Source Code

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : April, 2011
Time : 93 minutes
Director : Duncan Jones; Writer : Ben Ripley; Music : Rick Smith
Starring : Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Arden, Russell Peters

Jake, a US bomber pilot, who last remembers being on a mission in Afghanistan, wakes up in the body of another man, sitting across a lovely woman (Michelle) on a suburban train to Chicago. Which explodes a few minutes later. And he finds he isn’t dead…and has to find the bomber, who, authorities suspect, is about to plant a deadlier device in another location….

A considerable amount of sci-fi mumbo jumbo tries to explain how this is happening, what are the time constraints, what are the rules (you cant really change anything – ie if Jake made Michelle get off from the train, she wouldn’t live) and then through some equally hazy hocus-pocus, we find the rules are a bit bendable…

Vera Farmiga presents the humane face of the authorities while Jeffrey Wright represents the types who want to lie, make false promises and use others in their single-minded quest to succeed, reach the top of yet another secret US military organization…

The tension, the pace of the film and the events unfolding do keep you riveted…though there is a sentimental thread in the middle that does detract from the rest of the events. Jake is quite good as a person who’s bewildered, trying to figure out whats happening to him and those around him, while Michelle is excellent as the bubbly commuter, struggling with a personal decision. Vera is impressive, as always and Jeffrey does justice to his uni-dimensional character…the cameo by Russell Peters is good fun…

Source Code is a film that isn’t easy to understand and not entirely believable…you could at a pinch, imagine space travel in the distant future, or even Matrix-esque human cloning but something like the stuff that happens here seems very far-fetched…and that is the movie’s biggest flaw…

Gravity

Rating : 8/10
Release Date : 4th October, 2013
Time : 91 minutes
Director : Alfonso Cuaron; Writers : Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron; Music : Steven Price
Starring : George Clooney, Sandra Bullock

We sometimes forget how much we want to live until we’re pushed to the very limits. With breathtaking visuals, an unflagging pace and tension rife in every scene, Gravity does a great job of reminding us how much the simple act of being able to breathe means to us.

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are on a routine mission, if space-walking can ever be called routine, fixing something on a satellite when things go horribly wrong, thanks to some unplanned debris…now, they can no longer communicate with Houston, there are no survivors amongst their co-workers and their ride back to Earth is no longer operational. And they’re stuck in space, with a gorgeous view of Earth but with no way back and rapidly depleting oxygen and jet propulsion…

There is a juxtaposition of life-threatening situations (one after another) with some stunningly beautiful backdrops. Of an atmosphere of stifling tension when there is no atmosphere or air to breathe. Of serious life or death choices to be made amongst a barrage of anecdotes, some told and some untold

Its quite amazing how the two characters start to mean so much to us, despite our knowing so little about them. Sandra Bullock, a space rookie, is more a communications expert, up there on her first mission, struggling to cope with the effects of space, experiencing breathlessness and nausea. George Clooney is the veteran, jetting around with gay abandon, knowing the details of every procedure, every vessel, even the Russian and Chinese. He badly wants to break the longest space walk record but treats it, as he does everything else, with a studied nonchalance that belies his hardcore professionalism.

What makes this film extraordinary of course is the backdrop. Its space, one of the final frontiers, a place where all of us secretly dream of going. And its shown in present time (no futuristic scenario), with no aliens or Earth threatening catastrophe or people with unusual powers…the beauty and the terrors of space are shown in brilliant detail, with a plot that reminds us, that when push comes to shove, no matter how much we’ve suffered in life, we want to continue to live…

About Time

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 11th October, 2013
Time : 123 minutes
Director & Writer: Richard Curtis; Music : Nick Laird-Clowes
Starring : Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Cordery, Joshua McGuire, Margot Robbie, Tom Hollander, Tom Hughes



One of the alternate taglines for my book, Eighteen Plus, was ‘Romantic Comedies. With sex’, before we chose to go with the much classier ‘Bedtime Stories. For Grown-Ups’. The reason I bring that up is that the tagline for this movie could just as easily have been ‘Romantic Comedy. With Time Travel’ or even ‘A Father-Son relationship. With a touch of Science Fiction’

The men in Bill Nighy’s family have always had a secret. After they turn twenty one, they can travel back in time. Only back in their own lives, as Bill Nighy explains to his bewildered son, Domhnall, “You cant kill Hitler or shag Helen of Troy” but you can travel, quite easily, back and forth, by simply visualizing the moment you want to be transported to. Key question now confronting the gob-smacked Dom is, what do you do with such a gift ? He and his father attempt to find out what they (and anyone else) should want out of life, with or without such an ability…

I love British humour and this film is no exception, especially coming from Richard Curtis and starring the lovely Rachel McAdams (as Domnhall’s love interest), who continues to endear herself to me in every role I see her in. Domhnall, who revels in his lead role bringing the right amount of bewilderment and confidence to his character and most importantly, Bill Nighy, who steals the show with his fantastic turn as the father, combining humour and life’s lessons with effortless ease…

The bizarre walks to the beach in Cornwall, the movie sessions, the ping pong games, the early, sweet crush on Margot Robbie, the eccentric sister, Lydia, the brusque mother, Lindsay, the impeccably dressed uncle, Richard, the walks in and out of the tube station with Rachel, the importance of Kate Moss, the crazy playwright, Tom and the gentle humour permeating every scene make it really enjoyable.

The pace, never too nippy ever, does flag a bit, especially in the second half. The time travel thing does seem like a little bit of a bolt on – and you do wonder, if someone had that gift, would he solely use it to chase love, as Dom seems to, without ever getting tempted to go for money, fame or power ?

However, the end does come together nicely. Important lessons to most of us, who seem too absorbed in building for the future to be able to take our days, calmly, one at a time, stopping ever so often to reflect, smell the coffee and the roses around us, to revel in what we do have rather than forever hanker for what we don’t. Happiness, after all, doesn’t need to be postponed for tomorrow but can be enjoyed everyday…

Runner Runner

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 4th October, 2013
Time : 91 minutes
Director : Brad Furman; Writers : Brian Koppelman, David Levien; Music : Christophe Beck
Starring : Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie, Yul Vasquez, Christian George, Michael Esper, Oliver Cooper, John Heard

When things are too good to be true…

Justin, studying for his Princeton Masters, is a maths whiz and successful Wall-Street broker who lost his money in the bust. His tuition fee is in jeopardy so he does what most sane blokes do, gambles it all on an online gaming site. And loses. Realizes he’s been cheated so does what most sane guys do – not complain on internet forums but flies to Costa Rica to seek out the owner of the gambling site, Ben Affleck. As luck would have it, he even manages to meet the billionaire. And starts working for him. And realizes there’s more to things than meet the eye…including the gorgeous Gemma, who works for Ben…

There are two problems with the film – it doesn’t make sense and its too pat / too simple / too predictable – the events of the second half would have even lower odds than, to use a quote from the film, someone getting a flush in a game of Texas Hold-Em. You keep watching just because it moves along at a nice pace and is populated by good-looking people who act decently (not great but good enough to keep you interested). The locales are nice…Costa Rica with its bars, beaches and brothels…

The end especially doesn’t work at all (in terms of logic) but then you would be fair to point out most movie watchers should’ve abandoned logic shortly into the film…the makers try just too hard to give us a happy ending, even when a lot of what they make the characters do doesn’t make sense…

Elysium

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : August, 2013
Time : 109 minutes
Director & Writer : Neil Blomkamp; Music : Ryan Amon
Starring : Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Emma Tremblay, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, Richard Fichtner, Faran Tahir

Its about rich, well-connected people building walls to keep the riff-raff out, creating a utopia with the best of facilities, while the rest have to make do with sub-standard medical care, pollution etc…the revolt against this, obviously, is never too far off…

Elysium was set up in space to combat over-crowding on Earth. The unending settlements (think Mumbai slums, the favelas of Rio or the township of Soweto and apply everywhere) are teeming with people while the giant space station of Elysium has plush houses, manicured lawns, king sized pools. Jodie Foster is the ball-busting Secretary of Elysium, who is very clear that she will keep illegal immigrants from Earth, out using any means…And Matt Damon, after an accident in the factory he works in on Earth, is now equally determined to get in…Sharlto Copley is the muscle Jodie illegally employs on Earth to keep the people out…And Alice Braga is a nurse and childhood friend of Matt’s, who gets caught up in the mess, and also has a vested interest as her daughter, Emma, can only be cured on Elysium…

Not all things make complete sense but there is an unmistakable larger point being made here (nice to see a Mr Patel as President of Elysium too!). The film is pacy, the action doesn’t stop for a single minute and the intrigue is sustained right through, though the end is predictable. Matt Damon is good but the film works primarily on Jodie Foster’s feisty turn and Sharlto’s menacing role as the enforcer. Diego Luna and Wagner Moura also lend colour as people helping Matt get on to Elysium.

If you think about it, the rich, famous and connected the world over (the more socialistically inclined Europe being a possible exception) live exactly in the same manner. Most of us live in cosy, gated communities, with some form of security or the other, designed to keep the lower classes away, living a life they can never afford to attain, with facilities (medical, pools, schools, food) they can never have. Various uprisings (including the Naxals in India) have only shown that Neil Blomkamp’s view of where the world is headed (whether here or in District 9) may not be that far off the mark

Carnage

Rating : 9/10
Release Date : December, 2011
Time : 80 minutes
Director & Writer : Roman Polanski; Co-writer : Yasmina Reza (based on her own play ‘Le Dieu du carnage’); Music : Alexandre Desplat
Starring : Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslett, John C Reilly



Bitingly funny, savagely witty and explosively real. Contains projectile vomiting, spoilt suits, a dodgy Apple Cobbler, a maligned medicine, a damaged Art magazine and a violated mobile phone. Despite its title, there is no violence in the film, in fact, its about 2 sets of parents trying to amicably resolve a minor playground incident involving their young kids.

Jodie Foster is uptight, loves being in control, has very rigidly defined ideas of whats right and wrong. Her husband, John Reilly (has a business in hardware / bathroom fittings), is the complete opposite, chilled out, believes there is too much talk and theory going on and is happiest when relaxing with a special whiskey he is fond of and when not around hamsters.

Christoph Waltz is the most fascinating character, probably morally the most suspect, entirely self-obsessed, having a work crisis (he’s a lawyer for a pharma company), would rather be elsewhere but keeps staying back for coffee, some snacks and later whiskey. His wife, Kate Winslett is probably the person with the most nuances – she plays a suffering wife, a concerned mother, an animal activist (worried about the hamster) and later a person who takes charge…

There is a mirror held up in front of us for those who like to observe, introspect and done so with subtlety, finesse and a brilliant sense of humour. For a change, its not about love, romance or sex. Just a scathing, superb commentary on where our society is heading. Just loved it !

PS : The film was shot in a single location, in real time, without breaks and I think that does make a difference…