Neelathamara

Many a mallu boy has dreamed of a beautiful young woman showing up as the household help and falling to his wiles. Typically the situation ends badly with the woman getting screwed over and having to move on with a wad of cash and bad memories. One would think that such a story would be crass and without enough nuance to be made in to a film. That his where the genius of M. T. Vasudevan Nair rears its head as he weaves this simple tale in to a masterpiece. Well almost... he enters an avenue that could have been explored so much more but he decides it is a dead end without walking its entire length. And yet the film has a grace and poignancy to it that is not easily achievable.

Rating: * * +

Wu Xia

Liu Jinxi (Donnie Yen) leads a simple life as a paper maker in a tranquil village in the Chinese countryside as the country is going through a change from monarchy to republic. Married to the ethereally beautiful Ayu (Wei Tang), Liu’s life is jolted when he “accidently” kills two bandits who try to rob a local store. The detective (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who follows in the wake of the killings refuse to let Liu’s past be and slowly tries to uncover the martial artist behind the simpleton’s mask. Stylistically shot by Peter Chan, the film is a pleasure to view except that the script and screenplay leaves a lot to wish  for.

Rating: * +

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Potter series winds down and the gloves are off as Harry plus friends face off against the mighty Voldemort. Harry, Hermione and Ron are hot in the pursuit of the horcruxes in the hope that destroying them will give them a respite against the Dark Lord. Hot on their heels are the Death Eaters in their unleashed fury. The atmosphere is dark and gloomy as the directors strain to give the film and sense of doom and foreboding. But alas one can only take Voldemort so seriously after being exposed to the true Dark Lord and foes of Ged!

Rating: * *

Killer Elite

Jason Statham can keep making Transporter like films until kingdom come. This one is an addition to the list. Robert De Niro must be facing hard times to be playing Statham’s character Danny’s mentor Hunter in the film. When Hunter is taken captive, Danny is forced to hunt former British agents down in return for Hunter. This puts the mysterious Spike (Clive Owen) on his tail. Ensemble cast aside there is very little in the film as it winds down predictable roads in a boring terrain.

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: * +

Margin Call

A film that tries to capture the beginning of the end of the housing bubble, opens with a pink slip day at a major trading firm. One of the employees being laid off turns out to be sitting on something big and soon the unraveling starts. Not a word is mentioned about the reason for the collapse or what the collapse is all about. The films assumes the viewer has seen and heard enough to not bother detailing that aspect. Instead the focus is on the upper management of the firm and how they react to the situation. A calmness permeates the film that can throw the viewer off considering the fact that everyone is panicking but with actors like Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons and Demi Moore it is obvious that much lies below the surface. If you go in expecting Wall Street the film will disappoint. However what is portrayed here might be a more realistic view of the unraveling from an individual worker point of view.

Rating: * * +

Green Lantern

Earthling Hal Jordan is chosen to wear one of the Green Lantern rings and become part of the Green Lantern corps. Soon Earth is threatened and blah blah blah. DC in its vain attempt to keep up with Marvel film launches, brings yet another of its characters to the big screen. Picking Ryan Reynolds to play Green Lantern, undid the movie even before shooting began.

Rating: *

Take Shelter

Curtis (Michael Shannon) seems like a regular fella with a loving wife (Jessica Chastain) and a daughter who dotes on him. The only trouble the family faces is the little girl’s deafness. Curtis and his wife seem to be taking this in their stride when he starts getting plagued with apocalyptic dreams of a storm front. He soon turns introspective which externally manifests itself in sullenness and strange behavior like fencing away the pet dog. The guts is the family’s struggle to deal with the unraveling of Curtis. A film that moves at a constant eerie pace with the kind of stillness that most directors don’t get right.

Rating: * * +

The Skin I Live In

A man silently contemplates a larger than life picture on the wall of a stunning woman in a body suit. Suddenly the woman stirs and you realize you are looking at a close circuit camera feed on a giant LED TV. On the surface, the woman, Vera (Elena Anaya) seems to be Dr. Ledgard’s (Antonio Banderas) live in pet subject for his plastic surgery experiments. But contrary to the the title, most things in the movie are not skin deep as you find yourself immersed in a bizarre world that only Pedro Almodóvar can concoct. And even for him the film might have been a road less traveled on…

Rating: * * +

Inglourious Basterds

The time is World War II with the Nazi juggernaut running rampant across France. Dropped in to this zone is a group of specially chosen madmen whose charter is to put fear in to Nazis. The fact that title is misspelt is in itself a hint that Mr. Tarantino has something to do with its making. The fear inducing methodology in his indomitable style confirms it. In spite of a Kill Bill like structure, the film is no way one of his all time greats but yet an enjoyable trip.

Rating: * * +

The Vanished Empire

The film is set in 70s during the peak of communism in Russia. The budding adults in the movie however are in to all things hip i.e. from the west. They dabble in the black market harking behind Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and western fashion. The whole society seems very progressive on the whole in contrast to the dreary world Russia was painted to be. With this backdrop, the film follows the travails of a group of young adults as they come of age. Petty rivalry, skirt chasing and staying cool seems to be their focus like most people their age all over the world. If the aim of the movie was to show that kids in Russia were just like their western counterparts, then it sure hit the bull's-eye. Other than that it’s just another drab coming of age film.

Rating: *+

No Smoking

K (John Abraham) is a chain smoking business tycoon with a  penchant to be an asshole. However it is not the asshole bit that bothers his wife (Ayesha Takia) but his nicotine habit. So when she lays down the gauntlet for him to quit, he finds himself in the abode of Baba Bangali (Paresh Rawal). The Baba apparently has a foolproof method to make one quit and never go back. The plot so far seems engaging but Anurag Kashyap decides to get bit too clever for his own good and the film literally meanders down a hell hole!

Rating: * +

Four lions

 

Prompted by a colleague, I invited a few others to check out this film I knew very little about. An hour and a half later I walked out having watched a bloody funny film, a bloody good film. Cutting edge in its focus on staying away from the well trodden narrative (when it comes to suicide bombers and terrorists) and some excellent performances. Predictably, the others with me were not amused. Four lions is a dark look at a bunch of idiots in bumblefuck UK who happen to be aspiring suicide bombers. Initially I thought it was a spoof, like the Hotshots series or something. But instead it gradually develops and takes things to its logical, politically incorrect end. With some fantastic urdu swearing thrown in, this is one of the better films of 2011. 

Rating: * * *

Midnight in Paris

Circumstances and a dastardly Spaniard conspired against me, to make me do something that I swore to avoid… watch a bloody Woody Allen film. But with good faith and an open mind I tried my hand at it again.

Gil (Owen Wilson), a floundering author is wandering around Paris with his overbearing fiancé, Inez (Rachel McAdams). Her super rich parents are equally snooty and little needs to be said about her snobby friends. The situation leaves Gil to wander the streets and he stumbles in to mysterious avenues from the past. While the setup seems fine on paper, it translates on to the screen in typical Woody Allen fashion. Noisy dialogs that leaves the viewer with a buzzing in their ears and the lack of stillness that gives a feeling that Allen is rushing around with no end in sight. Never again will I put my self through this torture!

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: * * *

Kamui

Terrible movie about a shinobi who absconds from his ninja clan. The hope might have been that the over the top CGI effects and wire works would make up for the lousy action sequences and jerky storyline. Alas it only left me wondering how this pile of krap made it on to my queue.

Rating: *

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Mankind’s constant tinkering to fix things forms the background plot of the film. Hot shot scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) discovers a wonder drug that can repair brain cells. The test subjects are of course apes! Predictably things get out of hand and soon you see the back story behind Planet of the Apes unfold. A tightly wound action flick shot with very little dialog. Given that film is dominated by Andy Serkis playing Caesar it is aptly not required. Which also leads to it being an ideal movie for Freida Pinto to showcase her “skills”.

Rating: * * +

Captain America: The First Avenger

Marvel’s main icon finally makes his way to the big screen and unfortunately they have to start at the beginning set in World War II. Steve Rogers goes from skinny kid to super soldier and proceeds to kick Nazi ass. The Red Skull is his main nemesis who is played by Hugo Weaving who still acts like he is Agent Smith. The American propaganda that surrounds the movie is cloying and puke worthy. Thankfully this will be the last we see of it, as we will soon see Avengers Assemble!

Rating: * +

Hanna

A young girl (Saoirse Ronan) is trained to be a killing machine in an icy wilderness by her father (Eric Bana). Then with nary an explanation they announce themselves to the people they are supposedly hiding from and split up. Soon they have an obviously evil Cate Blanchett hot on their heels. Inevitable splices of action and chases is soon followed by the obvious climax. Through out which the film is limply held together by a whispering storyline. Thankfully the Chemical Brother filled in the void.

Rating: * +

Airbag

The Spanish claimed that Delhi Belly had vestiges from an old 90’s flick from Spain. So the plan was made for the movie, chicken wings and other things.

Dumbo Konradin is engaged to a rich countess’s daughter and wears a multi-million dollar wedding ring. Weddings also mean bachelor parties with much debauchery. Konradin is dragged to a brothel by his friends who actually have more fun than him. Unfortunately for him, he ends up losing the ring up a prostitute’s ass. So like in Delhi Belly jewels are involved here too followed by insane number of underworld dons and their underlings. But like how a lot was lost in translation from Hindi much Spanish humor was missed. However thanks to this film many things in life will be “mui profesional” and sub-machine gun will always be somachigún.

Rating: * *