Friday, February 29, 2008

Goya's Ghosts

Rating: 3/5

This is not an autobiographical movie. It doesn't tell about Francisco Goya and his growth as a great painter, nor does it tell us about his private life. This is more about the tragic epoch, a highly volatile era during which he had to live. In fact, Goya himself occupies hardly half of the film's time. But then, the title explains it all – Goya's Ghosts – it is about his characters, the people of Spain that he depicted in his works. Monks, soldiers, laypeople, generals, French, Spanish, and British – they all are before our eyes, with their lives, tragedies and joys. In fact, Lorenzo, an apostate Catholic monk, is a real hero of the film by Milos Forman. His ruthless inquisition methods, his love affairs, his apostasy and turn to Napoleon's regime, his tragic death on the scaffold show us a real life story of a man in the tragic times of the early 19 Century.

Then, there is a beautiful girl, performed by ever impeccable Natalie Portman, whose life and mind are ruined by merciless tortures in the inquisition chambers. She comes back to life as a wretched, ruined, lost soul and searches constantly for her daughter who in fact became a prostitute. She is only happy when she finds lost baby and takes it for her own. The whole long film leaves a heavy heart but a lasting impression. This is a very decent and full-scale work of art.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Bourne Ultimatum

Rating: 4/5

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) Review: After a thrilling set of two, we get the final installment. Here's my take:

The Bourne Ultimatum has it all. We have Jason Bourne(Matt Damon) on the coattails of the ones who know everything. He has been running for too long. This time, it ends.The Bourne Ultimatum has a great plot, awesome writing, fantastic direction, suspense, and some of the best action of the summer. Matt Damon delivers possibly his best performance to date. He has the conviction and swelling desire of the troubled assassin.

There are some intelligent humor here and some fine suspense. The reactions to certain events will have you either laughing(in a good way) or cheering on. With its intense action set-pieces, brilliantly paced storyline, and intelligent examination of the decisions made in the name of national security, the Bourne series is one that accurately captures the ambiguities of our age. Ultimatum is its peak.

Trade

Rating: 3/5

This movie is based on an article in the NEW YORK times about the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

This is quite a moving film and, although it's easy to argue the case, it does not exploit the kids itself in its effort to expose the horrors of child exploitation. While it has some Hollywood moments thrown in for commercial appeal, it's still as compelling as any film I've seen recently. The acting is frighteningly real. A good part of the film is a bit of a road movie where Kline and the boy bond -- he needs a male role model, Kline's life on the road is a lonely existence, you know the drill. Kline's relationship with the boy reminded me of his pairing with Hayden Christensen in "Life as a House." He's good at it, and it's a casting coup that helps put the icing on the cake. The other part of the film focuses on the harsh reality of child trafficking and follows several victims through their ordeals. But Kreutzpaintner's narrative never loses sight of its heartbreaking subject matter.

Yes, the film is overlong and borders a bit too closely on soap opera techniques, but the acting is so committed and the story is news so important that any flaw in the film can be forgiven because it opens the door to a crime that is all too unfamiliar to most citizens. It is a true story and therein lies the terror

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Bobby

Rating: 4/5

Like in all great ensemble movies, "Bobby" offers a stellar cast, none of whom disappoint. From the neurotic and self-conscious character of Samantha played by Helen Hunt) to the outspoken, confident Edward Robinson (LLaurence Fishburne) , there is a vast mixture of personalities that work to provide a complex interwoven plot line. But the most notable performance (and the most surprising) is that of Virginia Fallon. Brillianty portrayed by Demi Moore, Virginia is a foul-mouthed, insecure alcoholic who sways around on screen in delicate form, both heartbreaking and beautiful to watch.

Director-writer Emilio Estevez put his heart into this project. The direction is without a doubt highly impressive. The subtle colorful hues reflect the emotional grip of each scene, and extenuate a modern feel to the film. He puts us head-first in the crowd that witnessed the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, on what would seem to be one of the most heartbreaking moments in American history.

What I took from this movie is that we should all take the time to really think about who we're putting in power and what they will do with that power. Take the time to vote. Without your vote as your voice, you have no power to give. As RFK said "Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events...Each time a man stands up for an ideal...he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Oscars tonight!

Oscar night is tonight starting at 5PT/8ET.

Netflix just concluded the results for its Oscar survey. This is how people responded:

Best Picture
42% No Country for Old Men
19% There Will Be Blood
17% Atonement
13% Juno
9% Michael Clayton

Best Actor
62% Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
17% Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
12% George Clooney for Michael Clayton
5% Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises
4% Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah

Best Actress
30% Ellen Page for Juno
27% Julie Christie for Away from Her
22% Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
14% Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose
7% Laura Linney for The Savages

Best Supporting Actor
58% Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
16% Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War
10% Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild
9% Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
7% Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
30% Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There
26% Ruby Dee for American Gangster
15% Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone
15% Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton
14% Saoirse Ronan for Atonement

Best Animated Feature
81% Ratatouille
14% Persepolis
5% Surf's Up

Best Directing
55% Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men
20% Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood
11% Jason Reitman for Juno
9% Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton
5% Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Adapted Screenplay
41% No Country for Old Men
27% Atonement
16% There Will Be Blood
10% The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
6% Away from Her

Best Original Screenplay
60% Juno
24% Michael Clayton
7% Ratatouille
5% Lars and the Real Girl
4% The Savages

Old School

Rating: 3/5

Staring
Luke Wilson , Vince Vaughn

A rarity these days: a comedy with a decent number of laughs. Good and raunchy without being overtly outrageous, this comedy actually made me laugh. It really, really did. Although reminiscent of "National Lampoon's Animal House" to a degree, it doesn't feel like a ripoff but a pleasant homage. High marks for the amiable comic cast, especially the always funny Will Ferrell.

Much like the tradition of the raunchy flicks of the 80s, Old School encompasses the age old tradition of tactless and tasteless film creation. Buy the oddity of the situation, this is one of those films I can tolerate. Mid-life malaise couldn't have been drawn better in the lives of Mitch, Frank and Beanie. Men who serve no purpose in society, especially to their significant others. But that's the significance of the frat house. No, it isn't about being drunk and hitting on 19-year-old girls, its about reaffirming your role in society and making the inner soul feel good and relaxed. So, say what you want about the random nudity and cussing, this film is a life affirming film for all men hitting their 30s.

Certainly, Old School is not Oscar material. It's not meant to be. And it makes no pretension to comedy of the kind that My Big Fat Greek wedding brought back into vogue. This is not a feel-good romantic comedy. But it is also not to be dismissed as some insipid throwaway college romp. Old School is intentionally sophomoric (all the more so, as it is director Todd Phillips' second big studio comedy). It is genuinely funny in parts, and a healthy hour and a half return to those days of reckless abandon that many of us dreamt we either had back - or had had in the first place.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Feast of Love

Rating : 4/5

The film takes place in Portland, Oregon and examines the lives and love stories of myriad characters, each of whom is connected in some way to the father confessor of the town, one elderly professor Harry Stevenson (Morgan Freeman).

The best story line in the film is the magic of Morgan Freeman and Jane Alexander, playing the oldest interracial couple I can remember seeing on film. They are both hurting deeply from the loss of a son, yet the strength of their relationship allows them to deal with grief in separate ways, while still being there for each other. Two excellent performances.

The center of the film is the lovable, clueless, hopeless-romantic played by underrated actor Greg Kinnear. We see two relationships (Selma Blair and Radha Mitchell) end badly for him, yet he clings to his belief that LOVE is what it's all about.

What makes this film so very successful is the gentle manner in which it is written and directed and acted. There is not a weak element here in this survey of the power and force of love. Some may find the generous scenes of lovemaking a problem, but these scenes are in integral part of the story and never border on the superfluous or gratuitous level. The cast is excellent: the pleasure of seeing actors of this wide age range work together in such a fine ensemble manner is doubtless due in large part to not only the individual actors of quality but also to the director. This is a beautiful film, happy and sad, tender and enriching.
For those of you out there who feel that they can accurately predict the Oscars, Netflix is running a survey. Take it and see on the 24th feb, how many of your choices won the gold.

http://www.netflix.com/Oscars

Thursday, February 21, 2008

American Gangster

There have been some mixed reactions to this movie, and I must say that, American Gangster is not a perfect gangster film. A rise and fall film, but it is done better than both Empire and Carlito's Way put together. On the other hand it is not in the same league as Good Fellas or Casino. But, where Empire fails, American Gangster prevails where historical accuracy is needed as well as a good background story. It's violent and sometimes shocking, but being an avid gangster/crime fan i know that compared to others this is almost nothing.

A brilliant biopic of New York gangster Frank Lucasm the film also utilises Lucas's relationship with the Italian Mafia perfectly, giving you almost a two way view of the city's underworld. Denzel Washington excels at the part as Lucas, and Russell Crowe as the cop out to get him is almost blinding. Crowe does a great American accent, as well as portraying a cop out to just do his job but can't properly. It's a a film about Lucas's rise to fame in New York's Heroin business, and his fall due to both Crowe and police persistence.

Like with most gangster films, you are always put off by either the acting or the story. But here this is not the case, you have a true story that does not mask Lucas's violent life but rather portrays it as a life of both murder and violence. It does not glamorise his life in any way, it's a film that says criminals never get away with what they've done. Both Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are perfect in the criminal and cop relationship.

Rating: 3/5

Gone Baby Gone

After a decade of critically disgraced performances and brutal public humiliation year after year, Ben Affleck took a well deserved break from the Hollywood scene. This year he came back, but instead of taking the spotlight by starring in a film, he went behind the scenes and opted to direct his first feature film. Taking an example from another actor turned director, a little independent man named Clint Eastwood, he decided to adapt a novel written by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane. On the surface, Gone Baby Gone tells the story of a missing child and the two private investigators who are hired to find her. The story transforms into a highly disturbing tale of selfish, terrifying characters and the fact that no matter what people never change.

It's also one of those rare movies in which it can easily be said that the less you know about the story going in, the richer the experience. There's no clear twist ending to give away, but rather a layered story that unfolds like a Russian stacking doll with a moral dilemma at its core.

Comparisons to Mystic River are all about, being done by the same author how could we expect no less. Mystic River had more of the message of the domino effect of one's actions on others, Gone Baby Gone brings it to a new level. This film is about a society, a society who has lost the importance of innocence and the beauty of life. It focuses on the beauty of children and rest assure, when the film is over, if you're not yearning to be a better parent of embrace a child as a blessing, there is probably emptiness in your chest. This film is marvelous, beautiful and spectacular. A must-see film of the year and a pleasant surprise coming from Ben Affleck.

Rating: 4/5

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Breaking and Entering

In Anthony Minghella's "Breaking and Entering", multiple crimes are committed against numerous people, but not all of them are prosecutable in a court of law. Those subtle crimes are the heart and soul of this often beautiful film, examining the way that the choices we make and their consequences can have disastrous results we can never anticipate.

Doing something for one specific purpose without realizing that we are being lead by fate , I presume, to an existential cul-de-sac. This is the stuff that fairy tales are made off, also great drama, great comedy and all the natural ingredients of what is laughingly known as our daily existence. This is Anthony Minghella most moving film to date - and that is saying something. His obsession with darkness hidden in his characters hearts is as universal a theme as unrequited love. Minghella loves his characters and the darker they are, the stronger the love. Jude Law has not looked this good since Mr. Ripley and Juliette Binoche is heart breaking. Brilliant.

This is a multi-layered work in which the title can be taken in three ways: the obvious sense with the robberies perpetrated by Amira's son Miro; the deeper sense with Will's emotional assault on Amira; and still another sense as the middle-class Will and his like invade the traditionally working-class area of Kings Cross.

Those who need car chases or special effects in their movie experiences should avoid this movie, but those who value thoughtful and nuanced works will find much to admire here.

Rating : 4/5

The Brave one

Rating: 3/5

THE BRAVE ONE makes a fatal mistake from its first frame by trying to be much more than it actually is: a B-movie exploitation film. Yes, it's got A-level talent before (Jodie Foster, The Hunting Party) and behind (Neil Jordan) the camera, but its script is so derivative of every vigilante movie ever made, that it literally lifts scenes from two of the genres best: DEATH WISH and TAXI DRIVER. Both those films worked so well, and became deserved classics, because the filmmakers knew exactly what kind of stories they were trying to tell.

If not for Jodie Foster's presence, I probably wouldn't bother watching "The Brave One" (even though I admire most of Neil Jordan's films). It's easy to call this a morally sick movie, because that's what is... but it's not sicker than any other bloody action thriller out there. Watching a "fragile" woman like Foster becoming Charles Bronson in skirts is both entertaining and (questionably) gratifying. Who's never fantasized: what if I could just kill all the scum around me?

In between blood-letting, Foster's radio host records introspective monologues on her tape recorder about the primal nature of man, and other lofty subjects. The film's best moments occur between Foster and Howard, who do have a few interesting talks about the idea of vigilantism, but it's not enough icing for the entire cake. In attempting to merge the sensibilities of TAXI DRIVER and DEATH WISH, two very strong films that still hold up 30 years later, THE BRAVE ONE winds up giving birth to a bastard child with no real identity of its own. It is neither entertaining, nor meaningful enough to stand as an updated statement on the vigilante genre that DEATH WISH spawned in 1974, and TAXI DRIVER (should have) ended in 1976.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Sunshine

Rating: 4/5

This is not a typical science fiction per se. There are no aliens, no space battles, and no ultra-advanced technology on show. Instead Boyle chooses a more philosophical tangent, leading to questions of exactly what defines humanity, and the value of a single life weighed against the future of mankind.

The casting is excellent, with many recognisable but no particularly famous faces, the biggest names being Batman Begins' Cillian Murphy and Fantastic Four's Chris Evans. This lack of star names, combined with a cast of only the eight crew somehow makes the loneliness and the feeling of being a huge distance from home with a long way to go seem even more real. We really begin to feel with the crew as they try to hold it together long enough to complete their vital mission. Cillian Murphy in particular is a piece of inspired casting, as in many of his roles he has always appeared on the very brink of insanity anyway, so he has the close-to-crazy act down to a tee.

The CGI of the sun is extremely impressive, particularly considering the relatively low budget of the film, and the simple but intense story has viewers on the edge of the seat virtually from first act to last. The suspense is built gradually but extremely effectively, to the extent where you can feel your sanity heading the way of the astronauts' as the conclusion approaches with increasing speed.

Overall a very effective study in what a tenuous thing sanity is when faced with huge odds and a great threat. Thrilling, gripping and thought-provoking.

Monday, February 11, 2008

3:10 to Yuma

Rating: 4/5

Not since Unforgiven and The Quick and the Dead have I been as excited about seeing a Western in its heroic and revisionist forms. 3:10 to Yuma is a true Western in the American film tradition about the 19th-century American West: It has clear heroes and villains (and a mixture of those), wide prairies, dirty towns, fast guns, weak lawmen, cunning murderers, kids on the cusp, and women marginalized, just for starters.

The two leads are exceptional. Russell Crowe exudes badness and coolness and brilliance as the legendary outlaw, Ben Wade. Watching his psychological games with his captors is creepy, yet humorous and at times, downright frightening. Good guy Christian Bale captures the desperation of a man continually wronged by his country, politicians, and even his God. He struggles to maintain his character for his sons and wife, but this is no ordinary man. He is possessed by character.

The movie was well paced with great music and a hint of humor here and there. See 3:10 to Yuma and relive the golden days of straight-up shoot-em ups with
rough-hewn characters, electric plot, and revisionist attitude about the romance of being an outlaw or a farmer. Get there on time because that movie train goes fast from the get go.