Film: Terminator Genisys

Back To The Future

Film: Terminator Genisys
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Jai Courtney, Emilia Clarke
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Duration: 2 hrs 5 mins
Rating:  *  *  *

“I am old, not obsolete” says Arnold Schwarzenegger more than once in Terminator Genisys, reprising that iconic role that made him famous all over the globe. That was when director James Cameron made The Terminator in 1984 (followed by Judgment Day in ’91) giving us two of the most memorable sci-fi action movies. There were couple of films later but the Terminator was not the same without Cameron. Terminator Genisys (the fifth film in the franchise) is more of a throwback on the first and second part with a lot of references.  And among all the films, this involves the most time travel, you have to keep a close eye on who is coming and who is going.

It opens with a little boy Kyle (Jai Courtney) being rescued by a man who turns out to be John O’Connor (Jason Clarke) who is leading the human resistance against the machines led by the program that has gone rogue, Skynet who sends a machine back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Emilia ‘Game of Thrones’ Clarke) while Kyle who has become John’s trusted lieutenant volunteers to go and save her. She doesn’t need a great deal of help because the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) whom she fondly calls Pops, is still around. But Kyle has to team up with Sarah for other reasons.
When Kyle rewinds back to 1984, a deadly android (playing Korean superstar Byung hun Lee) is already waiting for him – that’s not all, we are also treated to a good Arnold vs bad Arnold duel. You have to be familiar with the first two Terminator films to know what exactly is going on - Not just to understand the plot but also the characters. Besides, there are several other references some obvious ones which are actually quite enjoyable. In fact it is the humor and the self references that keep the film going.

The science gets a little more complex with references like parallel timelines but everything else that could have been explored involving Sarah, John, T1000 and Skynet has been done before. On the surface you might get the gist of it but to get to the minutiae, you will have to scratch your head to figure out the exact sequence of events.

True, Terminator may be old but it is not obsolete, and as the post credits reveal, there is more to come. 

Published in The Navhind Times, Goa on 5th July 2015

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Film Review - Guddu Rangeela

Khaps and Robbers

Film: Guddu Rangeela

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Amit Sadh, Ronit Roy, Aditi Rao Hydari
Directed by: Subhash Kapoor
Duration: 2 hrs 4 mins
Rating: * * 1 / 2

In Guddu Rangeela, director Subhash Kapoor pays a nod to the greatest story ever told, Sholay. In fact, it is more than just a nod. He uses the same template to tell a more contemporary story and has also made an effort to make it socially relevant by targeting the antics of the Khap panchayat –Khap ko jala ke raakh kar donga seems to his motto.  He manages to pull off some of it while bits of it are a let-down and at least it is not a film that makes you desperate to head out for the exit door.    

Set somewhere in Haryana, Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela (Arshad Warsi) are conmen, a bit like Jai and Veeru.   They roam around on a motorcycle with a sidecar in the Yeh Dosti mold and it one point, Rangeela even says “Loha garam hain, maar do hatoda.”

Ronit Roy plays a Billu pehelwan, a politician and khap leader with a mind-set that is older than the Harappa civilization. Samaj (society), rivaaz (traditions) is all that he cares about even if it means killing innocent people. His ire is specially targeted against couples who marry outside their caste.

Meanwhile, Guddu and Rangeela take up an assignment of kidnapping a girl (Aditi Rao Hydari) from Chandigarh and ‘delivering’ her like a package to Delhi. But there is a twist in tale and there is more than meets the eye as far as the girl is concerned.

In the second half, the screenplay hits a few road bumps as the khap gets involved and a woman (Shriswara) who suffers silently her whole life suddenly gets into the rebel mode in a not so convincing manner.  A tau at the khap panchayat even asks his fellowmen to keep quiet and let the woman speak, her preachy speech being directed to the audience.

But Guddu-Rangeela has its fun moments too, a couple of cops (Amit Sial and Rajeev Gupta) are hot on the chase of the duo and Gupta with his deadpan expressions evokes a few laughs.

Director Subhash Kapoor needed a tighter script, he certainly has the flair for story-telling and when he borrows styles liberally (like the Tarantino’isque climax) he knows how to keep you engaged.

All such sagas need a good villain and though Ronit Roy has been there done that, fair to say he is still the most menacing bad guy around. The ladies don’t have much of a role to play, symbolically the chief minister of the state is a shown as a woman but Kapoor has his heart in the right place when it comes to making a point about the plight of women and the attitude of extra judicial authorities like the regressive khap panchayats.

Amit Sadh and Arshad Warsi complement each other well. The supporting cast of Brijendra Kala and Dibyendu Bhattacharya make their presence felt. All in all, even if slightly, Guddu Rangeela is above average fare.

Published in The Navhind Times on 5th July 2015

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Film Review - Killa

Return To Innocence

Film: Killa (Marathi)

Cast: Archit Deodhar, Parth Bhalerao, Amruta Subhash
Directed by: Avinash Arun
Duration: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating:  * * * * 

Winner of the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year, Killa is another feather in the cap of Marathi cinema. Directed by debutante Avinash Arun who is also a cinematographer, the film is a nostalgic trip down the memory – you will cheer, you will laugh and you will also feel a lump in your throat during the course of the film.  Everyone will relate to the characters, especially the children and their days of innocence.

Set in the Konkan area (the film was shot at Guhagar, in Ratnagiri district) Amruta Subhash plays a widowed mother to little boy Chinmay (Archit Deodhar), he doesn’t like the village one bit and is longing to go back to Pune, where they came from.  She has just been transferred so her job demands that they stay in this idyllic village.

Chinmay makes friends with his classmates who are all of different temperament; Bandya (Parth Bhalerao of Bhoothnath Returns fame) is a loose cannon when it comes to language. Eventually they all become good friends and in that process we see some moments that not only touch the heart but also make us laugh. 

The characterization is superb, each and every one of them stand out in their own right. Chinmay’s mother becomes a victim of corrupt practices evoking enough sympathy. But above everything else, Killa is about childhood memories and while we all have our unique experiences, the screenplay brings it alive in a way you can relate to it. It is also about a sense of belonging and being rooted to one place.  There isn’t a great deal in terms of a story, there are just episodes involving the children but that is more than enough to keep you engaged with nostalgia and help the film sail through.  Full marks to the director, the way in some of the scenes are crafted is admirable. 

Integrating the story with absolutely stunning visuals and a very apt background score (Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor), the performances top notch. Parth Bhalerao’s acting caught attention even before the film was released and sense of timing and delivery is simply superb. Befittingly, he won a Special Mention at this year’s National Awards.  Archit Deodhar who plays the main protagonist conveys just the right expressions and National Award winner Amruta Subhash makes her presence felt in film that is dominated by the children’s performances.  Her performance is so effortless yet spot on that it takes a second viewing to realize that. 

Among other things, Killa reminds us that the best things in life are indeed free. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 28th June 2015
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Film Review - Inside Out

Emotional Rescue

Film: Inside Out

Voices of: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind

Directed by: Pete Docter

Duration: 1 hr 35 mins

Rating:  *  *  *  * 

Co-written by writer /director Pete Docter, he is also responsible for films like Up, Toy Story and Monsters Inc, which makes for an impressive resume, Pixars latest film has an idea which is as original as it can get.  Much like the other films by Docter, this is also about relationships and human psychology, in this case, a child’s.  But that itself could teach adults a thing or two about how we look at children and also ourselves. It is not often that a film can influence the way you think but to its remarkable credibility, Inside Out manages to do that. 

The central character here is not just the young girl Riley (voice of Kaitlyn Dias), the voices in her head are equally significant. In fact they play the key role here. So there is Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear, Anger and Disgust all vying for a slice of the pie in her head which is referred to as the ‘Headquarters’ which is sort of like Star Trek’s Bridge. These bunch of Emotions are also appropriately color coded, like Anger has red color. 

It’s all going smoothly for the little girl, her emotions are also in proportionate measure till her parents move from Minnesota where she grew up, to the new neighborhood of San Francisco. 

So Joy and Sadness get lost in this mega maze leaving Riley in turmoil since the other emotions to hold fort but there isn’t much they can do. The two have to get back to ‘headquarters’ before it is too late. Their journey is quite significant as the screenplay constructs some interesting plot points and characters like Bing Bong (Richard Kind), the child’s imaginary friend.  

Signifying positive intent, which is always a good sign, Joy rules the roost with the other emotions pitching in from time to time but it is the former who calls the shots.  Initially, the role of Sadness (whatever she touches goes awry) looks insignificant, what can sadness possibly achieve in anyone’s life?  In a philosophical manner yet subtle manner, the screenplay shows us otherwise.  

The film will undoubtedly appeal more to adults but there is enough fodder to keep the kids engrossed as well. Visually terrific with some very clever designs, Inside Out scores on just about every count. But it scores the highest on the one parameter that makes us love cinema, emotions. 

The Oscar season is still far away but unless there is an upset of gargantuan proportions, the award for the Best Animation Film of the year will go to Inside Out.

 

Published in The Navhind Times on 28th June 2015

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Film Review- Child 44

Working Overtime

Film: Child 44

Cast: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman

Directed by: Daniel Espinosa

Duration: 2 hrs 17 mins

Rating: * *

Based on the first book of the trilogy by Tom Rob Smith, it hard to imagine how they came up with this kind of a film when such an illustrious cast and not to mention producer Ridley Scott who had the rights.

Firstly, since it is set in Russia, the film shouldn’t have been made in English, those accents fluctuate between atrocious and silly. Secondly, the screenplay is so muddled that it tries to do tell too many things at the same time with a fairly disastrous result.

There are no murders in Paradise, we are told, paradise being the USSR under Stalin. Life after war was not easy there, life during and before the war was not particularly good was not particularly good for Demidov (Tom Hardy), a state security officer. While they are busy chasing dissidents and prosecuting them for treason, a series of child murders occur, but they are all hushed up because of the murders in paradise thing. 

Meanwhile Demidov’s wife (Noomi Rapace) who married him out of fear because he was a secret service agent, is suspected of treason. He gets demoted and is sent to a remote part of the country but the murders still intrigue him. Eventually the plot settles down and it becomes a murder mystery but neither with any conviction nor with the element of suspense.

What should have been a taut thriller ends up with just about every ingredient going wrong. It is almost as if they took random passages from the book and decided to shoot them. The actors just go through the motions you have to admire Tom Hardy for putting in that effort although that accent could vie for one of the worst of all time. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 28th June

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Film Review - Insidious: Chapter 3

Spirits in a Material World

Film: Insidious: Chapter 3

Cast: Stefanie Scott, Lin Shaye

Directed by: Leigh Whannel

Duration: 1 hr 37 mins           

Rating: * *

It is hard to tell one horror film from the other these days, they all revolve around haunted houses or possessed dolls. The only distinction is in the storytelling and director James Wan had done a remarkable job with Insidious (2010) although the sequel had gone slightly off the boil. Wan serves as the producer in Chapter 3 which is just a run of the mill horror film.

This is a prequel, as to what happened before the Lambert family got inflicted. It opens with Quinn (Stefanie Scott), a teenage girl who lives with her father, she wants to contact her dead mother and goes to a meet Elise (Lin Shaye) a specialist who knows how to communicate with the ‘other side’. Right off you know there is a whole load of baloney coming up in this film.

The mother doesn’t make any contact but instead another ghoul is on the prowl. When Quinn gets bed ridden due to an accident, the setting is perfect for the demon to make a move. She can’t move, he enjoys scaring her while you wait for her and your ordeal to end. 

Barring one impressive shot where the camera goes back and forth from the window, there is nothing much to write home about in Chapter 3. 

There is also a whole load of mumbo jumbo about ghosts, spirits, dark side, the world of spirits (which is referred to as Further).   There is little doubt in my mind that most of the superstitions in the world come from silly films like these.  

Published in The Navhind Times on 28th June 2015

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Film Review - ABCD 2

Blood On The Dance Floor

Film: ABCD 2

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhudheva, Lauren Gottlieb
Directed by: Remo D’Souza
Duration: 2 hrs 34 mins
Rating:  * * 1 / 2

Riding on the success of ABCD which released just over two years ago, the sequel thrives on what made the first one click – a group of underdogs and non starters fulfilling their dream of making it big. Sure there is dance and more dance in ABCD 2 but just because it is a dance film, there is no excuse for the lame writing, silly dialogues and lack of a story.

The laziness in the writing just gets more and more obvious as the film progresses – usually in a dance film, you are waiting for the climax because that is often the grand piece, but here is no such yearning because you’ve already had enough by then. To be fair, the finale, though it takes a long time to come, is splendidly done. 

From purely the dance point of view, ABCD2 works and works well, but as a film that should have all the ingredients, especially a decent story, there is an axe to grind. 

Inspired by a real life story, the main protagonist this time is Varun Dhawan who plays Suresh - there is nothing like throwing in a bit of star power in our films, that works better at the box office.  His dance troupe is disgraced at a reality show because all their dance steps are copied from other dancers although they vehemently deny it. Suresh’s late mother, a classical dancer (we are told, not once but twice that ‘she died with her ghunguroos on’, those are the precise words) is also dragged into it. We never learn whether they actually did copy or not, but what we do know he is, he determined to redeem himself.

Along with his good friend Vinnie (Shraddha Kapoor) he tries to regroup after he sees Vishnu (Prabhudheva) in action. After the initial denial, which goes on and on (the editor perhaps dozed off on the editing table), Vishnu agrees to mentor them and the troupe has to look out for more members.

They have to overcome the difficulties to getting the funding for their trip but by interval time, their plane takes off for Vegas for the international hip-hop competition (Dubai was already taken in Happy New Year)

 

Once in the US, everything moves so very predictably – someone has to get injured before the major event and Olive (Lauren Gottlieb from ABCD and last seen in Welcome to Karachi as a Pakistani spy) makes an appearance. Vishnu’s background story and the reasons for his action makes you cringe, it is all like an 80’s film. Not to forget one of the dancers who is suffering from some mysterious illness and literally spouts blood when the final is in progress.  It is only then that the meaning of MJ’s Blood on the dance floor became obvious to me.  

The cardboard characters and the writing leaves a lot to be desired. There has to be an evil team in the competition and this time it is the Germans who get into a fist fight. Or take the scene for instance where Vinnie is jealous of the growing friendship between Suresh and Olive (this is a Bollywood film after all, there has to be romance and it has to be spelt to the last e). The jealousy starts, drags on a bit, then we have a song and even after that the same topic is dwelled upon.

What works in the film are the dances, they are impressively choreographed and everything is bigger and better when it comes to that. In fact, it would be fair to say that the choreography is as good as anything we have seen on the big screen. Except that there is too much of it here.

Of the cast, Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor have put on a good show and the supporting cast is also up to the mark.

On the whole, if dance is what you like, then it is almost perfect. But then, anybody can dance but not everyone can write and execute a good story.  

Published in The Navhind Times on 21st June 2015

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