Bombay Cinephile

The Taking of Pelham 123

When you see a movie has Denzel Washington as its leading man, you know the movie usually be a notch above the others. Maybe because he is good at choosing scripts or just that he is good at his work – but I cant remember him in a really trite movie. The same holds true to some extent with John Travolta, though he seems to prefer stylish movies a bit more – which makes him the perfect villain.

The Taking of Pelham 123 benefits enormously from the performance of its two leading men as there isn’t anyone else in the movie to mention. Except ofcourse, the mayor of New York City (James Gandolfini) who is the butt of a lot of jokes. The script of the movie is tight and the pace relentless – keeping you gripped all through the movie.

Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is a high official in the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) who is under investigation for kickbacks in the purchase of new subway trains. He has been demoted to the desk as a dispatcher at the subway command centre, pending the investigation. And his boss is pretty convinced of his guilt, although nothing has been proven. Ryder (John Travolta) is an ex-con who decides to hijack a subway train – Pelham 123 – and demands $10 million within an hour before he starts executing his hostages. And he makes these demands through the dispatchers desk – which happens to be Garber’s.

Ryder takes a liking to Garber and demands that he communicate only with him –putting Garber’s honesty further under question. From then on, it’s the radio conversations between Garber and Ryder which drive the movie further – as well as being the movie’s brightest spot. Tony Scott’s editing is slick and adds to the suspense as the hour creeps along. The mayor provides the comic relief and the scene with the media is quite funny.

The best point in the movie is the confrontation of Ryder and Garber over the subway radio, regarding Garber’s alleged bribes. And the worst point is also a confrontation of Ryder and Garber, but this time face-to-face on Brooklyn Bridge, in the climax of the movie. Wish they had thought of a better ending

Tony Scott has produced quite a gripping thriller, which involves you right through to the end. It only fails in being slightly predictable about its ending – it would have gotten an extra star if it had surprised at the end. But still a good watch

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Quick Gun Murugun

Quick Gun Murugun is a little more than what you expect – and yet falls short of your expectations. It is the wacky tale of a ‘vegetarian-cowboy’ who takes on Rice Plate Reddy and his gang of villains. It is also a spoof of too many things to count – South-Indian-movies, standard bollywood masala movies, cowboy movies and even McDonalds !! Filled with smart jokes – they will have you howling with laughter at the one liners. But believe it or not, the movie is somewhat of a drag ….

Telegu star Dr. Rajendra Prasad plays gunslinger Quick Gun Murugan with élan – bright orange pants and all. He is an avowed protector of cows and vegetarianism – and soon runs into Rice Plate Reddy, who is on a quest to convert every Udipi restaurant into non-veg. Reddy gets the better of him in the first encounter and our hero is thirsty for revenge.

This time, he gets a little help from Mango Dolly (Rambha) – Reddy’s blonde moll – who falls for our Murugun’s simple charms. On Rice Plate Reddy’s side there is Dr Django and Rowdy MBA – who are implementing his plan of taking over the world with his dosas. And ofcourse, there is our very own Lola Kutty with Murugun as well.

While hilarious, the story is actually very simple and sometimes it feels like the movie is too long for such a story. And the jokes are not spaced out enough to catch the slack in screenplay. But all the same, it is impossible to control the laughter that erupts when, for example, you hear -
"The universe is my native place"
But be ready to be surprised with the violence as well – the violence is NOT picturised like a Tom and Jerry cartoon …

All in all, a lot of very clever jokes interspersed with some not so interesting parts. Even though its overall rating is average, I would recommend a watch – because you are going to recall the jokes for days after the movie and chuckle thinking about it.

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Movies to look out for this week

Quick Gun Murugan [IMDB]

Cast: Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Rambha, Raju Sundaram

Direction: Shashanka Ghosh

The Taking of Pelham 123 [IMDB]

Cast: Denzel Washington, John Travolta

Direction: Tony Scott

Love Khichdi [IMDB]

Cast: Randeep Hooda, Sonali Kulkarni, Riya Sen, Rituparna Sengupta,

Direction: Srinivas Bhashyam

Race to Witch Mountain [IMDB]

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig

Direction: Andy Fickman

Yeh Mera India [IMDB]

Cast: Perizaad Zorabian, Anupam Kher, Atul Kulkarni, Vijay Raaz

Direction: N. Chandra (the guy who made Tezaab)

Kisaan [IMDB]

Cast: Sohail Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Jackie Shroff, Nauheed Cyrusi, Diya Mirza

Direction: Puneet Sira

Toss

Cast: Rannvijay Singh, Aarti Chhabria, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sushant Singh, Rajpal Yadav

Direction: Ramesh Khatkar

Mou gaan dou : Infernal Affairs [IMDB]

Cast: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Andy Lau

Direction: Wai-keung Lau, Alan Mak
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Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Usually guys are not the first ones to like any romantic comedy – definitely not more than girls atleast. Yet after watching Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, we two guys thought the movie was quite decent entertainment while the missus blew off the movie completely !! Turns out that the disappointment was mainly because of how jaded Matthew McConaughey looks :)

Which is true ofcourse – Matthew McConaughey hardly looks anything like the most sexiest man of 2005. Maybe because he never gets an opportunity to take his shirt off ! Nevertheless, the tongue-twistingly-titled movie turns to be a good timepass even with an less-than-original idea. It manages to combine the good old playboy-having-a-change-of-heart with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Those who don’t remember it, it’s a famous Christmas story when a miser is visited by three ghosts on Christmas to show him the mistakes that he has made in his life.

Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) is a brash fashion photographer and womanizer par excellence – with no qualms about dumping girls the minute they want a little cuddling/commitment. He arrives at his kid brother’s wedding and runs into the bridesmaid Jenny (Jennifer Garner) - his high school sweetheart. However old habits die hard and soon Connor is the wrecker-in-chief of the wedding. Till he gets a visit from his deceased uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas) – his idol and master womanizer himself.

And then the ghosts take him on a journey to his past – to see how he became what he became. Interwoven with these flashbacks are hilarious incidents of the wedding itself – and on the whole the script has enough intelligent bits to keep you engaged. The movie makes for some decent watching till the sentimental stuff starts - after which its not horrible bad, but it moves on predictable lines and doesn’t surprise you anymore.

Matthew McConaughey is on easy territory here – a supercool dude who has girls hanging from his coat tails. But there doesn’t appear to be any effort from his side to do something a little differently – except looking quite old I suppose. And joining him is Jennifer Garner, who also looks kinda aged. Michael Douglas however looks as cool as usual. The girl who plays Sandra does the hassled bride rather well too.

All in all, another decent romantic comedy to put you in a cheery mood if the likes of Sikandar or Kaminey are too dark for you.

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Movies to look out for this week

Sikandar [IMDB]

Cast: Parzan Dastur, Ayesha Kapoor, Sanjay Suri, Madhavan

Direction: Piyush Jha

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra [IMDB]

Cast: Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sienna Miller

Direction: Stephen Sommers

Shadow

Cast: Nasser Khan, Hrishita Bhatt, Milind Soman

Direction: Rohit Nayyar

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past [IMDB]

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner

Direction: Mark Waters
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Life Partner

It felt like it had been a really long time since I had watched a movie – and the missus also felt the same. Yeah we had watched Kaminey, but I guess after a full day of boozing on the beach, it isn’t the same thing :) ! And the promos of Life Partner showed some promise, so off we went last night.

And surprisingly, Life Partner is actually quite a fun movie, especially in the first half ! The dialogues of the movie were pleasantly witty and with absolutely no slapstick !! Govinda is back in his old touch and one thoroughly enjoys the first half. However Life Partner is not without its flaws as the second half gets a little more sentimental and comedy takes a backseat.

The movie is about two NRI couples in Cape Town - Karan-Sanjana (Fardeen-Genelia) and Bhavesh-Prachi (Tusshar-Prachi) and their lawyer friend Jeet (Govinda). Karan is the suave metrosexual and his girlfriend is Sanjana, the spoilt-brat daughter of Anupam Kher. Bhavesh is the gawky Gujrati bought up with ‘strict Indian values’ – who is waiting to gift his virginity to his wife. Prachi is well ... just Prachi Desai – saccharine sweet smile and not much else.

The first half of the movie introduces us to Karan-Sanjana and Bhavesh and their families etc and ofcourse, Jeet ! He is a divorce lawyer who is perennially looking for opportunities to break up marriages. And he himself has just once policy - No marriage !! Govinda is definitely the strongest point of the movie and his tete-a-tetes with Genelia are fun to watch. Though at his age, Govinda just cant carry off two firang babes on his arms (and though he looks really thin on the posters, those are just photoshop effects – he looks just as fat in the movie)

Sample Govinda's dialogue from the movie
Love marriage mein aadmi apni marzi mein kuen mein koodta hai
Arranged marriage mein aadmi ki poori family usse kuen mein dhakka deti hai
Lekin dono case mein, aadmi jaata kuen mein hi hai …

Trouble arrives in the form of marriage – Bhavesh goes all the way to Gujarat to find himself a wife and gets hitched to Prachi, a rich heiress. In a moment of marriage madness, Sanjana and Karan also tie the knot there. And when they come back, the decibels start increasing. Sanjana doesn’t like the Karan who has become a little responsible and Prachi is at loggerheads with her ultra conservative Bapuji (father-in-law Darshan Jariwala). Genelia is especially screechy, though overall she plays the wife-from-hell part pretty well. And the song Koke Koke is so atrocious its not even funny !!

In the second half, we see very little of Govinda and probably a few more scenes with him could have made this movie a complete blast – like the “tum chup raho” scene. However director Rumi Jaffrey decides to give a gentle preaching on marriage. Consequently, things slow down and the Prachi Desai scenes sometimes resemble an Ekta Kapoor show. But there is one more gem in the movie – veteran comedian Jagdeep. His scene with Fardeen & Genelia will have you falling out of your seat laughing !!

The climax where all the issues are sorted out was a letdown and so was Amrita Rao in the movie. Songs are also a completely waste - though only Koke Koke is abominable, the rest are just boring. The visuals are pretty slick though – and that honeymoon suite balcony view is really fantabulous. Definitely wish to visit it someday. Overall, the movie is an entertaining watch, and an extra 0.5 for Jagdeep.

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Kaminey

Vishal Bhardwaj’s evocatively titled Kaminey is a gangster flick on the lines of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Translation – it’s a really good movie about a bunch of thugs and bandits all running after the same big prize – and each of them are nuttier than the other !! Unfortunately, revealing any more about the prize is or the characters would take away the fun of watching the movie itself. I will attempt to tell you about the movie without giving away much …

Central to the plot are two identical twins – Guddu and Charlie, both played by Shahid Kapoor in a career-defining performance. Now as hindi movies teach us, the twins are as different as chalk and cheese – one is a small-time gangster with bookie dreams and the other does social work with an NGO. And ofcourse, as we all know by now, one lisps and the other one stammers. They hate each other and haven’t seen each other for 3 years. Yet in the course of the movie, both of them land up in trouble – and the wrong twin gets caught by the wrong people.

The ‘wrong people’ above are actually the lifeline of the movie – the three Bengali brothers, Bhope Bhau, Inspector Lobo (and his brother) and Tashi the Great. They make the movie quirky, fun and unpredictable – which gives this movie its flavour. Amol Gupte as Bhope Bhau is especially a revelation, given than he is the writer and co-director of Taare Zameen Par. The other revelation is Priyanka Chopra as Sweety – the Home Science topper. She plays a spunky Maharashtrian girl in love with Guddu and their scenes are rather refreshing

I don’t think I need to highlight the soundtrack of this movie – Dhan Te Nan plays throughout the movie and sounds just fabulous. The other songs of the movie are pretty good as well

So a superb followup to the brilliant Omkara by Vishal Bhardwaj ? Well almost !

Whats missing in the movie is a “WOW” moment – a memorable sequence which either blows your mind or which you remember for a long time. Because such gangster capers have become common in the recent past – Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, 99 and Sankat City - and Kaminey will give you a déjà vu from some of these movies. Basically, I kept waiting to be surprised, and it never happened.

So if you haven’t watched any of the above listed movies, then go right ahead and watch Kaminey – you will find it awesome. The others – go watch it anyway because its a movie worth watching and see if you agree with my rating ..

PS – Are you curious where I managed to watch Kaminey yesterday ??