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siddhartha-tripathi
Reviews
American Hustle (2013)
A wannabe Scorsese
it's a classic example of a movie pretending to be good when its actually mediocre The plot is childish and full of holes, characters are half baked and I didn't feel any chemistry between any one of them. This was as if they were trying to make a cult film (they had all the elements in place) but they had no idea how over simplified and dumb the plot was -- how could they have missed the only thing that could have been original in the film (which otherwise is a cut and paste Scorsese with a little help from Tarantino) is beyond me but they did. It was a colossal waste of acting talent -- they had Christian Bale (one of the best actors currently) and they had Jennifer Lawrence and they had Louis C.K. and they made THIS?
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Eternal Cineshine of a Mos Def mind...
Michel Gondry made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - an "art movie" starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. It was a wonderful film - a unique idea, good script and the chemistry that Carrey and Winslet shared on screen made it even more worthwhile (Gondry cast Jim Carrey in the role - I think that was a huge risk and he pulled it off). The best thing about the film though was this shot where Kate Winslet is sitting in a bus (or a train) - she's just sitting there looking ahead and I'm sitting in my tiny room in a poor third world country (that we're all so proud of) wearing boxer shorts and an old, torn vest.....looking at her. Stunned, mesmerized...reaching out for a pack of chips but statued midway. Goddess, that's what she is.
So with Be Kind Rewind, the first mistake that Gondry made was to not have Kate in the film. Forgive and forget, I said, and moved on past the casting. The film is unique (as expected) in its concept, its well acted, its funny and intelligent and dumb at the right places and the best thing about it is that it doesn't try to squeeze a tear out of your eye through the usual American route. Here's the story in a bad rhyme format -
Mos Def is an assistant at a VHS lending store Jack Black is his friend and has theories which are a big bore So one day Jack comes into the store all magnetized, I guess and destroys (magnetises) all the movie tapes, putting Mos in a big turdy mess So Mos and Jack, to avoid detection, start shooting movies people want to see They do all the acting and make versions not more than 20 minutes long, c'est la vie As expected, the "sweded" movies become a rage in the small town where they belong Then the usual blah blah happens and overall all ends well, strike the gong! Strike the gong!
Good stuff I say. Watch it!
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Falling in love with the movies....
IMDb's succinct plot description - A delusional young guy strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.
My poetic plot description -
One day in the midst of winters Pink sweatered Lars goes bonkers Living in a garage, lonely and sad Lars orders a sex doll, and what's worse
What's worse? (chorus here please)
Lars think she's his one true girl! The whole town is shaken and stirred So they elect the doll to the local school board And so the story goes, my friends and foes
There are two scenes in Lars and the Real Girl that make you fall in love with movies all over again. The first is the bowling alley scene with Margo and Lars - you can feel Lars' attraction for Margo and not a single word is said, its just shown by the way Lars looks at her and how he bowls badly in the beginning of the scene and how he tries really hard to bowl well at the end of it. How much thought would have gone into making this scene and how quickly would the audience miss it! The second scene is when Lars is talking to his brother Gus (wonderfully enacted by Paul Schneider)...here it goes (thanks to IMDb)
Lars: How'd you know? Gus: How'd I know what? Lars: That you were a man Gus: Ahhh. I couldn't tell ya. Lars: Was it... okay, was it sex? Gus: Um. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's uh, yeah, yeah it's kind of - it's uh - no. Well, it's kind of sex but it's not uh, you know? I don't know. I don't know. It's - uh - good question, good question. Lars: Yeah, but I have to know Gus: (dryer buzzes) Hold that thought. Gus: (in basement) You know, you should ask Dagmar Lars: I did ask Dagmar. And she said that I should ask you. Gus: Okay, you know I can only give you my opinion. Lars: That's what we want Gus: Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts. Lars: Okay, like what? Gus: Like, you know, like, you don't jerk people around, you know, and you don't cheat on your woman, and you take care of your family, you know, and you admit when you're wrong, or you try to, anyways. That's all I can think of, you know - it sound like it's easy and for some reason it's not.
Its true. That's when you know you're a man. Highly recommended but not for people who can't stand a slow, moody film.
The Big Heat (1953)
Exhilarating!
The casting is perfect. Glenn Ford as the upright cop has a boyishness, an innocence which is just right for the role..the sadness in his eyes, the purpose in his stride as he sets out to avenge the death of his wife..he maybe an actor with limited talent but this role was tailor-made for him. Gloria Grahame! She's out of this world...she was outstanding in In a Lonely Place and she's stunning here. Lang does a wonderful job of making the audience understand the characters motives and their past lives without spending too much time on it. In a fast paced movie like this, its hard to relate to the characters..to get emotionally linked to them but the way Gloria's character is brought out pure class. In one of the beginning scenes she's shown acting like a kid, drinking too much and making fun of Vince's (her boyfriend's) servitude to Lagana (the mob boss)..she hops around the hall singing a nursery rhyme. In a later scene, she tells Ford that she's been both poor and rich and rich is any day better even if it means being beaten up by her boyfriend once in a while. An innocent young girl who's seen a lot in life and feels the deal she's got - a rich boyfriend who can be abusive at times - is good enough - but still retains her innocence - she identifies with and gets attracted to a good man who's been wronged (Ford). Gloria's attraction to Ford's character is NOT "the dumb blonde likes tall, handsome male" stereotype.
What makes this movie even more amazing is that you can actually believe it could've happened. Lang doesn't make the mistake of making anyone the "superman" of the show. Ford's character is not shown as masterminding the downfall of the mafia. He's helped by unlikely friends..and some of them have their own motives too.
Fast paced, gripping, believable, twisted, bordering on Gothic and then rebounding to a cop revenge story and then changing again...this is a must watch for Film Noir fans!
Hak se wui: Yi woo wai kwai (2006)
Jimmy does a Tyler Durden....
On the surface the two Election movies are simple stories about the election of the Chairman of an organized crime syndicate in Hong Kong. The concerns of the lead characters are simple/primal - greed, power, money - all the expected elements and the predictable Hong Kong gangster cinema trademark - people sitting at a table drinking, eating and very casually suggesting that a lot of people are going to be dead by the time this flick gets over.
Johnnie To's trick is to play with the dichotomy of the characters, to flush them out in such a way that you find yourself projected in them. You'll find Jimmy (the lead who's contesting the election) trying hard to read the names of Mandarin dishes in a restaurant much to the amusement of his wife and the waiter, and the current Chairman Lok's concern about the bad company his school going son keeps. Normal. Thenn the very same characters would do anything to get what they want. You will see Jimmy hacking a Lok loyalist limb by limb while Lok simply pushes Uncle Teng down the stairs and smiles. Threatening and foreboding permeates the movie mainly because ordinary people you can identify with are capable of extremities which even they weren't aware of.
This is not a Tarantino flick - no one comes up with smart slang-ed retorts and refers to the Bible, you won't see blood and gore splattered on the screen and yet its more menacing, hideous and violent.