Thursday, February 26, 2009

Movie Review "The International" : the suspense, the concept & the scare...

“The International” is a movie that brings into visuals what we have heard/theorized/surmised and yeah feared. The great part is the ending is a concoction of realism and cinematic realism. It’s an “only in a movie” emotion with a “that makes sense” emotion. There are solid performances from Clive Owen (Louis Salinger, an Interpol detective) and Brian O’Byrne (the hired contract killer). The others have chipped in well at various points of the movie.

The movie starts with a cold killing of Louis’ Interpol partner after a meeting with an insider. This insider happens to be a key cog of a mega bank IBBC. The IBBC is the focus of the Interpol investigation, with suspicions centering on the true intentions, ideals and asset managements of the bank. The Interpol with its nosy detective Louis Salinger tries to pry open the veil of the bank, that seems to be no different than the corner Credit Union bank down the street.

As the movie rolls on, events unfold that seemed to cast the IBBC bank in less than flattering company, in terms of their association and their involvement and intentions in events that are momentous and mostly dangerous. Louis and his superior Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) seem to be on an impossible pursuit. Armed with truck loads of money, assets that stretch across the continents, contacts that range from the local lieutenant to the Italian presidential hopeful, the banks tentacles seem to ensnarl almost anyone that it comes across. The director tries well to depict the bank as a well run mafia organization only globally more influential and well funded.

The movie has its share of stereotypical events, incidents that make the hunter become the hunted, as agent Salinger comes to the realization he might be fighting a hopeless cause. Agent Salinger tries his best to follow the trail and pickup any bits of information that he can get his hand on, but as pressure to curtail his investigation increases Salinger does some unconventional things to get more evidence. I think the highlight of the movie is the contract killer of the IBBC doing his psychotic acts and being very suave in getting away from them, only to finally become the hunted by the IBBC. The scene that ensues with Salinger trying to protect the contract killer he came to arrest from the IBBC is well executed.

Though Salinger loses his fight to get anything out of the contract killer, with the help of his buddies in the NYPD, he tracks down the killer’s contact and he is lead on the trail of IBBC’s chairman Jonas Skarssen. How Salinger confronts Skarssen and what ensues is the rest of the movie. What I liked about the movie is that they have played on the fears of the common man, “Can we really trust anyone?”. While there are holes in some of the theories in the movie, the whole product as such is palatable. Ever since Matrix resonated with the audience with its array of fear instigating concepts and its overall idea of the helplessness of our existence, movies of such ilk have tried to recreate fear to the best they can.

The International, has a good theory, but I am afraid it doesn’t do enough to scare you, it doesn’t do enough to make you think “you know what… that’s out of the box”. Too often you come across good concepts not treated well, while I wont call this movie as a bad effort, I do think that it’s a bad end product. The climax highlights the helplessness, even for agent Salinger, where he only ends up with the satisfaction of shooting down the messenger of IBBC and not the IBBC itself. I liked that ending, only I have a problem with how this could have been handled better. The audience could have been scared a little bit better, a solid effort but an average end result for “The International”. I would give a D+ and recommend waiting for the movie to be on the “tele” or “blockbuster”.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Delhi 6 : Movie review : Funny Smart and.. the "S" word

Recently i have developed a crush for Hindi movies. No not because they are splendid, not because they are well directed, not because they are well executed or acted or choreographed... none.. they are just visually scrumptious, oozing with clarity. I have never seen another set of language movies made in India that are this visually palatable. I just dont mean the Yash Chopra/Karan Johar big name headliner, even the second tier guys seem to present a visually catchy treat.

Delhi 6 had that and more. The visuals were great, at some points well beyond great. I am absolutely certain that when you come away from this movie, you will feel that at certain points u were with the characters as much as watching them. Abhishek Bachan has done a decent job, i really dig his coolers it suits his 2 day old stubble pretty much to a T and am sure the ladies will like that. The movie really doesnt have a heroine, Sonam kapoor is the closest to it, she has done an ok job overall. She has handled the juggling of a middle class girl trying to become an Indian idol quite ok. There's some cool acting by Rishi Kapoor, Waheeda Rahman, Deepak Dobriyal and Vijay Raaz as the inspector -- a true tribute to him is the fact that i overheard couple of guys swearing at his like he was a real cop -- the others filled in and were ok.

Overall, the movie is a devent entertainer. It has its highs and lows. The first half seems to be the director's favorite as more effort seems to have been distilled in it than the second half. The story hinges on a grandson (AB as Roshan ) taking his ailing grannie (Waheeda) back to India after his parents -- who had eloped and married -- had settled in US. If it seems a little dramatic that an american born kid will just leave his life, pack up and take his granny to her village.. well it is Indian cinema after all, so hang with them there. The movie goes on to depict the typical challenges and funny incidents that Roshan faces in the dirtbowl Delhi 6.

The movie's first half beats the second half hands down because the movie goes from funny, smart and at hilarious in the first half to preaching, sterotypical and down right wierd in the second half. The story follows Roshan's various encounters and smartly uses the 'kala bhandar' the now infamous 'Monkey man' spoof from yesteryear delhi lore. The Kala Bhandar (Monkey man) seems to run amok among the residents and due to circumstances that are purely manufactured Roshan ends up the center of everyone's irk and ire.

My problem with this movie is its sterotyping the unity or lack therof between Muslims and Hindus. A locality that seems to be in harmony with some Muslims even praying to Lord Hanuman seems to unravel like a pack of cards with the arrival of a Hindu swami. The typical idea of Hindus inciting political speeches and talks of uprooting Mosques and replacing them with temples is a clear dig at what has happened in the past, but so is the portrayed typical response from the Muslim community. From being calm and composed to depicting them as losing control and inciting violence, setting Hindu trees on fire and taking up arsonry and weapons and shooting Roshan, its all a little typical portrayal of the Hindu-Muslim dynamic. Look i am not here to judge what went on, i went to a movie to have some light hearted fun and for a movie that started with beautiful incidents and little pockets of suavity to one that preaches how people should live.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but the story that went on in the second half is not a derivative of what happened in the first half. One of the reasons the whole message doesnt seem to be relayed well is that the whole issue was sterotyped from the inciting that apparently is done by one religion to the violent resoponse associated with the other. I think for this movie, we could have not used that, for this movie we could have been taken somewhere else, a place where there was a little fun and may be a lot more sense. For that alone i recommend you stay home and wait for the CDs or online links to arrive in thier mailboxes. My rating would be D+

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

The Economy Bandaid - lets stimulate

The world was abuzz, the messiah had spoken, the savior has arrived, your problems will be transformed into nuisances and your nuisances will melt when this savior aggrandizes the house that the Americans built. Well, I am not crazy, err.. not yet anyway.. but that’s how I translated all the post-Obama electoral victory news coverage. I feel very sorry for him, lets scan what is about to confront the new US president in the coming days… a couple of wars going nowhere, an enemy dispersed, strong and diverse, an economy that’s in the maddest of all tailspins, a health care system that reeks with stale ideals, an education system that’s been downgraded, a housing market that’s looking like a mazy abyss than a green pasture with an azure embellishment and a disgruntled group of denizens desperate for some good news and ready to be waken from the nightmare of endless negative missives in the name of news reports.

Welcome President Obama, no pressure there… we re considerate…. once you are done fixing everything that everyone has drawn up in their list, you can cure melanoma, achieve the drug for immortality without aging and find a world where everyone sits on their fanny and makes a million bucks a day.

I think among the million bytes of digits that scanned the globe as the US election run-up ratcheted one question stuck that was asked by a reported struck a chord in me … “ Senators Obama and McCain, do you for even a minute think, do I want to win and inherit this mess” .. Ofcourse they said the right answers but the kind of mess they are inheriting is unfathomable, really historical and deadly in its cocktail of complication and consequences.

The most famous rallying cry “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country” galvanized then Americans, Obama is no stranger to catch phrases, he apparently is an eloquent talker, but walking the walk and talking the talk are two different things. The economy rightfully has taken center stage and is sucking all the resources into working in this issue, but there are 100 other ones that are as scary as the economy, not the least of which is the security threats.

How do you not feel obligated to help the President Obama in every single way, he is trying to patch and fix on the go one of the most epic financial collapses a once-a-lifetime – hopefully – event for us. Now, this issue is not isolated to US or even Europe, the way every economy in the globe is structured we are mostly a house of cards, every single failure has a cascade effect, be it a bank going kaput or a insurance company going broke or a car manufacture going insolvent. Sometime I do feel angry, I mean a few thousand ineligible borrowers have rocked everyone’s boat and we are all swimming or trying to anyway upstream. Its time to hold hands and help each other out. The stimulus package will be a nightmare – any final version that gets approved – because of the burden its going to impose on coming generations, but there is no choice.

The mark of a true fighter is when his wound is exposed and his salt is down, are we gonna stand up and do something about this or not. I like every other Joe Smith, do want certain assurances of how these gargantuan bailout money is being spent. I need assurances, checks, double-checks, reports, status, insight and every damn nickel accounted for. But, lets also get smart. Lets not eat out if we don’t have to, lets not buy every single ipod that comes on the market, lets save some money and spend smartly. Don’t switch off your AC or heater but do switch off your TV. Take the public transport, donate to charity than going on a ski trip. Keep your resumes current, stay sharp and focused. Watch your leaders, whether what they say is what they do, watch yourself and your family and finally realize.

It didn’t take one bad decision to lead us to this rut, it took a series of hidden debacles to get here, it took turning a blind eye when a sore spot is spotted, so there is no silver bullet. No one decision can create the 2 plus million jobs last year or the ones that are gonna be lost this year. But we each can have a personal motto, spend wisely, be prepared and do your part to stimulate the economy. Every one wants to be part of the party but not everyone likes to clean up the dishes, you may not have wrecked every thing but lets be part of a solution. Support President Obama in his trials, his hits and misses, we need call him out if he proposes something unworkable. But lets also be reasonable, the man is under the spot like no other for the reason he inhibited something, not procreated, so lets cut him some slack and remain hopeful and work hard.