Rendition

Tagline: What if someone you loved just disappeared?

Terrorism is the buzz word in India since the last few days. Last week, there was something similar to a One day cricket match happening in the Indian parliament with both sides chasing 271 for a no-confidence motion. Suddenly, we have the whole nation searching for bombs in each n every single by-lane. At the same time, there are cease-fire violations in the LoC and one more Indian soldier lost his precious life. So this is a movie blog and Why am I talking about social issues?
All this terrorism asks me to educate all my ignorant readers (the very few of them if any ;) )and hence the movie 'Rendition' I saw a few months back. The movie refers to an existing practice in the US which is termed as 'Extraordinary Rendition'. According to this, anyone suspected to be involved in terrorism can not be tortured in US soil by their intelligence but they can be transported to one of the friendly/allied nations and can be tortured and interrogated there. So we have Reese Witherspoon starring as a wife of an Egyptian with a green card and he has a name similar to that of a wanted terrorist. As soon as he enters US after an official overseas trip, he is whisked off by CIA to an unknown foreign location and interrogated there. All the records of his entry to US are ofcourse erased. So the movie covers the troubles, his pregnant wife Reese Witherspoon goes through to find his whereabouts with the help of a friend with some political links. Then there is the sub-plot involving the interrogator-General of the foreign nation, attempts on his life and his daughters romance with a local boy. The narrative especially the second part is Nolanistic and ends up in a pretty interesting way winding up many loose ends. The movie as a whole is not 'great' and is just above average. But then I heard about 'Extraordinary Rendition' for the first time here. Found the movie very informational :). Wiki has lots of info on this.
The movie also stars Meryl Streep (as a senator if I remember right) and Jake GyllenHaal as a CIA agent somewhere in African continent where our guy is renditioned for torture.

A few favorite background scores

I had previously written about a few favorite original soundtracks. Now its time for the score alone. In some cases, the theme is going to be attached with whats happening on the screen. Otherwise I just love the music :)

Once again, not in any particular order. Writing it as it comes....

1. Braveheart - Anyone who have seen this movie on William Wallace(Mel Gibson) CANNOT forget the theme music. For a novice like me, it sounds like an instrumental mainly made out of flute and the Scottish Bagpiper. Its haunting and every time you hear it, all those scenes come back.

2. Shawshank Redemption - The movie definitely has a huge HUGE fan base but I do not hear much about its music like I hear about Braveheart or Titanic. There is a shot in the movie where Andy Dufresne is driven in to the prison in a bus and they show the top view of the place. A brilliant shot and arousing music when we see Mr.Red placing a bet on the lean man with silver spoon sticking out of his mouth to lose it that night.

3. Last of the Mohicans - A friend once told me that there is a great chase sequence towards the end of the movie with this particular music in BG. I never saw the movie for another couple of years but loved the music. Later when I saw it, I loved the sequence just for the music.

4. Hotel Rwanda - The scene where the bus with all the tourists from the Collin Milles hotel are about to leave, a priest turns up with lots of refugee children. When the army forces him to leave the refugees, our Hero played by Don Cheadle takes charge and he consoles the priest saying that he will take care of them. Touching!

5. Snatch - The thugs are chasing Tyron and the dogs chasing a hare. Turkish bets on the dogs. The movie breaks into a brilliant techno music sequence as we see in slow motion, the foresaid chase sequences interlaced. Amazing comic timing from Guy Ritchie

There are a lot more favorite themes and more obvious ones like the themes from The Matrix, The Mummy, Titanic, James Bond themes etc. I am already feeling lazy :)

Freedom Writers

So Hilary Swank is a High School English teacher and most of her students in Class Room 203 are 'at-risk' students having close links to gang members and violence. The movie has its share of cliches. Still it stands out pretty good. One reason being, its a real story. In fact the movie end credits show the photo of the actual Erin Gruwell (played by Swank in the movie) and her batch of students. The movie itself is based on "The Freedom Writers Diary" by teacher Erin Gruwell.
The students belong to different races who of course keeps fighting with each other and their inner demons and the teacher tries to bring about a change. The way the sequences and narration are handled is pretty interesting and the direction is top notch. The teacher uses the holocaust and 'The Diary of Anne Frank' to teach the students tolerance and to send across the message. The students are asked to write diaries with their own stories and experiences. Good old internet tells me that these diaries are pretty famous and has been inspirational for a lot of students.
The movie had its TV premiere in HBO today. Should be able to catch it this week in the same channel :)

Last Night

Last Night (1998)
Directed by: Don McKellar
End of the world or apocalypse has always fascinated film makers. We have had a wide range of movies which describes the end or 'the acts to prevent the end'. We have seen rockets with oil drillers going to an approaching meteor to explode it up (Armageddon). We have seen a bunch of astronauts driving their ship onto the meteor to save the earth (Deep Impact). We have even seen a team being dispatched to light up a dying sun (Sunshine).

In the late 90s came the 'Last Night'. The premise is simple. The end is near. Man has made every attempt to avoid it and failed. All hopes of survival are gone. People have accepted the fact that the world is in fact going to end tonight. So the narrative catches up with Sandra who is trying to get back to her family before the world ends. We get to see another family who is on a get-together as if its Christmas and they are having a turkey for dinner. Then there is this guy who is fulfilling his wish of sleeping with whoever he wanted to sleep with (all of them).

The movie explores the situations of a lot of characters like this. Frankly I dont remember all the character names and I am too lazy to look all of them up in IMDB. There is no exciting twist either. But something about the plot keeps you occupied. The originality and simplicity of how man accepts his fate and decides to live the rest of his life doing what he ever wanted to do rather than worrying about the end leaves a nice taste in your mouth. Try to get hold of this movie and watch it once. You might enjoy it for its variety in treatment and freshness of the theme.

Batman and Joker

Be warned before you set out to watch this movie in Dhanya Theatre, Trivandrum- The cinema screen is pretty dark, most of the dialogues are inaudible because the overhead fans make more sound than the speakers (Yes, AC is only in the name) and the theatre runs their own sensor board. You might see sudden cuts, sudden change of frame color and lot of jerks. So welcome to the theatres in Trivandrum.

Now about the movie. As of today, Dark Knight is rated at 9.6/10 and #3 in all time Top 250. It might not hold this rating but this movie is out to stay right at the top in any list. This is an almost perfect screen adaption of the caped crusader comics – Batman. A movie where the villain –The Joker (played by Late Heath Ledger) overshadows the hero -Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale). So we have a violent, gruesome, dark superhero movie which is one of its kind. The movie had me in the intro itself when Joker and his miscreants carry out a bank robbery with some heavy music in the background.

Already a big fan of Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Prestige and Batman Begins), expectations were really high as far as I am concerned, more because of the high IMDB rating and the huge hype surrounding Heath Ledger’s untimely death. Still the movie lives up to its reputation. Ledger had definitely performed the role of his life and is rumored to get a best actor nomination for Oscars already.

The net is full of reviews of the movie and so I don’t intend to give away anything. Because of the good dose of violence, it might be sensible to keep small kids away from the movie. Quite different from his usual style, most part of this movie follows a linear narration but Nolan manages to surprise us every now and then with twists which we could never see coming. The surprise elements, the shock elements and the heroic elements stand out truly in this flick. Watch out when Joker blows up a hospital. That is a scene of immense brilliance (no for SFX but direction).

Aaron Eckhart (of Thank You for Smoking) is really impressive as the DA Harvey Dent who changes to the villainous Two Face. Michael Caine and Gary Oldman do justice to their roles from the first part as the loyal Butler Alfred and the friendly cop Jim Gordon respectively.

Christian Bale is as impressive as ever. The replacement for Katie Holmes – Maggie Gylenhall fits the role. But the star of the movie remains the Joker.

To sum it up, the movie would have been aptly titled 'Batman and Joker' but then the title rolls up only at the end ;) So 'The Dark Knight' fits too :)

I have plans to see this movie another couple of times but not in that theatre because of the points in the first para.

Its trailer time!

Whenever I ask someone, his/her opinion about a movie running in theatre, a rather obvious question that accompanies sounds like "Were their any movie trailers during the intermission?".

I love watching them. For good movies, trailers have to be good too but its a real bonus in the case of the not-so-good ones. They usually come with the best parts from the movies (for example Torque) or the trailer will be so bad that there wont be any pending decision whether to see the movie or not ('Don Muthuswamy' comes to my mind). So here are a few trailers that come up as favorites when I think of it right now.

1. Mission Impossible III : It has 'personal' written all over it. Well, people never noticed but the whole MI series has personal written all over it even with all that style.

2. 300 : This trailer had me literally dropping my jaws. "This is Sparta!!!" and a kick somewhere around the abdomen...WOW!!

3. Sexy Beast : This is a relatively unknown but gem of a movie starring Ben Kingsley. If you are familiar with only Mr. Ben 'Gandhi' Kingsley, watch this for Don Logan (a foul mouthed gangster). The trailer gives a good sample of whats in store. Shocking!!

4. LA Confidential : Both the trailer and the movie have a place right at the top in my favorites list. The best investigation movie ever made!!

5. Ekalavya : One of the best trailers from Bollywood. Can never expect anything lesser than this from Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Only if the movie was this good....

Minnaminnikootam - I would dare not see it!!

First the disclaimer that this is not a review since I havent seen the movie and am planning to see it too (unless one day I feel naughty and I walk into the theatre considering this to be a spoof. That really worked with kamals last movie 'Goal')

Yes, two days back, a malayalam movie 'Minnaminnikootam' got released which is supposed to tell the story of 'IT professionals'. I saw a few promos in TV and the promos conveyed the meaning that IT folks meant laptops, ID tags,latest gadgets and mobiles and then of course posh apartments like never seen before. Yesterday I get this message from a friend saying something like "DONT EVEN DARE TO GO NEAR KAIRALI THEATRE. I SAW THE MOVIE". It didn't surprise me. So what I heard is - "There are three couples with one couple in the lead. They keep fighting and making up. The main job of other couples are to resolve the 'issues' of the leading couple. And yes, software engineers have nothing else to do. Sit with laptop, roam around in restaurant and loiter around in pairs."

Today I heard the director in an interview He said something like (translated)- "I am a one man army in the Malayalam industry trying to bring something new here. I might fail but I am atleast trying."

So take a usual romance story. Change the profession. Let it be students in the first one; Salesmen and their neighbours in the second one; Software engineers in the third; whats next? I would suggest 'the love life of three police officer/trainees' or something. Directors, please grow up!!! :(

PS: I got myself a DVD of 'Aaram Thampuraan' starring Mohanlal and saw it again this weekend. It was so refreshing compared to the ones that came after that. When can I go to the theatre to really see a good Malayalam movie? Only time will tell...

Gotham Knight

Gotham city! The dreaded imaginary city where crime ruled till he walked in. His dark attire earned him the name 'Batman'. So when Christopher Nolan brought back to life Batman on silver screen starting all over from scratch, both critics and fans drooled all over the world. 'Batman begins' was a masterpiece (where Nolan even managed to put in signature time interleaving) and the sequel 'Dark Knight' is just around the corner. At this moment, the producers have come out with a direct-to-DVD anthology of six anime shorts on Batman titled 'Gotham Knight'.

This is in the lines of 'Animatrix' which was released between 'Matrix' and 'Matrix Reloaded'. While Animatrix told stories which were not directly relevant to see the other two movies, it came out more like an icing on the cake. 'Gotham Knight' is none the less. If you loved the animation that Quentin Tarantino gifted us in 'Kill Bill Volume 1', grab this DVD!! Gotham Knight is supposed to tell the story between 'Batman Begins' and 'Dark Knight'. All the six shorts have their own different mode of animation and the collection is impressive to say the least.

PS: Bruce Wayne (Batman) does figure in many of my posts. Hope it conveys the point that I am a fan :). Thanks to Mr.Nolan! Still waiting for the Knight to make an entry here...

Now, Hancock is fun!!

Yes, What do we really expect out of a Will Smith starrer? Fun; loads and loads of it!! Thats exactly what Hancock is. Directed by Peter Berg who previously did an impressive 'The Kingdom' with Jamie Foxx, Hancock is a take on superhero movies (even this rather annoying name :) ) with Will Smith playing the 'In & As' title role. The movie also stars the beautiful-but-now-looking-old-and-still-hot Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman (another member of the personal favorite character actors list, most noted for his role in last years super hit 'Juno').

Hancock is neither a spoof nor is it a usual superhero movie. It has quite an interesting plot which is surprisingly not given away by its trailer. My point is, if you see the trailer of the recent Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk, you get to make out the movie plot but the Hancock trailer is not at all a giveaway. If you are willing to rest your brain for a while, you might spend 90+ minutes of fun. This is a movie yet again not to be taken seriously. It has a rather filmy ending but then its just a film. The CGI is pretty decent and some of the superhero stunts are loudly laughable. Will Smith fits the role perfectly.

Heard that the script of this movie was floating around in Hollywood for quite a long time. Hmmm... Anyways the plot has a slight resemblance to another movie which i saw recently. The name would be a spoiler. Hence to be revealed later :)

Some Influential Movie Heroes (for me)!!

Again the disclaimer: That might not be my all time tops and this is not in any particular order. These are some of the characters that come to my mind when I think ~Hero~

1. John Preston - Equilibrium (Christian Bale)

The Hero of a movie about eradicating all 'sense offenders'(people who dare to feel emotions) in a future world where emotions are banned. Bale plays a cleric who is supposed to hunt down sense offenders but later changes sides and joins the resistance. This is one of the strongest acting performances I have ever seen. Controlled and putting up a face without any emotion but at the same time making the audience feel what he is feeling inside. Brilliance!!

2. Leon - Leon (Jean Reno)

The perfect savior next door. A professional hitman who drinks milk and carries around a potted plant as a pet. He is tough and almost invincible. Gives you goosebumps when he says "No Women, No Kid!!".

3. Juror #8 - 12 angry men (Henry Fonda)

Most cool headed Hero I would say. This classic from Sidney Lumet tells the story of 12 jurors locked in a room discussing on the fate of the boy who is accused of murdering his father. Juror #8 starts off as the only person in the room who doubts whether the boy is guilty. He ends up convincing everyone.

4. Jim - 28 days later (Cillian Murphy)

Yes, a hero from a Zombie movie. I can never forget that sequence when he decides that he is the one to save his lady love and a little girl from the baddies, with that all that theme music in background. He runs around, all over the place in a ground breaking sequence.

A recent surprise package - Bridge to Terabithia

When I heard for the first time about this movie, there was a 'Narnia' hangover all around. When I saw its promo in TV of two kids and some magical creatures looking like giant trolls and honey bees, I had made up my mind never to watch this. The movie was 'Bridge to Terabithia'.

Later I got my hands on it and the movie had me by the middle of the opening credits. Quite different from what the trailers suggest, 'Bridge to..' is not about kids getting lost in a magical world. This wrong message sent in the promos might have affected its collection too. In a nutshell, its the story of a boy, Jess, meeting at school this wonderful friend, a golden haired girl called Leslie and how they go about telling stories and building an imaginary world in the abandoned woods nearby. The movie also covers their school days, Jess' sweet crush on his pretty music teacher (the pretty Zooey Deschanel :) ) and their fights with the school bullies. What I am trying to say is that the movie here has a strong story line!! So please do watch it. Its imaginative and the characters are well written.

Look up Taare Zameen Par in imdb. Scroll down to the recommendations section. (**Music rolling in the background**)
Bingo! this movie is right there. That tells a lot about this movie to the Indian audience. Enjoy!!

PS: For those who are interested, this movie is based on a book of the same name by Katherine Patterson.

Hollywood and July 2008

If anyone did notice, last couple of Hollywood months had a good dose of superhero stuff. Marvel Comics came out with the movie versions of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. If you were thinking you had the best of it, then hold your breath and dont say it because like someone sang (yes, Tony Bennett did sing these lines), "The Best is yet to come"!!

Releasing in the couple of weeks are two of the most anticipated sequels from Hollywood this year. One being the visual maestro Guillermo Del Tero's "HellBoy and the Golden Army". The first part finds a place in my Top 10 superhero movies (which will be another post soon :) .

Then comes the Dad of all superhero movies - "The Dark Knight". Directed by Christopher Nolan, last seen carrying 'The Prestige" and scripted by Jonathan Nolan (The author of 'Memento Mori'), the movie stars Christian Bale, Late Heath Ledger, Aaron EckHart (remember "ThankYou For Smoking"?) etc..

My town is waiting the release of yet another Superhero movie "Hancock" starring Will Smith and I hear that its coming here this weekend.

Meanwhile check out WALL-E in imdb. Its rated at 8.9/10 with over 27000 votes and has a place in Top 20 movies in the IMDB Top 250!!! The biggest animation movie ever made? Only time will tell....

Jaane Tu..Ya Jaane Na - Sweet Mushy romance

Directed by Abbas Tyrewala (writer of Maqbool, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Main Hoon Na etc)
Starring: Imran Khan, Genelia

Just came back from the movie. I enjoyed every minute of it. Its sweet, mushy and acting is top notch. Imran Khan, Genelia and Prateik Babbar (Yes, the son of Raj Babbar and Smita Patil) are really impressive. The supporting cast is good with familiar television faces like Ratna Pathak Shah, Jayant Kripalani and Kitu Gidwani.

The narration of their friends' friendship-to-love story by a group of friends to their disinterested new joinee friend forms the crux of the film. All the mush, masala and deviation from reality might turn the switch off to well a lot of people. But if you like movies in the lines of Big Fish where reality and imagination often go hand in hand, you would enjoy this.

So be warned that Jaane Tu is a bit unconventional and it is not to be taken seriously. Watch this one with the mindset of a kid reading a fairy tale. You might just love this. :)

The music is really good but most of the songs in the album end up as background scores with just a couple of lines here and there.

I would like to see more of this stuff than seeing products with wasted talent, money and time like Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic. So a good debut Mr. Abbas Tyrewala in the directors seat. Way to go!!

Making a short movie

I doubt if anyone even noticed that I havent posted for the last few days. :)

Well, its not that I lost interest after the 'Arambhashoorathvam' (exact opposite of 'starting trouble'). Instead I was in the making of yet another short movie, infact a concept video for the place i work in.

So it was an entertaining weekend with a Saturday when we were running all around the town for innumerable chores and finally ending up having a 3 hour shooting session. My partner in direction (and the Director of Photography) 's brother turned out to the main protagonist (whose face never appears on the screen :) ) My college mate managed the logistics [That would be the camera and the iPhone that appears in the movie]. I did a bit of direction and the whole chunk of editing..It took the whole of Sunday and Monday.. Wuff!!! That was so tiring..but then we have a movie in hand made in three days redefining the concept of zero budget!!! We ran this movie across a few close friends and the reviews have been good. We are planning to release this in youtube and ofcourse this blog once its out officially. So keep checking this page once in a while :)

Starting tomorrow, I should be back to my new 'blogging about movies' habit.