Movie Review - Up in the Air

[kunjuppu]

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Just released two days ago, this is a movie of the times in the USA & Canada.

here it is the era, when firing working folks, on a mass scale is the norm. it is rare to find an individual in his 50s who has not been axed atleast once in his career here.

many a companies use outside companies to do the firing and aftermath. this takes the unpleasantness of adminstering bad medicine away from the company managers, most of whom would it painful to let go of colleagues with whom they had worked for years.

george clooney is one such hired gun. he is on the plane for 320 days of the year, going from one place to another, firing people. the movie is also reflection of his personal self and attitude to life.

over the course of a well paced and never boring 120 minutes or so, we are entertained by a intro to a world, that we seldom witness without misgivings.

there are also two interesting side stories along with the main theme, and the director, a canadian, has sewn them all together to produce a masterpiece

here are some reviews for your pleasure

George Clooney in Up in the Air | Trailer & Official Movie Site

it should be released wide all over the world very soon. do not miss it

 

[kunjuppu]

Movie Review: Rocket Singh

i was very very surprised to see the New York Times review bollywoo movies, with reference on the front page.

Movie Review - Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year - High Road in Business? He Takes It - NYTimes.com

btw, i heard the movie panned in india. per the local newscast yesterday.

 

[hariharan1972]

3 idiots

the hindi movie that is making the rounds these days for both on & off the screen performances is '3 idiots'.

directed by raju hirani, the man who created munnabhai, the film takes on our educational system especially the rote system. apart from casting my favourite khan, aamir, the film has been shot in the campus of iim b, something i am very happy about.

the story apparently is based on chetan bhagat's 5 point someone. now chetan bhagat is not exactly my kind of author, with due respects to him. so i cant vouch for the claims of either chethan or hirani-vinod chopra.

the storyline is pretty simple :

ranchod das shymal das chanchad is aamir khan a brilliant student who believes in education being an 'experience'. he joins ice a prestigious engineering institution and has farhan (portly madhavan) and raju (sharman joshi) as his friends.

rancho takes on chathur ramalingam a student and virus (boman irani) the head of the institution both of whom believe in rote learning.

movie settles down after a series of pranks by aamir & co. all the while aamir also romances pia (kareena kapoor), daughter of virus.

in a prank, rancho causes huge embarassment to virus and chathur in a college day ceremony by changing crucial words of a speech text to be delivered by chathur. (chamatkar to balatkar, for those not knowing hindi, it is equivalent of changing miracle to molestation).

aggrieved chathur challenges rancho to meet him after 10 years to guage who has been more successful in life.

years roll on and now chathur comes back on the appointed day and meets up farhan and raju to show off where he has reached & what he has achieved - big car, house, millions etc...

the movie is told in a combination of forward - flashback mode which is delightful. the movie is mostly told with farhan being the narrator.

actually after college farhan and raju have lost contact with rancho and so, they set off with chathur to find him. they reach shimla and they are shocked to find that javed jaffrey is really ranchod das shymal das chanchad.

it is later revealed that aamir was the son of gardener who worked for javed's father. since javed's father wanted a graduate for his family, the gardner's son aamir is asked to take the place of the family heir and get educated.

after knowing the truth about rancho, the trio set off to visit him at the remote location where he has stationed himself.

back to the college days, the clash between education as exp & rote system widens. it reaches a point where virus challenges that farhan and raju would never be able to land into jobs.

farhan actually doesnt like engineering and wants to be a wild life photographer while raju is eternally short of confidence.

rancho guides them to the point where farhan speaks up to his father and seeks his permission to pursue wild life photography while raju finally shakes off his low confidence and lands into a job.

peeved by this, virus decides to fail raju by setting a tough question paper for the final exams. tipped of this by kareena, rancho breaks into the dean's office and steals the question paper only to be caught.

they are expelled from college. the same day, virus first daughter (kareena's elder sister) goes into labour. it's raining heavily and virus is unable to find transport.

believe it or not, rancho and the college boys guided by pia (a doctor) actually deliver the baby using car batteries and vaccum cleaner.

indebted virus cancels the expulsion.

back to the current, the trio learn that pia is about to get married the same day. so they rush off to her wedding and inform that rancho has been located, she breaks off and joins the team in their mission to find rancho.

and finally rancho is located in a small village where he has created an educational institution which takes off pressure from the students. education is made enjoyable and a worthy experience.

and the final twist in the tale : rancho is actually phunsukh wangdu, the man with 400 patents and the man whom chathur is after to sign up for his company !!!

phew !

the crux of the movie is good but i feel it is an over simplification to suggest that conceptual understanding is not relevant. mugging up and rote is not, i agree but without a formal system of introducing concepts, i wonder how information can be disseminated.

from a cinematic perspective, the film is near perfect though i know that rajeev masand hasnt rated it very highly. i also read a review as to how indian film is still in the clutches of stardom that requires a 44 year old aamir to play half his age.

actually aamir is passable while madhavan is over portly. actually the madhavan of alai paayudhe would have been apt for this movie.

kareena is as usual the cutie pie and is responsible for a few laughs especially the ones about gujarati food - dhokla, fafda.

boman irani as viru sahasrabuddhe (virus) is reduced to being a caricature but yet he does his part well.

chathur ramalingam is a revelation. sharman joshi is tolerable.

songs are top chartbusters - all izz well and zoobi doobi

watch it for some good fun but dont take the film literally or too seriously.

 

[anandb]

Dear Hari,

Very comprehensive review. I liked 3 Idiots for the simple reason it was extremely well scripted and had a very good screenplay unlike 98% of the movies which don't have one. Also there was no vulgarity (the supposedly hot scene between Aamir and Kareena proved to be a damp squib at least in the Gulf) and never had a dull moment. Moreover it was not preachy which is hated by everyone these days. In India we have a million stories to tell but unfortunately never told on the screen in the right manner. I love Aamir. Just look at the variety of his roles from his Lagan days. Dil Chaata Hai, Mangal Pandey, RDB, Fanaa, TZP, Ghajni and now 3 Idiots. Except MP the rest are all hits. This guy is a maverick worthy of emulation by other actors. All these movies except MP had excellent screenplay and that was the reason for the success. I hope with more corporates getting into film production the quality of movies improve unless it is a ploy to convert the black into white.

 

[amala]

Thank you for the review Sri Hariji. I cannot wait to watch it. I'm a huge fan of Aamir since his filmi Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar days.

Aamir has started experimenting with more diverse characters/roles ala Kamal Hassan from Lagaan as Anandji said.

Can't stand Kareena though. Wish it was Vidya Balan instead. Oh well.

 

[renuka]

Thank you for the review Sri Hariji. I cannot wait to watch it. I'm a huge fan of Aamir since his filmi Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar days.

Aamir has started experimenting with more diverse characters/roles ala Kamal Hassan from Lagaan as Anandji said.

Can't stand Kareena though. Wish it was Vidya Balan instead. Oh well.

dear amala kutti,

you know i used to like kamal hassan before but after he became too much of a preformer than a mass entertainer I dont like him so much anymore.
i used to like his Sakalakalavallavan types of movies.
I like Rajnikanth because he is a good entertainer.
I like Vijay also becos he dances well.

I used to like Amir Khan but now he also has become like kamal too much thinking to do when you watch their movies.

I like Sarath kumar movies where he can bash up 10 guys and they go flying in the air.way to go man. He is all power.
I liked Vikram in Anniyan.
i enjoyed Kandaswamy especially the" Excuse me Mr Kandasamy "song and the remix" Bambara Kannale".
I think he is a good actor and i like Prithiviraj in Mozhi.

Female actors i like are Hot and sexy Shreya, Asin,Trisha.
Tammanah is not bad also but lacks a screen presence.
I dont like all those homely faces.I only like hot types.

Amala, you know a good movie for me is good songs, hot chick heroine, hot chick item number and good fights where one hero can fight 10 guys.storyline not so important.
very relaxing after a long days work.

 

[amala]

dear amala kutti,

Female actors i like are Hot and sexy Shreya, Asin,Trisha.
Tammanah is not bad also but lacks a screen presence.
I dont like all those homely faces.I only like hot types.

Amala, you know a good movie for me is good songs, hot chick heroine, hot chick item number and good fights where one hero can fight 10 guys.storyline not so important.
very relaxing after a long days work.

Renuji,

I couldn't help smiling reading this . I like Asin and Trisha. Always have and now Tammana. In Bollywood I like Vidya, Juhi and Kajol, especially Kajol. The only Khan I can stand is Aamir. He is always reinventing himself these days, a bit like Kamal.