Movie review: Monsters

Much has been said about the scant finances of Gareth Edwards’ debut feature Monsters in the lead up to its release. The film was shot on location in Mexico for under $500,000; extras who appear in the movie were often just people who happened to be there at the time. It’s surprising then that Edwards chooses to open his alien infestation movie with the sort of grand reveal a frugally minded director might normally save for the end.

It’s a bold move even for a movie that does little by the rulebook. Mere minutes in, before the title screen, even before you’ve met the cast, Edwards shows you his alien in all its bellowing glory. It’s a creature that might well be described as a (excellently designed) megalithic extraterrestrial squid, and it’s atypical of a feature that frequently meddles with convention throughout its short running time (a tight, relatively flab free 94 minutes).

For one thing, Monsters doesn’t start its story with the alien infestation. Like last years District 9 (but in every other way, really not like that film at all), Edwards’ movie begins at the point where the aliens have been residents of earth for some time, dropping his leads (real life couple Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy) into the midst of US and Mexican militaries struggling to contain the creatures on the rim of the American border. In many ways, Monsters plays out like a film that begins at the juncture where a film with similar subject matter might end.

For another thing, while there are anxious scares peppered throughout, much of the film concerns the lead characters tentative courtship rather than the creatures’ existence on earth. There are fleeting occasions where a viewpoint similar to Charlie Brookers’ judgement of TV’s Battlestar Galactica rings true (“sometimes you wish they’d stop talking about politics and just have a space battle”), but they’re few and far between, and there’s enough of a sci-fi tinged horror here to satisfy those that might find themselves shuffling through the scenes that resemble that of a romantic edged thriller.

Yet it’s at the very end of the movie where you realise Edwards’ reasons for showing his cards so early; that being a reveal which is even more incendiary than the first, as well as one that asks more questions of his creature than the film has time to answer. It’s a scene that’s incredibly moving, sensual even – and it’s not often you can say that about a movie concerning extraterrestrial squid – with a score courtesy of Jon Hopkins that fits the visuals snugly. There are few films I’ve enjoyed as much as Monsters this year. There are even fewer films I wish I hadn’t watched so I could watch them fresh from the beginning again.

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Love and Other Drugs – Movie Review

Is it a sex romp? A romance? A medical melodrama? A sentimental misstep? Love and Other Drugs needs help, it suffers from acute schizophrenia, having been unable to define itself, instead co-opting every genre in the Hollywood playbook.

It’s excruciatingly at times, telling the story of an up and coming pharmaceutical sales rep (Jake Gyllenhaal) – is it a social ladder jumping story? - who sleeps with every nurse and receptionists he can find. He begins a one-sided affair with a gorgeous woman in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease (Anne Hathaway) who needs the pills he can give her. It tries to be profound, emotional, funny, witty, and outrageous but winds up as an exercise in unedited self indulgence.

A unifying tone can’t be pinned down either. It careens between winking, adolescent sexuality, and morbidity that results in an off kilter and joyless experience. It seems to change its mind from scene to scene and even within a scene, a jarring ride through some weird universe where authenticity is at a premium. It wants to be sincere but it’s insincere and shallow.

Anne Hathaway’s character is described as feisty and unconventional but those are positive, spin words. But she is ill and is allowed to get away with selfish, crass behavior that somehow suggests intimacy but never gets there. She is a one-trick character, unsympathetic and dull. If obnoxious and deflective is what Hathaway was going for, the usually more sympathetic actress should get an award. This is a remove from her previous body of work; she’s taking a risk in creating an unlikable character; but that’s her job as an actress.

The first half focuses on the pioneering marketers of Viagra. Gyllenhaal’s whiz kid pharmaceutical salesman isn’t above large scale cheating to make a sale. This is not the kind of role Gyllenhaal does particularly well. He is TOO sincere, and here makes too much of his lack of the commitment gene, when in fact, he’s desperate for a relationship. The film could have scored with a tougher actor who would challenge us and Hathaway’s character more.

Here’s yet another case of a trailer misleading moviegoers. The trailer pelts us with sly sex jokes, conquests, the promise of erections, and a pretty girl who wins our hero’s heart. That’s the concept, but it’s sure not what’s delivered. It’s funny and sexy to a point but becomes submerged in bitterness and emotional gamesmanship.

It’s surprising that Zwick and Herskovitz have birthed such an unsatisfying yarn given their expertise in writing relationship stories and developing relatable characters. Love and Other Drugs is wishy washy and conventional as well as an exercise to get through. No wonder it’s taken so long to get the thing into the theatres.

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Black Swan movie review (Video)

Black Swan is the story of how a ballerina takes her dancing from brilliant to even better, which is not much of a journey by anyone's standards. With so little to work with, and only one dimensional characters to tell the tale, this film flails around for two arduous hours, much like a dying swan, with only the fall of the curtain to put it out of its misery.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina whose life is completely consumed with dance, and when Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace his prima ballerina for his next Swan lake production, Nina is his first choice. Although Nina is the perfect white swan, she struggles to create the passion needed to depict the black swan and is faced with constant criticism from her artistic director.

The cleverly cut trailer of this film makes it look like a psychological thriller, which is totally misleading. It's actually an extremely dark, slow paced drama, with some ludicrous scenes thrown in to try and create tension that simply does not exist.

An example of this is when Nina visits the ex-prima ballerina in hospital. Loud 'Swan Lake' music plays as she lifts the sheet, inch by inch, to look at the ballerina's legs, which she already knows are damaged.

The music gets louder and louder until she sees some bleeding cuts and then she runs out, accompanied by a musical crescendo. This scene contributes nothing to the story and only serves to illuminate how lame the writing really is.

Much of what happens lacks logic. Nina's mother initially suffocates, then sabotages, then she's supportive.

At one stage Nina appears to have been sexually liberated but later this is contradicted. She is initially neurotic, possibly self-harming and then becomes psychotic, but it's never clear what has really happened to her and what she has imagined happened.

But the most unenjoyable aspect of this film is Nina herself. She is eternally miserable, subservient, fearful and usually on the verge of/in tears.

Even when she is made the prima ballerina she is angst-ridden and weepy and it makes you wonder how she'd have reacted if she had won the lottery. Not with joy, for sure.

The greatest director in the world can't save a bad script, but Darren Aronofsky, could have at least got Nina to crack a smile once in a while, and not picking up on something this obvious shows a complete lack of perception.

Aronofsky also directed the brilliantly written and performed Wrestler, which brings his contribution into question and also questions how over rated directors really are. Perhaps if the entertainment industry were to stop spelling their title with a capital 'D' , they might not all be quite so puffed up.

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Movie Review: The Next Three Days

This PG-13 Crime/Romance/Drama concerns the Brennan family where the wife Lara, played by Elizabeth Banks, is accused of a murder and sent to jail for 20 years to life. Only her husband John, played well by Russell Crowe, believes her innocent of the crime. All their relatives and even their son Luke Brenna, played by Ty Simpkins, believes her guilty based on all the evidence.

After all the legal appeals are exhausted the wife attempts suicide and then confesses to her husband that she can’t bear the thought of remaining in jail for the remainder of her life. John, a literature teacher, decides the only way to save her is to break her out of prison and then escape to a country that won’t extradite them back to Pittsburgh. Naturally, this kind of illegal activity isn’t one of his, or any other English Literature teacher’s areas of expertise so he is soon involved in the underworld trying to get fake passports and another real Social Security Card that can be used to rent cars and buy airline tickets when paying by cash. He manages to get the heck beat out of him dealing with some of these underworld characters.

But he decides to get even with these underworld crooks by stealing their drug money. He knows that he will need a fortune in cash to make his escape plan work. That too is a near fiasco. Eventually, he manages to spring his wife from the country jail, but that’s only the beginning of the excitement. Their flight from the law, all of who are very talented police detectives makes for one exciting climax after another.

Basically the two unanswered questions of this crime movie are “Did the wife do the deed and actually murder her female supervisor?” The second question is whether this amateur jail breaker and his family will actually be able to elude the law and escape the country within the necessary three-day window of opportunity?

Crowe and Banks are backed up by an excellent supporting cast that includes Michael Buie as Mick Brennan, Moran Atlas as Erit, Remy Nozik as Jenna, Jason Beghe as Detective Quinn, Aisha Hinds as Detective Collero, Alissa Haggis as the junkie, Brian Dennehy as George Brennan and Helen Carey as Grace Brennan. Liam Neeson plays the ex-con Damon Pennington who has successfully escaped prison seven different times and provides the Crowe character the basic information he needs to know in order to break his wife out of jail and then make a successful and permanent escape from the country. The entire supporting cast is excellent.

Paul Haggis does a good directing job and keeping the early part of the film from dragging too much. Once again, Russell Crowe delivers a performance that will not disappoint his fans. While this isn’t “The Gladiator” or “L.A. Confidential” it is on a caliber with some of his other roles. It’s also nice to see a movie set in Pittsburgh for a change.

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MOVIE REVIEW: 'Unstoppable'

"Unstoppable" has no business being this entertaining of a film. After all, the plot is pretty obvious - a runaway train is eventually stopped by a couple quick-thinking workers before it derails and possibly spills a load with hazardous chemicals. However, this movie had plenty of heart-pounding moments and intense action, with it all feeling entirely plausible. (And that's partly because the movie is based on a real-life runaway train in 2001.)

Denzel Washington (Oscar winner for "Training Day" and "Glory") is our wise, grizzled veteran train engineer, Frank. On this day, he's assigned to work with newcomer conductor, Will (Chris Pine, who played Captain Kirk in the "Star Trek" reboot last year). Almost immediately, Frank makes it clear he's not too pleased with working with rookies like Will, who are taking the jobs of veteran rail workers.

Meanwhile, many miles away, a train employee named Dewey (Ethan Suplee, best known for his role in TV's "My Name Is Earl") hopped out of a train car to flip a switch, thinking he will easily be able to hop back aboard the coasting train, which was going maybe 10 miles in an hour. But, in a "Final Destination" sort of moment, the train's lever falls into throttle, and the train bolts away from Dewey. Workers around him laugh at his stupidity. However, the amusement quickly fades as train officials realize the train's speed has reached 70 mph, and the emergency air brakes aren't working.

My first thought as I watched the movie was, "why don't they just drop someone onto the train from a helicopter?" Luckily, that was one of the first options tried. It just didn't work. Neither did a few other ideas. But Frank has the idea to catch the train from behind, hit the brakes, and slow it down. (I don't think I'm giving too much away; all these plot points are shown in commercials and movie trailers.)

Denzel Washington recently teamed with this director, Tony Scott, in the mediocre train movie "Taking of Pelham 1 2 3." I wasn't a fan of that film, and I admittedly wasn't planning on seeing "Unstoppable" until the good reviews started pouring in. Denzel's Frank character knows seemingly everything there is to know about working the rails, knowing just how much time he has to avoid a collision, or how to catch and stop the train.

The wonderful Rosario Dawson ("Men In Black II," "Clerks II," "Rent") plays the role of Connie, who coordinates all train traffic for the line, and she plays her part well here. Like Denzel Washington's character, Dawson's Connie character is rarely wrong, but she's frequently overruled by bosses who are clueless on how to stop the train.

The highlights here are plenty. The near-misses on the train lines are breath-taking, as are some of the collisions. The scene where a person is dropped down from a helicopter to try and land on the runaway train also was intense. This movie could have been pretty basic, but Tony Scott kept it intense throughout.

Shot on a $100 million budget, "Unstoppable" earned an impressive $42 million worldwide in its first three days at the box office. Top critics at Rottentomatoes[dot]com gave it a stellar 90 percent approval rating. Average movie-goers liked it a lot as well, with 62 percent giving it an "A" grade, and another 25 percent giving it a "B" grade.

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Eno Onthara - Movie Review

Vijay-Jyothika starrer Khushi was a hit movie in Tamil and director SJ Suraiah remade it in Telugu, which was a blockbuster film. Later, it was remade in Hindi, but it was flop at the Box Office. Now, Mussanje Maathu fame director Mahesh has remade it as Eno Onthara (Yeno Onthara) in Kannada. He has completely stayed loyal to the original. And almost ten years have passed after these three movies, the director has not done single update to his script in Kannada.

Eno Onthara is a romantic-cum-sentimental film, which has all the commercial elements. Golden star Ganesh's performance is the main highlight of the movie. V Harikrishna's music, Sharan's comedy and PKH Doss' cinematography are the other highlights. Lack of freshness in the script and lengthy narration are two main weaknesses of the film.

The movie is a regular love story, where the hero and heroine separate over ego clashes and find themselves unable to express their hearts to each other. The movie is a right mixture of love, sentiment, comedy and confusion. The first half of the film is quite interesting, but lengthy climax in the second half tests the patience of the audience. But Ganesh and Priyamani have managed to make it watchable with their brilliant acting.

Surya (Ganesh) is a student in a college in Mysore. He develops a close relationship with his classmate Madhumathi (Priyamani) after seeing her confident nature. But their ego-centric nature makes them stay apart always. Once both struggle to unite their friends Shanthi and Prasad, who are in love. What happens to their own love story will form the climax of the film.

As usual, Ganesh rocks the viewers with his wonderful acting. Priyamani has also delivered a fair performance. Her on-screen chemistry with Ganesh is good to watch. Sharan’s comedy is enjoyable. Shrinivas Murthy, Jai Jagdish, Vijayalakshmi Singh and Padma Vasanthi have done justice to their respective roles. Ramesh Aravind's background commentary is successful in holding the audience's attention.

V Harikrishna has composed four beautiful songs for the film and all are good. Especially songs like 'Dilkhush...' and 'Inthi Ninna Preethiya...' are very melodious and linger the minds of listeners. PKH Doss' camera work is brilliant. He wins the heart of viewers with his wonderful picturisation of New Delhi and Kerala in song sequences.

Overall, it can be said although Eno Onthara does not have anything unusual, it can be enjoyed once.

Producer: M Chandrasekhar

Director: Mussanje Mahesh

Cast: Ganesh, Priyamani, Shrinivas Murthy, Jai Jagdish, Vijayalakshmi Singh, Padma Vasanthi, Sharan

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Movie Review: Megamind

Its not too much of a stretch to say most fans of animated films feel a love/hate relationship with Dreamworks. One year you'll be graced with the original "Shrek" and the next you'll get "Shark Tale." In what is essentially Pixar's game, Dreamworks is the runt on the sideline you give the ball to every once and a while just to see what will happen. In the case of Dreamworks' latest, Megamind, they get to the 35 yard line and settle for a field goal.

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a supervillain turned not-so-super hero. After the assumed death of his arch rival Metro Man (Brad Pitt), Megamind assumes control of Metro City but quickly grows bored and longs for a challenge. In comes the cameraman Hal (Jonah Hill), coworker of reporter and Megamind love interest Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey), who gets transformed into a superhero to satisfy Megamind's urge to fight. Megamind disguises himself the as father figure in an homage to Marlon Brando's Jor-El in the original Superman. Minion (David Cross) classily slaps a dress on his robotic body to assume the motherly role. After a great deal of training that ultimately leads nowhere, Megamind focuses his priorities on winning the heart of Roxanne, under the guise of a friendly museum curator Bernard. Its not until Hal (now the semi-superhero Titan) sees Megamind on a date with Roxanne that the action begins. Cheesy fight scene staples AC/DC and Guns n' Roses provide the music for extended action sequences that leave viewers cringing not in brutality but in cliché-riddled skirmishes.

As funny as Will Ferrell is, animation just isn't his thing. Sure his vocal inflections and here-and-there improv are still there, but you don't get the charisma that really sets him apart from any other recognizable voice actor. Remember his Curious George performance?

Didn't think so.

His name is a marquee, an attention grabber, but this medium in particular really constricts his ability to be funny. A theme that many Dreamworks films suffer from can't go unnoticed: draw a story out of a hat, pack films to the brim with stars and pray they make their money back.

Though it must be noted again, David Cross is a talking fish bowl named Minion. This was certainly a highlight of the movie.

A considerable portion of the plot is consumed by a softening of the evil in Megamind's life in pursuit of Roxanne. The originally unassuming villain in Hal/Titan is weak and never does the viewer ever really feel there is anything in jeopardy.

The animation here is nothing special either. With no real eye-popping visuals, the 3D is underwhelming and more of a marketing ploy than anything. Halfway through the film, it gets quite easy to forget the movie is even in 3D, despite the bulky glasses on your face.

As a matter of fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to claim Megamind is this year's Avatar. They have more in common than you might think. Despite the gap in their opening weekend grosses, the films are almost one in the same. They've got computer generated blue people, 3D, unoriginal plot lines, forgettable voice acting, big budgets and so on. That's not to say they can't be enjoyable, but according to the bylaws of the Global Movie Critics with Integrity Association of the World, they aren't allowed to receive stellar reviews. Its the law.

From a child's perspective, there's enough action and low brow humor to keep a kid occupied for an hour and a half. They may even really enjoy it. For an adult, on the other hand, there are better options. If your hunger for original animated superhero movies cannot be contained, you may be better off renting The Incredibles.

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EW Movie Review: 127 Hours

Oscar winning director Danny Boyle's latest film, "127 Hours," is based on the true-life adventure of a hiker who took drastic measures to survive. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly Magazine filed the following review.

The film "127 Hours" is a true-life adventure that turns into a one-man disaster movie -- and the darker it gets, the more enthralling it becomes. The director, Danny Boyle, is the floridly intense pop-poetic stylist who made "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Trainspotting," but here, in a change of pace, he summons all his visual zap to tell the story of what happened to Aron Ralston, a 27-year-old hiker, as authentically as possible.

On a Friday night in April 2003, Aron, a carefree bohemian jock played by James Franco, leaves his home in Aspen to indulge in his favorite ritual of escape, driving out to the miles of twisty red-rock formations that make up Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Hiking on his own, he falls through a crack in the earth and winds up wedged between two chalkstone walls, a boulder having lodged itself against his crushed right arm.

You may go into "127 Hours" knowing exactly what Aron Ralston did to survive. Yet in no way does that diminish the film's psychological suspense. Franco, in a tour de force, takes us through the Five Stages of Survival: detachment, jokes, rage, revelation, and doing-what-you-gotta-do. Once Aron realizes that he's not getting (or going) anywhere, he begins to descend into fantasy. And what he comes to see is that his trapped state is what he's been running from his whole life. That boulder was waiting for him.

The film offers a daunting challenge to a filmmaker: How do you rivet an audience when your protagonist can't even move? The answer is that there's an awesome freedom to Danny Boyle's filmmaking; he treats Aron’s predicament as a kind of altered state. Aron may be pinned, but his soul gets unlocked, and when he finally faces up to what he has to do, he's not just cutting off his trapped appendage. He's cutting off the part of himself that was only pretending to be alive.

"127 Hours" is a salute to do-it-yourself existential bravery, but what makes it cathartic is that it's about a guy who gets high by taking the ultimate plunge.

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Gaana Bajaana – Movie Review

The success of Love Guru inspired director Prashanth Raj and his team to do another movie. So the team is now back with its next film called Gaana Bajaana. The movie has a very simple storyline, but director has made it good watch by including all the commercial elements. Besides good performance, the film has rich production values and this make the film entertaining.

Gaana Bajaana is a romantic entertainer. The highlights of the film are Tharun Chandra, Dilip Raj and Radhika Pandit's performance, Sharan and Laksmi Devi's comedy, Joshua Sridhar’s music, Shekhar's camera work, costumes and choreography. The demerit of the film is the lack of goods in the story and director Prashanth Raj could have included a few more twists and turns to create interest among the viewers.

The film is all about two guys and a girl's dream about their life partners. The hero loves heroine, heroine has lover for a rowdy and the rowdy has crush for a dance teacher. The director has good grip over the pace of the story and the film has dynamic narration. The first half of the film has quite fast-paced narration and Sharan and Laksmi Devi's comedy is one of the highlights of this part. The second half of the film is even more interesting with new twists and turns. The director could have strengthened the love story with a few more sentimental sequences.

Krish is a dancer, who is staying in Thailand. His grandfather (Raja Rao) wants him to marry his friend's (CR Simha) granddaughter Radhe (Radhika Pandit) so that their friendship will turn into a strong relationship. But Radhe is also dancer and she wants her partner to be a rowdy and rough and tough guy. She develops lover for local rowdy Kuttappa (Dilip Raj). Meanwhile, Dilip Raj has a crush on a dance teacher. Whether all these three youngsters will get their dream partners will form the rest of the story.

As Krish, Tharun Chandra has delivered a wonderful performance. With his body exposure and wonderful dance steps, he steals the heart of the girls. As rowdy Kuttappa, Dilip also rocks the audience. He has good energy in his dialogue delivery and expressions. Radhika Pandit is also successful in winning the heart of pranksters with her smile and stylish looks. Sharan, ML Lakshmi Devi and Vijaya Parthsarthy's comedy is a big highlight of the film. Others like CR Simha, Yashwanth Sardeshpande, Manjunath Hegde, Vijay, Ratnakar and Raja Rao have also filled life into their respective roles.

Another biggest highlight of Gaana Bajaana is its music, which has been composed by Joshua Sridhar. Especially songs like ‘Gaana Bajaana…’, ‘Hosadondu Hesaridu…’ and ‘Naanu Eega Naanena…’ have been shot in a very stylish way and choreography and costume designing in these songs is simply superb. Moreover, these three songs are quite melodious to listen and they have already proved as chart-buster songs. Shooting locations like Thailand and few other places is really good. Shekhar's cinematography is commendable. Overall, Gaana Bajaana is worth watchable movie and it can be good entertainer for this weekend.

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