Film

My movies and the movies I like.

3 Idiots

~ Devanshu Mehta ~ 7 Comments

3 Idiots is a great movie for the first 2 hours, and an okay movie for the last hour. And again a great movie for the last 5 minutes. I shouldn’t be rating movies by the hour, but this is what happens with Hindi movies. How many times have you heard “first half is good, second half is boring” for a Hindi movie? That’s because they cram all the fun in the first half (e.g. fun in Europe, carefree college, meet-cute love story) and then all of the plot in the second half. And the plot isn’t worth a naya paisa.

Of course, 3 Idiots has a different problem– it has a fairly good plot for those great 2 hours, but then adds more and more and more for the last hour. Have we seen a yeh shaadi nahi ho sakti yet? No? Let’s add one. How about extended hospital scenes with doctor sahaab mere bete ko bacha leejiye? No? Add one of those. And then maybe an is ladke se zyaada pyaar tumhe kahi nahi milegaa. Before we get to the actual climax.

But it is a great movie for the most part. Rajkumar Hirani is three for three in my book. The story, told in flashbacks Dil Chahta Hai style, involves three engineering students with different approaches to life. It’s funny, it’s mostly accurate, and it’s fresh.

∞

Aamir Khan is 44. Madhavan is 39. And Sharman Joshi is 30. And they’re all playing college kids. This is ridiculous and has to stop. Leaving your hair messed up and never tucking in your shirt doesn’t make you 18.

Abhay Deol: The Best Managed Career in Bollywood

~ Devanshu Mehta ~ Leave a comment

So we just watched <em>Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye</em> and while it’s not the greatest of movies, it tries all kinds of fun stuff, succeeds at some, fails spectacularly at others, but everyone involved seems to be having such a great time that it’s infectious.

And this has been true about every Abhay Deol movie I have seen: Ek Chaalis ki Last Local, Manorama Six Feet Under and even the silliness that was Dev D. He’s like early Edward Norton— I’d watch a movie just because he was in it and not because he’s the best actor around, but because the fact that he chose to do the movie is a pretty good endorsement for it.

Also I think he is my favorite Deol in the entire world, though early Dharmendra would give him a run for his money. Before the mein tera khum pi jaunga era.

∞

Edward Norton’s first six movies were:

  • Primal Fear
  • The People vs. Larry Flynt
  • Everyone Says I Love You
  • Rounders
  • American History X
  • Fight Club

Then he went on to make 3 movies that were merely okay. But exactly 10 years ago, he could do no wrong.

Julie & Julia & the Prawns

~ Devanshu Mehta ~ Leave a comment

I did a District 9 and Julie & Julia double feature at home today. The scene where Amy Adams (Julie) boils a lobster is about all I can find in common between them. Ebert even mentions boiling lobsters in his review of District 9:

In appearance, [the prawns a]re loathsome, in behavior disgusting and evoke so little sympathy that killing one is like — why, like dropping a 7-foot lobster into boiling water.

Both are highly recommended– which one I recommend more would depend on the audience– but I enjoyed District 9 more. It’s unique, represents a writer and director (Neil Blomkamp) thinking on their feet. I look forward to what Blomkamp will do next.

∞

If you’ve seen District 9 and Avatar, did you notice a similarity between the two? Both have a human becoming an alien that ends up helping the aliens defeat the humans. In District 9, it’s an accident and Wikus has no way out. In Avatar, Jake volunteers but enjoys it more than he had expected. Wikus is almost single-mindedly selfish in his motives until the very end, while Jake gradually assumes the role of savior after falling in love.

∞

In her article titled “When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like ‘Avatar’?”, Annalee Newitz went off on a fantastic rant, but also made comparisons between both films as movies about white guilt.

These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color – their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the “alien” cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become “race traitors,” and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It’s not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it’s not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It’s a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.

I don’t agree with it all, but it is a magnificent rant.

On the Geek Cred of Zoe Saldana

~ Devanshu Mehta ~ Leave a comment

So this weekend was a Zoe Saldana weekend. And to think that until 3 days ago, I had barely heard her name.

Within a year, this lady has gone from being barely known for a small part in Pirates of the Caribbean to having geek cred to rival Patrick Stewart (Star Trek and X-Men) Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings and X-Men) and Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings and the Star Wars prequels).

Saldana plays the female Na’vi named Neytiri in the James Cameron behemoth Avatar. And earlier this year, she played Uhura in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek. And so, she has entered fandom folk lore. Like the year Christopher Lee played Dooku and Saruman (2002), or McKellen played Magneto and Gandalf (2003).
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Avatar

~ Devanshu Mehta ~ 1 Comment

Let me not bore you with details: go see Avatar. It will forever change your expectations from movies. It changes what is possible. And it’s meant to be seen in 3D, and on the biggest screen possible.