I was on work related travel for a couple of weeks to the
Bay Area recently. The trip was great and I met a lot of old friends (while
getting some work done of course!), however more on that some other time.
During the trip, I was talking with someone who remarked that they enjoyed
reading my blog and asked why I had not posted for some time. Well, it doesn’t
take much to appeal to my vanity, so here goes.
The trip did involve long flights and I caught up on a lot
of movie-watching during the time, and so what better subject to resurrect my
blog with a review of movies that I have watched recently (mostly English,
however a couple of Hindi movies thrown in too). The movies are not listed in
any particular order, and in fact I may need more than one post to do justice
to some, however let me start with some which got a lot of buzz during the
Oscars.
In the last year, American movie makers seemed to have en
masse decided to wear their love for America on their sleeves and thus we had
Zero Dark Thirty, Argo and of course, Lincoln. Unfortunately, I have not yet
watched Lincoln, so have to exclude it from this post.
Zero Dark Thirty
As you know, the movie is (loosely?) based around the hunt
and eventual capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden. I had no great desire to
watch the movie, however I decided to do so as an exercise in understanding the
American mind-set. Though a lot has been made about Jessica Chastain’s
portrayal and of Kathryn Bigelow’s direction, both left me a little cold. I
just could not identify with it and I always got the sense of being outside the
movie. If someone now says that this was deliberate on part of the director, I would
beg to disagree (no director wants less than complete immersion of the viewer
in their creation).
Much of the movie seemed forced to me and possibly the only
time it came alive for me was when they were hunting through the bazaars of
Abbotabad for the courier. A lot has been also said about the interrogation
scenes at the beginning, but to me, they lacked credibility, not that I don’t
believe that much worse was done during interrogations, but that I don’t think
they were very realistic and meant more to shock. Towards the end of the movie,
the scenes of the actual attack were very muted. In conclusion, I just could
not relate to the movie, however I would recommend that everyone watches it, as
an educational experience.
Argo
This movie also received a lot of press and in fact won best
picture at the Oscars, which increased my curiousity. As I had only a vague
recollection of the Iran hostage crisis, I read a little about it before I
watched the movie. Unfortunately the movie failed to impress me. Argo has a
much more documentary feel to it (though ZD30 has more credentials as a
documentary), primarily because it seeks to recreate the 70s. Again, the only
time the movie seemed to come alive was during the early scenes of the storming
of the US Embassy. It all goes downhill after that.
I have some regard for Ben Affleck, primarily for his
collaboration with Matt Damon on Good Will Hunting. Much of that goodwill has
been eroded over the years with Affleck’s solo efforts (and I will not mention
Gigli as he was clearly delusional and under external influences at the time!).
Argo has a couple of good performance, primarily from Alan Arkin as the long
distance producer, however there is very little drama and even the scenes
during the end were very implausible to me. The kindest thing one can say is
that Argo is well intentioned, however only a sense of patriotism can help
cloud over the many faults in the movie.
Silver Linings Playbook
It is unfair for me to comment much on the movie as I failed
to sit through the whole of it! It started promisingly enough, however very quickly
it got on my nerves. If the subject matter, of an individual suffering from
bipolar disorder, is expected to make us immediately sympathetic to it, then
the only thing I can say is that it did not work on me. The character of
Jennifer Lawrence grated on my nerves and the moment she started to get more
screen time, I switched off. My loss, I hear you say ? Possibly, but then I
bear my loss with a very light heart.
Django Unchained
I am a self-confessed Tarantino fan, so clearly I am a
little biased when I said that I liked this movie. I don’t quite think it is his
best (Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs come close to the top for me), however it
is a very respectable effort. I am not going to write a detailed review as it
will likely end up like a fan-page, however I highly recommend watching it.
Though Jamie Foxx as Django is the focal point, Christopher Waltz as Dr. Schulz
walks away with the movie. Leonardo diCaprio also has a ball playing Calvin
Candie and Samuel L. Jackson’s Stephen has a screen presence all his own. The
action is pretty much over-the-top Tarantino, however as a viewer, one is
always expected to be in on the joke, as the movie is very much a satire.
Ted
A little late to review this movie, as it released quite a
while ago, and goes away from the Oscar theme of this post, however I have to
write about it. I have never seen such an objectionable movie in my life
(reference point: I do not find Sacha Baron Cohen objectionable, even his
mockumentary, Borat), the premise has the promise of comedy, however what
transpires later is not comedy but so cringe-worthy that I could not last
through it. What on earth is Mark Wahlberg doing in it ? I have heard that
Family Guy is supposed to be funny, however this movie for me crossed every
line of good (or bad) taste in a matter of minutes. Watch it, only if to
understand how low movie making can sink.
