Bang Theory?

Movie Review – White Dog

For gritty teeth and further grittiness

It’s not one of the movies which can make a viewer eager to watch but something which can come with a different level of surprise. Quite controversial around the time of the release (not sure why) the film comes out as a whole new flavored canine drama, unlike anything you’d have seen before. And for a change it would work out for people who’re not inclined to all the cutesy pet stuff on screen, something like ‘Hachi’. Whether you like it or not, this White Dog is gonna leave you gutted.

There is no mincing around the words, the film comes straight to point. Actress Julie Sawye (Kristy McNichol) runs over a stray White German Shepherd dog in the opening scene. The film starts with a splash of blood, literally! She takes it to the veterinarian and the reception is as cold as it could be. The alienation towards animals and the tone the movie sets in are just so beautiful. It’s one of the important elements kept to the point by the director, Samuel Fuller, to keep the flavor of the movie intact.

Probably the next sequence where a girl resides alone, and dog saves her from a rapist were the only scenes which is out of the book. The film takes a lovely little U-turn when it kills Julie’s coworker. We get to know the nature of the dog and why it does through a lovely story and the title couldn’t have been more apt. Whether or not the story was true, the way it was told cinematically and the way it was uttered on screen by Keys (an excellent Paul Winfield) makes you believe in it. Its performances like this, which lift the film. Generally, any movie which talks about racism would have tearjerker performances with actors with whom you’d be made to forcefully sympathize initially, but Keys is a different man, he’s a hero, yet you understand the deep-rooted racism’s impact in the film. It’s one of those films, when you watch it, you’ll be absorbed into it and only later when you think about, you tend to analyze it. That’s a success in making as well as execution of the idea.

‘White Dog’ also intelligently or may be unintentionally too deglamorizes the whole film. The film has a pretty lead and of course she’s in crisis but any film which has a protagonist playing an actress on screen, it tends to lean towards glamour. There is a scene where she is supposedly sleeping nude and the climax has her coming out of room hurriedly without dressing up properly, these were the scenes which generally shifts focus towards the lady and her beauty but with her, the fact that she’s in crisis doesn’t go out of our head. And the fact that it’s a film in 80s, the dressing and the hairstyle adds to the charm of the film. For some strange reason, it reminds me of the 1971 version of ‘Straw Dogs’, may be the lone woman in a loner house.

For a film like this, which explores a character (a dog here), the first act would be the most interesting one. The film peaks when Keys tells the story about the “White Dog phenomena” but the beauty of the film is that the film maintains the same tension throughout, till the climax. Part of it must be attributed to the filmmaking but there were various other aspects like excellent cinematography and that amazing dog which gives us chills every time. I’m sure that anyone who had watched this movie can’t go out for a morning walk without the scare of a stray dog. Wonder how much effort would have been put to train the dog too.

Towards the climax, when Julie sees the dog’s original owner, I thought the dog is going to bite him off and make it a happy ending for all, but the actual climax was even better and far more chilling. Love, how like the whole movie, the tension was maintained even in the climax, which only peaked towards the end.

Movie Review – Avatar

Test of time

Of course I had to watch it before the part two. But was in a dilemma because while watching ‘Avatar 2’, I didn’t want to miss the visceral experience which I had while watching ‘Avatar’. ‘Avatar’ was a phenomenal theatrical experience. A great grand 3D masterpiece. Nothing has ever come close to the visual spectacle. It’s been more than a decade since the movie released and in a way it was good that I have a bad memory and I had forgotten most of the scenes. But just being a visual marvel, enough to sustain interest for people who’ve been waiting for the sequel for more than a decade?

My story of watching ‘Avatar’ itself was an experience by itself. Releasing on a Thursday, I was caught quite unaware. Those were the days when I used to spend half my time in Sathyam Theatre for Rs. 10 ticket. I had planned for some other movie (Tamil movie I believe) that day and the ticket had got over and the guy in the ticket counter told that only tickets for a 3D film was there. That’s how I, like many purchased a ticket to a 3D movie, without even knowing its name. Seeing the posters I thought it’d be just another 3D movie, trying to mint money but what happened inside the theatre was quite different.

For the first twenty minutes, the Rs. 10 ticket people were getting restless. There were too many dialogues and nothing interesting was happening. People just behind us in the Rs. 120 ticket were getting restless too because they were not able to concentrate on the movie due to non-stop chit chats in the front rows. The second phase was the admiration of the 3D. There were silent admirations and wide grins in the back rows and oohs and aahs in the front row. Only from the third phase I understood, what a powerful medium cinema was. Like how we don’t understand the language of Na’vi’s, even though the front rows didn’t understand the film. When Na’vi’s fight human in the last act, the theatre erupted. There was no more demarcation between front row and last row. None were making fun of each other. There were loud roars from front to back, back to front. Only the Mexican wave was missing. It was such an experience to see how emotion is the same, no matter what language, what class people are from.

So to watch a movie like that, without 3D, without big screen (in mobile to be precise), after a gap of ten years, after being exposed to so many other movies and also having aged considerably, it was a wholly different experience. In fact it was the totally opposite experience. Just like any superhero movie where the protagonist discovers his powers, the first half was wildly interesting as we get into the world of Pandora. Everything was a revelation. But the second half which worked wonders in theatre, even though fast paced was cheesy like any other ‘Avengers’ movie. Especially with the characters of Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez) and Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), it felt like any ‘Fast and Furious’ movie which was made just to get the applause of audience. By this time I was doubtful whether it was even the right decision to watch the movie again. I was unsure whether ‘Avatar’ that cheap a movie which expects applause with corny dialogues?

But with or without big screen, with or without 3D glasses, Avatar is one of the most beautiful imaginary world. I’d not say the most beautiful film because. I’d rate films such as ‘Capote’, ‘Synecdoche, New York’ in that category. They’re the ones which could be classified under truly beautiful films. Avatar is a fantasy. But a fantasy done perfectly and uncompromisingly.

Is this one of the films which would have been left as such, like ‘Titanic’ may be, instead of giving it further four parts. But four parts doesn’t happen just like it and Cameron is no ordinary guy. In fact it would be interesting to see what happens in the future movies because even though fresh, ‘Avatar’ was pretty straightforward. A dystopian world, a new world and fight between these people. As Cameron has exhausted all the easy stunts like discovery, angst etc. it would be curious to see what he tries next. Whether it would be plain misanthropist or anything deeper than that. Also as a director, wouldn’t one want to try to get into different genres or at least different films instead of getting struck to the same one through a major part of life? Wonder how he gets motivation for that.

Movie Review – 3:10 to Yuma

Where actors overtake ambience

‘3:10 to Yuma’ is a classic example of how important actors are. Generally in a western film, the locales, music and dust take over the entire setting. So filmmakers don’t even prefer proper actors and even if they do they’d not be given any scope to emote. They’d be a point of interest in the story we could relate to, but not really humans. ‘3:10 to Yuma’ breaks the template and gives actors rich importance. Or maybe the actors were so great that they took over the onus set by the director. The end product due to that is a highly refined emotive intelligent piece of work with which we could empathize.

Every time a Christian Bale movie starts, it makes me feel why is he rated so highly but he himself answers the question by the end of the movie. Especially with this movie, it was more challenging because Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors. But even with him around, Christian Bale overtakes him in the end. The whole movie had an interesting conflict between them. Not only as characters but as actors too. It felt like subconsciously they were in awe of each other’s acting and fighting their inner demons to go past them. It was a beautiful feeling if you could understand that.

Dan Evans (Christian Bale) was not really a hero but in constant pursuit of being one. In the very first scene we get to know that he has lost a leg. Despite the fact, he was ready to fight a ruthless leader of a gang of outlaws Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). We know that Dan doesn’t have an iota of chance against him. But he goes for a fight against him not only to be a hero in front of his family, his son to be precise, but to redeem himself. May be deep within he knew it was a suicidal attempt or maybe he really thought he could do it but he reminded me of Jaime Lannister after losing his hand. May be Dan too would have been heroic like him before losing his leg.

Thanks to have watched ‘Asuran’, the opening scenes reminded of that and I thought, at some point Dan Evans would come out heroic and kill all the goons. Only then his annoying son, William Evans (Logan Lerman) would know his value. But ‘3:10 to Yuma’ shows why it’s a greater film than ‘Asuran’ and stands the test of time by not making Dan heroic at any instant. In fact Christian Bale needs to be appreciated to have taken such a deeply unheroic role.

Ben Wade on the other hand was an effortlessly ruthless villain. He spits venom just by mere look. The role was in fact a reversal of sorts because generally Russell Crowe would always be a good guy and good guy phenomena suits him to tee, just like he did in ‘Gladiator’ and even so brilliantly in ‘Cinderella Man’.

The arc of Ben wade was really interesting. For some reason he has that admiration for Dan Evans. May be because he had a life that Ben Wade doesn’t and that’s what led him to this or maybe he just liked the gut of that man, a true straightforward person who was ready to fight him but he also knew that he didn’t have any chance. The bromance between the both was brilliant. This type of bromance wouldn’t have been special even if they both had been on the same side, because it would have been one-dimensional and Sholayish. They being opposites and still admiring each other was something special.

Even though, from the time Ben Wade gets captured, you’d be at the edge of the seat. It’s only when Dan tells him why he wants the win more than the money, was where one would truly break up. Post that Dan helps him of course and I liked the fact that the train which was supposed to arrive at 3:10 as per the title doesn’t arrive on time. It was a nice pun. But what I didn’t like was Ben killing his aids. Of course he wanted Dan to succeed and he had plans to escape but may be the killing gave a sense of forceful completion to his character. May be as he had killed his entire group, he’d escape and be a good guy going forward.

Generally in westerns, it would be okay to bask in the feel of the movie unless there would be no crowd, like the desert, Ben’s house etc. but when they come to a town, it feels artificial to just see such less people around. We don’t really get a feel that it’s a world of the past. It’s something I wish filmmakers negate in the future.