Water

Albeit the controversies that hogged it and the media attention that it received, Deepa Mehta has still managed to come up with a winner. A touching movie dating back to 1938, the focus - Widow remarriage. It looks closely at the atrocities that the society inflicted on the widows. The little 7 yr old widow, the older Seema Biswas and Lisa Ray have each done justice to their roles.
The little girl, 7 yr old "Chuhiya" (fondly "little mouse) is married off at a young age, when she just attains puberty, to an older man, who is shown as passing away shortly. The parents then take her off to a Widows home (quite like an Old Age home), and she is left among other widows (age ranging from ~20s to late 80s). The castigation that follows is worse than death; a lonely life of self denial. The story turns around when Gandhi gets out of prison and is shown propagating "The Harijan Concept". Narayan (played byJohn Abraham), a nationalist, staunch believer of the Gandhian and Raja Mohan Roy philosophies, decides to marry a widow but is unable to since she commits suicide. Soon after the death of this young widow, Seema Biswas (shown as a more mature, compassionate older widow) decides to send Chuhiya off with Narayan to join the Gandhians.....just ensuring that she is safe from the evil clutches of the society which looks down at the widows with disdain.
When little Chuhiya enters the Widows home, her question about "where the male widows live" moves all.
A well made movie!

Casino Royale

After Sean Connery, George Lazenby , Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan; Daniel Craig comes across as yet another avatar of Bond. With every era the series seems to be belong to a different genre. While Sean Connery had what it takes to portray 007, I did not think much of the others until Pierce came along. He had none of the crass, roughened approach that is so characteristic of the earlier Bonds. He was the suave gentleman or Remington Steele who made every woman's heart skip a beat. Daniel Craig is definitely a toughened soul, but adds very little to the "lady's man" label that 007 usually portrays.

I read a little while ago that the director Martin Campbell had a plan of showing Madame M as a lesbian (keeping with the times?!), but Mr. Craig was dead against it, could be because of the bond that James shared with Madame M. Also given that this is the first book by Ian Flemming, it may not have gone down too well with the audience.

Casino Royale is based in MonteNegro and has millions of dollars exchanging hands. Bond's first mission is to ensure that the banker does not win the million dollar prize money and use it to fund terrorism. The movie has Bond falling in love and seen treating women as "meaningful pursuits" rather than "disposable pleasures".

The movie is the usual Bond fare, with predictable Madame M, no Q (did Ian Fleming not have this character in his first book, I wonder!).

It took me a while to get used to new Mr.Bond, James Bond :)

The Departed

It's been rated "outstanding" by some reviewers. I would give it a "very good"
The title of the movie says it all "The Departed". For the sake of some fun...let me tell you that everyone dies at the end ;)
A multistarrer with Jack Nicholson as Francis Costello - The Goon, Matt Damon (a cop who is attached to the Costello gang), Leo (d Caprio) (as the police informer who has found place in the Costello Gang), Sr.Sheen and Mark Wahlberg as the only 2 top cops who know that the police dept has planted Leo- the police informer in the Costello gang to seek out clues and evidence to catch Francis Costello red-handed! Alec Baldwin is seen throwing his "weight around", very literally, as the top cop! favouring Matt Damon as his blue eyed boy. The movie is inspired from Hongkong movie which supposedly has a little less blood shed.

The good part is that it kept me completely engrossed. My heart reached out to Leo :)

Hotel Rwanda

An insightful and touching movie about the civil strife in South Africa. The war between the Tutsis and Huttus. The key protagonist is the manager of Hotel Rwanda (who belongs to the Huttu sect), his wife (who belongs to the Tutsi sect) and their 3 children. The whole town is in a blaze, while the Manager provides refuge to the refugees, largely Tutsis since the news outbreak that the Tutsi rebels have killed the Huttu President who was trying to bring about peace between the 2 sects. At Hotel Rwanda, life is not easy, with no intervention from the Americas or Europe to bring about peace in the state. Instead there is a small batch of UN peace keepers who is working hard to prevent any more casualities.
This one is definitely worth a deko, since it takes a close look at corruption & inequalities withint the black state indifference on part of the White world who consider the South Africans a class below the negres!
A case in point to prove how internal differences donot allow the underdeveloped countries to progress.

Loves me, loves me not

I would think Audrey Tautou loves hallucinating, first in Amelie and then here! They sure did not spend much money making this movie. The first half is simply an edited version of the second. The story is about this young woman, Audrey Tautou, a budding artist by profession,who is completely in love with this cardiologist. He happens to be the neighbour of the home that she is working as a concierge. However time and again she is let down by this cardio doc. Why ? Watch it. If you thought Amelie and Run lola run were good movies, then you may just like this one.
And yes, watch it only if you dont mind "reading" a movie. It's a french movie with english subtitles.

The Wedding Date

A typical M&B tale. Debra Messing separates with her longtime boyfriend, well HE brings about the break-up. She still does not know why. Her sister played by Amy Adams, is getting married shortly and Debra needs to be there at the wedding as her brides maid. To prevent people from not feeling bad for her (break-up) she decides to hire a boyfriend, none other than Dermot Mulroney (who has previously been seen in My best friend's wedding and Must Love Dogs). Everyone in the family just loves him (the hunk that he is!), and what happens next is anybody's guess.
Watch it when you feel Mills & Boonish :)

Derailed

I would give this one a 4 on 5. A movie with a great twist !
The story begins with a young girl suffering from type 1 diabetes, on kidney dialysis, and her folks working hard to make sure they can afford the treatment the kid deserves. The father, Clive Owen, who plays Charles Schine, a commercial executive working with an advertising firm gets involved with Lucinda Harris, played by Jennifer Aniston, who works at a Financial org. She too is married to a stock broker, and has a kid.. The story takes an ugly turn when the two get blackmailed as they don't divulge their affair to their respective spouse. What happens next ? Although I am tempted to tell, it would really leave the movie insipid.
Watch it and let me know if you agree.

Open Water

Directed by Chris Kentis the gripping thriller Open Water, is based on a true story. Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) are a married couple, so busy that they dont get time for vacations, easily. When they finally manage some holidays together they end up on an island vacation, since at such short notice no other holiday is doable. They board a vessel called the Reef Explorer with a group of other scuba divers, traveling 15 miles out to sea. Since they are certified to dive in open waters, the couple breaks off from the group to go exploring. The Reef Explorer accidentally leaves without a proper head count, leaving them stranded in shark-infested waters. Kentis and producer wife Laura Lau did all the filming themselves in the actual ocean without extraneous special effects, while the actors wore special steel-mesh under their wetsuits in the scenes where actual sharks were involved. Open Water was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum competition.
....do they survive ? While the husband gets attacked by the sharks, and finally gives in, the wife continues to stay adrift till she selects her end "submerge (in the waters) or submit(to the sharks)". She chooses to let go and submerge.

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

Poor Karan (Johar) received a lot of flak from his loyal audience. How could someone who has always made movies about family values, being together...etc, actually propagate any ema (extra-marital affair)
I beg to differ. Infact this, I thought, was one of his better movies, which called a spade a spade. A maturely handled ema. His mistake - how could he bring out in the open, a well practiced social taboo in the country. Is he nuts?!

The 2 most touching and unforgettable moments in the movie were, one, the old aging, winning horse, of Bollywood cinema lying helplessly on this death bed while delivering the dialogue "Mohabbat aur mauth, yeh dono hi bin bulaye mehmaan hain". Those soulful eyes convey every bit of emotion followed by "tum ussey chod do, kyonki tum ussey pyar nahin karti, aur tum ussey kisi aur ke pyar se door kar rahe ho"......how true!

The other, was when the betraying pair tell their respective spouse of their love interest. Their mates handle it in the most mature manner....no family drama or commotion (a la balaji telefilms). They accept it and move on. They are not shown as "demi Gods!"....nor are they shown as emotional wrecks.

A well told tale which says - "Live a relationship.....don't just survive it"

Calvin and Hobbes

My favourite cartoon strip - Calvin & Hobbes

The first comic strip by Bill Watterson was picked by Universal Press Syndicate in 1985. Bill was earlier a political cartoonist and also designed ads for a weekly shopper. He developed comic strips working after hours and on weekends. Calvin and Hobbes ran in over 2400 newspapers. The last strip was written in 1995, after which they have only been republished.
Interestingly Calvin never turns old (he has always been 6!), his parents have no names. Bill named Calvin after the 16th century Protestant theologian and Hobbes was named after the 17th century philosopher who once observed "life is nasty, brutish and short"
The only 2 kids in this strip in addition to Calvin (ofcourse), are Susie (the woman brigade) and Moe (the bully)
In 1995 Watterson drew one final cartoon and let a boy and his tiger take off downhill on their snow sled and slide into comics history.

Movie reviews

Special thanks to www.clixflix.com

For those ignorant of this wonderful site, it is an online library of movies. They offer various membership plans. To get membership to this library, simply visit the site, and all else is self explanatory.
In this life and times, when one is not necessarily living in the heart of the city, it does help to have access to some goodies read dvds. Clixflix allows one to simply pay a nominal fee and register oneself after which one can decide which movies one wants to view and they deliver it to ones doorstep.

This service is readily available in Mumbai, while I am not quite sure of other cities in the country. But shortly our friends are going to face tough competition from 70 mm, a company based out of Bangalore. So all those headed to Bangalore or already there, dont lose heart......70mm is coming to your doorstep!!!

Having said that, let me quickly recount a few movies that I have managed to catch in the recent past.

The Passenger *ing Jack Nicholson - an ultra slow movie about a reporter who lands in a civil war striken area and takes the place of a dead goon.

Moral of the story - its better to be happy with what you are, rather than get into a dead man's shoes!

Under the Tuscan Sun *ing Diane Lane - a romantic fare. Not the typical "and they lived happily ever after...." kind of movie.
Shot in the beautiful Tuscany (a lovely little town in Italy) . Tuscany now figures in my holiday list. The movie is about a lady - an author and critic, who gets divorced from her husband, owing to his infedility. Finds herself holidaying in Tuscany, buys herself a house - falls in love all over again (this time with a groovy Italian), to only realise that the man of her dreams has already tied a knot with someone else. Just before the climax completely disillusions you, in walks another hunk (a co author) ........so all's well that ends well

The other movies will be reviewed in the subsequent posts.

More movie reviews.....
TransAmerica *ing Felicity Huffman, who won an Oscar for her(his) role in the movie.
The movie is about Stanley, who prefers to be known as Bree (Sabrina), and has a mental disorder which makes him always want to be a woman. He behaves like one, dresses like one and is soon to undergo a sex change operation. A day before the operation he receives a call from the juvenile delinquent's cell, stating that a young boy; of 18 who claims to be his son is in the cell and awaiting bail / help from his family. Now Stanley choses to ignore this and carry on with the operation, but his therapist does not allow him to do so. She asks him to first sort out his life and only then take a step like that.
The movie, deals with the emotions and sentiments of Stanley, his reaction to his new found son and his dilemma about having to undergo a sex change operation.
It is a gripping story, and worth a watch.

Yours, Mine and Ours *Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid (ex husband of one of my fav stars Meg Ryan)
Just like the name suggests, it is about 2 single parents (who have lost their spouses) who decide to get married. And what do they have ------18 kids, 10 here and 8 there!!!! Complete chaos, while Dennis Quaid plays a disciplined Commander in the navy, Rene Russo is the frivolous, eccentric fashion designer.....and both have brought up their children "their way". It is indeed a fun movie to watch the 18 + pig + dog etc...etc....learn to live together.
For those of you who also watch hindi movies, it is quite much on the lines of Khatta Mitha *ing Ashok Kumar and Pearl Padamsee. Just that the family in Khatta mitha is much smaller :)

Wedding Crashers * Nicole Owens and Vince Vaugh (Mr. Aniston)
Eeyuck! what men won't do to sleep with women!!!

It's about these close friends played by Nicole and Vince, who crash weddings, to only befriend pretty young women and get them into bed.
Not quite my kind of movie. But well then, I am the 80s type!!!



Samsaara
This one I would definitely recommend. Directed by Pan Nalin, shot completely in the hilly and immensely beautiful terrain of Ladakh. The key protagonists are however Korean.
It's 'The Buddha' retold. The story questions whether Siddhartha indeed had to leave his wife and son to attain Nirvana.
The story line is quite simplistic. It is about a buddhist monk, who has been in the monastry since the age of 5. He decides that to renounce anything he needs to first experience it. He leaves the monastry and goes back to mainstream living, experiencing all materialistic pleasures. At the end however, after he has married and had a son, he decides to give it all up and go back to the monastry. But well, unlike Yashodhara (the wife of Siddhartha - The Buddha', will Pema - the wife of Tashi, the monk let go that easily ????
Watch it and decide.