Special Forces

Director: Stéphane Rybojad

Writers:  Stéphane Rybojad (adaptation), Michael Cooper

 

 

A French journalist in Afghanistan is kidnapped by the Taliban.

Nobody can display the middle eastern warfare better then hollywood. This time though the set up is 'Afghanistan'. Advanced high tech ammunitions and the use of it by a bunch of highly trained 'Special forces' team and you imagine the kind of action that will come on the screen.Five special forces commander rescue a French journalist but get themselves trapped inside the hilly areas of Afghanistan. 

An action movie can never be described in terms of how good it is . You just have to see and experience the action.

CNN in the 90's became popular post the gulf war as it showed real war footages during that time. A ground breaking move by an news channel during the 20th century. Many hollywood movies have tried to picturize war situations in a more realistic manner. The characterization, location and research for the movie act as a key ingredients in making such kind of movies a blockbuster hit.

Special forces follow the same path 

Alpha Dog

Dir: Nick Cassavetes
Writer:  Nick Cassavetes

A drama based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer who became one of the youngest men ever to be on the FBI's most wanted list.

This movie is for guys who like to watch real life incidents displayed on 70 mm screen with not much melodrama .Just rough plain facts displayed as it is in a dramatic fashion . The way things go haywire reminds me the plot of the movie - shaitan.

Emile hirsch at its best . I liked him in the critically acclaimed movie - 'Into the wild' . Justin timeberlake ,the kid who is kidnapped and all other young characters in the film are best in displaying the casual approach of young americans towards drugs,sex and money. 

I was wondering why the movie name was 'Alpha Dog' and so wanted to know the exact meaning of it. It is normally the leader or authority in a group , especially in a group of friends. How often in our personal life too we see one character among our friends who is the key influencer in the group. A character who by nature dominates the group because of more money or power he has over the others or is extra smart then the rest of the gang. Drugs , Alcohol , Smoking is normally the result of peer pressure among young adults who want to try something new .It is perceived to be a cool habit. In sports this same factor influences newcomers in falling prey to betting.One random pakistani newcomer when caught in betting justified his act by saying that it is something which everyone in his team does including the captain.The kidnapped guy gets murdered on the instructions of the Emile Hirsch who is shown as the 'Alpha Dog' in the movie. 

Their is a saying 'Jaisi Raja taisi Praja'. We like to follow our leaders. The same act leads into trouble most of the times. 

Follow people with right ideologies and you won't have to regret any time.

Why so serious, son?

The villain is the life of the film. If the villain is not strong enough film will fall flat. Take Sholay if Gabbar was not the menacing and terrifying sholay wouldn't have been Sholay.

Gabbar, Dr.Dang and Mogambo have been top 3 villain of Bollywood for long time now. Sadly, bollywood films have hardly created any villain who will be of the same league as these three. The advent of Yash Chopra love stories and then Karan Johar and company carrying the baton villains in Bollywood saw a dormant period for too long.

Hopefully with emergence of new directors sooner or later we will see a villain who will terrify us as Gabbar did. Till then lets look outside Bollywood and list down villains who can give us nightmares

Joker - The Dark Knight Rises - Heath Ledger

Knife between the lips, and the knife in Joker's hand - Joker with scars on his face telling the story how his father gave him those scars. Now that's terrifying. 

Heath Ledger's Joker - unpredictable, dangerous, as menacing as Gabbar. He is right up there.

Calvin Candie - Django Unchained - Leonardo Dicaprio 

A plantation owner who is ruthless when it comes to business, earning profit. He forces his slave to fight to the death in boxing matches called Mandingo fights. He doesn't shudder with those gory fights or sight of blood.

Colonel Hans Landa - Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds

His job is to find Jews in hiding. He is calm and very mechanical about his job. He genuinely believes that Jews are ought to be killed. He takes his title seriously "The Jew hunter" and likes it a lot.

Li'l Ze - City of God 

Li'l Ze is more like Joker - unpredictable, psychotic. He doesn't even wink an eye before shooting 7 year old kid's foot. As 10 year old he loots a motel and kills dozens of people. He enjoys killing and helplessness of his enemy.

Amon Goeth - Schindler's List - Ralph Finesse

The SS officer incharge of a concentration camp who shoots Jew for target practice. You can see hatred for Jews in his eyes. He can't stand that any Jew can be superior to his race. He shoots a Jewish female engineer when she says that the way they are building a house is wrong. After murdering her he orders his soldiers to get it rebuild the way she explained.

There might be many more who I must have missed out. But these are the top 5 (not necessarily in that order) that I remember. 

Let me know what you think about it.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Dir:Scott Derrickson

Writer: Scott Derrickson & Paul Harris Boardman
Rating:6.5/10

Do demon exist? Is god really out there? No one knows the answer for sure. It is all about belief. 
The film is based on a true story is rare mix of two genres courtroom drama and horror. Father Moore's attempt to exorcise demons from Emily's body fails and after few weeks she dies. Father is charged with negligent homicide. Church's reputation is on line. A famous lawyer is hired for defense with a condition that father will not testify. It is clear that there is hardly any case and Father is going to be found guilty. The prosecution offers a deal which father rejects and chooses to go to court so that he can tell the world story of Emily Rose.

The case starts and in flashbacks it is revealed how it all started and how it went from bad to worse. Doctors feel it is a case epileptic psychosis and she could have been cured if she had been on medical treatment. Father on other hand not opposed to the treatment but tries to cure Emily through alternative method of exorcism. 

The film doesn't intend to answer whether one should believe in ghosts or not. It depends on individual experience. Until you experience it you won't believe it. But we are so used to scientific explanations of everything 
that even if we come across a supernatural experience we try to find a scientific explanation for it.

Transamerica

Dir: Duncan Tucker

Writer: Duncan Tucker & William Macy

Rating: 8.5 /10

Movies with transsexual as lead character, always has sense of mystery around it. Someone who loathes his/her body trying to transform it the way he/she wants. In this movie that someone is Sabrina formerly Stanley. A week before vaginoplasty Sabrina comes to know that she has a son and is in a New York city jail. Sabrina's therapist refuses for her operation until she faces her past and sorts it out. Sabrina flies to New York and frees her son. She pretend to be a Christian missionary and tries to reconcile him with his family, but she comes to know that his step father molested him has a child. Don't know what to do Sabrina brings him to her parents. She tells him the truth when her son gets attracted to her tries to seduce her. Her son gets furious and runs away. After few months her son becomes an actor in pornographic films and Sabrina is happy after her successful surgery. One day her son shows up at her door and they reconcile.

Felicity Huffman as Sabrina is just mind blowing. While watching movie I really thought that Felicity is male but when I checked her profile I was shocked to know that she is beautiful actress.She was nominated for best actress at Oscars but unfortunately didn't win.

It's a gem,  worth a watch. 

100 Crores is it a number that needs celebration?

Nowadays Bollywood is obsessed with 100 cr mark. But is this number good enough for celebration?
India's population - 120 crore
Say only 2/3rd of population understands hindi - 80 cr
say 50% afford to go to cinemas - 40 cr
Avg cinema ticket price - Rs.100
So to reach 100 cr mark you need - 1 crore people to watch movie in theater
So getting 1 crore people out of 40 crore is it an achievement or underachievement
And i am not sure if this 100 cr includes overseas business. If that is the case then the number goes down further.

Thelma and Louise

Dir: Ridley Scott
Writer: Callie Khouri
My rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis: Thelma (a docile, husband fearing, naive, housewife) and Louise (rebel, smart waitress) plan a weekend trip. The trip takes a twist when louise shoots a man trying to rape Thelma. They plan to escape Mexico.

I heard about the movie from my friend but i never felt like watching it. Then came across a book which mentioned how movie was path breaking. When i came to know that it has been directed by Ridley Scott I thought I better watch it.
At the start Thelma is the naive housewife who cant make her decisions. She is totally dependent on her friend Louise. Thelma takes the trip without telling her abusive husband as he would have never allowed her. The duo just wants to have fun, but it turns out to be a nightmare when a guy at a pub tries to rape Thelma and then insults Louise. Louise in rage shoots him. They plan to escape to Mexico. During the road trip lot of events take place and we see Thelma's character evolving. She slowly discovers her crazy side. From being naive, docile she becomes who takes charge of the situation.
Geena Davis a Thelma stands out and she looks really cute and sexy. She manages to balance the naive docile look in the first half and smart, crazy, fearless woman in the second. The transformation looks belivable. Thelma's character is more rounded than Louise's.
The real transformation you can see in the motel when JD robs them of the money where Thelma takes charge when Louise breaksdown.
The film is about two oppressed women who confront men trying to act funny. They are provoked to do whatever they do. In the end they prefer to kill themselves than to return to the world dominated by males. They have more fun in those 2-3 days than they ever had in their life.