Tony Gilroy, the guy who has the screenplays of The Devil's Advocate and the Bourne series to his credit, takes the directors seat for the first time with Michael Clayton. The subject he has chosen for his directorial debut is a legal drama. Legal dramas are difficult to make, because the pace has to be slow, the dialogs have to be carefully written so that the audience can understand what exactly is going on and trust me people don't like to watch slow paced movies unless the movie is really good and has some substance to keep the audience glued to the screen. Well, Tony has chosen a difficult subject for his first film as a director and see how successfully he has done so. I mean, how many movie have managed to get seven Oscar nominations and how many of them were made by first time directors.
Michael Clayton is a fixer in one of the biggest law firms in United States and he is really good at his job. He is one person who can make his clients problems disappear except his own. His business has gone bad, he has debts to pay and he is addicted to gambling. His company is handling a high stake case for U/north, but a sudden change of heart of his friend and colleague Arthur Edens changes everything and Michael is given the job to clean everything up. Micheal is trying to pull everything back together, but when Arthur is killed, he decides to dig deeper.
The movie has enough stuff to keep you interested. Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton have done great job as Arthur Edens and Karen Crowder respectively. George Clooney is brilliant in the title role. The movie starts with a scene from the climax and the most of the story is a flashback, may be it's inspired by Martin Scorsese but it certainly made the screenplay much more interesting. I would give Michael Clayton 7 out of 10 and am certainly waiting for more movies from Tony.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Jumper: Anywhere is Possible
What will you do if you have the ability to teleport yourself to any location of your choice? Sounds interesting? Well that is what Jumper is all about.
Jumper is story of David Rice, whose mother has left him when he was five. He stays with his father. He secretly loves a girl in school Millie. One fine day accidentally David discovers that he has the ability to teleport himself and decides to have fun with it. He visits various places around the world. Robs some bank for the money and lives a lavish lifestyle. Just when he starts getting used to his lifestyle, enters Roland, who has vowed to kill all the Jumpers. Second half is all about David trying to escape Roland and save Millie from him. How he does it is quite interesting and there are couple of surprises to keep you interested.
The concept is interesting and a series of movies can be made on it. Movies like Jumper are not about acting, so lets not talk about that. Having Rachel Bilson is bonus. She looks great. You get to see some great special effects and beautiful locations around the world, that to a different view. Have you ever wondered how Sphinks look from the top. The movie is average and there were occasions in the first half, I wished I was a Jumper. My rating for Jumper is 5 out of 10.
Jumper is story of David Rice, whose mother has left him when he was five. He stays with his father. He secretly loves a girl in school Millie. One fine day accidentally David discovers that he has the ability to teleport himself and decides to have fun with it. He visits various places around the world. Robs some bank for the money and lives a lavish lifestyle. Just when he starts getting used to his lifestyle, enters Roland, who has vowed to kill all the Jumpers. Second half is all about David trying to escape Roland and save Millie from him. How he does it is quite interesting and there are couple of surprises to keep you interested.
The concept is interesting and a series of movies can be made on it. Movies like Jumper are not about acting, so lets not talk about that. Having Rachel Bilson is bonus. She looks great. You get to see some great special effects and beautiful locations around the world, that to a different view. Have you ever wondered how Sphinks look from the top. The movie is average and there were occasions in the first half, I wished I was a Jumper. My rating for Jumper is 5 out of 10.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Jodha Akbar: was it Suraj Barjatya directing the movie?
Ashutosh Gowarikar said in one of his interviews, Jodha Akbar is an epic romance. I just want to ask, why? How this romance was different from the life of any average Indian couple, whose marriage is an arranged one. In an arranged marriage both persons don't know each other and they get to know about each other by living together and observing each other's life style and behavior. Like our many TV serials, here also there is an scheming mother-in-law (kind of), trying to destroy the developing love. How many times have we seen people marrying each other for political or business advantage, in our movies, serials and in real life as well. Then why this is an epic romance and others not. May be because this involves one of the most celebrated character of Indian history or may be because of the money involved in making this film or the sets. This somehow looked like a movie made by Rajshree Productions.
People who might go to watch this movie for getting the feel of Moghul era, the wars fought during that time or the politics. This movie is not about all that. This movie is entirely about one arranged marriage and the couple sort out their differences and fall for each other. One of the biggest disadvantage for this film is, it's length. The run time is too long.
The movie starts with voice of Amitabh Bacchan giving a brief about Moghul history and how Jalaluddin became emperor and how Bairam Khan helped empire grow. You are shown one war scene, which failed to impress me. Akbar grows up and decides to take his decisions and we are shown that he doesn't want slaves or to kill people. He wants to rule their heart. In the mean while we get to know that Jodhabai's marriage to Ratan Singh is called off because Jodha's father, king of Amer, decides to surrender to Moghuls. This leads to an agreement between King of Amer and Akbar, and the first condition of the agreement is that Akbar will have to marry Jodhabai. Jodha reluctantly decides to go by her father's decision, with a little resistance of course. Then starts family drama. There you find husband and wife sleeping in different beds. Husband trying to impress his wife by showing his body and some skill with sword and wife trying to impress husband by cooking food for him. Then there is Maham Manga, who doesn't want the relationship to grow. By interval some confusion develops between husband and wife, curtsy Maham Manga. But as happens in every Hindi film, by the end everything is hunky dory between the couple.
I don't know the history behind Jodha Akbar but if what is shown in this movie, this doesn't look like a great story. Dialogs sometime are not consistent with the language spoken during that time, but such incidents are quite few, so can be ignored. I don't know how Akbar looked like, but somehow I didn't feel like I was looking at one of the most talked about emperor of Moghul era, by looking at Hritik in the movie. He neither talks like an emperor nor walks like one. Aishwarya somehow looks convincing. All the songs seem too long and make you feel restless. The pace of the movie is another weak point, the movie could have been better if the length was somewhere around two hours, but this one is almost 3 hour 15 mins. More value has been given to the sets than the story.
Overall, I didn't like the movie, but would like you to give it a try, because a lot of money and effort has gone into making this film and who knows, you might like it. My rating to this film is 5 out of 10.
PS: If someone close to Akbar did something wrong, he/she was not imprisoned or trailed. He/she was just sent to Makka Shareef. Did historians anywhere mentioned about any travel agency owned/run by Akbar?
People who might go to watch this movie for getting the feel of Moghul era, the wars fought during that time or the politics. This movie is not about all that. This movie is entirely about one arranged marriage and the couple sort out their differences and fall for each other. One of the biggest disadvantage for this film is, it's length. The run time is too long.
The movie starts with voice of Amitabh Bacchan giving a brief about Moghul history and how Jalaluddin became emperor and how Bairam Khan helped empire grow. You are shown one war scene, which failed to impress me. Akbar grows up and decides to take his decisions and we are shown that he doesn't want slaves or to kill people. He wants to rule their heart. In the mean while we get to know that Jodhabai's marriage to Ratan Singh is called off because Jodha's father, king of Amer, decides to surrender to Moghuls. This leads to an agreement between King of Amer and Akbar, and the first condition of the agreement is that Akbar will have to marry Jodhabai. Jodha reluctantly decides to go by her father's decision, with a little resistance of course. Then starts family drama. There you find husband and wife sleeping in different beds. Husband trying to impress his wife by showing his body and some skill with sword and wife trying to impress husband by cooking food for him. Then there is Maham Manga, who doesn't want the relationship to grow. By interval some confusion develops between husband and wife, curtsy Maham Manga. But as happens in every Hindi film, by the end everything is hunky dory between the couple.
I don't know the history behind Jodha Akbar but if what is shown in this movie, this doesn't look like a great story. Dialogs sometime are not consistent with the language spoken during that time, but such incidents are quite few, so can be ignored. I don't know how Akbar looked like, but somehow I didn't feel like I was looking at one of the most talked about emperor of Moghul era, by looking at Hritik in the movie. He neither talks like an emperor nor walks like one. Aishwarya somehow looks convincing. All the songs seem too long and make you feel restless. The pace of the movie is another weak point, the movie could have been better if the length was somewhere around two hours, but this one is almost 3 hour 15 mins. More value has been given to the sets than the story.
Overall, I didn't like the movie, but would like you to give it a try, because a lot of money and effort has gone into making this film and who knows, you might like it. My rating to this film is 5 out of 10.
PS: If someone close to Akbar did something wrong, he/she was not imprisoned or trailed. He/she was just sent to Makka Shareef. Did historians anywhere mentioned about any travel agency owned/run by Akbar?
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Mithya: Welcome 2008
Finally the year 2008 has started for bollywood. All other movies released before this one in 2008 were not up to the mark and somehow failed to impress. I was waiting for this film since I read about it about four months back. And after watching the film I am glad that I watched this film. My friend was really hesitant about going for this movie (he was insisting on watching Fool's Gold) and I persuaded him and I am glad the movie did not disappoint me. After Mixed Doubles and Bheja Fry, Rajat Kapoor, Ranveer Shorey and Vinay Pathak trio has again done wonders. Rajat was not acting this time and was more keen on making other act.
The movie is about the life of a struggling actor VK (Ranveer), who finds himself in the middle of a gang war just because of his looks. This movie has a lot of twists and it will be unfair on my part to give away those here. In one line, the film is story of a guy who finds himself at the wrong place in the wrong time and how that changes his life. Although the movie is not a remake of Don, but this is how a Don remake could have been.
Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla have come up with a brilliant script, which is very unpredictable. Although I somehow knew the end, but the way movie reaches it's end is worth watching. The story has comedy, drama, action, romance, love, almost every element of a good script. Arindam Chaudhary has made up for his mistake (Rok Sako to Rok Lo) by producing this film. Rajat Kapoor has presented this brilliant script beautifully.
If we talk about acting, everyone in the cast has played his part beautifully. Ranveer Shorey has performed really well in a very demanding role. Vinay Pathak leaves his mark in a small but significant role. Other actors Naseeruddin Shan, Saurabh Shukla, Iravati, Brijendra Kala, Harsh Chhaya all are good in their part and have been suitably cast. Neha Dhupia has proved that she can act, if she is given good roles. By the end of the year, this movie will definitely find it's name among one of the best movies of year 2008.
I would rate this film as 8 out of 10 and would recommend every cinema lover to go and watch this film. I am sure you will be glad that you watched this film.
The movie is about the life of a struggling actor VK (Ranveer), who finds himself in the middle of a gang war just because of his looks. This movie has a lot of twists and it will be unfair on my part to give away those here. In one line, the film is story of a guy who finds himself at the wrong place in the wrong time and how that changes his life. Although the movie is not a remake of Don, but this is how a Don remake could have been.
Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla have come up with a brilliant script, which is very unpredictable. Although I somehow knew the end, but the way movie reaches it's end is worth watching. The story has comedy, drama, action, romance, love, almost every element of a good script. Arindam Chaudhary has made up for his mistake (Rok Sako to Rok Lo) by producing this film. Rajat Kapoor has presented this brilliant script beautifully.
If we talk about acting, everyone in the cast has played his part beautifully. Ranveer Shorey has performed really well in a very demanding role. Vinay Pathak leaves his mark in a small but significant role. Other actors Naseeruddin Shan, Saurabh Shukla, Iravati, Brijendra Kala, Harsh Chhaya all are good in their part and have been suitably cast. Neha Dhupia has proved that she can act, if she is given good roles. By the end of the year, this movie will definitely find it's name among one of the best movies of year 2008.
I would rate this film as 8 out of 10 and would recommend every cinema lover to go and watch this film. I am sure you will be glad that you watched this film.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
We Own the Night
What do you expect when 6 times Oscar nominee (one time winner) Robert Duvall, 2 times Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix and one time Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg come together in a movie? I at least expected some people in the theater but to our surprise, we were the only two people watching the movie (later on we were joined by 3 more).
Robert 'Bobby' Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is manager of a night club, which is frequently visited by Russian drug mafia boss Vadim Nezhinski. His father Deputy Chief Albert 'Bert' Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) and brother Capt. Joseph 'Joe' Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) are after Vadim. When Joe is shot by one of Vadim's hit man, Bobby decides to save his family from the bad guys.
This movie is only the third by writer-director James Gray, and he has done a brilliant job here. The movie is not an action packed crime movie. It's a drama. A story about a family, about relationships. All the three leading actors have done brilliant job, as expected. The characters of Bobby and Joe have been developed really well. In run time of almost 2 hours, you get to watch a good story executed by able actors.
To see how good an actor Joaquin is, watch him in the scene where Vadim tells him about the hit on his brother and he is planning to target his father next. Also watch him confronting with Jumbo, when he finds out that Jumbo betrayed him. I have never been a fan of Eva Mendes' acting abilities, but she has done a fairly decent job here. Robert Duvall and Mark Wahlberg are great in their part.
Overall, I would rate this movie as 7 out of 10. Go and watch it, it's worth your money.
Robert 'Bobby' Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is manager of a night club, which is frequently visited by Russian drug mafia boss Vadim Nezhinski. His father Deputy Chief Albert 'Bert' Grusinsky (Robert Duvall) and brother Capt. Joseph 'Joe' Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg) are after Vadim. When Joe is shot by one of Vadim's hit man, Bobby decides to save his family from the bad guys.
This movie is only the third by writer-director James Gray, and he has done a brilliant job here. The movie is not an action packed crime movie. It's a drama. A story about a family, about relationships. All the three leading actors have done brilliant job, as expected. The characters of Bobby and Joe have been developed really well. In run time of almost 2 hours, you get to watch a good story executed by able actors.
To see how good an actor Joaquin is, watch him in the scene where Vadim tells him about the hit on his brother and he is planning to target his father next. Also watch him confronting with Jumbo, when he finds out that Jumbo betrayed him. I have never been a fan of Eva Mendes' acting abilities, but she has done a fairly decent job here. Robert Duvall and Mark Wahlberg are great in their part.
Overall, I would rate this movie as 7 out of 10. Go and watch it, it's worth your money.
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