Movie Review - Aladin

Aladin (the film) is no Genius as Amitabh Bachchan's character is, but the movie does transport you to fantasyland, as its genre promises.

Right from Boman Irani's voice-over in the beginning, the film carries you to a place called Khwaish, where Sujoy Ghosh rubs his palms, has his actors in slick get-ups, and sets to match the mood.

Its fantasyland all right when Aladin (Riteish Deshmukh) is bullied by his friends from childhood to rub a lamp in the hope of a genie appearing. ''Aladin, Aladin kahan hai tera genie,'' his friends harass him all through his growing-up years.

However, things change when Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez) walks into his class on his birthday. Kasim (Sahil Khan), the big bully organizes a birthday bash to impress Jasmine. He convinces Jasmine that Aladin likes lamps and they buy him one as his birthday gift. Once again, they force him to rub the lamp. He refuses, but on Jasmine's insistence, he does oblige. Out comes Genius the genie (Amitabh Bachchan).

From then on, its all between Genie and Aladin. He has three wishes but he wastes them all on Jasmine! There's also a twist in the tale in the form of Ring Master (Sanjay Dutt) who plays the bad Genie who wants all powers for himself.

Jacqueline waltzes through her part with the grace of a gazelle. She has the looks and the talent to make a mark. Amitabh is in 'high energy' mode giving the formulaic image of a fat man who we have come to identify with a Genie, a novel twist. Whether he is dancing or fighting, he is still 'Ab Tak Bachchan'. The style and the charismatic power are there for all to see. Riteish is slowly but steadily making a mark of his own. Dutt injects the necessary evil ingredient.

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House Of The Devil Movie Review

he House Of The Devil is as perfect an 80's horror film as we'll ever get in this decade. The only thing missing is the giant clamshell VHS case. The look, style, tone, pacing, even the credits nail the feel of a flick your friends would've rented out for a slumber party, but weren't quite sure what it was about. It's fun for fans of the genre (yes, 80's possession horror is a sub-sect) but ADD-editing style fanatics should move along to the next defanged crappy remake.

The House of the Devil is the classic story of a nubile young coed Samantha, played by Jocelin Donahue and who could be the younger sister of Marion from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Samantha is enrolled at a sleepy college and has roommate problems.

Namely, her roommate is always having raucous sex, distracting from her scholarly duties. Samantha wants out, and has found an apartment that would suit her just fine. The only problem? She doesn't have the money to cover her check.

Samantha takes a long walk to the student center and finds a simple ad that reads "Babysitter Needed". She calls and speaks to Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan, whose creepy voice you can tell immediately, and will alert you to the fact that something bad will probably go down). After a lengthy series of misunderstandings, Samantha finally makes her way to the house, where she meets Ulman. He is indeed creepy, but Noonan plays it so well, you're not sure if he's sinister or just a normal, albeit strange, individual. However, in case you couldn't glean it from the title, some bad things are about to go down at this house.

There have been a lot of movies lately that try to ape the aesthetics of past movies, but successfully incorporate them into the narrative. Some miss this point (The Good German, Grindhouse) while some are successful (Black Dynamite, this). The key is that they don't let the storytelling get in the way of the story. Ti West, the director, clearly loves his 80's horror films, but I sense that he went into this movie with the intention of making a film that could easily stand alongside these movies, not looking down on them. To this extent, he succeeds! He has crafted a wonderful sense of tension and dread that could also just as easily be paranoia in the mind of a cute young coed who hasn't been inundated with horror films.

(He also does a great job with the period setting details. My favorite being Samantha's walkman that's the size of a novel).

The performances make the film rise above as well. I have not seen Jocelin Donahue before, but she looks like she stepped out of the 80s. She's nice to look at, and she plays the character with the right amount of naivety and desperation that you believe she would put herself in the situations that she does. And Tom Noonan is just fantastic. Everytime he's on screen, you chuckle nervously, never sure what he's going to do next. The supporting actors are quite good as well, including A.J. Bowen, a familiar face to fans of The Signal.

The movie is deliberately slow. The pace is there for a reason. You have to invest in the film to get more out of it, but it sinks in long after viewing, and it is creepy. It's not about cheap scares, it's about subtle layers. If you're tired of the what passes for horror these days, and are looking for a fun, spooky flick with loads of atmosphere, do yourself and check out House Of The Devil.

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Michael Jackson Movie This Is It Review

The Michael Jackson movie “This Is It” left me disappointed. Don’t get me wrong here, the movie was masterfully put together from rehearsal footage.

Director Kenny Ortega’s compilation of over 250 hours of all the footage is nothing short of genius. The movie runs pretty seamlessly, trying to give the viewer a “real feeling” of what this tour would have been if Michael hadn’t suffered his untimely death. All of Michael’s multi platinum songs are there.

We see Michael trying to make sure the shows were up to “his” standards and how he always would be polite and loving, even when giving criticism.

“This Is It” delivered on its promise to show us the “inner” workings of a Michael Jackson concert and it showed us why the “King Of Pop” was one of the greatest showmen of our time.

In “This Is It”, the “King Of Pop” moves more like a man of 20 than his actual age of 50. In some of the scenes, the singer moves at a slower pace and is quick to point out that he is just “holding himself in”, which is understandable because it is a “rehearsal” after all.

The “This Is It” tour would have been one of the greatest shows of all time. The movie is a fitting tribute for the beloved Michael Jackson and is sure to be talked about and watched for a long time to come. Fans will swoon over it and all of Michael’s critics will trash it.

This movie was made for the fans and they will enjoy it tremendously. It is very entertaining and gives you almost everything a “live” concert would have. So, you may be asking why I am disappointed? “This Is It” left me disappointed because I realized what a great show a Michael Jackson concert must have been and I am disappointed I never got to see any of the “King Of Pop’s” concerts in person.

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London Dreams

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan, Asin
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Director: Vipul A. Shah

Two childhood friends had little in common, except the connection their families had with music.

While Arjun’s (Ajay Devgn) life was consumed by a passionate drive to get on stage and realize his grandfather’s unfulfilled dream, Mannu (Salman Khan) had little interest in his father’s music instruments and was content with remaining a child at heart; bold, loud and boisterous, and enjoying the good things in life.

Never had they expected music to solidify their friendship and then test it with catastrophic results…

Arjun, an abandoned child, ran away from an uncle who was his only family in an unfamiliar land. He roamed the streets of London struggling to pursue his sole dream of foraying into the world of music and showmanship.

He forged a band with Zoheb (Rannvijay Singh) and Wasim (Aditya Roy Kapoor), two brothers who’d duped their relatives in Pakistan to travel to London in pursuit of their musical aspirations, and Priya (Asin), a beautiful and young music enthusiast.

Far away in Punjab (India), Mannu took to playing in local wedding bands to make ends meet. Shortly after bringing Mannu to London to make him a part of his band, Arjun realized that he had blundered by creating the biggest threat and obstacle to his ambition.

Manu, incredibly gifted, became an instant opiate of the masses with his unique and irreverent style of performing. What took Arjun years to achieve, Mannu did overnight.

Arjun felt betrayed by the God to whom he’d surrendered everything in exchange for eminence in music. His (Arjun’s) pangs of jealousy and insecurity became worse when Mannu won over his secret love, Priya.

Battling his inner demons and consumed by rage, Arjun devised a sinister plan to destroy his best friend and adversary.

Over a three-city tour spanning Paris, Rome and Amsterdam, Arjun sent a naïve Mannu on a downward hurtling rollercoaster ride of sex and drugs before a grand finale at the historic Wembley Arena, where Arjun hoped to regain and enjoy his moment of glory.

But as a rude shock awaited Arjun, it also turned into a humbling and introspective experience that taught him the real meaning of acceptance.

From Vipul Shah, the maker of supreme blockbusters as Namastey London and Waqt, London Dreams, lavishly mounted and embellished, is an intense and powerful drama about passion, ambition, envy and realization, with a distinct musical backdrop. With a stellar cast, it promises to be one of the most compelling motion picture experiences of 2009.

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Antichrist - Movie Review

In a March 2009 interview with iconic uber-indie writer/director Lars von Trier (“Dogville,” “Dancer in the Dark,” “Breaking the Waves”) the devil-beset film maker described the circumstances surrounding the writing of this screenplay.

He described himself as suffering from depression, everything seeming unimportant and trivial and his being incapable of work.

In this condition he wrote the script for “Antichrist.” If you think you have seen heavy films you ain’t seen nuttin’ until you see this. Regarding the Not Rated rating, this film is not rated for several very good reasons. Any one of the most disturbing five or six scenes alone would garner a solid “X” from the less than understanding MPAA (The MPAA discussion of the film on IMDB is longer than this film review. Squeamish viewers might want to take the time to read the discussion even though it contains some spoilers).

The film consists almost entirely of two characters. Married couple “He” played by twice Oscar nominated Willem Dafoe (“Platoon” and “Shadow of the Vampire”) and “She” played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. Gainsbourg, a two time French Cesar winner pocketed the coveted Best Actress award at the 2009 Cannes FF for her scintillating performance in this film. She does everything but set the piano on fire in this powerful story of grief and loss.

The film starts with the death of the couple’s infant child who dies while they are making passionate love. This event causes intense guilt feelings in the couple. “He” is a psychological counselor who tries to talk his wife out of her near-coma obsession over their child’s death but she slips further and further into an abyss that eventually becomes homicidal.

The two retreat to their once-favorite idyll in the pristine forests of the mountains where they plan to rest and get their life together. At this point the film takes on the feeling of the horror classic “The Shining” where struggling writer Jack Nicholson goes bonkers at the isolated Colorado retreat. The screenplay could be considered both pornography and a horror story although the latter part of the film is solidly in the horror genre. He is trying to escape while saving the life and sanity of his partner while she is in an uncontrollable deadly rage apparently bent on killing them both.

As in von Trier’s’ earlier films this one has a marvelous stripped down look and feel consistent with the guidelines of the “Dogme 95” convention. The visual expression is as pristine as the mountain streams. There are no sets, no artificial lighting, and no costumes. Director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle rejoins von Trier after their past efforts in the blockbuster “Manderlay” and “Dogville” (“Manderlay” also featuring Willem Dafoe). Mantle has done much of his previous work with Thomas Vinterburg in creating the brooding, overcast feelings of impending doom in “Last King of Scotland” and “Dear Wendy” and this film is creepier than either of those (beating out Idi Amin in the creepiness category is not easy…). There is something about the flat light and rainfall of the mountain idyll (named “Eden” with a full measure of irony) that amplifies the entrapped horror the two characters are feeling. Death is the only relief they have but it continually eludes them.

The movie makes enthralling diversions in and out of surrealism as well as the over-riding horror and carnal themes. The symbols of the "the 3 Beggars" (a deer who represents grief, a fox who represents pain and a crow who represents despair) are recurrent with the crow/raven finally exposing He in his hiding place where He is discovered by his insanely wrathful wife. Another fascinating symbol is the acorns that fall against the roof of the cabin in a natural tattoo that eventually expands into a crescendo of maddening noise as the two protagonists come closer to the realization that their options are almost exhausted.

This film will not go down in history as one of Lars von Trier’s greatest but it is still worth watching if you are a fan of his or of Dafoe’s or Gainsbourg’s. Her performance is one of the most intense ever filmed and would be every bit as powerful without the worst scenes of bloody violence and without the most explicit scenes of sexual activity. Many will end up considering Nicole Kidman’s performance in “Dogville” to be more expressive even though it is considerably less outrageous.

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Movie Review - 'Amelia' circles but is sadly off-course

Considering the risks Amelia Earhart took, losing her life in the call of aviation, Hilary Swank and director Mira Nair don't put much on the line in their film biography "Amelia."

Swank and Nair play it safe to the point of benumbing this woman's life, leaving Earhart as remote and muted as she is in the black-and-white photos and news footage of the aviator included at the film's end.

"Amelia" is a biopic on autopilot. We get the facts of Earhart's pioneering achievements, her marriage to her promoter (Richard Gere), her fling with a fellow pilot (Ewan McGregor). And we get pretty pictures of airplanes in flight.

But this dowdy movie rarely embodies Earhart's passions, whether for flying or for the men in her life.

Much of the fault lies in the screenplay by Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, a script remarkably based on not one, but two Earhart biographies.

In stumbling, choppy fashion, the movie intercuts between Earhart's doomed last flight around the world in 1937 and the achievements leading up to it over the previous decade – her Atlantic and Pacific crossings, her mentoring of female fliers, her efforts to establish regional passenger shuttle service.

Lovely aerial images, lush landscapes and rich sets and costumes are the film's lone strengths. In almost every other regard, "Amelia" veers off course.

All the other components for an engaging chronicle are there. A grand life that ends in tragedy and epic mystery. Period drama that offers the chance to craft glorious images and play puppetmaster for fascinating characters. A filmmaker in Nair ("Monsoon Wedding," "Mississippi Masala") who has a keen feel for bold women and zestful lives.

A sturdy supporting cast includes Christopher Eccleston, as the navigator who disappeared with Earhart on her final flight over the Pacific, and Cherry Jones, who briefly enlivens the film as Eleanor Roosevelt on a night flight with Earhart.

"Amelia" flirts with potentially interesting aspects of Earhart's story. Sadly, these moments are tossed in to no purpose, like stuffy airport layovers in really interesting destinations you wish you had the time to go out and explore.

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All The Best

Starring Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mugdha Godse
Directed by Rohit Shetty
Rating: ** ½

“I’m doing action for thirty years. Comedy I’ve recently taken to, ” says Sanjay Dutt in the ‘won’-and-only explosion of dhishum-dhishum.

You got it, brother. In his first really decent and meaty role since Munnabhai Dutt gets into the satirical groove effortlessly and fluently playing a visiting Bade Bhaiyya from abroad whom his kid- brother Fardeen Khan (tolerably befuddled) must fool into believing he’s married and decent.

The guys in Rohit Shetty’s comedies are anything but decent. Rascals and rogues of the first order Devgan and Khan, are splendidly supported by a sparkling cast of comic actors ranging from Asrani to Johnny Lever to the wonderful Ashwini Kalsekar (remember how cheesy and charming she was in Rohit Shetty’s Gol Maal Returns?) to Sanjay Mishra (as a zonked out wannabe householder who says ‘Just chill’ as though his tongue had just been through a sugarcane – juice machine).

The screenplay (Robin Bhatt) juices the material for all it’s worth.

The constant flow of cheesy-breezy dialogues is littered with high-school humour but blessedly no vulgarity. This is one comedy you could take your mom to see without once walloping a wince into the wanton soup.

The burlesque is fast –paced though surprisingly restrained and has room galore for PJs.

The one-liners are so silly and graffiti-like in their basic humour, you can’t but titter at the trivia wrapped in gloss that makes welcome room for Pritam’s pacy music without getting in the way of the one-liners.

So ok. This one doesn’t leave you …er Blue in the face. The comedy is purely situational and the style purely ‘ Rohit Shetty’. That means a bit of slapstick, a bit of that rapidly-moving tongue in the cheek, and a lot of Ajay Devgn.

And if you add Sanjay Dutt to the bubby buncy comic brew…man, you’ve got show that’s on the road from the word, go.

This time the setting, if you must know, is Goa. Shetty doesn’t use the touristic spot as a character. You suspect he places his colony of characters in the Goan location so they could all be camera-framed into a streamlined stampede.

There are only 3 female characters in the show, the resy are all guys playing con men, goons, gangsters, wheeledealers, warriors and worriers all of whom display an exemplary comic strength.

Sanjay Dutt gets it right after a long time. He has a lot of fun doing his part and he lets us share his enjoyment.

Ajay Devgn’s comic timing has gotten rapidly dead-on under Shetty’s tutelage. He gives Dutt tit for tat, and then some more.

Not all the material is uniformly amusing. Towards the finishing line you do begin to wonder how much longer it would take this wonky wacky world of wispy and reparable wickeness to set itself right.

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