jive: (Slang) deceptive, exaggerated, or meaningless talk: "Don't give me any of that jive!"
Mostly movie reviews and cinema related.
Do visit Mahabore's Mumblings at http://mahabore.wordpress.com for my non-movie related writing.
Ben Thomas (Will Smith) is an IRS Tax Auditor who is prone to performing random acts of kindness to people. He has a unique way of selecting the people that he wants to perform these favors to, and goes on to the extent of donating his bone marrow and kidney to people for no apparent reason other than the fact that he just wants to do something good.
The first hour or so of this movie, the audience is left wondering as to why Ben actually performs these acts of kindness. The movie does show snippets of Ben being troubled by some disturbing memories of a car crash, and there is the news clipping that he keeps referring to which reads something like "Fatal car crash kills seven people". However, the viewer is not given a clear idea behind his motive for his actions.
One of his kindness target benefactors, Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson) has a heart condition and a rare blood type which makes it almost impossible for her to find a donor for a heart transplant. The movie picks up pace when Ben falls for Emily who in turn seems to love him despite the fact that she knows her days are numbered.
To add to the confusion, we are introduced to Ben's friend Dan who apparently seems to know what exactly Ben is upto, and also his brother, who turns out to be the actual Ben Thomas, IRS employee. The unravelling of the mysterious acts of Will Smith forms the climax and the crux of the movie 'Seven Pounds'. Albeit a simple script, Will Smith's wonderful portrayal of emotions and acting prowess take this movie to another different level altogether.
Like Roger Ebert said about this movie, the fact that the audience is completely kept out of the loop as to why Will Smith does what he does is what makes this movie so interesting and rivetting. All in all, a must watch movie for anybody who likes Will Smith, as this coupled with 'The Pursuit of Happyness' elevate him to one actor whose future projects will be eagerly anticipated.
"The Hurt Locker" begins with a sequence of how Staff Sergeant Thompson is killed during the process of defusing a radio controlled improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad. This sets the tone for a grim movie which details the travails of an US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit (fancy name for bomb disposal squad) during the last 30 odd days of their company's posting in Iraq. Post the demise of their Staff Sergeant, the team is joined by Sgt William James, a battle tested veteran who had already seen some action in Afghanistan as well.
Initially the methods of Sgt James are not understood nor appreciated by Sgt Sanborn and Specialist Eldridge. Both of them think James is too trigger-happy and is more of a cowboy in his approach to defusal of bombs. But as time goes by, and as they see more of James in action, they develop a grudgingly high level of respect for him. While the movie itself doesn't have too many script-angles or story-plotlines to actually discuss or disclose in this review, suffice to say, it is not too hard to see why this movie won so many accolades.
Having said that, between Avatar and The Hurt Locker, I personally would probably not have given the Best Picture Academy Award to either of them. But then, I am not a member of the Academy nor does my vote count, so I will rest my case here.
Academy Award controversies aside, why you should watch this movie, is primarily to understand at least a little of what US soldiers currently serving in Iraq have to face on a daily basis. While it is easy for us to sit at our homes and criticize what the US govt is doing with its soldiers there, it is completely another thing to watch a reasonably realistic movie which pretty much depicts conditions there (at least from an EOD team perspective). The best part about this movie is the fact that it presents a no-frils version of a war movie (albeit a limited perspective only), and does not take any unnecessary twists or turns with the subject matter.
Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage) is an ex-US Army Ranger who is jailed when he inadvertently kills a man while defending his wife from them. Eight years later Poe is on parole and on his way back home to Alabama, to be flown back on "Jailbird", a place carrying several convicts to different places. Except that this is no ordinary prison transport plane because it contains some of the most deviant, devious, notorious, interesting scum-of-the-earth prisoners known in recent US crime history. This motley crew of murderers, rapists, serial killers, druglords are under the charge of US Marshal Vince Larkin (Jon Cusack).
Shortly after the take off, the Jailbird is taken over by Cyrus, the Virus, Grissom (John Malkovich), who in co-ordination with a few other prisoners manages to convince the rest of the crew that they will all be taken to a non-extradition country if they co-operate. Poe makes a choice to play along with the situation deciding to try and recapture the aircraft at the first possible opportunity.
Whether Poe manages to get the Jailbird in his control and prevent the prisoners from escaping make up for the rest of the movie. Suffice to say the movie has enough action, mid-air sequences, fights, guns, bombs to keep all adrenaline-junkies glued to their seats. The fact that this is a Jerry Bruckheimer production speaks volumes for the money spent on explosions, bullets, and pyrotechnics. Add to this is the fact that the cast comprising of Nicholas Cage, Jon Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi and more notable 'regular action movie stars' make this movie a fun-movie to watch.
This movie is a nice throwback to those days when all you needed for a good action movie was a bankable leading man, a mean villain and a simple situation which put them in each others' path. No complicated twisted storylines in which the US Govt ultimately ends up being the villain, etc.
Vinnaithandi Varuvaya is Gautam Vasudev Menon as his self-indulgent best. If Vaaranam Aayiram was Gautam's tribute to his late father, VTV seems more like Gautam reminiscing about his first love and how it never really leaves you. Be that as it may, VTV is a good attempt at making a commercially viable love story. And the fact that this is his first effort in which he has teamed up with virtuoso AR Rahman, makes this a brilliant movie, musically. ARR's melodies, Nalini Sriram's lovely costumes, Manoj Paramahamsa's slick cinematography, all of these under Gautam's watchful eyes make the songs of this movie particularly memorable. And the standalone soundtrack as well scores simply because of ARR's wonderful melodies.
The movie starts off with the protagonist Karthik (a wonderfully underplayed role by Simbu) narrating how he fell in love with Jessie (Trisha in a refreshingly girl-next-door role, more importantly a good, solid, pivotal role akin to her role in Abhiyum Naanum). The usual hurdles exist in the form of Karthik being a Hindu, an unemployed mechanical engineer looking to become an Assistant Director in films. Added to this is the fact that Jessie is an orthodox Malayalee Christian, whose father hates films in general, and to top it off, she is an year older than him as well.
As is the norm, Jessie spurns Karthik's advances, eventually falls in love with him, and then the mother of all cliches, the separation sequence happens. What happens after that, whether the two of them get together again is what makes up for the climax of the movie. All said and done, there is absolutely nothing new about this love story, but then, Gautam's unique way of handling the subject, and his flair for relatively natural story-telling is what makes this movie a must-watch, especially if you are a fan of Gautam's earlier outings as director.
In terms of critical reception, while most people have loved Simbu's portrayal of Karthik, people are divided over Trisha's outing as Jessie. In all fairness to her, she has done justice to the confused state of mind and frustratingly fickle mindedness that Jessie is supposed to portray. And if you go by recent interviews she has done, apparently she is like that in real life as well, guess it shows in this character. To me, the chemistry between the leading pair was simply awesome and has to be seen to be believed. The fact that a majority of the movie deals only with these 2 characters also makes it all the more important that their chemistry on-screen clicked so well.
A completely spoiler-ridden review of the movie by Sudhish Kamath (hat tip to you Thalaiva) can be read here, and you could also read Baradwaj Rangan's thoughts (as usual, Rangan at his candid best) here and Balaji's views here. To sum it up, go catch this movie only if you are fan of romantic movies, Gautam Vasudev Menon's style of story-telling, ARR's music, not necessarily in that order.
No Country for Old Men is one of those movies which you'll probably not sit up and notice, nor will it attract your attention in the local DVD Rental store. And for good reason. It is probably not one of those movies which you would want to pop into your player, sit back and enjoy the movie. It is as disturbing, thought provoking and as serious as a movie can get. The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen have done a wonderful job of ensuring that anybody who actually watches this movie ends up being at least a little affected by it. It leaves a lasting impression on your minds. The screenplay, the characters, the casting, the cinematography, all of these simply creep up on the audiences to leave a lasting impact.
The story deals with the circumstances where Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) accidentally comes across what remains of a botched drug deal. He encounters several dead bodies, a wounded Mexican asking for water and to top it all two million dollars in cash. His decision to pocket the cash sets off a series of events in motion, accentuating the rest of the movie. Realizing that he is being pursued by a hitman, Anton Chigurh (played eeriely well by Javier Bardem), ha makes his way to a motel on the road to Mexico.
Now Anton is reasonably ruthless as a hitman and his weapon of choice is his custom-made captive bolt pistol. His methods of disposing off his victims with as little noise and hullabaloo as possible also make him the man to watch out for. He almost gets his hands on Moss and the money, but Moss being just a tad ahead of Anton manages to get across the border. Whether Moss succeeds in getting away with the money, or does he succumb to the chilling, ruthless efficiency of Anton make up for the rest of the movie.
Some wonderful acting by the lead characters, a taut screenplay coupled with some wonderful cinematography make this movie a must-watch movie for any serious movie lover. The fact that this movie pretty much made it to the Top 10 lists of almost all movie critics in 2007 when it was released speaks volumes for its class. The list of awards and accolades this movie won also almost runs into a 100 separate awards. Now if these aren't reason enough to watch this movie, nothing else is.
Carl Fredricksen as a kid, is a huge fan of Charles Muntz, the avid adventurer. However, Muntz is accused of fabricating the skeleton of a big bird which he claimed to have found during his adventures in Paradise Falls, South America. Muntz therefore sets off on another expedition to Paradise Falls and no one ever hears of him after this incident.
Carl in the meantime meets Ellie, falls in love with her, shares her zest for life including her adventurous interests. The title credits at the beginning of the movie chronicle the wonderful life that Carl shares with Ellie and how their dream of actually owning a house right at the top of Paradise Falls, South America remains just that, a dream. Ellie becomes ill and dies, leaving Carl an extremely sad, frustrated and bitter person.
As the years go by, Carl's old house remains the only house in the locality with the rest of the area being sold out to huge skyscrapers and large concrete structures representing modernness. An unnecessary incident where Carl manages to inadvertently injure a construction worker results in a court order asking Carl to move into a retirement home and abandon his house. This sets off a chain of thoughts in Carl's mind which end up in him resolving to make a trip (along with his house) to Paradise Falls, so that he could keep his promise to Ellie. He uses thousands of helium balloons and lifts his house off its foundations and steers a course to Paradise Falls.
Unknown to him though is the fact that he actually has a stowaway in the form of Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer, who was accidentally trapped on the porch of the house, in the process of earning his final merit badge for 'assisting the elderly'. Thus begins Carl and Russell's incredible adventures.
The rest of the movie deals with how the two of them get to Paradise Falls, encounter Dug, the talking dog, and Kevin, a mysterious friend. An unexpected twist in the tale also makes their visit to the falls a little more exciting and adventurous than they bargained for. All in all, an action filled last few minutes ends the movie on a really nice note.
While like most other Pixar animation movies, this one also rocks in the animation department, where this movie really scores is on the human emotions side of the story. Each one of the characters stands out in your memory due to their memorable quirks, character traits and above all the amazing vocal talents of the actors who have given their voices to these characters. No surprise then that this was one of the movies nominated for the Best Movie Academy Award this year.
Up in the Air stars the oh-so-delicious looking George Clooney (Academy Award nominated role) playing a corporate downsizer whose job involves extensive travelling all over the US of A delivering the dreaded "You've been let go" message to more than just a few individuals. Ryan Bingham (name of his character) also delivers motivational speeches such as "What's in your backpack?" in which he preaches the virtues of a completely attachment-free life to people. Suffice to say that Ryan is somebody who is extremely comfortable in the company of only one person in the world, himself. His personal secret goal though is to hit the 10 million frequent flyer miles for the American Airlines and join a reasonably elite club which currently has only 6 members. During the course of his travels, Ryan also hooks up with another frequent flyer Alex (Academy Award nominated role played by Vera Farmiga) with whom he begins a casual relationship.
During one of his assignments he is called back to his office at Omaha, Nebraska where he is introduced to Natalie Keener (Academy Award nominated role played by Anna Kendrick) who has a proposal to cut costs by delivering the dreaded message through internet video conferencing. Now for an old-timer in this line of work like Ryan, this comes across as an extremely impersonal and shocking way to deliver such bad news to people. His boss therefore assigns Natalie to travel with Ryan for a while to get the hang of his work, his methods of delivery and see him in action, so that she has a better idea of what it actually takes to get the job done.
As things go, Ryan begins to realize how lonely he really is and how that loneliness has affected his personality adversely as such. His soft corner for Alex turns into more serious feelings for her. He realizes that he probably wants to settle down. On the workfront, Natalie learns the ropes of her trade, and manages to convince Ryan that technology can really help reduce costs for his parent company. All of this ends up in quite a twisted climactic turn of events and how it is all unravelled makes up for the last part of the movie.
Now this movie struck me as good for more than a few reasons. George Clooney at his dashing-playboy best, Vera Farmiga as the teasing, playful Alex, Anna Kendrick as the blue under the nose rookie who strongly believes in planning her life out to the last T, make up for a wonderful ensemble of characters to keep the narrative interesting. All the scenes where two of the three are involved make up for some interesting and entertaining moments in the movie, and given that there are not too many other characters, these scenes pretty much make up most of the movie. The black humor with which the director, Jason Reitman (of 'Thank you for smoking' and 'Juno' fame) has laced almost the entire movie makes it a must watch for anybody who remotely loves this genre of movies.
PS: Watch out for the title credits during the start of the movie, I absolutely loved them!!!
