Terminator Salvation - Avoid it.

Watching the movie was like watching 4 fellows playing Unreal(or Quake), firing guns and ammo, killing each other, from beginning till the end. No story, just guns. This was perhaps the 1st movie of my life that gave me headache at the end of it. 

Each of the earlier terminator movies had a plot, a plot that was somewhat real. The 1st Terminator had Sarah Connor's story, the 2nd one was John's. The 3rd one was John's love story and while it wasn't as touching as the earlier two, it was still decent. But the 4th installment just screwed everything up. Well I guess the producers and Director and the script writers thought that the Terminator Movies are popular because of the blaring guns, the fire, and deaths. They couldn't have got it wrong more than that.  

Chritian Bale seemed confused as if thinking : "Dude I am Batman ! What am I doing here! And now that I am here, should I act funny and energetic as John Connor has been shown over the years, or should I be quite and reserve as Batman would be. Hell, I am Batman. Lets keep a low profile!"

I am sure there would be more terminator installments : one where they will show John sending his dad back to save his mom(T-I), another where John will send Arnie back to save his ass (T-II), another one where John will die and his girl will send Arnie to save both of then (T-III). And if all that the script writers have to offer for those installments is guns and bombs, they better stop writing those because I feel the audience is not gonna take another installment of this same crap that was served in T-IV. 

Somebody get James Cameron back on board, and if Arnie is in as well, it would surely be worth it. 

Otherwise, I probably will give those installments the same rating that I give Terminator Salvation. AVOID IT. If you can't then wait for the DVD and rent it. Its not worth spending 10 $ per head. 

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire

I don't think the movie deserved 8 oscars, and definitely not the Best Film. But then that's the jury's decision. While the movie does reflect on the realities gripping Mumbai and India, it's more a commercialization of the reality for the sake of making money out of it. As someone put it, there's too much happening in life of one person, which is unconvincing. Then there's this case of twisting reality. C'mon : anyone who has ever seen an episode of Who wants to be a millionaire or Kaun Banega Crorepati knows that its not telecast live ! See : commercialization again and the need to put in something gripping. The excessive use of English took the movie further away from reality. You don't expect Slum kids to speak english! The case of Apocalypo comes to my mind. I loved the movie, simply because it tried to capture the mayan civilisation the way they were, including the language. 

Coming back to SM, for me, its just another commercial Bollywood movie. I don't find it to be something out of the world or something that is revolutionary. This is just a case of a movie getting lucky. The actors were quite mediocre except for the kids who were the real stars. It was just another average english 'british' movie made with the aim of catapulting on the western curiosity for the poorer side of India. 

However, I must mention that music definitely was good: but then, with Rahman comes quality and trust of millions. He doesn't usually go wrong and I am glad that he won the oscars. 

Delhi-6

For the impatient, AVOID IT.

Why ? Read on. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

Let's look at different aspects of the movie :

The Negative Side:

Plot: The movie starts on a high, highlighting the importance of relationships in life, and of faith. How fascinated foreigners are with Indian ways is captured well too. But somewhere down the line, it gets lost. It appeared more of a 'COS' curve(think trignometry if you have studied maths, otherwise its something that starts at a high point and then eventually touches the lowest ebb). So all of a sudden, you have this Shani baba coming in from somewhere proclaiming that the Masjid was actually a mandir 350 years back, and the next thing you know is that neighbours start (almost) killing each other. Well, religion is a tricky thing and can make people do weird acts, but just in a moment? Is that the tolerance level of people in Old Delhi? And if that wasn't enough, right at the moment when the riots are to start, the Kaala Bandar appears from somewhere, and Hindus and Muslims are brothers again 'in just one moment'. Phew! Want more ? And it just takes a couple of lines from a protagonists to make everyone realise that Abhishek is faking to be Kaala Bandar so that the riots can be avoided. Ha Ha ! Are people in Delhi-6 really that crazy(if not foolish) to take life changing decisions in a moment?

Abhishek: The weakest link of the story perhaps. I found him totally unconvincing in the role of an NRI. The accent he put on was too fake to be believed. I guess he should have been sent for a accent training at some BPO firm. I feel John would have been a better choice. Even better, a new actor could have been pulled in. After Rang De Basanti, Rakeysh Mehra could have taken that chance and people would have trusted him. But well....

Director: When you make a movie like Rang De Basanti, you set some expectations. Not that RDB wasn't a commercial movie, but it had a message: it seemed to stem out of reality, from our everyday life. But out here, the director didn't bother to do a check on what's expected out of him. He starts off well and then suddenly takes us back to a 1960s-1970s. Dude, people are impatient today and they want more. If someone is going to spend 200 bucks in times of recession to watch your movie, they expect something good out of it. I wonder if RDB was really made by Rakeysh Mehra(or whatever way he spells his name)?

Climax: Why couldn't you just let Abhishek die ? Why did you need to let him survive ? And what was the ghostly Amitabh Bachchan doing there? You had one chance to atleast give a decent end to all the hysteria, but ROM you chose to make it a fultoo desi film.

The Positive Fews:

Kaala Bandar: The idea of kaala bandar was fun though. It reminded me of 2 things: first, how media hypes up things in india, and second Muhnochwa! Back in 2002, when I was studying in Allahabad, eastern UP was attacked by Muhnochwa thread, a creature that came in night and snatched your face and vanished! We had a real good laugh at the thoughts back then, throwing our own innovative theories what Muhnochwa could be. The hype went down gradually, and no one ever found a muhnochwa. But Delhi-6 did remind me of my college days, and I must thank ROM for that. But that's not good enough dude. You made a bad movie.

A R Rehman: It's not the music. It's AR Rehman. As always, awesome. Its the music that saves the movie from being a total disgrace. AR Rehman rocks!(and pops, and jingles, etc etc)

Summary: Avoid it. Don't spend USD 10 / INR 200 on this movie. Better wait for it to be released on a moser baer VCD/DVD and then watch it. This is not a Rang De Basanti.

Ghajini

Some movies are so bad, you don't want to watch them again.

Some movies are so good, you want to keep watching them over and over again.

There's a hitherto unknown category: Movie that is so good that you don't want to watch again.

Ghajini goes into this new category: a movie that I loved, but one that I am not going to watch again, atleast not for some time, lest it adversely impacts my feelings for the movie(even if you finance my ticket :) ) Aamir raises the bar again and proves no matter who you call a superstar, Aamir is 'the' real 'actor'.

Watch it for the performance and the direction. Some scenes are so amazing, you are going to remember them for a long time: Asin dying, Aamir losing memory as he fights the baddies during the climax scene, and more.

Awesome movie. Awesome Aamir. Period.

Rosebud

Rosebud. If you look at any of the "All Time Bests" or similar listings of Hollywood movies, you will find "Citizen Kane" somewhere at the top. And if you see the movie, you will know the significance of the word "Rosebud."

The movie starts with the death of the lead protagonist(who is a millionaire and a media mughul) and the last word he utters is "Rosebud." The movie is then a biography of the lead character seen through the eyes of a journalist who is out to figure out the significance of the last word of the dying man.

He never figures that out but the viewers in the movie do figure it out in the last scene. If you haven't seen the movie, I wouldn't break the suspense. But "Rosebud" was something that Kane associated with the best moments of his life when there were no worries, and he was truly happy. Take my word: its a movie that you don't want to miss. Throughout his life he went after money and power, but he never got the satisfaction that he had when he had "Rosebud." Probably, that was the reason why when he was dying, he remembered the best moments of his life and longed to be with his "Rosebud" again.

Do you have a "Rosebud" in your life, something or someone who you would want to be with? Someone or something that gave you the happiness and satisfaction that you still yearn for? Someone or something you will not hesitate to give up everything you have for ?

Think over it and try to find your "Rosebud" :)

The Dark Knight

The hype is not unjustified. Its worth it.

So I finally got to see The Dark Knight today. A truly magnificent movie. Heath Ledger by far at his best in the chilling performance as Joker. I won't be surprised if he picks an Oscar for this last performance of his. He deserves it. After such an amazing performance, he sure will be missed in the future.

Like the first part, the ends pretty much met. The screenplay and action was absolutely on track, sometimes even better than the first part. Excellent performance from everyone.

The best thing about the new Batman series is that it portrays the protagonist as a human with human strength and human weaknesses. So if a dog bites the batman, batman still bleeds and needs stitches; if he is hit too hard, he can fall too. I prefer calling him a Hero(and not really a superhero) , and that probably brings the Batman series closer to each one of us and such a hit. Great going actors, director, and everyone involved with the making of the movie.

If you still haven't seen it, go see it.

बदसूरत व पगली (Ugly aur Pagli)

मित्र जनों...आज हम "बदसूरत व पगली" देखने गये थे। इतना ही कहूँगा की कृपया आप २०० रुपये खर्च कर के यह चलचित्र देखने ना जाएं। मल्लिका को छोर इस कहानी में कुछ भी आकर्षक नही है। और उसका आकर्षण भी इतना कुछ ख़ास नहीं है। कहानी में कुछ संवाद काफी शक्तिशाली हैं परन्तु सम्पूर्णता के द्रिश्तिकोर्ण से यह कथा मुझे पसंद नहीं आई।

Aamir Vs. Sarkar Raj

Aamir Vs. Sarkar Raj
My Choice : Aamir.
So why Aamir ? For one, the title track of Aamir was a sweet and refreshing reflection of the life in Mumbai. But then that's just the beginning. Aamir is a well made movie with honest intentions of communicating a message rather than sensationalising a concept. At no point in the movie, you get a feel that the director is overdoing something. Yes, like all the movies a few things sound unconvincing. But when you look at the complete product, Aamir makes you think about today's realities while you walk out of the Theatre. Its a reflection of the divided society we live in today and the thin line all of us walk. It highlights how everyone of a particular community is looked up with suspicion. But at the same time it also highlights the division within the community itself wherein some like Aamir want to take the ownership for setting things right in their life by their own efforts, there are others who blame the society for the miseries of the community and want to avenge it on everyone. Aamir means 'a leader'. Aamir does come out as a leader: I hope more movies like Aamir see the light of day.
so what's wrong with Sarkar Raj ? For one, the first half has a terrible background score and just too many shaky camera shots that tend to make you feel like search for the forward button or the mute button. But then you can't find it. But that's not the end of it. The shots seem to be repeating over again and again. So we have someone speaking in the dark and then he comes to the forefront to show his face. Repeating the similar shot over different actors isn't a great direction. And then there are these closeups:just too many of them. Overall, the direction just reminded me of Sarkar(part-1). There wasn't anything new in the direction and the story wasn't any powerful. Well obviously, Ram Gopal Verma wasn't planning to make a thought provoking movie. If he took the entire Bachchan clan in, it was to make money. But I shelled out Rs. 200 and I don't think it was worth it. I should have waited for the DVD. I hope RGV doesn't go out now making a remake of Sarkar Raj.

Atonement

Atonement :(noun): Amends or reparation made for an injury or wrong; expiation.[taken from Dictionary.com]

I recently saw the movie Atonement and I liked it very much. Set around the time of 2nd World War, the story revolves around a 13 year old budding writer Briony who misinterprets her sister's(Cecilia) relationship with Cecilia's lover Robbie, and wrongly(but deliberately) accuses him of something he didn't do that lands him in jail;and her one lie changes the lives of the three forever. Cecilia becomes a nurse, Robbie joins army during the war as thats the only option given to him to get out of jail and Briony,buried in her guilt,eventually follows in her sister's footsteps becoming a nurse too, doing her share of penance. Tragically, Robbie and the Cecilia die,far away from each other, and Briony lives rest of her life with the guilt of what she did, forever looking for her atonement.

I thought it was a powerful story and was well presented. It did move me, significantly,and it had me thinking.

Have you ever done something so terrible that fills you up with grief, remorse, regret everytime you think of what you did, or even worse, everytime you open your eyes? Something so terrible that you wish that one day you get up and you just forget that it ever happened? Have you ?

I have.