Videodrome (1983) : A Review

I have come across this movie many a times in the past, but I always for some reason have given it a miss. But after seeing so many blogs placing this movie in their best-of-horror list (for the Halloween season), I decided to give it a try.

The movie starts with Max Renn - the president of a controversial TV channel "Channel 83" that airs shows on porn and violence - coming across a transmission of a violent snuff-video called Videodrome. The video captures Max's attention for its grotesque and realistic nature and he shows interest in purchasing it for his channel. This leads him to Prof. Brian Oblivion who believes that television has the power to alter the reality of its viewers. O'blivion's recordings make Max realize that Videodrome is not an act but rather a real torture video which induces a tumor in the brain of those who watch it and eventually causes hallucinations. He himself starts hallucinating about his abdomen splitting open, the TV getting alive and inviting him, etc. From then starts a surreal journey of Max trying to uncover the mystery of Videodrome.

Writer/Director David Cronenberg very effectively conveys the idea of the television's extreme power to manipulate the thoughts of the viewers. And people finding even real violence to be entertaining, shows how adversely the medium is affecting the audience. James Woods is natural to the core and comes up with a faultless performance. Only other movie in which he has done so well is "Once upon a time in America". The make up and special effects are excellently done, especially in the scenes where Max's abdomen splits open and where the gun merges his hand.

Do not expect a hard core horror, which it is not. Rather, expect a thought provoking, surrealistic sci-fi that would leave you thinking long after the movie ends.

The movie has quite a few quotable quotes which explain the philosophy behind Videodrome.

"Telivision screen is the retina of the mind's eye and it is a part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore whatever appears on the television screen emerges as a raw experience for those who are watching. Therefore television is reality and reality is less than television."

"The visions cause the tumor and not the reverse. The visions coalesce and become flesh. The tumor removed was called Videodrome."

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Rated

Nine (2009) : A Review

Musicals have never fascinated me. Even classics like "Wizard of Oz" and "Sound of Music" could not grab my attention. But Rob Marshall's musicals have evoked a certain interest in them.

Nine is Marshall's second musical after Chicago. It tells the story of the star director Guido Contini (Daniel Day Lewis) who after giving a spate of flops, is struggling with the script of his come-back venture Italia. Luisa (Marion Cortillard) is Guido's wife who is an ex-starlet, now retired and supporting her husband. Though she has sacrificed her career for him, she often feels neglected by Guido. Carla (Penelope Cruz) is Guido's mistress who is madly in love with him and can not stay away from him. Stephanie (Kate Hudson) is a fashion journalist fascinated with the work of Guido. Lili (Judi Dench) is the costume designer for his movie. She is a friend who Guido confides in. There is Guido's late mother(Sophia Loren) whose always comforts him in moments of despair. Sara (Fergie), the prostitute from his childhood, who danced to him for money, and gave him the first ever lessons on sex. And finally his muse Claudia (Nicole Kidman) who has been his inspiration for most of his movies. Guido has to find the script for his movie while struggling to manage the relationship with his wife and the mistress while also seeking help from these women.

Nine is similar to Chicago in terms of the treatment, but is more personal in nature. You sympathize with the protagonist and relate to his problems. And the credit should definitely go to Daniel Day Lewis who has time and again proved that he is one of the greatest actors alive. His portrayal of a director who has to find a balance in his professional and personal life is brilliant. Marion Cortillard portrays her character with a lot of depth. Penelope Cruz once again proves that she is as versatile as they come. Nicole Kidman brings the aura of a diva to the character. And all the women look gorgeous in the songs. The actors should be lauded for their vocals and dancing skills as much for their acting. Special mention should go to the cinematographer who makes each and every frame look picture perfect with brilliant use of lighting. And finally the director who envisioned such a beautiful looking musical.


PS: I know its a musical based on the Broadway show which in turn was based on 8 1/2. But I am glad that I haven't watched the originals and hence safe from the comparison syndrome.

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Rated

Where the Wild Things Are (2009) : A Review

Director Spike Jonze, who in collaboration with Charlie Kauffman gave us gems like Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, comes up with another beautiful, coming-of-age fantasy "Where the Wild Things Are".

It is the story of Max, disobedient but a lonely eight year old boy. He often wears a wolf costume and pretends to be an animal. One day his divorced mother brings her boyfriend to dinner. Max insists on showing her the castle that he has built and when she ignores him, he wears his wolf costume and throws a fit. When she tries to stop him, he bites her and runs away from home. He reaches a remote wild place where he encounters several monster like creatures. He convinces them that he is a great king who can solve all their problems. Carol, one of the monsters, is an impulsive and destructive monster, very much like Max. KW is a female monster who often leaves the group to meet a secret friend which irks Carol very much. Max and Carol form a friendship owing to the similarity of their nature.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) : A Review

Based on the popular video game, Prince of Persia hit theatres this weekend worldwide. The pre-release buzz was very poor and so we managed to get the tickets easily on the opening week. The trailers for the movie were not too exciting and that set the expectations to an extreme low.

The story goes like this. The King of Persia gets impressed by the fearlessness of a slum orphan Dastaan(Jake Gyllenhal) and adopts him as a son. Tus, the eldest son of the King, on the advice of his Uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley) raids the holy city of Alamut. With the help of Dastaan, they succeed in seizing the city. Meanwhile somebody conspires against Dastaan and he becomes the victim of a conspiracy that charges him with the assassination of the King. He flees the kingdom along with the Alamut princess Tamina and tries to bring forth the real culprits behind the conspiracy, while also trying to save the world from destruction.

BOLLY REVIEW: Mission Istanbul (2008)

I had the great fortune of discovering this movie called "Mission Istaanbul" starring Zayed Khan and Vivek Oberai. It falls in the category of "Its so bad that its fun". I would put it in my hall of fame movies along with "Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani" (# 1 in my list), "Qahar", et al.

Zayed Khan is Vikas Sagar, an IIT graduate with a computers degree and working for Aaj Tak as a journalist. He has absolutely no work experience in computers but is supposedly a computers expert (the expertise in which field? Not mentioned). He is infamous for his face-to-face interviews with the terrorists who put on a mask while recording a murder video but forget about it during the interviews. Vikas decides to move on to "Al Johara", a news channel in Istaanbul, for better opportunities of terrorist interviews. "Al Zohara" boss is a crooked looking, suspicion raising individual who is doing some confidential activities on the highly secured 13th floor of his office building. "Al Zohara" has a hall of martyrs room with portraits of all the journos who died mysteriously during the terrorist interviews. Sunil Shetty is the latest victim of Al Zohara. Vivek Oberoi plays "Rizwan Khan", a mysterious local, who keeps warning Vikas of the dangers at Al Zohara. He is supposedly a cool guy who can do loads of action with both hands and guns. Rizwan is capable of single handedly gaining access to the 13th floor but needs a computer expert to hack into some system. That is where Vikas comes into picture. The rest of the story is how these two guys unveil the mystery behind the 13th floor.

The movie is extremely entertaining due to its unintentional humor. Watch it to believe.

Highly Recommended for the same reasons as "Plan 9 from Outer Space".

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Three Days of The Condor (1975) : A Review

Three Days of The Condor is a 1975 movie directed by Sidney Pollack. Josey a.k.a. The Condor (Robert Redford) works for CIA in the literary department where they read books from different nations and feed their plots and other suspicious content into the computer, for analysis. One afternoon, he goes for lunch and on return finds all of his colleagues assassinated. Thus starts his run from the perpetrators which also includes the director of his division. Josey kidnaps a young woman (Faye Dunaway) and with her help tries to solve the mystery behind the killings and the actual people behind them. A German professional hit-man (Max von Sydow) is hired to track and kill him.

The story of the man on the run reminds you of some Hitchcock classics. The movie is a fine thriller and no where do you feel the pace getting slowed. And the idea of CIA trying to control the oil producing Middle Eastern nations is so very relevant even today. Robert Redford plays the ordinary man stuck in a fatal situation with ease. Faye Dunaway looks extremely beautiful. But it is Max von Sydow who is excellent as the assassin and completely steals the show with his great presence.

Overall "Three Days of Condor" is a pretty entertaining fare.

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Rated