The year that was...

A sparkling 2012 inches to a close giving Hollywood one of its greatest years as the gross earnings from US box-office alone crept nearer to $10.8 billion which is the highest ever, surpassing the 2009 earnings. There were those that blew away expectations (The Hunger Games, Ted), ones that lived up to all the hype (The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers) and there would always be those that failed to stand up and put on a show. Here are the posters of the 43 Hollywood movies of 2012, good, bad and ugly, that I watched in the year. 

  

The Cherry on the Cake (9/10)

1) The Avengers                                                      2) The Dark Knight Rises

The Special Ones (8/10)

3) The Hunger Games      4) Brave                 5) Snow White and the Huntsman
6) Skyfall                            7) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Almost Classy (higher side of 7/10)         

8) Argo                               9) Prometheus           10) The Bourne Legacy
11)  Men in Black 3          12) Lawless                  13) The Amazing Spiderman
14) Looper                        15) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

The Entertainers (7/10)

16) Contraband                  17) Safe House            18) Underworld: Awakening
19) The Lorax                    20) John Carter           21) The Woman in Black
22) Wrath of the Titans    23) The Raven             24) Ted
25) People Like Us            26) Taken 2                  27) The Expendables 2
28) Dredd 3D                     29) Rise of the Guardians

The Watch-it-Once (6/10)

30) Haywire                       31) The Grey                32) Red Tails
33) Dark Shadows             34) Battleship               35) Ice Age: Continental Drift
36) Total Recall                 37) Jack Reacher          38) Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
  
The Disappointments (5/10)

39) Man on a Ledge          40) Premium Rush      41) Madagascar 3

The 'I never Watched This' (4/10)

42) Resident Evil: Retribution                   43) Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
      

Tom Cruise in Numbers

Tom Cruise has had an illustrious career so far spanning more than three decades. He started off as a young heartthrob that girls swooned over, with the uniformed role in Top Gun propelling his career further, and made a smooth transition into action movies through Mission: Impossible while enjoying success in sci-fi films like Minority Report as well. But three decades is a long time, and with the relatively poor collections seen for Jack Reacher, the question popped in my head -- has Tom Cruise lost his sheen? A look at the US box office collections of his last few movies should give us an idea. 

Rock of Ages (2012): $31 million (did anyone notice this movie?)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011): $209 million (MI still sells, and Cruise still makes a good Ethan Hunt)

Knight and Day (2010): $76 million (another dud; Cruise reportedly rejected Salt for this, and the former went on to earn more than $100 million with Angelina Jolie as the lead)

Valkyrie (2008): $83 million (a good movie, though collections still lower than expected)

Tropic Thunder (2008): $110 million (Cruise played a cameo here, which is without a doubt one of his most memorable roles in recent times)  

Lions for Lambs (2007): $15 million (??)

Mission: Impossible III (2006): $133 million (a low gross for an MI movie, though the latest one has done much better)

The War of the Worlds (2005): $234 million (Spielberg directed this sci-fi movie)

While the jury may still be out, I find it unlikely that Tom Cruise can churn out hits on his own star-power any more. I still look forward to movies from Mission: Impossible series. But for any movie with Cruise's name on it, I'll need something more than that to deem it worth a watch. 

PS: 2013's Oblivion starring Tom Cruise is a sci-fi movie, starring Morgan Freeman too. Irrespective of what I said above, the initial trailer of Oblivion still makes Cruise look good. Maybe sci-fi is where Cruise will fit in best! Here's a poster of Cruise's latest offering to be released in April 2013.  

Jack Reacher? Where?

I do not hate Tom Cruise. I loved his charisma in Top Gun, I was pleasantly surprised at his intensity in A Few Good Men (one of my favourite movies!), I have enjoyed the Mission Impossible series where he plays this agile smart agent quite satisfyingly, I even liked the grittiness he displayed in The Last Samurai. So I reiterate that I do not hate Tom Cruise. But I love Jack Reacher a bit too much to see it be so blandly portrayed. Tom Cruise may be gifted enough to play a lot of different roles. But a 6'5" tall guy weighing more than 200 pounds who can dish out cool one-liners in the wink of an eye isn't one of them. For that is what Jack Reacher, the character made famous in Lee Child's novels, is all about. He's an ex-military cop who has fallen off the grid and moves from one state to another, picking up battles along the way; battles that he does not intend to be a part of, but the bad guys make the mistake of pulling him in. An old passport, a toothbrush, some cash and the clothes on him, are all that he usually walks around with. Tom Cruise is too cute to appear as such a vagabond. A Mickey Rourke would have been perfect, a Clive Owen or a Liam Neeson would have lit the screen on fire in such a role, a Hugh Jackman would have made those one-liners his own... heck, even an ageing Clint Eastwood would have been better suited to play Jack Reacher. But not a Tom Cruise. 

Look at the above image for instance. It doesn't scare you, it doesn't make you wonder 'oooh... he is out of his car! What's he gonna do?'. All you think is... 'Hey, there's Tom Cruise!' Aargghh! The movie Jack Reacher ain't that bad, to be fair. It's just not good enough, considering the source material it has been taken from. Tom Cruise tries his best. But the direction is way too simplistic and the movie moves in an old-fashioned liner manner, losing its plot here and there as it tries to get back on the rails (What's with the 'eat your fingers' scene?). The depth of the title character is never studied in detail, nor does the mystery around him resonate through the story as it does in the novels. Jack Reacher could have been much more, the beginning of a franchise maybe. But with a partly $15 million collected in US during the first weekend, the potential of a series appears lost (unless some crazy fans around the globe decide they cannot get enough of Mr. Cruise). Maybe a few years later, someone would clean the slate, cast a guy that fits the broad shoes of Reacher and relaunch the series. Until then, as we bid the year goodbye, we bid goodbye to Mr. Reacher as well.   

Great Directors maketh Great Movies

Many reasons are attributed to the success of a film - be it a gripping screenplay, great acting, beautifully written lines, visually appealing cinematography etc etc. But a classic movie can never be made without the key factor that brings all these ingredients together - direction! A great director can make an average script stand out and a poor one can ruin the best of storylines. 2012 held its own in this regard, featuring movies of such skillful renowned directors - Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, Ridley Scott's Prometheus, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, Joss Whedan's The Avengers and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. These are directors who have carved a special place in cinema history through their previous works. Their movies carry their mark, their presence in the director's seat becomes a good enough reason to look forward to their work. So Lincoln is no longer simply Lincoln; it is Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. These are directors who do not just 'bring out a motion picture'; they change the manner of story-telling. Technologically well-versed, these gentlemen set a different path to how stories can be delivered to the audience, Peter Jackson's display of The Hobbit at higher frame rate of 48 fps apart from the conventional 24 fps being an example. 

2013 has its own list of amazing movies in store, but the ones with the backing of such 'gifted' directors seem limited -- Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street and J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness only ones popping into mind. It would be worth peeking into the on-going directorial works of the other great ones too...

• Steven Spielberg : Robopocalypse, a sci-fi set in the futuristic world, slated for a 2014 release
• Christopher Nolan : Nothing announced yet; probably busy in post production work of Man of Steel, but his next project is sure to create tremendous buzz
• Ridley Scott : The Counselor starring Brad Pitt to release late next year, and possible sequels for Blade Runner and Prometheus announced as well
• Quentin Tarantino : Nothing announced yet; Can we have a Kill Bill 3?
• Joss Whedon : Working on the pilot of the SHIELD tv-series, a spin-off from The Avengers universe; The Avengers 2 slated for 2015 is another big project for Whedon
• Peter Jackson : With two more movies of The Hobbit series lined up in 2013 and 2014 with the sequel to The Adventures of Tintin to follow, Jackson has his hands full
• James Cameron : Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are bound to be his next projects; more eye-popping exotic creatures await!

Groundhog Day, Groundhog Week, Groundhog Month

Wake up at 7.30 in the morning. Leave for office at 8.30. Reach by 9.15. Do something while the hour and minute hand recreate their positions. Leave at 9.15 in the evening. Reach home by 10 at night. Wonder how the day flew by. Wake up at 7.30 in the morning again and relive another day. Or wait! Am I living the same day? Waking up to the same sound of the alarm underneath the same roof. Driving the same car along the same roads. Working in the same office and meeting the same people. The same jokes. The same lunch. The same sounds and the same smells. Am I stuck? As the day keeps repeating over and over again, for what I think is a week, then a month.  

And amidst my grumblings, this kind of life reminds me of something pleasant too. In case you haven't guessed it yet, it takes me down memory lane to the time I watched this wonderfully written and enacted comedy movie of '93 -- Groundhog Day. 

Bill Murray plays Phil, an obnoxious weatherman, who finds himself stuck in the same day, and do whatever he might, he keeps waking up on the Groundhog Day again and again and again. Flustered at first, his anger and frustrations keep escalating to such levels that he repeatedly tries to kill himself until he realizes that even after dying he is not spared from waking up on the same dreaded day. Things change slowly, at its own pace and rhythm. Phil improvises, learns to value people, grows, matures, falls in love. 

Groundhog Day is the kind of movie you pick up on a lean day from your old DVD collection and run through it once more, smiling along, as Phil makes one mistake after another until he starts learning from them. The movie features in numerous top comedy movie categories, rightly so and is one of those that you wouldn't wanna miss. For like me, there would be many other Phils, somehow stuck in the same routine in life, failing to differentiate one day from another, until it will eventually hit you... that the day doesn't have to change, it is you who has to! And that is how one day when you'll wake up, the sounds and the sights around you would not be the same again. Groundhog Day would have been over!

Serkis - A man with multiple faces!

What's common to these characters?

In anti-clockwise fashion, that's Gollum from The Lord of the Rings fame, Caeser of Planet of the Apes and the growling giant is of course King Kong of the 2005 Peter Jackson film. So apart from the fact that meeting these creatures in real life is highly unlikely (ignore this statement if you are an adventure-hungry Hobbit), what else is common amongst them? They have the same face behind it all. The genius of Andy Serkis. And this is how he looks... taa daa!

Not bad, eh! Andy Serkis is a film actor and director from England who has made the technique of performance capture to bring such characters to life something of his own. A talented chap, Serkis shot to fame through his heart engaging display as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, that even led to the debate whether a computer created character could be in the running for an Academy Award! To understand it better, Serkis enacts the roles of the characters he plays wearing a special suit with 'markers' that allows the cameras to capture his movements (facial expressions, limb movements, etc etc) which is then morphed over with the character itself. This picture might give some idea to what I'm talking of. 

While Serkis never appears as himself in the final shot shown to the audience, his work in bringing the role to life is as integral to any character played on-screen. He needs to get into the skin of the character to understand its movements (which would be more difficult than playing a normal human role, for these characters are not humans after all!), its facial expressions, and finally add voice to complete the whole picture. A master in this trade, Serkis was also the second-unit director of The Hobbit, pushing forth his own dream of directing as well. Gollum is already back with The Hobbit series underway and we would be seeing more of Serkis' work in the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes featuring Caeser. Here's one to the man behind many faces! Serkis.... my preciousssss!  

After Earth Poster

For the ignorant, M. Night Shyamalan's next release titled After Earth is scheduled for 2013. Scared? Or excited? Mixed emotions are usually noticed in the buzz before a Shyamalan film release. No one really knows where the downfall began. Many attribute it from The Village, though mind you, that movie still grossed more than $250 million worldwide. Some lay it on Lady in the Water, though for some reason I still found that movie worth a watch. Then was it The Happening? If that wasn't it, then Shyamalan's last feature film, The Last Airbender did not help his cause any further. Whatever be the reason to this maverick's (if I may still call him that, for you can never take away The Sixth Sense from him) unceremonious plunge, it would give no one more pleasure than me to see him get his bearings back. And while I had my doubts with After Earth like any skeptic, the trailer has literally blown me away. Right from the first scene, where Will Smith plunges out of the airplane, the trailer is filled with action and thrills along with a visual treat in the form of exotic plants and creatures, in the backdrop of a rather soothing narrative being delivered by Will Smith to his son. The narration is heartfelt, the writing (at least what's been shown in the trailer) is engaging and we can keep our fingers crossed that the direction shall once again live upto the original Shyamalan's standards! A June release sounds good, as that shows the studio's faith in the film to release it in the prime summer period. Seeing Will Smith on screen is always delightful as MIB3 proved, and his chemistry with his son (now a replica of Will himself!) is something that would add another flavour to the movie. Watch the trailer, if you've been underneath your blankets all this while. To start off with, relish the new poster of the film. My expectations are up with this one... Shyamalan, don't disappoint!

Skyfall - A human Bond!

Having never been a big fan of the slick suave Bond movies, Daniel Craig's entry into this 50-year old movie franchise with Casino Royale in 2006 probably changed the manner in which Bond started being portrayed. Casino Royale started with the origins of Bond, showcasing some of the reasons that broke him and remoulded him into a much tougher exterior. Quantum of Solace tried to continue in 2008 from where Casino Royale left, but it seemed to forget that what Daniel Craig did best with his Bond was show that the famed agent is human after all. And that is where, under Sam Mendes, the latest Bond movie Skyfall has returned back. A human James Bond. The fast moving cars are still there, and so are the gorgeous Bond girls. But a James Bond movie has become so much bigger than the cars and the gadgets. And while Q does make a memorable appearance in Skyfall, all he has to offer to Bond is a gun and a radio transmitter. 

Skyfall is about resurrection (what Bond calls his hobby), it is about Bond losing his touch and having to rediscover it to do what he believes in, which is protect his country. And while this movie provides a realistic and human portrayal of Bond, it would never have been complete without M, the ever graceful Judi Dench. There is a strange chemistry between the two that runs throughout the movie, filled with sardonic humour, but if you could catch the subtlety, it is more about the pride that both have for each other. An understanding that duty comes first. 

It is difficult to not admire Daniel Craig for the resurgence he has provided to the James Bond movies. While the studio and the script writers have to be given their due, Craig brings with him a strong exterior personality without going over the top. There is a calming effect about his presence, a down-to-earth approach to things that makes it all believable. At 44, Daniel Craig has put in sufficient physical effort to look right for the role (puts in two hours of workout each day of principal photography after the shooting is wrapped) and has been admired by the cast and crew for going ahead with a lot of physical stunts, bringing with it a sense of realism. While some say that it is his job, the actor's dedication to it is still commendable. A casting which was questioned when Pierce Brosnan was replaced, the decision no longer remains moot. Daniel Craig has signed up for two more Bond films, which keeps me (and surely many others) gung-ho about the Bond franchise for a few years at least. And with the success of Casino Royale and Skyfall (which has already become the highest weekend grosser in UK tipping off the last Harry Potter film), it seems that the new 007 would continue to be quick with the gun, sharp-witted with his tongue, good with the women, fast with his cars, and yet be a human underneath it all – with a subtle sense of emotion shown here and there!  

Affleck... the Director!

Ben Affleck the actor probably never won the range of accolades that Ben Affleck the director has already won, even though the portfolio of the latter encompasses no more than three films, with the last one being the recently released Argo. But when someone can hit a hole-in-one three times in a row, achieve critical success followed by commercial one, you would be a fool to not see that here is a real talent whose qualities lie more behind the camera rather than in front of it. As an actor, I still liked Ben Affleck though was never over-awed by him. He broke into the minds of the movie goers as the side-kick of Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, the movie that famously won the duo an Oscar for Best Screenplay. What followed were memorable but not remarkable roles in Armageddon, Pearl Harbour and Daredevil (ya ya, you are free to disagree!).

But it was in 2007, when the real Ben Affleck stood up, with the release of Gone Baby Gone, his directorial debut (holds an IMDB rating of 7.8). What followed was The Town in 2010 (IMDB rating of 7.6) and Argo in 2012 (IMDB rating of 8.5 presently, though that is likely to moderate somewhat). Ben Affleck has played the lead character in the last two movies, and yet you may just happen to be unaware of that. For you are simply in awe of the way the story has been handled, nothing short of how the best cook would ensure the perfect icing on a cake. Affleck’s movies so far have been about characters, about people and their emotions, their ways to deal with varying situations. The movies have been filled with a range of feelings... hope, angst, love, fear, hate, so beautifully intertwined that one emotion effortlessly switches with another taking you and me along with it.

And yet each one of Affleck’s movies cannot be termed as a ‘Drama’ film for it has involved a thrilling fast-paced aspect to it that keeps you riveted. It is a unique combination, one that is easy to goof up with. But when you do not, you end up with works of art... as Affleck has done! It comes as no surprise to me that his name is being linked to directing a Justice League film in the future. When you remember that Affleck is only a mild 40, there is still a lot of great work that can be expected from him... as he continues depicting human emotions in its truest form with the cleverness of a director that understands the audience and its tastes. Ben Affleck the director... I await your next masterpiece!   

Remakes and reboots... serving a pupose!

Remakes and reboots... not entirely something new but we have been hearing them a bit too often it seems in current times. Does an excess of them indicate a deterioration in the quality of writing freshly-minted scripts? Not necessarily. And remakes too serve a purpose. They allow the veterans to relive their old memories and the latest bunch of viewers to catch a glimpse of some of the old tales that deserve a second watch. But you need to get it right. You need to take the soul of the original movie and weave a new tale around it. Someone who has already seen the original should feel a bit nostalgic when seeing the remake/reboot and yet find himself immersed in a new tale moving in a new direction. It’s not an easy task!

This year saw Total Recall manage to do what a remake should not. Being devoid of innovation. Len Wiseman’s take on the 1990 Schwarzenegger hit simply took the broad story of the original and placed it in a CGI-filled futuristic world while refusing to take the story further beyond what the original did. In fact, it might even have been regressive when compared to the original plot. On the other hand, the recently released Dredd 3D built a new plot around the comic icon Dredd and deviated away from the original (which was very much essential), though its box office earnings have been unreflective of the same. Blame it on the bad voodoo that the Stallone starrer Judge Dredd has left behind.

The most anticipated reboot of the year, which surprised many since the previous instalment began just a decade back, was the web-slinging The Amazing Spiderman. The highly successful Spiderman trilogy built by Sam Raimi was left in a wrench due to differences between the studio and the director on how to take the script forward and the studio took a strange but bold decision to reboot the franchise. For me, they got it right! While The Amazing Spiderman collections fell short of the earnings of the previous Spiderman movie, it has still earned a whooping $750 million worldwide that has already warranted a sequel. The Amazing Spiderman felt a bit edgier, had a super-cool villain in The Lizard, dwelt on a story about Peter Parker’s parents that had not been covered before, replaced a lady-in-distress Mary Jane with a punch-you-in-the-face Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone!!) and still carried the swagger and the touch of the previous Spidey movies (the way he swings never seems to change!).

The studios again pulled off a good move getting the Bourne series to the theatres again. We miss Matt Damon, any Tom, Dick and Harry would tell you that. But did it stop my eyes remaining glued to the typical seamless Bourne kind of action happening on the screen once again? Nope. The Bourne Legacy is more of a reboot / sequel to the previous trilogy. It continues from the events of The Bourne Ultimatum and cleverly brings in the life of a new character, that of Aaron Cross played superbly by Jeremy Renner, who is again on the run. The studios got Tony Gilroy to direct The Bourne Legacy who has written the screenplay for the previous three along with this, and that seems to have been oh so important for the continuity in the plot to remain. Hoping for the Bourne series to continue and if we really wish for it, maybe Damon’s Bourne would materialise in one of them too.

Remakes and reboots are not going to end anytime soon. And it is clear that the success of one depends more on what goes into building the new movie rather than the success or failure of the previous one. The Mummy remake is already on the cards for 2014 with Len Wiseman in the director’s seat (hope he does a better job than what he did with Total Recall). It would be surprising if a Batman reboot or a Justice League movie does not become firm soon. Reboot of Superman, aka Man of Steel releasing in June 2013, is already underway and probably is one of the most anticipated reboots with the likes of Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan involved. So remain seated as things from the past hit you back... and in the mayhem hopefully another Inception like original masterpiece shall also emerge. 

Same Law, New Dredd!

When you decide to create a movie from a popular comic series, something that has been done before and not worked so well, you better be good at what you doing, or else simply step aside and let it be. I am thankful that the creators of the new Dredd movie did not do the latter. Dredd 3D is not a remake / sequel of the Judge Dredd movie of 1995 starring Sylvester Stallone that failed to convince many apart from maybe the hardcore Stallone fans (confession: I still love it when Stallone snarls 'I am the law!'). But what Judge Dredd missed out on, Dredd 3D delivers in plenty. It is gritty, tough, uncompromising, puts in the punches in the right proportions, does not sway away from the bloodshed, and does not lose its graphic novel touch. It is probably all that the Max Payne movie could have been, but never was. 

What makes it tick, most of all, is the presence of Kal Urban donning the famous helmet that never comes off throughout the movie. Who Kal Urban, if you ask, then you might remember him as Dr. Leonard McCoy from the latest Star Trek movie. When it was announced that Kal Urban was being cast in the shoes of a character that Stallone had previously played, I had my doubts, probably due to ignorance of his other works. The doubts have truly been squashed. Urban carries the black leather suit with aplomb, a snarl always on his face, and a gruff voice that Eastwood might have been proud of. It's a time where dearth of action heroes seems apparent (as the old ones are still riding high and teaming together, calling themselves Expendables!), and the arrival of Kal Urban provides some food for thought (though he is no teenager himself, at the age of 40). Made on a modest budget of $45 million, Dredd 3D could make enough dough to warrant a sequel. One shall have to wait and watch...

In the meantime, Peter Jackson has revealed the latest trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And If anyone had any doubts as to the Hobbit trilogy matching up to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the trailer showcases that the scale and size of the adventure that Bilbo Baggins is going to embark upon will be no less than what Frodo did. The landscapes are vast and picturesque, the amount of unheard/unseen creatures has not diminished, the battles have the signs of being edge-of-the-seat stuff once again, and the presence of Gandalf continues to calm the oh-so-frightened hearts. This is one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year (uhmm... wasn't Avengers as well? And The Dark Knight Rises?) and December 14 could not have felt so further away! 

PS: To relive those older memories, Sylvester Stallone as Justice Dredd in 1995! 

Spielberg's Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is a name that stands out in the passage of time and evokes emotions of patriotism, leadership and a steadfastness to one’s convictions to defy the greatest of odds. Whether you are an American citizen or not, Lincoln and his life no longer only belong there, but have been written and read around the globe, inspiring many as to what heights a human soul can achieve. I sink into this emotive state as Hollywood is once again attempting to recreate the charisma of this famous personality on the big screen. And thankfully, the movie is being crafted by the capable hands of Steven Spielberg. With a slated release in November 2012, Lincoln starring Daniel Day Lewis as the 16^th President of the USA, is likely to feature strongly in the list of Academy Award nominations. The movie is based on a biography of Lincoln titled Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, which covers the last four months of his life. The first full-length trailer for the biopic has been released this week and it has definitely raised my expectations from the feature film. Daniel Day Lewis’ resemblance to the original Abraham Lincoln is what hits you first and subsequently as the trailer flows and the tension builds as to what the President must have had to sacrifice to ensure a slavery-free America, you are bound to forget in those two minutes that this is but just a movie trailer. Appearances from the ever reliable Tommy Lee Jones and the rising star Joseph Gordon Lewitt keep you further glued on.

Abraham Lincoln has been represented in popular culture for ever so long, and not surprisingly so, with the most recent being in this year’s movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter which of course added on to the growing legend of the President (Lincoln slashing off vampires in slo-mo was a treat!). The other references that come to my mind from recent times is the great statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial coming to life in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and the hunt for the mystery behind Lincoln’s assassination in National Treasure: Book of Secrets (Nicolas Cage, make another National Treasure movie soon!). But this is where the real deal is... when Spielberg decides to tell the story of the famous politician. Last year, Spielberg came back from a three year hiatus in movie direction to give us the memorable The Adventures of Tintin and the Oscar nominated War Horse. While Spielberg is more popular for his work on large scale adventure flicks like The Indiana Jones series and Jurassic Park series, he has earned rave reviews for war flick Saving Private Ryan and the more recent (2005 can be termed as ‘recent’?) political thriller Munich. All in all, with Spielberg at the helm, Daniel Day Lewis sporting the famous beard, and having already seen a trailer that leaves you asking for more, Lincoln seems to be in safe hands. And fingers crossed, I hope that it turns out to be such a wonderful depiction of this great personality as was Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982) which tells you so much more about the man that every frame still continues to fill my heart with respect and admiration for him and his deeds. And in this age of anxiety and economic depression coupled with civil unrest in states across the globe, going back and learning from these great souls on how to lead and be true to one’s principles, may not be such a bad idea.      

“Shall we stop this bleeding?” – last line from the trailer of Lincoln. 

Before Midnight...

To start off with, Jim Carrey has been officially cast in Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall and that gives an added reason for watching this one-of-a-kind superhero flick releasing in June 2013. Also It’s been a week where Marvel Studios has not come out with another The Avengers’ goodies, thankfully, making it a week where attention can be diverted to other movies in the queue. 

And one that has caught the attention is the already-completed sequel to Before Sunset which was a sequel to Before Sunrise, titled for now Before Midnight. The film is going to be floated around for potential buyers in the coming week. Set in Greece, Before Midnight brings back the lovely couple, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, and follows the story after Hawke was on the verge of missing his flight in Before Sunset. There is a cult following that the first two movies enjoy and for easy-to-guess reasons, not only for the clever witty intertwined dialogues of the leading cast (for both the movies are largely about the couple sharing their ideas and philosophies on a range of topics), but also for the boldness of making such different movies without the melodramatic drama and the gun-blazing action that usually hit the big screens. A refreshing change indeed! While the audience may or may not subscribe to the ideologies of any of the characters, the openness with which the thoughts are shared as the couple walk around the streets of Vienna in Before Sunrise and in Paris in Before Sunset, the playful banter mixed with the meaningful discussions, and the bond which two strangers end up sharing, has for some reason a very calming effect, that one can appreciate only when one has been a part of this journey. Hoping that Before Midnight lives up the standards set by the previous two! Before you step in for this one, grab onto the other two, if you still haven’t seen them.

While emergence of Before Midnight has brought in exciting news, the recently released trailer of Hansen and Gretel: Witch Hunters has left a bad taste in the mouth. This was one of the movies I was looking forward to (and would probably still end up at the theatres cringing my way though it with the help of a tub of popcorn), not only for the appealing idea of the fairy tale brother and sister growing up to become hard-hitting ass-kicking witch hunters, but also to catch Jeremy Renner in action once again who seems to be doing nothing wrong. While roles in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Avengers left a strong impression about him, his lead role in The Bourne Legacy has done nothing but enhance his reputation further, as he has managed to leave his own mark on the famous series. But somewhere something has to go wrong, right? With the rather sleazy dialogues and the appearances of laughable than scary witches in the first trailer, I would be betting that Hansen and Gretel: Witch Hunters, releasing in January 2013, might turn out to be the movie that Renner would want to smudge from his resume. Maybe I might be proved wrong, and if that turns out to be the case I would happily add a coke as well to the tub of popcorn! Till next time...

Justice League??

Sigh... no matter how much we loved this movie aka The Avengers, I for one want to move on from it for now. But Marvel Studios will not let me. The latest tidbit thrown for The Avengers by Marvel is an alternate opening sequence that probably would be part of the special features section in the DVD/Blu-Ray versions. Then there are talks of a separate TV series spin-off for the S.H.I.E.L.D. While all this would no doubt please the comic fans (and stalkers) and make them gush-gush and blush-blush, I would prefer to simply keep the special memories of The Avengers intact and wait patiently for the next set of superhero movies to hit the screens from 2013 onwards. Till then, there are other movies to watch too, remember?

But what do we end up with!? Now Warner Bros wants to cash in further on the superhero craze and on the lines of The Avengers, it has been planning a Justice League film. For the ones totally unaware (and if you are, do not admit it in public), Justice League is the DC Comics' equivalent of Marvel Comics' Avengers and features the likes of childhood favourites Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman along with the lesser famous heroes Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash etc. forming a mighty tough group to take on the bigger evils of the world. The reasons that Warner Bros is adamant on making this feature film is obvious. It can cash in on the frenzy around the superhero flicks being seen in the recent times; it needs a new franchise to work on ever since Christopher Nolan wrapped up his Batman trilogy and the reboot of the Superman series still remains untested; and it needs to do something with its oh-so-famous Batman series given that the last one has grossed more than a $1 billion around the globe and no studio is content to simply live with the riches, A Justice League feature film could provide a beginning for a new Batman series, and possibly even a Green Lantern series after the last one went so terribly astray. The trick would however be to get the tone and the script of the film perfectly right after the seemingly new heights of awe and excellence created by the likes of The Avengers and The Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan has distanced himself from the Justice League movie; Ben Affleck was another one that Warner Bros negotiated with to direct the movie but he has also stepped away. There are a few other established names that could be roped in once the right script is in-place. For now, we can simply wait and watch as to how this movie shapes up! Rest assured, we will keep hearing about it and the voices would grow only louder, if the production work finally materialises. But what I want, I really really want for now, is simply a day's rest when no superhero comes to save my day! Sigh... 

RIP Top Gun Tony Scott!

This week has been marked with the sad demise of Top Gun director Tony Scott, the younger brother of Ridley Scott. While Tony Scott’s reasons for jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles continue to elude the investigators, the film fraternity has of course lost a director with panache to spread thrill amongst the audiences with ease and perfection. While Top Gun that brought Tom Cruise to stardom would no doubt remain the epitome of his work, two of his other films define his style of movie making more clearly, the 1995 Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman starrer Crimson Tide and the 1998 Will Smith and again Gene Hackman starrer Enemy of the State. If you have not set your eyes on these flicks yet, you are missing out on something. Both these movies move at such a brilliant pace, never losing their focus from the theme at hand, oozing with style, keeping the audience at the edge of their seat, wanting for more. These are what Tony Scott movies delivered – 2 hours of freedom from the outside world, with the tempo so quick that even a blink could be distracting. RIP Tony!

There have been a number of casting news and rumours floating around this week. The one that is most intriguing is the possible casting of Jim Carrey in Kick-Ass 2 to reportedly play Colonel Stars, the creator of a group of superheroes called Justice Forever. Not having read the comic series, I cannot comment on the suitability of Carrey in this role (if they can cast Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, anything can be done right?), though there is a lovely star presence that he would bring to this franchise (no repeat of a Riddler, please!). Kick-Ass had earned rave reviews when it released in 2010, bringing forth some talents like Chloe Grace Moretz aka Hit Girl, apart from providing old timers like Nicolas Cage with one of his better performances in recent years. Am hoping for a bigger release for Kick-Ass 2: Ball to the Wall, currently scheduled for June 2013. This would be a superhero group, with lotsa difference! 

Action Heroes and Super Heroes!

 You could be forgiven to believe that you have been magically transported back to the 80’s. With The Expendables 2 releasing last weekend, all that you would have heard or seen around were the stills of men your father idolised, or maybe you did as a kid! Old men, who should be hunched and walking with a crane, seated on a bench in a peaceful garden catching up on reading books that youth never had the time for. But as they say, the spirit never dies! These so called old men are not going down, at least not any time soon. Their muscles have not flattened, they carry machine guns and other assortments, they hit, they scream, they fight like vicious animals, and they still get the adrenalin pumping. When Stallone created The Expendables in 2010, it became a raving success for the studio, a definitely unexpected one, that not only warranted a sequel but also more oldies / action stars, more firepower and more fun! And from what I hear, The Expendables 2 is exactly that. Talks are already doing the rounds for The Expendables 3 and names are being thrown around with vigour, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Nicolas Cage, etc etc. This series is not gonna go away mates! And then to top it all up, two of the veterans are returning for more action stuff in early 2013 with the trailers for Arnie’s The Last Stand and Sly’s Bullet to the Head coming out yesterday. Quite exciting to see the return of the former Terminator back to the big screen, with the teenager inside rooting for his success. And the trailer for The Last Stand has not disappointed yet again. His growling accent is still there, his on-screen presence is still mesmerising and he could teach a less or two to the wannabe action heroes (Collin Farrell, you listening?) on how you make a punch count. Eagerly awaiting the release of this flick in January 2013.

And once you manage to take a breather from the bodies flying around, there is further news that Marvel Studios keeps throwing at us. They cannot stop being in the limelight anymore, can they? So The Avengers 2 has been given a release date. May 1, 2015. Uhhm... ok, I’ll wait! Joss Whedon is back in the realm of things for the sequel. Yay! But what I am more intrigued about is the buzz on the Guardians of the Galaxy. Created in the same Marvel universe, Guardians of the Galaxy is likely to throw more superheroes our way who could find themselves mixing up with the original Avengers some way in the sequel. The way Marvel has managed the integration of all the different characters in their respective movies to finally culminate in The Avengers has been unique and highly appealing, thus leading to the understandable buzz about the Guardians of the Galaxy. With standards set so high, we can only hope that the scripts for the individual superhero movies continue to be water-tight. 

But someone who is not going to be part of the Avengers group, and is walking a solo path, which only he can do best, is Wolverine. The initial pictures of a ragged looking Hugh Jackman as Wolverine has already been doing the rounds and with the official synopsis being released (summary of synopsis: Wolverine in Japan to fight with some samurais! Crunch, wack, rip!), The Wolverine goes in my watchlist too for next year. Wolverine, Superman, Iron Man, Thor... hmm am I missing anyone? Gonna be another superhero year in 2013!  

Characters Legendary...

Back to blogging after a long time! Have decided to kick-start this again and probably reinvent it. Seems that the monies earned by movies are not that fun to read about. Except maybe for the studios that make these movies. And since they are the ones who declare the figures, they will probably not be checking it up on my blog. So keeping the bucks away for the time being, figured to write on something that probably is easily the most debated and never easily accepted topics of all: The Greatest Characters of Hollywood! Goodness me, aren't there thousands of cool, grand, charismatic, witty, splendid characters that Hollywood has created or featured? And so the toughest job is to figure out the ones which would make to your top five list. Here is mine, like it or not.

5.  Dr. Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins): Thomas Harris created Dr. Lecter in his book series but it was Anthony Hopkins who really gave him life. Star of the 1991 classic The Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins made his first appearance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in a phenomenal role that won him an Academy for Best Actor despite have a screen time of only 16 minutes. Now that is how you leave an impression! A brilliant psychiatrist, who is also a cannibal and a serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter has been one of the strangest protagonists to appear on the large screen. He is not the good guy, mind you, for eating other people cannot be termed as ‘good’, but he is not the antagonist in the movie as well. Dr. Hannibal Lecter in fact plays an important part in the chase of another serial killer while at the same time scheming his own escape from the cell he has been put in. While one would shudder at the very thought of being near him (the way he hisses with his tongue while speaking to Clarice, remember?), one cannot but admire the brilliance of the mind that runs within this man. This duality is probably what made the character so intriguing. And for the brilliance of Anthony Hopkins, Dr. Hannibal Lecter would go down as one of the greatest roles enacted in cinematic history. (PS: A television series currently under-production called Hannibal too!)

4. The Joker (played by Heath Ledger): “Why so serious?” Words that would never fade from memory. A performance that would never fade with time. Heath Ledger gave the most outstanding performance of his career, and probably one of the greatest performances in cinema as Joker in The Dark Knight that rightly won him the Academy for Best Supporting Actor. While the script was water-tight, the dialogues were exceptionally well-written and Heath Ledger had lots of literature to fall back upon to understand the character he was about to play, he managed to weave everything so beautifully so as to carve out a niche performance that made Joker of The Dark Knight simply his own. The true nemesis of Batman, the Joker has always been the scariest of them all, relying on trickery and delusions rather than brute force. While the name is misleading, Joker is no fool, posing problems for Batman that brings out the best from Gotham’s saviour. “You complete me!” is what Heath Ledger’s Joker says to Batman towards the end. And that is how he played this character, the missing piece of the jigsaw, a perfect adversary to Batman, focused on destroying everything that Batman stood for. A character famous amongst all comic fans, a character that will now forever bring to the minds of one and all Heath Ledger’s extraordinary performance. R.I.P. Heath!  

3. Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando): As the legendary story goes, Francis Ford Copolla had to work hard to convince Marlon Brando for undergoing a make-up test to play the role of Vito Corleone, and for which Brando filled his mouth with cotton balls so as to give what is now the legendary puffed-up cheeks look. And thus came to life the famous and unforgettable character of Don Corleone from the pages of Mario Puzo's ambitious novel, The Godfather. Strangely enough, Don Corleone too demonstrates the grey patches that lie between right and wrong. A Mafia Don, a criminal mastermind with people on the streets ready to kill for him, and yet he serves justice in his own way. He fights for his family and his people, he bends rules where he thinks they need to be reworked, he does favours for his men, expects loyalty in return. His code book punishes treachery with death. And who is to say he is wrong? An eye for an eye, when needed. But business is simply business, in other times. Marlon Brando brought these qualities of Vito Corleone with ease and finesse, an elegance that made you understand the character better, and rejoice with him in the good times while grieve with him during the dark ones. Awarded the Academy for Best Actor for this classic film of 1972, Don Corleone is a character that will never age with time.

2. T-800 Terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger): For teens, many will say! Well if you were a teenager when this epic sc-fi action packed film rolled out in 1991, or if you were not but seen it for the first time as a teenager, it will never ever leave your psyche. That cool black leather jacket, the grunting bike, the dark shades and the 'I'll be back' line, these would continue to linger and never lose their touch. Terminator 2 impacted popular culture, defined sci-fi once again, made one-liners the coolest thing in town. It was not just an action movie, but held a deeper message talking control and power and the potential of its misuse, of the naivety of handing over of power by man to machine and its impact that one fails to see. With limited dialogues and expressions, the character of Terminator needed an actor who would grab the attention of the audience simply by his presence. And no one could have done this better than the former Mr. Olympia, Arnie! Do what he may, the tag of Terminator would never leave him. Such has been his impact in the franchise that they modelled a brief cameo of a younger version of him in the latest instalment, just to fill in that void. The iconic theme of the Terminator plays repeatedly in my head as I relive once again the Terminator clad in all-black roll over in his bike and step down with a handgun in his hand. Ah, what a way to begin the 90s!

1. Darth Vader: Power, style, hunger and greed, a red lightsaber, ability to move objects and bend people's minds, the greatest character for me to have ever graced the cinematic world has these all. And he would too ask the same question of what exactly is good and what is coined as evil. The antagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy, Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker turns out to the protagonist of the prequels. George Lucas has, in this epic saga, mapped out the journey of Skywalker, a young Jedi, who grows up believing in the teachings of his masters, in the good within the world, but eventually gets drawn to the dark side of the Force, lured in order to save his loved ones. It is a journey each one of us would engage in during our lives, when in the toughest of times you start questioning all that you ever believed in and are forced to choose between the paths of the Jedi or the Sith (maybe not that dramatic, but you get the point). Played by Hayden Christiansen as the younger version, Darth Vader would be more remembered for the voice of James Earl Jones in the original trilogy and especially the loud breaths that Vader would take, sending a shiver through many a spines. Vader would be remembered for his dark skull-like mask, for his flowing black cape. Vader would be remembered not only as the Jedi who turned against his masters, but the father who still loved, a husband who cared, and a Jedi who eventually realised that there was still some good left in him after all. A lesson to take, from the greatest movie character to have ruled this galaxy or any... far far away... 

Will Animation resurface?

2010 had been an year famous for the animated work we got to see on the big screen. The revenues that animated studios garnered had been mind-boggling with 5 movies featuring in the top 10 highest earning movies in the US released that year. Such was the impact of the animation industry which I duly noted in my post 'The Year for Animation!' (flashback link: http://bucksandcorn.blogspot.com/2010/10/year-for-animation.html). So you would have expected something similar or better to happen in 2011, right? You did, but the industry disappointed. For starters, none of the animated movies crossed the $200 million mark at the US box office, whereas four had achieved this feat in 2010. Two movies that had some good collections in international markets were both sequels, and both failed to achieve the kind of acclaim their predecessors had gathered - Kung Fu Panda & Cars. With Cars 2, Pixar probably noted its first critical failure in a so far immaculate 15-year old movie making history. Towards the end of the year, Puss in Boots, the spin-off from the Shrek series got a somewhat positive response, but it was too little too late. And right at the end came the much awaited flick by Steven Spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin, which I found to be rather refreshing as well as true to a large extent to the spirit of the book series, though it too did not light up the box office as many had expected it to.

So after 2011 dulled the impact that the animation movies of the previous year had created, what would one expect from 2012? I would not blame you if you remained skeptical about it. But the animation studios have a lot of redemption work ahead of them. And no one more so than Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar is hitting the theatres with is first animation flick that has a lady in the leading role, titled Brave releasing in the coveted month of June. The initial trailers are making me forget about Cars 2 and being a loyalist, I am praying that we will have the old Pixar works back again. Two series' are coming back to set things right for animation industry; the trio of Manny, Sid and Diego returning back along with the ever adorable Scrat in the new Ice Age movie called Ice Age: Continental Drift, and another bunch of animals regrouping in the next of the Madagascar series, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. Usually you wonder about the quality of the work when hit movies are packaged and repackaged in form of sequels, but I was not particularly disappointed with the previous movies of these two franchises. In fact Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs had churned a mind boggling number close to $900 million in worldwide revenues. Also, with 2011 making me a bit worried, it would be better to see some familiar faces on the screen again.

What else do we have? For those who have loved the Dr. Seuss books, there is another animation movie releasing in March on one his books titled Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. While the initial rushes are looking good, what is more comforting is that Illumination Entertainment is working on this project and after watching their previous flick, Despicable Me, I am buoyant about the prospects of this studio. Rise of the Guardians is another animation movie that has got me interested with its imaginative storyline that if pulled off well, would be spectacular - "Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and the Sandman band together to form a united front against the Bogeyman." There is Hugh Jackman as one of the star voices for the project and it has the name of DreamWorks Animation behind it, so hopefully things will turn out for the best. Hotel Transylvania is the last of the anticipated animated movies I can think of. Voices of Adam Sandler and Kevin James, so it is a no-brainer that this one is intended to be a laugh-riot. I hope I have not missed out on any of the big projects due in 2012 (not counting re-releases such as Beauty and the Beast and Finding Nemo). But all said and done, the animation world is irreplaceable for any movie goer; it adds an extra dimension, an extra feature, a different kind of thrill to watching movies. So I do hope that this year, the animation studios will stand up and be counted... and recreate the magic of 2010! Here's to hope... and to the world of animation!

Warrior: Tom Hardy

I just finished watching 2011's Warrior, though I am late by about 4 months. For those of you who watched it on time... well-done; and for those who are yet to see it, do it soon! With meagre earnings of $18 million worldwide, Warrior came and disappeared from the cinema halls in the blink of an eye. But it has garnered about 41,000 votes (and counting) on Imdb so far and features on the Imdb #250 list as of now! Which if one sees the movie, is not really surprising. It is likely to become one of those movies that does not fare well on the box office but later on develops a cult following. While Nick Nolte would no doubt take away many plaudits for his outstanding (and award deserving) characterisation of the estranged father who is valiantly trying to correct all the mistakes of his past life, I was pleasantly introduced to the wonderful performance of Tom Hardy in this movie.

With a decade long track record in the movie industry, Tom Hardy really came in the spotlight with his role as the identity forger, Eames, in the massive hit Inception of 2010. But what has really made him or will make him a household name in the future is his role as the hefty Bane, the new nemesis of Batman in the yet to be released The Dark Knight Rises. And with the responsibility of taking on such a massive role on his shoulders, after all he will be drawing comparisons with Heath Ledger's Joker, I wanted to see how really big those shoulders are. And if Warrior is anything to go by, those shoulders are huge... literally and figuratively. Tom Hardy plays Tommy Conlon, the younger of the two sons left to look after themselves after their dad, played by Nick Nolte, turns out to be a violent non-caring figure. With such a father and having had to bury his mother, Tommy develops a deep loathing in his heart which he tries to fuel through his fights. Tom Hardy has worked on this character so beautifully that you love his arrogance and sympathise with the reason for his rage. While Joel Edgerton as the older brother appears to have more human like emotions, you still root for Tommy in each fight and can feel what is burning inside him. The tattoos on the body, the sharp punches, the stern look, they all come together for a splendid performance! And one of the scenes that takes the cake for me is when he puts his drunk father to bed after having burst out on him the previous night.

Hooked on to his performance now, I looked up on the other roles Tom Hardy would be working on. He is part of the mouth-watering cast in Tinker Tailor Solider Spy; have been looking forward to this flick for quite sometime and really eager to watch it. Tom Hardy would be also appearing in a not-so-serious role in This Means War where he would be competing with Chris Pine for Reese Witherspoon's attention; action comedy flick that seems so-so to me. What has really got me interested is the period flick called Wettest Country to be released in August 2012 which has Tom Hardy along with the likes of Gary Oldman and Shia LaBeouf. A tale about a bootlegging gang in the Depression-era, it has got a premise that has piqued my ears, and hopefully it will not disappoint. By then though, many would have already formed a stronger opinion about Tom Hardy, based on his performance in The Dark Knight Rises, to be released in July 2012. I hope he rises up to the challenges that such a role demands, but the initial signs are definitely promising! We could be hearing about Tom Hardy a lot more in the future...