Entertainment and Us

The second high-on-realism movie that i saw was Omkara.
Adorned with stellar performances from Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali Khan, this Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation of Othello is a very good watch. A treat for every movie buff.
Very simply put, its pure delight.

I had, unfortunately, gone to watch it with the family and the more than necessary usage of expletives made for quite an uncomfortable situation, but the movie and performances more than made up for it.

The movie starts with Saif Ali Khan talking about the difference between a bewakoof and a Chu****. Yup, thats the word. No beep-beep, no subtle hints. The word itself ladies and gentlemen. This scene itself set the tone for the rest of the movie.

Coming to the story, its pure unadulterated Othello set in a UP political background. In the movie Othello oops Omkara is a Bahubali or the right arm of a political bigwig(Naseeruddin Shah-wasted!) doing all his violent work for him. Vivek Oberoi and Saif Ali Khan are his two side-arms. All of a sudden Onkara moves on from being the bahubali to the
MLA, thereby making it neccesary to make one of Saif and Vivek the next Bahubali resulting in obvious discontentment of one.

Saif gives a brilliant performance in a Ek Haseena Thi-esque negative role. This one is peppered with tons of more abuses and a set of yellow teeth! Vivek, although takes the sidestage when compared to Saif and Ajay, does ample justice to his role. Ditto for Kareena. Konkona Sen is a delight yet again! This girl surely has a great career ahead of her! And last but not the least Ajay Devgan excels yet again in what has almost become his core-competence!
The direction of Vishal Bhardwaj(of Makdee and Maqbool fame) is ordinary in patches but otherwise brilliant.

I couldnt help but compare Omkara to company. Apart from the strikingly distinct settings, the movies do have a lot in common. Ajay devgan as the boss(for all practical purposes), Vivek Oberoi as the young star who has risen too much in too short a period, thereby making enemies within his own camp, and the dark setting and the sad ending of the movie.
And the icing of the cake is, if i say "its a movie in which Ajay Devgan is made to believe that Vivek Oberoi,who is on ajay's side, is actually acting against him", then both the movies fit the bill. You could even add that Ajay attempts to kill Vivek but Vivek survives and Devgan dies in the end!

The only qualm that I have from this movie is the unneccesary usage of abuses. Sure, the censor board is more lenient these days, but does that mean that you should abuse the liberty?
Sex, Corruption, abuses, treachery:Are these the only means of depicting "realism" in movies today? Is that all it takes to call your movie very "real"?

Inspite of that I would go ahead and call this movie a must watch(not with ur family though)

What to watch out for:Brilliant performances, Great setting, superb photography and direction. Ajay Devgan and Konkona displaying their great acting skills.
Also, Saif Ali Khan in a non-stereotypical role, if i aint wrong this is his second negative role

What to ignore: Too many expletives. Could have done without a few of those.

Rating: 8.5/10[I was tempted to give 9 or maybe even 9.5 to this great attempt but as i said my experience was not really as complete as it should have been]

Posted by MountCleverest at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

This weekend I had a chance to see two 'realist' movies almost back to back. But frankly speaking both left me disappointed.
Starting with Corporate. "Madhur Bhandarkar's hard-hitting feature based on the reality of the world of entrepreneurship".
Hard hitting? sure!
Reality? Wow, "reality" sure is scary!
but wait a minute, how would reality be hard-hitting if it wasnt kind of scary? Pointless question? read on and then tell me.

Corporate is the story of two competitors in the corporate world, their fights, the means of their fight(obviously the question of ethics has been embroiled in this part) and the effect on the life of one female.Nishi(Bipasha Basu) potrays the role of a young female with a sharp business acumen who works for one of the companies in question and has a soft spot for the brother in law, Ritesh(KK Menon) of the boss.
The movie starts with the usual comparison of the two companies and how they both keep trying to snatch the goodies from the other.
The twist comes when the love birds of the movie(yup KK n Bips) manage to find out about a top secret plan of the rivals. They come out with a plan of their own and phase it out faster than the competitor to take control of the market. During all this they discover that their product has some quality issues which would be very harmful to the health of the public using it. Business sense(read profit vs loss argument) gives rise to the need of continuing with the product. The rival discover the problem and get the company into a spot of bother by bringing the issue in full spotlight of media and public.
Nishi is made the scapegoat with the assurance of being rescued, and well as you would accept from a "realistic" movie, she is still left helpless and 'un-rescued' even at the end of the movie.

The big question to be asked here is, has Madhur Bhandarkar made Sex, Corruption and unethical gameplay in real world his signature style? It was good in Page 3, but in Corporate it seems very less attractive.
To me, Page 3 was a very good movie but Corporate falls short in almost all aspects.
The USP of Page 3 was all the new faces and their great performances, while in Corporate critically acclaimed KK Menon fails to look good. Bipasha looks different, but again doesnt act that well.
The only performance i would recomment watching is that of Rajat Kapoor, in the role of the uncompromising only-profit-minded businessman Vinay Sehgal. I first noticed this guy in Dil Chahta Hai and since then i have been impressed by each of his performances.

Why Watch It:This is supposed to be the part 2 in the trilogy of Bhandarkar, therefore if the third part turns out to be another stellar movie, you would hate to have missed out on the second part in the series
(yea, thats the best reason i could think off!)
What to ignore:The same old story of business rivals endulging in unethical means and in the end both reaching a compromise to leave the scapegoat at the gallows.

Rating: 5.5/10
(initially i gave 5, but Rajat's performance and occasional brilliance in direction and cinematography earned them that additional 0.5 point! you think i am stingy? you betcha!)

Coming Soon: Omkara. At a post near you. ;-)

Posted by MountCleverest at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

Take this,
The main protagonist of the movie has a bad reputation and keeps getting sent from one place to another, until he reaches a place where he seems to be "destined" to be.
Here he makes a few good friends, finds the heroine and falls head over heels at first sight. The villain is the one going around with the heroine currently and is also kind of a demi-god in some field or has some relative who has super-rich and uber powerful.
Now the hero, begins his process of winning the girl by beating the villain in his "own turf" and losing seemingly the best friend somewhere in between.

now tell me how many movies have you seen which seem to take this same oft trodden story outline? Chances are, if you are a true hindi movie buff, your answer would be "countless" as was mine.

Well surprise surprise, Fast and Furious 3: Tokyo Drift takes the same story plot!
But wait,dont quit on this movie just yet.
Apart from the story FnF3 not only manages to become a visual and audio delight but, in my opinion, breaks the jinx of the sequels by actually becoming better than its predecessors!
Not story wise of course! But was fast and furious ever about the story?
It was about cars, fast cars, fast cars in a race, and brilliant music!
I think the masterstroke from Justin Lin in the third instalment has been to avoid the temptation of continuing with his original superhit starcast.
Everything is new in Fast and Furious 3 and might have well been a totally standalone movie except for its name and a last 4 frame appearance of Vin Diesel[oops that was supposed to be a surprise!
What to watch out for: Superlative Drifting! A treat for any racing and automobile buff.
As an addon, beautiful Japanese babes on pulsating soundtracks.
What to ignore: The story.
My Rating: 7/10

Posted by MountCleverest at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

Superman returns from a vacation of 5 years to save Metropolis and the world yet again.
This movie is sure to entice those, who enjoyed the first three movies of the series but then again expect nothing new from our hero.
Yet again, the first scene for "superman" in the movie is to save his lady love Lois from yet another danger. How she managed to survive in this perilious world without her saviour for five years beats me! But well, so do many other things in the movies.

Again, like the previous instalments, there are few parts in the movie where reason and logic need to be abandoned after all the superheros deserve something extra,right? ;)
To cut a long story short, its the same old story. Superman, Clark Kent, and Lex Luthor, all return to their respective places after 5 years. Yet again, Lex (this time played by Kevin Spacey, who does quite well in the role previously donned by Gene Hackman) has evil plans to rule the world, and yet again the caped crusader saves the day.
The changes in the cast and crew have been quite refreshing. Brandon Routh does quite well in a role epitomized by Christopher Reeve and it is very visible from the start that both Routh and the director intend the character built by Reeve to be continued as is. In fact in many scenes, it almost seemed that it was Reeve himself in the role.
Kevin Spacey is very good as usual, though the role doesnt really do his talents much justice.
Kate Bosworth is suprisingly very cosy in the role of Lois Lane, the love interest of Superman, and now a single mom(yup a very pleasant surprise it was!)
Director Bryan Singer carries forward his experience in the other "hero" series of batman and brings great lighting effects into the movie. One thing that i loved in this movie was that due to the lighting the dress of superman, which previously appeared too bright and kiddish, now appears much more...(umm,whats the word) royal! A pretty nice mix of emotions(mainly b'coz Lois is now betrothed to another man) and superhero action.

What to watch out for: Lex Luthor the evil villain in this episode get access and makes evil use(what else do u expect?) of the knowledge of the civilization of Krypton through the words of Jor-el. And of course beautiful CGI imagery that was missing from all the previous parts in the series!
Update: Also look out for the aptly re-used John Williams soundtrack! Gives an amazing feeling right from the start of the film(tx to hemanth for reminding me abt it)
What to try and ignore: The boring duel of Lex and Superman! If Lex has krypton, superman is so helpless; and if he doesnt then HE is helpless!(yawn!)
Trivia: Marlon Brando makes an appearance again in this instalment(through archive footage) inspite of having refused to be a part of any of the superman movies after the first one!
My Rating: 7/10

Posted by MountCleverest at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

The second movie that I saw over this weekend was Stay Alive. The imdb rating for this movie is pretty low and ergo i wasnt really expecting much out of it.
The plot circles around a group of gamer friends who chance upon an illegal game called "stay alive". Like all gamers they jump upon the chance to play a new game, the twist however is that anyone who dies in the game is subsequently killed in real life in the same fashion that he or she died in the game thereby resulting in the intertwining of the game and the outside life. The movie is a typical Horror/Thriller Genre movie with lots of brutal deaths spread around the plot to add to the horror experience. The movie builds on in momentum and has some decent CGI animation to support its plot.
The ending, which is a typical dracula movie type ending, is disappointing to say the least.

But gamers will enjoy the plot and might even begin the hunt for such a game ;)
[I will be suggesting it to a few gamer friends of mine for sure]
Apart from gamers, the only people who might enjoy this movie are the people who enjoyed Final Destination, Saw, et al; not for the gore, mind you,but for the plot involving so many deaths.
Overall, a decent timepass(especially if u hav a good sound system).

What to watch out for:Ghosts murdering inside and outside a computer game!
What to try and ignore:The mediocre acting performances and the oh-so-common "we are all gonna dieeeeeeeeee"
Rating: 5.5/10

Posted by MountCleverest at 2:43 AM | Permalink | Comments

The second in the Ice Age series, this turns out to be another movie filled with humour. Great(read really funny) dialogues, pretty good story, and great animation.
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown has it all!
It starts where the the first movie left us, at the Ice Age. Only this time its the end of Ice Age. Its the end of Ice Age and all the animals must reach the end of the valley to a boat which will save them from the imminent flood.
The central character this time round is Manny the mammoth, who refuses to believe that he is the last of his species, accompanied by Elly, the mammoth who thinks that she is not a mammoth. Diego, The sabre toothed tiger, and Syd, the sloth, are somewhat sidekicks to Manny, but their well developed roles from the first movie is carried on.
Scrat, the nut obsessed squirrel, is also back with a lot more screen time than before. He makes his appearance 6-7 times in his never-ending quest to get the nut and inducing laughter everytime!

This movie adds to the ever growing list of animations i love, bettered only by Finding Nemo i believe.
Must see for all those who saw and loved Ice Age.

What to watch out for:everything!
What to ignore:the kids giggling in the seat next to you
Rating: 8.5/10


A few of my favourite dialogues from the movie:-

Eddie: What if we're the last animals left alive? We'll have to repopulate the earth.
Crash: How are we supposed to do that? Everyone here is either a dude or our sister.

Manfred: So, still think she's the girl for me?
Sid: Sure. She's tons of fun, and you're no fun at all. She completes you.

Sid: Maybe we could rapidly evolve into water creatures.
Diego: That's genius Sid.
Sid: Call me, Squid.

Sid: We're going to live.
[Water rises up to his ankles]
Sid: We're going to die

Manfred: Don't listen to him. Fast Tony would sell his own mother for a grape.
Fast Tony: Are you making an offer?

Ellie: [to Manny] You ain't repopulatin' the species TONIGHT, or any OTHER night.

Ellie: What about me is attractive?
Manfred: Your... butt?
Ellie: What about it?
Manfred: It's... big?
Ellie: [flattered] You're just saying that.
Manfred: No, I mean it. It's huge. Biggest darned butt I've ever seen.
Ellie: That is really sweet.

Sid: Campo de Sid. It means Camp of Sid.
Diego: Great. Now you're an idiot in TWO languages.

Mr. Start: Oy, this global warming is *killing* me!
Mrs. Start: Ugh, the Ice Age was too *cold*, the global warming is too hot, what will it take to make you happy? Aah!
[the ice that she is sitting on cracks and she falls into the water]
Mr. Start: Now *this* I like!

Posted by MountCleverest at 2:28 AM | Permalink | Comments

This is a deliberate attempt to review and comment on all of the movies that we all watch, will watch in our entire conscious and non-blind lifetime. This blog would include some crazy reviews, some very critical ones as well,comments on these and on the movie(s) on the whole.

This, at a later stage, might also become the stage for promoting and propagating movies made group members inside and outside the group, thereby also inviting constructive criticism about the same.

Posted by MountCleverest at 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments