Today is

Kingdom of Heaven

Yesterday, I got the oppurtunity to watch Kingdom of Heaven in Odeon. Starring Orlando Bloom(remember him in Troy) and Eva Green. Well, it was a slow moving film with a story which tells us how Jerusalem is now under the control of Muslims). The Protaganist(Balian) of the film is a blacksmith who is mourning the suicide of his wife.
His father(who he does not know) comes in search of him and asks him to join him to their home in Jerusalem. Balian kills the person who insults his wife and in the way becomes a lawbreaker. There is a brief fight in which his father is badly injured and his father is in his deathbed. Balian is asked by his father to take up his cause of protecting the helpless, and defend Jerusalem against the Muslims and accordingly Balian goes to Jerusalem and digs wells as the place needs water and make he land fertile. The leprosy afflicted King Baldwin dies and his sister becomes the Queen(She has interest in Orlando Bloom) and her husband becomes the King. They wage war against the Saladin (the Muslim King) against Balian's wishes. They are defeated and Saladin wages war again Jerusalem. Balian is left with no Knights to fight against them. He asks the people in Jerusalem to help him fight Saladin. Every men who is capable of war becomes a Knight and they defend Jerusalem against Saladin's huge army.
They defend very well and Saladin comes to terms with Balian and Balian has to leave Jerusalem with his country men, women and children and Jerusalem will come under the rule of Muslims. In Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Cross is replaced by the Crescent. The war sequence is well depicted and Balian plans strategically to fight against Saladin. This is a very slow movie.

Chandramukhi

There was something fascinating about Chandramukhi. Its strong story line. What a story! Do we all not pretend we are somebody else? We create a make-believe world to escape from the mundane realities of life. We create a fascinating virtual identity to hide from our not so fascinating physical identity. Not only on the net but always we try to project ourselves as something or somebody we probably are not. When you take it a little farther you suffer from psychosis (?)

Well its superstar's movie. Hence, there are all the "superstar" elements in the movie-songs, a fight sequence and comedy. But that is not what makes the movie good. It's the concept. I have not seen the original Malayalam or Kanada version. So can give no comparisons. But Rajnikanth has done a superb performance in the final sequences and so has Jothika. He does suit the role of the vicious king and Jothika excels as Chandramukhi.

There are some questions though, why does Rajni stop Nayanthra from teaching music, when he loves music so much. What is the purpose? The whole sequence is quite irrelevant to the movie. Anyway that song was good. The movie could have been tightly edited to remove some irrelevant scenes. In the first half of the movie, Jyothika hardly has any role to play. Also wonder what is Prabhu doing in the movie. Good movie, worth watching.

Shabd

The power of words vs the power of love. How alluring?!! The idea of a Booker Prize writer (Sanjay Dutt) facing writers bloc after immense criticism for
being unrealistic was interesting and how he tries to find essence for his fiction from reality was also interesting. To test reality how Sanjay Dutt nudges
his wife to court another man seems to be treading on dangerous water. Danger is appealing. What happens after that is pathetic.

Are writers Monomaniacs who believe that their words can change reality? Or are they magicians? Only the Director should know. The story looked promising, going somewhere. Beyond a point everybody looked lost in the movie. Lost like a lost pup in a busy road. There are a hundred ways how this story could have been made appealing and thousand other ways to make it pathetic. The director chose the latter.

Ash looks enchanting. But her character is so superficial and undeveloped. She is such a Sati Savitri that she never crosses the Lakshman Rekha drawn by her Husband. So when he asks her to make friendship with her colleague, she understand the true intentions of her husband, she goes a step beyond and flirts with him.

Then in the final denouement when he pops the questions she reveals her true marital status. Why bother saying then? Why not go ahead. Well ask the Director. It seems she has kept her mind at home till then. Only when he asked her for her hand did she realize that she is married. And you see she is not to be blamed, she just followed her all knowing wise husbands advice. If you want to have a good laugh at yourself for being such a fool for watching the movie watch it. Well I did laugh at myself.

Black

Hear what our critic is telling about Black.

Well, one gloomy story of how a young woman faced with disability gets her graduation is not enough, another one of a pathetic old man struggling with Alzheimer’s disease had to be given. Its like buy one sad story get another one free.

The story inspired by the life story of Helen Keller was heart-rendering. The immense trauma faced by a young mind struggling to express oneself and the tantrums she throws makes ones heart go for her. How she finds words and their meaning and how she crosses the barriers in her life is truly courageous and inspiring.

But the story could have stopped there, with her success. Why go beyond that? Why bring in the gloomy tale of her not finding a man. Why the tale of her teacher losing his memory and losing everything with it. It was gloom square. Truly gloomy. Whoever said Black is an inspirational tale? Its truly a Black story.

The Ring Two

Hear what our critic wants to say about the new movie The Ring Two

The Ring(directed by Gore Verbinski) has been one of the most haunting movies I have ever seen. The woman combing her hair looking in the mirror, the Well, the woman jumping from a cliff into the sea are images not easily forgettable. When I heard about The Ring Two, I did not want to miss it.

The Ring Two is no where near The Ring. It's not scary or haunting like the first one. There are many things one wonders about - like the deer why do the attack ? and why do they go away? How does Rachel knows that closing the well will stop Samara? Anyway we do not know whether Samara is stopped or not until of course The Ring Three. Well definitely I am not going to watch The Ring Three if there is going to be one.

If you are a horror buff, you can go watch The Ring two. It's not that great. But if you are someone like me who sees all horror movies just go ahead.

Bride and Prejudice

Our Critic is comparing between the "Bride and Prejudice" (movie which is an adapted version of Pride and Prejudice) starring Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson (from the Director of Bend it like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha) and "Pride and Prejudice" (book) by Jane Austen. Read what the critic has to say..

Well. I saw Bride and Prejudice. Had been planning to see it for a long time and it was only possible now. So why was a planning to see it? I am not a great fan
of crossover films with India bashing. Only one that really touched the chord was Hyderabad Blues. I have not seen Bend it like Beckham though had read and heard great reviews about it. I am a devoted fan of Ms. Austen. Her comedy of manners somehow seems to be very relevant, atleast in India.

So I watch the movie. What do I think about it? Well a movie made definitely not for Indians.

Is it Darcy who feels India is a difficult place or is it what Ms. Chada thinks? Who is prejudiced? When India is shown you see cows on the road, you find a vulgar snake dance done by one of the heroine’s sister and you find people dancing on the streets of Amritsar because of their daughter getting married. And a wedding on an elephant. While US is all wonderful sights and a great place.

Actually a song and dance sequence in Sharukh’s movie is very much acceptable but not here, please. Ash doesn’t look fabulous, but I suppose that’s how Eliza is supposed to look. After all she is not the pretty one in the family. The film lacks in emotion, all feelings are superficial. Jaya does not seem to fret about her missing beau. And Lalitha easily shifts affection from Wickham to Darcy. So Wickham doesn’t look the charming dark horse that women easily fall far. He looks just the sad guy with a sob story.

While the movie is all India Bashing, Indians bashing and NRI’s bashing. My review is all about Movie bashing. Sorry for that.