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What I have been watching this week
Falling ill has its advantages like getting to watch some great and not so great movies! Here are 4 flicks you ought to watch too.
Godzilla (2014/Gareth Edwards) – This 2014 new reboot is a class
act – with great special effects, fantastic cinematography, stupendous action
sequences but one missing element - Godzilla. Yes, you read it right! Unlike what the teasers and trailers promised,
Godzilla is pretty much absent throughout the movie not until it’s already the
half way mark. And when you do finally see him, he is not the angry, berserk
monster you would expect but the friendly beast out to save humanity from the
MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms). Maybe the idea was to pay
homage to the traditional Japanese TOHO movies (with Godzilla as the savior of mankind) but for many fans like me who were expecting something fire and thunder bombastic, it’s a big
letdown. Anyway, it’s not that all bad and with no big name stars in this
vehicle except Godzilla, you never know what’s coming!
American Hustle (2013/David O. Russell) – Let me put it
straight. Though based on the 1970s FBI Abscam sting operation, this is not really the con movie
it sets out to be but more of a character study of the 5 protagonists and their
internal machinations. Christian Bale is Irving Rosenfeld (based on the real
life con man Melvin Weinberg) and he is a standout in this role with his
balding pate, failing health and a bulging waist line. Christian Bale is living
proof of how far some actors will to get into the character literally and
movies like this (and The Machinist), reiterate his strengths of what a fine actor
he is. Amy Adams is his partner in crime, the hot, conning damsel who cons for a higher purpose in life and Bradley
Cooper the insecure but over ambitious FBI agent on their trail who entraps
them to entrap bigger fish or so it goes. You also get support from Jeremy
Renner in a rather unusual casting as the mayor with a golden heart but its Jennifer
Lawrence as Bale’s hyperactive and unpredictable wife who literally steals the
show. Robert De Niro is largely wasted in a potentially explosive character
that’s never explored beyond his 5 minutes of screen time. However, the club scene when he speaks in Arabic is stellar!
Though it has it flaws, this is still a great watch just to relish the 70s scenery and the antics
of Bale, Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence!
Wer (2013/William Brent Bell)– It’s been a while since you had a great werewolf movie
and this independent horror thriller from the director who gave us the Devil
Inside(2012) and Stay Alive(2006) turns this genre upside down with interesting
results. A deformed man is accused in rural France of ghastly murders and in
his defense, comes our heroine – A.J.Cook, her work partner Chuck’s Vik Sahay
and her ex boy friend researcher Simon Quaterman. Is the deformed guy the dangerous
killer that he is accused of or an innocent persecuted for his odd looks. I
wont spoil it further for you. From a
rather sedate start, that had me almost hit the forward button, the movie
suddenly picks up steam and becomes quite engrossing. However, the last
final act is sort of a lame cop out but I would still recommend you watch it
for the bloody fun!
Snowpiercer (2013/Joon-ho Bong) – The advantage of international travel is that
you get to see some movies first than others, especially if you live in the US
or UK. Touted as one of the most expensive South Korean produced English movies,
this sci-fi thriller was on my watch list for a long time for 2 reasons – it’s based
on a famous French dystopian graphic novel Le Transperceneige written by
Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochettewiki and its directed by Joon-ho
Bong who gave us fantastic movies like The Host(2006) and The Mother (2009) in
his first English debut. With a great cast including an almost undecipherable Chris Evans, the
amazing Tilda Swinton (in one of here best performances), Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, John Hurt and Korean superstar -
Song Kang-ho, this actually could have been better. Sadly, the intentionally multilayered script
suffers from many contradictions and inherent flaws in scince & logic making Snowpiercer
a odd mishmash of kinetic action, sepia toned sci-fi and silly eco-activism. As a hard core sci-fi fan with high
expectations on this, I was a tad disappointed but regular fans will probably
gloss it over. 
Have not seen Wer and Godzilla, yet. But, I have seen American Hustle which I enjoyed. immensely and thought that Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence just melted the screen. Bale and Cooper are terrific, as well, but the two ladies in this film steal the show. Their charisma and raw sensuality just burst off the screen. Although I am not a fan of David O. Russell as a person, he is undeniably a terrific director. The whole film was clever, brilliantly acted, well written and directed. Yes, there were some liberties taken with what actually happened BUT overall the film is pretty accurate, all together.
ReplyDeleteAlso agreed with you on Snowpiercer. A powerful and smartly written post apocolyptic film, but seemingly missing something. I liked it for a 3 star film but not 4, like I was expecting after all of the buzz I had heard. Rumor has it there is an over 3 hour long director's cut floating around but that the studios thought it was too long for us mere mortals to grasp. We, after all went in droves to see long ass films like the Lord of The Rings trilogy (each film 3-4 hours long and then some) , the full length Dances With Wolves (over 3 hours), Blackhawk Down (almost 3 hours), The Wolf of Wall Street (almost 3 hours), Gladiator (almost 3 hours). Yea, those studio execs really know what we want. NOTICE TO STUDIOS: PLEASE STOP SPOON FEEDING US LIKE WE ARE ALL A BUNCH OF BABIES. WE CAN HANDLE LONG FILMS AS LONG AS THEY ARE GOOD. Roger Ebert once said, "No bad film is short enough. No good film is long enough." Some might take issue and I have seen films that are time just right. But Snowpiercer ends seemingly lacking something. It starts out in the thick of things which is okay but there is very little leading up to where the film starts. I liked Snowpiercer and would recommend it. Chris Evans who, aside from his role as Captain America has not made that big of an impression on me as an actor. The Fantastic Four films were laughably bad and Cellular was decent, at best. In Snowpiercer, Evans is terrific and is the reason to see the film. His performance aa Curtis, the chosen leader of survivors on the train called Snowpiercer after the Earth is destroyed, is smart, filled with humanity as a flawed being and strength. He is intelligent but still quick thinking on his feet. There was a knock down, drag out fight between the film's witer and director, Joon Ho Bong and the studios which delayed the release for almost an entire year. What has been released is a good, if not great film. It IS worth watching at the theater, but hoping they release the full length director's cut on DVD, is my wish. I blame the studio not film makers.
American Hustle-**** out of 4
Snowpiercer-*** out of 4
Have not seen Wer and Godzilla, yet. But, I have seen American Hustle which I enjoyed. immensely and thought that Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence just melted the screen. Bale and Cooper are terrific, as well, but the two ladies in this film steal the show. Their charisma and raw sensuality just burst off the screen. Although I am not a fan of David O. Russell as a person, he is undeniably a terrific director. The whole film was clever, brilliantly acted, well written and directed. Yes, there were some liberties taken with what actually happened BUT overall the film is pretty accurate, all together.
ReplyDelete