Eight years ago who would have thought that "The Fast and the Furious" would spawn three sequels and still be running strong? Things didn't look hopeful when Vin Diesel opted out of headlining the second film due to newfound stardom and an inflated ego, but after a brief appearance in the third feature "Tokyo Drift", he's back to his old tricks as bad boy Dominic "Dom" Torretto. Paul Walker returned for the second film and bowed out of the third, yet after appearing in hits like "Eight Below" and misses like "Into the Blue", he too, like Diesel, is making a humble return.
I guess it's safe to say the appeal of these films is fast cars and hot women, which go hand in hand in any environment whether it be L.A., Miami or Tokyo. The thing is, these films have a paint by numbers plot if there was one and the final results are a series of images involving either speed or scantily clad ladies. These movies are obviously geared towards guys, but I can't help but wonder why every car race in every film features women making out with each other. Yeah, that is what horny young guys want to see, but its become a running gag in these films that where there are fast cars there are also bisexual and lesbian gals.
Though Diesel appeared in a brief cameo during the final scene of the previous film, the story of "Fast & Furious" appears to take place slightly before those events, with Dom and his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) hijacking a gasoline land train in the Dominican Republic with several pals, including Tokyo Drift's Han (Sung Kang). Though there is plenty of action to be had, the opening sequence turns out to be the most exciting bit in the film. After dividing up their shares of the profits, Dom, still on the run from the law, decides its safer to go his own way, leaving Letty behind.
Flash forward to some time later (perhaps after or during the storyline of 'Tokyo Drift') and FBI agent Brian O'Connor (Walker) is chasing a suspect, hoping to get intel on a drug smuggling ring. The ring is run by the mysterious Arturo Braga, who hires the fastest drivers in L.A. to get his product into the country. The problem is no one knows who he is or what he looks like and Brian is hoping to infiltrate the organization to identify him. Brian must really be FBI agent material since the last we saw him he was planning to open his own car detailing business with a childhood buddy (Tyrese) at the end of the second film. It's a little strange that his superiors have brought him back into the fold since after all, he did let
Dom go free in the original film and was forced to go on the run by the second. Yet they don't think he'll be able to identify Braga since there is another obstacle in his way.
When Dom gets a message from his little sister Mia (Jordanna Brewster) that Letty's been murdered, he takes the risk of coming back into the U.S. to find out who killed her. Apparently after parting ways in D.R., she landed a job as a driver for Braga and the cost was her life. Both intent on bringing Braga down, when Dom and Brian finally cross paths, there's still friction between them. You would think Dom would cut Brian a little slack, because after all, the guy was forced to go on the run for letting him walk. He not only still considers Brian a "buster", but will do whatever it takes to infiltrate Braga's game to destroy it himself.
Braga's top guy is Ramon Campos (John Ortiz) who not only commands a small army but is looking for drivers "who would sell their abuelita to get a spot" on his team. To do so Dom and Brian must go head to head and that means more fast cars, more hot women, more racing. Even though there's sensuality in the form of those various girls making out, Brian gets some romance by trying to rekindle his relationship with Mia, while Dom catches the eye of Campos's associate Giselle (Gal Gadot), who questions whether he appreciates women as much as cars. I was actually pleased that some maturity and restraint was actually shown in this aspect of the story, with Dom, still mourning Letty, choosing not to jump into bed with this new woman. (At least not before the end credits.)
As I said before, audiences don't go see these films for any form of a story or plot, though a little creativity wouldn't hurt. Just stick in all of those familiar elements and a soundtrack featuring the latest artists and the young crowd eats this stuff up. That may be why of all four films I enjoyed 'Tokyo Drift' the most. The cast was comprised of characters basically the same age as the audience these films are made for and there was no plot involving drug dealers, hijacking or smuggling, just high school kids racing for turf and street cred. When things become convoluted by Diesel's machismo, tough guy supporting players like Ortiz and his henchman Laz Alonzo or figuring out just who the bad guy is, it ends up unintentionally comical. Diesel and Walker never really had chemistry to begin with, so when they try to share their feelings (or attempt to act) by looking off into the distance instead of at each other, it's impossible not to laugh.
There's also a chase across the desert that continues through a series of tunnels running inside a mountain in Mexico that makes no sense at all. I guess its not really supposed to, but that doesn't mean I can't wonder just who built those tunnels and how long did it take them to do it?
Justin Lin, who showed promise with his 2003 debut "Better Luck Tomorrow" and also helmed 'Tokyo Drift', seems to have a better handle on the material than previous directors Rob Cohen and John Singleton. He's smart enough not to cut action sequences together like a music video, but still make it visually exhilarating. That's really what this franchise is all about, visual thrills. Whether it be fast cars or girls making out, if that's your pleasure 'Fast & Furious' certainly delivers.
Verdict: Fast & Furious is set between the second and the third film where the character Han (Sung Kang) is introduced before he dies in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
K.V Anand pushes the commercial cinematic envelope and brings a savvy freshness in treatment and packaging hitherto unexplored in Ayan. It’s breezy, racy, fun ride that keeps you glued to your seats for 2 hours and 38 minutes.
The story may be old as the hills but the narration and the way it unfolds is perfect. The first half is fast and furious, and makes you want more but post interval the proceedings slow down a bit, due to introduction of essential commercial elements like sentiments and an item number.
Deva (Surya) is a post graduate living in North Madras area with his mother (Renuka) who runs a grocery shop. She wants him to get a government job and does not want him to be like his father who was a petty smuggler. However Deva becomes the henchman of Das (Prabhu), the number one smuggler who operates a ‘kuruvi’ (carrier of smuggled goods) service for jewelers like Nemichand and also does video piracy.
In the pre-dominantly Marwadi area, he has a bitter enemy in Kamlesh (Akashdeep Saigal), who can’t digest the success of Deva- Das combination who smuggles diamonds from Congo. Kamlesh is power hungry and will do anything to be one-up on his arch-rival. Soon Deva falls in love with Yamuna (Tamannaah), his friend Chitti’s (Jagan, Vijay TV ‘Njandu’ fame) sister.
Meanwhile Kamlesh due to his greed to get rich and powerful starts dealing in narcotics, which is against the principles and ethics of Deva-Das combo. All this leads to a bloody confrontation between the two as they go for each other’s throat.
The circumstance leading to Surya meeting Tamannaah for the first time due to the antics of Jagan is a scream. Watch the action and chew on your popcorn as the adrenaline goes pumping. Here Surya is robbed of his diamonds under the orders of the villain Akashdeep Saigal by six tough African guys on the streets of Congo and the subsequent quick running on the streets and roofs and fighting is superb. Franz Spilhaus the action coordinator deserves a pat on his back for the spellbinding three minutes Parkour style chase that you may have seen in a Jackie Chan or James Bond flick.
Harris Jayaraj’s music is peppy and the background score is awesome. The first introduction song Pala Pala… is good, picturised with Surya in all the get-up’s he has done in various films. The Namibia song Nenje Nenje.. is melodious and is sheer visual delight shot extremely well in fantastic desert bordering the sea location in Namibia.
M.S Prabhu’s camera is eye catching whether it is the sepia colour tone in the fight scene or the top angle in the songs, it’s his best work. Rajeevan’s set design to the minutest detail gives you the feel that it is real. Antony’s editing for a change is not in your face and has gone for traditional cut to cut, which goes with the theme.
The casting is perfect. Prabhu as Das the good hearted smuggler is constrained and dignified. Ponvannan as a customs officer is aptly cast, Renuka as Surya’s mother is life like, Karnas is subdued, while Jagan steals the show. However Koena Mitra’s looks wooden, the song sticks out like a sore thumb.
Tamannaah looks beautiful and has arrived as the new eye candy of Tamil cinema and is improving with each film. She has emerged as a firecracker performer, instinctive and uninhibited as Yamuna. Akashdeep Saigal the new villain with his flowing long hair and stylish performance, with Ajay Kapoor (Aadi of Kolangal serial) dubbing for him is refreshing.
Surya belts out a convincing performance as the quintessential action hero and carries the film to the winning post. He looks great and you cannot take your eyes off him. Relying on his eyes and his expressions especially in those romantic scenes with Tamannaah, he shines.
Verdict: The film works due to Anand’s fresh and innovative handling of a wafer thin story. The Surya- Tamannaah fluffy romance is funny and enjoyable. The chemistry between them is terrific thanks to the simple bits of screenplay writing of the director and his dialogue writer Shubha. Move over Vivek & Vadivel, Jagan and Surya is enough to bring the house down with their one liners and neat comedy track, which is the major plus point in the film.
The film takes place over a 24 hour period and a month after the infamous Godhra incident which were followed by a horrific communal carnage in the state of Gujarat. It peeks into multiple characters amongst such as Aarti (Deepti Naval), a housewife who is silently haunted by the image of a Muslim woman begging for sanctuary. Another is Khan Saheb (Naseer), a renowned musician who lives in a Hindu area, and teaches classical music. He cannot understand the destruction of his familiar world, and naively assumes that it is possible for the two communities to live together. There is also Muneera (Shahana), who hides with friends during the violence, and returns to her home to find it burned to the ground. And there is Sameer (Suri), a young, dashing, wealthy Muslim married to a Hindu Anuradha (Tisca), who is torn between the dilemma of staying in Ahmedabad or leaving for another city where he and his wife might be safer. Lastly, there are the stories of other hapless Muslims, who make incompetent plots to take revenge.
Despite choosing such a heavy subject in her directorial debut film, actress Nandita Das has succeeded in handling it with utmost sensitivity and technical finesse. With an able technical support from India’s finest technicians such as cameraman Ravi K. Chandran (Ghajini, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi) and editor Sreekar Prasad (Guru, Yuva) Nandita has managed to assemble and ensemble cast of talented actors which take the film to a completely different level. The stories are not exactly interwoven but do manage to strike a chord. Firaaq’s strength lies in focusing on ordinary Hindus and Muslims whose lives were affected by the riots. Nandita barely resorts to showing graphic violence on screen and it’s fear, anger and anxiety are all understated.
Paresh Rawal in a serious role after a long time is a treat to watch. Sanjay Suri carries one of his most difficult roles with aplomb. Tisca playing his wife lends able support. Shahana Goswami post Rock On delivers yet another award worthy performance. But it is Naseeruddin Shah and Deepti Naval making a comeback on screen after a long gap whose performances linger on your mind long after the film is over.
Verdict: Firaaq is not meant for the faint hearted or those seeking two hours of time pass. It shows us the uncomfortable truths and painful reality in which the people of our country must live, as they set about repairing the destroyed trust between two communities.
Yaavarum Nalam – It may get you bit dragging and of course you may make fun over the clichéd happenings for few earlier parts. But mark our words; things will be completely vice-versa on the latter half that sends you high-and-low, chilling your spines.
Manohar (Madhavan) and his elder brother (Hari Nair) with all their earnest works, buy a new apartment house on loans. It’s a happy family where their mega-serial buff mom (Saranya), their wives (Manohar’s wife is Neethu Chandra while Ameetha is Hari’s brother and their kids). Wow! What a pleasant ambience and you will feel how sweet it would have been if we were one amongst them.
If so, please spare few minutes for you’ll witness the heart-breaking, edge-seated twists and turns when a TV serial named ‘Yaavarum Nalam’ in which the same scenario of a happy family entering into their dream house is telecasted. Well, now things are topsy-turvilier entangled as everything over there on the screens turns into reality.
Would Manohar turn aware about this or is it too late for him to sort it out forms crux of the story.
Madhavan is stunningly great with his flawless performance where he doesn’t slip out of perfection. He’s great while romancing with this spouse or when he’s bounded with lots of perplexing situation. Neethu Chandra and other star-casts have done justice to their roles.
Director Vikram has precisely depicted how women of today are so adhered to TV mega-serials and unaware about what’s happening really around them. Leave it apart, on the script, it’s a best one that has bit of traces in Hollywood’s ‘The Remote Control’. The screenplay is so gripping that doesn’t let your attentions scattered. Especially your will feel loose out of your nerves in the latter half as mentioned earlier.
Musical score by Shankar-Ehasan-Loy are good with couple of songs and the climax song ‘Oh Sexy Mama’ is stupefying. Background score by Tubbi Parik’s is extraordinarily mind-boggling while P.C. Sriram’s cinematography on ‘Fujifilm’ that has a specified tone is stunning adding to the visual enhancements.
On the whole, ‘Yaavarum Nalam’ is a trendsetting flick in the pages of Tamil Cinema where our filmmakers didn’t wanna pick up the hardest bet on venturing through this genre.
Watch it out and you’ll experience something different… Maybe, for those who are more attached to their gadgets; Television, Mobiles and more…Well, male audiences would hail as most their women would stop watching mega-serials after viewing this film.
“Pride and Glory,” directed by Gavin O’Connor (“Tumbleweeds,” “Miracle”), plods across familiar ground. It’s yet another movie about the fraternal disorder of the police, in which a gaggle of brothers, professionally sworn to enforce the law and tribally committed to one another, weep and rage and recriminate against a backdrop of urban chaos. Jon Voight — his face as pink as a Christmas ham, his acting in the same food group — is the patriarch of this particular clan, a New York Police Department chieftain named Francis Tierney.
Francis’s older son, Frannie (Noah Emmerich), commands a rough precinct in WashingtonHeights. Frannie’s brother, Ray (Edward Norton), once a hotshot detective, has withdrawn a little from career and family, making his home on a leaky boat and tending to a scar on his face. Frannie and Ray have a sister named Megan (Lake Bell), whose main function in this highly male-dominated movie is to be married to Jimmy Egan, a hotheaded street cop whose hobbies include breeding, smoking, football and — since he’s played by Colin Farrell — jittery displays of misdirected intensity.
But Jimmy is also, and most consequentially, mixed up in some dirty illegal business. Right under Frannie’s nose he has assembled a squad of thugs and shakedown artists who work with the city’s nastiest drug dealers. After four officers are killed during a raid gone bad, Ray is persuaded by his dad to head up the investigation, which leads him toward Jimmy and his crew, and also leads to some breathless shouting matches.
“Pride and Glory,” which sat on the New Line Cinema shelves for a few years, is not especially good, but there is enough rough artistry in Mr. O’Connor’s direction to make you wish the film were better. He has a good sense of the city’s wearying, exhilarating energy and an impressive ability to pull off arresting visual compositions in close quarters. Many of the indoor scenes have a raw, dangerous intimacy that keeps your attention even when the dialogue tumbles toward cliché.
And the story, while none too fresh — especially if you’ve already seen “We Own the Night” — has a certain rough potency. Written by Mr. O’Connor and Joe Carnahan (with story credits to Mr. O’Connor, his brother Gregory and Robert Hopes, a former New York City policeman), “Pride and Glory” relies a little too much on expository shouting, but there are nonetheless some fine details and powerful, tense scenes. The best stuff can be found around the edges of the main family drama, in subplots and in the supporting performances of Shea Whigham and John Ortiz (as two of Jimmy’s minions) and Jennifer Ehle (as Frannie’s wife, Abbie, who is dying of cancer).
Mr. Norton and Mr. Farrell, unfortunately, play to their weaknesses. Ray — an intellectual as well as a warrior; a gentle avenger with a troubled conscience; kind to children and tough on bad guys — brings out the full measure of Mr. Norton’s vanity, by far his least appealing attribute. Mr. Farrell, meanwhile, once again indulges his blustery mixture of menace and charm, overdoing both. He threatens a baby with a hot iron, but on the other hand he loves his children. It seems plausible that this guy would lead a thuggish criminal enterprise, but not that he could keep it secret for more than 10 minutes.
The third point of the brotherly triangle, Mr. Emmerich’s Frannie, is the sharpest. Even though Mr. O’Connor never fully dramatizes the bonds of loyalty, love and envy that bind Jimmy, Frannie and Ray, Mr. Emmerich conveys the full nature of his character’s uneasy mix of decency and cowardice. While Mr. Voight, Mr. Norton and Mr. Farrell do most of the screaming (and shooting), he quietly and guilelessly steals the movie. If only it were worth a little more.
Rating: 3 stars on 5
“Pride and Glory” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has violence, swearing, drug references and a bit of pointless nudity.
Family dysfunction has been done to death in movies, but rare is the film that has not gone out of its way to decontextualize domestic tragedy and bitterness from the historical and cultural forces surrounding it. The ironically titled Revolutionary Road is that unique film giving potent meaning and perspective to what might otherwise be seen as mere household squabbling.
And that key notion here is the unconscious despair ignited by various disillusionments surrounding the warped mystique of the American Dream. Or as the late, great comedian George Carlin said it best, that's why it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.
And there's another deeply significant aspect to this story touching on the post WWII double-edged sword hopes and aspirations among that suburban-bound young generation back then, and that's the particular plight of its women. Because while delving into the thwarted lives of suburban women as Revolutionary Road does with such uncompromising conviction, it becomes clear that the impetus for the rage that gave rise to the women's movement in the 1970s was sparked as much by the excruciatingly oppressive existence and unrealized dreams of those mothers of the subsequent generation of feminists, and that emotionally damaging maternal despair those daughters were nurtured in. And indeed, how the historical moment experienced by that generation of male and female children alike, contributed to the anti-materialistic rebellious sixties.
Directed by famed British candid deconstructonist of US culture, Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead) and based on the scathing Richard Yates novel, Revolutionary Road is more than determined to engage audiences in a confrontation with the consequences of the 1950s cultural period. That is, by taking us through the briefly glimpsed romance and early dull when not combative Wheeler marriage of April (Kate Winslet) and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) minus the courtship, wedding and honeymoon details, and without benefit of historical context as scenes play out generically under cover of darkness.
Then, following a brutal argument the night of April's failed bid as an amateur actress, a harsh morning light is deliberately inflicted on the audience, as a visually both literal and figurative rude awakening to the stinging reality of grim suburban conformist existence. In this manner, Frank heads from his Connecticut home in identical gray flannel attire with hundreds of other dashing commuters, descending upon Grand Central Station to equally oppressive though financially comfortable desk jobs. It's also evidently noted that there's hardly a woman spotted among this male herd, as all those domiciled female house pets chain smoke and self-medicate on secret booze back home in their cookie cutter suburban gilded cages.
And though April now bears a responsibility as the young mother of two children, she longs for much more than the hermetic existence and materialistic comforts of consumerism. And she convinces Frank that he needs to part ways as well with his unfulfilling job to pack up everything and head for an adventurous life in Paris as, you might say, premature free spirits. In other words, to be 'wonderful in the world,' though without an actual concrete clue.
Eventually, insecurities set in, subconscious excuses arise, hopes are dashed and the marriage threatens to disintegrate under the weight of ferocious battles. And at any moment, we expect a deeply depressed and chain smoking though still domestically dutiful April to morph into Sylvia Plath and be poised to stick her head in the gas oven, a Christlike sacrificial figure destined to be left standing in her own blood, imprisoned behind a window in a hollow world. But like the many housewives around her of that stifled generation, she steels herself to be happy solely for Frank, resigned to living a life of quiet desperation not so much with, but through him.
Verdict: Revolutionary Road is heartbreaking and unforgiving. And a tough love, eloquent and melancholy tale that resolutely stalks the memory.
Valkyrie falls into a real no man's land for holiday pictures. It is neither artistically presumptuous enough to make a serious run at the Oscars, nor empty-headed enough to be considered true counter-programming. Instead, it settles for a sort of thinking-man's popcorn picture, detailing the failed 1944 assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in the ripping-yarn mode of historical filmmaking. The difficulty with such efforts, of course, is that the outcome is already known, meaning that the characters and details need to be sufficiently interesting to keep the audience involved. Director Bryan Singer knocks the latter out of the park, and has cast his film well enough to let the former slide past some decidedly dodgy points.
At the top of it all stands Tom Cruise, looking for a comeback which he likely won't find here, despite being extremely well suited to the part. He plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the chief architect of the assassination plot, who evinced a genius for military planning as well as a disgust for Hitler that only intensified following a North Africa debacle that left his hands mangled and one eye missing. Cruise portrays him as a man of icy certainty: aware of what he must do, cognizant of the consequences, and perfectly willing to pay the price regardless. He never raises his voice and he never second-guesses himself. Once a decision is made, he commits to the bitter end. That makes him the ideal man to take out the Führer, or so the German Resistance believes. Led by a group of civilian leaders and dissatisfied military officers, they hope to cut off the head of the Nazi party and seize control of the government before the Allies bring the whole thing down on top of them.
Stauffenberg's solution is a variant of one of Hitler's own plans--Operation Valkyrie, which allows for the German reserve forces to take Berlin in the event of an attempted coup. He and the Resistance simply need to pretend that the SS instigated said coup rather than themselves. They can plant a bomb in the Führer's bunker, claim his inner circle did it, and grab the reins before anyone knows what happened. It was a daring and audacious scheme, and Singer understands how to convey the details in uniquely cinematic terms. Valkyrie hits its stride with a plethora of unspoken moments: the hands of workers in a telegraph office slowly rising, the roof of a church removed by Allied bombs, the hypocrisy of Hitler's vegetarian meals, and the dripping scorn of Stauffenberg's Nazi salute delivered with a missing hand. While not always entirely accurate, it strives to present the facts clearly while making only modest adjustments for entertainment's sake.
Somewhat more problematic is Valkyrie's willingness to take motivation as a given. The conspirators all want Hitler gone, but they stand in positions which presumably benefited from the rise of the Nazis. Are they true patriots who recognize the Führer's evil? Or simply rats deserting a sinking ship? The screenplay posits such questions solely in terms of their impact on the conspiracy, limiting the audience's ability to relate to the plotters as people. A good cast helps matters--topped by Bill Nighy's Nervous Nellie version of Friedrich Olbricht--but beyond Stauffenberg himself, the insight into their mindset remains purely perfunctory. That stifles some of the natural suspense of the scenario and lets the foregone conclusion loom higher than it should.
Singer counters that with a highly polished technical production that permits the suspense to flourish in straightforward terms. Strange coincidences and odd bits of misfortune periodically flummox the conspirators, which Valkyriedraws out with an impressive amount of panache. This pays dividends when the coup goes forward and history literally hangs on one or two unremarkable men caught in the middle of it all. John Ottman strengthens Singer's hand further with a tension-filled score, coupled with some first-rate editing to keep the proceedings from dragging.
That doesn't necessarily make for high art, but then again, neither do a lot of would-be Oscar contenders this season.
Verdict: Valkyrie offers something to filmgoers weary of excessive pretense, but not quite desperate enough to watch Jim Carrey flop around on the ground. It engages without insulting the intelligence, and if it cuts a unnecessarily shallow draft, it still moves forward with plenty of drive. A more merciful release date might have benefited it more. As it is, it's likely doomed to relative obscurity: a fate it deserves no more than the bold, desperate men it portrays.
