Cairo Station

Made in 1958, Cairo Station is considered to the first of cinematic masterpieces form Egypt and the beacon of Arab Cinema. Directed by Youssef Chahine, it is about sexually fueled insanity of Kenaoui, a newspaper vendor working in Cairo's railway station. He spends his time checking out women and pinning up pictures of bikini-clad women in his room. In addition to him the station has a whole lot of people representing sections of the working class people in the station- Abu Serib, the porter, wants to make a union and spends his time convincing others and trying to curb the free spirited Hanuma, the soft drink seller and his wife to be. Hanuma is like whiff of fresh air gone berserk and she is the eye sore of the station's authorized soft drink vendor. Hanuma is also the object of Kenaoui, the hobbling newspaper vendor's sexual fantasies. Hanuma's love for Abu Serib is something that is beyond Kenaoui's comprehension. He proposes to her but she keeps declining him and mocks him.

Hanuma and Abu decide to marry and Kenaoui is assigned the task of delivering Hanuma's trousseau to Abu who'd book it in the goods train. Kenaoui's frustration reaches a fever pitch and he decides to kill Hanuma. His plans are set in motion when Hanuma asks him to run off with her soft drink bucket so that the authorities can't catch her. Kenaoui asks her to come and collect it later. A tired Hamuma convinces her friend to fetch her bucket. Kenaoui ends up killing the friend thinking that she's Hanuma and delivers the body in a crate passed off as Hanuma's trousseau to Abu Serib.

What follows is how the entire station comes together and saves Hanuma from Kenaoui's evil plans. This remarkable film troubled the 1950's sensibilities of Egypt to such an extent that it was banned for almost 20 years. Set against the backdrop of a bustling railway station the director (doubling as Kenaoui as well) manages to depict the daily lives of those who work at the station as well as people who visit it using melodrama merging easily into documentary-style realism.

Over flowing with issues and thoughts, the screenplay keeps up the tone and pace all through the film's running time. Watching the film 50 years after it was made and still enjoying it proves that it has stood the test of time for it still looks fresh. The best thing in addition to the performances was the camerawork which oscillates between grand and gritty. Cairo Station's climax will stay in your mind of some time for it is tragic as well as scary.

Image Courtsey: Guardian

Tender Is The Wolf

It's Cinefan time again and I kicked off my film watching spree with an accidental choice. I reached two hours before the time for the film that I wanted to see and ended up viewing a Tunisian film called Tender Is The Wolf. What unfolded in the first few minutes of the film showed great promise but somehow failed to deliver. The story is set in some nameless city and shows the harsh realism of modern Tunisian life. There’s this woman who is getting ready for an evening on the town in a red dress. It fits like a dream.

That evening we see three young men fight for some dudes take off with the stuff one of them sold on the street. They are pissed and one of them is an albino who keeps dancing for no reason and when he has a reason, he dances then as well. One more guy, in his 30’s stays with his over protective mother and over bearing father, joins the three.

As the four dudes sit and drink and smoke up, the woman in the red dress comes from her flat to hitch the cab that has been sent by her date for the evening. One of them men makes fun of her and the fiery woman in that figure hugging fiery dress retorts. The men are pissed, the albino decides to teach her a lesson and the three gang rape her. The fourth dude, actually an over grown kid, tries stopping but fails. The woman is pissed at them for they have spoilt her dress. It’s a nightmare.

The girl asks her brother to get even and he bashes up the only guy who didn't do anything. The girl doesn't stop her brother and enjoys it. He is left to die butt naked on the streets but somehow manages to get home and get dressed to go out, find his friends and search the girl to teach her a lesson. The girl and the guy hook up, end up making love and discovering true love. The man proposes and the woman accepts even though she is sure that he'll walk out on her; the man assures her that he'll not for he's learnt a lot in the course of that one night.

Come morning and the woman walks out on the man and he is left licking his wounds. The build up of these two lead characters- Abdelmoumen Chouiette as the over grown kid and a beautiful looking Anissa Daoud as the woman in red- as two sides of the same coin worked for the few minutes but just looses it in between. The setting of the film is very realistic and gritty but it doesn't really take off. There are few shots which are in black and white, can’t figure out why? Barring a few sequences that stay in the mind for some time, it’s the lead wolves (didn’t know who was the real ‘wolf’ in the title) that stand out in the film. At 83 minutes director Jilani Saadi's vision felt a little long or have I gotten so used to non-sense that perhaps I'm not being able to see the good in it? That's my problem with these slice of life kind of films- there has to be a little something more that just a juicy looking chunk of meat.

Image Courtsey: Philadelphia Film Fest

Aap Ka Surroor- the Moviee

I survived Aap Ka Surroor!

In case you wondering why the hell did I leave everything else to catch the first day first show of Himesh Reshamiya’s debut film, let me tell you that I’ve lost my head…not yet at least. I was to review the film for rediff.com

I was pleasantly surprised to see 80% attendance for a 10:30am show. Three people in the audience had Himesh songs as ring tones; there was a young man who came all alone to catch the real ‘luv’ story; people behind me knew details about HR’s personal life that I had no clue about. What does this tell you? That Himesh’s PR is good and should be congratulated.

The film is a prime example of how to cash on a success wave; it’s been two years since Himesh has been belting out hit pe hit pe hit. People have gotten so used to his nasal singing that everyone else sounds besur. Even though you might not think highly of Himesh but his tunes are catchy; some time ago I just couldn't get myself to stop whistling the title track of 36 China Town. People who have met him say that he comes across as a very straight forward kind of guy to deal with. Though Himesh must be definitely happy at the success that his hard work has bestowed upon him, it seems to be that perhaps he’s not enjoying it. Maybe he’s aware that this success comes with an expiry date and if he starts smiling and enjoying it maybe it will wear out. Maybe he’s dealing with great pains and he doesn’t know how to smile…what non-sense! This is exactly the success of his PR agency which is making us seemingly normal people think like loonies.

Aap Ka Surroor- the Moviee guaranteed to answer all these questions and doubts for it claimed to be the real ‘luv’ story. Well mostly it’s a load of crap with some real bad acting. Not that I was expecting the sky from Himesh when it came to acting but considering that he showed all his acting prowess in the music videos so there was hardly anything left. So what were they thinking? Could the film have been like Eminem's film 8 Mile? Well if Himesh's life was half as colorful as Eminem's or at least his baseball cap collection then perhaps yes!

Unlike most recent films at least the promos don’t reveal the entire story so there is more non-sense than what the producers proudly display in the trailers! If you have nothing else to do…my suggestion is sleep…don’t even go near the poster of Aap Ka Surroor…actually enjoy the poster!

Image Courtesy: Now Running

Holy Smoke

I finally saw Jane Champion’s Holy Smoke. I had been intending to view Holy Smoke for a long time now but never really got around. Holy Smoke features Kate Winslet as Ruth, an Australian who on a visit to India gets hooked on to a Baba. She feels that she’s the chosen one and decides to stay back in India much to the anger of her parents. Her mother comes down to India to cajole her back telling that her father is on this deathbed. Ruth considers it but finally decides that maybe it was meant to this way and tells her mother that maybe next time should be better. The mother gets pissed off and runs off; while being chased in the gullies she runs out of breath and finally gets her way when Ruth decided to accompany her mother back. Her family is surprised to see the rebel Ruth in a sari now and can’t make up their mind if this is one of her latest fads or if she really means to become a Sanyasin.

The family snoops around and calls in PJ Waters (Harvey Keital), an exit counselor. He treats women who are infatuated with baba’s, god men and cult gurus. He has a three-day program and things get messy once he lands up in Oz with Neil Diamond playing in the background. A fast-talking, one liner cracking American that PJ is pisses Ruth to no end but she agrees to be a part of his three exoneration program. They shack up in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. The first day they talk as PJ isolates her, the second day he ties her sari to a tree and forces her to roam around in almost nothing and by the third day PJ is madly attracted to Ruth. Ruth manages to confuse PJ and by the end of it you don’t know who is doing what except that both actors are exploring their characters deepest fantasies. PJ’s girlfriend lands up to check on him but is shocked to see Ruth naked on the couch and PJ asking her for some more time. In a bizarre twist of fate the hunter becomes hunted with PJ dressed in Ruth’s flaming red one piece party dress and chasing Ruth across the Australian outback proclaiming his love for her. Holy Smoke finally ends with Ruth and her mother working in India and PJ back with girlfriend. They exchange letters; Ruth tells him that she loves him and PJ informs her that he’s honored and that he is writing his second book about a man who finds his angel.

One of the biggest reasons to see Holy Smoke was Kate Winslet; I love her work and consider her to be one of the finer actors around. She never shies away from doing anything and often ends up picking interesting characters. Right from Heavenly Creatures to Sense and Sensibility to the recent Little Children, Kate Winslet is a treat to watch. She is what the critics call a ‘brave’ actor. Any actor who does anything half way decent is a brave person if you ask me for it’s not easy to stupid things in front of a 100 people and make it look as serious as signing the Kyoto agreement. Holy Smoke has an entire full frontal sequence and Kate Winslet is so confident that one forgets she’s not wearing anything! The film might have it's share of problems but kate Winslet make it watchable.

These days it’s rare to come across a film that features Keitel in a longish role. He does walk on parts in many big films but that’s just about it. No more Holy Smoke, Piano, Reservoir Dogs or Bad Lieutenant for him and sadly for us as well. An article once described Harvey Keitel as “Robert De Niro’s contemporary but only darker…”, the article further noted that had De Niro not become as famous as he is, he’d have been doing what Keitel does. Well I can’t say much about the second statement but the first one holds a lot of water. Being the non-leading man types has allowed people like Gene Hackman and Harvey Keitel do a great deal of experimentation.

The best story about Keitel that read was that his wife was teaching acting and one of her students came up with a script that he wanted her to read and comment on. The student’s friend wanted to make a quickie in Black and White and had asked him to play one of the roles. Keitel’s wife read it and freaked out; she showed it to Keitel and he freaked out. A few weeks later Keitel was producing the student’s friend independent feature which went on to become Reservoir Dogs and no prizes for guessing the name for student’s friend!

Ocean's Thirteen

I was a little confused and a lot surprised when I first saw Ocean’s Eleven. Confused for I couldn’t understand why many didn’t like the film and surprised when it did too well. A lot of people thought that the Ocean’s Eleven was a stupid film. It looked decent enough to me- 11 misfits in society who are unwilling to let go of the prankster in them. The surprise success of the film must have made the studio realize that they had stuck gold and this cow could be milked more. Some time later they came up with Ocean’s Twelve. The boys went to Europe this time around to make a quick buck in order to repay the casino boss they had robbed in the previous part. That was a lousy film but if memory serves me right made more money than the first one. So they then decided to make a third one. The underlying reason for everyone to return was that the script was too good to pass.

OK.

Considering that Ocean’s series will never be remembered for it’s script or cinematic genius, I was almost fooled into believing that they must really have a very decent script to come back.

I was wrong.

The only time 13 is going to be lucky for the Ocean franchise would be the opening weekend at the box office. Too much of the same thing can be a let down in addition to making you realize that you have been endorsing stupidity all this while and Ocean’s Thirteen superbly manages to do the needful. The camera movements, the stylized cutting, the music and one liners now look so jaded that even the actors seem to be doing everyone a favor. Every time Danny Ocean or Rusty or Linus or anyone cracks a joke it’s the music that tells us that the joke’s over and we should perhaps laugh. Julia Roberts is conspicuously absent from this one for I don’t she will ever forgive Steven Soderbergh for making her look like an extra in part 2. There is only one woman in the cast is Ellen Barkin who plays Al Pacino’s side kick. She looks like a 50-year-old Cameron Diaz but more importantly Barkin looks lost. Al Pacino, who seems to be forever waiting for instructions from the director, portrays Ocean’s nemesis. What could have been a walk in the park for an actor of Pacino’s caliber turns out to be an exercise in hamming. Brad Pitt looks does a great job following his brief- stand there and look good. Matt Damon is angry for it seems like he wants to grow up but isn’t allowed to.

The usual suspects are all there but few of them like Elliot Gould hardly has anything to do; Don Cheadle spends most of the time drilling underground so you never see him in good light; Bernie Mac does his black man bit and looks happy, the Chinese guy now looks like an overgrown kid and about the others the less said, the better. These boys look like they had a tough time fitting in their old shoes for they all look like bored husbands now.

All the recent films that have raked in millions at the box office have one common feature- they all look manufactured byu bored officials on some run down assembly line. Spiderman-3, Ocean’s Thirteen, Pirates-3 all seem to be made for one sole reason- continued run of the successful brand name. With everything looking the same the audiences will soon loose interest but the sadder truth is that once you see the sequels and think back, you realize that the first part was stupid too. And trust me, you don’t want to look stupid whenever an installment comes out!

Image Courtesy: www.movieblog.com

Cheeni Kum

I finally saw Cheeni Kum with much trepidation. I say that for two reasons (a) anything half way different is lauded as the next big thing and (b) the film got crazy reviews. But that’s true for most films these days and I think the term good cinema is almost oxymoronic. Back to Cheeni Kum that is a ‘sugar free’ tale of love between a 64-year-old man and a 34-year woman. The man’s a chef and is genetically loud and boisterous. He is unforgiving about 90% of the times just like his quirky mother. The only time this desi Gordon Ramsay is chilled out is the time he spends with his eight-year-old neighbor whom he fondly (?) calls Sexy. The May-December couple meets in London where the dude has his restaurant and fall in love. Finally they decide to hook up and the girl’s father (four years younger than the man she intends to hook with) obviously has major problems. He pseudo-Gandhian goes on a Satyagraha to dissuade his daughter only to give in at an opportune moment.

The reviews were very bittersweet to Ad-man Balki’s maiden effort and the only major hassle they had was with the second half of the film. I didn’t have a major issue with the second half or the first half. The only problem I had with the script was the over smart eight year old girl who wants to see adult DVD’s. The character is suffering from cancer but still I don’t like the thought of terminally ill characters living their entire life in 14 reels. And on top of it I don’t like over-smart kids in films. People might find the antics of this kiddo bittersweet and perhaps cute but the irritating kid is like a win-zipped version of everything obnoxious and manages to piss the hell out of you at times when you don’t expect it. I have this major complaint against writers/ filmmakers who want to put everything in one film.

The reviews went to town saying that the Satyagraha angle doesn’t work and rightfully so. It’s so asinine in it’s execution that Paresh Rawal ends up looking like he wandered off from a different film set to this one accidentally. Had the director handled the reservations of a father watching his daughter wanting to a man elder than himself, the ending would have looked more up market. There’s nothing wrong in this kind of an ending, it’s a Hindi film and what else were Nikhat Kazmi and Co. expecting? It’s almost like Dil Chata Hain revisited; the last reel was as filmy as it could get. Everything was OK and acceptable but the ending…what was the need for Mr. Bachchan’s character to howl like a kid when he learnt about his eight year old neighbor’s tragic death and tell his mother that he wants sexy (the kid’s nickname)!

I liked Cheeni Kum in spite of the issues I might seem to have. It was perhaps because I went in with such low expectations that I was bound to like it! This is my approach to Hindi films now- have zero expectations and voila every film would end up being a nice experience! The film is exactly the kind of film I’d love to see Mr. Bachchan in. He is 100 times better than his Sexy Sam from Kabhie Alvida Nahin Kehna or the loud defense lawyer from Shootout at Lokhandwala. Some people might have an issue with Mr. Bachchan’s at times over the top histrionics but it’s OK for he’s perhaps the biggest star of them all and it suits him. And in case you really want to see Mr. Bachchan go over the top then see Black again! These are the kinds of roles that he should do as opposed to his Sexy Sam in which he ends up looking like a glorified extra, something that doesn’t go well with stature. The inter-action between Mr. Bachchan and Zohra Sehgal, who plays his mother, is peppy most of the times and has numerous nice moments.

Recently voted the best-dressed man in India by a magazine, the retro-sexual, moto-sexual or whatever the hell Abhishek Bachchan is this week sadly isn’t a patch on Mr. Bachchan, who looks dapper in Cheeni Kum. Tabu and Mr. Bachchan share a very instant and likable chemistry. These two wonderful acting talents skillfully support the transformation of their characters from friends to lovers. Having said this I think Tabu needs to do something about her acting. A very fine and competent actor but she ends up playing Tabu in almost everything she does. This character of Nina could very well be Mumtaz from Chandni Bar in different clothes. It’s rather tragic and my brother summed it up- Tabu looks nice only when she cries.

Image Courtesy: www.cheenikum.com

Bheja Fry

A very deftly made film, Bheja Fry lured me back to the darkness of the cinema hall. I endured and managed to survive Eklavya- The Royal Bore. I had decided not to go to the movies for some time for anyone who's seen the film would agree that it's not an easy task! In case you haven't seen it already, Bheja Fry is about a bunch of rich folks who meet every Friday and bring along a ‘talent' to entertain them. This talent is the dumbest and the most idiotic guy with a gift; the film starts with a talented guy who can spit almost 10 feet or something like that. Rajat Kapoor's rich man is all set to win the wager this Friday when he lays his hands on Vinay Pathak's Bharat Bhushan. The man fancies himself to be a genius like his namesake but is blessed with arguably the most pathetic singing voice. In addition he's the idiot that all the villages in this district reported missing. What transpires thereon is a series of misadventures on the fateful Friday night when life comes a full circle for all the players.

Bheja Fry is short, sweet and laced with some great performances by Vinay Pathak and Rajat Kapoor. The script plays along perfectly thanks to the great timing that ensure that the one-liners are delivered with much aplomb.

The good thing about Bheja Fry is that it’s the second film in recent times that has proved the ‘old-as-hills’ theory of the script being of paramount importance. Mixed Doubles, Rajat Kapoor’s film about a husband and wife deciding to indulge in swapping, and now Bheja Fry both were made under a crore and share the same producer. Both had relatively non-starry actors and both worked just great. Anurag Kashyap, one the most talented scriptwriter seen by Hindi cinema in recent years, has boldly announced the second coming on the Hindi New Wave with Bheja Fry. I won’t that far but I definitely liked the film and believe that if director Sagar Bellary manages to have a decent follow up, we could be looking at a talent who could be the second Nagesh Kukunoor. I found Bheja Fry to be almost as effervescent as Hyderabad Blues.

Now the bad part. Bheja Fry seems to be a ‘remake’ of a French comedy called Le Diner de Cons (The Dinner Game) so much so that when you read the original's plot outline you'd see even situations as the rich guy's back getting hurt have been 'adapted' in the Indianized version.

When it comes to films, why is that we feel it’s our prerogative to just pick up whatever the hell we like- plot, scene or the whole damn film- and unabashedly indulge in plagiarism? I have no issues with copies, inspirations or remakes; giving a new take on old things can be fun but why not pay some credit where it’s due? One saves so much of time and money by choosing not to invest in originality, might as well pay a little amount and do it officially. But that’s a different issue. No wonder no one takes Hindia cinema seriously anywhere in the international market. Thank God we have a Mahesh Bhatt. Bhatt saab can convince us that 'who the F@#% needs Hollywood's approval...we are a nation of a billion people and we are a very important stage in our artistic evolution just like man needs pornography.....blah blah blah"

You’d probably think that on one hand I applaud the film while on the other hand I’m of the opinion that copying is bad so where do I stand? I still like the film and would happily recommend it to everyone. Have you seen the other shit that’s around- Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana, Mr. Hot Mr. Cool, Kya Love Story Ha, Raqeeb, Namastey London, Hat Trick, Nishabd, Salaam-E-Ishq, Delhii Heights and not to forget the one to pip Ta Ra Rum Pum in the best title category, Shakalaka Boom Boom including a double i’d Delhii Heights!

Here Chicky, Chicky

I have always maintained that god must be a woman. I like it that way for it makes it easier for me to connect to God. Imagine my surprise when I saw The Devil Wears Prada and realized that the devil could be a woman too. The film is based on 2003 best-selling novel of the same name by Laura Weisberger. Excuse my ignorance but I never knew about the book till the time the film came out. Power to cinema! When the film finally hit Indian screens I was at a stage in life wherein I didn’t fancy watching a chick-flick.

But I was wrong.

To the uninitiated, chick flick is the slang for a movie that appeals mainly to women or young girls, either by design or popular consensus. It’s a relatively new term but I wouldn’t worry too much about that part as everything these days is relatively new! Devil Wears Prada, the book, is a prime example of ‘chick lit’ and spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list. The novel was widely seen as a roman à clef, a novel describing real-life events behind a facade of fiction, about Vogue magazine’s iconic editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour as Weisberger had cooled her heels as an intern there. That kind of back-story did help the book but Weisberger has always denied it. Check out the picture below for the striking resemblance!

The Devil Wears Prada being my first chick flick, made me ask myself a few basic questions. If the intern was the protagonist and the Devil was everything bad because the intern refuses the Devil’s offer of a good fashionable life, then why am I sympathizing with the freaking Devil by the end of the movie? Perhaps because Anne Hathaway who plays the intern to Meryl Streep’s Devil, is miscast and how! She tries so hard to look effortless that it’s not even funny. Even in the scenes when she’s trying to explain, to her boyfriend, her almost slave like dedication to her boss she can’t help but sigh and look around for clues as if she were a present day Al Pacino. What was Weisberger thinking? How could Weisberger settle for someone so pedestrian to portray a character supposedly based on her!?

Throughout the film Devil is portrayed as something bad and evil but trust Meryl Streep to sway you, you can’t help but love her! Even though the Devil’s tough as nuts exterior starts showing cracks and she develops a soft corner for the intern, the intern scoots away but in the end even the intern can’t help but look up to the devilish boss.

So did I miss the point?

Or is it that the ‘chick’ to root for and love in this ‘chick flick’ is the older ‘chick’ and not the obvious younger ‘chick’!? After all this is marketing terminology and hail whatever helps to sell! Do we really need terms such as chick flicks or chick lit?? If we do and if people want to see them then one word of advice choose your medium correctly for no one- chick or not- would settle for Anne Hathaway and whatever she projects if the other end of the spectrum offers the Devil oops I mean Meryl Streep! When the intern ho and hums about still preserving the integrity of her soul all Meryl Streep’s Devil does is sigh and summarize it by saying, “You sold your soul the first time you put on that pair of Jimmy Choos.” I might not know chick lit and I might not know what a woman really wants but I know they love shoes and that can make a devil out of any chick. All I could understand of this ‘chick’ thingy was that I’m supposed to choose good over bad (shoes included)…but hasn’t that been the case ever since!

Picture Courtesy: www.oficinadeestilo.com

Spiderman-3

Spiderman, Spiderman,
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size,
Catches thieves just like flies
Look Out!
Here comes the Spiderman.

With this theme the adventures of the Amazing Spiderman graced our black and white television set in the mid 80’s…boy I loved those sleepy Sunday afternoons when Spidey entertained us sponsored by Rasna. And I was mega happy when Spiderman-1 hit the screens. I couldn’t wait for Spiderman-2. Once that got over with the entire world waited for Spidey 3!

The prospect of not coming back to haunt and traumatize a screen near you has made director Sam Raimi incorporate a little bit of everything into the narrative of Spiderman-3. But what he ends up with is a very long and very confused screenplay and the result is the death of a superhero. The film may go on to rake in billions at the box office but don’t be fooled by the collections or the lineage of Spiderman-1 and to some extent Spiderman-2.

The film starts where the second ended (duh!). Peter Parker aka Spiderman and Mary Jane are happily caught in the love web even though they live in dumps. He continues with his Daily Bugle job while she is about to debut on Broadway. Harry Osborne, in the mean time, winces and keeps pondering how to avenge his father’s death, after all papa still speaks to him when he stands in front of his larger than life portrait. Spidey good run is coupled with MJ’s failure on the stage; she is depressed and can’t tell Peter because…I don’t know why!

Harry finally decides to beat the shit out of Spiderman who is really Peter Parker and in the bargain meets with an accident that results in short term memory loss. Meaning he can recall that MJ and Peter are his best friends and his dad has kicked the bucket but he can’t remember anything else. He soon turns into a cute rich teenager flashing his pearly smile to MJ and thus lifting her sagging morale!

Peter decides to pop the question to MJ and aunt May gives him his blessing and her fifty-year-old ring. Spidey screws it up for Peter when he ends up kissing a fan, the MJ Spidey upside down kiss, at a felicitations. MJ is pissed at Spidey who is really Peter! MJ is fired from her play and she decides to cry on Harry’s shoulder rather than Peter’s. Harry makes the rich guy look-I’m-so-smooth move on MJ and kisses her. MJ is suddenly feeling guilty and decided to fly the coop. As Harry laments what went wrong, his father starts speaking to him. Boy the amount this guy’s father’s impressive portrait speaks sure beats the amount his Papa spoke to him in person! His short term memory and long-term plans hitting him back like his father would’ve slapped his face, Harry now, once again, embarks on his character’s mission- destroy Spidey who is actually Peter.

But there are many things that will destroy Peter Parker who is really Spidey. There’s some black crawly thing from outer space that clings on to someone and turns them black- costumes too in addition to persona! So now we have a black Spidey who is cooler but meaner. There’s a bumbling buffoon called Marko Flint who is the real guy who killed Uncle Ben. He is now back as Sandman who is out there to collect money for his daughter’s operation but he just decides to rob banks, something that will invite Spiderman to spoil the party. There is also Eddie Brock, a fast talking photographer whose digitally enhanced Black Spidey photo got him Peter’s job but was later busted by Parker. So he is pissed with Peter Parker, who unknown to him is actually Spidey. That black stuff makes turns Peter into an obnoxious dude who dances while walking, hits on chicks, slaps MJ and kills Harry because he’s tired of explaining things. Finally Peter decides to get rid of the Black costume and throws it away in a church (wow talk about cinematic moment). Some of the black stuff lands on Eddie transforming him into Venom.

Now Venom and Sandman kidnap MJ and hang her in air some sixty-two or three floors high. The entire city of New York awaits Spidey to come save the day and where is he? He is requesting Harry aka New Goblin to join forces. Yeah, Harry is alive! But he refuses only to be convinced by his butler to go and fight! Spidey fights the two villains till New Goblin joins him and saves butt.

My question is why can’t films like Spiderman be just films about ‘comic book’ heroes? The fact that some dude is flying around in his underwear or not being able to reveal his true identity is struggle enough for anyone so why added stupid layers in which he is battling his darker side or his emotional side? The script has all characters going through the motions of all possible emotions; Harry is bad, becomes good, turns bad and finally dies a hero’s death. Sandman is good who turns bad becomes good again to become bad and eventually confesses that he accidentally killed Uncle Ben! Everyone else too has so many layers that film seems like going on forever. The incoherent script makes the film resort to so many fade-to-blacks that when I finally came out of the hall I though I had seen Spiderman 56! If you think this review is long and boring, be thankful it’s at least good reading, can’t say the same about the film!

But what really got me was the fact that the entire city of New York, considered to be THE city, ends up looking like a bunch of cosmopolitan idiots as they do nothing but stop and cheer for Spidey who flies in front of the American flag. They get pissed at every villain and stand in arms defending their city, country, universe, god knows what! Oh I'm sorry the super hero defends the city and if he is being beaten to a pulp by the villain then the citizens defend him. The seriousness with the subtle message of patriotism is thrown is so stupid that I can’t even talk about it. I think the people who made the film knew that they had a dumb thing going or else why do you think that the poster has Spidey hanging his head in shame! If I had any inclination, I’d have watched the Bhojpuri dubbed version of Spidey! I understand that 9/11 changed a lot of things but they must realize that such things have been happening all across the globe for a long time and maybe it’s time that Americans- filmmakers particularly- moved ahead. Sadly this includes fictional superheroes too!

Last King of Scotland

I remember Forest Whitaker as the gentle giant playing one half of the duo that make Jodie Foster's life hell in Panic Room. You’d also remember Forest from films like Battlefield Earth, Phone Booth and of course as Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's Bird but nothing prepares you for the towering performance that he comes up with in The Last King of Scotland. Till now many have heard of Idi Amin and if you put some stress on your brain cells you might also come up with an image that goes with all the horrific things you must have read but that will change once you see Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland.

The film is told from the eyes of a young Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan who decides to far away from his father’s ranting. He’s a doctor in the family of doctors and his father doesn’t leave any opportunity to rub it in that the older one’s better. Garrigan spins a globe in his room and decides to take off to the first place his finger lands on. The spinning quite literally forewarns you about the journey he’s about to undertake. Garrigan takes off to Uganda though it’s not the first place his fingers land on; it was Canada and he decides to erase that from the record. It’s the 70’s and Garrigan lands in Uganda on the eve of the coup that brings Amin to the forefront. Garrigan has the hots Sarah, the doctor’s wife he works under but nothing comes off it. Some days later Amin lands up in the village and mesmerizes all and sundry. Enchanted by Amin’s bravado Garrigan has an argument with Sarah on their way back as she can’t help but recall that the same happened when Amin’s predecessor took over. A freak accident brings Garrigan face-to-face with Idi Amin as he’s the only doctor available in the area. The tension is visible on Garrigan face as he treats the General for Amin is no ordinary human being and he looks like King Kong’s cousin. Add to it Amin’s guards who don’t like even a leaf to move in front of Amin and the squeals of the animal who is hurt as result of hitting Amin’s motorcade and also the fact that Amin thinks Garrigan is British and he hates British. Garrigan looses it when the animal’s misery breaks his concentration. He snatches Amin’s gun and shoots the injured animal thus ending the pain. But Amin is now pissed at the doctor’s impudence. He is about to thrash him when he learns that Garrigan is actually Scottish and that transforms him. He is all smiles and insists on taking Garrigan t-shirt that says Scotland and in exchange gives him his uniform shirt. That’s how they meet and from thereon Amin makes him his personal physician and Garrigan is slowly sucked into the labyrinths of Idi Amin’s world. Through Garrigan eyes’ we see how Amin looses it and starts turning out to be a monster that the world made him to be. Power comes with a price and Amin believes that he can’t trust anyone. He oscillates between being strange and uncontrollable to sweet and cuddly like a huge teddy bear!

What struck me about the film was how do they think of such scripts! Jeremy Brock’s tour-de-force script based on Giles Foden’s novel makes the film a wonderful experience. Though I feel that a few scenes could have been dedicated to show the high headedness of Garrigan as e gets closer to Amin and becomes a sore sight to many of his aides as well as the British diplomats. The fact that the impish young doctor holds well inspite of being the most important man in Uganda after Idi Amin didn’t go down that well with me.

The director Kevin Macdonald’s pervious work includes Touching the Void, the breath-taking documentary based on Joe Simpson’s true account of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. The biggest achievement of the director, in addition to guiding his actors to deliver beautifully, is the fact that he manages to confuse us at times, just like Garrigan, about the reality of Amin- like the tagline of the film suggests what is he, 'Charming. Magnetic. Murderous.' Is Amin a good guy gone wrong, is a monster or is he just another side of the people that he ousted? The documentary style camerawork by Anthony Dod Mantle (28 Days Later, Dogville) helps in deconstructing Amin very well and uses a lot of hand-held shots in addition to crazy close-ups to capture the turbulent times. The editing is crisp though the film seems a little stretchy towards the end. The build up to the climax is interesting and is very reminiscent of Ray Liotta’s frenzy in the Goodfellas but I thought that the last few minutes before the end- the hijacking of the Air France plane and romance between Amin’s trophy wife and Garrigan- could have been handled better. The portion seems drags the film and makes you shift in the seat a few times before recapturing you.

To prepare for his role Whitaker gained 50 pounds and learned to play the accordion. He read books about Amin, watched news and documentary footage, and spent time in Uganda meeting with Amin's friends, relatives, generals, and victims; he also learned Swahili and mastered Amin's East African accent. Well that did work for him; he won every conceivable award and oodles of accolades. The role had awards written all over it! You play Capote or Amin and walk the walk, talk the talk and all you hear is praise for your bravura acting and the only time that stops is when someone says, 'and the Oscar goes to...' I don't mean to take anything away from Whitaker's efforts but let’s hope that we see more of him and the award doesn’t make him another Kevin Spacey (what ever happened to him post American Beauty?)

James McAvoy’s Nicholas Garrigan is bang on. The rebellious streak is captured very well for he looks like a rock star and definitely behaves like one. Gillian Anderson plays Sarah Merrit, the doctor’s wife who hates being married to the a nice man as her husband for it makes her feel inferior. Kerry Washington portrays Amin’s third or fourth or fifth, god knows which wife, Kay Amin. In a word the film is mesmerizing and don’t miss it for it maybe one of the better film’s you’d see this year.