Michael Clayton (2007)
This movie DID NOT win the Oscar for the Best Original screenplay that year. Nor the Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor, Best Film or Best Director awards that year. I could understand that Michael Clayton was cursed by being in a year where the other movies were too damn good as well. But the fact that it did not win the award for Best Original Screenplay that year shocked me out of my skin. Come on, Juno? That was a shocker. A hint at how quality is often out-weighed by pull in the Academy. That year, an overly written, unrealistic, sensationalist tale of a stupid kid with a big mouth out-ran Michael Clayton; one of the best, if not the best corporate-legal-drama-thrillers ever written. Clooney plays the titular role in this movie where the unfolding of the plot is only a means to a darker, deeper allegory about Ethics. UNorth is a major agro-products manufacturer that employs the services of a legal firm to defend them in a case against people who allege the company's fertilizers as cancer-inducing. Michael's mentor, Arthur is the lawyer assigned to the case but a bizarre event at a deposition forces the firm to send Michael to "fix" the situation. Karen (played by Tilda Swinton who won an Oscar for her performance in this movie) is the head of UNorth who would not take another mistake from the legal firm. Arthur, however, knows a secret that could topple the whole company on its head. Would Michael do his job or choose to help his mentor; particularly when his career hangs in balance and maybe more? Apart from a rivetting storyline, the complexities of the characters makes this movie a nail-biter. The idea of a "fixer" in a legal firm, a floating entity whom nobody trusts with anything too serious or long term but is too talented to be left out of the corporate plan is perhaps the most complex figure in Modern narratives since Willy Loman. How broken is the life of a man who refuses to see the ethics of his operations, even when it slaps his face? Michael Clayton also presents an excellent, but brief role for Tom Wilkinson (undoubtedly the king of Cameos) as Arthur, the man who takes the side of the people against his client, U-North; a decision for which he pays with his life. Tilda Swinton deserves the Oscar for the realistic horror that she is capable of bringing to the screen. The movie is excellently shot and cut. The writing in this movie, unlike the movie that WON the Oscar that year, is extremely down to earth. Nothing overly written or dramatic. Just plain facts and events that reveal the extraordinary characters and strengths. The casting could not have been better and the movie allows George Clooney shine like never before; making him capitalize on the sparks of brilliance he showed in movies like The Good German and Goodnight and Goodluck (both as an actor and director); a style that he would perfect in the hilarious Burn After Reading. It is good to know that just because he was in the Batman movie where he wore a nipple suit, the good actor in him did not die away but bloomed, even if he bloomed late. I regard this movie highly and I give it a grand 8.4 on the regular scale and an equally spectacular 8.1 on the critical scale. This is as close to perfect cinema with high watchability that we can come across.
Taken (2008)
I am not a big fan of remakes. I think it is a shame that sometimes really talented actors and technicians waste their time on worthless remakes of really good films. But if there is one film that should be remade into the Indian scenario, particularly with many "action" heroes are cutting a sorry figure trying to play parts written for men so many years their younger; Taken should be remade to lend them some dignity and give the audience an enjoyable fare. Liam Neeson does not compromise on his character's intensity while looking adept in all the action sequences of the film. The best part about the movie is that it's protagonist's real age is more or less about the same age as his character's age. Chase movies are a personal favorite; but this one will stand out for a long time in my memory for the amount of intensity that it brings to the table and how effortlessly real it all seems to be; which is a big deal because I have this useless piece of information that just shows how unrealistic the movie really is; Liam Neeson (Bryan) kills 34 people before he gets to his daughter. Now that is awesome! The storyline could not be simpler. Neeson plays an ex-FBI agent who was away most of his life from his child and ex-wife due to the nature of his job and cuts a sorry figure whenever he tries to make a connection with his young daughter. Despite his obvious displeasure, his ex-wife convinces him to send the teenager on a rock-band tour in Europe. The day she lands in France, she is kidnapped. There is no clue, no possible suspects or leads to where the daughter is. But he will not stop until he rescues her. The movie does not have an overload of impossible stunts just for the heck of it. It is belieavable, it is violent and most importantly, it is dramatically APT (which says a BIG DEAL about the movie). It gets a rewatchable 6.9 on a regular and a solid 5.8 on the critical scale for its intensity.
Knight and Day (2010)
I DID NOT expect to enjoy this film. I missed out on A-Team (which has Liam Neeson and Quinton Rampage Jackon in it) to watch this. So I had already made up my mind not to like this movie. Besides, just the thought of two actors who have lived a good century between them romancing and prancing about the screen was not something I was looking forward to. Not that I don't like old people acting; but I have a major problem when they pretend to be spies and kicking ass all over town (except in Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery and Liam Neeson's case, apparently). And come on, nobody, when I say nobody, I mean absolutely NOBODY is ready to see Tom Cruise playing a parody of himself; particularly when there is just ONE character that he act as - himself. However, at the end of the hour and a half; this movie put a huge smile on me. Maybe it is the low expectations or the fact that every single prediction of a cliche comes to life on the screen. But the film is entertaining by being, yes, I admit that I stand corrected, a parody of its own self. This is one of the best examples of why I constantly accuse of Tom Cruise of playing parts that fit him really well, when his "acting" isn't worth two bits. His choice-making capacity has not let him down for a while and the streak continues. The movie is pretty straight-forward with a great doomsday McGuffin in the possession the apparent bad guy, a rogue FBI agent is chased across all over the movie by apparent good guys. However, when you see Tom Cruise as the rogue agent and snaked eyed Sean Bean as the "FBI", you know that there is not going to be a surprising double-twist at the end. Tom is the real "good" guy. Cameron Diaz stars as June, the woman in whose life the biggest thing happening is her sister getting married. In yet another hilarious and ridiculous portrayal of the impossible, Diaz does not even bother that she is nothing close to the character she is playing. She could be playing a talent-less movie star who is past her prime trying on unrealistic characters; but she isn't a good enough actor to pull it off. Like in any other movie, she HAS to make the Ultimate Sacrifice by betraying the man she loves for what she thinks is the greater good, only to be proven wrong and still get a happy ending on top of that. There are, however, many moments in the movie that you anticipate like miles ahead, but would still be pleased when it does come to pass. That seems to be the secret of this movie; fulfilling the obvious. You get to see some ridiculously funny moments throughout the movie and that makes up for whatever mindlessness it has, I suppose. It is a fun movie. Try catching it on TV as it is bound to make its debut soon. It gets a respectable 6.4 for its rewatchability; but the critics fail it with 4.4 for its sheer disbelief in the existence of something called "Intelligent Audience".
Showing posts with label world domination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world domination. Show all posts
23 August 2010
17 March 2010
The Wrestler
Instant Classic.
I am a huge Wrestling Mark, a fan of over thirteen years, having followed about three major prowrestling companies in North America during the span. Some of the wrestlers, I have simply marked out of my skin for the amazing ability to entertain even without touching the other person in the ring. However, Hulk Hogan was someone that never impressed me. Though I have said, and on this very day, that no discussion of prowrestling in America can be done without Hogan, I stand by the idea that I am not impressed by a guy who has altered his routine very little during the past thirty years. But that does not take away from what he has done to the sport, both in the good and the bad way, and the amount of legitimate mainstream attention he brought to prowrestling. Hogan, even in his best years, was packaged by the media, twice his worth. The question is not something we ponder over on an everyday basis, but what if, Hogan had not been packaged so during the Rock n Wrestling era?
The answer is, he would have become, Randy The Ram Robinson. Caught between two worlds in and outside the ring, Mickey Rourke's portrayal of a wrestler's life in his twilight years shows that this is a movie not meant just for a wrestling fan, but for everyone. With just about three matches where Rourke fights (very ordinary matches at that), a wrestlign fan can simply youtube better fights. But what happens when a superstar is made to shift boxes for a living? There is no money in the independent circuits of wrestling, not for a guy like The Ram, and still he succumbs to the famous wrestler's sickness of wanting to fight one more match?
Following the above paragraph, I had about a month off writing blogs. Lot of things happened in that break; I presented a paper on pro wrestling; definitely a first in JU and maybe one of the first few in all of India (though Massachussets institute of technology offers a paper on it now). I also made my debut (solo debut, at least) as a director of a play, however short it was and small the audience be. With an exceptionellent cast and crew, going by the name, The (Insert Name) Theatrical Society, we proved that we were Tough Enough! I wanna continue that and prove myself to be dogged; so I am at it again; blogging. Btw, WM26 has gone by last week, we have two new champions and a great career ended. So This review goes out to all those tough men and women who go out there week in/week out to entertain us.
So is this a pure wrestling movie? NOT EVEN CLOSE! We get to see about four matches, not good in quality or length. The match against the Necro Butcher showed the spirit of Indy wrestling, but not so much the technicalities involved in a match. Of course, we saw how a match is "booked" (written to order) in current fashion contrasted to the Old School (where Ayatollah tells Randy, that he is the heel and Randy is the face, and that is how they are going to wrestle). The common viewer who has always sniggered at wrestling being "fake" now knows what goes on, but it truly does not focus on these details. Like any good movie, this follows the logic behind wrestling (and behind all entertainment), Kayfabe (Pig Latin for Fake). It is simple, actually. If you are watching a show like Scrubs or ER, you realize that Zack Braff/George Clooney is an actor playing a doctor. You do not expect him to come and do a heart transplant in the evening. So is Wrestling. And like any other movie where a single protagonist's struggle for identity shows a journey between his/her professional and personal lives, the Wrestler does too. Randy is a man past his prime, both in his career and his life. He is not someone too smart. He has not made the smartest choices in his life. But at this point of time where everything is slipping away and that dramatic turn around he needs so much does not seem to just happen for him, he figures out that he needs to cope with it as an isolated individual without a past or a future. He lives only with his legacy which is simultaneously both the past and the future. At this height of existential tension, Randy the Ram Robinson flies off the top rope to hit the RamJam (a flying headbutt, which is a personal favorite; Chris Benoit, you are missed. But that is another story).
Why do I think this is an excellent film?
It is a well-made film, and contrary to drama, well-made is a compliment to a movie. The casting is apt with each actor delivering their parts in a very intense and sufficient manner. Rourke is a revalation. I have not seen any of his early works, except Angel Heart. And his Marv is a totally different kind of a beast. And still he oozes charisma whenever he is in front of a camera and he looks a real tough guy. He translates this energy without much difficulty to the screen in one of the best, if not the best performance in a "sports" movie. Marisa Tomei is a dream who can reflect the many layered complexity in her character in such an underplayed live-through. Rachel Evan Woods occupies so little screen time to warrant such a rivetting performance. I initially was a little pissed to see Ernest The Kat Miller as the main event wrestler in the movie. The Kat, in his best night was an upper-mid-card comic heel (translates in movie slang as the Guru in Alan Quartermain's City of Gold). He had no business, in my opinion, main-eventing in a serious movie. Given that the real big names who are out of wrestling (like Stone Cold and the Rock are out of question), I considered people like Sid Vicious, one or both of the Steiner brothers, and even seriously for a moment thought about Diamond Dallas Page (despite his Ready to Rumble fiasco). But man was I proven wrong, because despite his limited body of work on TV, Miller is one of the best on the mic and he is a natural actor. So he more than justifies his selection. The camera work and the editng was unobtrusive (which is the best thing that can happen in a movie like this) and the music... That song, One Trick Pony, left me with a lump in my throat. It was perfectly positioned and it makes you want to say it will be alright to that guy on screen, though you know it will not be. This movie is a success for me, because it captures in essence what a Modern American Tragedy is all about.
I can keep talking about his movie forever, so let me sum up, by giving a kind of a fact/fiction glossary about some of the wrestling stuff that happens in this movie.
The blood is fake: No, as you saw, a blade is used. However, most wrestlers are not as careful as Randy the Ram. Hogan is a famous blader. This is also called Juicing.
Chair shots are fake: No. When you take a chair shot on your person, it hurts. You hope it hits on a flat surface like two forearms together or the back. If you take one on your head, you just pray that you dont have a concussion.
People don't die from wrestling. The number of wrestlers who have died under 40 is disturbing. Sometimes, if one of your favorite wrestlers who is not a maineventer simply stops appearing on screen, he/she might have died. Many promotions do not report unless the wrestler is in contract/or is a legend. RIP to all those nameless warriors.
Wrestlers make a lot of money, they keep wrestling because they are addicted. Few wrestlers make it to a big promotion where they get a paycheck every month. Most wrestlers die trying in Indy circuits where they are paid by the bout. Few retire at a healthy age. Most, even if they are in a big promotion, invest their money foolishly (except maybe JBL, who is a WallStreet wiz in real life) and end up over-working themselves.
Wrestlers are wusses in real life. Guys like the Undertaker, Booker T, Steve Blackman, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton have legit cases of having engaged in physical confrontations off-wrestling, and all except maybe Orton are known to have kicked the other guy's ass.
If you have more queries, feel free to write in.
I am a huge Wrestling Mark, a fan of over thirteen years, having followed about three major prowrestling companies in North America during the span. Some of the wrestlers, I have simply marked out of my skin for the amazing ability to entertain even without touching the other person in the ring. However, Hulk Hogan was someone that never impressed me. Though I have said, and on this very day, that no discussion of prowrestling in America can be done without Hogan, I stand by the idea that I am not impressed by a guy who has altered his routine very little during the past thirty years. But that does not take away from what he has done to the sport, both in the good and the bad way, and the amount of legitimate mainstream attention he brought to prowrestling. Hogan, even in his best years, was packaged by the media, twice his worth. The question is not something we ponder over on an everyday basis, but what if, Hogan had not been packaged so during the Rock n Wrestling era?
The answer is, he would have become, Randy The Ram Robinson. Caught between two worlds in and outside the ring, Mickey Rourke's portrayal of a wrestler's life in his twilight years shows that this is a movie not meant just for a wrestling fan, but for everyone. With just about three matches where Rourke fights (very ordinary matches at that), a wrestlign fan can simply youtube better fights. But what happens when a superstar is made to shift boxes for a living? There is no money in the independent circuits of wrestling, not for a guy like The Ram, and still he succumbs to the famous wrestler's sickness of wanting to fight one more match?
Following the above paragraph, I had about a month off writing blogs. Lot of things happened in that break; I presented a paper on pro wrestling; definitely a first in JU and maybe one of the first few in all of India (though Massachussets institute of technology offers a paper on it now). I also made my debut (solo debut, at least) as a director of a play, however short it was and small the audience be. With an exceptionellent cast and crew, going by the name, The (Insert Name) Theatrical Society, we proved that we were Tough Enough! I wanna continue that and prove myself to be dogged; so I am at it again; blogging. Btw, WM26 has gone by last week, we have two new champions and a great career ended. So This review goes out to all those tough men and women who go out there week in/week out to entertain us.
So is this a pure wrestling movie? NOT EVEN CLOSE! We get to see about four matches, not good in quality or length. The match against the Necro Butcher showed the spirit of Indy wrestling, but not so much the technicalities involved in a match. Of course, we saw how a match is "booked" (written to order) in current fashion contrasted to the Old School (where Ayatollah tells Randy, that he is the heel and Randy is the face, and that is how they are going to wrestle). The common viewer who has always sniggered at wrestling being "fake" now knows what goes on, but it truly does not focus on these details. Like any good movie, this follows the logic behind wrestling (and behind all entertainment), Kayfabe (Pig Latin for Fake). It is simple, actually. If you are watching a show like Scrubs or ER, you realize that Zack Braff/George Clooney is an actor playing a doctor. You do not expect him to come and do a heart transplant in the evening. So is Wrestling. And like any other movie where a single protagonist's struggle for identity shows a journey between his/her professional and personal lives, the Wrestler does too. Randy is a man past his prime, both in his career and his life. He is not someone too smart. He has not made the smartest choices in his life. But at this point of time where everything is slipping away and that dramatic turn around he needs so much does not seem to just happen for him, he figures out that he needs to cope with it as an isolated individual without a past or a future. He lives only with his legacy which is simultaneously both the past and the future. At this height of existential tension, Randy the Ram Robinson flies off the top rope to hit the RamJam (a flying headbutt, which is a personal favorite; Chris Benoit, you are missed. But that is another story).
Why do I think this is an excellent film?
It is a well-made film, and contrary to drama, well-made is a compliment to a movie. The casting is apt with each actor delivering their parts in a very intense and sufficient manner. Rourke is a revalation. I have not seen any of his early works, except Angel Heart. And his Marv is a totally different kind of a beast. And still he oozes charisma whenever he is in front of a camera and he looks a real tough guy. He translates this energy without much difficulty to the screen in one of the best, if not the best performance in a "sports" movie. Marisa Tomei is a dream who can reflect the many layered complexity in her character in such an underplayed live-through. Rachel Evan Woods occupies so little screen time to warrant such a rivetting performance. I initially was a little pissed to see Ernest The Kat Miller as the main event wrestler in the movie. The Kat, in his best night was an upper-mid-card comic heel (translates in movie slang as the Guru in Alan Quartermain's City of Gold). He had no business, in my opinion, main-eventing in a serious movie. Given that the real big names who are out of wrestling (like Stone Cold and the Rock are out of question), I considered people like Sid Vicious, one or both of the Steiner brothers, and even seriously for a moment thought about Diamond Dallas Page (despite his Ready to Rumble fiasco). But man was I proven wrong, because despite his limited body of work on TV, Miller is one of the best on the mic and he is a natural actor. So he more than justifies his selection. The camera work and the editng was unobtrusive (which is the best thing that can happen in a movie like this) and the music... That song, One Trick Pony, left me with a lump in my throat. It was perfectly positioned and it makes you want to say it will be alright to that guy on screen, though you know it will not be. This movie is a success for me, because it captures in essence what a Modern American Tragedy is all about.
I can keep talking about his movie forever, so let me sum up, by giving a kind of a fact/fiction glossary about some of the wrestling stuff that happens in this movie.
The blood is fake: No, as you saw, a blade is used. However, most wrestlers are not as careful as Randy the Ram. Hogan is a famous blader. This is also called Juicing.
Chair shots are fake: No. When you take a chair shot on your person, it hurts. You hope it hits on a flat surface like two forearms together or the back. If you take one on your head, you just pray that you dont have a concussion.
People don't die from wrestling. The number of wrestlers who have died under 40 is disturbing. Sometimes, if one of your favorite wrestlers who is not a maineventer simply stops appearing on screen, he/she might have died. Many promotions do not report unless the wrestler is in contract/or is a legend. RIP to all those nameless warriors.
Wrestlers make a lot of money, they keep wrestling because they are addicted. Few wrestlers make it to a big promotion where they get a paycheck every month. Most wrestlers die trying in Indy circuits where they are paid by the bout. Few retire at a healthy age. Most, even if they are in a big promotion, invest their money foolishly (except maybe JBL, who is a WallStreet wiz in real life) and end up over-working themselves.
Wrestlers are wusses in real life. Guys like the Undertaker, Booker T, Steve Blackman, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton have legit cases of having engaged in physical confrontations off-wrestling, and all except maybe Orton are known to have kicked the other guy's ass.
If you have more queries, feel free to write in.
13 December 2009
First things First; lets go hunting...
Long absence, will try to make it up, yatti yatti yatta!
You wanna know why people are so up for hunting these days? (Brace urself for a really bad pun), because there is a Tiger in the Woods. When the going gets tough for a sports-hero, that is when (s)he needs your support the most. This is my turn to come out and pledge my allegiance to the Tiger.
I can talk about how he is an easy target because he is a celebrity and how others screw around with their personal relationships and get away with it and that the man is paying the price of fame. The fact that the media is making a huge three ring circus out of this hardworking man's life is also not my point of interest. I am a simpler man. I make politically incorrect statements and am not hesitant to change them if situation demands it to change; not because I am a person with a flip-flop kinda temperament but I believe that being consistent is over-rated as opposed to being right. Today, I am gonna make a statement and it is one of those times where I am pretty positive that I will not change my mind about this one. Here it goes... A genius is bound by the political laws of the land as is any other citizen; but never have an illusion that you have a control over his ethics. Your ethical laws are nowhere close to his zone of mental/spiritual activity. And still, as silly mortals who presume to know everything about everythign despite having had only about four hundred years of continuous history, they would still pretend to know what goes on in the mind of a person whose perspective of things are entirely otherworldly compared to the rest. Tiger Woods is a man on the top of the golfing world, because he can think in a way that all the other losers of the world put together cannot think in. It is the same mind that makes him feel inadequately satisfied with one woman. That he takes in a harem of a dozen, is just as solid a fact and nothing more than the fact that he has won every major title in the world to be won and he is still going strong. You cannot change a fact by wishing it away. You cannot pretend that one fact about a person changes everything else about the person. So as long as the world pretends everything to be in black/white with its media as its blanket, it can only keep growing frustrated knowing how impotent it is. So sayeth this SaravananMan!
You wanna know why people are so up for hunting these days? (Brace urself for a really bad pun), because there is a Tiger in the Woods. When the going gets tough for a sports-hero, that is when (s)he needs your support the most. This is my turn to come out and pledge my allegiance to the Tiger.
I can talk about how he is an easy target because he is a celebrity and how others screw around with their personal relationships and get away with it and that the man is paying the price of fame. The fact that the media is making a huge three ring circus out of this hardworking man's life is also not my point of interest. I am a simpler man. I make politically incorrect statements and am not hesitant to change them if situation demands it to change; not because I am a person with a flip-flop kinda temperament but I believe that being consistent is over-rated as opposed to being right. Today, I am gonna make a statement and it is one of those times where I am pretty positive that I will not change my mind about this one. Here it goes... A genius is bound by the political laws of the land as is any other citizen; but never have an illusion that you have a control over his ethics. Your ethical laws are nowhere close to his zone of mental/spiritual activity. And still, as silly mortals who presume to know everything about everythign despite having had only about four hundred years of continuous history, they would still pretend to know what goes on in the mind of a person whose perspective of things are entirely otherworldly compared to the rest. Tiger Woods is a man on the top of the golfing world, because he can think in a way that all the other losers of the world put together cannot think in. It is the same mind that makes him feel inadequately satisfied with one woman. That he takes in a harem of a dozen, is just as solid a fact and nothing more than the fact that he has won every major title in the world to be won and he is still going strong. You cannot change a fact by wishing it away. You cannot pretend that one fact about a person changes everything else about the person. So as long as the world pretends everything to be in black/white with its media as its blanket, it can only keep growing frustrated knowing how impotent it is. So sayeth this SaravananMan!
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