Saturday, February 27, 2010

Up in the Air: Takes off and Stays up there

The movie is a dark comedy that explores economic downturn, layoffs, 'casual' one night stands, relationships and what life is all about. The movie definitely has its funny moments but on the whole is a drama making its points in a 'smooth' way. There are no hiccups, no speed breakers, no 'now, where did that come from?' moments. The best part about the movie was its unpredictability. Even when you are half time in the movie, you can hardly realize where it is going to end up. For me that was brilliant stuff, since it does not fit into any of the typical stories. Performances are very crisp and controlled. Script is just perfect. Story is topical. Direction is very to the point. I loved how the importance of 'people and relationships' thing was played. Loved it. Go watch.
Plot: The movie revolves around George clooney playing a corporate hit man. He does what the bosses are too scared of doing. He tells the employees being fired that they are being fired. That they have to look at it as a new beginning and an opportunity to do what they always wanted to do. He doesn't care about relationships, Likes living out of the suitcase, Travels 322 days and spends the rest 43 'miserable' days living in his apartment and his ultimate goal is to reach 10 million frequent flier miles. He meets two women on his way. One is 'his own self but with a vagina' who is just looking for a casual relationship with him and Other, is a young cornell grad trying to automize the whole process of communicating the bad news to the employees through internet so that travel costs can be reduced. The movie moves further to explore George's confusion as to what his ultimate 'goa'l is.

Performances: George Clooney delivers another Michael Clayton and its hard not to get reminded of Clayton in almost every sequence. Vera Farmiga is almost perfect in her portrayal of an unemotional alter ego for George's role. Her charm is just too difficult to ignore. Infact, she does the same to the guys what George has been doing to the girls all his life. Anna Kendrick is also very balanced in both funny as well as emotinal sequences. 10/10 on the performance front.

Miscellaneous: Well, something that did not work for me was the endless advertisements from Hilton to American Airlines to Hertz. At times it started to feel like a 2 hour long product placement. That for me compromised on the essence of the movie. It was required to establish his travel schedule but it was just a bit too much for me. Secondly, at one point i thought the love story angle was a bit filmy but then as the plot unfolded i realized how important the same was.

Positives: Excellent Performances, Tight Script, Topical Story, Crisp Direction, Just the perfect balance.

Negatives: The product placements were a turn off.

Overall : Excellent. Must Watch. Don't miss it. I have a feeling that it may even make it to the oscar race.

Feel-O-Meter: 8.5/10 (yes i know some of you might think its too high but seriously i really liked the movie. It just hit the right chord for me)

PS: The movie may remind you many a times about Thank you for smoking and Michael Clayton.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

My Name is Khan: Minus the hype, Above Average

My Name is Khan for me was just another post 9/11 movie. Another one in the same (or rather similar) league as Newyork, Kurbaan, Khuda Kay Liye. It tries the same old 'Muslims are not terrorist' and 'Islam does not stand for killing' trick in a slightly different storyline but rest all remains the same. Performances are pretty good. A Few scenes are very moving. There are some cute moments. Thumbs up to Karan Johar to try something different from his candyfloss family melodramas. Production quality is superb. Music is good. Written very well. Directed very crisply and does not bore you anywhere. The only problem i found was that you could feel that SRK was trying too hard to perform as an 'actor' or to pull off a forrest gump, which dint quite happen. Gets 'Filmy' in parts too. A must watch nonetheless. An 'Above Average' start to the for the 'starry' movies this year.

Plot: Rizvan Khan (Shahrukh) suffers from an autistic condition (which is not relevant to the plot). He meets Mandira (Kajol), a divorcee with a son. They marry and post 9/11 the son is killed in a racist act. Mandira leaves Khan thinking he is responsible for her son's death and asks her to tell the whole of the US including the President, 'My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist'. The movie is about his journey about the same.

Performance: This was the only department where i had (some) problems. SRK for me was just trying to hard to prove that he can act apart from the K Jo genre too. Well, the stage was perfect. Character was so well written that you would fall in love with him while 'reading' the script let alone watch the movie. There was also this 'Emotional Blackmail' with the autism angle. But still for me it was a 'good' performance not a 'great' one. May be i was expecting too much. (But hey, with all the hype already, don't think anybody wouldn't). Kajol as usual is as smooth as she has been in every role she has portrayed. For me she has always been one of the actors who would just get into the skin of the role with such ease that you simply forget that she is an actor but concentrate on the character. She does the same and obviously i was pretty happy with her performance. Overall, nobody else was noticeable.

Music and Background Score: 'Tere Naina', 'Sajda' and 'Noor e Khuda' were pretty good. Background score was not impressive and was just above average. Nothing major to write anything about on music actually.

Scenes: Two scenes were very moving. One, when the son dies and Kajol is furious over Khan and asks him to leave. That for me was the one of the best scenes in the movie. Other, when Khan is narrating his love for his dead son. That scene for me wiped out every 'Overperformed' sequence by SRK. He redeems himself to the fullest. Its hard not to have tears in your eyes in both the sequences.

Positives: KJo coming out of his comfort zone. Well Written. Well performed. The 'Smooth' factor.

Negatives: SRK's usual 'Overperformance', Gets a bit 'too filmy' in a couple of scenes.

Overall: Worth a Watch even without the hype.

Feel-O-Meter: 7/10 (Coz i did not get too 'Feely' anywhere during the movie. For me it was another above average movie. Does NOT deserve a 9 or a 10 in my books)

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Striker: Pretty neat From Break to Finish

Striker is one of those movies which leave you with a surprised reaction. More often that not, you will not even notice this movie unless it releases during a lean week. You would go with almost no expectations and come out pretty happy that you watched it. Almost no marketing halla. No star power to attract you. No Reality Show appearances by cast. Its a very honest movie (And you can feel that). New story. Decent performances. Gripping Script. A couple of very well written dialogues. Some nicely executed scenes. Its one of those movies, you will not fall in love with but still would like it. Give it a dekko if you have some free time at the weekend. I'm sure you will not be disappointed.

I just wish they would have taken a slightly more credible cast (Please remove Sidharth and Aditya pancholi and take more credible 'actors' ) and marketed the movie slightly more aggressively (even the poster made it look like a B-grade movie only) so that more people could actually come to the theaters to see this movie. Its a cause gone lost because people are just not 'interested' enough to watch and are missing on a pretty good movie.

Plot: The movie is a (declared) inspiration from a series of true stories happened in a small locality called malwani duing 19992 babri riots. It travels between the late 70s to the early 90s and is a story of a young carrom player who gets entangled in the carrom mafia because of his family circumstances. He doesn't want to play for/with them but he has to. There are sub plots of the local underworld manipulating the hindu muslim equation during the babri masjid riots, Two love stories, A hindu-muslim brotherly Friendship also which actually take the movie ahead in a pretty smooth manner.

Performances: I think Siddharth could not do justice to his role there. It had immense potential and he seemed fake in a couple of sequences. His voice doesn't add any positives either. Aditya pancholi (in his 'as fake as you can get' scarred face )was a perfect example of miscasting. Anybody else could have done wonders to his role there. But to me the actual 'hero' of the movie was Ankur Vikal (who also featured in Maqbool and Slumdog millionaire in small roles) who plays a cocaine snorting, over energetic, high on life friend who motivates the hero to start playing again. He is absolutely fabulous and reminds of Deepak Dobriyal of Omkara and Chandan Roy Sanyal of Kaminey. Seema biswas does okay in a couple of scenes she has. Others all have done a pretty decent job and you never feel uncomfortable anywhere.

Music: 6 Composers. Yes the movie has 6 composers and all the tracks are pretty good. A couple of them especially Cham cham sung by sonu nigam remind of A R Rahman and i was actually wondering if Rahman has composed those or not. Yun hua by Vishal Bhardwaj reminds you of Kaminey title track. Maula has that typical Sufi feel and is definitely good. Overall a pretty good album to have.

Technicals: Cinematography is crisp with some really good close (especially night) shots. Pretty good there too. Background score by Amit Trivedi helps the story move ahead. Especially towards the end when the intensity increases and he uses a bass guitar to provide that thumpin feel. Amazing it was. Although much was desired in terms of production quality. The sets actually looked like sets and that was a thumbs down from my side.

Positives: Gripping Script. Fresh Story. Decent Performances. Good Music. Great Background score. Some Very Good Dialogues.

Negatives: Miscasting (especially aditya pancholi) . Almost No Promotion. A couple of sub plots (like the second love story) not required.

Overall : Definitely a watch if you are not saving for My Name is Khan next weekend (!!!) You will not be disappointed.

Feel-O-Meter: 7/10