21

Saw "21" yesterday. Had heard about it before as the basis of the recent Bollywood release "Teen Patti". Don't know how far that was true but "21" was a decent watch.

It is a based-on-real-life story about a group of MIT students who under the tutelage of their professor become experts in card counting and subsequently whip Vegas casinos for millions in winnings at blackjack. The movie is based on a book about the episode and released in the US in 2008.

It stars Kevin Spacey as the wily professor who uses his students to milk the system. Jim Sturgess stars in the lead role as Ben Campbell, the brilliant new inductee into the club who needs money to go to Harvard Medical School. Laurence Fishburne has a small role as the security-in-charge at the casinos who is being made obsolete by the new face recognition software that casinos are using. Kate Bosworth forms Jim's love interest and is a member of the MIT Blackjack team.
Kevin Spacey is, as always, interesting to watch while Jim Sturgess puts in a slightly uneven performance.

The movie though interesting, is not as gripping as it could have been. There are no major shocks or edge-of-the-seat moments. The dialogues are banal. Also many characters are under-utilised or not fully developed. For instance, there is a lot of focus on Jim Sturgess but his evolution from shy student to arrogant gamester is not brought out very well. Kevin Spacey's motives are also not very well developed and his chracter is uni-dimensional. The other members are also all conveniently sidelined. Laurence Fishburne is wasted in his bit role.
Basically threre is very little layering to the movie, very little subtext. Also not much style or snappy dialogues. Despite being a subject which could have been handled on so many levels it almost gets reduced to another typical teenager movie. It is the basic premise which is interesting and curiosity about the end keeps you going.

Give it a 6.5/10.

Fracture

...is the name of the movie I saw today. It released in 2007 and starred Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins. It was a crime thriller about a crafty businessman Crawford (Hopkins) who murders his wife because she is having an affair. He then tries to get away scot free since the public prosecutor Beachum (Gosling) is intent on climbing up the corporate ladder and unable to put up a convincing case. The movie's title derives from Crawford's pet theory that everyone has a weakness, a fracture that needs to be found. In case of Beachum, it is his drive to always win.
Beachum takes the case thinking that it will be another win as public prosector before he moves into his new career as corporate lawyer. However very soon things begin to go wrong for Beachum and he realises that the deceptive Hopkins is not a bumbling old man but a worthy adversary.

The movie was interesting enough though I felt it could have delivered much more. So many movies are often built just on a good premise. Almost the entire suspense centred around the discovery of the murder weapon which was just too unidimensional for a good thriller. I felt the plot could have been more gripping. The construct is weak and leaves room for many questions like why doesn't Crawford kill his wife in a way that would attach no suspicion to himself rather than turning the whole episode into a media circus, choosing to fight against a lawyer he knows is sharp and loves winning. Really the movie had the flavour of other similar thrillers one has seen. The interactions between Hopkins and Gosling could have been sharper and the key hooks of the story. But they lack the intended bite.

What keeps one's attention are the two key performers. Hopkins was of course very convincing as the chillingly evil murderer, the blue of his eyes only recalling his days as Hannibal Lecter. It is something that he has become too used to doing I think, the polished, cold blooded manipulator whose very suavity inspires dread. I had not watched much of Gosling before and was impressed with his screen presence. He played the role of a cocky young lawyer almost too well. Too over-confident as though he could get by on the strength of his attitude alone.
That was pretty much what the movie was about - Gosling's almost annoying self assurance with a dash of Hopkins' typical style of chills.

In any case, it was a good way to spend an evening at home and its been a long time since I saw a thriller so I won't complain too much. Besides, Ryan Gosling made me feel like I wanted to see some of his other performances. And yes, he's kinda cute in formal wear. :)

6.5/10.

The Aal is Well phenomenon

I had not been able to write a review for '3 Idiots' one of the biggest movies to release in recent times. It's just that so much has been written, tweeted, blogged, discussed about it already, that I had kind of lost the enthusiasm. Ah well, just call it an "idiosyncrasy" of mine. ;)
But I figure, if I have to do justice to this blog, I should talk about it. So rather than a review at this late stage, let me just write down my thoughts about '3 Idiots':

1. Aamir is a super actor who has the uncanny ability to put on a character as if it were a coat. Yes, he often looks too old to play an engg. student but he pulls it off.

2. Madhavan cannot pull it off. He sticks out like a sore thumb and looks too old and overweight to be doing this.

3. Sharman Joshi is a natural. Somebody give this guy more roles. And good roles. Because he can strike a chord and he can act.

4. I did not like the glorification of Aamir's character, Rancho/Phunsuk. He could do no wrong, he had the best lines, everybody loved him. It's time Bollywood grew out of crap characterizations like this. Especially with a talented ensemble cast. Look at Dil Chahta Hai, learn from it.

5. I did not agree with the total vilification and rejection of the education system. The mantra for success is not to bypass hard work. Do what you want to do, but work hard at it also. Passing the buck for failures on the system is taking the easy way out. Root out the inefficiencies in the system but recognize its merits also. Everyone cannot be a maverick.

6. I liked the funny scenes in the movie - from the Chatur speech to Aamir's smartass dialogues. The taut screenplay kept the pace going.

7. The songs though not great by themselves, work when seen in the context of the movie. "Zoobi doobi" has been conceptualised really well.

8. The climax with Aamir assists Mona Singh's delivery was unnecessary and over-the-top. Ya, we get it - the guy's a genius and a hero.

9. Some scenes were refreshing in their irreverence. Like the one where Raju's plight at home with his suffering mother, his paralysed father and his unwed sister is shown in black and white with sitar strains, to underscore the melodrama that was earlier attached to such scenes.

10. I liked 3 Idiots for its performances, its message of following your heart and not giving up, for its humour. I agree that its a feel-good movie though some messages did cause me some alarm. Overall an 8.5/10.

P.S. I also think the movie is quite different from the book. Be true to yourself Chetan.

Uff, IPL aya!

The IPL is a behemoth that even Bollywood doesn't dare to challenge!

And so, the paucity of any good movies at the theatres. Yes, Vivek Oberoi has tried again to be a 'Prince' of the masses but I'll be damned if I go to the theatre to watch a flop actor in a wannabe high-octane Jason Bourne-sque caper. Not unless I want some laughs from unintentionally funny scenes that is. I think its time Vivek gave up on mainstream cinema and looked towards the burgeoning world of parallel cinema. He might just strike gold there.

The other release is 'Jaane kaha se aayi hai'. I have to confess I was a bit intrigued by the prospect of a girl from Venus falling in love with a loser earthling. But treatment is everything and the initial buzz was not promising. I didn't have the heart to drag family/ friends to a Riteish/Jacqueline movie either. I'd rather see it on DVD or when its aired on TV (which going by the look of things, won't be very long).


A movie which I finally managed to catch, albeit on DVD, was 'Kartik calling Kartik'. Gave me the chills I tell you, which I was not expecting. Interesting, different, Farhan-ish (he's an adjective unto himself, this man). Everyone's favourite fable of the loser morphing into a stud is turned on its head in a sinister way. Farhan is believable as Kartik, the repressed soul who bears the taunts of his boss and nurses a secret love for Shonali (Deepika).
Things change for him almost overnight when he begins getting early morning calls from...himself. Talk about self-help!

Soon the overbearing landlord is subdued, the brash boss is tamed and the gorgeous girl is successfully wooed. But things start to unravel fast when Kartik spills the secret of his success to Shonali who poor thing naturally forces him to seek help, of the psychiatric kind. The movie ends on a rather tame and predictable note but possibly it had nowhere else left to go. The title itself is enough to make any person with some grey cells to understand what lies at its core. But still like I said, treatment matters. The movie does rustle up a creepout if not a knockout punch. Farhan's one-liners are cute and Deepika looks good. The music is quite rocking with "Uff, teri ada" and "Hey ya" being the kind of numbers that stick in your head.

Hmm, overall a 7/10 I think.