Movies to look out for this week

Kurbaan [IMDB]

A love story set in background of terrorism in New York

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor

Direction: Rensil D'Silva



A Christmas Story [IMDB]

An animated retelling of Charles Dickens classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions

Cast: Jim Carrey (voice)
Direction: Robert Zemeckis


Twilight [IMDB]

Based on the Twilight book series. A teenage girl risks everything when she falls in love with a vampire.

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson

Direction: Catherine Hardwicke


Fa Yeung Nin Wa : In The Mood For Love [IMDB]

A man and a woman move in to neighboring Hong Kong apartments and form a bond when they both suspect their spouses of extra-marital activities

Cast: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Direction: Kar Wai Wong
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2012

2012 promises to be nothing more than a disaster movie – and it is exactly that. However, what works for the movie are the awesome action pieces that take your breath away. The CGI work is spectacular – you haven’t seen anything like this (not even from Michael Bay). Skyscrapers toppling, roads splitting up into canyons, the Sistine Chapel collapsing – and the piece de resistance – a plane taking off from a runaway as it cracks up behind it. I don’t remember the last time a cheesy action movie has me so exhilarated with the action scenes.

However, if you are the sort who looks for logic in every movie – please avoid this one. For it is not the most logical story every produced. The plot is something like this - as prophesied by the Mayans, the year 2012 witnesses a gigantic solar flare which bombards earth with a neutron-like subatomic particle and causes the earth’s core to start heating up. The result is a earth’s crust displacement which leads to massive earthquakes, volcanoes and tidal waves.

And the world is not caught unawares – an Indian scientist Dr Satnam makes the discovery in 2009 itself and the world powers ultra-secretively prepare for this armageddon. However, calculations are wrong and things start going kaboom a month before schedule ….

The Good
As I have already waxed eloquent, the disasters are breathtaking to watch. There is not a moment’s respite and the action just keeps on coming – the first half especially.
And there is not much else to recommend in the movie

The Bad
As is the bane of this genre, dialogues are extremely cheesy, especially towards the end. And while all the world is collapsing around us, we are made to sympathize with the family of John Cusack and Amanda Peet – without much explanation as to why they are the chosen ones. You can predict from a mile which ones from the group are going to make it are which ones aren’t. And Jimi Mistry (the Guru) is atrocious as Dr. Satnam – he really grates on your ears – but thankfully he has just a 3 min sequence.

Even though it is almost two and half hours long, 2012 has enough bangs to keep you entertained for most of the journey. So if you are in the mood for a mindless apocalypse movie, this is just the thing for you.


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Movies to look out for this week

Tum Mile [IMDB]

Two ex-lovers separated 6 years ago meet again in Bombay on the fatal night of 26th July 2005

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Soha Ali Khan

Direction: Kunal Deshmukh



2012 [IMDB]

An epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Direction: Roland Emmerich


Aao Wish Karein [IMDB]

A 12-year old boy who has a huge crush on a 23-year old girl, is granted a miracle and he becomes a grown up man overnight

Cast: Aftab Sivadasani, Aamna Sharif, Johny Lever

Direction: Glenn Baretto
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The Informant!

The Informant! is one of those quirky cool movies that only Hollywood can produce (any such movie here would probably result in burnt theatres and hundreds of court cases !!). Its based on a real story and the disclaimers before the movie sound like this

... some characters are composites and dialogue dramatized.
So there.

With that cheeky introduction, The Informant! starts off with Mark Whitacre, President of Bio-Products division at Archer Daniels Midland, an agri-business giant. He has an all-american family with wife Ginger and two kids, a big house and plans to build a horse stable. But soon it transforms into a corporate spying story as Whitacre turns into an informant for the FBI, first alleging sabotage by japanese rival Ajinamoto Co - and then price fixing of lysine (an amino acid) by his own employers.

(I didnt make it up! There is - or atleast was - an Ajinamoto Co in Japan)

But just as you are settling down to watch a gripping corporate crime story like The Insider, you are distracted by some inane tangential comments made by Mark Whitacre –

When polar bears hunt, they crouch down by a hole in the ice and wait for a seal to pop up. They keep one paw over their nose so that they blend in. Cuz’ they’ve got those black noses. They’d blend in perfectly if not for the nose...
So the question is - how do they know their noses are black? From looking at other polar bears? Do they see their reflections in the water? And think, “I’d be invisible if not for that.”
That seems like a lot of thinking for a bear.

This and many other random utterances cause you to start doubting Whitacre himself – is he the white hat he claims to be? And credit to director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven series, Erin Brockovich), he doesn’t for a moment let you know what is coming at the end of the movie. Not to mention, his handing of the potential serious drama is highly humorous and tongue-in-cheek.

Which maybe does a little disservice to Mark Whitacre himself – irrespective of his personal failings, he did help the greater good by his whistleblowing deed. Matt Damon is absolutely fantastic as the slightly overweight, middle-aged Mark Whitacre. His role as the erratic corporate whistle-blower has already generated oscar buzz.

Apart from a slightly slow middle segment, The Informant is a great watch. Its got a limited release in India, with a few shows at PVR and single shows at Fame & Fun Cinemas. So probably you are going to have to take a few pains to watch it – but its well worth your time.


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2 States

This is going to be a more personal review than usual – mainly because I could so identify with the challenges of cross-state marriages – I had one myself.

And as a matter of fact, most of my friends did too – they chose their own partners, usually from a different community. Infact, I am scheduled to attend one wedding next month. And it doesn’t seem abnormal at all, does it ? Choosing a life partner is hard enough, without having to ensure that she speaks Oriya or Gujarati or whatever your mother tongue is !

Plus, isn’t the arranged marriage crowd a minority now ? You would think so if you went through my friend list :)

Unfortunately, there is a vast part of the country that is still very uncomfortable with the idea – if not horrified by it - as characters in the book are. They still cant wrap their head around the idea of a guy choosing his own girl, let alone happily accepting a daughter/son-in-law from a different part of the country. I don’t have to look further than my own first cousins for it. Its more pronounced in certain communities I think - whose sense of culture is very strong and all-pervasive. And so author couldnt have set his novel in two more apt communities than the Punjabis and Tamils.

The story is a simple (almost made for a movie) story – Punjabi boy meets Tamil girl and they fall in love. They want to get married, but only with their parents blessings. However parents need a bit more convincing than “I love him/her”. And when would-be-in-laws come face to face with each other – sparks inevitable fly – which jeopardizes things even more.

What made the book really enjoyable for me was the setting of the movie and the leads – they fall in love while studying in IIMA – and their courtship has a delightful current of humour throughout. Ofcourse, I am not even remotely hinting to be as funny as leads of the book, but given the backgrounds of me and my wife, it touched a chord somewhere. And again, like the book couple, we had more than our share of disagreements over wedding arrangements (thankfully getting parents to agree for the wedding was easy) – but getting two completely different cultures to appreciate each others rituals and customs is one head-bursting exercise !!

The book is priced at less than a multplex tickets cost (Rs 95). And it’s a good 3-4 hour read (I confess I am a fast reader, so you might take a bit longer). But highly recommended for a happy read all the same

PS – If you like the idea, here is an account of a similar wedding, condensed to a blog post and much more humorously written - http://www.whatay.com/2007/01/14/two-weddings-milk-cake-mustard-fields-and-pallo-latke-part-1/
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Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

If you guys watched All The Best, you remember how Sanjay Mishra steals the show in it with his “Just Chiiiiiilll” dialogue ? Or Amit Mistry in the movie 99 ?

Something similar happens to Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani – after the movie you remember Prem’s dad Darshan Jariwala in the movie more than anyone else (unlike the famous dialogue of the movie itself).

The movie, is not much ‘Ajab’ as the title suggests – it’s a story of a good boy who loves a girl, but cant bring himself to tell her. And when he is about to confess to her, turns out she loves someone else. So the good boy decides to help them get together, while remaining silent about his own feelings. Ofcourse, the good boy has a bunch of loser friends who adore him and do little else. And, the movie ends in a punchup climax with a with comic villains just like Andaz Apna Apna.

The Good
Clearly, this movie is not to be watched for its intriguing storyline. However it can be watched for its two leads – Ranbir and Katrina. Ranbir has the ‘goofy-yet-adorably-cute’ expression down to the pat – there is no one who can come close to him on this count. And Katrina owns the angelic-yet-cheerful-happy face. Together they really look good – their attire and camaraderie, especially in the songs is really cool in all senses of that word.

Then there is Darshan Jariwala. While he is usually irritating as the ‘khadoos’ dad in movies (like Life Partner), he is the same here – but with a very refreshing comic touch. His scenes are the best written in the movie – esp his singing scene.

And Upen Patel does pretty well in the comic role – which was unintentional on his part I am sure 

The Bad
The publicity designer of the movie is to be lauded in packaging this movie as a slick cartoony romantic comedy. It certainly piqued my interest – which is why I chose the movie over others in the weekend. But they are just the attractive packaging – there is nothing in the movie that would connect to a shred of reality. The setting is a fictional town that resembles Ooty and the hero is a do-gooder without ‘any complaints or demands’. Not to mention, with no goal in life.

I guess I am being exceedingly critical in demanding reality from a movie which is clearly inspired on ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ – so lets look at the movie through those lenses. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani definitely does have it laugh-out loud moments, including some zany sequences when Prem goes to work. But overall, it fails to keep up the whacky comedy levels and gets needlessly senti in more places than required

And the songs are atrocious – they break in the story flow and don’t fit the overall light movie theme at all.

Overall, its a timepass movie, that has its moments, but it sits in an uncomfortable place between whacky comedy and a serious love story.


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Movies to look out for this week

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani [IMDB]

The movie is about a boy who is madly in love with the beautiful Jennifer and his crazy mis-adventures that follow his quest

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif

Direction: Raj Kumar Santoshi


Jail [IMDB]

'Jail' is the story of a common man who is living a dream life, till he lands up in prison for unknown reasons

Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Ghodse, Manoj Bajpai

Direction: Madhur Bhandarkar



The Informant! [IMDB]

The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre

Cast: Matt Damon, Eddie Jemison
Direction: Steven Soderbergh



The Rebound [IMDB]

In New York City, a single mom captivates her new neighbor, a much younger man.

Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Justin Bartha

Direction: Bart Freundlich
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Julie & Julia

Watching Julie & Julia was a great culinary experience – it makes you really hungry by the time you finish the movie – and you are inspired to give cooking a shot if you haven’t done it already !! However, more than just a collection of gourmet shots, Julie & Julia works very well in cataloguing the life of its two protagonists – blogger Julie Powell and celebrated cook Julia Child.

Connected by only their love for food – and nothing else (they never meet), the movie tells you how a bored clerk in Manhattan decides to take up the challenge to cook all 524 recipes of the famous 1961 cookbook Mastering The Art of French Cooking - in 365 days and blog about it. It was the first ever book on French cooking in English and revered as the one which opened up the world of French cuisine to Americans. The story of celebrated food blogger Julie Powell

However the main ingredient of the movie is the story of how a bored wife of an American diplomat in Paris in the 1950s, takes her own passion for food to the next level by graduating from the Cordon Bleu, no less – after becoming enamored with French cuisine. And how she spends eight years of her life co-writing a French cookbook ‘for servantless Americans’. The story of the famous chef Julia Child

Based on Julia’s memoirs “My Life in Paris” and Julie’s book “Julie & Julia” – the movie is an easy watch, especially with the delicious food on display, but also a look at two love stories. Julia and her husband Paul Child and the slightly lesser Julie & her husband Eric. Paul and Julia’s chemistry is a treat to watch – Julia with her effervescence and joy of life and Paul as the quieter and slightly bemused husband. Theirs is a story that deserves a movie by itself maybe

Eric is also the supportive husband when Julie starts her blog – infact he is the one who suggests it. But unlike Julia Child, who is a gem of a person, Julie Powell isnt that likeable. Though the makers have tried to brush up her image trying to make her look adorable and cutesy, she was completely self-absorbed, narcissist - and ‘a bitch’, as her best friend says. It is unfortunately, the ethos of a blogger, who is driven to channel all his thoughts and energies into writing on a blog, leaving out little for anyone else around them. And then hoping to get that all important recognition in the way of comments.

It is also questionable whether she was just using Julia Child’s name to get famous – but that suggestion is never touched upon in the movie.

One of the complaints I have about the movie was its squeaky cleanliness. Apart from one fight between Eric and Julie, it was a little too fairy-talish about the effect of such an all-consuming-passion on their marriage. Similarly, although Paul Child was a really loving man, not once is he shown to be at odds with his wife’s activities – especially since this was before the time of women’s liberation. But then again, his wife did cook some fabulous food ...

The other irritant was Julia Child’s high octave voice and her joie-de-vivre. It seems amusing at the beginning of the movie, but by the end, it’s a little grating. I know it is exactly how the real life Julia Child was – and the makers of the movie are just being faithful to her persona, but it feels a bit overdone.

By the way, Julia Child was all of 6ft 2 in and it’s a marvel how they made a 5 Ft 6 in Meryl Streep appear so tall !!

Its different from your regular cinema – and you don’t have to be a foodie to appreciate it – but its not quite a masterpiece. What works for the movie is Julia & Paul in Paris – they are quite magical together. But the movie slows down a bit towards the end and at feels longer than its 123 min runtime – but it also works up a great appetite for you. So when we got out of the movie – the first thing we did was to make a beeline for a great continental dinner – even though it was only 7.30 pm !!


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