I'm not a fan of 'destruction' movies and this particular one was definitely not on my list of anticipated movies. I had seen just a little bit of the trailer and the fall of 'Christ the Redeemer' scene made me think this could be an interesting watch. Well, the trailer deceived me. I saw this movie in a theatre at Helsinki yesterday evening. It was 150 minutes of 'holy crap'. Holy - because it is based on an ancient Mayan faith. Crap - because it IS crap. It is another proof of how clever marketing and hype can fool the entire world. In the south Indian context I can quote 'Sivaji - the boss' as an example.
It was my first visit to a Finnish cinema hall. At the outside the movie theatre looked like a very-artistically constructed ancient building. The moment I landed inside, I felt like I was in Satyam cinemas or Inox. No big difference. Of course the audience was much quieter than our people. The movie was supposed to start at 1615 hrs. But until 1630 hrs there were only advertisements; they were all in Finnish :-( It was painful to sit through all those incomprehensible ads. I didn't then realize that these ads were just saving me from the horrible movie.
There is nothing worthy to say about the movie. Everyone told me this is from the director of 'Independence day'. I should have been more alert and googled before deciding to watch it. Just after returning from the movie I found out Roland Emmerich is the director of '10000 B.C' and 'Godzilla'. Had I known this before I would not have gone for this. 10,000 B.C was like the worst possible copy of Mel Gibson's marvelous 'Apocalypto' and 'Godzilla' was awfully funny. It was silly to watch a Godzilla play hide-and-seek in Manhattan. In the case of 2012 I should admit I wasn't very alert and let myself get fooled. I consider the Euro 8.40 I spent for this movie as an act of charity towards Sony corporation.
Coming to think of Sony, I completely understand the movie is distributed by Columbia pictures which is owned by Sony corporation. But why does that mean everywhere it should be Sony products on the screen all the time! Every laptop that has 'acted' in this movie is a Sony Vaio. Every cellphone is a Sony Ericsson. I wonder what would have happened if Pixar made movies when Steve Jobs was its CEO. Would they have filled the screen with iPhones and Mac-books? How silly. I wish Microsoft doesn't plan to get in to movie making.
Starting from poor casting (The US president and German chancellor lady were the most silliestest of all. I believe Barack Obama and Angela Merkel would themselves have done their parts better), poor script to very poor direction, everything tested my patience. After I returned from the movie I searched on the Internet and found that this movie is categorized as a 'disaster film' - a genre of movies which show some disaster on screen. I agree to this completely. It WAS a perfectly 'disastrous' film.
--S--
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Some Tamil movies this time
I watched few Tamil movies in the recent past. I've been watching quite a lot of non-Tamil movies past couple of months. May be because I got a lot of foreign movies that I've wanted to watch for a long time. Or perhaps it was just the "aftermath of Kandasamy". Like everyone else, I too had the worst 'Kandasamy' experience which made me stay away from Tamil movies for sometime. It is better left not talked about.
Let me start with the most recently watched and the most important of all of the Tamil films I happened to watch in recent time.
Achchamundu! Achchamundu!
I am not sure how many people saw this movie. Even I watched this accidentally, but fortunately! The classy look, too decent cast and the missing of hero intro song, dirty comedies (in which the comedian gets beaten up for the Nth time in Tamil cinema) and the most famous of all - 'kuthu song' - must have sent clear signals to the Tamil audience to stay away from this movie. In my honest opinion, this kind of movies alone can life Tamil cinema to great heights. Fantastic screenplay, never-thought-about storyline and superb casting are the highlights of this movie. Prasanna fits perfect in his role and so is Sneha. She continues from where she left in 'Pirivom sandhippom'. This definitely is a world class attempt from Tamil cinema and the director can be very proud of his product. I have seen quite a few movies with psychotic characters. But a paedophile villain in Tamil cinema was something very disturbing. I read that the director studied film making in the US and made this movie in typical Hollywood style. Great job! Unless our directors realise that it is the script that matters and nothing else, it is difficult to life Tamil cinema to a better position. I know it is an irrelevant comparison, but still I must admit that I liked this movie better than Kamal's Unnaipol Oruvan. I feel, rather than pushing Kamal Hassan to paint himself and don dozens of roles in a single movie, by supporting Achchamundu... kind of movies, tamil cinema will definitely attain greater respect in the world stage.
Aadhavan
The whole time I was watching this piece of shit, there was only one thought in my mind. Is this the same Surya who acted in Varanam ayiram? Even Ayan was much better than this crap, thanks to that beautiful African sequence (though it reminds me of DiCaprio's Blood Diamond). I seriously wonder what made Surya choose such a pathetic movie. His next movie is going to be even more sickening. The stills express that very clearly. I can only say that Surya is making a terrible mistake by choosing such movies in his attempt to become a commercial hero. Extremely poor. The first half and almost the entire movie reminded me of Mahesh Babu's 'Athadu', which was much better to watch than this. If this or Kandasamy kind of movies become big hits, I wonder how can tamil cinema ever come out of such a mess.
Peranmai
I was actually waiting for this movie. I liked this director's previous two films very much (Iyarkai, Ee) and I had high hopes for his third venture. Perhaps, I had too high hopes. Peranmai was not disappointing at all, but it definitely lacked the charm of Iyarkai's narration and Ee's storyline. Though the execution of the story is really good, somehow the practicality of a bunch of foreigners sneaking in to Indian forest to destroy a satellite is very doubtful and little unbelievable too. A greedy doctor using poor, illiterate people in slums (am I allowed to use the term 'slumdogs'?) to test or spread deadly viruses seems very much practical for me. Whenever I hear news about swine flu or some other viral fever spreading in a locality I think of this film 'Ee' and its shocking message. And I wonder why that forest officer's nasty comments on 'Jeyam' Ravi's caste were censored completely.
Oh I must also tell about those girls in this movie. How cheap their dialogs are?! Huff. I seriously don't know if really girls talk like that. Censor board could have worked even better in some scenes.
Eeram
Eeram is another tamil movie which was worth watching. Though as a director Shankar is becoming worse, producer Shankar is still very impressive. Looking forward to the next thriller from his production house.
---
I read that the upcoming Kamal Hassan - Mysskin combination movie is going to be a historical, based on Buddhism and is set in 500 B.C! Hope it comes out as their masterpiece.
--S--
Let me start with the most recently watched and the most important of all of the Tamil films I happened to watch in recent time.
Achchamundu! Achchamundu!
I am not sure how many people saw this movie. Even I watched this accidentally, but fortunately! The classy look, too decent cast and the missing of hero intro song, dirty comedies (in which the comedian gets beaten up for the Nth time in Tamil cinema) and the most famous of all - 'kuthu song' - must have sent clear signals to the Tamil audience to stay away from this movie. In my honest opinion, this kind of movies alone can life Tamil cinema to great heights. Fantastic screenplay, never-thought-about storyline and superb casting are the highlights of this movie. Prasanna fits perfect in his role and so is Sneha. She continues from where she left in 'Pirivom sandhippom'. This definitely is a world class attempt from Tamil cinema and the director can be very proud of his product. I have seen quite a few movies with psychotic characters. But a paedophile villain in Tamil cinema was something very disturbing. I read that the director studied film making in the US and made this movie in typical Hollywood style. Great job! Unless our directors realise that it is the script that matters and nothing else, it is difficult to life Tamil cinema to a better position. I know it is an irrelevant comparison, but still I must admit that I liked this movie better than Kamal's Unnaipol Oruvan. I feel, rather than pushing Kamal Hassan to paint himself and don dozens of roles in a single movie, by supporting Achchamundu... kind of movies, tamil cinema will definitely attain greater respect in the world stage.
Aadhavan
The whole time I was watching this piece of shit, there was only one thought in my mind. Is this the same Surya who acted in Varanam ayiram? Even Ayan was much better than this crap, thanks to that beautiful African sequence (though it reminds me of DiCaprio's Blood Diamond). I seriously wonder what made Surya choose such a pathetic movie. His next movie is going to be even more sickening. The stills express that very clearly. I can only say that Surya is making a terrible mistake by choosing such movies in his attempt to become a commercial hero. Extremely poor. The first half and almost the entire movie reminded me of Mahesh Babu's 'Athadu', which was much better to watch than this. If this or Kandasamy kind of movies become big hits, I wonder how can tamil cinema ever come out of such a mess.
Peranmai
I was actually waiting for this movie. I liked this director's previous two films very much (Iyarkai, Ee) and I had high hopes for his third venture. Perhaps, I had too high hopes. Peranmai was not disappointing at all, but it definitely lacked the charm of Iyarkai's narration and Ee's storyline. Though the execution of the story is really good, somehow the practicality of a bunch of foreigners sneaking in to Indian forest to destroy a satellite is very doubtful and little unbelievable too. A greedy doctor using poor, illiterate people in slums (am I allowed to use the term 'slumdogs'?) to test or spread deadly viruses seems very much practical for me. Whenever I hear news about swine flu or some other viral fever spreading in a locality I think of this film 'Ee' and its shocking message. And I wonder why that forest officer's nasty comments on 'Jeyam' Ravi's caste were censored completely.
Oh I must also tell about those girls in this movie. How cheap their dialogs are?! Huff. I seriously don't know if really girls talk like that. Censor board could have worked even better in some scenes.
Eeram
Eeram is another tamil movie which was worth watching. Though as a director Shankar is becoming worse, producer Shankar is still very impressive. Looking forward to the next thriller from his production house.
---
I read that the upcoming Kamal Hassan - Mysskin combination movie is going to be a historical, based on Buddhism and is set in 500 B.C! Hope it comes out as their masterpiece.
--S--
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Bacheha-Ye aseman
Very rarely do movies make me feel emotional. One such movie I saw recently is an Iranian film named "Bacheha-Ye aseman" (English title: Children of heaven) released in 1997. An excellent film about two kids.
The movie is about a small boy 'Ali' and his younger sister 'Zahra'. Ali and Zahra's family lives in a poor condition. Their father struggles a lot to make both ends meet. Mother is very sick and unable to do any work at home. Zahra takes care of their youngest sibling, apart from cleaning the house and helping her mother in cooking. Ali buys vegetables and takes care of works outside home. Amidst all this, they manage to study. And they are brilliant. The movie is set in this backdrop.
At the beginning of the movie Ali unfortunately loses Zahra's shoes while bringing it back from a cobbler. He begs Zahra not to tell this to their parents, not wanting to add anymore misery to them. He assures Zahra that he will find it out. But all his searches end in vain. Zahra accepts Ali's offer to use his shoes because Ali's school starts only after Zahra's classes end.
Now that they have only 1 pair of shoes they struggle to manage their time. Zahra first goes to school wearing Ali's shoes, and runs back as soon as her classes get over. They exchange their footwear one the way, and Ali runs to school. Unfortunately their timing doesn't work out well and Ali starts arriving late to school for couple of days in succession. He gets caught while trying to sneak in to the school and almost gets expelled by the head master, when one of his teachers interferes and pleads him to give Ali another chance.
When a marathon competition is announced Ali doesn't care about it at all. But later when he comes to know that the third prize is a pair of shoes, he promises Zahra that he will win the third prize and give her the shoes.
Did he manage to keep up his promise?
The climax is a bit cinematic but quite moving.
There are some scenes that made me pause and take break to overcome the sorrow.
In one scene Ali goes with his father searching for some work in the city. When Ali's father is unable to speak properly asking for any job, Ali handles it quite well. Those scenes show how the society and living conditions make children grow very fast.
In another scene Ali and Zahra clean their lone pair of shoes and keep it outside for drying. It rains and spoils the shoes again.
The most beautiful of them all is when Zahra accidentally drops her shoe in to a stream carrying dirty water.
While watching some of the scenes I was reminded of my young age (when I was 6-7 years old).
Those Sundays when I used to 'polish' my shoes by dipping white chalk piece in water and rubbing it all over the torn white canvas. Shoe polish was quite unaffordable then.
Those times when we lived in a single-room house, which was smaller than the bathroom of the apartment I live in now.
Those nights when we set up mouse-traps to escape from those horrible creatures, and the following mornings when I mercilessly killed them.
Those days which dawned with the shouts of neighbourhood ladies quarreling with each other for a bucket of water from the common pipe, and the nights that ended listening to all the bad words the foul-mouthed drunken husbands thrown at their wives all over the dirty neighbourhood.
I paused the movie and kept staring at the ceiling for a long time, re-living those days of my life. Those days - which will never come back.
The performance of the kids who played Ali and Zahra are unbelievable, and extraordinary. I loved them so much that I kept on thinking and wondering what they would have become now.
It took me a very long time to come out of the movie.
--S--
The movie is about a small boy 'Ali' and his younger sister 'Zahra'. Ali and Zahra's family lives in a poor condition. Their father struggles a lot to make both ends meet. Mother is very sick and unable to do any work at home. Zahra takes care of their youngest sibling, apart from cleaning the house and helping her mother in cooking. Ali buys vegetables and takes care of works outside home. Amidst all this, they manage to study. And they are brilliant. The movie is set in this backdrop.
At the beginning of the movie Ali unfortunately loses Zahra's shoes while bringing it back from a cobbler. He begs Zahra not to tell this to their parents, not wanting to add anymore misery to them. He assures Zahra that he will find it out. But all his searches end in vain. Zahra accepts Ali's offer to use his shoes because Ali's school starts only after Zahra's classes end.
Now that they have only 1 pair of shoes they struggle to manage their time. Zahra first goes to school wearing Ali's shoes, and runs back as soon as her classes get over. They exchange their footwear one the way, and Ali runs to school. Unfortunately their timing doesn't work out well and Ali starts arriving late to school for couple of days in succession. He gets caught while trying to sneak in to the school and almost gets expelled by the head master, when one of his teachers interferes and pleads him to give Ali another chance.
When a marathon competition is announced Ali doesn't care about it at all. But later when he comes to know that the third prize is a pair of shoes, he promises Zahra that he will win the third prize and give her the shoes.
Did he manage to keep up his promise?
The climax is a bit cinematic but quite moving.
There are some scenes that made me pause and take break to overcome the sorrow.
In one scene Ali goes with his father searching for some work in the city. When Ali's father is unable to speak properly asking for any job, Ali handles it quite well. Those scenes show how the society and living conditions make children grow very fast.
In another scene Ali and Zahra clean their lone pair of shoes and keep it outside for drying. It rains and spoils the shoes again.
The most beautiful of them all is when Zahra accidentally drops her shoe in to a stream carrying dirty water.
While watching some of the scenes I was reminded of my young age (when I was 6-7 years old).
Those Sundays when I used to 'polish' my shoes by dipping white chalk piece in water and rubbing it all over the torn white canvas. Shoe polish was quite unaffordable then.
Those times when we lived in a single-room house, which was smaller than the bathroom of the apartment I live in now.
Those nights when we set up mouse-traps to escape from those horrible creatures, and the following mornings when I mercilessly killed them.
Those days which dawned with the shouts of neighbourhood ladies quarreling with each other for a bucket of water from the common pipe, and the nights that ended listening to all the bad words the foul-mouthed drunken husbands thrown at their wives all over the dirty neighbourhood.
I paused the movie and kept staring at the ceiling for a long time, re-living those days of my life. Those days - which will never come back.
The performance of the kids who played Ali and Zahra are unbelievable, and extraordinary. I loved them so much that I kept on thinking and wondering what they would have become now.
It took me a very long time to come out of the movie.
--S--
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