I'm working on having the pretty-pictures version of this up ASAP, but why should you have to wait? Here's the complete audio-review of M. Night Shyamalan's latest (literal) shit-show. I know, I know, I'm too good to you.
ENJOY!
*P.S. I know that it shows the wrong title in the "credits." This will be fixed in the video version.
Posted by Unknown
Posted on 23:14
with No comments
Well!
So, I haven't posted anything in about a week. There are some personal/time-constraint reasons for that which are neither here nor there, but it was mainly an effect of not a terrible amount "going on" of late that I felt compelled to comment on. That part will change as we head into the "busy season" of movie screenings and conventions, but something else will likely be changing too. I'm actively exploring the "replacement" of both this blog and the Game OverThinker blog with something like a unified "official site." This was, some followers will remember, something that was supposed to already be happening but was delayed by my professional shakeup back in February. I'm probably leaning toward a Wordpress-type service (any advice from web-designer followers would be appreciated) and looking to keep Disqus for comments, but we'll see.
In any case, new content coming this week regardless. Until then, please enjoy this cool thing you probably already saw:
Posted by Unknown
Posted on 11:27
with No comments
Rating : 6/10 Release Date : 28th August, 2015 Time : 136 minutes Director, Co-Writer : Kabir Khan; Co-Writer: Parveez Sheikh, based on a novel Mumbai Avengers by Hussain Zaidi; Music : Julius Packam Starring : Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty
Despite an emotive topic, you struggle to feel anything. Especially for the characters – portions of the blame can be assigned to the script, casting, dialogue and editing – you just kind of go through the motions on this one, till right at the end, where you begin to root (a little bit) for things to go as planned.
Based on the book, Mumbai Avengers, this one is seriously wishful thinking about avenging the 26/11 blasts. About finding someone to go about killing those responsible for those blasts wherever they may be – vigilante justice, American style. A RAW think tank, headed by Sabyasachi and powered by Zeeshan, dreams this mission up, finds the right people and goes ahead without government permission.
They settle on disgraced soldier, Saif. Living in isolation in icy wilderness. Who finally says yes. And then goes about pursuing his assigned targets across the globe. Aided by Katrina Kaif, a London based information source for RAW. And an inept ISI (they really do make someone who regularly conducts operations against India with ease, look like bumbling buffoons).
For starters, Saif isn’t really believable as tough guy on a suicide mission. And it’s not just his fault, as the script doesn’t build him up or point out why he’s the right guy, apart from telling us he was court-martialled. Katrina, she of the famous pout, just doesn’t look plausible firing assault weapons. She doesn’t move or behave like she’s in the counter-intelligence business. And her front, a medical organization (something like Medecins Sans Frontieres), again doesn’t make sense, one minute she’s in London, next in Beirut, then in Syria and then in Lahore, almost as per her desires, going around with heavily armed men. Even the villains aren’t built up well enough – you know a little bit about them from news reports – but if they’re so easy to access (especially the first target), then you really do wonder why India isn’t doing something about it
This one is a little bit of a flatline, despite the exotic locales and the jingoistic plot. Struggles between trying to keep it real or filmy, succeeds at neither and even at the end, when things do pick up it’s just patriotism which eggs you on, aided by lots of Bollywood masala and dialogues, rather than anything substantive.
Posted by Unknown
Posted on 11:16
with No comments
Rating : 7/10 Release Date : 28th August, 2015 Time : 116 minutes Director, Co-Writer : Guy Ritchie; Co-Writers: Jeff Kleeman, David C Wilson, Lionel Wigram based on the TV series by Sam Rolfe; Music : Daniel Pemberton Starring : Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Luca Calvani, Sylvester Groth, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris, Christian Berkel, Misha Kuznetsov
This one is all style, barely any substance but still quite good fun
It’s 1960, the peak of the Iron Curtain paranoia. An American agent , robber turned spy, Henry Cavill and Russian KGB, Armie Hammer, have to combine with East German car mechanic, Alicia Vikander, to track down her father (Udo), a top Nazi nuclear scientist, who’s disappeared from the USA. The suspicion is he has been taken by a wealthy Italian couple, Elizabeth Debicki and Luca Calvani, known to be Nazi sympathizers, who work closely with his brother, Sylvester Groth, and plan to sell nuclear weapons to the Nazi remnant’s, seeking to make a comeback to the world stage.
One thing you’re guaranteed with a Guy Ritchie film is a pulsating soundtrack, and an attitude to match. This one doesn’t disappoint either front and you get a gaggle of good-looking people too.
I’d never really warmed up to either Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), found him wooden, or Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger), who came across as a bit of a softie, but here they work in their respective roles. Alicia and Elizabeth provide plenty of leggy glamour, while the men strut around in fancy suits, with all posh fashion brands bandied about (What would go better with a Boss belt, a Rabanne suit or a Dior?). The one liners are pithy, crisp and plentiful. The contrast between the leading men well-defined. And everyone lives in this beautiful, happy world while plotting world destruction.
The plot, strangely for a Guy Ritchie film, is the weak link here. Nothing much really happens and what does, doesn’t make complete sense (there would surely be easier ways to do this and surely wealthy, intelligent villains should display more sense ?). But, it’s undeniably fun and you surely wouldn’t mind another film in the series, especially with Hugh Grant, from British intelligence, running the show…
Posted by Unknown
Posted on 11:08
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Rating : 6/10 Release Date : 28th August, 2015 Time : 103 minutes Director, Co-Writer : John Erick Dowdle; Co-Writer: Drew Dowdle; Music : Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders Starring : Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare, Sahajak Boonthanakit
Imagine landing in an exotic (for the Americans) land, somewhere around Thailand,Vietnam, with your family, only to find, in a few hours the place erupting in a revolution with vigilante mobs going around executing all foreigners on sight.
Owen Wilson, finds himself in this predicament, with seemingly no way out. He and his wife, Lake Bell, with their two young daughters (Sterling, Claire) arrive for his expat job with an American water company, barely settle in their hotel and soon find events spiraling out of control. The Prime Minister is shot dead and soon bloodthirsty mobs roam the once peaceful streets. Pierce Brosnan, British, had been on the same flight as them, is in the country primarily for women (or so he says), is staying on the same hotel and may have a part to play, as he’s a regular in the country. But things look really bleak…
This one is all about the tension. About moving from one predicament to another. Just when the family (and you) begin to feel slightly safe – Boom! – next thunderbolt will strike. The young daughters are also shown to be the typical American types – will feel hungry, want to go to the bathroom, wont want to jump – even when clearly their own lives are in peril – and Owen, who’s not been very successful in life and has to mend bridges with his wife – has his hands full as they try to stay alive
It’s not a bad one time watch though I’ve never heard the word ‘Okay’ spoken as many times in one film. The violence shown is brutal, but the pressure-cooker atmosphere does permeate through and makes you want the young American family to make it to safety. Of course, whether they do or not, is another matter.
PS : Found it deliciously ironical that one of the possible safe options was for an American family to go over to the nearby Vietnamese border and seek asylum.
