Sicario

The movie opens with Agent Kate Mercer, a up and coming straight laced FBI agent, finding a horde corpses when raiding  a den of kidnappers. The ensuing explosion points at something more than a kidnapping den. She is then drafted into a CIA / DoD task force investigating the event. Part of this team is Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro) whose identity and allegiance all seem very murky. A taunt action thriller that never leaves you bored but there are times you wish Emily Blunt's character was played by a man and treated the same way. Somehow I feel that it would have been more effective. But that is just a minor nitpick in a well crafted thriller.

Rating: * * +

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The World of Kanako

Take darkness and make it darker must have been the intent of director Tetsuya Nakashima with this morbid film. Akihiro Fujishima is a former detective who has issues to put it mildly. When his ex-wife calls him frantically about their teenage daughter, Kanako, who seems to be missing, he dives in with a kind of mad relish that leaves you cringing. The film is a rush of flash backs and the present, each revealing parts of the puzzle, none of which is gentle. Stay away if you are looking for calm night of rest.

Rating: * * +

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Killing Them Softly

When a couple of buffoons hold up a high stakes underworld card game, it is predictable how it would end. The mob puts a highly paid hitman to set right the situation. And when you have cast that includes Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini, you except even this simple storyline to pack a punch. However you are left with an insipid journey that turges towards the inevitable end.

Rating: * +

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Breathless

Watching this movie can leave you breathless, as you follow Sang-Hoon and his violent temper. He is a loan shark with a tendency to beat people up at the slightest provocation. But as you venture in to his life you find a troubled man with goodness buried deep down inside. His past has filled him with so much darkness that for any kindness to bubble up is also disguised by some roughness. Another well done Korean drama that explores child abuse while flirting with loan sharking. Yes, only the Koreans could have come up with that combination.

Rating: * * +

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Innocent Blood

James Park leads a quiet life as a forensic lecturer at a university far removed from his life of an undercover detective. The quietness is disturbed when his past comes screaming back and his son is  kidnapped by an apparent psycho. The usual detective - psycho cat and mouse game ensue but nothing in the film draws you in. The dialogues are almost funny even when trying to be bone chilling and when you hear laughter at the theater during a film like this, you know that the scriptwriter needs to find a new job. All the viewer can do is wait for freedom from the induced boredom. 

Rating: *

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

The film gently starts with a group of men wandering around the beautiful rural countryside near an Anatolian town. The group consists of a few cops, a prosecutor, a doctor and a murderer.  The object of the wandering is to discover the whereabouts of a body that the murderer promises to show. Except the suspect is a bit confused about the exact location. Slowly the ebbs and tides of the case are revealed over the course of the night in the usual unhurried style of Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Very little is spelled out for the viewer as you are forced to pay attention to the subtle nuances in the tale. At the end you are left with a rich canvas to ponder over drinks with like minded viewers.

Rating: * * * +

Paleri Manikyam

Based on the first recorded murder case in Kerala, comes a film starring Mammooty that tries to evoke his days as super sleuth in the CBI Diary Kurippu series. Here though he is just a private eye who returns to his native village of Paleri and tries to recreate the mysterious circumstances of the death of the sultry Manikyam (Mythili) fifty two years after the event. Using some nifty film making techniques, director Renjith splices the present day Mamooty in to the past to act as a guide to the events. Research and a heavy dose of intuition are the weapons used to unravel this mystery. The production quality is high and the cinematography is breath taking making this a slick well thought out film though the dose of intuition could have been curtailed.

Rating: * * +

Life Without Principle

Johnnie To takes a slight break from his typically mafia dramas and bases this film on the ongoing financial crisis. The film is split in to three intertwining strands… a bank teller turned financial advisor is forced to dump high risk mutual funds on unsuspecting clients to make her sale numbers. Panther, a small time crook, played with aplomb by Ching Wan Lau is running around trying to raise money to bail out his blood brother. A young police officer finds new demands on him as his wife wants to buy an expensive high rise apartment. The incident tying the threads together is the assault on a loan shark who was walking around with $10 million. Brilliantly directed by To as he moves the threads forward and back while slowly putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

Rating: * * *

Pudhupettai

Story of how a scrawny man, Kokki Kumar (Dhanush) becomes an underworld don and a pawn in the hands of politicians. Charting his rise from a young boy to a Scarface like figure, the film throws in dollops of violence and dappan koothu. The noise level rises to a crescendo and stays there and as body count goes up, all you want to do is escape to a quiet bar and meditate over a beer.

Rating: * +

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is recovering from the brutal assault from her father and step brother while awaiting trial for multiple murders and assault. Seeing her helpless and the vultures gathering, Mikael Blomkovist (Michael Nyqvist) mounts a private crusade to bring her justice as he goes about unveiling a conspiracy spanning decades. Like all the three films, this one too has been diluted. However, Daniel Alfredson has tried to maintain a balance that leaves the film very watchable.

Rating: * * *

Outrage

When the bosses of the rival Yakuza syndicates are sworn blood brothers, it leaves the uber-boss a little squeamish especially when the rival is dealing drugs. The task of shaking things up falls upon Otomo (Takeshi Kitano), a lower level head honcho with a flair for violence. As this setup unfolds, you are almost lead to believe that Kitano is back to what he does best… blood soaked Yakuza films with a linear plot. Alas, the myriad of twists and turns, back stabbings and the insane number of characters only leave your head spinning and reaching for a glass of scotch…

Rating: * *

The Girl Who Played with Fire

The film loosely picks up from where Girl with the Dragon Tattoo left off. Lisbeth Salander is seen vacationing off of her pickings from the Wennerstorm fortune. She has disappeared from the lives of her Swedish friends especially that of Mikael Blomkovist. He is busy setting up his next expose of a sex trafficking ring with help from a young journalist and his girlfriend. When the couple is found murdered and Salander is accused of the killings, Blomkovist is again in the eye of the storm.

Director Daniel Alfredson has liberally cut out swathes from Steig Larson's book. His handling of a certain fight scene which is amazing portrayed in the book lacks any sort of punch. But yet the film makes for a complete and thrilling experience. 

Rating: * * *

Ek Chalis Ki Last Local

The film initially reminded me of this wonderful Kishore Kumar song. Nilesh (Abhay Deol) is a young whippersnapper who runs in to the hot Madhu (Neha Dhupia) at the time of night in Bombay when the trains disappear. It also helps that the two want to head to the same destination. The night meanders in to one that involves a bit of gambling, the cops and the underworld. Along the way a couple of pages are taken out of Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. But yet, the film calls for enjoyable viewing. It also confirms that Abhay "I want to have nothing to do with Sunny Deol" Deol is indeed the man of Hindi cinema these days and Neha Dhupia is just a bimbo with a figure.

Rating: * *

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Mikael Blomkovist (Michael Nyqvist) is a respected financial reporter whose name has been dragged in to the mud when he is convicted of slander. Facing time in prison, he takes up a 40 year old case of a missing girl to primarily keep him away from the spotlight. He is soon joined by Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a socially awkward but brilliant researcher. The film takes advantage of the beautiful Swedish countryside as you are treated to some lush landscapes. However, that beauty won't save you from the grittiness and depths of human psychopathy embedded in the movies.

Based on Steig Larrson best selling novel, the two words that best describes this film is intrigue and violence. From the start to finish you are leaning forward as plot layers are revealed, while bracing yourself at the graphic violence splashed on the screen. Reading the book before the movie is a boon and a curse. It gives you the much needed background to the characters but takes away from the suspense. Either way, you will be left wanting to watch the next installment.

 

Rating: * * *

Mad Detective

Calling Detective Bun (Ching Wan Lau) mad is an understatement. He is borderline psychotic with a mysterious second sight and deadly intuition that finds him solving hard to crack cases. But his antics soon escorts him out of the force with an early retirement. Years later he is called back by a rookie detective, Ho (Andy On), to help with a disappearance of another detective. And then you are treated the complete spectrum of Bun's insanity. An enjoyable albeit violent crime thriller that begs to be made in to a TV series.

Rating: * * *

Gomorrah

Italian mafioso brings to mind the magical world of Godfather where you were rooting for the gangsters and their twisted sense of honor. Matteo Garrone destroys that fantasy by focusing his lens on Camorra, the oldest crime syndicate running amok in Campania, Italy. 

To show their multi pronged reach, Garrone enlists a plethora of characters. Toto, a grocery delivery boy running errands for his mother in a crumbling housing project. Don Ciro, the money runner, delivering hard cash to the family of mob members in prison. A tailor who gives illegal classes to workers in a Chinese sweat shop. The college graduate who works for a corrupt business man involved in illegal waste disposal. And to top it off, a couple of cocky wannabe Scarfaces!

In every storyline Garrone slides the mafiosa in and by not making them the prime focus, the effect is quadruple. The haphazard editing forces the viewer to concentrate and it only increases the power of the film's delivery. But its most important feature is that of stripping the gangsters of all their glamor and glorification. They are shown in their basest form, paranoid, violent and sans any honor or humanity. Some might be annoyed that the storylines having no connection. But there in really lies the master class of Garrone as he shows us the infiltration depth of the mafia in daily life in Naples.

Rating: * * * +

Anjathe

Satya is the colony rowdy while his neighbor and friend, Kiruba is the studious one sure to crack the IPS exam. But the Indian bribery service finds Satya donning the police uniform and Kiruba wandering the streets of crime. As the friends find themselves on either side of the law. As they careen towards a confrontation, a very run of the mill and predictable story unfolds...

Rating: * +

Subramaniapuram

If you ever wanted a look at mafia in small town India, this movie will provide you with that window. Set in Madurai during the early 80s, the film centers around Azaghar (Jai), Paraman (Sasikumar), Kaasi (Ganja Karuppu), Dopa and Dumka. They hang around street corners, drinking, picking random fights and usually landing up in jail. But what was just a bit of fun turns dark as the friends are used for nefarious purposes by local politicians. Enacted by new comers, the film is presented very naturally without the nauseating Tamil melodrama. The end result is savage but with a tendril of humanity running through it.

Rating: * * *

What Doesn't Kill You

Brian (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie (Ethan Hawke) have lived a life of crime since their teens. Now a struggling father and husband, Brian wants to go straight to show that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. But somehow the film fails to create a connection with the viewer and ends up tasting like commercial American beer.

Rating: * *

Shoot on Sight

The aftermath of the July 7th bombings in London leads to Scotland Yard issuing an shoot on sight order on people suspected of terrorist activities. Predictably innocent blood is shed. Command Tariq Ali (Naseeruddin Shah) is assigned to investigate the incident. Family conflicts and work pressures mount as the road blocks mount around his inquiry. A film that ponders the changing life for Muslims in this post 9/11 world but proceeds down a very beaten path.

Rating: * *