X-Men: First Class

The prequel to the X-Men series unpeels the back stories of Professor X, Magneto and few of our other mutant friends with style and more than a dash of panache. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) start of as close friends and allies as they attract mutants from around the world to join them. The problem is getting the rest of mankind to accept them as a part of society and not as an external threat. The film gives you the background that causes the rift between the two and contrasting philospohies that form the backbone of the "later" films. And strangely the fourth film in the series turns out to be the most engaging and strongest of the lot.

Rating: * * *

Super 8

A throwback to early days of my film-watching: ET, Goonies, Stand By Me. Bunch of kids who have their adventure gene on turbo boost and deal with issues that adults struggle to - in this case an extra-terrestrial creature thats gone nuts. Super 8 starts promisingly, progresses steadily and then it dissolves into a rather sugary end. Wouldn't know if I would have enjoyed it any more if I had watched this in the 80s. Why should I care, I am not the producer.


Rating: * *

Kung Fu Panda 2

Sequel victim - below par humour & action. Mind numbing.

Rating: * +

Biutiful

Only an Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Javier Barden combination can use a beautiful city like Barcelona as the canvas to tell a story of abject poverty and dying hope. Nothing from the very outset prepares the viewer for anything but darkness and in an intense manner plots the story of Uxbal. His broken family, his African goons, the Chinese labour racket he is part of and his own mortality. Whilst the detail & reality in the story telling is well crafted and top notch, there is something amiss. And I still can't seem to put a finger on it. Its the spontaniety in the story telling possibly.


Rating: * * +

District 9

To think that this film was vying for the Best Picture award last year along with Avataar and didn't get a word in. What a tragedy - but appropriate that Avataar didn't get it eventually either, which would have been a greater tragedy. A far superior movie is District 9, a story of the rehabilitation of aliens in Jo'burg that goes totally wrong, but at another level, goes totally as per the usual human plan. Neill Blomkamp's first feature that's strong in its depth and accompanied by brilliant acting by Sharlto Copley & the various prawns. Backed up by fine action, effects and cinematography - and avoiding cheesy love stories & moralising of any kind - especially the nauseating "green" variety. Look forward to many more films from the duo.

Rating : * * * +

Thor

The premise of this film is simple. All conquering immortal warrior, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is cast down to Earth by the Allfather Odin (Anthony Hopkins). It is now up to the new Earth hero to pick up the pieces and restore himself to full light while putting up with nattering of a very hot ineffective Natalie Portman. Thankfully it doesn’t take much away from the film as this Marvel franchise is being handled with aplomb by Kenneth Branagh. If only they had borrowed more from the Ultimate side of Thor…

Rating: * * +
PS: It seems like Tadanobu Asano is really hard up on cash!

13 Assassins

The Meiji restoration is at hand but the principals in the story are of course not aware of the unfolding of the future. All they see is Lord Naritsugu (Gorô Inagaki), the shogun’s half brother threatening to cause large scale internal strife with his psychotic ways. Shimada Shinzaemon (Kôji Yakusho), samurai par excellence is summoned from his quiet retirement and tasked to unofficially pluck this thorn from the nation’s side. Soon twelve men are picked and the blood bath is unleashed spectacularly on the audience. Takashi Miike brings back the spaghetti samurai “western” in a style long forgotten, interspersed with his unique brand of cruelty and sudden humor. Let the Total Massacre never end…

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: * *

Walking Too Fast

The backdrop of the film is Cold War Czechoslovakia with furtive watchers spying on their citizens for dissent. Antonín (Ondrej Malý) nicknamed Tonga is one such agent. His target is Tomás(Martin Finger) a left wing author with a beautiful wife and even hotter mistress. It is the mistress Klára (Kristína Farkasová) who proves to be Tonga’s undoing. He slowly starts to obsess over Tomás’s lifestyle and lust for his woman throws him over the edge. The film chronicles the unraveling of the agent bored of the monotony of his job and life in general. The film will definitely remind you of The Lives of Others but it lacks the tautness and pathos of it. However, the film will keep you in your seat in spite of that and the length of its play.

Rating: * * +

Le Quattro Volte

An ailing shepherd is the focal point of the movie. Or maybe it is goats that he herds. Or the fact that he believes the dust of a church to be a magic elixir. The reality is that director Michelangelo Frammartino took his artistic license and turned it in to a license to kill by stepping over the fine line between stillness and boredom. Then there is also the possibility that he is the best friend of Abbas Kiarostami.

Rating: *

The Adjustment Bureau

The night David Norris (Matt Damon) loses a US Senate seat, he finds his true love in a restroom only to lose her soon after. However, he runs in to her randomly on a bus only to find mysterious forces keeping from the woman of his dreams. Soon you are faced with the question whether every life has a destiny or is there a “man” with a plan nudging things behind the scenes. Unlike Inception, which has a cool concept but uses recursion for a plot, this film has a storyline to back it up.

Rating: * * *

Opal

Opal Whiteley was a naturalist who rose to fame as a child prodigy but down the years infamy came her way due her dubious handling of the publishing of her diary with vague details of a royal past. The film tries to capture her rise and struggle to get work recognized whilst touching on the questions of her past. Given that it was a completely independent effort with very little funding, the film comes across as an excellent package. Except that once you get over the packaging, the contents i.e. the acting lets you down and leaves you with a “what if” taste in your mouth.

Rating: * +

Léon: The Professional

Léon (Jean Reno) is a profession hit man for the mafia with a simple life. He drinks milk, tends to a plant and kills people. All that changes when when his teenage neighbor Mathilda’s (Natalie Portman) family is killed by a group gun totting assassins led by snarly Gary Oldman. Mathilda becomes his responsibility and against his better judgment he starts to train her so that she can take revenge.

It is hard to feel fear with Oldman’s villainous incarnation after seeing the likes of Javier Bardem and  Heath Ledger. However, Natalie Portman has arguably played her best role to date. Unfortunately the role was her first. A cult classic that has not aged well in some parts but timeless in others.

Rating: * * +

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

Based on a graphic novel from the 60s, the film follows the adventures of an “investigative” journalist, Adele Blanc-Sec (Louise Bourgoin), during the early 20th century. While she is away excavating tombs of mummies in Egypt with the hope resuscitating them to help cure her sister, Paris is under attack from a pterodactyl. Soon it is up to beautiful journalist to bring order back without any help from the bumbling police. If a slightly classier version of Tombraider with French humor appeals to you, then this film will be hugely satisfying.

Rating: * *

Dance Town

The movie opens with a slice of life in North Korea. A husband and wife furtively watch porn with some fear and exaltation. It might have been cool to dwell a while longer in that mysterious country but director Kyu-hwan Jeon, races across the border to the south as the wife, Jung-nim Rhee (),  escapes on Chinese fishing boat soon after her husband is arrested. Rhee soon is soon faced with a land with “freedom” abound. But being “free” does not equate to contentment and happiness. She is soon confronted with demons called loneliness and despondence. Like it was said in Into the Wild, happiness is only real when shared.

Rating: * * *

Almost Perfect

Vanessa (Kelly Hu) is supposedly an overworked and badly dressed NGO professional with an insanely demanding family. Her life is so busy that she has no time for a relationship. All that changes when Mr. Right shows up in the guise of her kid brother’s best friend. Soon a tiresome romance ensues with myriad of forced problems that leaves you wanting to tear your hair out. The only hope is to focus on the stunning Ms. Hu who fails miserably in trying to look plain. Even more painful was the after film question and answer session with the director Bertha Pan, who obviously needs a crash course in South East Asia cinema. It is a wonder that this film was short listed for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2011.

Rating: *

I Wish I Knew

Jia Zhang Ke’s documentary loosely follows the pulse of Shanghai from the 1850s to present day. He feels the pulse by interviewing a spectrum of Shanghainese . Some recognizable like Hsiao-hsien Hou, Rebecca Pan others obscure to a western audience. Their stories bring forth different emotions but none really test your emotional threshold. Plus the lack of interviews with the common man left a gaping hole in the film. Somehow it was the quiet presence of Zhang Ke’s muse, Tao Zhao, that left an impression. Her silent presence evokes the trademark stillness of Zhang Ke and showing that he might be better of sticking to fiction.

Rating: * *

Moon

A distant future and the moon has become the next frontier for energy. Sam Bell toils away in solitude at the moon station, ensuring all harvesting is in ship shape waiting for his three year contract to complete. Strangely, conversations with Earth are not in real time and everything is recorded and “mailed” over. The only day to day contact he has is with GERTY, the robot voiced eerily by Kevin Spacey. And slowly things start to go bump in the Moon and the expected unraveling occurs. A film with a solid premise but the plot is a little too transparent.

Rating: * *

The Milk of Sorrow

Fausta (Magaly Solier) is weighed down by a disease passed to her from her mother. The Milk of Sorrow seeped in to her while being breast fed by her mother during the fearful days in Peru of the reign of terror caused by the conflict between Sendero Luminosa and parliamentary troops . Now her mother’s sudden death has left Fausta like a boat with out a sail in the high seas. The situation forces her to fight the “disease” in her own unique way. A film and an actress that seem straight out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel.

 

Update: Why to root against The Milk of Sorrow’s Oscar nomination.

 

Rating: * * +

Naan Kadavul

Abandoned by his father in Varanasi when in his teens on the sayings of astrologers, Rudra now roams the Earth as an Aghori. Fueled by guilt, the father brings his reticent and brutal son back to his town in Tamil Nadu. The same town has a “thriving” beggar community that haunt the foothills of a temple. Their suffering is shown in excruciating detail that leaves very little to the imagination. The film is sandwiched between the lives of beggars and the way of the Aghoras. The spread between the two is blood that gushes with brute force. Bala has played his usual hand, questioning God, justice, life and death. However the manner of posing the question does leave you worn out in spite of the “uplifting” ending.

Rating: * *