Movie: Dark Horse

This is the Movie is saw last night and some interesting facts are:

There are total losers walking the Earth, and then there is Abe (Jordan Gelber): fat, socially inept, possessed of an unhealthily negative attitude towards the world and living with his parents (Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow). He meets Miranda (Selma Blair), who just may be the perfect mate for this desperately lonely, unhappy soul, as she also never left home and is terminally depressed about her failed relationship and life.

Ah, how Todd Solondz loves the disenfranchised! In many ways, Abe is his ultimate creation, even ifDark Horse is a departure from the multi-character works which have made the director’s reputation. Abe’s very hopelessness fuels the movie, and it’s often puckishly amusing to see him completely slack off on the job (which he can do, as Daddy’s his boss), cadge cash from Mom, and go about his mind-numbing days, trying to return an action figure he’s bought for his collection to a snippy store clerk and rage against his more successful brother (Justin Bartha), a doctor, who is bewildered as all he’s ever tried to do is be there for him. His courtship of Miranda is so inept that it makes Ernest Borgnine’s Marty look like Charles Boyer at his suavest. Unfortunately, after a while, as his character shows no signs of development, we lose the fascination he holds for Solondz and the film becomes rather aimless.

There are any number of wryly amusing scenes to pass the time, however, and Solondz has been particularly well-served by a nicely chosen cast. Gelber is utterly convincing and the fact that you don’t entirely despise Abe and indeed almost root for him must be considered a major acting accomplishment. Blair is pretty terrific within the sad constraints of her role and delivers her defining credo with deadpan hilarity: “I gave up my dreams for a literary career, hope, independence. I should just get married and have children.”

Donna Murphy, who has truly sparkled on the Broadway stage in musicals, finally gets a juicy—if small—movie role to sink her choppers into, as Abe’s secretary who always, weirdly, has his back, and a colorful secret identity to boot. She brings some stylish wit to the proceedings which momentarily lifts it out of its calculated doldrums. Walken is—big surprise—weird as Abe’s father, while Farrow, after all those years with Woody Allen, has become quite expert at playing querulous, suffocating Jewish matrons. Aasif Mandvi brings some added verve as Miranda’s erstwhile boyfriend Makmoud, who may have given her hepatitis B. In Solondz’s world, the very mention of a disease like that registers as a punch line.

This weekend i saw a movie(Jannat 2), and here are some intersting things about that:

'Guns for a cause - Nothing illegal about it!' That is gun dealer Sonu Dilli's(Emraan.Hashmi) theory - If everyone in the world owned a gun, there'd be no war, only peace. He's as easy with his guns as with his gaalis, and like a self-proclaimed KKC (kutti, kameeni cheez), 'humps' a woman, ridiculously to the rhythm of 'ek rasta, do rahi ...' (climaxing to aha aha!). ACP Pratap (Randeep Hooda) is the always bloodshot, almost 'Devdas'esque cop, wallowing in grief at the loss of his wife, killed in one such shootout. This cop of 'caliber', has a personal agenda, he tracks down Sonu Dilli (forever with his pants down), and takes him under his wing as an informer who can expose the illegal gun racket, led by the deadly Mangal Singh Tomar (Manish Choudhary). In the meanwhile, Sonu is shot in the heart (by Cupid), and his ladylove Jaanvi (Esha Gupta) is a doctorni who believes he runs a shop called 'Kareena Cut Piss' (read: cutpiece). Sadly, it's not a 'bullet-proof' plan, all hell breaks loose, with everyone gunning for something, and Jannat seeming like a faraway destination.
Emraan plays Sonu Dilli with a brusque Haryanvi accent, which is forgotten halfway through the movie. He's impressive in intense scenes and panic moments, portraying conflicting emotions with aplomb. He's crass and cool at the same time, wooing the lady, kissing and making love - in true Hashmi style.
The man to watch is hot-gun Randeep Hooda. Explosive in this one. Brooding but brave, intoxicated but vigilant. In this angry young cop avatar, he stuns you with silent pain and frantic outbursts. The film almost rests in his able holster. In probably the best performance of his career, Randeep is 'bang on'.
Debutante Esha Gupta struts ravishingly at times, though expressionless; shoots off a few dialogues, romances Emraan in Sufi-ish songs, and kisses back passionately. Her role is essential to the plot, but is under-written and she is over-exposed (ahaan).
Manish Choudhary is as evil as he can get. More pungent than gunpowder, deadlier than his weapons. He's the baddie that we love to fear.
Director Kunal Deshmukh shoots off gritty action and gushy romance, combined in unequal proportions. The chase sequences give you a shot of adrenaline and the action is high-tension. Although random romantic moments and too many songs break the pace of the story (Shagufta Rafique). The climax is touching, but for a thriller, there are several predictable turns, minus the twists. The dialogues are crude, but suit the rawness of the film, and the actors use cuss words as liberally as their guns. The music (Pritam) is memorable, but only till the next Bhatt album release.
Jannat 2 is a decent crime caper, but doesn't shoot you between the eyes.

Movie: TITANIC 3D


I have been obsessed with both the actual story of the Titanic and the movie Titanic since the film premiered in December 1997.  Titanic‘s proof of success is that it reigned at the box office as the highest grossing film ever until, ironically, James Cameron’s Avatar beat its record in 2009.
The real question with the re-release of Titanic in 3D, as with most of these re-releases, then, is: should you pay to see it again in 3D?

In 1912, Titanic, aka “The Unsinkable Ship,” is about to set sail for her maiden voyage, and everyone is excited to board it; everyone except Rose Dewitt Bukater (Kate Winslet, Contagion), that is, who calls it a “slave ship” that will take her back to America and to a life of privilege with her fiance, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane, The Confidant). Meanwhile, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar) and his friend Fabrizio win a Third Class ticket onto the Titanic in a game of poker five minutes before the ship is to depart, and they run through the crowded English streets trying to catch the ship before it leaves. Rose ends up making Jack’s acquaintance in an unusual situation once on-board, and even Cal and his henchman (David Warner, Planet of the Apes) cannot tear them apart. The romance is tested, of course, when the ship hits an iceberg and it is revealed by the ship’s architect Mr. Andrews (Victor Garber, TV’s Alias) that Titanic will be at the bottom of the ocean within two hours.
The story starts out, however, with a crew led by Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton, Haywire) searching through the Titanic’s remains, for one specific artifact: the Heart of the Ocean necklace, rumored to be one of the most expensive diamonds in the world. They find an old safe in the remnants of what was Cal Hockley’s suite, and are excited, thinking that the necklace will be there – only to find nothing of value in the safe except for an old sketch. The twist, however, is that the woman in the sketch is wearing the necklace. Rose (Gloria Stuart, The Million Dollar Hotel), now almost 101 years old, sees an interview with Lovett and the drawing, and immediately places a phone
Even though Titanic weighs in at a lengthy 3 hours and 14 minutes, the film still manages to keep you captivated the entire time. This is probably due to the fact, among others, that it mixes many genres: there’s the classic rich girl/poor boy romance, the disaster movie theme, the fact that it’s based on a real event, and the dynamics between the rich (First Class) and poor (Third Class), and this is why, fifteen years later, it’s still able to fascinate us. James Cameron built an almost exact replica of the Titanic and was obsessed with historical accuracy, and these details really shine through in the movie; the love story is obviously fictional, but the rest of the movie is gorgeously historically accurate, down to the entrance to the First Class dining room to the staterooms and the ship itself. James Cameron decided that if he was going to make a movie about the Titanic, he would also use real footage from the wreck, as seen when a present-day Rose sees the footage on the computer screen. The acting, too, is phenomenal, and really boosted the careers of Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, two actors that are still very much in the public eye today; there’s also some nice acting by Frances Fisher (Sedona), playing Winslet’s mother, and Kathy Bates (TV’s Harry’s Law), in the role of Molly Brown, one of the only First Class people to still have a conscience, since she is from “new money.” The classical score by James Horner, too, is very subtle but overall manages to enhance the film.
As for the 3D, I was overall impressed with it, but it was a bit shaky in some parts, noticeably so when there was a close-up of a person or in scenes when Rose and/or Jack are running through crowds or the ship. The 3D is more of the type that brings you into the scenes themselves than the kind where things “pop out” at you, and this was really nice; I felt like I was actually on the Titanic, which of course was fantastic until the ship started to sink. This film definitely didn’t need the 3D to begin with, but it will most likely do well at the box office–people who haven’t seen it will want to, and those that have already seen it will want to see it again. Titanic is one of my favorite movies, though I only watch it every five years or so because of its runtime, and I am hoping that with this re-release, a new generation of moviegoers will be encouraged to see it.

Movie:Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Today i saw a movie(Ghost rider:Spirit of Vengeance). It's a nice movie and like it so that i want to share it with everyone.
 
 Nicolas Cage is back as Johnny Blaze in a sequel to 2007"s Marvel Comics Ghost Rider. Titled Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the movie is a non-stop thrill ride filled with fire and decayed flesh. But like the first Ghost Rider movie, this one also burns plenty of rubber around plot holes.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is a 3D superhero film based on the Marvel Comics antihero Ghost Rider. Nicolas cage's adrenaline-fuelled performance is the major attraction of the film. Stunning visuals and special effects are its other highlights. But except some redeeming qualities, the movie seems to be a bad-ass.

Johnny Blaze (Cage), a man who swapped his soul to save his father, is hiding out in Eastern Europe in a vain attempt to control the demon that takes over his life from time to time and turns him into a fiery, skeletal, motorcycle riding man-killer. A French priest (Idris Elba) comes looking for Johnny to enlist his help to save an adolescent boy, who has been kidnapped by devils. The devil (Ciaran Hinds) would like to teach own ways to the child (Fergus Riordan), who was fathered by the devil. The child has a good human mother (Violante Placido). But if the child is not saved from the bad guys, a new evil will be unleashed on the world.

David S Goyer penned script looks grim and ugly with many plot holes taking a ridiculous premise. The characters have been written thinly and the dialogues are very bad and terrific. Like the first Ghost Rider movie does not showcase effects good enough to make up for all its shortcomings. It may appeal to one particular camp.

Although the movie lacks the typical punch lines, Nicolas Cage makes sure that he keeps the legend going and he once again makes the good win over evil. In a nutshell, although Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance looks like one bad-ass, one cannot stop enjoying the stunning stunts of Cage.