American Hustle

Having watched David O. Russell, Christian Bale and Amy Adams combine with aplomb in The Fighter, there was much anticipation. But didn't bargain for the brilliant performances from all the rest - Amy Adams (firmly entrenched in the top spot in Hollywood), Jennifer Lawrence (supreme talent) and Bradley Cooper (solid as the funny guy). And Bale, of course, was perfectly measured.

American Hustle was like watching a novel - space for characters to develop sub-plots to gradually unravel, but at the risk of losing the fluidity that makes a film great. The approach to story telling reminded me of Donnie Brasco, but in the latter case I did watch a fantastic film. Here it was about great performances (count in Louis C.K and Jeremy Renner) and therefore stops at 3 stars.

Rating: * * *

The Master

Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a World War II veteran, struggles with a post war world when he meets the enigmatic Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Dodd is the crack head leader of a new religion called "The Cause" and Quell falls under his thrall. Quell though sticks to his hard drinking and philandering ways and that forms the background of the film using it as a window in to the psyche of the cult. Brilliant performances all round that got all the main actors Oscar nominations. In spite of that and the well thought out script, the film fails to engage the way a film of this calibre is supposed to.

Rating: * * +

The Fighter

A typical boxer film plot but with a key diversion: Christian Bale. Who yet again demonstrates as to why he is one of the best around - out of his skin performance as trainer / junkie / half-brother of World Welterweight Champion Micky Ward. Mark Wahlberg, as Micky Ward, is on the periphery pretty much, while Amy Adams as Micky's wife weighs in with a measured performance. The plot doesn't seem tedious, as there is healthy focus on the Ward-Eklund family dynamics and relatively less on the usual "loser-training-winner" rhythm of such movies.

Christian Bale for Nobel Prize.

Rating: ***

Doubt

“Picket Fences”, from the early 90s, is easily one of the best TV series that I have come across. And its core strength was to repeatedly come up with 2 convincing sides to a controversial situation, leaving the viewer to make his own decision on which side he belongs. I think that's what the writer/director of ‘Doubt’ attempts to achieve – Is it true beyond reasonable doubt that Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character is guilty of the crime alleged by The Sisters? But the director/writer focuses solely on actor performances to convey the heavy guilt like feeling that Doubt creates – but failing in the overall objective as the plot lacks solidity. The performances were quite good overall – Hoffman was solid and reinforces his position amongst the best around.

Rating: * * +