Sunday, May 13, 2007

Life in a ...Metro

When I walked into the movie theatre, I was clueless about the movie. Nor did I know the cast. So every name that came up in the starting credits was like news to me….

Let me begin with the music. I am not a great fan of Bollywood songs or music and hence I avoid discussing it. But the soundtrack is so impressive that I would like start of with it. One word for the soundtrack - Superb. Rock enthusiasts- take note. It’s an all Rock soundtrack!! Metal and Rock being my kinda music, I loved almost all the tracks in the movie…. What a fresh change from those typical Bollywood songs. Pritam Chakraborty (Music Director), you deserve an award.

As the name suggests…the rechristened name i.e. ‘Life in a…Metro’ is about the lives of people in a metropolitan city... It’s about lies and deceit. It’s about illicit love affairs. It’s about shattered dreams and of broken hearts. Kudos to Anurag Basu here for brilliantly interweaving the daily lives of the 7 lead characters. All of the 7 stars deserve a mention here but my favorite amongst them will always be Irrfan Khan. Not that others were boring. But if you’ve watched the movie, y’all know. Irrfan Khan plays Debu…who is in his late thirties and is on the hunt for his life partner. When he comes on screen, expect nothing but some comic scenes. He will make you laugh, that’s for sure…I won’t delve into each of the stories. They all are worth watching is what I can say. I was thinking all the time whether it was a copy of some Hollywood film but I couldn’t think of any. Upon coming home, I googled for it and it turns out that “Life in a… Metro” is a clear copy of 1960’s Hollywood Classic movie, “The Apartment”.

Well this doesn’t belittle “Life in a…Metro”. “Life in a… Metro” is to “The Apartment” like how “Kaante” was to “Reservoir Dogs”.

My rating 8/10. It is a must watch and the soundtrack – A must have.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Spiderman 3

Photo Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies

Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman is back and this time he has a new sinister black outfit plus two brand new enemies, “Sandman” and “Venom”. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is living a comfortable life whilst saving NYC from the evils. He is a superhero or an icon as he calls himself in the movie. His girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is going through worst time in her life. She loses her Broadway job and it gets worse when she sees Spidey kiss the Police chief’s daughter Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) at a function thrown in the honour of Spiderman….just for the record…Bryce Dallas Howard looks amazinggg in her bleach blonde hair!

The first half an hour or so is very engaging. A convict at large, Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) turns into a Sandman when he accidentally lands in particle physics lab experiment. At the same time, a parasitic life form comes to the earth from a meteorite. Spidey’s enemy and his once best friend – Harry Osborn/Goblin is mad at Spiderman and attacks him. The chase and the fight between the buildings between Osborn and Spiderman would surely get your adrenaline rushing. With all these characters (Sandman and Venom) taking shape at the start of the movie got me very excited. I was thinking how would Spidey handle these two new enemies, rather three…. But much to my disappointment, the movie drifted into a love story, which goes awfully wrong for Spidey. Blame poor Peter Parker for it who somehow always manages to do the wrong thing at the right time.

Anyways, I wasn’t disappointed for long, for in the end I saw my comic book hero in action. Spidey himself gets addicted to the parasite, which unleashes his dark side, and a powerful Spiderman in an all black outfit emerges albeit for a short while. His other new enemy is his rival photographer Eddie Brock/Venom played by Topher Grace. Eddie Brock turns into Venom when Spidey discards the parasite for his good old red-blue suit.

J Jonah Jameson also known as J J J (played by J K Simmons), the editor of fictional New York newspaper Daily Bugle, is amusing to say the least. His presence means that audience will have something to laugh or smile about. We just love to see him bashing Peter Parker or at action in his office with his employees.

In the end, my verdict is…Not a sensational movie but not bad too. It is entertaining, except for the philosophical love story in between stretched a little too much for a Spiderman flick. But Sandman, Venom, Spidey and Osborn do the balancing act to enthrall the audiences. I would give it a 3/5.