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Why is it that all Aliens/Gods in Thor are white Caucasian hunks who speak English with American accents and always make their landings on earth somewhere in the US? Even if I understand these given that it is an American movie based on an American comic-strip, there’s something more profound that I failed to appreciate. Why is it that, despite being so advanced vis-à-vis the human race in terms of knowledge and ability, the Asgard-s still rely on horses for day-to-day conveyance, and haven’t managed to get monarchy and dictatorship abolished? To cut a long story short, I found the movie as brainless as the characters that populate it. Thor, an arrogant hammer-wielding alien/god, and heir to the Asgard throne, is abolished to the earth by his ageing father, where he befriends a pretty astrophysicist (who, as Rogert Ebert has pointed out, is more of a storm-chaser & UFO-hunter), while also fights his father’s enemy (why wasn’t I surprised that Thor’s younger brother turns out to be the villain?). The film is filled with clichéd dialogues, juvenile sense of humour, predictable plot, and utterly unimaginative action sequences that are not worth watching – leave alone in 3D. It was also really perplexing to see such accomplished actors like Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman and Stellan Skarsgard agreeing to play such wafer-thin, one-dimensional characters… perhaps the pay packets were really good.
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Genre: Action/Fantasy/Adventure
Language: English
Country: US
Given that Zack Snyder was the person who made 300, it is not surprising that Sucker Punch too is a high-octane visual fest. The film tells the fantasy-within-a-fantasy tale of Babydoll, a cherubic, diminutive young girl who, in order to escape the reality of the dreary mental asylum she’s been forcefully admitted to, creates extravagant fantasies where she’s the heroine, and, along with Sweet Pea, Rocket and other fellow luscious and ass-kicking bimbettes, must procure a set of objects that would help them procure their freedom. The film boasts of thumping action sequences, lightening pace, and arresting and innovative visual treatments. But, like 300, it is also spectacularly devoid of any semblance of intelligence. Made principally for attention-deficient juveniles, this escapist, over-edited and CGI-infested film doesn’t just require your brain to take a nap while you’re watching it, it literally forces you to flush it down the nearest drain. However, having said that, I did like the director’s attempt to create a subversive piece of action-fantasy; and I must add, I was reasonably glued to my seat, popcorn basket and cola glass during the film’s length. So yeah, Snyder did deliver a feisty sucker punch alright.
Director: Zack Snyder
Genre: Action/Fantasy/Adventure
Language: English
Country: US
Bridge on the River Kwai is an epic action/adventure movie based during World War II, and is a magnificent viewing experience. A classic American film without a doubt, the film comprises of lavish set pieces and packs quite a punch through its thrill-quotient. Based mostly in a Japanese POW camp, the film has on one hand a group of captured British army, led by the disciplined, principled and stoic Col. Nicholson (played brilliantly by Alec Guinness), building a magnificent bridge across River Kwai, while on the other it has a smooth-talking but tough escaped American convict (played with élan by William Holden) having to volunteer a small team of British Soldiers based in Ceylon back to the treacherous island to blow up the bridge. Though the film can be divided into separate acts, David Lean’s masterful direction has fused them into an intense, thrilling and captivating whole that combined visual splendor and terrific conversations with implosive action. The movie was also extremely well-paced, so that despite its long length, none of the scenes seemed out of the place. The film also happens to be a terrific study of disparate and complex characters. The music too forms an integral part of the movie’s rousing package.
p.s. I'm very thankful to Clumbia Classics for contacting me and sending across this classic in a collector's edition box-set. Apart from exemplary picture and sound quality, the blue ray discs also boast of a host of extra features. And the box-set, with its booklet, pictures and postcards, is worth ogling at.
Director: David LeanGenre: Epic/War Drama/Adventure/Ensemble Film
Language: English
Country: UK
Passage to Marseille was Michael Curtiz’s follow-up to what is considered his legendary work, Casablanca. Consequently, it has always had to live up to the hype surrounding it. And with the start of the previous movie, Humphrey Bogart in it too, the hype couldn’t have been any stronger. Judging the film purely on its merit is one thing, but with the context too coming into play, it has suffered a lot over the years. However, in my opinion, this is a pretty good movie alright. Okay, it has its share of flaws, but it is important to give the movie the credit that is due to it. Employing a complex series of flashbacks, the movie tells the story of how Bogart’s character, a former journalist wrongly accused of a crime he never committed, has escaped from the hell-hole of Devil’s Island along with a group of fellow convicts, with the desire to be part France’s underground fight during World War II. Bogart’s brooding presence and the combination of world weariness and romanticism that into the role was certainly noteworthy, and the performance of his co-stars in this ensemble adventure/war film, too, goes without saying. And the letter read out during the climax might seem too tear-jerking to some, but there’s no denying its soul-stirring stuff that is bound to make one reflective.
p.s. Passage to Marseille is part of Humphrey Bogart: The Essential Collection, a wonderful boxset release by Warner Bros.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Genre: War Drama/Adventure
Language: English
Country: US
Along with Gold Rush, The General forms one of the greatest silent screen comedies. However, where the former painted a devastatingly acerbic picture of heartbreak and suffering, the latter, set against the turbulent times of the American Civil War, is an example of wholesome fun and undiluted entertainment. And in Buster Keaton, one of the giants of the medium, with his deadpan, expressionless face, we have here the perfect archetype of a common man who ends up doing some spectacularly uncommon deeds. Keaton stars here as Johnnie Gray, a railroad engineer, who has only two loves in his life – the locomotive he drives and the lady he loves. However, when he is refused to be enlisted during the war, his sweetheart turns her back on him. Fortunately for him, he gets to redeem himself before her eyes, and in what glorious fashion, when both his locomotive gets stolen and his lady gets hijacked. Set against a pulsating soundtrack, the film abounds in a series of remarkable and hilarious sight gags and two unforgettable train-chase sequences that are part of cinematic folklore. Interestingly, Keaton performed all the stunts himself, including some decidedly dangerous ones, as he did in all his films. Despite the advent of sound and technology, the film still remains one of the most ingenuous and exciting comedy and adventure films ever made.
Directors: Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton
Genre: Comedy/Slapstick Comedy/Adventure
Language: Silent
Country: US
Master Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s most famous work happens to be, unequivocally, Andrei Rublev; however, whenever one is speaking about his best film, Solaris comes into the picture along with Stalker. Often compared with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the similarities between the two movies extends very little beyond the fact they were both sci-fi films with a major portion of their stories taking place in deep space. When the crew of a space station hovering above an ocean-covered planet called Solaris reports mysterious occurrences, a psychologist is sent there to investigate the situation there and report as to whether the programme is worth keeping alive any longer. However, unbeknownst of him, the ocean there has the unique ability to sense repressed memories and desires of humans, which for him takes the seemingly “human” form of his ravishingly beautiful wife who killed herself seven years back. This deeply philosophical movie is a brooding meditation and a haunting treatise on such profound themes as memory, love, death, man’s unstoppable pursuit for knowledge and what entails to be human, raising a few disturbing questions on our very existence in the process. The generous length, languorous pacing with long moments of silence and philosophical deliberations however ensure that this isn’t an easy watch by any stretch of imagination.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Genre: Drama/Sci-Fi/Existential Drama/Psychological Drama/Adventure
Language: Russian
Country: Russia (USSR)
Apocalypse Now, often called Francis Ford Coppola’s last great movie, almost never got made, because of shooting delays and overshoot of budget; fortunately for us, Coppola somehow managed pool in his money and got it done. The film’s dazzling and hallucinatory opening sequence – images of napalm bombing juxtaposed with Martin Sheen’s Capt. Willard suffering in a sweaty, sleazy hotel room, with The Door’s mesmerizing “The End” ironically playing in the background – has attained legendary status. The plot concerns Willard being sent on a clandestine mission to Cambodia to assassinate Kurtz, a brilliant renegade Colonel who, the army top brass feels, has gone insane. A harrowing portrait of the Vietnam War and a nightmarish vision of the characters’ psychoses and their collective descent into madness, the film is less about the actual assassination and more about Willard’s life-altering Odyssey and his growing obsession with Kurtz. Martin Sheen is amazing as the moody, laconic and emotionally detached Willard. The film also boasts of two terrific supporting roles in the form of Robert Duval’s psychotic, Wagner-loving Col. Kilgore, and Dennis Hopper’s crazy photojournalist who worships Kurtz as if he were god. Unfortunately, Marlon Brando doesn’t really manage to live up to the electric buildup that his character (Kurtz) is given in the first three-quarters of the film.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Genre: War Epic/Adventure
Language: English
Country: US
Film critics and cinegoers have called Up a rousing success, and have named it, along with Wall-E, as one of the great masterpieces of modern cinema. I wouldn’t go that far; but yes, there’s no doubting the fact that it happens to be one of the most noteworthy outputs from PIXAR, the ever-dependable makers of jaw-dropping 3-D animation. The tale of Carl, a former balloon salesman, now in the twilight of his life, who undertakes the journey of a lifetime in order to fulfill a dream that he shared with his wife, that of exploring South America, is, at the end of the day, still a movie aimed principally for kids. Agreed that it contains the “adult” themes of ageing, loss, unfulfilled dreams, and broken families, but at its heart Up is essentially the kind of movie meant to engage the viewers, lift their spirits up and provide a whole lot of fun and entertainment in the process. And in that sense it is quite a success because fun and engaging it certainly is. But despite its solid, old-fashioned tale of fantasy and adventure, what would remain longest with the viewers is the first quarter of the movie which shows how Carl, as a kid, met with his future-wife, and then, through an extended and extremely poignant silent sequence, we are given a brief preview of the journey covered by Carl and his wife from youth to old age, through various moments of love, joy and grief.
Director: Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson
Genre: Animation/Adventure/Fantasy
Language: English
Country: US
