The Hunting Party

After a week's hiatus from the world wide web, I caught my mind craving for some food. And what better food than movies! Especially ones that can amaze me with more than just an incredible plot. Zany screenplay with witty and pithy dialogues is a welcome bonus. Not to mention incredible performances.

The Hunting Party is all that and then some. Incredible plot - that of the dirty politics and the actual truth behind "war criminals" - CHECK. Zany screenplay with matching dialogues - CHECK. Incredible performances - by Richard Gere, Terence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg - CHECK. I was glad I stumbled across this movie and decided to give it a watch. The rarely ventured into plot and the amazingly humorous treatment given to it by the tongue-in-cheek dialogues did the job for me. It is not very often that a movie impresses me so much especially when I watch it with a set of expectations in my mind.

Just like I love almost anything that goes into my mouth after starving for some good food, maybe this movie impressed me so much because I had been starving for some good cinema. Nevertheless, this, here, is a movie I would recommend to anybody and everybody. If not anything else, at least you can have a good hearty laugh at it.

New Passion?!?!

After excessive gawking, ogling and googling for all these years, I finally did give in to the temptation. I finally got the heart to override the brain's critiques and bought a MacBook Pro! Well, not for myself but as an anniversary gift for Roopa (although I seem to be using it more than her!). So these are my initial reactions I needed to pen down before my honeymoon period with the Mac is over.

An Apple is not just a laptop or just a phone or just a music player. It is the example of what one man's brilliance combined with vision and a pinch of arrogance can accomplish. There already are countless testimonials about the man himself but the creations he has pioneered are worthy of no less praise and servitude. An Apple is a style statement for the onlookers. It is an object of desire for millions. It is the ultimate oomph machine in whatever genre it stands. It is the benchmark against which everyone else builds their machines. It is the pivotal subject of criticism for jealous folks. Whatever it is and wherever it sits, it is the best.

The looks are obviously the main reason for anybody to buy a mac and am no exception. And boy does it look awesome! I may be exaggerating but personally I felt the Pro is better looking than the Air, just a little. And it's build is so sturdy that it can put even business laptops to shame (my way of judging the sturdiness of a laptop is that if you can open it with a single hand without having to hold down the lower portion, it is the best you can get). In short, just imagine a victoria's secret super-model who can jump upside down with an elastic rope tied to her legs with the same grace as she walks the ramp, without breaking a sweat. That is how luscious the MacBook Pro is. 

The trackpad takes some getting used to but once you learn its nuances, it is one of the best innovations in passive input technologies ever. The screen is so good that you forget it is only 1280*800. The Lion OS is fast, not blazing fast but just fast. Am yet to explore all the bundled apps on the laptop but so far, Safari and iPhoto have stood up to my expectations. Well, experience tells me that all the good about things you love usually has a short shelf life and I hope it's not that way with the MacBook Pro.

That Girl in Yellow Boots

IMDB

I confess that I was one of the critics who keep complaining that despite no dearth of money, Indian film "woods" were not churning out meaningful and/or impacting movies. That was till "Eklavya". That movie, I think, in many ways is a fine example for both the reigning and the aspiring film makers in India. A tiny but powerful enough plot made into a masterpiece by fine acting and finer directing. Then I watched "Gulaal". This movie almost blew my mind away with the sinister plot and hauntingly disturbing screenplay. You cannot ignore movies from a talent of such kind and calibre.

Which is why I was very interested in watching "That Girl in Yellow Boots". And it did not disappoint me. If you are the kind of person who admires Quentin Tarantino's movies like me or a person who appreciates movies like "Hostel" (despite the gross content) just for the incredible idea behind the plot, you will admire this movie with the same fervor. Never before on Indian film canvas might there be a movie so bold and disturbing. The climax is so twisted yet so powerful that it haunts your mind for quite some time. That is an incredible feat to achieve and kudos mainly to Kalki who is not only the very impressive protagonist but also the brain behind the plot.

Child abuse, corruption and sexual exploitation are all themes explored and dealt with by indian film makers to the death. But TGIYB incorporates all these in such a disquietingly subtle way that its hard to ignore them. It would be very unfair on my part to divulge anything more on the plot.

I agree this might not be a movie you may want to watch to cheer yourself up because of the brazenly frank and frighteningly honest portrayal of characters. But I do stress that it is a movie that SHOULD be watched for the sheer genius and boldness of Anurag Kashyap and Kalki. I honestly thank them for heralding a new age movie genre in India. So go ahead and watch it. It is absolutely fine if it disturbs you because that only means it is capable of stirring up something deep inside you that is normally and almost always dormant.

Super 8

Super 8 is nothing more than just an honest tribute by JJ Abrams to the likes of Steven Spielberg. 

Nothing brilliant to impress you, nothing eye-popping to amaze you and nothing emotionally new to touch you. But that is not to downplay the director's efforts in portraying a very simple story in a non-boring way. There are a few instances which make you anticipate similar genius in the coming reels but sadly there aren't many.

But the pubertal dialogues of the central characters are often quite witty and humorous and keep the otherwise sinister plot and happenings on a lighter note. This in turn makes the movie a bit different from the "been there seen that" kind of sci-fi movies and good enough to sit through.

I, unfortunately, had the privilege of the company of a very idiotic and inconsiderate couple who had only come to the movie to giggle through and prove to all others that they were too "grown-up and mature" to enjoy this movie. They did spoil many a moments in the movie for me and had to be told to shut up. Such kind of shit does spoil one's mood, which I think is the only reason I did not like the movie. But I will remember to watch the movie at some later time to give it a fair chance to impress me.

Real Steel

IMDB

The finest works of art are seldom truly understood by the masses. Which is why there are movies like Real Steel for all the mediocre folks to gawk at, and the remaining “more evolved” people to admire and/or dismiss the particular craft of making awesome sci-fi flicks.

You are either a fan of this genre or someone who winces at the fans of this genre. Obviously the latter are just imbeciles though they are adept at arguing they are not. But anyway, the fact is that even such people are sure to be absorbed into the beautiful vortex of expertly done SFX backed by a sensible plot if only they let themselves be open enough to take in something new, something different. And Real Steel is a damn fine starting point for all such people.

Real Steel will not blow you away with its brilliance in the SFX or subtlety in the plot. But it will surely make you want to shout out supporting the hero in the final battle. It will make you want to applaud the son for his childish but very relevant outlook towards life. It will make you want to duck and throw a punch with the hero like any good boxing movie would (which is quite incredible since it is not humans who are boxing here). It will make you want to feel the triumph of the hero at the end. It will make you want to be a part of the story happening on the screen.

Establishing the central character is done without wasting much time. The hero is, well, the ideal filmy loser who doesn’t want to believe he deserves better. The son is the ideal filmy believer who thinks his father can still do things he is capable of even though he is scared to. And bridging these two is the fighter robot “ATOM” whom they find by a freak accident. Now, with all these inputs, it is not hard to imagine the rest of the story. But the journey of the father-son-robot trio absorbs you into the happenings and makes you really believe in the seemingly impossible undertaking of the son. Although there is nothing “Avatar-like” fantastic happening and it is just a plain story of a father finding love and attachment to his son and life, there are plenty of moments that tug at your heart and moments that pump some serious adrenaline. The job done by the director in punctuating the story with these moments is commendable.

Many of my colleagues/friends ridicule me for going to some movies alone. I neither argue with them nor present any justification for these lonely crusades. Some movies are best enjoyed alone. And Real Steel is the first sci-fi movie that I have enjoyed watching alone. Forgiving his past duds, I will be looking forward to Shawn Levy’s next directorial.