Title: No Country For Old Men
Cast: Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones
Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen
Plot: A hunter, an old sheriff and an assassin’s life cross path in the 80’s when a drug deal goes wrong and a cat ‘n mouse chase that follows it.
Bottomline : Absorbing!!
Great things are done simple. You don’t need a complex plot filled with zig-zag narrative, twist endings and multi-level plots to make great cinema. Great cinema can be made by just capturing exactly what happens in a story. Outright realism is what transpires into greatness on screen. And you can’t complain to the Coen brothers for doing just that.
‘No Country for Old Men’ in the hands of lesser mortals would have easily become one of those run-of –the-mill guns n’ thrills movie that we see every summer. But when such a plot as simple this fall into the hands of the not-so-less mortals, we see a movie where you are literally sitting there in the hall with your mouth wide open.
At the end of the movie, the average viewer is left in no doubt as to how a thriller has won four academy awards over some three hour long romantic drama movie. The treatment of the plot is absorbing at worst, its cant-take-your-eyes-off at best. The Coen's recurrent strains of fate and circumstances only add to the intrigue. You will never look at a coin toss the same way after you watch this movie. Nor will you look a bullet wound or a suitcase the same way after you see this one. Roger Deakins camera captures 80’s Texas to its fullest extent. Sound editing is another high point of the movie. Lack of background score adds to the intensity of the movie. This is one more after ‘I am Legend’ this year to have used silence as an integral part rather than a vague necessity.
Tommy Lee Jones’ portrayal as the fatigued, old sheriff under whose very eyes anarchy ensues, is very moving. He looks every inch an 80’s character and is an embodiment of the ‘tired’ tone of the movie. Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss, the hunter who becomes the hunted, is one character who hasn’t got much to do other than run and dodge bullets. His character is not a waste but rather a clog in the plot. But the real screen stealer is the sociopathic assassin, Anton Chigurh (Spanish actor Javier Bardem) sent out to recover the money lost in the deal. Cold, unassuming and heartless, his character breathes evil through every pore and represents the ideas of the movie.His character is through which the Coen brothers reach out to the audience. His dialogue delivery, voice modulation disturbs you. A sure-shot winner for the Oscars. A corker of a role!!! Hats Off…
Rating: 8.5/10 (Two Thumbs Up)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Atonement- AMAZING.... but Oscars???....
Title: Atonement
Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan.....
Director: Joe WrightCast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan.....
Story: Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's (Keira Knightley) lover (James McAvoy) of a crime he did not commit.
Bottomline: Could have been the "Gone with the wind" of our times...... It is painful to see a movie fall short of itself."What if" analysis aside, "Atonement" could have been a much better movie than it turns out to be at the end. You go to the cinema hall
expecting a sensitive take on Ian McEwan's much talked about novel of the same name. Instead
you get pretty much less than what you bargained for. Inadequate character development,
a running time that is thinner than Keira Knightley, inconsistent acting, crisp editing which is
uncalled for marks "The Atonement". The film's saving grace is the overall plot coupled with
some brilliant engineered sequences which are sure to go down as some the best scenes seen in
Hollywood recently. The film yet again marks the crisp directing skills of budding director Joe
Wright after his faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".
Film is basically the narration of two sisters and a man whose lives are ireevocably changed
when the younger sister, out of jealousy accuses the man (who is in love with the elder sister)
of a crime he did not commit. The movie is divided into three parts, each of them representing
childhood, teenage and old age of the younger sister. The first part is a well devised comment on
perception and reality. Saorise Ronan as Briony Tallis, an oddly matured child with a penchant
for writing disturbs you with her probing eyes. Keira Knightly impresses but she looks
as though she is from a concentration camp. Surely women in that age were not anorexically thin, were they? James McAvoy has a static role to play and impresses you.
I think you should watch "The Atonement" for only three things. Direction, direction and the third?? Yeah you got it wrong... cinematography. The Dunkirk evacuation sequence in the movie will go down as the one of the best tracking shots ever made. Five minutes of unedited footage in a camera that follows the protagonist's walk through this historic episode enthralls. Hats off!!
On the editing part of movie making, this is one film where the editing had to be in such a way
that there is enough time for the characters to develop. Instead a movie goer is put in a odd
position of concluding that the film was too short (usually its the other way around). True, the film is painfully short, a little over two hours. At the end you feel as though the movie
could have been easily 30-40 minutes longer.
Overall the movie could have been as popular and acclaimed as its book only if the screenplay had been a bit more fluid and a tad longer. Nonetheless its a movie to
watch out for but frankly I dont expect many oscars for this movie expect for the original score and Saorise Ronan's part.
My Rating: 7.5/10
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I am Legend- Not your deja vu horror movie
Title: I am legend
Cast: Will Smith, Will Smith, Will Smith and others....
Director: Francis Lawrence
Story: Robert Neville, a military scientist is the lone survivor of a disease that has wiped a whole world of people and changed many of them into blood thirsty creatures. He races against time to find a cure to this disease.
Bottomline: Heralding a new variant of horror movies.
"I am legend" could have easily have been a typical zombie-ridden horror movies with a lot of blood and gore thrown in, on the lines of movies like the "Resident Evil". But surprisingly it turns out to be a much more realistic and sensitive story, contrary to what it seems to offer to viewers. So if you are expecting (or hoping) to see Will Smith wielding 4 feet long guns and blasting zombies to smithereens, then you would better tear up that movie ticket in your hands. On the other hand, if you are willing put on your brains to watch this movie, you might be pleasantly surprised and impressed by the innovative treatment of this genre, which is more sensitive and less in-your- face action.
The movie is about the daily life of a military scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith), who is the lone survivor of a pandemic on earth. The movie chronicles his struggle to find a cure for this disease and save the world. He also has to save himself from blood-thirsty, nocturnal creatures that this disease has created out of humans.
Essentially a semi-horror plot, but this movie has a heart in it in the form of Will Smith who lends immense credibility to his part and the plot. It is a movie which revolves around him and only him. The actor has single-handedly carried this movie on his shoulders. Emoting alone is never easy, but Smith impresses. His role draws a fine line between sanity and insanity without overindulging in both. The scene where he goes in search of his dog in a dark building filled with zombies has to be appreciated for both its sound editing and Smith’s impeccable handling of the scene. Listen to Smith’s breathing in that scene and how he calls for his dog. A brilliant and memorable sequence!!
Minimum use of dialogues, absence of background score, importance given in many scenes to silence are some contextual high points in this movie. However, the technical aspects especially the CGI employed for the zombies are a let-down. The “virtual zombies” seem hell-bent on disobeying all laws of physics and believability to their roles. The director could have used actors with prosthetic make-up with better results in this regard. If he thought actors wouldn’t have been believable enough, he better watch a screening of the LOTR series in which Peter Jackson used prosthetic make-up on actors portraying as orcs with great results.
HK’s Verdict: Personally a very good movie. But for people going to theatres with preconceived notions, you have been warned. An empty New York is a sight to behold in this movie. How many times do you go to cinema and end up looking at a desolate NYC?
Rating: 7.5/10(Hollywood Standard)
Cast: Will Smith, Will Smith, Will Smith and others....
Director: Francis Lawrence
Story: Robert Neville, a military scientist is the lone survivor of a disease that has wiped a whole world of people and changed many of them into blood thirsty creatures. He races against time to find a cure to this disease.
Bottomline: Heralding a new variant of horror movies.
"I am legend" could have easily have been a typical zombie-ridden horror movies with a lot of blood and gore thrown in, on the lines of movies like the "Resident Evil". But surprisingly it turns out to be a much more realistic and sensitive story, contrary to what it seems to offer to viewers. So if you are expecting (or hoping) to see Will Smith wielding 4 feet long guns and blasting zombies to smithereens, then you would better tear up that movie ticket in your hands. On the other hand, if you are willing put on your brains to watch this movie, you might be pleasantly surprised and impressed by the innovative treatment of this genre, which is more sensitive and less in-your- face action.
The movie is about the daily life of a military scientist Robert Neville (Will Smith), who is the lone survivor of a pandemic on earth. The movie chronicles his struggle to find a cure for this disease and save the world. He also has to save himself from blood-thirsty, nocturnal creatures that this disease has created out of humans.
Essentially a semi-horror plot, but this movie has a heart in it in the form of Will Smith who lends immense credibility to his part and the plot. It is a movie which revolves around him and only him. The actor has single-handedly carried this movie on his shoulders. Emoting alone is never easy, but Smith impresses. His role draws a fine line between sanity and insanity without overindulging in both. The scene where he goes in search of his dog in a dark building filled with zombies has to be appreciated for both its sound editing and Smith’s impeccable handling of the scene. Listen to Smith’s breathing in that scene and how he calls for his dog. A brilliant and memorable sequence!!
Minimum use of dialogues, absence of background score, importance given in many scenes to silence are some contextual high points in this movie. However, the technical aspects especially the CGI employed for the zombies are a let-down. The “virtual zombies” seem hell-bent on disobeying all laws of physics and believability to their roles. The director could have used actors with prosthetic make-up with better results in this regard. If he thought actors wouldn’t have been believable enough, he better watch a screening of the LOTR series in which Peter Jackson used prosthetic make-up on actors portraying as orcs with great results.
HK’s Verdict: Personally a very good movie. But for people going to theatres with preconceived notions, you have been warned. An empty New York is a sight to behold in this movie. How many times do you go to cinema and end up looking at a desolate NYC?
Rating: 7.5/10(Hollywood Standard)
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