Pineapple Express (2008)

Dale Denton is a 25 yrs old process server.  He witnesses the murder of an Asian by Ted and a corrupt female cop who is an accomplice to this. Dale had been smoking a weed called ‘Pineapple express’ in his car, when this murder occurred. In shock, he rushes away from the spot back to his weed supplier Saul.

Ted traces the whereabouts of the witness (Dale) using the weed and comes to know of Saul through the middleman Red. Now, Dale and Saul are on the run as Ted and co. are out to get them. Dale and Saul have their share of disagreements and bonding.

Dale’s high school hot girlfriend Angie and her family also get involved in this mess due to Dale who was supposed to join them for dinner on the day following the murder.

We also have the Asian mafia that is against Ted, which makes its presence towards the end as Dale, Saul and Red, somehow escape their way out and come out of the mess as thick friends.

Review

• It entertains at places while it becomes too much of slapstick humor at other places.
• The 3 lead men James Franco, Seth Rogen and Danny McBride, are mainly responsible for the laughs with their funny antics.
• While the men go about enjoying their weed and doing crazy things after getting stoned, it makes for good fun.

VERDICT

Watchable once for the 'stoned' antics and some harmless fun. 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

In San Francisco, Will Rodman is a scientist who is looking to find a gene therapy for Alzheimer's disease, at the Gen-Sys lab. All the research is done on apes. Bright Eyes is one such ape which gets injected with the drug ALZ-112 (which is a modified virus) but, gets killed unfortunately while protecting her baby. Will takes the baby chimp home and names it Caesar. Will also tries this drug on his ill dad but, not with long lasting results.

The drug is passed on to Caesar through his mother and he is hyper intelligent and much more capable than humans. He doesn't like to be treated as a mere pet. Beyond a point, he is not tolerated by the neighborhood and he is sent to a Primate Sanctuary where there are several other apes. They are cruelly treated.

Meanwhile, testing on a new drug ALZ-113 is under way at Gen-Sys, headed by Will. The chimp handler Franklin is killed by this virus which is fatal for humans but is very potent on chimps.

After a point, Caesar takes control there due to his obvious superiority and he also manages to get the new drug passed on to the other apes as well. Now, the apes go on a rampage led by Caesar. They go to the Gen-Sys lab and destroy everything. Finally, they move to the Redwoods State Park beyond the Golden Gate bridge and make it their home. They destroy whatever force that comes against them and also make sure that the greedy proprietor of Gen-Sys, Jacobs is killed.

The movie ends with the premise of a sequel as ALZ-113 spreads all over the world reducing human population and making the world truly a haven for apes.

Hits

• Amazing performance capture again, for the apes. Andy Serkis does the honors for Caesar. 
• The visual effects particularly in the final Golden Gate sequence when the apes go on a rampage, is very ambitious though it is very evident in few places. When Caesar flies from one place to the other and in the trees at Redwood as a young baby, it makes one emotional. 
• The music of Patrick Doyle is Hans Zimmer like. It adds to the edge-of-the-seat and thrilling action. 
• Movies on genetic drugs and viruses are always appealing. 

Comments

• The actual actors don't have much work. The handsome James Franco and the petite Freida Pinto make a very good pair. John Lithgow as Will's father is the only human with some scope for acting and he does very well. 

VERDICT

Typical blockbuster Hollywood action where apes are in a much higher league compared to humans. 

127 hours movie review

The Plot

It is a true life depiction of how avid mountain climber and adventure freak Aron Ralston, gets trapped in the Blue John Canyon for 127 hours.

He goes off without leaving a note and no one knows his whereabouts during these 127 hours. He initially frantically tries to set his arm free, but later realizes that it is not going to help and slowly he uses all his memories of his past, his family, friends, his lady love and he even hallucinates about a talk show where he has a conversation with himself and he really repents his state.

He finally does the unthinkable after surviving with bare minimum water, food and protection. He even drinks his own urine to survive. He cuts his arm off in a moment of sheer desperation to survive. He leaves the place in a rescue chopper after he finally finds help through some other fellow climbers.

The film is quite intense and might not suit the faint hearted.

                                                                         
Hits

• James Franco literally lives the role. We can feel the pain through him.
• A.R. Rahman provides some soul lifting BGM for the scenes when Aron is in the process of severing his arm and also in the final sequences when he shouts for help after escaping the canyon. Fills us with tears and goose bumps.
• The cinematography is imposing particularly in the sequence when the camera moves top angle to show us the extent of the depth of the crack that Aron is stuck in
• The dialogues are quite brilliant and emotional particularly the final dialogue by Aron after his escape “I need help. I need water. I got stuck in a crack. I cut my arm”. When complemented by ARR’s BGM, it is time to get overwhelmed by a swirl of emotions. 

VERDICT

Sheer triumph of the human spirit and the will to survive. Great cinema by Danny Boyle to bring to the silver screens the life of a great adventurer and survivor, Aron Ralston.  

Classic: Milk (2008)

What’s it about

This film is a real life docu-drama of Harvey Milk, America’s first openly gay, elected supervisor. Milk looks back in time and records all his life incidents on a tape that is meant to be played in the event of his assassination. All the incidents of his eventful life as a gay activist play out as the movie progresses.

               Harvey leaves his job as a businessman and runs away to San Francisco on the eve of his 40^th birthday, along with his newly found boyfriend Scott. They move to an area called Castro which is heavily populated by gays from all across America. They open a shop called Castro Cameras. Milk isn’t able to tolerate the atrocities that are committed against gays by the police. So, he unites all the gays and becomes a gay activist. He runs for the job of San Francisco board supervisor for many years and finally gets elected in a history making event.

               He has to fight against anti-gay people like Anita Bryant and John Briggs. He is particularly against a law that proposes to fire homosexual teachers in all schools and even the people who support homosexuals. Finally, Milk ensures that such a law isn’t put in motion, much to the elation of all his supporters.

              People like Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg are major pillars in Milk’s career as a gay supervisor in the San Francisco board. But, Milk has a troubled relationship with his boyfriends due to his high profile political career. 

             Another supervisor Dan White is jealous of Milk’s high profile public appearances and at the same time his incompetence compared to Milk’s charm.  So, White assassinates Milk and also Mayor Moscone who was strongly behind all of Milk’s actions. The movie ends with all of the LGBT community conducting a peaceful march in memory of their hero and also some information about what actually happened to the other main players in their respective real lives.

                                                                       

Hits

•  Sean Penn is an absolute natural as the gay Harvey Milk. The facial expressions, the hand gestures are all perfect. Another master-class from Penn
•  James Franco and Emile Hirsch as Scott and Cleve respectively, have adequate parts and they excel with their charm
• The appropriate usage of real footage is particularly impressive
• The narration style through the tape recording is awesome.
• Great painstaking research done by the entire team to recreate all the legendary real life characters and incidents.
• The intensely political scenes are very gripping

VERDICT

A real eye opener about such a huge gay movement with so many obstacles. Though scenes of 2 men kissing and making love were very shocking, their sheer passion to be their true-selves  and not hide in the closet, wins us over.