Watching Instantly
By Vijay Kumar
July 13, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Went Looking For…
Believe it or not, I sometimes do have a predetermined playlist while browsing for movie titles. Generally, there is a week between my adding them to the playlist and actually watching them. The movies under “Went Looking For…” are typically the movies that I had slotted as “Ended up with…” the previous week.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Anime Series)
The world is in the throngs of annihilation. Entire races are in the process of getting wiped out. Peace is a thing of the past. The one person who can restore balance has been trapped in ice… a hundred years and counting. All gloom and doom? Nah… this is just the right stage for some uninhibited fun courtesy of Avatar: The Last Airbender. One can draw many parallels with Harry Potter in this anime series. It has a bunch of teenagers, including the "chosen" one, who are gearing up for a showdown with an evil Lord while dealing with their hormones at the same time. The show is set in the world of martial arts and is a lot more colorful and cheerful than the wizard world. This makes me wonder if Manoj Shyamalan would have been a better fit for the dark world of Harry rather than Ang’s jolly surroundings.
Coming back to the anime series, I was spellbound by the artwork, which pays rich tribute to the four elements driving the plot. The art department is aided by some really humorous writing. The character of Sokka, devoid of any special "bending" talent, is the underrated gem in the storyline. Most characters clearly establish their preferences between good and evil. Prince Zuko is the only outlet for the writers to generate some internal conflict and they do a good job of it. Despite the gentle hues used in animation, the story is one that involves at least one major showdown per episode making it unsuitable for the really young ones. For the rest of us, it is a major thrill ride. It took a while but I completed all three "books" available on NetFlix streaming.
Born Into Brothels
Oscar Winner for Documentary, Born into Brothels, from photographer Zana Briski, provides a rare look at the dark world that is Sonaganj – the infamous red light district of Calcutta. As a filmmaker, she plays to her strengths to get the elusive look into a community where no outsiders are allowed. She trains or rather provides the means for a bunch of kids to document their immediate surroundings with cameras. This is interwoven with her own take on the bleak world that these kids live in. Sonaganj is a taboo topic for most Indians. It is a stark reminder that the progress that Indians witness in their day to day life does not extend to all corners of the country and that exploitation of women and children still goes on like nobody’s business.
The documentary hints at the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. This does not apply to all the kids, though, and some still prefer to run away from that light as they are afraid to find out what the bright world has in store for them. Hope is eternal as it looks like at least two kids did transcend into normal life – normal for us; dream for them.
The Anderson Tapes
Ocean’s Eleven brought back the genre of con artists big time – complete with wit and style. The part that I like is how the process gets explained after the deed is done and the jerks are duped by the said artists (with hearts of gold of course). It is possible that The Anderson Tapes helped lay the blueprint of such games – the movie versions, at least. Ex-con gets out of prison, puts together an assorted team almost within the hour of getting out, heist happens and the plan is either played out or it isn’t.
While this is the standard narrative thread, the twists come oddly enough from the lawful side. In some plots the police are seldom involved in any way other than being innocent bystanders. Sometimes they inadvertently contribute to the crime. In others they are hand in glove with the cons and might even be instigators. In The Anderson Tapes, the police are a little too involved to notice what is really happening – if that makes any sense. Sean Connery carries his part as the leader of the pack with purpose but I still couldn’t see him as a jail bird. He is more like Bond without the tux. Duke Anderson deals with guns, gadgets and girls but is on the wrong side of the law (assuming that James Bond did it on the up and up). The movie also "introduces" one Christopher Walken as "The Kid".
The Black Dahlia
One of the most famous unsolved murders in Hollywood, Elizabeth Short’s murder gives ample scope for neo noir drama. Brian De Palma weaves a story around the cops who go about investigating the crime. The police partners played by Aaron Eckhart and Josh Hartnett are former boxers, Fire and Ice, carry the show. They also have a common interest in Scarlett Johansson’s character, Kay Lake, a battered woman with a past. Mia Kirshner plays Elizabeth Short mostly through footage that the cops are reviewing. She conveys misery and reaches out to the audience and is effective in reminding everyone of Short’s gruesome death. There is also room for Hilary Swank to play a character against type. Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematography, helped by some fine art work, is spot on to recreate the era and the atmosphere.
Sadly, this are not backed up by the rather young leads, Hartnett and Johansson. In fact, it made me think that Johansson chooses her projects wisely but seldom meets expectations – it seems all her efforts are spent in pre-production. The screenplay gets tedious towards the end to the point that the wrap-up comes as a relief. De Palma sets the stage for one of his multiple viewpoint, slow mo sequences on a winding wide set of stairs a la The Untouchables. This. however. comes when the movie is already idling in a dull gear. Hollywoodland was released around the same time and its story was set in the same period as The Black Dahlia. I wonder if Dahlia would have been a better product had De Palma availed the services of the cast of Hollywoodland.
Ended up with…
Whilst checking out the above movies, I invariably end up fattening my instant watch queue with some new additions. These go into my “Ended up with…” list and the plan is to watch them during the week ahead. NetFlix keeps tempting me to move each one of them to the top of the queue but I resist. These are movies that I plan to check out in the days ahead.
Zombieland
Jesse Eisenberg, the other Michael Cera, headlines this Zombie movie (in case you were wondering what the title meant) inspired from Shaun of the Dead. The days of Arsenic and Old Lace are long gone. This is what passes as black comedy these days but I will take it.
Surrogates
Man messes with Nature with a scientific improvement gone wrong. Clones are evil. Robotic clones even more so. Why can’t we ever learn?
I have seen Michael Bay’s “The Island”. Twice. This should be easy.
New York
New York was the first movie to hit the theatres after the ending of the cinema owners’ strike in Bollywood. It was a mild hit with a strong story line despite good looking non-actors in the lead. I am going for the good looking part as much for the 9/11 centric story line.
Munyurangabo
After Tsotsi, I refuse to take movies from Africa lightly. Munyurangabo has an eclectic team behind and in front of the camera. It keeps popping up in my NetFlix recommendations and I dare not ignore it. I also plan to practice pronouncing the title before and during the movie.