Iron Man 3? Maybe this Is A Review!

So, my Iron Man 3 experience begins with the ever so christening of my 3D glasses. These inventions of the mighty hollywood executives which holds our key to make them charge us more and if you don't spend that "LITTLE" extra on your tickets, the trailers in the theater just blatantly taunt you for watching something in 2D rather than 3D.

Enough of that piece of information, let's get down to business and talk about Iron Man 3. So, Iron Man 3 stars the ever so wierd style of actor Mr.Robert Downey Jr. He reprises his role as the Iron Man and Tony Stark. The two characters seem to be blended into one singular entity as whenever I see Iron Man on screen I just get the impression of Robert Downey getting itchy somewhere in there(he also mentions this joke in the movie, solving our very curious predicament since the first movie).

 Well Iron Man 3 is just another typical super hero film. It has the same plot points, of villains who seem indestructible in the first half and a lot of built up is added on this very crucial plot point, but they seem to be easily defeated by Iron Man and his gang of great hollow Iron "Men". It also has added a non nonsensical plot of an abandoned kid just to show that Iron Man can also have some kind of emotion.

We have all the usual take on super hero cinema considered "COOL" by Hollywood Executives. The dull parts for a section and then some action, dull part, action, dull part, action, and so on. The story is laughable but what else can we expect from a dwindling series which is coming to it's end(hopefully). We really have Sir Ben Kingsley in the film but is totally wasted on a forgettable(yes it's forgettable) and really useless role. The story lays out so haphazardly at times that we have to wonder if the director himself was amazed at how obnoxiously simple it is.

With glaring holes in the plot, some really good talent wasted and some not so shocking twists, I really wouldn't recommend watching this film. It just reminds me of the late 80's and the early 90's when there was this trend of making action films in a certain mold and anyone hardly ventured out of this formula. Yes it did get a huge opening(which movie doesn't these days?) but the truth is, it's just another super hero flick. Just Another!

Scarface

What can be said about a movie and a performance that hasn't been said before. I remember seeing this movie right after a few days of seeing The Godfather II. I was most impressed my the subtle and alarmingly dangerous persona created by Al Pacino as Michael in that film. Needless to say I wasn't expecting much when I sat down to watch Scarface thinking to myself that this is just another over blown film about violence which will have to sensibilities to it and will always play the brutal violence card with a minor plot to revolve around, as an excuse.

But I was terribly wrong on all aspects. The way the movie starts is I think absolutely brilliant. The 360 shot with Al's character just sitting there and trying to plead a case of innocence and trying to get a free pass to America is very well shot. Looking at Al Pacino in this film really blew me away as to how fine an actor he really is.

The main aspect to any such role of a gangster is the body language. Al is not a big guy and neither has an intimidating stature, so as to compensate for these factors he more than fills up on the confidence. This cocky outlook really takes the character to believable heights and adds that sense of gangster perspective you expect when watching such a film. Going from something so subtle and calculative to a character such as this who is strictly instinctive and brash is a fabulous transition. I was like a fool, trying to find hints of Micahel in Tony, as I always try to compare roles played by an actor just to figure their method and quirks, but no matter how much I tried I couldn't find that link and that shows the variety of Al Pacino as an actor.

The direction of the film is good but it has that 80's style of treatment to it, which takes away that classic factor from it. It adds a sense of nostalgia when I watch it but I would prefer a film which ages well. The violence in the film is actually very good and there are plenty of instances which make for really satisfying viewing.

For a film which is mostly in your face there are lots of subtle yet heavy moments. The way Tony reacts when he sees his sister dancing in the club with a guy, the rage that fills him up is an amazing moment and shows how emotional the character of Tony really is. This contradicts perfectly with the  brash and insensitive  side of the character which has been the focus till that point in the film. Another fine and particularly well directed moment is that of the death of Tony. As he falls in to the shallow water after being riddled with bullets and that final blow to his back, the camera pans up to reveal the globe with the saying "The world is yours". That is a fantastic and clever way to end the movie, it represents the irony of the life of a man obssesed with power and blinded by rage who wants to rule the world but lies dead at the very place he once ruled. Maybe Tony dies before he is actually killed, for the fact that he killed his best friend and his sister died in his own arms.

Somewhere this movie had a lot of shades to it which resounded the culture of that era but the lessons to be learnt are still relevant even though the times have changed. More than anything this will be one of Al Pacino's best performances to this date and will always be remembered for Tony and his way of life. I can't resist my friends, I have to say it, "Say hello to my little friend!". 

Twilight The Movie......

Sometimes in a generation there comes a movie which raises so many questions about it that it achieves a cult status which it may or may not deserve. Fortunately or unfortunately we have Twilight The movie series doing exactly that for our generation. The books have been popular but once the movie was announced all hell broke loose.

How can there exists a series with so much love and hatred attached to it both. What I don't understand is the fact that there are plenty of people who absolutely love this series both the books as well as the movies but then there are those who absolutely hate it. I imagine when something is good it's good, there can never be hatred about it with so many people.

Well, I am saying all this for a simple reason that I have neither read the books nor watched any of the movies. But what fascinates me is that there is so much hype and discussion with this movie. I am very updated with this series even though I have no particular interest in it that much. This is what surprises me, there have been very few movies that have such a double impact on the audiences. It's funny how this can take away credibility from a franchise because we have so much hate about it going on, but then the discussion also comes that even the movies might really be bad they still are successful because of all the hype surrounding it. So is it good marketing strategy or plain right controversial material. Anyway, the thing about twilight is that it looks as though it does not have the substance to hold on to it's status for long and it is only a phase because nothing else was going on I guess. Both aspects aside credit should be given to the series as it made overnight stars of the three protagonists and also made a successful series out of the books which is always a tough thing to achieve. 

Here are the links to the movies if you wanna check them out.......

Dark Knight Rises

Christopher Nolan has suddenly become the Steven Spielberg of our generation. No, that is not an over statement or even sarcastic in nature. When you truly think about it Chris Nolan has achieved a very prestigious status that is people actually have certain expectations about his films. This is very rare these days when people including me have carried real high levels of expectations from a director more than the franchise maybe. Everyone was blown away by the tremendous success and brilliance of INCEPTION and maybe the majority of people were expecting more if not the same from him in his next Batman venture. Hmm, so lets's dig in and analyse the film and see if batman prevails or not.

As most of the people have already seen this movie and know hat it basically is about let me get straight to what I felt about it. Like many others I too was really excited for another Batman movie, who wouldn't  be after the cinematic master piece of The Dark Knight. I was more than ready to be enthralled by a new type of villain this time around. While the Joker is my favorite villain of any superhero franchise, I was waiting to see the brute force types in Bane. He is smart and has the brain to pull off something terrifyingly big to demolish Gotham but in the end he obviously does not have the character of unpredictable and  psychotic traits of Joker. So tough act to follow.

The movie does start off with a spectacular way to show off it's villain. That sequence is brilliantly shot and is creative in all fields. Never have I seen the introduction of the villain in a plane tearing up at the heights of the skies. Brilliant again sir. This is trademark Nolan style where the first sequence never has exposition or story flow to it, it's master introduction technique if pulled off well(except Inception where there was a key point in the script which was the introduction scene). The mood is set well where the terrifying presence of Bane is established well.

My main concern with film is quickly visible in the first half of the film, Nolan wants to tell so much but obviously he can't in one film, but he has definitely shot the film accordingly, so to make it shorter it has been heavily edited. Nolan films, if I have noticed correctly do not have that many jump cuts as this films exhibits. This is obviously done to shorten the film length which I personally hate. This really breaks up the flow of the story and distorts the fine art of story telling that this man obviously possesses. So the editing is so fast it got me really thrown off track.

The curse of the cat woman continues and this film does not do justice to this character like many before have tried to an failed again and again. Anne does look very good in the cat suit but I just cant get the image of Halle Berry out of my head. I felt this character was unnecessary and added more as a gimmick rather than furthering the story. In a story which already has so much going in it this character was a waste as it is very forgettable and should have been replaced with the main story line.

The second half does provide for some fine moments especially the fight between Bane and Batman. It has it's moments but they are far too apart. The story comes into it's own in the second half and some of the major plots are unraveled here. There are so many things going on but the reason of it all, the glue to make it all stick is not portrayed correctly. It somehow does not come together to wow us like in the previous edition. Major concern again being that the script has so much in it but so little time to tell all this that the execution in the end looks haphazard. The film is not bad it is relatively good but it misses it's mark as the end of a great series. It deserved a grand finale a tale that could have been remembered but rather ends up being just about right even forgettable by Nolan standards. My biggest problem was the way Bane gets killed, he is what the film is all about and the way he dies in the end is really pathetic. The writers definitely messed up there. But in the end people did like it and that is what matters. I personally prefer the previous editions in the franchise over this film. Hopefully Chris maintains what he is good at and we can have something better than this in his next venture...........

Finally A Place to Dwell on English Films

It was unfair when I let my guard down and talk about English films in a blog about Hindi movies. So to let my views free and let you suffer a little more I have started this blog. Sorry for the horrible backlash of an effect this may have on your sanity but I just can't help myself. So let's start BLOGGING!!!!