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...