Classic Revisited in 3D: Titanic (1997)

The 3D version of this true magnum opus was just an excuse to check it out at the theaters. Of course, the prospect of seeing some intense romantic scenes and a tastefully done nude scene on the big screen, also played a part in my decision to check out James Cameroon's 1997 epic. I wasn't taken to the theater when Titanic released first, as I was not even 11 then.

Today, the movie made me emotional with its absolutely magical BG score by James Horner, which haunts and gives you an indisputable high. Goose bumps whenever the main theme played in the background. Actually sat till the end credits rolled out completely. Such was the charm that the two 'James' wielded with this classic.

The greatest ship made by man, the ship of dreams sets sail from Southampton to New York city on her maiden voyage. Due to an iceberg, the lower floors are first flooded and as time progresses, the entire ship is flooded and finally the entire ship breaks into two and crashes into the ocean floor. A diamond necklace called the "Heart of the Ocean" plays a main role in the state of affairs.

LDC and Kate Winslet weren't big stars then. But now they are stratospheric. Leo is so naive, raw and he fits the bill perfectly as the low-society Jack who floors Rose with his absolute love and honesty. Kate as Rose bowls you over with her passionate love particularly in the final scene when she screams at a dying Jack "Come back, Come back" and the scene when she jumps back into the ship from the life boat, just to be with her man. The scenes when Jack and Rose run around in a drowning ship show their magical true-to-life romantic chemistry. Among the best romances in cinema history though it is a typical poor guy meets suppressed rich girl story. The villain in the story is the typical rich man who is engaged to Rose and he loathes Jack to the core. This rich man's moves and characterization are stereotypical.

The 3D effects are subtle and there are no gimmicks. Titanic was magnificent without the added dimension, itself. The production of the movie is mammoth with gallons of water being used. The number of actors used and the way they have been managed is a lesson for any production crew. The way the Titanic has been recreated and the VFX scenes during the final collapsing of the ship are mind-blowing. That said, the ice berg was pretty lame.

James Cameroon makes sure that the human element and emotions connect big time with the audience unlike say the disaster movie specialist Roland Emmerich whose films just make you clap hands but, never move you to tears. Samples - the musicians on the ship who play till the ship is about to collapse, the guards who operate the life boats and their dilemma whether to send more people into the life boat, the ship's captain and the maker's emotional connect with the ship etc. etc.

Made at a budget of 200million USD, the box-office collections are fast approaching 2billion USD. Only Avatar is ahead but by sheer number of tickets sold, Titanic is the biggest blockbuster of all time. 14 Oscar nominations and 11 Oscars are the mere icing on the cake.

VERDICT: Magnum opus in every sense of the word. Experience the magic again in a nearby theater to commemorate the centenary of the tragedy.   

Classic Revisited: Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

An entire family is forced to go on a road trip for the sake of the youngest in the family, little Olive, in her quest to be crowned "Little Miss Sunshine". They travel around 800 miles in their broken down bus and finally make it. This trip is life changing in many ways. A real roller-coaster.

Each of the family members has some USP which makes the character make a deep impact - kid Olive is mad about being a beauty queen, uncle Frank survives a suicide attempt and he is a homo, young Dwayne is on a vow of silence till he gets into flight school, grandpa Edwin is a loud mouth who doesn't mince words even before the kids in the family, father Richard loves winning and he tries to sell his 9 steps to success & mother Sheryl is caught between these characters

When the family finally makes it and Olive gets on stage for her talent round, all hell breaks loose as Olive dedicates her performance to her Grandpa. This act epitomizes everything that the old man stood for - typically loud and no holds barred. It brings the family together. There are small pearls of life lessons thrown in through the dialogs.

The soundtrack of the movie is among the best ever. It mellows you down. There is ample drama in the movie but, the sentimental strands are the highlights. Alan Arkin deservingly won the Oscar for his performance as Edwin. Such a superb and striking cameo. Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collete, Abigail Breslin and Paul Dano have put their heart and soul into the movie as well. Each of them make a mark in one scene or the other. Perfect synergy between the cast.

The movie has been directed by an husband-wife duo and was made on a shoe-string budget of a mere 8 million USD. Perfect example of 'content being king'.

VERDICT: All time classic, with ample doses of comedy, sentiment and lessons for life.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Mikael Blomkvist is the co-owner of Millenium magazine and he has just lost a libel case brought against him by a high profile businessman Wennerstrom. The lack of sufficient evidence is his undoing. A big shot Swedish business magnate Henrik Vanger wants Mikael for a job related to a girl (Harriet) missing from his family for the past 40 years. Henrik assures Mikael that he will be helped in nailing Wennerstrom in return for this favor.

Lisbeth Salander is a researcher and expert computer hacker. She does the initial background check on Mikael and later joins him in his work. Lisbeth is a 23 yrs old ward of the state. She has a weird hair style, a dragon tattoo, lot of piercings, doesn't trust men, is subjected to bad sexual abuse and has socializing problems.

As the investigation proceeds, Lisbeth starts falling in love with Mikael, who has a teenage child as well. Mikael also has a sexual relationship with his partner at the Millenium magazine.

Lot of dirty secrets are revealed about the Vanger family. There were a lot of serial killing of women based on biblical phrases. These murders are uncovered by Mikael and Lisbeth. The truth behind Harriet and the serial killer is known towards the end. Mikael also nails Wennerstrom in the end. This time with adequate proof thanks to Lisbeth's timely help in this. In the end, Lisbeth rides away after she finds that her love won't be reciprocated.

The mood and treatment of this thriller is very similar to Fincher's 1995 classic 'Se7en'. That was based on the seven deadly sins whereas this is based on biblical phrases. Both are serial killer mysteries. But 'Se7en' was in a different league.

This movie has a sleep walking Daniel Craig who is hardly impressive, personally speaking. Rooney Mara's characterization must rank among the most daring and weird. Very bold makeover. The way she rides the bike is super-cool. The investigation scenes are interesting as expected.

There are some explicit sex scenes and a graphic rape scene. The BG score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross has a 'Social Network' hangover but, is terrific for the mood of the movie. The locations in the movie make us feel cold too. Good production design.

Very aptly titled because it is the girl with the dragon tattoo who takes this movie to the winning post.

VERDICT: A decent serial killer thriller thanks to Rooney Mara. Expected something more and new from Fincher though. 

Housefull 2 movie review

Another Akshay Kumar multi-starrer comic caper has released and it is by the same director who gave us the 2010 hit ‘Housefull’. Sajid Nadiadwala has produced this movie and it has music by Sajid-Wajid. Almost entirely shot in London, ‘Housefull 2’ has kick started the lineup of big budgeted Hindi releases for this summer. It has taken on the IPL bravely. The plot which is heavily inspired by Crazy Mohan and Kamal’s brand of comedy goes like this

2 step brothers (Daboo and Chintu) are always at loggerheads with each other. While Daboo calls his family, Kapoor and son, Chintu calls his family, Kapoor and ‘real’ son. Such is the level of their nonsensical rivalry.

Their wives and daughters (Bobby and Henna) can’t stand one another too. The only goal of these 2 brothers is to get their daughters married to the son of the richest man in London, which happens to be JD, a former dacoit. Jolly is his only son who is pretty scared about his uptight father. Jolly is in love with J Lo. 2 useless loafers, Sunny and Max are lured into this comedy of errors and mistaken identities & both of them are paid to act as Jolly. While Sunny goes to Chintu’s house and woos Henna, Max goes to Daboo’s house and woos Bobby.

This drama is initiated by Jai who wants to get even with Chintu for his father’s ill health. Jai is in love with Parul.

In the climax, all the people who were merely behind money reform and all is well, according to typical Indian cinema rules. There is some stupid drama in the climax which tests our patience. The jokes work at places while at other places they are downright silly. The episodes at the island are entertaining while the scenes with the crocodile and snake are absurd to say the least.

Chunki Pandey as the marriage broker and Johnny Lever as JD’s assistant add value to the movie with their silly laugh-cracks. The veterans Rishi, Randhir, Mithun and Boman play their requisite parts which require them to be loud. John Abraham tries too hard to succeed at comedy. Shreyas and Ritesh don’t have the screen presence and they also try too hard like John. Akshay is a riot and he is a past master at such comic roles. His one liner “kyuu takrei” and his “eeeii” gesture are his USPs in this movie.

The girls are all hot and look picture-perfect. Asin looks super chic and has really spiced up her clothes with her generous necklines, micro-minis and hot pants. The other 3 girls, Shazahn, Jacqueline and Zarine, have even more miniscule roles but look good as expected. 

3 of the songs are real winners – ‘Anarkali’ featuring the ever-hot Malaika, ‘Papa Toh’ and ‘Right Now’. The girls make sure all the songs aren’t just mere excuses to go out for a smoke. The frames are picture perfect like all big budgeted Hindi films. No compromise on the production values.

The single screen audiences will really love this one while the multiplex counters should also keep buzzing over the next week or so. Akshay Kumar can bank on this one for a hit after a pretty lean patch.

VERDICT: Leave your brains at home for some mad fun which is silly yet entertaining too.

Classic Revisited: Fistful of Dollars (1964)

An American cowboy (Joe or "The Man with No Name") wanders around into a town called San Miguel. This town is deserted and the only two people who have a job are the bell-ringer and the coffin maker. Silvanito gives him shelter and tells him about the bitter rivalry between two rival clans in the town, the Baxters and the Rojos. The Rojos, led by Ramon are the more powerful.

Joe decides to two-time these 2 gangs and succeeds in causing more tensions between the 2 gangs. He gets caught by the Rojos when he decides to help Marisol (Ramon's secret mistress, who is married and has a small kid). He escapes, makes one last comeback and vanquishes the Rojos after the Baxters are wiped out by the Rojos when Joe escapes.

The film runs purely on the star power of Clint Eastwood with his nonchalance, lazy yet macho mannerisms and elegant style. It is a fairly simple story but very fresh if we consider the fact that this movie came 48 years back.

This is the first movie in the Dollars trilogy made by Sergio Leone with Clint in the lead. It has a super catchy, haunting and cheeky soundtrack by the master, Ennio Morricone. The shots with the characters riding their galloping horses in vast dry lands are a delight to the eyes. The gun shots sound simply awesome.

VERDICT: A pioneering movie that kick-started the spaghetti-western genre and made Clint Eastwood a demi-god. 

Dookudu (2011)

My first Telugu movie and I chose to see it for Mahesh Babu alone. I was impressed by his style and the hype that he has among Telugu movie watchers. Superstar Mahesh as the title proudly proclaims and I must say this man has amazing screen presence, solid dialog delivery, decent dancing skills, good emotive skills and above all he is a superstar without a shade of a doubt.

In Dookudu he is a cop (Ajay) and while he is not busy plotting the baddies' downfall as an undercover cop, he takes care of his father (Shankar Narayana) who has just recovered from a coma. At some other times, he woos the girl he covets. There are adequate doses of drama and staged comedy. The main plot diverts quite often. When the baddies are the very same people who were responsible for backstabbing his father, it becomes more convenient for our hero. He uses brawn, lots of staged comic drama and of course some pure star power to overthrow the baddies led by Nayak.

There are some nice songs by Thaman. The movie is pretty long at close to 3 hours but Mahesh Babu holds the movie together. There is no crass comedy or skin show. It is a pretty decent movie for commercial standards. But, the action scenes are absurd. They have taken too much cinematic liberty.

Sonu Sood plays the typical Indian commercial movie villain. There are other villains too like Sayaji Shinde. Brahmanandam tries to make us laugh with his trademark style. Prakash Raj has a larger than life 'messiah' like role

On the whole, a wholesome treat for Mahesh Babu fans as we get to see him as a mass hero, a police officer, a politician, the entertainer etc. all in one movie. His punch dialogs were a rage, thanks to the subtitles, I was able to enjoy them as much as a Telugu speaking watcher.

VERDICT: Proper masala entertainer. Mahesh Babu carries the movie to the winning post. 

London, Paris, New York (2012)

A nice short & sweet romance on the lines of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. The treatment is typically multiplex-centric and it is pretty sad that the movie didn't find acceptance among the target group.

Boy (Nikhil) meets girl (Lalitha), falls in love at first sight, girl also reciprocates etc. etc. But, the thing is it all starts during a single day together at London. Sparks fly but, they have to part ways and get on with their lives. The boy doesn't make it to New York as he had promised when they part ways. They later meet in Paris, revive the sparks but, in a moment of immature foolishness Lalitha loses her mind and they part ways yet again. Finally, New York is the scene of action and this time Nikhil nails her just as she is about to get married. All is well that ends well.

Ali Zafar overacts during the light scenes as he tries too hard to be cool. But, he rocks in the emotional scene in the climax. Aditi Rao Hydari is the best around now. My God, what a woman. Such big, vulnerable eyes. It freaks you out. These two can sing as well. Ali has in fact composed the music and written the lyrics as well. The songs are awesome, each one of them.

The production is rich and glossy, on the whole. Nice locations as the title so obviously proclaims. Can't fathom the x-factor that prevented this movie from succeeding.

VERDICT: A sad case of a well made romance failing to please the target audience.