Movie Review - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The only reason I wanted to see the movie was because of Humphrey Bogart and it was a good experience watching him perform middle aged paranoid Fred Dobbs. The movie is a film adaptation of B. Traven’s novel of the same name in which a middle aged down-and-outer with a younger man(played by Tim Holts) joins hands with a fast talking experienced old-timer(played by Walter Huston) to try their lucks in finding gold in the mountains of Sierra Madre. The story will seem an obsolete affair to someone of this era but it’s not the theme of the story which captures one’s attention but the sequences in the story and the stellar performances by Walter Huston and Humphrey Bogart. Director John Huston has done a good job in bringing out one of the best performances by Bogart and his father Walter Huston. In my opinion Walter Huston has outshone Bogart in many a places. Bogart gets a chance in the last half an hour of the movie and he does create an impact in that duration and a fundamental one too. The movie is not actually about the gold, it is about one’s character and how it goes on depleting with greed which has been shown brilliantly by Bogard’s character Dobb. It is breath taking to see Bogart perform once the paranoia goes into his head about owning all the gold; it is just his just his brilliance which captures the whole screen. His portrayal of a selfish, frightened, greedy paranoid colors the screen. His revered monologue, the ‘conscious’ scene, after he commits murder is an absolute masterpiece where he says "Conscience. What a thing! If you believe you got a conscience, it'll pester you to death. But if you don't believe you got one, what could it do to ya?" Shaffer makes a justice by giving him a tragic end nearing the climax of the movie. Walter Huston on the other end has been very efficiently taking care of the acting department. His performance is uniformly brilliant and his screen presence automatically makes you more attentive towards the movie. That’s the kind of effect he creates. The movie is very much about the quote he speaks – “I know what gold can do to men’s souls”.

For the time being I am waiting for my chance to see Bogard’s ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and ‘The African Queen’ and a revision of ‘Casablanca’.
My Rating: 8.75/10.00

Movie Review - Sleuth

SLEUTH

This was my first opportunity to watch a movie which has been adapted from a play. To say, I don’t have much of an experience with theatres; had been very lazy to go and savor the creativity they offer but would really want to be regulars at some nearby theatre some point of time. This leaves me with quite a limited knowledge to comment on which nuances of histrionics were caught in the movie and which went unattended. When it comes to movie however, it was a great experience.
The movie starts a little low and the first few minutes give an idea as if it is yet another slow boring movie. At least that is what I was feeling at the beginning. Once it starts with the pace it takes you for a joy ride. Laurence Olivier is a mystery books rich old writer whose wife is in love with a young salon owner played by Michael Caine. Olivier summons Caine to his home in order to decide on how should the whole process of letting go her wife should go. This however is a disguise; what Olivier actually wishes is to humiliate Caine for the act of stealing his wife. The story then seems to take a paradigm shift when both Olivier starts a battle of wits with Caine eventually manipulating him to do play a game between both of them. The movie then takes a couple of major twists which leaves audience glued to their seats and just like the storyline. To be honest, I possibly can’t talk anything more about the plot otherwise it will be no fun watching the movie.
The movie is an adaptation of the play ‘Sleuth’ by Anthony Shaffer. After running successfully this movie was conceived and as from my opinion full justice to the original play has been done by the movie/director. The whole movie revolves around just two characters and so they had to be absolutely fantastic thought the movie. Olivier, no doubt one of the finest thespians of the 20th century plays it brilliantly to be matched very well by the then young Caine. The chemistry between the two is absolutely stunning proving the mettle they have in theatre and also justifying the need of it in the movie. The number of games scattered around in the house might give an uncanny feeling thereby giving a mysterious environment to the whole plot. Shaffer has done a great job to write good dialogues delivered in even better way. Olivier’s “Sex is the game, marriage is just the punishment” not only made me smile but made me wonder how well he had said it to perfectly suit the character when it could have very well been said in so many different manners. This was my first encounter with Olivier and I would like to see more of his works. It is a disappointment that Caine did not get many opportunities to work in classics like this; it would have been great to see him perform in such mesmerizing roles.
If you are a fan of David Fincher’s ‘The Game’, ‘Se7ven’ etc, this movie is highly recommended because after seeing what Shaffer has been able to produce a few decades earlier these movies just look like the predecessors of a suave reclusive cult. This movie comes under my list of one of those movies which I would want to see time and again in my life.

My Rating: 9.25/10.00

SHER - Uski Khaatir

Don't remember when I started writing 'Sher's and when I stopped. I do remember that it all started with liking towards rhyming duplets :) [My nursery teacher would have left no stones unturned to make me learn nursery rhymes :)]. Slowly started writing rhyming duplets and eventually graduated to self learn more about Shayari thought internet and started composing some more Sher with fewer people being able to grasp what I meant by each of them.

Down the line, I somehow forgot that I used to have a passion. O the inricacies of 'Roti, Kapdaa aur Makaan' which made me join the rat race and made me forget what I sometime back used to enjoy so much. As tough it is to squeeze out time for anything today, I believe that attempts to revive one's soul should always be made.

Following is a Ghazal I wrote sometime back.

And this post is but yet again an attempt...

meeloN ka safar, us per urooj-e-kohasar
dauDen ya parvaaz bharein manzil ke khaatir

[urooz-e-kohasar=height of mountain]


un qatloN mein kahiN mujrim mai bhi tha
khanjar tez ki thi humne hi us qaatil ke khaatir


jidhar dariya chala,saath le chala apne qaedi ko
na ho saka humse kuch zamaanat-e-saahil ke khaatir

[qaedi=prisoner,zamaanat-e-saahil=bail for shore]


har lafz khat ke rote haiN khoon ke aansooN aur hum
padhte haiN 'sab khair hai' us jaahil ke khaatir

[jaahil=illiterate,ignorant]


har simt andheraa,aakhir-e-shab ka pataa nahin
duaa karte haiN hum hayaat-e-qandil ke khaatir

[simt=direction,aakhir-e-shab=end of night,hayaat-e-qandil=life of candle]

Movie Review - Star

Star

Would you expect anything out a 7 min movie, rather a promotional movie for a world renowned car brand? What would you expect if I tell you that the movie is directed by Guy Ritchie? Well Ritchie does a fantastic job to weave together a short story of an arrogant rock star with fabulous action stunts by ‘The Hire’ (the movie is also know as 'The Hire').
To keep it short and crisp just as the movie itself is, the performances by Clive Owen and Madonna are magnificent and the car chasing action sequences are comic and action filled at the same moment. Clive Owen has proved himself to be natural actor with some great performances in some of the movies he has worked on. This shortie just adds to his brilliance. Ritchie manages also manages to show his talent in such a short duration of the movie. The movie might actually leave you laughing for a few minutes.

The BMW owners are sure to enjoy it :)

Movie Review - Die Hard with a vengeance [Die Hard III]

Die Hard with a vengeance

I might have got a little late in watching this movie in the sense that I watched other parts of the Diehard series before I watched this one. But I should say that I am pleased that I did not miss altogether on this one. Being a Bruce Willis fan I was looking up to this movie but with a mindset of not liking this movie just because it is a Willis movie. I tried to keep the bias aside and saw this one trying to maintain a degree of neutrality. And well, Willis doesn’t fail me. I liked the movie for what it promises to deliver. Some sensible brute action with bits and patches of dark humor the superhero way (and not the way where the protagonist makes you laugh the slapstick way)
The movie starts with an explosion taking place and the culprit, the criminal asking for John McClane to be called upon. The criminal proposes to play a game with him wherein he would give clues to the location and diffusion of the dreaded liquid bombs he has placed in various parts of the city. As the story unfurls itself the audience and McClane come to know what exactly is behind all the havoc.
The direction is good and the screenplay awesome for a movie of its period. Samuel Jackson as always is great in his role (can’t forget what he did in Pulp Fiction, would always admire him for that). The chemistry between the two not only keeps audience glued to their seats but also make them laugh at times.
Some of the action sequences are good but if you haven’t seen this movie yet and have already watched quite a few recent action movies [read, The matrix and blah and blah and blah which have got great special effects in the name of action sequences] you might not so well appreciate it. In fact some of the sequences have been tried and tested for audiences’ taste so many a times that they have gone obsolete and one might find them clichéd. But isn’t that the irony of action movies, the more you watch them less are the chance so you finding something new in a new action flick. Well for me it worked because I always keep in mind the time frame which movie represents, either if the way in which it depicts the era where the story is from or the releasing year of the movie.
All in all, a good action movie and for the audience who like action there is no way this movie is going to fail them. So, if you have got a taste for good action movies, go ahead watch it without any fail.
Guess this is how much can be written about an action movie :)

My Rating: 8.5/10.0

Movie Review - Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi

Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi:

The title of the movie, ‘Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi’, is an excerpt taken from the ghazal of the same title by Mirza Asadullah Khan, popularly known by his pseudonym as ‘Ghalib’. The most famous duplet (‘Sher’ as we know them popularly as) of the ghazal, which also is the opening duplet of the ghazal, is as follows:
“Hazaaron khwahishein aisi ki har khwahish pe dam niklebahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle”
A crude translation of the above duplet would be – “...thousands of desires, each worth dying for...many of them I have realized...yet I yearn for more...”, and this meaning of the duplet or ‘sher’ parallels with the flow of events in the movie.
The movie begins with Pandit Nehru’s speech on the day of Indian Independence, showing him in a black and white movie snippet speaking the famous words ‘…on the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to light and freedom…’. The director then displays the message that after his death in the 60’s the baton was passed to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, and that the movie is about his imaginary siblings’ lives in those times, when India was pulled in a thousand directions.
The first half an hour of the movie gives a sneak peek into the college life of 70’s, and with such a frivolous ease but yet so believable and amiable way that one might fall in love with the portrayal of the college life then. The college life picture constitutes the rock n roll culture, the enthusiasm over the Naxalite movements, discussion of various prominent ideologies, passion to touch and live that affluent high class luxurious life and many other ideas with vibrant lustrous emotive colors. The posters of Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant gives an idea as to what a Delhi university student in that era must have in his mind. Students with bongs in their palms also give a hint of the Hippy culture having an impact on the students’ lives. The rest of the movie spans over the shows us the plight of not only those people who were directly involved in the movement but also of those who did not perform any act of violence.
The movie doesn’t answer the questions of ‘Why Naxalism’ or ‘Why violence as a method’, it merely shows the plight of the people trapped in this movement. It however does leave many a questions to ponder upon by the end of the movie.

It is the love story embedded in the movie which unravels it's intricacies along with the flow of the movie which says about the title. The protagonists of the movie have desires to mark their presence, be it the political arena or social arena, but they also have personal desires, their love interests. All the protagonists being ready to shed their lives for the fulfilment of their desires which are so different from each others.
Overall I would say I had a great movie experience with this movie. The movie shows us where we are coming from. Be it the issue of Naxalism, bureaucracy and corruption in government hierarchy, atrocious-autonomous police system, and political unrest, whatever we have today is just a continuation of the history we have had. The movie has covered one and all, giving us a question to ponder “Are we ever going to change?”

My Rating: 8.5/10.0

Movie Review - The man fron Earth

The man from Earth:
The title of the movie, and for that matter the sites on the internet, might suggest that the movie is another sci fi tale embedded with awe striking special effect and jaw dropping action sequences. The movie, however, is an insight into various into various aspects of human existence. For the audience who has watched the movie without any prior prejudices and who loves a good script/story, this movie is just too excellently written to be forgotten. It begins with a man asking a question ‘what if a man from Upper Paleolithic survived until the present day’, and the story begins to unfurl as the characters come to join in, rather getting involved in the story of that 14,000 year old man. The story is fabulously written by Jerome Bixby, who conceived the idea of the story in 1960’s but the story eventually came to its shape in his death bed 40 years later. Kudos to the director, Richard Schnekman, to achieve the task of keeping all the elements of the script intact and stark, the way they were supposed to be skipping the temptation for any visual effects which could have easily been introduced in the garb of flashbacks. And he does it keeping the audience absorbed in the story. ‘Blockbuster audience’ might get bored but for the audience who enjoy some serious intellectual work, it’s a masterpiece.
The movie is about a professor resigning his post and leaving his house suddenly without telling his friends and colleagues know of it. His colleagues however plan a small farewell get together for him and assemble just as he is moving his luggage. On questioned why he is leaving all of a sudden, he starts with the story of a 14,000 year old person who has survived from Paleolithic age to the present era. As the story continues, his colleagues comprising of anthropologist, biologist, Christian literalist, historian and psychiatrist keep on questioning him to know more and more about the man. The story turns out to be of the professor and the debate blankets all these fields and talk about the possibility of such a thing happening. Their conversations include historical events, theology and existence of God, physical possibility of regeneration of cells so that a man can stay vernal forever, conditions of immortality and many other topics. For an audience who likes the story and the ‘action’ which in can bring intellectually and not necessarily physically, this is going to be great movie. This is a movie where the script writer rules and the role of a director is just to ensure that he doesn’t ruin the intention with which the story has been written. Both the tasks are done with great excellence. For the audience who loved ‘Before sunrise’, ’Before sunset’, ‘Adaptation’ etc (read movies with good script) this movie is going to be a joyride.

My Rating: 9.25/10.00