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.