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Random rambling
To start with, happy new year to all you droogs. It’s been three full months before I am posting in PFC, special thanks to Oz for not chucking me out. Where to start? Well there are plenty of things to write about. I watched five movies (well almost) this weekend and there are few things to say. So keeping it simple and short with random comments and NOT reviews like any typical arm chair critic(they suck, don’t they?).
After all the hype given to it, I had to watch it. A mockumentary comedy (term source: answers.com) that tries to be sarcastic which was foolishly prudent and events unfold as dim-witted as it could. I laughed my ass off as much as I couldn’t stand few irritating scenes which were terribly overdone by the over enthusiastic Sacha-Larry combo. Don’t really know how the movie would be with the deleted scenes (available in youtube).Sacha Baron Cohen is Borat and it’s impossible to imagine someone else playing that role. I don’t know where you can place this comedy. Perverted, Slapstick or black humour? But It’s this juxtaposition and the gulf of difference between American and Kazakhstan culture (made fictional I believe) that works really well.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan – hilarious indeed.
Pros - Jodie foster (yeah I’m a big fan), cinematography was perfect except for a couple of scenes where you could clearly see the usage of CGI.
Cons - poor editing (too lengthy with unnecessarily dragging sequences), became predictable and the plot was a perfect Robert Zemeckis tonic syrup as expected. It somehow lacked the cohesiveness but I couldn’t point my finger on where exactly it lacked.
If you couldn’t watch it, then you ain’t loosing much!
Pros - Cinematography especially the killings were well executed. Again the casting was brilliant, Eric Bana who is very much subdued, is one of the promising young actor to look out for (Gael Garcia Bernal, Christian Bale and Jake Gyllenhaal being others). Steven Spielberg doesn’t take sides but shows violence begets more violence, Background score works really well with the narration.
Cons - boring at places due to its length, Old Steve has to learn editing or do something about it. I don’t know whether its bold as I didn’t know anything about Black September and its aftermath (I heard the movie was distorted and more of a fiction especially the second half) but as much as the idea of taking a balanced approach in a sensitive issue is wiser, it ends up wishy-washy.
Munich is worth a watch, fictitious or not.
Steven Spielberg knows how to present mediocre potboilers like ‘Jaws’ (one of the most overrated movies), ‘Terminal’, ‘Catch me if you can, ‘Amistad (boring is just an understatement), ‘War of the worlds’ (a pointless movie that any tom, dick and harry could have made), Jurassic park sequels, E.T. (the most overrated Sci-Fi or is it a romantic comedy?),etc. He also made few great ones like ‘Schindler’s list’, ‘Close encounters of the third kind’ and ‘Saving private Ryan’ (just about good) . Munich falls in between like ‘Jurassic park’, ‘Minority report’ and ‘Indiana Jones trilogy’.
Talking about editing, It’s as important as script writing, you can have the best scripts but if you don’t edit the movie properly, it’s a disaster. The worst edited but highly rated films in my opinion are ‘Cold Mountain’ and ‘AI’. Cold Mountain is another whiny movie. I can’t stand it. If Munich is a tortoise then Cold Mountain is an agonizingly slow snail! I strongly feel Cold mountain is a companion piece from Minghella to his earlier ‘English patient’ (contextual pun intended).
Coming back to AI, Spielberg ruined it. In some circles, it is believed to be mind blowing which I strongly disagree. It was a mere spoon feed which it didn’t needed to be. It was too long and appalling. The only thing to write home about is Haley Joel Osment’s performance. Kubrick will be cursing Spielberg from his grave and I can’t imagine how great it would have been if the great man had made this. I am sure it would have been yet another obscure thought provoking masterpiece like ‘2001 space odyssey’ (which happens to be one of the best Sci-Fi in my book).
I watched two musicals Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). ‘Singin’ in the rain’ is worth a watch just for the performance of different stars. It still entertains after many decades. Believe me, you will love the songs. Yes the characters are cartoonish but that worked for me, it’s more funny that way. Gene Wilder is impressive as always. This isn’t anywhere near the legendary Willy ‘the eccentric’ Wonka. ‘Singin’ in the rain’ is a classic as it stands the test of time.
Will round up by just saying this about ‘The Wizard of Oz’, some ‘classics’ are better left for ‘classic’ people.
7 Responses to “Random rambling”
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To me, Spielberg’s lowest point is “War of the Worlds”. I mean, what was he thinking. Ok, its based on a futuristic sci-fi concept but it was terrible. I rarely walk from a movie but I wish i did off this one.
Munich wasn’t bad. I liked it bar the length which you mentioned, but, not as much as it has been acclaimed.
some ‘classics’ are better left for ‘classic’ people.
lol, true say. reminded me of “Gone with the wind” - I couldn’t watch it for more than 20 mins.
@Windmill
Absolutely! WOTW was basically to please his Golf buddy,you know who I am talking about, yeah its Tom Cruise :d Nice marketing move though!
Gone with the wind is in fact boring :o Casablanca is again pretty decent but it’s bloody overrated. Citizen kane is another but no question that Welles movies are important especially in the times they were made.
But just love Akira kurosawa, Ozu, Renoir, truffaut, Godard, hitchcock, Wilder, de sica and fellini movies. Earlier movies from Kubrick and bergman like The killing, path of glory, Dr Strangelove, Wild strawberries, The Seventh seal, Silence are brilliant. Other than that, I enjoyed 12 angry men, Wages of fear, Les diaboliques. These movies arent outdated by any means.
As far as political allegories or social relevance, War of the Worlds is one of the worst things Spielberg has done, AI and Hook withstanding.
Munich was much better, even if the message about the cycle of violence was simple: No matter how many terrorists you kill, 10 more will take his place. It takes more to win a war than killing men.
AI just wasn’t Spielberg’s bag. It was supposed to be an aggressive R-rated film, not a straight pinnochio fairytale. I see nothing of importance in the film.
I’d much rather Steve stick to fare like Minority report and Catch Me if You Can. He also needs to stop attaching himself to every goddamn film that’s coming out. He’s producing Transformers, and his touch can be seen even in the trailers, but his influence as producer in Clint Eastwood’s war-athon films was negligible. One wonders why he or his publicists feel the constant need to keep him in the trades with some film or the other. He lacks neither money nor accolades. His films would immediately better themselves if he wasn’t spreading himself so thin over producing duties.
havent seen the movies u reviewed except of course munich. Yeah it is looong … and i really wonder what if editing couldve helped it.
However being long needn’t be a con as such. Minority report is long .. but keeps u on the edge of the seat. And so does Saving private ryan ….
‘Cascablanca is good but overrated’
Couldnt agree more :-)\
Here’s a question - How about a similar review/tribute for Fellini and/or kurosawa’s films ????
‘Cascablanca is good but overrated’
I completely disagree!
Sangeeta, I completely agree with you. While once I thought Casablanca was good, but not quite great, after seeing the director’s cut I was blown away, and this film is now among my favourites!!!
And, about Spielberg, he is my favourite punching bag. I really don’t like his films, although I didn’t dislike Munich. In fact, I liked it enough that I may lighten up on my dislike of him if he does something similar with his next film. I tried to watch AI, and couldn’t finish it. I saw War of the Worlds, and thought it was not good but not bad, and was more interested in the movie ending so I could talk to the person I was with.
That said, I only mention this because I wonder if I am the only film fan who doesn’t like him?
@ Thilak - are you saying I am old because I like Wizard of Oz ;)
I once wrote on my own blog in reference to classic movies ““old” is not synonymous with “classic”, sometimes old is just old”…
@anangbhai,
I most definitely agree with “His films would immediately better themselves if he wasn’t spreading himself so thin over producing duties”.
@kartik,
Why not? Will write soon.
@Sangeeta & t!
We all have different opinions on the same film, which is a good thing. I don’t know whether I watched director’s cut but the movie doesn’t deserve the hype it’s given from what I saw.
“That said, I only mention this because I wonder if I am the only film fan who doesn’t like him?”
t!, you are not alone. I don’t like him either.
” are you saying I am old because I like Wizard of Oz
I once wrote on my own blog in reference to classic movies ““old” is not synonymous with “classic”, sometimes old is just old”
I understand that but that statement ’some classic movies are meant for classic people’ was catchy enough besides conveying what I meant to say. Again stress on ’some’ and ‘classic people’ here aren’t necessarily old but I am certainly not one of those kind as I have the wierdest taste imaginable!
Cheers.