Set It Off review
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Ara 1,2009
Frankie (Fox) has a bank proceeding – until someone she knows from South Central LA holds her at gun-site, the attempted robbery turns into a blood-bath, and the boss sends her packing. Life gets much harder. Her homegirls (Pinkett, Latifah, Elise) fix her up with the job-cleaning firm where they profession nights, but it’s not long before they hatch a plan to capitalise on Frankie’s qualifications, in particular her privy knowledge of bank security procedures. In the wake of all those gun-toting immaculate women and black men, black women are due their own jammed action adventure. This noir Thelma and Louise rekindles some of the subversive fire of Jonathan Demme’s ’70s exploitation flicks, although it’s far too debonair to have come from the Corman stable. The intense heist sequences plain a command of thriller dynamics that’s right up there with the maximum effort of them, but numero uno Gray is equally convincing on the idiosyncrasy front, eliciting funny, grounded performances from the four women (Latifah notably refuses to caricature her lesbian role). On the down side, Blair Underwood is too pure to be stable as the put who comes into Pinkett’s life, while the protect procedural stuff is strictly routine. Minor misdemeanours, even so, accustomed such an energising orgy for the Girlz n the hood.
DESCENT, THE Modern horror f…
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Kas 28,2009
DESCENT, THE
Modern horror films are impossible to endure unless they are granted a subtext that they may or may not deserve (they?re sure as hell not scary). Some of the better efforts have attempted to sandwich a bit of social commentary between the bloodletting, but for the most part, these films are content to provide the same jumps and pounding scores as everything else churned out of the Hollywood sausage factory. So when a better-than-average fright fest hits theaters, one must yet again play the game where intent and interpretation are brought together and given a fair fight. Neil Marshall?s
The Descent,
a slice of terror that understands the best horror is to be found in the disruption of the commonplace, could be enjoyed straight, no chaser, but it is open enough to allow for a discussion that moves beyond mere body counts. The presence of strange, underground creatures moves it beyond the ?real?, but even these beings are far from easily understood. They are blind, vicious, and mindless consumers of human flesh — who are they? Products of an experiment gone horribly wrong? Aliens? Twisted evolutionary turns on the road to man? Republicans?
The story is simple enough: Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), a Scottish woman who, a year before, lost her daughter and husband in a horrifying car accident, agrees to explore Appalachian caves with several of her friends. Sarah is still a bit raw from the tragedy, but is ready to experience high adventure once again. After all, this trip is no mere walk through a few touristy caverns; they intend to go all out, complete with professional equipment, flares, ropes, and yet, no handbook or map. Juno (Natalie Jackson Mendoza), the more ambitious of the group, has decided to take everyone to what she believes is uncharted territory, and of course has no desire to tell anyone else of her plans. Pardon the digression, but what sort of people explore caves, anyway? As I get older, fatter, and decidedly lazier, outdoor activities that involve heat, dust, dirt, sweat, and effort strike me as the height of absurdity, and even though I?ve concluded that I live a shallow, empty existence devoid of purpose, I am quite certain that I will never find myself in the position of having to ?prove myself? to feel alive. Am I lost in thought on the crapper? Then I?m still conscious, and no amount of derring-do will ever make me more so. You can connect with Mother Nature all you like, friend, and I promise to wave convincingly from the window of my air conditioned hotel suite.
These early scenes are pretty standard, as they should be, because of the need to generate tension. The acting is pretty bland, and the dialogue even more so, but as these are athletic chicks hanging out for the weekend, I suppose a spirited discussion on politics or literature would be out of the question. Their banality is made endurable because we know, given the set-up, that many (perhaps all) of those we see before us will be butchered like sows in the summer heat. So we go along with their march towards doom, and hope that at the very least, the blood will spurt heavily and the bones will crunch with authority. As they make their way deeper into the cave, a tunnel collapses (apparently it had been waiting for just that moment to give way), thereby cutting off the only means of escape. But one of the girls thinks there is a second entrance, so they move along with the sort of determination that masks a growing trepidation. At this point, the usual things occur — accusations, commands, and the fraying of the nerves, but it works because it?s all grounded in reality. Adventure outings meet with trouble all the time, and in this case, the dark, dank surroundings add to the mystery of what might be lurking about. Before long, one of the beasts is spotted, and a new level of danger is added.
So yes, the carnivorous, man-like beings attack in full force, first in sporadic pouncings, then as groups. Given the piles of bones — both human and animal — it is understood that these things have inhabited the cave system for quite some time, though their perfect adaptability would suggest millions of largely undisturbed years. Still, they must return to the surface to forage for meat, which makes one wonder if they simply choose to live below ground. They appear to lack any real intelligence, but they are efficient, relentless killers, and for once, creatures that are more frightening than ridiculous, because they might have some symbolic quality beyond their primary role as tormentors. The bloody battles between the women and these beings are tough to follow, as they are hampered by the lighting, unstable camera, and frantic editing. The style adds a dimension of confusion, but makes the scenes more terrifyingly unpredictable. The soundtrack is a bit much at times, and it never ceases to anger me why more filmmakers don?t realize that silence is infinitely more disturbing than a wall of noise. And in a cave, well, it goes without saying that the drips and airless void hold more possibility that aural clues.
With the literal safely out of the way, let me add that my mind was racing with possibilities regarding a deeper level of meaning that I believed to be present. Fine, this might be pure wish-fulfillment, but if history is any guide, the horror genre is often the most courageous in terms of highlighting social issues, even if they are ?softened? by metaphor and allegory. As such, they can get away with much more than an obvious, Stanley Kramer-style picture that wears its concern on its sleeve. First, I entertained the idea that this was a feminist parable; that these women were, in their way, the last vestiges of ?the movement? (consider, they are independent, tough, and ballsy) and their descent into the cave — patriarchy defined — was the last noble act before masculinity rendered its final verdict. Perhaps. Next, I embraced the notion that the entire series of events existed in Sarah?s mind, and she ?murdered? each and every friend who she feels let her down after the accident (throughout, a few apologize for ?not being there for her?). The last, most brutal killing takes place at the end, as Sarah strikes Juno in the leg, ensuring that she will die in the cave with everyone else. Sarah?s act is motivated by her knowledge that Juno once had an affair with her late husband, although the clues for this are subtle and preciously few. But the betrayal is established, so we know that Sarah has cause — and an eye for revenge. The third option is that the previous theory, instead of being in Sarah?s mind, actually occurred, with the same motivation by Sarah once the adventure reached its end. Either way, the story becomes a repudiation of feminism, as it argues that women are their own worst enemies, and because they are disloyal, adulterous, and back-stabbing, it?s best that they kill each other and let men take care of their own interests.
There?s an equally interesting take, though it requires that viewers know of the original ending that appears to have been changed for nitwit American audiences (this film has been popular in the United Kingdom for a few years now). In the director?s cut, Sarah does not live through her trials, and dies in the cave like all of her friends. Her last thought is a hallucination of her dead daughter, forcing us to wonder if the monsters themselves were figments of increasingly fractured imaginations (after all, take heed of the character who warns the crew of the possibility of hallucinations in tight quarters). For us Yanks, we watch Sarah literally ?see the light? and break through the surface to freedom. She finds the car, drives like a banshee, and vomits out the window, immediately before Juno?s undead form appears in the seat next to her. Cue music and extreme close-up, and we?re done. So was
that
final shot an indication that everything was in her mind?s eye? Did she also die in the car accident and all this shit occurs in the moment before death? I wouldn?t go that far, as I?m confident the director was asking more of his audience, but here we have another puzzle that puts everything we?ve seen up for scrutiny. Did Sarah actually kill them all? And what about the fact that with her hair down and her entire face covered in blood, she is a dead ringer for
Carrie
, another outsider forced to deal harshly with those who pushed her too far? At this point, I?d even listen patiently to an argument that the ghouls are Nixon?s ?Silent Majority? (they are in cracker country and decidedly white), now reinvigorated, who have at long last been given clearance to take back the country from feminized liberals. But that?s what makes these kind of films so much fun. They may mean nothing at all (as unlikely as that is in this case), but they so carefully lay the groundwork to believe the exact opposite, that we?re fools not to give it a go.
This Appears To Be A New Mercenaries Game [Clips]
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Kas 26,2009
According to game site Bitmob, this trailer for Mercenaries Inc., a multiplayer going in in the Mercenaries franchise is a few months old, but actual.
The game has not been announced and is apparently being prepped at EA's Los Angeles studio. Mercenaries was previously developed by Pandemic Studios. There is no longer any Pandemic Studios. About two dozen or so former Pandemic developers, Bitmob reports, are working on the project at EA LA.
Mercs Inc. looks to be a "multiplayer sandbox game" — no word whether or not it has a single player campaign.
Leaked Video: Multiplayer Mercenaries Sequel [Bitmob]
Send an email to the author of this post at bashcraft@kotaku.com.
The Insider review
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Eyl 16,2009
You’d have to go second to 1976 and “All the President’s Men” to find a more gripping cinematic presentation of natural-life events than 1999’s “The Insider.” Of course, I realize the dangers of such a comparison. The earlier membrane was almost no less a subject than the toppling of an American President. “The Insider” is about a relatively brief evaluate on the “60 Minutes” telly scuttlebutt magazine, an interview that was only a small contribution to a mountain of evidence that eventually stacked up against the tobacco hustle. But the motion picture is not just there whistle blowing. It’s about idiosyncratic goodness and corporate responsibility. After all is said, it is the very personal account of two men’s war to maintain their credibility, a story of determination, concession, and heroism. It’s a human-interest story that plays like a slit anxiousness thriller. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Exact replica, it shouldn’t be missed.
The film stars Al Pacino as “60 Minutes” creator Lowell Bergman, who in the course of investigating some tobacco-related documents encounters Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, a moody former Vice President of Research and Development in support of the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company. Wigand, played by Russell Crowe, was fired for obscure reasons and told not in a million years to reveal anything he did or learned while working for the tobacco giant. Backing them up, Brown and Williamson be subjected to a signed confidentiality accord that seals Wigand’s lips under intimidation of legal conduct. But clearly Wigand has something conspicuous to say, and Bergman senses it. When Wigand seems willing to reveal a occasional things–strain the fact that all the tobacco companies lied answerable to expletive to Congress when they said they believed nicotine was non-addictive or that all the tobacco companies knew from the start they were in “the nicotine delivery concern,” manipulating the component to make it more formidable and addictive–Brown and Williamson take off a return tough.
The company bigwigs set up what appears to be a standard process of intimidation. Wigand feels he is being followed, his one’s nearest watched, and his dwelling-place prowled around. Then he receives anonymous phone calls, menacing e-mail messages, and a bullet in his mailbox. Finally, he faces a smear campaign designed to discredit his declaration. By the outshine of the affair, he has desperate his job, his wife, his kids, his house, and to an extent his reputation. But he however speaks up.
Nevertheless, this is not entirely a film with reference to a whistle blower, important as that may be. Bergman’s attempts to persuade Wigand to tell all he knows, at the hazard of solicitation and possibly confine, constitutes at best the senior half of the story. It’s the film’s second half that is equally compelling. It’s about the CBS network’s decision to censor their own news department’s question with Wigand. At all over the in unison a all the same the “60 Minutes” segment was to be aired in the mid nineties, troop brass were negotiating the sale of the network to Westinghouse Corporation. The form matter the network needed was for the deal to be hampered by the prospect of Brown and Williamson bringing a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against them. So, what happened? The network bosses told “60 Minutes” chief Don Hewitt (Philip Baker Hall) to instruct Bergman and veteran newsman Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) to cut down the Wigand piece. To Bergman’s fear, Wallace agreed to the network’s demand, leaving Bergman and Wigand at large to dry.
The movie is directed by Michael Mann, a fellow well versed in excitement thrillers, having made “Heat,” “Thief,” “Manhunter,” “The Food,” and their with. It was no easy duty attractive a situation we were ordinary with, which many of us had recently seen in Aristotelianism entelechy on “60 Minutes,” and making it up to date and unripe. Mann keeps things moving forward in a concrete, standoffish, direct, no-blather manner, highlighted by clear out, straightforward photography and a pounding musical score. Under his direction, Bergman and Wigand influence touched in the head as heroes. Brown and Williamson, like the other tobacco companies, are denounced as proper villains.
The Movie: Warner Brothers ha…
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Eyl 14,2009
The Movie:
Warner Brothers has reached back into their vaults and pulled out a
film that I’m a little surprised to see on Blu-ray: Viva Las Vegas.
It makes sense though. Even today Presley is a bankable commodity
and this 1964 vehicle is his best film. Filled with catchy songs,
beautiful scenery and the lovely Ann-Margret this movie may be short on
plot but it’s still a lot of fun to watch. The Blu-ray disc is wonderful
too, presenting the movie with brilliant colors and a lot of fine detail.
What’s more, there’s a great commentary and an interesting featurette included
too making this a great package.
Lucky Jackson (Elvis Presley) is a race car driver who has a car, but
no engine. Traveling to Vegas in order to register for the city’s
Grand Prix, he stops off in a casino and manages to win the money he needs
for a new high-powered motor. Though he was planning on heading back
to LA and working on his car, he catches sight of swimming instructor Rusty
Martin (Ann-Margret) and decides that he doesn’t need to go back quite
yet; he has a girl to woo. Losing the money, he takes a job at the
same hotel where Rusty works and starts to ply his charms. He has
competition however in the form of Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova),
a European racing star who has come to America to conquer its racing tracks,
and Rusty while he’s at it. Can Elvis win the race and the girl?
There
are a couple of reasons why this film is so much fun. One is the
fact that Ann-Margret and Presley had an incredible amount of screen chemistry.
There’s a sexual tension between the two that is so apparent you can almost
see it. Whenever those two are on the screen, which is most of the
time, it’s hard to look away.
The songs are also energetic and exuberant. The Elvis/Ann-Margret
duet, The Lady Loves Me, is funny and well done and The King’s version
of Yellow Rose of Texas/The Eyes of Texas, while an unlikely Elvis
song, is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Of course the best
song in the movie is the title song, a rocking tune that still has a lot
of appeal. The scene in the movie where he performs it is a rarity
too: it’s his only performance in a movie that was done all in one
take with no cuts from a single camera. Yes, he’s lip-synching, but
he’s a bit out of breath by the end of the number and starting to sweat.
It’s a very enjoyable scene made all the better since viewers can tell
he really did the whole song at one time.
The main reason that this film raises above the other 30 or so movies
that Presley made is the director George Sidney. He was responsible
for some quality musicals including Anchors Aweigh with Gene Kelly
(remembered for the dance number that Kelly does with Jerry Mouse from
Tom and Jerry), and, ironically, the film version of Bye Bye
Birdie. Sidney includes some interesting shots to make the movie
stand out. The scene where Lucky first meets Rusty is a great example.
Lucky and Elmo slide under the Count’s car to look at the engine.
The camera follows them down and then focuses on a pair of great legs approaching.
The two men push themselves under towards the legs and the camera follows
them in one smooth motion traveling beneath the auto. It’s a simple
scene, but it adds a dash of humor to the film along with some suspense.
I promise that every man watching the movie for the first time wanted to
see what was attached to those long, toned, legs.
The Blu-ray Disc:
Video:
This
film is presented with its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and looks absolutely
wonderful. The last time I saw this movie was on cable years ago,
and the difference couldn’t be more pronounced. The colors on this
Blu-ray disc are vivid and dazzling. The bright neon lights of the
Vegas strip at night are vibrant and colorful while still being individually
discernable. It’s a very colorful movie and the disc does a wonderful
job of reproducing every shade. The whites are solid without blooming
and the blacks are deep and dark but not crushed. Elvis is wearing
a bright red shirt at the beginning of the film and there isn’t a trace
of bleeding, something that happens often with that color. The desert
scenery is also lovingly reproduced during the race at the end. The
level of detail is also excellent with even the smallest lines being well
defined and tight.
On the digital side things also look good. There’s a very slight
amount of digital noise in a couple of scenes, and some edge enhancement
has been added here and there, but it was never distracting. Posterization
and aliasing are not a problem at all. This is a very impressive
looking BD.
Audio:
The disc comes with several English audio tracks: Dolby True HD
5.1, DD 5.1, and the original mono. In addition there are mono dubs
in Spanish and French. The multi-track elements are contemporary
creations but they sound wonderful. Warners did a great job with
the sound especially when you consider that this was recorded over 40 years
ago. The film has a full range with both the lows and highs sounding
natural and not artificially generated. While there wasn’t much use
made of the soundstage during the dialog scenes, when the music started
there the rears kicked in and did a good job of surrounding the viewer
with sound. Elvis’ voice was strong and clear, and the True HD track
did a great job of bringing the songs to life. There wasn’t any distortion
or dropouts, and while the movie can’t compete with a current release in
terms of exciting sound design, this disc did a great job of making the
film sound better than it ever had before.
Extras:
The movie also comes with a commentary track by Elvis in Hollywood author
Steve Pond. This is my favorite type of commentary track, one created
by a film historian. Pond does a great job relating behind the scenes
anecdotes, placing the movie in the context of Elvis’ career, and discussing
some of the rumors that were spread during the production. This is
informative and entertaining and well worth listening to. (Of course
getting Ann-Margret to share her recollections of the film would have been
wonderful, but you can’t have everything.)
There’s also a new featurette; Kingdom: Elvis in Vegas.
It runs a tad under 21 minutes and looks at the King’s relationship with
Vegas, a place that he played early in his career without much success.
Of course he set records there after his ‘68 Comeback special, and that
stage of his career is also examined. Finally there is a theatrical
trailer rounding out this nice package.
Final Thoughts:
I’ll be the first to admit that a lot of Elvis movies are pretty mediocre
but this isn’t one of them. While the plot is a little contrived
and the film ends rather abruptly, director George Sidney crafted a fine
film that’s full of energy and good music. The Blu-ray disc really
makes this movie shine too. The image is just beautiful and the sound
is very good. Added to that is a top-notch commentary by Elvis film
historian Steve Pond and an informative featurette about Elvis and his
relation with Vegas. Altogether this is a great package that gets
a strong recommendation.
Note: The images in this review are not from the Blu-ray disc and do
not necessarily represent the image quality on the disc.
Gallipoli (1981)
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Eyl 12,2009
Download Leave Short free mp3
More than 120,000 soldiers mystified their lives in the deadly Gallipoli contest in 1915. To capture the kindly spirit of the campaign inclusive of the endure of the soldiers, the film tells the story simultaneously from both sides, within the general structure of the battle. The film focuses on the diaries and letters of two British, three Green Zealand, three Australian and two Turkish soldiers, ordinary men forced by history to do extraordinary things. In addition to newly uncovered diaries, letters and photographs, the film incorporates interviews with international experts, on-spot landscapes, underwater and aerial photography, 3-D computer animations and sensational re-enactments of trenches and battles.
'The Edge of Love" …
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Eyl 8,2009
'The Edge of Love" is a "great poet" movie, the poet in this case being Dylan Thomas, and it's utter bollocks. How can you tell? The raffish, hard-drinkin' Thomas (Matthew Rhys) finally sits down to compose some verse (it's 1941's "Love in the Asylum") and the words stream out of his inner consciousness directly onto the soundtrack, the musical score surging orgasmically, the work issuing forth complete, each dactyl tucked neatly into place.
This is how art always happens in movies, but someday I'd like to see the real hard work of writing poetry: the procrastination, the dumb luck of inspiration, the coffee, the rewrites. The process is anything but pretty; thus the need in the first place.
"The Edge of Love" isn't really about poetry, though, or even Dylan Thomas, but about the two women who love him – his roistering wife Caitlin MacNamara (Sienna Miller) and friend with occasional benefits Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) – as they hash out a complicated sisterly bond during the worst days of World War II. Written with purple typewriter ribbon by playwright Sharman Macdonald (a.k.a. Knightley's mum) and very busily directed by John Maybury, it peddles the time-honored myth that poets make a lovely, worthwhile mess of everything they touch, and we're just here to marvel and clean up afterward.
The movie begins amid the horrors of the London Blitz, effectively shown as a time when the roof could crash down on your head at any moment. Thomas is writing scripts for government propaganda films ("Your talents really are wasted here, Dylan," someone says) when he reconnects with Phillips, a childhood love now singing standards to calm the crowds in fallout shelters.
They bond over all things Welsh as he scraps and shags and drinks with Caitlin, daring the two women to be friends and maybe more. Then Vera is diverted by a handsome, attentive army captain, William Killick (Cillian Murphy), whom the war and jealousy will eventually threaten to drive mad. "The Edge of Love" paints Thomas as a goatish satyr, manipulating lesser mortals and crowing, "I sleep with other women because I'm a poet, and poets feed off life!" Caitlin doesn't let him get away with that line, but the movie does.
Maybury tries to replicate the writer's dense thickets of verse with a dense visual style: mirrors and irises and kaleidoscopic refractions until you want to give the director of photography a good shake. It's a handsome movie and full of itself, and it might fool some people who only know Thomas as the fellow who wrote "Do not go gentle into that good night." Yet the filmmakers' insistence on beautiful players in picturesque squalor gives the game away. This one's for the tourists.
The acting suffices. Miller never believably inhabits the time period – she's still playing Edie Sedgwick in "Factory Girl" on some level – but Rhys is good, toadlike company as Thomas, and Murphy is at least easy on the eyes. Knightley is something more: The camera adores her, of course, but the Welsh accent (which sounds convincing enough to an American) frees the actress up to create a rich and unexpected portrait of a smart woman in way over her head. This may be Knightley's first truly mature performance. Too bad it arrives wrapped in doggerel.
Ty Burr can be reached at
tburr@globe.com
.
© Copyright 2009 Sphere Newspaper Public limited company.
Picture Perfect review
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Eyl 6,2009
I’m not real big on Bollywood, in large part because I’m not a fan of the musical. I’m just not enamored with narrative told through song. I’ve tried, believe me, bit it is just an aspect of cinema that just doesn’t suit me. But, I am in love with how over the history of Bollywood cinema, they still keep making musicals, how unwavering the public is in their desire for every film genre to have some song and dance. I’d also count myself as a fan of Amitabh Bachchan (aka. Big B), a huge Bollywood star in the 70’s and 80’s, I really like his action, tough guy films like Don. Every time TCM runs a monthly marathon of Bollywood films, I make sure to check them out. Unlike most of the films I review, I’m not a fan or self-styled expert of this particular genre of films. So, this review is a more outsiders view.
Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya aka. Picture Perfect (2000) is a Bollywood remake of the Jennifer Aniston 1997 romantic comedy of the same title. Being a cynical bastard with a taste for dark and/or abstract comedy, I avoid romantic comedies and almost any film with a Friend like the plague. So, the story was all new to me, but it was pretty easy to imagine how the film played originally and the cultural alterations the Bollywood folks used.
Poojah (Kirti Reddy) is a modern Bombay gal who works for an advertising agency. Her work life is a bit scattershot. Tardiness is a problem as well as credit for her ideas. Recognizing Poojah more for her lateness than her inspiration, her boss begrudgingly throws a three day weekend at her so she can attend a friends wedding. She goes to Agra for the wedding and literally catches the eye of the wedding photographer, Kabir (Aboshek Bachchan). Kabir is a bit of a local hero, a confident ladies man and scrapper, but despite his attempts to woo Poojah, her mind is only on work and her ideal man a more polished, wealthy sort than the country bred Kabir.
Leaving the lovelorn Kabir back in Agra, Poojah goes back to Bombay a whole day late. Her boss promptly decides to fire her, but Poojah is bailed out by her assistant Maggi, who, thanks to some playful photos of Poojah in the bridal chair, concocts a lie about Poojah having gotten engaged over the weekend.
Things complicate further when Poojah meets her boss’ son, Raj, a slick dude with Armani suits and a Mercedes. Raj meets Poojah dream image of the perfect man. Kabir also makes the trek to Bombay in order to profess his love to Poojah and ends up running smack dab into her boss. So, this sets up our little romantic triangle. Kabir has to pretend to by Poojah’s fiancee so her boss wont catch onto the lie. Kabir goes along with the ruse, all the while pining for the girl that doesn’t want him. They have to figure out a way to make Kabir look bad, publicly, in front of her boss, so that she can break off the engagement and set her sights on Raj. And, of course, we all know Kabir is the right guy for her, and that somehow, by the end, she’ll figure this out because that is the way a romantic comedy works.
I had to do some digging for any English language background info on the film. I found less than a handful of news blurbs and one review. The film did okay business in Bollywood but it wasnt exactly a breakthrough or a huge hit. The films leads are relative newcomers. Aboshek Bachchan is indeed the son of my man Big B/Amitabh Bachchan, so he has the unfortunate baggage of having to live up to a superstar father. He’s a tall kinda gangly guy. Though his role is that of a stud, he’s less macho than his father. He kinda looks like Ray Romano. He was better in the comedic scenes than the ass kicking ones. Kirti Reddy was also a newbie. While looking around, I kept finding the same negative reactions to her, suggesting that the Bollywood audience must have not accepted her as “lead” material, and I have to agree. There just wasn’t anything particularly engaging or charming about her. But, hey, doesn’t that make sense if she’s playing the remake part of a Jennifer Aniston film? Kirti Reddy is pretty, but is not very photogenic. In profile, her jaw looks like you could build a house on it, or a the very least stop flood waters from destroying a small town.
Light comedy. High romance. Some melodrama. But nothing really bold or striking. It is all pretty by the numbers. The bottom line in any romantic film is selling the characters and their connection. In Picture Perfect I didn’t buy it. I’m not sure why anyone would fall for Poojah, much less an assured, sensitive, though rough and tumble guy like Kabir. I haven’t seen a mismatch this bad since Mallory and Nick on Family Ties. Bottom line, they forgot to add any attractive qualities to the character and Poojah comes off as selfish, superficial, and materialistic. By the end, when Kabir is heartbroken and dealing with his unrequited love, it comes off as groundless and he looks like a stalker obsessed by some intangible we just cannot see.
I don’t think it is a great film, by any means, though it does have its moments. Of course, being Bollywood, though it is a sketchy romantic comedy, it still clocks in at a whopping, epic length two hours and thirty-seven minutes, thanks in large part to the eight musical dance numbers sprinkled throughout. One of the things I enjoy about Bollywood films is the randomness. For instance, Kabir has a fight scene thrown in early on, just to establish he’s a tough guy, likewise a comedic, rube-in-the-city gag when he comes to Bombay and doesn’t understand why the toilet attendant is following him around the bathroom. The same goes for a courting scene between Kabir and Poojah at the wedding. And of course, there is the stereotyped gay assistant, Maggi. It is so un-PC, you gotta, love it. I just wish the romance was believable.
Tremendous sequel to Whale’s o…
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Eyl 4,2009
Tremendous development to Whale’s own basic, with a agile prologue between Byron and Mary Shelley setting the scene for the revival of both Frankenstein and his monster. Thereafter Thesiger’s loony Dr Praetorius arrives on the furore, complete with miniaturised humans, and tries to persuade the good doctor to have another go at creating way of life, this time in the form of a female in Spain an eye to Karloff. What distinguishes the film is less its horror comfort, which is admittedly low, than the macabre humour and feel of parody. Strapping on atmosphere, Gothic sets and expressionist camerawork, it is – along with The Old Unfathomable Prostitution, Whale’s most perfectly realised talkie, a gratify from start to finish.
Beat (2000)
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Eyl 3,2009
“Where’s Charge?”
“Bill’s in Guatemala with, uh, his boyfriend.”
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The Feature:
72 minutes. If you take away the beginning and ending credits, there is only 72 minutes of movie here. Had this been a good movie, I would have found it completely unacceptable. But, because “Beat” happens to be painfully boring, I was overjoyed when the ending credits rolled in after 1:15 hours. Sorry if I’m getting ahead of myself, but I felt the need to vent here.
“Beat” is the story set in 1951 about famed writer William S. Burroughs (Kiefer Sutherland) and wife Joan (Courtney Love). Bill has run off with his boyfriend, who provides him sex in exchange for money. Lonely, and taking care of her children, Joan is visited by poet Allen Ginsberg (Jon Livingston) and his friend Lucien Carr (Norman Reedus). After a night of drinking, all three decide to take a trip to the country and seek out a volcano they read a newspaper article about. The story gets even more ridiculous as past indiscretions and predicaments mar their journey.
It’s a shame that “Beat” is a bad movie. The turns from present to flashback are very stylish, and overall, the acting isn’t bad. Hell, even Courtney Love does a pretty good job with what she’s been dealt with. Unfortunately, the script doesn’t allow for developed relationships between the characters; and feels very hollow when it’s all said and done.
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