KGF CHAPTER 1 (SPOILER FREE) REVIEW

I hate boiling movies down to formulas but still Gangs of Wasseypur + Scarface+ Mad Max + Spartacus + Deewar =

KGF (KOLAR GOLD FIELDS) : Chapter 1

Cast – Yash, Srinidhi Shetty, Achyuth Kumar and others

Director- Prashanth Neel

With a name like Ambarish, you hardly get a chance to share a name with a celebrity or even historical figure. (‘Amrish’ Puri doesn’t count for the simple reason that my name isn’t ‘Amrish’). While I am an ardent fan of Tamil and Telugu cinema, my only connection to Kannada cinema has been sharing my name with one of their renowned superstars. While I have gotten around to watching one or two Malayalam movies (not just the ones with the…ahem…’aunties’) at least I have some clue about Malayalam film stars and industry. I have somehow never gotten around to watching even a single Kannada movie, not even the dubbed ones on Set Max coz they just lack the punch of Tamil and Telugu movies. That’s not to say they don’t have talented film makers or actors (other than Sudeep, Girish Karnad and Ambareesh, I don’t know many) but the only Kannada movies I have heard of are remakes of Tamil/Telugu/Hindi movies. They somehow never seemed to do anything new or remarkable that would attract my attention like their other South Indian counterparts. UNTIL NOW.

The first time I saw the trailer for KGF chapter 1, the imagery stunned me. While the Scarface/Vijay from Deewar formula has been done to death in Indian cinema, it was the crazy Mad Max like depiction of the Kolar Gold Mines in the trailer that attracted me to it. Clearly taking inspiration from the success of multi-lingual epics like Bahubali and Robot 2.0, Prashanth Neel decided to make an epic 2 part film (at least I think its two parts) to be released in 5 languages. In an recent interview, Karan Johar had rightly said “Bahubali was a slap to our (Bollywood’s) faces”, in the sense that Bollywood was overlooking some really good storytelling potential in regional (particularly south Indian cinema). Not only are south filmmakers not afraid to tell bold ambitious stories but they also stick to their own style rather than aping Hollywood. The result is an original home-grown movie with maybe slightly melodramatic tones but having the confidence to stick to its own style- a bit like Anime or Kung Fu movies. While even I enjoy making fun of over-the-top acting and action sequences of some South Indian movies, I still would prefer watching them over any boring Hindi Rom-com any damn time.  Just like how Bengali movies have perfected the art of realism and tapping into never before seen emotions on screen or how Marathi movies have learned to tell entertaining complex stories with simplicity and no additional masala, South Indian mainstream cinema (sorry to bunch four distinct languages together for sake of brevity) has always never been shy of creating epic stories on the largest canvas imaginable. KGF is perhaps Kannada cinema's first leap in that direction.

The movie is the story of Raja a.k.a Rocky born to a single poor mother whose only inheritance to her son were making him realize that the world only makes sense if you force it to (BvS reference!). Through various flashbacks (though way too many than were necessary) we learn that it was her ruthless upbringing that makes Rocky the man that he is – Courageous, outrageous and wanting to win everything…by everything I mean EVERYTHING. After shifting to Mumbai in the 1970’s, he soon becomes entangled in a conspiracy that ultimately leads to India’s ‘El Dorado’ – The Gold mines in Kolar in Karnataka – whose discovery has its own power games and multiple players.

What the sets the movie apart is not the story but how it is portrayed on screen. The movie starts with the Prime Minister of India in 1981 named Ramika Sen signing the death warrant of Rocky. That immediately gives you an idea that realism is out of the fucking window and the movie is set in its own universe. And again I have zero complaints. Being a big fan of alternate history and comic book universes, I don’t mind a movie creating its own mythology. The story is narrated by a journalist in present day who had written a book about Rocky. Director Neel makes use of this device really well as it again adds an element of myth-making and poetry to it.

Plus the movie is just gorgeously shot, the mines being portrayed in de-saturated colors like a scene from any Zack Snyder movie. Particularly the climax is shot in a very Snyder-esque fashion. However, that is where the similarity to the great visionary ends. The action which should be the highlight of such a film is shot in the worst way possible – Shaky cam. This disease that inflected Hollywood from the Bourne movies has sadly made its way to India as well. It might suit a realistic, grounded movie but quite frankly frequent jump cuts and shaky camera during the action just makes the scene worthless in my opinion. That is why Marvel sucks at shooting good action scenes, in their 20 or so movies only 2-3 sequences are memorable. I am very particular about action scenes and their geography, speed and editing. While not all action scenes need to have time ramping like Snyder’s do, but even gritty ones like in The Raid movies (directed by Gareth Evans) have longer cuts and smart editing that give us a nice clean view of all the action thus making it more engaging. If I don’t see how many people are involved, where they are fighting or how they are getting hit then what’s the point of doing all those stunts if it’s just two seconds of dust flying and hearing someone’s bones crack. Sadly the action here disappoints a bit. 

However, the movie really makes up for that with the dialogue. I am not saying some of it isn’t cringe-worthy, but I just love cheesy dialogue…especially cheesy action punchlines. Seriously there is one scene here which feels like it’s almost from an classic Salim-Javed script from the 70’s. It’s this movie’s equivalent of “Main aaj bhi feke hue paise nahi uthata” and believe me if am comparing a modern day movie to the greatest script-writers in Bollywood then realize that it isn’t without actual merit. Seriously Rocky’s (Yash) whole arc is almost like the ‘Angry young Man’ character created by Salim-Javed (minus of course the Bacchan charisma and adding some south Indian melodrama). I am surprised I hadn’t even heard of Yash until this movie, he seriously does this role real justice. It’s not like an award winning performance and sometimes his character will appear the typical God-like hero in South movies, but God-damn does he commit to the role. There are also some subtle scenes where you see some inner-conflict which could have been highlighted more but sadly isn't. While the rest of the cast works well, they really didn’t leave a big impression upon me.

The second half suffers from a few pacing issues as just when you expect things to get really exciting, it drags a bit. There is a lot of exposition and the aforementioned jump cuts don’t allow for a bit of suspense building which would have hugely effective. There are also a lot many characters and unlike Gangs of Wasseypur where they were well written and allowed to be fleshed out through dialogue, here you have to make efforts to remember who’s who. However, there is an intriguing power play going on amongst them and I do hope they take things a bit slow in Chapter 2. When the pace was dying down, I somehow still had faith in the movie. I was like ‘ I know you can do better, just impress me with the climax' and the believe came off in the end. The climax does feel like it is earned. Particularly the visuals are freaking awesome and the background score is top notch. Otherwise, the music is okay-ish. The item number with Mouni Roy is hot and the rest of the songs are forgettable. However, the background score is intense throughout the movie and particularly towards the climax it is damn effective.

Just like other 2 part movies released in India (quite frankly I think we might have more two part movies than Hollywood- Rakta Charitra, Gangs of Wasseypur, Bahubali. While the only major Hollywood one I can remember is Kill Bill), the movie ends on irritatingly seducing literal cliffhanger with a major twist. Overall, in spite of the shaky cam action scenes and slight screenplay issues overall I really dig the tone of the movie and the mythology that they are trying to create. Director Prashanth Neel has really brought the Kannada movie industry in the limelight and I hope to see an epic conclusion to this grand story soon enough.

The movie is Total Timepass!!

Aquaman (spoiler free) movie review

“Does this movie fix the DC Cinematic Universe?”

“Is it broken?”

AQUAMAN

DIRECTOR- JAMES WAN

CAST- JASON MOMOA, AMBER HEARD, PATRICK WILSON, WILLIAM DAFOE, NICOLE KIDMAN AND THE SPLENDOR OF THE MOTHERFUCKING OCEAN!

When Jason Momoa was recently asked the above question in an interview, he gave that answer. It’s no secret now that people, quite a majority of them HATE DC movies for some reason. While a healthy rivalry between two great comic book universes has always been there, with the advent of social media its been getting ugly…just like every other discussion in life. This is what happens when every dimwit gets to speak his or her mind I guess. But even having a strong opinion about a movie or a piece of art is fine, lately I have seen the word ‘DC fan’ being used by many pages on the net as a slur.

It’s no secret that I am a comic book fan with a huge leaning towards DC. I love their stories, their cartoons and also their movies. But the reason being that not only does their content appeal to my taste for the deeper things in life, but that the Warner Bros (who owns cinema rights for all DC characters) was content in taking risks with a genre no one thought ever to take. They literally introduced the now oft-used concept of a gritty reboot by getting a then relatively unknown Christopher Nolan to direct Batman Begins, which subsequently led to comic book movies being finally taken seriously by all people and not just nerds. They gave a new director like Zack Snyder the chance to direct a very different adaptation of a comic book like 300 and also gave him the responsibility of adapting what was once thought to be a completely ‘unfilmable’ graphic novel in the form of Watchmen.  They also entrusted him with bringing to the big screen the oldest and most beloved superhero of all time- the Man of Steel. 

While Marvel at the other end, due to their financial troubles had sought out a strategy to make crowd pleasing successful formula movies one after the other (because if they had one failure the company would go bankrupt), they planned an interconnected universe the likes of which had never been seen on screen. While this offered them little room for telling stories with varying tones or intensity, their subsequent takeover by ‘family-friendly’ media giant Disney, finally led them to obey the formula of kid-friendly tones, joke per 10 minutes and in turn almost zero risk taking. This also resulted in Disney’s mighty media clout being at their disposal which turned the MCU into a worldwide household phenomenon (and made all the money that there is to make). But again, their movies were specifically designed to take almost zero risks and please the people in whatever way possible. This sadly, became the standard that all comic book movies (even the ones not concerned with the MCU like the X-men, had to live by). This became the rule. It’s like they made so many of them that most people who had never even touched a comic book in their life (and quite frankly are never likely to do so) suddenly became experts on how such stories are to be told.  Any movie that wasn’t following the ‘formula’ was cast out by the critics and the casual fans…like a leper. (Yes that’s a TDK reference).  Listening to their toxicity is almost like listening to hardcore Islamic preachers…there is no wiggle room…no room for debate…no room for acceptance.

WB/DC at the other hand wanted the sweet sweet ‘Avengers’ level money and while Zack Snyder originally never intended to develop a shared cinematic universe, (he had a 5 film superman solo arc in mind), the pressure from WB won and he had to introduce Batman and Wonder-woman and set up a few other characters in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. WB at that point still trusted its creators and although they did meddle a bit with the theatrically released version, Snyder’s vision (altered as it was) was still evident in the movie. Snyder and Chris Terrio envisioned a universe where the characters would eventually come together in an epic arc to fight with DC’s biggest villain Darkseid…where may be Superman would actually turn into a dictator at one point and the Flash would have to go back in time to reboot the universe. But BvS released and it was perhaps the most polarizing film in recent times. While by no means a bad film (I found it personally to be a masterpiece) with excellent music, awesome performances and great action, it received a lot of negative press because it didn’t confirm to the ‘formula’. Batman and Superman didn’t crack jokes while trying to murder each other (Oh you didn’t think super-powered beings did that? remember the airport scene in Civil War? Yeah it’s fairly common to crack jokes while trying to punch your colleague in the face) the movie didn’t have a straightforward villain who clearly laid out the plans, it dealt with the idea of what if a super-powered alien actually existed among us humans, the movie made constant existential and philosophical references to Gods and Demons and had a post-credit like scene in the middle of the movie itself. May be the movie was trying something different…you know taking risks with the genre. But according to most people who watched it, it sucked..it sucked ass… it was the ‘worst movie ever made’….anyone who made that movie should die (literal quotes from some well known people on twitter). It wasn’t a flop by any standards and for being just the 2^nd movie in a new cinematic universe it was a super-hit and such a beautiful enigma for its fans that it continues to be discussed and debated 2 years later.

At a time when the market was being flooded with a product of a similar kind by your rival, WB/DC should have had the courage (and the business sense) to stick to what makes them different ( that is what is called as an USP you basic level WB marketing morons!), it was the only way they were gonna survive. They had originally announced 3-4 movies in due course with great directors (Aquaman- James Wan, the Flash- Rick Fuwuyama, Wonder Woman - Patty Jenkins, Batman- Ben Affleck and few others) But they panicked. They butchered Suicide Squad to point where it was full of a lot of jokes and action (trying to ape Marvel) but no real meat as a story. They tried to meddle with Wonder-woman, trying to make it more crowd pleasing, but thankfully the movie was almost done at that point and the writers and the director had to fight to keep the tone of the movie as they envisioned it. Thankfully Wonder-woman brought a lot of success and turned out to be the one which pleased most people –audiences and critics alike. Although Snyder was himself one of the story writers, naysayers said they liked the movie only because he didn’t direct it. This kind of unwarranted hatred eventually lead to Snyder leaving twitter. By the time Justice League (JL) was being finished, there was already a lot of pressure to make it like the Avengers. Snyder’s original 2 part arc was to be cut into a 2 hour movie. More jokes were to be included. The intensity was asked to be toned down in order to make the movie more kid-friendly. However, Snyder still shot most of his movie but then due to sudden suicide of his daughter had to leave the project. Joss Whedon (Director of the Avengers) was asked to take over for ‘completing’ the project with a few 'minor reshoots'. 

This my friends…is where it all went wrong. To take the vision of a director who had been working on a project for more than 5 years, who had been making financially successful and yet bold risk taking movies, and to twist it  to please the people was a fucking awful move. JL released in the theatres was a Frankenstein of a movie which threw away all the careful character building of BvS for jokes and a lighter tone. After the initial euphoria died down, the DCEU fans hated it, some casual movie goers liked it but didnt love it, the haters appreciated its ‘light marvel-like’ tone (some even thanking God that Snyder’s daughter had killed herself at the right time) and the movie eventually made much lesser than it should have. In the end, WB had given up the very thing people watched DC movies for (intensity depth and something different) and of course they weren’t able to compete with Marvel on Marvel’s own territory.

This was truly a crises for WB/DC. Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill seemed to have quit their roles as Batman and Superman, the future of Snyder’s original vision still remains uncertain (#releasethesnydercut). But it also lead to several huge changes in WB/DC’s organizational structure. People who created the JL mess were fired or moved. WB seemed to be taking a more consolidated approach. Their first release post Justice League was going to be Aquaman. The fans didn’t know what to expect, the critics were ready as always to rubbish this movie and move into sucking Antman’s dick (seriously Antman and the Wasp was the most mediocre and boring MCU movie ever and critics still praised it as though it were a masterpiece). 

But James Wan (The Conjuring, Saw, Fast and Furious 7) is a talented director and it seemed that after the JL- Snyder fiasco, he had negotiated a deal that would allow him complete creative control. And you know what happened?

Aquaman is a fucking awesome movie! See WB?! SEE!!! This is what happens when you place your trust in talented people and let them do their job! Aquaman is by far one of the most exciting solo super-hero movies I have seen in a long time. It has adventure vibes of Indiana Jones coupled with the sci-fi imagination of Star Wars and also has the heart of Wonder-woman and Man of Steel. It is truly a dive into uncharted waters (sorry but had to do a pun) as we have rarely seen the underwater world setting explored on cinema. If not for anything else, go for the visual treat. After Avatar this is one of the movies which might hold you spell bound.

Aquaman is story of Arthur Curry whom you saw briefly in BvS and then more briefly (or is it less briefly..I don’t know) in Justice League. Arthur Curry is the son of a human father and an Atlantean (an underwater advanced ancient super-race) mother. This story is about how his half-brother and current ruler of Atlantis wants to invade the land as they continue to pollute his kingdom and a reluctant Arthur decides to stop him. While the story is a bit generic and does not offer the same kind of intensity we know DC for it still works for this movie. I mean it’s the first time we are being introduced to this world (Superman and Batman have already been in movies many times before) so it made sense to keep the story simple to set up the mythology. I personally didn’t like the script as it wasn’t as intense or layered as BvS, but I get what Wan was going for. Beside,s this script was probably written when WB was in its confused state, so maybe they wanted to take lesser risks with the story. I do have to say though that the movie lacks flow and shifts tone…maybe it’s the editing (so apparent that even my Wonder-woman thought the same), but it doesn’t flow as smoothly as Man of Steel or perhaps even Wonder Woman did.

But what it suffers in terms of flow or pacing, it really makes up for in terms of spectacle and performances. Everybody fucking owns their roles and Jason Momoa is amazing as Aquaman. Any non comic book fans have to understand that for many decades Aquaman as a character was the butt of jokes. Consistently being made fun of for his lukkha blonde look and his limited aquatic powers. Even the intense New 52 comic book run by Geoff Jahns couldn’t really wash off the years of ridicule. When Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa in Game of Thrones) was cast as Aquaman by Zack Snyder I was skeptical but trusted Snyder and co to make it work. And Voila! Momoa completely fits this role. His surfer dude, ‘don’t give a shit’ persona creates a beautiful paradox with his inherent need to help people avoid suffering. Momoa appears to be a genuine open hearted person in real life and that carries to his role. Add to it the fact that he has consistently been standing by the DC fans and Zack Snyder, makes him a likeable presence on screen for the fans. Also add to the fact that the long hair, hard abs and bad boy looks make him a ahem…likeable presence for all the women. But don’t worry guys, there is Amber Heard as Mera for you. She is a red head, extremely hot and has a killer attitude without coming across as too pretentious. Patrick Wilson (who previously worked in another DC film Watchmen) as the villain Orm/Ocean master should ideally have had more depth to his character in the script. Considering the reason he wants to attack the surface world is because of a relevant contemporary issue like pollution should have made him a villain who you can sympathize with. However, he is much more of a traditional villain but still brings his own qualities to the role. I would love for the story to explore more of his character in the sequels. Yahya Abdul Mateen as Black Manta is fantastic and even in small screen time makes for a menacing presence. Stalwarts like Nicole Kidman and William Dafoe perform effortlessly.

The real highlight of the movie and of Wan’s skills are the action set pieces. Wan clearly knows what kind of action people expect in a DC movie and gives them that. Some slo-mo scenes are clearly Zack Snyder inspired and unlike the choppy action of the Marvel movies, the scenes are shot in a way to clearly give you the geography of the scene…helping you keep track of each beautiful move and raise the stakes of the scene from being mere special effects show to an important aspect of the story. There are 3-4 one shot takes especially the one you saw in the extended trailer with Mera running on the roofs in Sicily, which is something only a masterful film-maker can shoot. The under-water epic battles are epic as they get and I especially loved the climactic scene. Without spoiling it, let me say that it is Lord of the rings followed by 300. Wan also depicts Aquamans communicating with all sea life in the most comic accurate yet badass way possible. 

The only things that didn’t work for me other than the pacing of the script was the background score. Now you can hate DC movies all you want but their music has always been really amazing. While Rupert Gregson Williams (Who also scored for Wonder Woman) has given a great combo of epic super hero music with synth/techno vibes to truly represent the meeting of two worlds, the movie chooses to use odd songs in many places, which looks like a remnant from Wan’s Fast and Furious. Also, the dialogue is pretty generic and unlike other DC movies which have fantastic dialogue, this one is pretty by the numbers.

While I understand that the movie may not be as pleasing for many hardcore DC fans like me, but if you are just being introduced to the world of Atlantis, then this makes for a pretty good beginning. Zack Snyder makes movies for the hardcore fans which maybe alienates a few others, while Wan and WB considering all the negative press, have I believe taken this conscious decision to make a movie which would be more universally appealing. I was looking for the movie to mention other DC characters but it doesn’t do that much. WB is still in its consolidation phase and is stepping carefully. They know that DC movies are better received abroad then in the US and they released it in China and then later in India first so that it gains some good press. Coming to the question of whether the DCEU is broken and whether it needs fixing, I never thought it was broken before WB meddled with JL.  They are still going on announcing movies nobody asked for (Birds of Prey, Plastic Man etc.) while not giving its real supporters what they want. But there is still hope… Wonder Woman 1984 and Shazam look like movies where WB has again trusted their directors, the DC stand-alone Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix looks promising…and Momoa and many others have come out openly in support of Snyder Cut of the Justice League….Men are still good, we fight we betray one another but we can rebuild…we will…we have too.

I am not gonna give a rating to this movie as I will always be biased towards DC movies. All I have to say is…do give this a watch especially on the big screen….you’ll be surprised by how much you enjoyed it.

PS- List of Easter Eggs/references in the movie-

• Thomas Curry (Arthur’s father) has the book ‘The Dunwich Horror’ in his house by H P Lovecraft. The story is about weird sea creatures crawling out of the sea and terrorizing a town.
• Black Manta has a quote before his fight scene in Sicily. That is also from a Lovecraft story.
• There is a commercial on the TV in a 80’s flashback which ends in ‘Why not try Arthur Treachers?’, which was a popular Fish n Chips chain.
• In the post credits scene, there is news cutting on a wall referencing wonder woman
• Oh and mild spoiler...the voice of the 'Karathen' creature is Julie Andrews from Sound of Music.

 T

ROBOT 2.0 (SPOILER FREE) REVIEW

This is India’s best comic book movie till date -

2.0

Director- Shankar

Cast- SUPERSTAR, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson and others

What makes a good modern comic book story? Let me be clear, am not talking about a Disney (read Marvel) formula that has been so popularized that in fact it is considered the ONLY way a comic book movie must be made and anything that deviates from that is a sin (according to most critics). But I digress, I am talking about you know…an actual comic book story. Well, it consists of interesting characters, elements of science fiction, villains reflecting our modern day fears, gory but imaginative deaths, appealing visuals, the story taking such twists and turns that former foes must join forces against a common new enemy (Loki and Thor, Batman and Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor) and whole sale property destruction topped with an over- -the -top spectacularly bonkers climax! You could pick any good comic book from Kingdom Come to Injustice to Dark Knights Metal (or you know actually GREAT and memorable comic book movies like Batman V Superman...or what the original version of Justice League actually is.  

#Releasethesnydercut) I don’t know if Director Shankar actually had this comic book story template in mind when writing this movie but they do carry all of the above traits.

2.0 is the sequel to Enthiran/Robot (2010). Like a good sequel it not only ups the ante in terms of scale and story but what it does is also learn from the earlier one and adapt to a changed sensibilities. Director Shankar has always been expanding boundaries of creativity and spectacle in Indian cinema…right from Gentleman to Hindustani to Nayak and Sivaji. The scope of his vision and ambition has always been growing. Karan Johar recently said in an interview while talking about producing 2.0 that “Bahubali was a slap to our (Bollywood’s) face” and he is right. While Bollywood is still working on producing a good superhero/sci-fi/fantasy movie (Krissh…Drona…really??) with its seemingly bigger budgets….regional cinema particularly in the south has always been looking to do something different. (check out the trailer of new Kannada/bilingual film ‘KGF’ on youtube) Shankar did it with Enthiran in 2010 with some pretty good SFX and a great story (albeit with typical south Indian drama and craziness…which I love btw)  and he really does it here again in 2018. When I said that the movie also adapted to changed sensibilities of an audience fed on an almost quarterly dose of big sci-fi superhero movie, I meant it has most of the things a good comic book movie should have but it also learns to tone down the Indian melodrama/love story aspects that usually drag the story down.

A mysterious force is sucking cellphones all over Chennai and also killing people in horrificly imaginative ways. Dr. Vasigaran (Rajni’s scientist character from the first one) has no other option but to revive the now decommissioned robot Chitti to fight this new threat. The pace of the story never slows down in 2.0 and although that can sometimes make the pace a bit jarring still it has enough things going on screen to keep you hooked. The effects although may seem lacking in some scenes if you compare them to Hollywood but am willing to forego that since at least someone in India is trying to do something different than make a dumb launch vehicle for the next star kid. But the 3d is the best I have seen for an Indian movie till date. However, it’s not just spectacle and visuals but the story has also has its heart in the right place. And that heart is Akshay Kumar.

I have always believed that Akshay Kumar plays villainish characters better than heroic ones and I would actually love to see him play a morally ambiguous character like Clint Eastwood’s Man With no name from The Dollars Trilogy. However, even as an over-the-top villain he is still great. But it’s his origin story (which is exactly what you think it is gonna be) that gives the movie its heart. He really gives a gem of performance that can go overlooked in such a grand movie starring Rajni. What the script does well is to give Akki’s character more backstory and make him the emotional core of the movie since you already know rest of the characters. As for Rajni…well even in Robot I felt that he had given a great performance with such ease as only he can bring on screen. The scientist and the robot appear to be to different characters and particularly towards the second half, he seems to be having a lot of fun as well. Amy Jackson is a pretty looking robot with zero expressions. No that wasn’t a description of Amy Jackson in real life…that’s just her character in the movie. Probably, the most natural role for her.

Although script does not pause for even a second except for a big battle, the ending to such a grand movie seems like really wrapped up. I mean it almost feels like they just ran out of things to say and just finished it in a snap. I mean they just expanded upon an earlier created universe with more characters and newer ideas…I wasn’t expecting a post credits tease for the next one or whatever (although that would have been fucking awesome…we could call it the RRCU Rajni Robot Cinematic Universe and have him fight and kill G.one in the next one) …but you know a less-hurried one.

I said this is our best comic book movie coz we obviously haven't had any till date. 2.0 is a good step in that direction. Except for the ending, the movie is swift, full of great visuals, some chuckle-worthy dialogue, great performance by its two leading stars and enough twists and turns to keep you hooked.

The movie definitely is Total Timepass!

PS- SERIOUSLY CANT WAIT FOR AQUAMAN TO RELEASE! DEC 14TH!!!!!

Andhadhun (absolutely zero spoiler) review

From the director who makes movies for me-

ANDHADHUN

CAST- TABU, AYUSHMAAN KHURRANNA, RADHIKA APTE (ON LOAN FROM NETFLIX), ANIL DHAWAN AND OTHERS

DIRECTOR- SRIRAM RAGHAVAN

Sriram Raghavan mostly likes making intense thrillers which credit the audience with a bit of intelligence, he likes using old hindi movie songs, referencing old hindi movies, leaving a ton of easter eggs and references to his favourite authors/directors and usually sets his stories in or around Pune and Marathi characters….So yes, basically he writes and makes movies for me. Because these are all the things I do when I write a story. In fact, it was Raghavan’s Johnny Gaddar that inspired me to write my first novel.  In my opinion, he is the best director working in Bollywood currently even a bit more than Anurag Kashyap. He knows how to strike the perfect balance of entertainment and substance and thrill you in a way you never knew Bollywood can. I have loved Ek Hasina Thi, Johnny Gaddar, Badlapur and yes, even Agent Vinod. Bring it on guys, coz I honestly think Agent Vinod was one of the best spy movies Bollywood has made. Also, that one single uncut shot when Saif murders like 8 people while a blind pianist plays ‘Raabta’ (oh fuck just realized this….does Raghavan have a thing for blind pianists?) is one of the memorable action scenes in recent times.

So, as you can expect when I first saw the trailer for Andhadhun, even if I don’t particularly like Ayushmaan Khurranna (Ya I don’t care much for Vicky Donor. Again Bring it on guys!), I said something to myself which I don’t usually say for a Hindi movie – ‘I have to watch this one!’ But since watching superhero movies has become my life’s sole purpose, I watched Venom on the weekend. But I also couldn’t wait till next weekend to watch this one and just had to watch this mid-week. And am really glad that I did.

When you see the trailer or the posters or hear about the concept- a blind pianist in a murder mystery thriller- the first thing that comes to your mind is that maybe the twist is that he isn’t blind…. And this is the genius of Sriram Raghavan. As I said he treats his audiences as being an intelligent lot and pretty much tells you in the trailer itself and if you fail to catch that then in the first 40 minutes or so of the movie that he isn’t blind. Don’t worry, I haven’t spoiled anything for you. The fact that he isn’t blind isn’t the source from where the movie draws its suspense. Raghavan in all of his movies knows that the audiences watch a lot of thrillers themselves and doesn’t really believe in having the whodunit formula. He creates tension out of letting you know that what you thought was the twist isn’t the twist at all. You know who the murderer is, you know who the traitor is. It is all carefully laid out in front of you. You already have most of the information but the characters on the screen don’t. You are already aware of the motives of all the characters and the risks they are willing to take. Since he creates an attachment to the characters first and then takes you on a journey with them, the story is then defined by its characters, not by the twists it creates.

Some movies conceal so much information off-screen and then reveal it to you in the form of a twist – it sometimes feels like being cheated. Even if the twist is shocking, there then remains no limitations on the twist you can bring in. The best example is the 'Race' movies where people double and triple betray each other so much that their backs should break with all that twisting. I mean since you are concealing so much info off screen, don’t be surprised if suddenly in the Race 4, one of the characters turns out to be an immortal Naagin. (You know what…I wanna see that Race movie now! Bollywood get to work!) What Raghavan again does here in Andhadhun is make it clear that a surprise twist isn’t the whole point of the movie.  It doesn’t remain limited to a last minute twist that is surprising only the first time around. Concealing off-screen info only when absolutely needed and laying it clearly in front of you allows the movie to create natural tension. The difference between the way Raghavan creates suspense through carefully setting up characters and scenarios instead of some random out of the blue twist for shock value is the same between chess and snakes and ladders. 

I am not going to get into the details but just going to say that if you think you know where this is going, it may be is…but it isn’t…and for a while you would be convinced that it isn’t…or maybe it is…but not in the way you thought. If that sounds vague, it really shouldn’t because my friends that is what suspense means! Creating tension in your mind…making you nervous, excited, confused between multiple plausible outcomes is what the essence of suspense is. Raghavan manges to do it very very well here. As a writer and an avid thriller reader myself, I love guessing how any story goes and sad part is, usually I am right and then feel withdrawn from the story. But man, this movie made me feel completely 110% engrossed in it. Everything about this movie worked and it had me guessing unsuccessfully from one point onward.

Credit goes not only to the director and the script but also to the performances. Even if am not a fan, I must say Khurana does quite well in his role and displays the exact nuances necessary for it. His character is the core of the story and if not done right, the movie would have fallen apart. He is charming, sympathetic and also cheeky where he needs to be. Tabu is fucking amazing as is expected from a veteran like her. Radhika Apte does quite well, but the script doesn’t give her much to do.

The script does surprisingly make you laugh though. I daresay the movie is more of a dark comedy than just an intense thriller. The ability of the movie to make you laugh even at the most horrific events is commendable. The music had to be good for a movie set around a piano player and Amit Trivedi gives serviceable melodies. Although ‘Naina da Kasoor’ sounds like the second line of ‘O mere Sona re’ from Teesri Manzil, but it might be intentional too. Raghavan is an avid fan of Vijay Anand, particularly Teesri Manzil. And also an R D Burman fan. It may be a nod to Goldie and Pancham but am not completely sure. The movie also acknowledges its inspiration in the end credits -- the 2010 French Short movie: L’accordeur. There are a few other references which I am sure I will catch on the inevitable second and third viewings.

The movie is a bit slow to start with and takes a bit of time to get going. The real tension doesn’t start until like 20 mins before the interval but once it starts you won’t breathe easy till the end. Also the movie references Pune more than Woody Allen references New York. Its always fun if a movie loves a city that you live in.  This is honestly one of the best Bollywood movies I have seen in recent times and perhaps the best one I saw this year. Do give it a patient, uninterrupted watch.

The movie is Superrific!

PS – Usually for a Sriram Ragahavan movie, I have a list of references and Easter eggs, but here I do not have any more in the first viewing at least, other than Tabu being called ‘Lady Macbeth’ once. She played the role of a desi Lady Macbeth in the Indian movie adaptation of Macbeth- “Maqbool”. I will definitely find more in further viewings.

Venom (spoiler free) Review

The comic book character that gave me my video game avatar name-

VENOM

Director – Ruben Fleischer

CAST- TOM HARDY (HAVING TO HIDE HIS FACE AGAIN THOUGH NOT AS MUCH), RIZ AHMED, OBLIGATORY STAN LEE CAMEO AND OTHERS

When I was a kid, Venom was one of my….wait…what’s that you are saying? What happened to my blog? Where are all my posts? Where was I all these days? Even if you weren’t asking that, you definitely are asking that now. Instead of the long and complicated answer which I would love to give, here is the short and simple one – I wanted a fresh start. The blog was originally intended not just an expression of my love for movies but also as a personal writing exercise…something to keep the claws sharpened in between writing stories (for which I take a lot of time). Then it somehow turned into a beautiful weekend compulsion. With many people waiting to read and me wanting get my opinion out there as soon as possible, it had become something that had to be done. If there is one thing I have realized in my experience of life, is that if I start doing something as pleasurable as writing out of some compulsion, then I ‘ll forever loose its magic. It would then become a job and I personally do not subscribe to the philosophy of making your passion, your work. I came to the realization, that I am good at writing…I may even be a writer…but I am not just that. I am many things and writer is just one of them. In order to break out of that mould, I thought this was necessary. So will the blog be regular from now onwards? Will it be less frequent? You know what..I don’t know at this point. I would ideally love to take this forward and maybe turn this into a podcast or something else… but keep it to something that I enjoy. Not a compulsion. So consider this sort of a soft reboot.

Speaking of reboots and new directions, when I was a kid, my only source of super-hero comic book stories was the TV. Particularly when I was 15-16, the Fox kids show on Star Plus was a major one. It played repeated episodes of the Spiderman series from the 2000’s and when I first saw Spidey in a black suit…I was hooked! The fact that it not just makes Spidey look 10000000000000000000000 times cooler but also adds depth and conflict to Peter Parker's character and later to Peter Parker’s fellow annoying reporter friend Eddie Brock, was the webbing on the cake. The character not only made me love the word –Venom- which I took on as this pseudonym while gaming or in other places, but also taught me the meaning of the word 'Symbiosis'. (So you see, comic books actually teach you a lot of things). In fact Venom made me look at Spidey in a new light and was one of the only few things I liked about  Spiderman 3 when it was released.

So, when Sony (who still owns a few Marvel properties after finally having sold off Spidey to Disney), released a trailer of a stand-alone Venom movie…I was kinda excited for it…but again not too much. The concept in itself is obviously interesting – a powerful dark alien life form takes control of an out-of-luck reporter and both have to inhibit in one single body- it’s the parasitic, dual nature of the relationship of the Symbiote with its host which offers a lot of potential for great story telling. The trailer was interesting…but after the whole Snyder getting dropped from DCEU…I have become a bit distant from all comic book movies in general…be it Marvel or DC. Doesn’t mean I am not gonna queue up first day first show to watch them…but still things are just a bit different now. Anyway, the trailer starred Tom Hardy and was being directed by the man behind ’Zombieland’…I was looking forward to it but not out of curiosity or excitement….just for the fact the source material is damn interesting.

To be honest, the movie is actually pretty good. I mean it isn’t great…but compared to the last comic book movie I saw – Ant man and the Wasp – this one is outta this world. Now Venom is a violent and almost horror movie material character…if this was in the hands of Disney- Marvel…they would have ensured to tone this down and make it a joke per 10 minutes enjoyable movie. Thankfully, since Sony technically still owns this character…this isn’t a typical MCU movie (Am sure the MCU slave-bots are already on the net trying to trash this movie). While they don’t go and explore the depth and potential of this character by making this a R rated blood fest as I would have loved…still they  kinda keep the creepy horrific vibe of a parasitical virus eating a person up from within yet manage to still have a lot of humor as well.

What I liked about the movie was that it takes a bit of time to get to the action. I mean the drama isn’t as compelling The Dark Knight trilogy or something, but still it is good to know that movies are taking their time to establish characters without adding unnecessary humor or action. When the action starts, it is pretty innovative because the central character is not entirely in control of his actions. Although even for its concept of an anti-hero story, the movie sometimes takes the predictable route. It is still a lot of fun but some unexplained plot points and a shift in tone make the movie lose on its re-watch potential.

Tom Hardy as report Eddie Brock/Venom is great. Although I remember Eddie Brock being a much more negative character in the comics, obviously they had to make him less of an ass-hole in this one so that he is more sympathetic to the viewers. Even Venom if am not wrong, originally started out as a villain and due to popularity was made more anti-hero. Still Hardy is charming, he is funny and also shows great emotion wherever needed. He carried the movie on his broad shoulders and his chemistry with the creature inside him is the soul of the movie. Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake/Riot is interesting but honestly a bit generic. It is a character that does not reflect any other facets than evil and in this day and age of complex villains…doesnt stand out at all. 

The movie for a true comic book and movie fan like me, has a lot of under-utilized potential. What could have been the first comic book horror/ Body invasion movie or dual personality drama is made into a different but enjoyable comic book movie with clear heroes and villains. Having said that, it still beats other overrated Marvel films like Black Panther or Thor Ragnorak.

In my opnion, the movie is definitely Worth Watching Once.

PS- Did you guys check out the new Aquaman extended video?? I mean what the fuck!? Its like Avatar and Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones had a baby Underwater! I really think James Wan is gonna give us an out of this world visual treat! Check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V54ZwjEcPn4

PS: Possible Spoilers : Avengers Infinity Wars

WHETHER IT IS GOOD TO HAVE DISCUSSED AND SPOILED OR NOT TO HAVE SPOILT AT ALL?

Most of you already know my commitment to being spoiler free. Each and every review on my blog is absolutely ‘spoiler-free’ even the shitty ones like Baji (Don’t bother googling if you can’t remember, it’s not worth it). However, my second biggest commitment (marriage comes close though) is also to theorizing. I always have fun with my other short segment called Judgemental movie reviews, in which I review a movie without actually watching it and ask you all to tell me how much of its true or not. But that’s mostly for the movies I don’t really care about.

 I also love speculating and debating about upcoming movies I am excited for.  In a world of sequels and huge cinematic universes, speculation is a part and parcel of these movies. Curiosity builds excitement and sometimes there is nothing as satisfying as seeing some of your predictions become true on screen (having the movie exceed them in a good way is even better though). However, in a world of superstars accidentally tweeting plots, online leaks, over-exposed trailers, the art of expert speculation has been limited to merely googling shit…just like the art of knowledge and opinions. Earlier you had to, you know… put in actual effort and spend time researching and then formulating your own theories. But with the growing exposure to by-the-moment on set information…it’s becoming too easy. Any dumb-schmuck can sit down and pass on leaked information.

However, I still believe speculation is an art. To carefully look at all the plot points, sometimes deliberate clues in a story and use your own experience and skills to speculate about the next movie (particularly with respect to comic book movies) is a favourite pastime for me. Though in the interest of protecting against spoilers, I have mostly kept those theories to myself. Also most of those theories have been (sometimes sadly) proven to be right.  But then getting it right is never the goal. It never was. Starting a conversation, analyzing a movie for sub-text and clues and then passing on your ideas to those who wish to hear them is the great thing here. Sometimes fan theories are much more interesting than the movie and many a times, fan theories have been genuinely accepted by the creators themselves and also incorporated in the stories as well. Hence, speculation is still a fun thing to do.

The reason again to start this segment was that after I have hinted about or talked amongst my close friends regarding several plot points of a movie – I have been told that I should put them in my reviews as well. So here is my new segment called   ‘P.S.- POSSIBLE SPOILERS’

As the name goes, I ll be discussing storylines of hotly awaited upcoming movies based on my own analysis. These are merely theories and again getting it right is never the goal. Also, these could potentially be spoilers, so in case you want to keep your excitement for the movies yet to be released feel free to look away right now. But if you like reading about some interesting theories, lets dive right in.

P.S. - POSSIBLE SPOILERS

AVENGERS INFINTIY WARS 2 OR AVENGERS 4 (CALL IT WHATEVER YOU WISH)

The context -

Regardless of if you are a Marvel or a DC fan, regardless of if you are a casual movie goer, Avengers: Infinity Wars was one of the most hotly anticipated movies of ALL time. A movie with a build-up of almost 8 years. You can read my spoiler free review of it here (insert link)

The reason why the movie managed to capture the fancy of many people was we got to see something we hadn’t seen ever in a superhero movie in a long time. Thanos, the big baddie who for almost 14 movies has been after the famous Infinity stones –  each containing a cosmic force from the beginning of the universe- finally gets his hands on all of them. The Infinity stones contain the powers  of Space, Time, Reality, Power, Mind and Soul. Until this movie we are not sure of Thanos’ purpose for getting the stones. We assume that it’s the usual mega-villain purpose of ‘Conquering the universe’.  But Thanos’ has a much deeper purpose than that. He has seen that the universe’s resources are finite and its increasing population isn’t. He merely wants to bring balance to the universe by carrying out a universe level genocide. An impartial dispassionate one. He wants to bring all of the stones together to use their cosmic-level power to painlessly make half of the universe’s population disappear. All of the avengers and related marvel characters like Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Spiderman and Dr. Strange get together to stop him. But unlike a normal comic book movie where they all get together and manage to stop the villain before he executes the plan, things go a bit differently.

What happens in the last 5-10 mins is some of the most stunned silences I have ever felt in a theatre. Spiderman, Black Panther, Bucky a.k.a the Winter Soldier, Nick Fury, Falcon, Dr. Strange – and many others just disappear.  Vision is dead. Although Thor manages to stab Thanos but Thanos snaps his fingers at the last moment to make his wish come true. We are left with a post-credit scene of Nick Fury messaging female super-hero Captain Marvel (whom we’ll get to see in an upcoming movie) before disappearing and that’s it.

All the powerful sorcerers are gone, the space geniuses are gone, Loki is dead, Odin had already died in Thor: Ragnorak. Thanos might also be dying and the Infinity stones he used look like they have lost their power. The Avengers have no way of avenging this grave scenario….

Unless if you really give it a thought.

The Key-

Having read and thought about enough sci-fi stories involving multiple realities and time-travel, let me tell you that the problem is always the answer. If Barry Allen a.k.a The Flash has travelled back in time to create a problem, he can always go back to solve it. That’s the thing with multiple realities and time-travel, once you bring them into an equation then no problem is an absolute certainty. Comic books (both DC and Marvel) have been doing this for ages and if you have read or watched any animated movies regarding story lines like Flashpoint Paradox (The best Flash story ever), Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC), DC Rebirth, DC Injustice, Days of Future Past (Marvel) or the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline, you know that altering timelines or realities is like planning a Europe tour for comic book characters. Just that this is the first time we are seeing this on the big-screen, that too after such a grand setup. That was brilliance on part of Marvel, Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers to bring that concept to the big screen and especially leave that as a cliffhanger.

Even though I haven’t read the Infinity Gauntlet story-line , I can sort of speculate as to how they are going to go about this here and the reasons for them going about it like that. I won’t want to read that storyline nor give a synopsis of it here…I am gonna theorize this based on the knowledge and the set-up provided by the MCU movies and the real-life issues affecting those decisions. Based on what we know from the movies, pay attention to the following clues-

Me calculating all possible theories

1.       Dr. Strange- Dr. Strange is not only one of two actors in the same movie to brilliantly portray Sherlock Holmes, but is also a master sorcerer. He is a master of mystic arts and holds the time stone in an amulet he wears. He is also smart and had used that time-looping power to defeat an immortal demon in his solo movie. He can also play with reality and create illusions. In this movie, while Iron Man, Spidey and the Guardians of the Galaxy are on Titan waiting for Thanos to arrive, Dr. Strange looks forward in time and comes up with the odds of 1426543 to 1 of them winning this war. When Thanos arrives and they almost manage to defeat him, (fuck Star Lord) Dr. Strange- sworn protector of the time stone and the Earth Realm- hands over the time stone to Thanos before dying to stop Thanos from killing Iron Man. Before dying he says to Iron Man “It was the only way”. What that definitely means is that the 1 scenario in which they win the war, somehow involves Thanos getting the time stone anyway or Iron Man staying alive. Dr. Strange gives away the time stone so that that may happen.

 

2.       Iron Man- Although Iron Man in the comic books was never a central character or even that popular, one of the main reasons for the MCU’s popularity is Robert Downey Jr.’s fantastic portrayal of Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man. He is the central character of all of the group ones like Age of Ultron, Avengers 1 or Civil War.  If Marvel had killed him off inspite of him being just a 50 year old man in a metal suit against space wizards and gods, then the fan backlash would have been too harsh. (Although killing him off and bringing him back would have been the most fucking awesome thing to do..but hey Marvel isn’t DC). So they kept him alive. Thanos even acknowledges him and that’s also a clue as to if they kept him alive, you know he is central in bringing things back in line.

3.       Ant-man – In all of this we never get to see Antman or where he is. Although we are getting a Antman sequel in July, it’s surprising as to how they‘ll string together the events after half the universe is gone. Maybe as per the time line it happens at the same time as the Thanos battle and ends when that battle is over. Antman single handedly had the power to defeat Thanos. Everyone has their theories from him becoming ant sized crawling over to the Infinity Gauntlet (the glove worn by Thanos to bring together all the stones) and expanding to a 100 ft to get the glove off him. Some have suggested he could have done the same by crawling into Thanos’ anus.

Pick whatever theory you like, the fact the he wasn’t there means that he’ll be a key character in the sequel. Also, remember that he can reduce to sub-atomic size…that could also mean he has access to quantum universes/ multiple realities. Perhaps, we ll get more clues in the Antman and Wasp movie.

4.       Captain Marvel – Putting in an entire history of Captain Marvel here is not possible. (go wiki that) But in short she is a human who has alien powers. She may not have time travel or reality altering powers, but she is powerful enough to take on movie Thanos. Also, she is the only one Nick Fury manages to send a distress signal to, when the entire universe is about to end. That does mean in the context of the movies, they might amp up her powers. Also, remember, the Avengers are not together, Iron Man is on the planet Titan with no ship and Thor, Captain America, powerless Hulk, Black Widow are the only ones remaining on earth. A superhero from space might be the one to get them together.

5.       Powerless Hulk – Small mention here of powerless Hulk. Hulk has been the Avengers’ go to weapon in case of unmanageable circumstances. With Bruce Banner not being able to summon him (conveniently) we never got to see him properly in play, except when he got his ass kicked by Thanos in the opening. But Hulk is a fan-favourite and we cannot have an MCU movie without the Hulk Smashing carelessly. Also, the original Infinity War trailer shows him in the battle of Wakanda running alongside Captain America (insert screencap). This was not a deliberate bait and switch as most sites predicted or reportedly even the Russo bros. said.  I believe we are going to get that battle again when the time-line is being reversed and this time we’ll have Hulk in full flow.

6.       The glass half full – Most of us were so caught up with some of our beloved characters like Groot or Spidey or Black Panther disappearing that we never noticed the ones who stayed alive. Take a breath and think back on the ones who were (conveniently) left alive in a impartial universe level genocide. Captain America, Thor, Bruce Banner/Hulk, Hawkeye (presuming he is not dead because we don’t get to see him at all) and finally Iron Man. These are the original Avengers…from the first movie. Everyone who came afterwards – Falcon, Spiderman, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther are all gone. Am not going on a long shot on betting in here that we are definitely through some reality/time manipulation going to get a scene where the remaining Avengers have to go back to the original Avengers 1 battle in New York to get the Tesseract- Space Infinity Stone. Also, some special screenings of the Avengers 4 trailer at some festival in Europe has some fans speculating the same on reddit too.

And finally moving on from the delicious story-wise speculation to factoring in some real-life issues as well. Most of the major actors, particularly Robert Downey Jr. have limited contracts with Marvel to play the said characters. Chris Evans and RDJ have had multiple movies over last 8 years and perhaps the contracts were till Infinity War 2 (as announced by Marvel many years ago). The Infinity war is a colossal event in the comics changing reality forever. Since most of these contracts are about to expire and Marvel’s original plan till the Infinity War was already in place. Marvel/Disney could be using this story-based reason to introduce new actors playing these characters sometime in the future. This could be a cool way of integrating real-life changes into the fictional MCU. A reality altering event will allow other actors to play existing characters.

This happens a lot in comics when catastrophic events are used not only to boost sales but to clear up confusing time-lines, kill-off mediocre characters and introduce new changes. DC has done it multiple times in comics with the famous Crises on Infinite Earths and very recently with DC rebirth. Marvel could also be using this event to finally let go of these existing actors and create alternate realities where different actors play them. Although I have no idea if this final theory of mine, will hold true, it would be a great way of finally letting the actors pass without having to reboot the universe without any reason.

So, what do you guys think? Do you think all of the clues I pointed are #possiblespoilers? Or do you think it’s all just dumb speculation. Go on put on your too-much-time-on-your-hands hats and start thinking!

What else is there to do until 2019?

 

If Nick Fury would have made this call, then Thanos would have been defeated in no time

50th post special : Listless Wednesdays - 4 popular movies which don't get enough credit (Oct 2014)

There are some movies that leave their mark forever on the art of movie-making…some movies which break conventions…some movies which define their own genres…movies which earn their place amongst the truly greatest of the great…these are not the movies am going to talk about.

I mean we all know how invariably any and I mean ANY crime-based movie released after The Godfather carries some sort of influence of it or how every action movie with slow motion Kung-fu was influenced by The Matrix or how any super-hero movie post Batman Begins inevitably tries to ape Chris Nolan’s intense story-telling. But these are all movies which got the credit that was due to them. They are honoured, parodied (which again is paying tribute with a smile) and copied and will be copied for centuries to come. But today am going to talk about such movies which even though they did leave their mark on film-making, they do not get their due credit. At least not as much as they deserve.

And before all you film-school, artsy-types start getting happiness erections, please note that am not talking about some forgotten-nobody-really-gives-a-shit masterpieces of ‘true art’. If you had to believe such hipsters then you would think that ‘real movies’ are made only by French/German/Random European and/or Bengali film makers only. But again am not talking about such undiscovered gems…because there is a reason they were undiscovered- nobody really gives a shit about them. Please again before you get your rage-erections on, note that I am not insulting Goddard or Satyajit Ray or Antonioni etc. Am not even capable of doing so. But their influence upon movie-making is largely known and studied and will be studied for decades.

But I wanna talk about movies which although were loved and appreciated but still don’t get enough credit for changing the way stories were told on-screen. That’s kinda like discovering that Sylvester Stallone loved by all and largely known as a dumb action hero also has an IQ of 160 (not joking)

Anyways, here are 4 movies (in no particular count-down order) which influenced movie-making but don’t get due credit-

4. AVATAR (2009)-

DIRECTOR- JAMES CAMERON

Avatar, just like 98% of action movies that Hollywood puts out, is the story of how a white man ultimately solves all problems…this time its for an exotic tribe which had otherwise been surviving perfectly alright on its own for thousands of years. The concept isn’t particularly original (stolen from the Dances with Wolves and The Last Samurai and 2-3 other movies) neither is the execution full of depth and has interesting plot twists nor are the characters/acting particularly memorable.

But what is memorable, other than the fact that you keep wondering whether being turned on by a 7ft tall alien with a killer figure (and a tail) is right or wrong, are the amazing and actually out-of-this world visuals that enthral you. James Cameron doesn’t just make pop-corn movies. He fucking visualizes them on-screen in such a way that the term game-changing might have been invented just to label what he does. He changed special effects with Terminator 1 and 2, with The Abyss it was the awe-inspiring visualization of a giant sea monster…when the Titanic sailed or sank…you could feel the sheer giant scale of the then biggest ship in the world. It’s now common knowledge that Cameron developed his own technology and waited years for it to be able to capture his vision on screen for Avatar.

Although not merely a visual-director, Cameron does write interesting characters and plotlines as well, but Avatar has to be his lowest effort on that front. It’s a fun movie none-the-less and strictly a one-time theatre watch only for the visual ride.

So, what’s so special about it- Other than the game-changing special effects etc. One thing that makes Avatar a huge influence on modern movies…and let it be taken on record here, your honour that am merely using the term ‘influence’, which can either be good or bad depending on the context…So Avatar’s biggest influence on movie-making is the use of 3D. I never said it was a good thing. 3D has been there since like the last 20 years or so. And 3d movies kinda used to be a separate genre until Avatar came along. It was after the movie released, that money hungry studios realized that you could charge extra for making people wear head-ache inducing googles regardless of whether the movie actually needed to be in 3D or not. And most of these movies, weren’t even the visual treat that Avatar was nor were they even shot in 3D. It was all post-production converted 3D, which is as head-ache inducing and entertaining as drinking two glasses of castor oil and chillies for breakfast.

Chris Nolan literally had to fight with the studios to keep Batman 3D free and he could do it only because he was in a commanding position to do so. But others weren’t so lucky. Almost ALL super-hero movies released after Avatar were 3D and the curse didn’t stop there. Many horror movies (Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot, Silent Hill, Piranha etc.) ….Almost ALL animation movies (How to train your Dragon, Shrek, Tangled, Frozen etc.) Hollywood even started re-releasing movies in 3D to cash in on the craze. The only up-side to it might be that you got to see Jurassic Park again in a theatre.

And of course how could Bollywood be left behind? The first 3D movie to catch on the post Avatar fad was the Farhan Akhtar directed absolutely disappointing sequel to an absolutely unnecessary remake with an absolutely disgusting casting choice for the main character (gimme a fucking break, SRK!! ) – Don 2 – was released in 3D for no other reason than marketing and charging you extra on the ticket. Many others followed…including Kochadaiyyan and 2-3 movies  probably directed by Vikram Bhatt but am not sure because who gives a shit about his movies these days anyways?

But as always there is a bright side to things and in this case, the ONLY and perhaps I must say the SINGLE MOST GREATEST upside to this trend was the chance to finally make a dream come true…after having worshipped it a million times on TV…finally got to watch THE masterpiece on the big screen- 

3. 300 (2006)-

DIRECTOR- ZACK SNYDER

So, yeah 300 is as much of a guy fest as it can get…with badass sculpted bodies mercilessly hacking off enemies in stylish slow motion while delivering witty come-backs with the occasional story-line and boob show here and there .

Plus, if you really wanna dig deep into it, it is based on an entertaining chapter of greek history when 300 Spartans actually held back a Persian force of 10,000 or more. All the history with added beaheadings, boobs, surreal screen filters and –

Even I don't know what that is...

But it’s just an overtly stylistic yet entertaining take on a historic episode…right?

So, what’s so special about it? - Well, for all you critic-types and/or people who think all good movies should be about people with cancer/history of child abuse/personal tragedy, let’s first delve into the history of the movie.

Well, if you don’t already know, 300 is based on a graphic novel by one of the best and revolutionary comic book artists of all time- Frank Miller. The guy is partly responsible for bringing the gritty aspect back to Batman comics in the 80’s (which would of course later dictate the tone of the TDK trilogy). So, 300 the graphic novel is also based on an old movie called the 300 Spartans…which in turn is a fictionalization of ancient Greek historical accounts which in turn is based on the actual Battle of Thermopylae (Hot Gates).

So even if you put aside all the surreal, stylish aspects of the story, which are nothing but trademarks of Miller’s story-telling style, the movie actually has some base in history. And here is where the fun part comes in, remember all those badass lines about “Fighting in the shade” or “The emperor only asks for earth and water” etc etc. were actually used in the battle according to historical accounts. So they are not just awesome punch-lines written for a dumb action flick, they have some base in history.

But other than that, what’s even more special about the movie is again the way it portrayed its action scenes. Well The Matrix was admittedly the first movie to make Slo-mo cool. But by the time 300 released it had been over-used and people almost lost interest in it. With 300, Zack Snyder showed that using slo-mo can be a really stylish way of portraying action scenes. He used it judiciously and in a really effective way possible. Also, he brought to screen the surreal fairy-tale like setting, shot with the use of innovative modern tech thus achieving a balance between real-time and motion capture technology. Many movies tried to ape that visual style later on-

and many more.

Even Magadheera had a really well executed sequence inspired from 300.

Also, 300 paved the way for history to be portrayed in a badass manner. History Channel (back when it was STILL concerned with History) had a beautiful series called Battles B C which showed historical battles in a 300-like manner. So anytime you see a heavily stylized portrayal of history/mythology with slo-mo action and single-tone screen filters, you know that its 300 which influenced it.

But then what’s so great about the visual style that Zack Snyder immediately became a grade-A director after this movie. The reason is quite simple. In terms of following the source material correctly and interpreting it perfectly on-screen, 300 is in the line of The Godfather or the Fight Club. See, Snyder used the actual panels of the graphic novel as story-boards for the scenes. Meaning the movie was shot EXACTLY like it is in the comic book. 

You have got to appreciate the effort in bringing a book to life this effectively. However, in terms of staying true to original material in style and tone, there was one movie released before 300 that did it in a near-perfect way as well.

2. SIN CITY (2005)-

Most of you who haven’t seen this movie might think of this as some sort of porn movie or some deep melodrama about life in Las Vegas. But look at this-

DIRECTOR- ROBERT RODRIGUEZ/FRANK MILLER

Well, now am sure the same people would think this is just some random sex and action thriller stylistically shot in Black and white. Well…oh boy, you are soo wrong! It is in fact not some random sex and action thriller shot stylistically in B/w, it is THE sex and action thriller shot stylistically in B/w.

This was perhaps one of Miller’s first works to be adapted to the screen. But what Zack Snyder would do for 300 later on, Robert Rodriguez did for Sin City before that. Rodriguez actually used the panels of the comic book as story-boards and shot the movie almost exactly like it is in the book. Also, he first shot a proof of concept scene for Miller to ensure that author was happy that the movie would be keeping in spirit with the book. How many times have you seen Hollywood ever do that?

 Sin City is an adaptation of Frank Miller’s (see 300 above) Sin City graphic novel series. The stories are about characters living in a flamboyantly gritty city, full of sex, violence, revenge and dark twisted characters. The series is a modern tribute to black and white film noir of the 40’s and 50’s and the pulp fiction books of Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett. It has all the traits of fil noir like the characters narrating in first person, the delightful quirky metaphors ­ like –“When it comes to reassuring a traumatized 19-year-old, I'm about as expert as a palsy victim doing brain surgery with a pipe wrench…”-  sexy femme fatales and hardboiled dudes etc. all this in black and white. All in all it’s a fun entertaining movie with a good coherent storyline and refreshing surprising way of story-telling. (At least the first part is)

So what’s so special about it?- But then what sets the book and in turn the movie apart is this – 

The movie/book highlights partial colours (usually red but not limited to it) in the otherwise b/w setting usually to highlight some important character or object or for just stylish effect.

Of course this isn’t the first time we have seen a black white movie with partial colours in it. The first such on-screen use of the technique was of course the amous (and really touching) ‘girl in the red dress sequence’ in Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. But it was limited to that sequence and digital photography and photo-shop hadn’t been invented yet. Sin City’s impact on digital stylistic photography has been so massive and encompassing that just like a disease that spreads (yay! Metaphor!), it might have even affected you without you knowing it.

These days anyone with a digi-cam and an Instagram/facebook account starts thinking of themselves as a photographer. And of course one of the pet effects anyone uses, is highlighting the red (sometimes other colors but mostly red) in an other-wise black and white pic. You have seen it on that annoying friend’s account who shoots pics of sunsets and really close up shots of dew drops/insects on flowers otherwise, to show his ‘artistic’ photography. Hell you might have even used it, either knowingly or unknowingly.

But the ‘Sin city’ effect, isn’t limited to mere amateur photography, many many movies have used it in Hollywood and also Bollywood and count-less ads. It would too long a list to list out completely but recently I have seen the Sin City effect being used in some season of Breaking Bad (I binge-watched it so its ‘recent’ for me, so shut up). Hell Frank Miller himself remade another old comic book into a movie called The Spirit using the same style.

 In Bollywood, the movie Cash –yes that crapfest- had an entire item number with the item in red and all else in b/w.  The Marathi movie Checkmate had flashback sequences with similar effects… many many more. Just that  Sin City because of its graphic comic book violence and overt sexuality (so much sexy  delicious overt sexuality, you guys...you have to watch Eva Green in the recently released sequel to know what am talking about) doesn't get enough credit for being a big fucking influence on modern cinema and photography in general. 

1. OCEAN’S ELEVEN (2001)

DIRECTOR – STEVEN SODERBERGH

Yes even before the most trying-to-be-smart of you tries to point out, Yes I know Ocean’s Eleven is already a remake of an old Frank Sinatra movie. While they share some basic plot elements, the original Ocean’s Eleven in terms of storyline and themes can be more comparable to Reservoir Dogs than the remake.

In case you haven’t still seen it (and the first question you should be asking yourself is -Why the hell haven’t you?), Ocean’s Eleven is a casino heist being pulled off in the most complicated and super-stylish manner (if Brad Pitt and George Clooney are trying to rob Andy Garcia, well they are gonna do it in style) by Danny Ocean (Clooney) and Rusty (Pitt) with the help of 9 other people. There is more to it as to why Ocean tries to rob 150 million dollars out of Vegas’ most secure casino, just when he has completed a sentence. It involves a girl. (Of course it does).

It’s a good movie, most people enjoy watching it. It has 4 stars rating on IMDB and is mostly appreciated by critics and masses alike.

  

So, what’s so special about it?- Well, when was the last time you witnessed a motley crew of suave robbers with their individual skills and expertise coming together to pull off an overtly complicated (yet entertaining) heist that involves using every kind of con, computer technology, illusions/special effects and their wits overall instead of guns …all this with smooth jazz/funky background music and a mind-blowing twist in the end?

Ocean’s Eleven had such an influence on movies that The Italian job, which is a remake of a 1969 film with the same name and 21-which is partly based on a true story involving MIT students and card counting, tried to have the sleek, stylish and witty vibe of Ocean’s series. And am not even counting the Ocean’s sequels themselves which tried to capitalize on the same formula.

And let’s not forget Bollywood- leaving aside the obvious copies- many movies were influenced by Oceans Eleven like Race 2, Players (Official remake of The Italian Job),  Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena, Teen Patti, Raja Natwarlal…etc..hell even the Dhoom series started losing more of its  Fast and Furious/Torque vibe of the first one and moving towards overtly complicated stylish heists  in the subsequent ones.

Copy the style, leave out the plot and logic

But in my mind the only Bollywood movie to successfully and intelligently use the Ocean’s Eleven formula was of course Special 26. It did it in a fun and original way. With the bar now raised for heist movies, I hope somebody will only take it further now-

OH DEAR GOD!...NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

PS- Sorry for not being able to publish review of recently released movies, So here they are in short-

Bang Bang - Didn't care much about the original, less so for the remake. 

Haider -Watched it a week later than it released, Should have ideally been titled 'The Kashmir Apology with a few elements of Hamlet by Vishal Bharadwaj'

Annabelle- saw it only yesterday, watching The Conjuring again would have been more scary.

PS-2- Just some news for you guys, that this blog has crossed 50 posts! and achieved around 4000 views till date. Thank you for all your love and support. Keep reading and commenting!