Movie Review: The Last Stand

An aging sheriff, of a sleepy little town near the US-Mexico border, has to put up resistance for an international criminal who is trying to flee US on a high speed car. While the criminal has all the resources that money can buy at his disposal, the sheriff only has a band of misfits. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as the aging sheriff Ray Owens and Eduardo Noriega as the fleeing criminal Gabriel Cortez.

At the core, it is a David v/s Goliath match. What makes this movie a passable watch is the direction by Kim Jee-Woon and the photography by Kim Ji-Yong. The movie has high speed car chases, stunts using the getaway vehicle, heavy duty gunfire, fistfights and bad acting. Essentially, there is everything you look for in a Schwarzenegger movie.

Although the action takes a while to pick up, the comic scenes by Luis Guzman and Johnny Knoxville keeps you smiling during the buildup. When the action starts, it is not the adrenaline that gets you. Instead it is the nostalgia of the old Schwarzenegger movies. All of it is there. Not necessarily in a better format. But definitely, in a form that will be satifsy the fans. When the chase ends up in the corn field, direction and photography comes into foreground. The chase and the hide-n-seek using the two cars - Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 and Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 - is worthy to be watched. 

Jaimie Alexander and Rodrigo Santoro plays the quintessential couple whose relationship is being tested amid the chaos. Forest Whitaker delivers one of the worst performances in his career as the FBI man.

This is for Schwarzenegger fans. If you are not one, I still recommend this if you have nothing else to do as there is no heavy duty thinking to be understand in order to understand this movie.

Language: English 

Genre: Action 

Rating: **

For trailer, click here.

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Movie Review: Jack Reacher

Christopher McQuarrie adapts the novel named "One Shot" by Lee Child for the big screen and also directs it. Jack Reacher is the hero created by Lee Child. The character already has a cult following. Given this in mind, it is herculean task to bring him alive on the screen. Christopher McQuarrie has to ensure adaptation turns out to be a good movie and thereby not only satisfy the fan base but also the regular movie goer. He finds a middle path to achieve this goal which makes the movie an interesting watch. The movie is about a man accused of shooting 5 innocent civilians in broad daylight and Jack Reacher(Tom Cruise) arriving in the city to solve the mystery. 

I haven't read "One Shot". But judging from all the books I have read so far from the Reacher series, the movie is bigger than the books. Lee Child unravels the mystery based on Reacher's conversations with other characters. The same happens in the movie but Reacher's conversation is a voice over the scenes thereby clearly telling the audience what happened. This works in setting the tempo of the movie. The dialogues in the novel by Lee Child is cheesy. Nobody in the real world talks like that. This is the second strength of the movie. The casting. 

Jack Reacher is 6 feet 5 inches where as Tom Cruise stands way below 6. Yet, Tom Cruise is able to get the essence of Jack Reacher and make us overlook many things with mixed expressions (sometimes deadpan and otherwise not) along with peculiar style of dialogue delivery. The same is true with Emerson played by David Oyelowo. David has more cheesy dialogues to say. But watch him say it and you may find respect for some of the lines. Robert Duvall as Cash and Richard Jenkins as Alex Rodin delivers a natural performance where the former plays a role which is written to endear the audience. It is Rosamund Pike as Helen Rodin who falls flat. Overall, the cast is good mix of people who over or under or rightly emote.

The director has taken special care during the introductory scene of Jack Reacher. Anybody who has read the novel immediately connects with the detachment of Reacher with materialistic possessions. The background music by Joe Kraemer is not loud but appropriate to elevate some of the key scenes and also the adrenaline levels.

This is a good escapist fare. 

Language: English 

Genre: Thriller 

Rating: ***

For trailer, click here.

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Movie Review: Arbitrage

Nicolas Jarecki's film tells the events unfolding in a few days in the life of a billionaire. The billionaire, Robert Miller(Richard Gere) has everything going for him at sixty. He has a beautiful family and a successful business. When the movie opens up, he is trying to sell his business although his grown up children, who also work for him, are surprised. He is quitting when he is still riding high. Unknown to the outside world, everything is not everywhere near bright beneath what is being projects. There are events happening which could derail Miller's plan.

The film is an interesting watch because of two things, the structure of the movie and the performance. The screenplay is penned by the director himself. The movie opens up with the busy and happy life of Miller. Then it slowly shows the darker side of Miller. The first act is slow but the tempo picks up when Miller gets into trouble. As the movie progresses, Nicolas Jarecki paints his lead player in such a way that it is impossible to categorize him. All this is made possible by Richard Gere. Richard Gere looks younger than his years and also portrays the many emotions of Miller to create conflicting emotions in the viewer. Though there are other seasoned performers like Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth, all of them are overshadowed by Richard Gere.

The movie is based on the world of finance. Luckily for us, the director does not get into the jargon and confuse us. Instead he focuses on the self-created trappings of success. Finally, this movie could also have been a thriller. Instead the director focuses on the drama while building tempo by borrowing shades of a thriller. 

Definitely worth a watch for the direction and the performance.

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Rating: ***

For trailer, click here.

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Movie Review: The Man with the Iron Fists

When a movie is presented by Quentin Tarantino, you naturally expect it to be a movie worth watching. When the movie in question is related to martial arts, featuring some of the Tarantino regulars and Russell Crowe, you wait in anticipation. But is the movie worth the wait? No, for many reasons. Bad acting, bad direction and confusing editing spoils all the fun associated with watching a martial arts action movie. As a viewer, I am ready to let go of my last drop of disbelief in my system. But if you can't weave a trace of a story on top of action pieces and bad acting, there is nothing to save such a movie.

The movie is told as by the Blacksmith(RZA) and set in the Jungle Village. Not only the village has a preposterous name but also is an abode for lawless men who names end with Lion namely, Gold Lion, Silver Lion, Bronze Lion etc. When Silver Lion(Byron Mann) kills Gold Lion to usurp power and also capture the Governor's gold, all hell breaks loose in the Jungle Village. Zen Ziyi(Rick Yune), the X Blade, wants to avenge the death of his father, Gold Lion. Brass Body(David Bautista) is hired to defend Silver Lion from Zen Ziyi. At the same time, a stranger named Jack Knife(Russell Crowe) arrives in the town and hires a room at the local brothel run by Madam Blossom(Lucy Liu). Now, the stage is set for mystery and eventually the revenge.

When you watch this movie directed by RZA, you also conclude that RZA was inspired by the same kind of movies which inspired Tarantino to make the Kill Bill Volumes. But RZA's script lacks the beauty of  Tarantino's script. Tarantino's script works in multiple ways; the simplest way to see it as a movie and the most complex way is to see it as a movie which has references and homages to other movies in this genre. RZA decides to tell a story of warring clans and ends up confusing the viewer with a multitude of characters. The success of the movie is in just one thing. RZA was able to get all the famous names to sign on this venture. But the end product is so shoddy that you wonder why these famous names are doing in this venture! The biggest letdown is Russell Crowe. Even though he has a lot of funny names, this is the most inconsequential role he has done to this day.

Stay away from this.

Language: English

Genre: Action

Rating: *

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Movie Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

It is a trilogy! It is better to know this fact before stepping into the hall. This way, you are not expecting closure at the end of the movie. Be ready to wait for next two years (mostly during Christmas time judging from the history) for Peter Jackson to release the remaining two parts. I wasn't aware of this fact. I haven't read the book either. Years back, I attempted The Lord of the Rings and stopped after navigating it through a quarter of the distance. I prefer the movies. The movies are better than the sluggish pace of JRR Tolkien. 

The movie traces the adventures of Bilbo Baggins(Martin Freeman), who was the inspiration for Frodo(Elijah Wood) to leave the comfortable confines of his home resulting in what was shown in The Lord of the Rings(LOTR) trilogy. The movie unfolds as an older Bilbo(Ian Holm) pens down his experiences in a journal for Frodo. In his younger days, Bilbo is unwittingly ensnared into an unexpected journey by Gandalf(Ian McKellen) to help the displaced dwarves led by Thorin(Richard Armitage) to regain their lost home and lost treasure. There are references to the LOTR trilogy where already familiar faces like Gollum(Andy Serkis), Elrond(Hugo Weaving), Saruman(Christopher Lee) and Galadriel(Cate Blanchett) popping up in the narrative.

When Peter Jackson directs, there are two things to look out for; size and pace. Think big. Whatever you think big, Peter Jackson can think bigger. There are amazing castles, dungeons inside mountains, waterfalls etc which makes your jaw drop because of the amazing size. Of course, this is done using CG. Peter Jackson score on two counts, visualization and also letting us know the proportion. He does so by placing the camera so far away from the point of action in order to make the actors seem tiny and also putting the viewer in a place not found in either their world or their imagination. These technique also helps in the final sequence where Gandalf and the posse of dwarves are being chased by the Orcs. The escape through the crisscrossed wooden bridges suspended high above the crevices is imagination at the best. Then there is the pace. Peter Jackson takes his time to tell the story. Having read a bit of LOTR, I know Peter Jackson tries to film each and everything Tolkien writes. For Tolkien, it is a sentence. For Peter Jackson, it is multiple cuts and angles. It is no surprise the movie is slow. The pace is negative point of the movie especially for a someone who has not read the novel.

It is the story of Bilbo and Martin Freeman suits the role. Bilbo is no great fighter. He is an ordinary Hobbit. Yet, there are instances when he shows courage under extraordinary circumstances surprising his companions. Martin Freeman fully conveys the bewilderment, self doubt and compassion with moderate doses of comic antics without going overboard. Ian McKellen as Gandalf reprises his role from the earlier trilogy and continues to humor us. Richard Armitage as Thorin has a raw deal. It is difficult to make out his good features and his acting abilities because of the clothes, beard and the wig.

The pace is excruciating at times. Still I recommend you to watch it because this is cinema, a completely unbelievable world created out of nothing. Make sure you see this in a theater equipped with a big screen and an excellent sound system.

Language: English

Genre: Action

Rating: ***

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Movie Review: Dabanng 2

When the first movie ended, Chulbul Pandey(Salman Khan) had avenged his mother's death and ended with loving and caring family. In the sequel, Chulbul gets tranferred to Kanpur in order to achieve greater things in his professional career. According to him, Kanpur being a bigger city has much more to offer in terms of challenging work. As we know Chulbul, challenging work has to do with bigger and more ruthless thugs. In Kanpur, he meets Bachcha bhaiyya(Prakash Raj) and his brothers. When not locking horns with the gang of villains, Chulbul finds time to romance his wife(Sonakshi Sinha) and play pranks on his father(Vinod Khanna) and his brother(Arbaaz Khan).

The first time director Arbaaz Khan launches us straight into the action with the stylish opening credits which is built on the still photographs from the first part. This put us into the right mood for watching the sequel. After an interesting 25 minutes which relies on funny one-liners, beautifully choreographed yet unbelievable stunts and Salman Khan, the movie loses steam because of a fundamental flaw. The story telling in terms of script lacks flow and is devoid of any twists.

The movie tries every trick to cater to the fans. There are songs for the sake of songs, intended-to-be-funny scenes abruptly to show off camaraderie in the Pandey family and lack of a diabolical villain. You will also find the shirt coming off in the final action sequence. If there is any consistency in this enterprise, then it is only in one factor, namely bad acting. All of them are in a race to outdo the others in bad acting. Even the normally entertaining Prakash Raj puts in one of his worst performances. To add to the woes, the voice used doesn't suit him.

Skip it. If you end up watching this, make sure you are out of the theater after the initial 25 minutes.

Language: Hindi

Genre: Action

Rating: *

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Movie Review: Argo

When the American embassy is attacked in 1978 following the Iranian revolution and subsequent escape of the Shah, six embassy officials manage to escape the furious mob by walking into the streets and ending up in the Canadian Ambassador's house. Later, CIA manages to get them out of the country by constructing a story of Hollywood crew on location scouting. Ben Affleck bases his latest directorial venture on this true story to bring out an interesting and gripping drama on the screen.

Tony Mendez(Ben Affleck) is part of the operation which is trying to rescue the six American embassy officials taking refuge in the Candaian Ambassador's house. CIA has no concrete plans for the rescue. The only plausible plan is the one in which the embassy officials can pose as a crew on a location hunt for a movie. In order to make this plan work, Tony has to recruit help from Hollywood in the form of John Chambers(John Goodman) a makeup artist and Lester Siegel(Alan Arkin) a movie producer.

Ben Affleck quickly sets the action in place after providing a primer on the whole confict using voice overs. He keeps the viewer engaged with the fast paced drama on the screen. He has also an excellent supporting cast. Ben uses not only photography techniques reminiscent of the era but also the famous TV clips from the same era. The tension is captured brillianty during the US Embassy seige in the initial reels. However, the drama during the escape from Iran seems to be far fetched and also a bit forced for the thrills.

Performance wise, the movie belongs to Ben Affleck's Tony Mendez and Alan Arkin's Siegel. Ben Affleck effectively underplays his role making it more enjoyable to watch. Alan Arkin gets the best lines and provides the best humorous scenes in the movie.

Go for it. Although it tells only the American angle, it is still good to watch for foming our own opinion about the crisis.

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Rating: ***

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