Life of Pi - Visuals and Metaphors

Life of Pi is a stunning movie.

I have not read the book. And those who have read have mentioned that the movie tries to remain as faithful as possible to it. Ang Lee brings to us another wonderful story with stunning visuals and some very good acting.

I have seen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, which too had a lovely story told with some brilliant visuals, great cinematography by Lee.

Life of Pi begins with Irrfan Khan narrating his birth and childhood. His parents (Tabu and Adil Hussain) are owners of a zoo and a botanical garden. The story of his name "Pi" is an amusing anecdote told nicely. The story moves ahead where Pi and his family and their animals begin a journey to the new world.

The bizarre, incredible and stormy journey begins with a thunderstorm on the ship. Pi survives and ends up with a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena and a tiger on a lifeboat. There, the story begins. Pi, armed with a book, some food and his father's advice, and the tiger share some moments of glory in the story. The story takes us through a magical journey with a denouement as brilliant as expected.

Trust me when I say that I cannot describe it on the blog. Go, go to your nearest theatre and see it. It is recommended for children of 8-9 years and up. But you do need some patience and that is a small weakness, since we are talking of cinema here.

The story is a metaphor to how one must live a life. One can wonder whether it is the best way to explain things, but the extreme example makes it a brilliant medium.

Suraj Sharma, as Pi, is magnificient. So is Richard Parker. Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu, Rafe Spall, they all add up well. But the movie belongs to Pi. The special effects, 3D images and the vistas shown are brilliant.

4* of 5* from me....

Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol Review

Ethan Hunt is moving towards pre-Daniel Craig era James Bond while Bond, these days, is getting more and more intense, much like Hunt of the first MI.

This fourth episode of MI is a perfect Hollywood masala movie that has some spectacular action scenes, unbelievably cheesy lines, humour sprinkled in generous amounts throughout the movie and great effects. Story line, script...well these have been adapted well with above objectives perfectly aligned! Honestly, when you see the movie you don't care!

The movie begins with a typical mission going wrong. Hunt is then summoned from a Russian jail to find what was lost in the mission. To put it lightly and concisely, Hunt and his team does that with panache.

The hunt for the lost package takes them from Russia to Dubai to India. They enter break a jail, get into Kremlin, their car drowns in a river, Hunt climbs the highest building in the world and so on. Each of the sequences is a classy piece of adrenaline pumping action. Do not miss the Burj-Khalifah stunt - it is spectacular. I have heard that Cruise has executed it himself. If true, congratulations to him for a super stunt!

Tom Cruise is excellent in this edition. So is his team. Especially Simon Pegg with his wonderful one-liners. As an Indian viewer, I wanted to see Anil Kapoor's contribution to MI. He is alright as a lecherous billionaire but there is nothing more to his role.

This part is fantastic. Don't miss it and during the movie or after it refrain from asking too many how and why kind of questions!

3.5 *s out of 4!

Trailer of MI4:

Ishqiya - Movie Review

What a movie! There was a time when I used wonder what ails our industry to have some nice classy movies? What does Hollywood eat to make stuff like Blood Simple or Usual Suspects or LA Confidential? Well, time has come that Bollywood has started making intense, interesting and intriguing movies. And yes, Indian cinema is getting all these elements in a single movie.

The movie begins with an accident in which Vidya Balan gets widowed when her criminal husband dies. In a different town, Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi run away from a big goon with his money. They plan to escape to Nepal with the money.

They had once helped Vidya Balan's husband and so reach at her place with the intent of getting help in their plans. The goon traces them there and gives them few days to return money.

Now things start unfolding in a manner they both had not imagined. Both Shah and Warsi start falling for Vidya Balan. And she is much more than what she seems.

What happens? Well I suggest you see the movie to find out.

The dialogues are funny, witty and add to the intrigue. The songs are brilliant. Background music has lot of stuff that reminds of Western classics. Acting wise, Vidya Balan is great! She never seems overawed by Naseeruddin or Arshad. They both are great as well. The best part is the plot and the direction.

Welcome to the new Indian cinema. Enjoy!

4* out of 5*.

Sherlock Holmes - Movie Review - Excellent movie!

Rating ***1/2 out of 5*. 

Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant movie! It is fast paced, witty, sometimes comic, action packed and ends with a bang.

What is done in this movie is that it has made Holmes a sort of James Bond of the 19th Century. It has been many years that I have read Sherlock Holmes stories. But from whatever I remember, this movie presents to us quite a different man. In fact, this Holmes is an explosive mix of supreme deductive powers and equally supreme physical powers!

Robert Downey Jr. as the legendary detective and Jude Law as his trusted Dr. Watson shine in this movie. In fact everything shines....including the plot.

The movie begins with Holmes and Watson stopping a crime from being committed. They apprehend Lord Blackwood in an act of Black Magic. Blackwood is hanged to death. Blackwood resurrects himself and then begins the game of smoke and mirrors. He challenges and lures Holmes into traps and Holmes continues to investigate for a larger plan. A group of people from a secret society also ask Holmes to stop Blackwood at any cost. They fear Blackwood is upto something immensely sinister and his abuse of magical powers needs to be stopped.

Irene Adler, shown as Holmes' love interest is also a very intriguing character. She has been hired by a mysterious rich man to lead or mislead Holmes to something.

Holmes, Watson and Irene investigate. The investigation is a mind-blowing roller-coaster of action and suspense. Viewers are almost breathless when the movie ends. And it ends well. Ties up all the knots and gives a nice closing to it all.

London of late 19th Century is brilliantly depicted. Hans Zimmer's music is terrific. And the action is fantastic. Guy Ritchie shows how Holmes first plans his action and its effects and then actually executes it. This is done in several scenes and sometimes the effect is humorous. The dialogues are witty. And the suspense opens up slowly and carefully.

Excellent movie. Watch it in a cinema hall!