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Unfreedom ( 2015 )



This review has spoilers


This english film with characters who either live or originate in the Indian subcontinent has been banned in India due to scenes of brutal violence and graphic depiction of lesbian sex---and banning a film is like waving a red rag to a bull as far as I am concerned . The film is easily available on the internet , and I had already been enticed by a clip of the film showing explicit lesbian sex that was circulating on whatsapp .

It deals with two parallel plots ( one originating in Pakistan and the other based in India ) that never intersect , but are interconnected anyway due to the fact that in both plots the victims have to face brutal violence for believing in their beliefs and living their way of life---and the director's message is that though technically India and Pakistan are both free countries , it is 'unfreedom' that prevails .

In one plot a muslim leader ( played by Victor Banerjee ) living in New York is kidnapped by a fundamentalist muslim ( played by Bhanu Uday ) sent from Pakistan . He is kidnapped because he preaches tolerance and moderation and he refuses to recant his views in front of the camera placed by his kidnapper . So he is forced to undergo the most brutal torture by his kidnapper using the most sharp and vile instruments---the kind of savagery which will make you puke if it goes on any further on the screen in front of you . The kidnapper himself is mentally tortured by an incident in his past and this results in a bizarre ending to the torture fest .

The other plot is more tantalising---at least at the start . It is based in Indian capital city Delhi , and here a girl ( Preeti Gupta ) is being forced to marry against her wishes by her policeman father . She cuts her long traditionally Indian hair to short tresses as an act of rebellion . But when her father admonishes her , she tries to kill herself with a pistol . Finally she plucks up enough courage to run away to the the person she romantically loves---another woman , played by Bhavani Lee .

AAH Bhavani Lee....the start of the movie itself shows her strutting about completely naked painting nude paintings and giving fiery speeches espousing lesbian and transgender rights . Her butts and her boobs are just perfect---butts are shapely and boobs are taut and erect . She is bisexual and Preeti Gupta has to shoot Bhavani's male lover ( they are shown having sex in a parked vehicle when Preeti arrives waving gun ) to kidnap Bhavani . Having kidnapped Bhavani they escape across a river and then Preeti proposes marriage to Bhavani . They marry in front of the sacred fire , and then comes what I had been waiting for---their lovemaking scene . The sight of two beautiful naked bodies entwined and gyrating in pleasure and rubbing each others privates is one of the most hot and sexy scenes I have seen in mainstream cinema---and I have seen a lot of mainstream cinema . Bhavani is more fair skinned , while Preeti is dusky in complexion with heavier breasts .

But Preeti's father has policemen after her and two lesbian lovers are caught . In the police station he asks Preeti to leave Bhavani and when she refuses , he does what is the most gruesome act I have seen in a film ever---he makes his fellow policemen rape his own daughter in front of his own eyes as punishment for her lesbianism ( which he feels is against Indian culture ) !!

The director has truly crossed all limits as far as taking cinematic liberty is concerned , and his method of showing the 'unfreedom' in the Indian subcontinent is really too way off....
Of course , the movie does leave a lasting impact and the director has made it with extraordinary zeal . Inspite of the brutal scenes , you have to credit him with that .

The film is obviously not a good advertisement of the subcontinent and will make a westerner have the most horrifying image of south asia and it's people . 'Unfreedom' does exist in both India and Pakistan , but to this degree of violence ? Not surprisingly , it is banned in India .

Acting is good by everyone and the two girls have put real zest in their lovemaking . Photography and music is decent and appropriate for the situations .

Verdict---No holds barred stuff . I would give it three stars out of five .



Don't Breathe



Three burglars decide to rob a blind man who has a large sum of money stacked in the safe in his house---money he got as settlement when his daughter got killed in an accident . The blind man lives in an isolated neighbourhood and lives alone---so the task of robbing him seems to be easy . But the blind man is an army veteran and he has a ferocious dog , so for the first time one of the burglars carries a gun with him , even though they have no experience or intentions to use it . The other two burglars do not know of the gun at all , and are shocked by seeing it later .

One of the burglars is a girl ( played by Jane Levy ) and she is pretty with blond hair . One wonders why such a pretty girl would get mixed up with this kind of crime , but as she explains she has had a tough childhood in which her mother used to keep her locked up in the trunk of a car and even now practically neglects her . The burglar girl dreams of moving to California with her cute little sister , and her motive for the burglary is that the money would help her achieve her dreams . One of the two male burglars is also a cute kid who is initially reluctant to join and scrams off for a while on seeing the gun , before deciding to come back .

As the three give the dog some spiked food to eat which puts it to sleep for a while , they enter the house . But the blind man does not turn unconscious by the gas they propel into his room , and that is where things turn wrong . The blind man has a gun too , and being an army veteran he is more prepared to use it . On the other hand the burglars do not have to guts to use their gun , and this turns things really awry for them .

The blind man has far more physical strength than the three , and he is far more vicious than they think . He is able to fire his gun accurately in the direction of sound , and the sound of heavy breathing ( which the terrified burglars are likely to make in their fright ) is where he will fire . So the key word for the burglars is 'don't breathe' while being confronted by the blind man , which fully justifies the title of the movie .

As the burglars cannot escape from the house , they go deep inside it and that is their mistake---for they stumble upon the blind man's dark secret , and that really sets him on finishing them off . So what is the secret that the man is hiding ? Will any of them escape from the situation alive ?

As the man switches off the lights of the house , the movie is in darkness ; another element is the dog who is ferocious when he finally wakes up and has a serious impact on the proceedings . The movie moves forward in the dark rooms and underground corridors of the house and later outside in the surrounding streets , and keeps you tensed all along . The movie is more thriller than horror , though some jolts in the movie remind you of horror movies especially because they are in the typical setting of horror movies---in a darkened house .

Photography and sound effects are appropriate for the situations and the acting is in capable hands . The triumph of the director is in making the criminals look like victims once inside the house and making you sympathise with them ; I was really hoping that the three would escape from the house and escape with the money they came to loot !! So do they ? Watch the movie for that...

Verdict---Good .




Sully



This movie is based on a real life incident where an aircraft carrying 155 passengers had to be downed in the Hudson river at New York because both engines had failed due to colliding with birds ( Canadian geese ) . As all passengers were evacuated safely , the pilot Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger became a hero---albeit a momentary one . He was feted wherever he went .

But the movie says that personally the immediate aftermath of the incident was not great for him . According to the movie there was an investigation into the whole episode instigated by insurance companies who frankly did not want to pay the huge amount of money that the plane had been insured for . They tried to prove ( or so says the movie ) that the forced landing into the Hudson river was due to 'human error'---that is , the pilots were the ones who made the mistake . That they could have landed at nearby airports but it was their 'human error' to have not done so .

The movie however shows another immediate aftermath of the episode on Captain Sully ( played by Tom Hanks ) ---he suffers post traumatic stress disorder , whereby he has dreams of him not being able to dive safely towards the river but crashing into nearby buildings . This would have been a repeat of 9/11 if this happened , and indeed was a very real possibility in actuality .

The highlight of the movie is the landing in the Hudson river by the aircraft , which has been filmed well by the moviemakers . It is shown repeatedly in the movie as it is the central event of the film . Also the movie shows the passengers and crew being evacuated by craft moving on the river , but not before some of them are forced to land in the freezing cold water and have to undergo a distressful time .

Captain Sully asks for pilots to simulate the incident in real time on simulators and shown to the public investigating committee on screen by data link . This is because if he is shown to be guilty of human error , then he will be forced to give up flying . So what happens in the public investigation ? Is it Sully and his co pilot's mistake or was the incident unavoidable ? Watch the movie for the answers .

The main problem before the movie makers must have been the fact that they were basing the film on a real life incident and could not bring other dramatic twists to it as it would have compromised the truthfulness of the film . Is that why the landing on the Hudson is shown again---because there is no other drama really to be shown ? Possibly . Is the investigation into the crash perhaps over dramatised to add drama to the movie ? Can't say , but that is possible too . It is a movie after all...

Acting wise , everyone is perfect . Tom Hanks is shown with his hair completely white , just like that of the actual pilot . Photography is good , especially of the landing---another reason to show the landing again ? But the lack of other drama does hamper the pace of the film , and I was not impressed by the first half of the film . Only in the second half does the film pick up pace , and in the end you come out with the impression of a very decent effort .

Verdict---Very decent .




The Magnificent Seven



I must confess that it was the first time I saw any version of 'The magnificent seven' . I haven't seen the original , and the fact that I haven't seen it aided greatly in my cinematic entertainment as I could not compare with the original and did not have the feeling of seeing the same thing again ; the whole movie was brand new for me .

So the setting is in the 1870s somewhere in the north part of the United States , judging from the snow I could see in distant horizons . It is the wild west , and it is as wild as it gets . If the movie is to be believed , in these distant parts there is no such thing as law and order ; might is right . And in this village called snow creek , the might belongs to Bartholomew Bogue ( Peter Sarsgaard ) and his men . He is pitiless ; just slaughters anyone who dares stand up to him , and even many who don't . Of course , he is no rag tag bandit and looks as dapper as anyone can because he is well dressed .

In this situation , a lovely young woman ( Haley Bennett as Emma Cullen ) who Bogue has just made a widow decides to avenge her husband's murder by his men . She is in search of a man who could organise some men who could bring Bogue and his tyranny to heel by coming to snow creek , and chances upon Denzel Washington playing Sam Chisolm, a bounty hunter . Emma asks him to do her bidding for a sum of money , and he agrees . They go about searching for other like minded men who could join , and get Josh Faraday ( Chris Pratt ) , a gambler ; Goodnight Robicheaux ( Ethan Hawke ) , a sharpshooter ; Jack Horne ( Vincent D'Onofrio ) , a tracker ; Billy Rocks ( Byung-hun Lee ) , an assassin ; Vasquez ( Manuel Garcia-Rulfo ) , a Mexican outlaw ; Red Harvest ( Martin Sensmeier ), a Comanche warrior .

The assembled men look like an odd bunch , with Chris Pratt looking the most dashingly handsome without question . All are rough men whose business is firing bullets into live men , or at least firing arrows or knives . But can they inspire the people of snow creek to fight Bogue and his men ? Yes , they can .

The movie does not move an inch without bullets being fired and the boom of guns firing is a constant in the film . There are loads of untrustworthy characters and the answer to their untrustworthiness is a bullet to the head . The body count just piles up like anything and so does the entertainment get jacked up . It seems everyone has a gun and a plentiful supply of ammunition . Bodies slide away to dusty death as if human life is of no count .

But the grand finale outclasses even this . You can feel the fear when news comes that Bogue and his men are coming to deal with the seven men and the village folk they have organised against him . You realise how ancient towns must have felt when they knew that a barbarian army is heading to sack them ; the swiftly descending terror was palpable in the theatre . One last prayer is said and candles are lit by the villagers ; no one knows who is going to survive the coming dawn .

And dawn brings the advance of the terrible army of death . It looks like a dramatic cavalry charge straight from the medieval times and the village looks like a warzone under seige . The coming fight is not just a fight but a battle and the coming morning the village will be converted into a battlefield ; almost like full scale war....

I had seen a Bollywood film called 'Sholay' ( the splinters ) loosely based on this film , but the scale of the fighting in this film totally eclipsed that film . Dynamite and explosives , Gatling guns---all add drama to the proceedings . Many are going to die defending the village , but the surviving ones are going to live with that precious thing called honour...and the seven who help them are going to be honoured with the title 'The magnificent seven' .

So who is going to live and who is going to die ? Watch the film for that . Watch the high action of dynamite exploding and firearms booming and flames and dust erupting and bodies flying . Hear the enthralling music that fills your heart with emotion at the end . Watch a black man save white folk from destruction even as he seeks revenge for atrocities committed on his family in bygone days . Watch an unlikely band of warriors turn heroes....

Acting by anyone is not too spectacular . Denzel Washington is not impressive . But cinematography is better and direction is good enough . A black man leading 'The magnificent seven' soon after a black man played Django is the face of the new politically correct America .

Verdict---Good .




Queen Of Katwe



In the slums of Katwe in Uganda lives a rather uncommon person who is in contrast to the settings---Phiona Mutesi , a young girl who plays the cerebral game of chess ; and she has been recognised as a master of that sport . But it is the struggle that she has to put up in her personal life while she continues her passion for the game that is more inspiring than just her excellence in the sport . For she has to face innumerable obstacles due to the poverty of her slum , and her struggle to rise above all that to excel in such a cerebral game is nearly astonishing .

Remember that this is the dark continent of Africa that we are talking about , and Uganda is more famous for producing a cannibal dictator like Idi Amin . For that nation to produce a chess prodigy is something to cheer about , and the horrid conditions in which that prodigy rose up to create a name for herself is worthy of making a film on .

Phiona's life takes a turn when she is taken under his wing by Robert Katende , who runs a chess class in a ramshackle structure . Other children scoff at the smell that comes from her body because she has not taken a bath , but Katende urges her on and she comes back after bathing for the first time in days . Her talent soon presents itself , and Katende vows to take her with other children to a competition in King's school . He has to raise money to get the children in , for they are slum children coming to a clean place where they are frankly unwelcome . But Katende's efforts pay off and they win the competition .

The rest of the film shows the teacher and the student struggle to make her success even bigger , and the conditions that they have to put up a fight against are truly heart rending . Phiona and her family are evicted by the owner of their rented house , they have no money to pay hospital bills when Phiona's brother is hurt in an accident , their new home is flooded by water when the rains come , her sister is forced to sell herself to earn money , men are lusting after her mother because their father is dead , and soon men will come after Phiona herself....

In all this Katende is Phiona's pillar of strength because he has faith in her talent , and she proves him right by outclassing him in the game . He takes her to an international competition in Sudan and she wins it too . Katende asks his teacher wife to help Phiona read and write , and he even gives up on a better job offer to help Phiona . But Phiona grows too confident of herself and does not win at the bigger chess competition in Russia , which is disappointing . But remember that this is true story and not some film fiction .

In the end Phiona is recognised as master in chess , which is stepping stone to the title of grandmaster . And being so young , one day she might get there too . For her efforts she got a house for herself given by the Ugandan government , and she became a famous figure coming out of that nation . Some of the people I know frankly refused to see the film because they ''didn't want to see a film about black people from some godforsaken part of Africa with only black faces to see'' , which is an indicator of the odds of racism that Phiona must have had to put up to become master of chess .

Acting is good by all actors , and music and photography is good too . Because the story is real , the drama is less flamboyant than fictional movies . But reality is more inspirational than fiction...

Verdict---Decent .




Unfreedom ( 2015 )

I enjoyed reading that review – your description of the lesbian lovemaking scene actually reminded me of when I watched Prey (1977) and was really surprised at how far the equivalent scene went for a film of that era.

Unfreedom sounds like an interesting film and as usual it's good to get a sample of the reaction within the country in which it's set – for instance what you mention about the level of violence relating to "unfreedom" and its veracity.

I started by admiring the typography on the film poster – the kerning on the title itself is really excellent; just enough, with the font allowing it to be very readable, and also puts over the idea of claustrophobia and restriction.



for instance what you mention about the level of violence relating to "unfreedom" and its veracity.
yeah . the sight of a father asking his own daughter to be raped by other men in front of his own eyes is too much . she and her lesbian lover are stripped naked in the police station and raped by other policemen on orders of her father !! can't believe such things really happen .



Ashdoc - if you haven't seen ANY version of the Magnificent Seven, then you need to see Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) - the original original!
It's very long, but a cinematic masterpiece and work of art compared to its many copy cats.



The Girl On The train



Review has spoilers

For starters---the movie should have been named 'The woman on the train' instead of 'girl' , for Emily Blunt is obviously not shown young enough to be called a 'girl' . But the moviemakers probably wanted the movie to appeal to a younger audience .

Emily plays a woman who thinks that her marriage has collapsed because of her drunkenness and the blackouts that occur because of it , and also because she can't conceive a child . She sometimes stalks her ex husband and his new wife and child , taking the baby in her arms one day until his wife forces her to lay it down . Emily no longer goes to her job and her obsession is to travel to and fro by the same train everyday . The train passes by her ex husband's neighbourhood and she can see his family . Also she develops an addiction to watch a beautiful blonde girl and her husband romancing on their house's balcony many times while watching through the train .

But one day Emily sees the girl kissing another man on the same balcony and she is deeply disturbed by the sight of the perfect romantic marriage breaking down . After a drinking binge , she decides to go and confront the girl and call her a whore , but has a blackout as she goes to confront and does not remember what she saw . Later she comes to know that the girl has disappeared....

So what could have happened ? Did the girl just run off with her new lover ? Or was she murdered---but by whom ? The psychiatrist when she was regularly visiting and on whom she was trying to hit on ? Her husband in a fit of jealousy ? Or did Emily herself murder her her but did not remember later due to her blackout ? Watch the movie for the answers .

The movie rests on the acting capabilities of Emily Blunt , and she carries it off with aplomb . Her acting of a person who is unstable due to heavy drinking is perfect ; the voice and expressions and her own anguish at her condition has been thoroughly well acted out . Other actors act well too . Photography is okay and background music is appropriate for the situations .

But even though I have not read the novel on which the movie is based , I could sense that it is not as great as the novel . Of course , except on one point the novel is copied faithfully in the movie according to what I heard . But I was not fully convinced when the mystery was solved . The person who did what he/she did on a reason that does not fully qualify as a valid reason for doing that ; many people would let things solve themselves out if confronted with the same situation . The situation was not extreme enough to warrant taking the step that person did . Or so I thought , for others who see the movie might disagree....




The Accountant



Ben Affleck plays an accountant who was diagnosed as autistic since childhood , but possesses extremely high intelligence . So high that he can account in a short time for internal embezzlement of money from enterprises that others would take a long time to unravel . He now works to do this job for criminals who need to keep tabs on their money and see if any from their organisations have embezzled money . But he donates his money for a neuroscience institute which handles autistic children like him---which means that he is a good man inspite of his criminal connections , establishing him as the hero of the film .

His father was a military officer who was offered the chance to enrol his son to the same neuroscience centre he now donates to , but the father refused as he wanted his son to grow up facing the world rather than remaining sheltered from it . This led to Ben's mother being driven to abandon her family , and the only emotional attachment he had was to his brother . His father toughened him for physical combat since childhood , teaching him to fight bullies who picked on him .

Cut to the present---J K Simmons plays director of financial crimes for treasury department , who forces Cynthia Addai-Robinson ( on pain of her criminal past being exposed ) to try to find out the identity of the accountant . But Ben has his own protector---an unknown 'voice' on phone that normally brokers the tasks given to him to track the embezzlement from criminal enterprises . This time the voice sends him to do the same task for a legitimate company , in order to keep Simmons and Cynthia off track in their pursuit of Ben . But Ben and that company's associate ( played by Anna Kendrick ) uncover a huge scam there too---which leads to a bloodbath....

If you think that the story is getting complicated , then it turns more complicated from here . Lots of twists and turns occur even as the action does hot up . Some of the twists and turns and coincidences are frankly unbelievable , and in the end the story does seem to be dragged too long . Towards the climax there is a lot of needless melodrama , like Ben's long lost brother suddenly being revealed as the long lost sibling . And the revelation of the identity of the 'voice' is too much to believe ; suffice to say that such things happen only in films .

Ben acts in his usual way---with a deadpan expression on his face and with no emotion , which is what is expected from a person with autism . Rest are all okay with their acting . Photography is decent , and so is background music . Colourwise the film is not that impressive . Action is what holds sway in the second half , and it is well pictured . Ben acts as an autistic action hero who is unbeatable in combat and may work for you if you like emotionless deadpan fighting machines without hypermuscled bodies of Stallones and Schwarzeneggers as actors .

Verdict--decent .




Inferno



One of the reasons for me watching this film was the inclusion of Irfan Khan , an Indian Bollywood actor in the cast . And I belong to the same country . When I watched it I found one more 'Indian' thing about the movie . The movie gives us a tour of Florence and it's tourist attractions and in the end adds the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul to be watched in the climax . This is similar to Indian movies like 'Love in Tokyo' and 'An evening in Paris' that were made in the sixties to show Indian audiences the wonders of those cities .

Tom Hanks plays a professor who wakes up in Florence to not remember what he went through in the last few days , but having visions of earth being converted into hell . He has by his bedside Felicity Jones , who says she is a doctor and helps him by tagging along with him for the next few days . And help is needed , as he is promptly attacked by a female assassin and he has to escape .

Among his belongings Tom finds an image projector which projects a modified version of Sandro Botticelli's Map of Hell, which itself is based on Dante's Inferno . This is a clue among a series of clues that were left by a brilliant but deranged geneticist to the location of a virus he had created to decimate much of the world's population as he believed it was growing far too much , but had to commit suicide because armed agents were hounding him . The virus is named inferno .

Obviously other people are after the virus too , some to release it and some to not let that happen . This leads to a chase up and down Florence and some real action . Tom is repeatedly targeted and is repeatedly helped by Felicity . Except for problem of the age difference between the two , it would have been a fine chance to fall in love along the way....

It becomes difficult for Tom to distinguish between the good people ( those who want to stop the virus from being released ) and the bad people ( those who want to release it ) . Who is who ? And why has Tom been chosen to be presented with clues ? Tom has to find out the answers before catastrophe beckons .

The movie is fast paced enough , but I found the action to be disjointed . Surprises do strike in between the movie keeping you in suspense throughout , but I wondered if there were too many of them . Acting by everyone is decent enough . Colours are decent , and photography is touristy and spectacular it you like to see the wonders of famous architectural and artistic marvels from both inside those marvels and also from vantage points .

How is Irfan Khan ? He does have a role of substance in the movie . But his Indian accent stands out like a sore thumb while speaking english . I was not too impressed by his acting . He does look suave though . On the other hand Tom looked harassed throughout the movie while Felicity looked more confident essaying her role .

Verdict---average movie .




I read the book Inferno. but haven't yet seen the movie.
Don't know if the movie ends the same way (and I won't get into spoilers) but I liked the book's ending.
It was the first time I was rooting for the bad guy's doomsday plan to work (as I'm something of an over-popu-phobe)!



Mr Church



Review has spoilers

Young Charlotte and her mother ( who is dying of breast cancer ) get a new person in their house all of a sudden---a person ( Eddie Murphy ) who comes as a cook , but soon turns into the caretaker of their life . He has been hired by the mother's ex lover for cooking as long as she lives , and that means an expected six months . After that Henry Church ( Eddie ) will get financially free due to a large monetary settlement he will get for working those six months .

But six months turn into six years , and the mom is still holding on---though she has weakened down . And the amazing thing is---Henry does not show an ounce of desperation for being free from his commitment and being able to go his way . Instead , he relishes coming and helping these people as also he likes making delicious dishes for them to savour . It is obvious that he is doing so and feeling so because he has no family to call his own .

Charlotte has already gone from resenting this black man's presence in her life to depending on him for everything . And she wants to know more about him---where he goes after he completes his job in their house , and where he lives . But that is one topic which rouses the wrath of Mr Church like nothing else . He is not ready to discuss that .

Years pass by , and the mom dies ; but not before she has had the joy of seeing her daughter go to dance with the best looking guy in school at prom . The scenes of caring for her as she nears death were agonising for me to watch---brings the spectre of similar scenes witnessed in personal life . I was shamelessly waiting for the mom to die so that my agony could end....

Charlotte ( played by Britt Robertson ) who has grown up has no money to continue her education , but Mr Church is again the angel of her life---he has saved money from coupons which her mother gave him and thus the education is funded . But she wastes her college opportunity . For she is the daughter of a mother who was free enough to give birth to her outside wedlock . And , like mother like daughter....one day Charlotte arrives at Mr church's door pregnant .

As he opens his heart wide enough to take care of her , her curiosity in his life increases . Why does he go at night to some nightclub ? Why does he come home drunk blabbering to himself ? What is his past and has something dark happened to him in bygone years that he lives all by himself without woman or family just taking care of her ? And this leads to confrontation that nearly costs Charlotte her baby's life....

But as the years roll by , she has to come to terms with the fact that the answers to the questions in her mind are not important and they may never be answered ; that she should be thankful for having such a father figure in her life . And like a daughter takes care of her father , she will be called upon to take care of him in old age .

As Mr Church slid towards a dignified journey towards mortality , this time death was not agonising for me to watch....I was just wrapped in the sentimentality of the scenes and just was not able to stop a tear from coming my eye....

Both Eddie Murphy and Britt Robertson do justice to their roles , and music and photography and colours are appropriate for the situations . There is case for saying that the character played by Eddie Murphy is shown only through Charlotte's eyes and his feelings and his life ( which doubtlessly had an unhappy past ) are not shown . But isn't it better to remember that he redeemed it all by helping another family survive ?

Verdict---good .




Mr Church



Review has spoilers

Young Charlotte and her mother ( who is dying of breast cancer ) get a new person in their house all of a sudden---a person ( Eddie Murphy ) who comes as a cook , but soon turns into the caretaker of their life . He has been hired by the mother's ex lover for cooking as long as she lives , and that means an expected six months . After that Henry Church ( Eddie ) will get financially free due to a large monetary settlement he will get for working those six months .

But six months turn into six years , and the mom is still holding on---though she has weakened down . And the amazing thing is---Henry does not show an ounce of desperation for being free from his commitment and being able to go his way . Instead , he relishes coming and helping these people as also he likes making delicious dishes for them to savour . It is obvious that he is doing so and feeling so because he has no family to call his own .

Charlotte has already gone from resenting this black man's presence in her life to depending on him for everything . And she wants to know more about him---where he goes after he completes his job in their house , and where he lives . But that is one topic which rouses the wrath of Mr Church like nothing else . He is not ready to discuss that .

Years pass by , and the mom dies ; but not before she has had the joy of seeing her daughter go to dance with the best looking guy in school at prom . The scenes of caring for her as she nears death were agonising for me to watch---brings the spectre of similar scenes witnessed in personal life . I was shamelessly waiting for the mom to die so that my agony could end....

Charlotte ( played by Britt Robertson ) who has grown up has no money to continue her education , but Mr Church is again the angel of her life---he has saved money from coupons which her mother gave him and thus the education is funded . But she wastes her college opportunity . For she is the daughter of a mother who was free enough to give birth to her outside wedlock . And , like mother like daughter....one day Charlotte arrives at Mr church's door pregnant .

As he opens his heart wide enough to take care of her , her curiosity in his life increases . Why does he go at night to some nightclub ? Why does he come home drunk blabbering to himself ? What is his past and has something dark happened to him in bygone years that he lives all by himself without woman or family just taking care of her ? And this leads to confrontation that nearly costs Charlotte her baby's life....

But as the years roll by , she has to come to terms with the fact that the answers to the questions in her mind are not important and they may never be answered ; that she should be thankful for having such a father figure in her life . And like a daughter takes care of her father , she will be called upon to take care of him in old age .

As Mr Church slid towards a dignified journey towards mortality , this time death was not agonising for me to watch....I was just wrapped in the sentimentality of the scenes and just was not able to stop a tear from coming my eye....

Both Eddie Murphy and Britt Robertson do justice to their roles , and music and photography and colours are appropriate for the situations . There is case for saying that the character played by Eddie Murphy is shown only through Charlotte's eyes and his feelings and his life ( which doubtlessly had an unhappy past ) are not shown . But isn't it better to remember that he redeemed it all by helping another family survive ?

Verdict---good .

the movie has got poor ratings from critics for two reasons .

one i largely missed . mr church is probably gay . but i missed out on that one because he is not shown to be openly gay at all . i did get a faint suspicion because he is without a woman . but to an ordinary viewer like me it is not clear at all . what the highbrow critics are saying is that charlotte is shown saying that she has heard rumours about the nightclub he goes to . and the critics are saying that mention of the rumours could mean only one thing---the nightclub is a gay nightclub .

the other point is that the movie shows a black man serving a white family as if all black men are born to do that . his life and it's struggles are not shown at all ; probably he has gone through worse than charlotte because he is black , but no importance is given to that because he is black . however i dont live in the united states and do not fully understand this living in india .

as an ordinary viewer the film is likeable for me . i am not a highbrow critic to fully understand the finer nuances of the film .



Battle of Kosovo ( Yugoslav movie---having english subtitles on youtube )



This is a film made in 1989 when the state of Yugoslavia was still in existence , and it was made on the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo . To those who know what happened later in Kosovo , the movie can give some insight into why Serbians hold the ground of that region so sacred---for it was literally strewn with the bodies of martyrs who laid down their lives for protecting Serbia .

1389---The high noon of Turkish expansion in Europe is yet to come , but already the tremors of their armies are being felt all over the western world . One block to their expansion is the medieval state of Serbia , and sultan Murad sets out to destroy the state with all the power of his terrible armies on the battlefield of Kosovo .

The movie begins with a lost man asking an old man as to where do two particular roads lead to--and the old man answers that today all roads lead to Kosovo , for that is where the fate of Serbia is going to be decided . And some people within Serbia itself have already decided that fate , for defeatism has crept in Serbian ranks and crooked people are even minting dinars ( Turkish currency ) anticipating the impending Turkish rule over Serbia . Earlier under emperor Dusan Serbia was a great power , but now it has been divided into fiefdoms where magnates rival each other for power . And these magnates are divided and cannot present a united front for defending it against the Turkish hordes .

One man however decides to fight out with whatever forces are available with him , and that man is prince Lazar---the chief magnate among all the magnates of Serbia . Some other magnates disagree with him and ask him to accept the suzerainty of the Turks , but his wife supports him in his resistance . For as some common people say , even if their suzerainty is accepted the Turks will force their Islamic religion on the Serbs and their forces will trample the land and they will kidnap young girls and even boys to fulfil their sexual lust . Serbs will have to kiss the boots of the Turkish conquerors and Serbs will have to become the slaves of the Turkish overlords . Prince Lazar wants to fight for Serbian honour even though he may lose his life in the coming battle , for only those who fight will be remembered by the common people for centuries as martyrs .

And the common people heed his call , for an army of more than 70,000 men collects to fight for their nation . But they are divided , for the leaders of various contingents that compose the army are divided . And anyway their army is outnumbered by the Turks , who have an endless horde of more than 160,000 men---all waiting like predators to pounce upon their prey ; there will be no mercy for the Christians as Serbia will be looted devastated and it's people massacred after the battle . As a girl lamenting for her fiance even before the battle begins says after the battle , there wont be any men left to marry and to father children after the battle . Catastrophe is beckoning....

At the last dinner before the battle begins next morning , one of the nobles ( Luc Brancovic ) who himself is going to abandon the army to it's fate and turn traitor accuses Serbia's finest warrior ( Obilic ) of having colluded with the enemy because Obilic has protected a turkish spy whose intentions he failed to recognise . Obilic is so incensed by the accusation that he vows to kill the sultan Murad himself on the field of battle .

As the battle begins next morning Obilic surrenders to the Turks by throwing away his weapon . As he is recognised for being Serbia's best warrior , the sultan asks him to come near to pay obeisance to him and the Turkish nobles ask him to kiss the sultan's feet . What they don't know is that Obilic has hidden a dagger within his clothing . As he comes close to the sultan , Obilic murders Murad by plunging his dagger into his abdomen . He is put to death by the sultan's angry soldiers . But Obilic has proven his loyalty to Serbia....

Immediately a rivalry opens between the sultan's two sons , and the elder son Bayazid has his younger brother treacherously strangled by a cord of silk . Bayazid is then proclaimed sultan and he takes command of the Turkish armies . The battle continues . At first the Serbs who fight bravely have made headway into the Turkish flank , but the treachery of Luc Brancovic seals the fate of the Serbian army as Luc flees the battlefield . Prince Lazar is made prisoner and too late he realises the loyalty of Obilic as he sees his head impaled on a pike . His own fate is the same , and a Serbian man volunteers to let one of his hands be cut by the Turks as price for taking Lazar's and Obilic's heads back to their people for a decent Christian burial .

Today it is Prince Lazar and warrior Obilic who are remembered centuries later by the Serbian people , for they were men of honour ; and while power on the earth is fleeting , the glory of having fought with honour is immortal !!

The movie is hampered by it's low budget , for it was produced by a medium sized European country and not by Hollywood with it's big bucks . So the battle could not be reproduced on a vast scale . Instead it is shown as a series of local actions . But acting by everyone is good and background music is decent . The emotions on every Serb's face as they face the impending catastrophe are authentic . The old sultan Murad is a picture of calm as he rentlessly carries out his sinister intentions , and he faces his own assassination by Obilic calmly too . In contrast , his son sultan Bayazid is haughty and arrogant as he carries out his task cruelly .

Those who like history ( like I do ) will be interested in this movie . I would rate it as okay .

Two and a half stars .



La La Land



This is the first time I watched a Hollywood musical , and I must confess that I dont know how to review a Hollywood musical . Though I review Bollywood musicals all the time ( for almost all Bollywood movies are musicals ) , I am finding out that trying to review a Hollywood musical is difficult .

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are strugglers trying to make ends meet in Los Angeles . They bump by chance into each other again and again---on a crowded flyover as Emma's car blocks Ryan's car , in a restaurant where Ryan plays piano , in a poolside party where Ryan is playing music....and they begin to go out together , trying to help each other in their respective careers .

Emma is a wannabe actress , but her initial attempts at auditioning all fail . But Ryan is the one who eggs her on to not quit but keep on trying . Ryan wants to start his own jazz club , but he has to initially accept being part of a musical group ( led by John Legend ) which does not play music the way he wants it to be played . But he joins because he gets regular pay . The couple fight over this and temporarily break up because Ryan does not find time to show up for Emma's show .

They come together again , but this time a more solid reason comes up for them to break up---they are finding success in their respective careers and both have to go their respective ways . When they see each other years later , their emotions are filled with nostalgia . They imagine in their mind's eye how life would have been if they had chosen to stay together and had children and there is some regret for having to chose career over love . But such is the reality of life that there is a price that has to be paid for achieving success....

Some of the music is pure romantic fantasy , like the scene in which they go to a astronomical observatory at night and a song is filmed with them dancing among the stars in the sky . Acting is good too and photography is decent . J K Simmons' role in the film however is forgettable . I kind of liked the movie , though not as much as the critics who are gushing over it .

Verdict---Decent .




Arrival



Amy Adams plays a linguist who is shown caring for her daughter , but the daughter dies in adolescence due to cancer .However , the situation in the world is turned upside down by the appearance of 12 extraterrestrial craft containing alien species . Amy is hired by the government to make contact and try to communicate with this species using her linguistic skills .

For a layman like me , the best part of the movie was when Amy and her team is taken to the alien spaceship . The sight of Amy and Jeremy Renner ( a military theoretical physicist ) and others suddenly losing the control of gravity over them and floating and walking upwards into the spaceship through a tunnel is enthralling .

Once in contact with the aliens , Amy begins to learn their language using written symbols . Some of their messages nearly send earthlings of other countries on warpath with the aliens .

But as Amy begins to understand what the aliens really want to say , she not only gets a new concept of time and about the past and the future , but begins to understand things about her own life--a life in which Jeremy will play an important role . The aliens have a totally different understanding of time , and the understanding of their language is the key to understanding their concept of time .

It was nice to see movies go beyond the concept of 'little green men' that used to be our image of aliens in the past . But are the intentions of the aliens good or bad ? Why have they come to earth ? The movie does throw up some interesting answers .

Towards the end , I was finding it difficult to make sense of what was happening . Maybe the movie is too intellectual for ignoramuses like me . But actually the most interesting part is towards the climax . But it is only after after reading about it on a couple of sites on the internet later that I could understand it . Once I understood what I had seen , I liked the film . In the theatre I was not fully in sync with the happenings towards the end .

I can only hope that others understand the movie fully and it's 'intellectual' climax does not prove to be a impediment to box office success with the audience not fully understanding it .

Photography is great , of the alien spaceships hanging in the atmosphere full of mist and clouds ; the visuals taken from high up in the sky are breathtaking . Background score and acting by everyone is okay .

Verdict---Good .




The Bye Bye Man



Over 40 years ago , a crazed man living in a particular house shot dead scores of people . The findings of the investigation into the crime were suppressed till the current era . The happenings were long forgotten till a group of three young students ( two males , one female ) decide to lease the same house for themselves because the male and female are in a relationship and want to live in .

As they move in , predictably strange things begin to happen . The first person to make contact with the spirit ( what else it could be....?? ) in the house is a little girl . Now this is typical of horror movies . Small children and especially girls seem more vulnerable and them making contact with the ghost does give you the chills especially because the little girl is alone in a big dark room .

Also the girlfriend develops a peculiar persistent cough , and the boyfriend begins to see things that make him suspect the nature of the relationship between his girlfriend and his friend . Also they begin to find coins again and again in the house , something that the little girl had already found lying in the big room .

They have a seance in the company of another girl and the girl detects the presence of something in the house . Already the boyfriend has found some strange writings written somewhere in the house and in the middle of them are written some words . The speaking of the words in the middle of the seance is the beginning of the horror....

As the boyfriend investigates the past , he finds out that in the house is a curse . Anyone who speaks the cursed words ( which were written in the middle of the strange writings ) gets afflicted by the curse . And he or she begins to go mad and see weird things and suspect wrong things about his near and dear ones . It is like a virus that spreads to anyone who knows about the cursed words .

So what is the solution to this ? The solution is to kill anyone who has heard the cursed words , for if he or she speaks them to other persons then those too are likely to get affected like a viral infection that has no cure . But this solution means a pile of dead bodies....

The movie has the standard tricks of a horror movie . The presence of the house in a remote forested area , the house having plenty dark rooms , also the cellar below that is frightening , the doors slamming shut in the house suddenly without warning---all this is cliched stuff . But the curse which when spoken afflicts the person spoken to---this was new stuff to me at least . And the solution---to kill anyone who has heard the cursed words---was newer still . So the movie had something to hold my interest . The audience was getting nervous during the horror scenes , which meant that the audience was interested too .

The girlfriend ( played by Cressida Bonas ) looked lovely , with a delicate body to go along with her blue eyes and blonde hair . Acting by her boyfriend ( played by Douglas Smith ) and his other friend ( played by Lucien Laviscount ) was not great however . The horror scenes are decently created . But photography and background music leave much to be desired . However , me being a aficionado of the horror movie genre made me find the film interesting enough .

Verdict---Okay .




Rings



A cursed videotape causes the death of anyone who sees it seven days after that person has watched it , and immediately after watching it that person gets a phone call informing that he/she has seven days....seven days in which that person has to make another person ( denoted as tail ) watch it so that the curse moves on to the other person and the earlier person is free from the curse . The movie begins with two persons on the same plane having watched the videotape without having a tail . So they are doomed , and the plane crashes . But why did the other passengers in the plane die unnecessarily without having watched the videotape ? Can anyone tell why come they were doomed too ? Shh !! Don't ask uncomfortable questions !!

Two years later a college professor buys the same tape , but he organises an experiment with some of his students to pass on watching the video to a tail . The heroine's boyfriend ( who is the professor's student too ) gets caught up in this too , and our heroine is too deeply in love to let him alone in this...she watches the video too . But her copy of the video has another video inside it that is only for her and to solve the mystery she has to go to this wretched town where it all started...

So what is so special about the heroine that only she gets a video that has another video inside it ? Simple really , our heroine has probably been selected to star in the next part of this movie too what else !!

Problem is---there are hardly any jolts in the film that give you the chills that a horror movie gives . Most jolts look and sound more like jolts from a thriller than a horror movie . Later on as the movie moves to the wretched town and the blind priest and the tomb where lie all the secrets to the happenings , the film has become more a mystery movie with some thrills rather than a normal horror movie . The grip which the movie has in the first half is lost in the second half .

I was missing what I had thought were the usual cliches of a horror movie---haunted mansions , darkened rooms , small children making contact with the ghost first , doors slamming shut , our leading actors searching darkened rooms of haunted mansions with candles....where was all that when I needed it most for my staple of entertainment ? What I had once dismissed as cliches were coming to haunt me by their absence !!

Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe look cute as the leading pair , but otherwise the film is not interesting . It frankly gets overcomplicated in the second half and I wasn't impressed . Photography is decent and so are the colours .

Verdict---Not good .