Game Plan (2007)

Yes, this is exactly what it seems... I'm enunciating about the movies that I had beeen so meticulously avoiding to watch.

Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? A 3-movie deal with Disney is SOOOOOO torturous. & I watched this only to accompany Roger. I had to put away my prejudices for wrestler-turned-actors and sport-movies and flicks-intended-for-preteen-kids and several other opinions. I could read all of this movie from it 90-second trailer. & it's nothing beyond that. Only added bonus would be Dwayne Johnson doing professional ballet... and singing 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?'. If a yawn could yawn.

Favourite scenes include: the 'Mar..gar..ritta' blackmail, & the ballet-attempt wasn't half-bad.

Alternate Ending: They could have capitalised a lot more on the kid's cuteness and the dog-in-a-tutu. Plus gimme some more of Roselyn Sanchez's dancing moves. It is trully a wasted potential.

First Viewed: With Roger at home in Doha.

Rating- 1.5 *

Serenity (2005)

I'm a fan of the TV series. I like the space-cowboy concept, 500 years into the future & yet no aliens around to bother humanity. By now you'd have figured out that I like this movie too. It doesn't fail to deliver. There's plenty for everyone. Good writing, humour and action (though Firefly-viewing is a definite pre-requisite to appreciate this movie). & at the most, this movie seems like an extended episode of the mini-series with a slightly higher budget.

The relationships have been explored further. There's growth and acceptability within the characters. There were minuses with over-the-top hamming and stale plotline; (though it was in line with the series, it did seem a waste to lose some brilliant characters). The amazing thing about Joss Whedon is he's not afraid to cripple, maim, or kill off characters. Shepherd Book's mystery was left a mystery. & Washburn's death was a BIG shock.

All in all, this movie ranks high cause of the TV series, the vivid imagination, the generic goodness of human nature in infinite space. & a tight-slap across Fox network's face; cause you just 'Can't stop the signal'.

Favourite scenes include: all scences with the Mal-Inara tension, the Pulse beacon decoy, River's scene at the bar & with the reavers.

Alternate Ending: I felt that Mr Universe was being given too much respect with that burial. I would certainly want Book's mystery solved.

First Viewed: Alone at home in Nerul.

Rating- 3.5*

El secreto de sus ojos (2009)

I'm not familiar with Argentinian cinema, so this was my first acquaintance with director, writer and actors. The Academy Award nomination was the reason which attracted me to this movie. & it was a delight to watch. It was story-telling with it's own liberties of judgement, relationships and pace. I loved the portrayal of age...25 years of growth. & the dialogues were good. "Angel in mourning"; "4 bullets"; "Te Mo/ Te Amo". The movie did remind me of Irreversible; because of the themes... but I liked this one's ending more. It reiterates the same, Is vigilantism ever justified? The characters are complicated, interesting, believable, flawed, funny, tragic and deeply human. The plot is well executed, casting was excellent, the camera-work was superbly accurate to express the sadness, humour, fear and romance of different situations of characters. The drunkard friend steals the show several times. I knew that Morales (the husband) was lying about having killed Gómez. I could really see it in his eyes (as says the title).

Favourite scenes include: The photo album scene with the husband, the football stadium scene, the interogation, the elevator scene and the climax.

Alternate Ending: Nah, I wouldn't change it.

First Viewed: Alone at home in Doha.

Rating- 3.5*

Up in the air (2009)

I was unsure about what the hype was all about. The pre-Oscar buzz, the film-festival awards; all for a George Clooney movie? Yes, I did enjoy the trailer very much; so I had the movie on my to-watch list. There was plenty of honesty dripping from the start of the movie. I seem to enjoy bluntless & there were several of my favourite themes in this movie. The monologues, the grey-shaded central characters, the slick one-liner conversations, the facts & counterfacts; & a fine ball of yarn.... I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. & yes, Mr Clooney carries it off well. It's very tongue-in-cheek and modern. & it's got plenty of giggles. & I'm glad that the makers didn't try to sugar-coat the ending. Too bad the movie didn't win the Golden Globes except for the screenplay.

Favourite scenes include: Steve's firing, exchanging of flight schedules, each of the photo-shoots, Natalie's breakdown on being dumped, the ideal match discussion, 'Call me when you're lonely', the last monologue.

Alternate Ending: The buildup to the climax was cliched. Yes, I know the typical heartbreaking stuff is brilliant. & I am very satisfied with it. Thankfully they didn't pin Clooney as the mile-high playboy. But I would have put him at peace with his loneliness, not confused staring at the destination board.

First Viewed: With Roger at home in Doha.

Rating-3.5*

Did You Hear About the Morgans (2009)

I was watching a Hugh Grant movie after over 5 years... & I still smile at his performance in LoveActually. But I've grown to get annoyed of his unchanging mannerisms. & SJP... The ONLY thing I liked her was in a few episodes of SATC. Keeping aside all my prejudices, (& coerced by Roger) I sat down to watch DYHATM. & in 7 hours I had already forgotten most of the movie. All of the movie was revealed in its trailer & didn't have much imagination to encash on the out-of-towners pitch. The characters lacked chemistry and what could have been a 10 minute short-film seemed to be dragged on for 90 mins.

Favourite scenes include: The nurse/waitress/fire-assistant stupidity, the assistants, the log-cutting scene, the cow-milking scene.

Alternate Ending: The primary characters were so undimensional, that I was rooting for their assistants. I'd love a parallel story-line as I found them far more interesting. & also, a few more appearances by the bear would have been funny.

First Viewed: With Roger at home in Doha.

Rating- 1.5*

Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince (2009)

I had finished the book in three days, so I knew there was a lot of pages to cover in 2.5 hours. & I knew this was the book that focussed on the budding romances. So, I was expecting a lot more in the young love section. The effects was the usual, nothing extra. The was so much more in the book that was seriously missed. This was a really poor screenplay of a good book. There were the funny moments, & they were liked. But there's nothing more I can take from this one. All the story-telling's left to next two of the series.

Favourite scenes include: The Library scene, the Xmas dinner, The cave fight.

Alternate Ending: There's so much stuff missing here that I can't list them all. I can't go against the book, but I certainly wanted a bit more chemistry between the young pairs. & ya, the half-Blood part not even explained in the movie !!

First Viewed: Alone at home in Doha.

Rating-2.5

Monsters (2010)

I came across this movie by sheer chance. There was some praise for it on the imdb circuit, & there was plenty of abuse too. I decided to give it a try without trying to find out anything about it. I still had 'District 9' in my mind when I had read the tagline on the movie-poster.

The movie starts off with a blurry middle-of-the-night attack captured on night-vision camera & I immediately hoped it wasn't a Cloverfield-ripoff. That's the problem with monster-movies these days... everything seems to have already been done & dusted. Original material is immensely difficult to come by. Ok, moving on.. the next scene explains the plot - our leading man had to escort his boss's daughter to safety from an alien-infested zone. Simple plot; & not much time wasted on getting the pitch on the road. Quickly the little gestures fed in the back-story; most of the story-telling was of the 'blink-n-you-miss-it' variety. The hints of a blooming romance amidst the dangers of a battlefield...

I gave this movie a slightly higher ranking, just because of the start & the end; & how they both are the same.

Favourite scenes include: the drunken flirting, the Incan pyramid detour, the beginning-is-the-end twist.

Alternate Ending: The question whether the aliens really attack the rescue-team remains unanswered. Or did the heroine die because of the air-bombings ?? It really was a clever way to show the end at the start of the movie, so that the audience leave with a happy thought at the end of the movie. This I think was fabulous; & wouldn't change it at all.

First Viewed: Alone at Harborne in Parramatta.

Rating-3

Couples Retreat (2009)

This could have been a very funny movie; & it did have the cast, the situations and the characters to make a very funny movie...but, it disappoints. I could count the times I smiled, on my thumbs. It was a forced attempt to string a few jokes together alongwith two-piece bikinis. A trully wasted oppurtunity. A first it seemed like an extension to 'the Break Up(2006)' (will talk about that later). Jean Reno was the only funny bit in that movie; & I found him amusing mainly because of his accent and ponytail.

The rating is just for the locales. Tahiti... yumm!

Favourite scenes include: The Yoga scene; The massage scene... THAT'S IT.

Alternate Ending: This one needs a lot of alteration... but if I had to alter the last 15 mins, I would spend all of it in Eden East !! Yumm!! This one falls in the sad_but_true category of life... so the Ultra-positive ending is a bit too nauseating.

First Viewed: With friends at home in Doha.

Rating-2

The Italian Job (2003)

A second viewing of the same movie left me dissatisfied. & I hadn't even seen the 1969 original in the meanwhile. Maybe I was in a much better mood during the first viewing. or maybe in a less jovial mood during the second. I couldn't digest several things; and I have a high measuring point for con-movies & heist flicks. But this one doesn't qualify for that elite category, does it?

Italy features in only first 20 mins of the movie. & the Mini Cooper could have been used a lot more effectively. There certainly are several reasons why I did enjoy the movie, Seth Green; the cool opening heist; the ultra cool Mini. The only reason I gave it a better rating was because of the chase sequences made without using any CGI. Ed Norton sleep-walked through most of the movie; but that was adequetely compensated by the fast-paced screenplay.

Favourite scenes include: The Venice chase scene; The Napster reference; 'Lost the element of surprise'

Alternate Ending: C'mon, could we see some more of Skinny Pete & the Ukrainians. & A lot more Charlize Theron in a mini, or a micro..

First Viewed: With Kunal on DVD in Brighton.

Rating-3

His Girl Friday (1940)

I had certain expectations from this movie. I had heard of Cary Grant's work in 'My favourite Wife' & was expecting similar humour and fun from this one. But calling this one a screwball comedy is over-optimistic. Agreed, the fast paced dialogue did get a lot of my attention; & so did the shrewdness of the lead characters. Tit for tat, a long game of ping & pong. I was rooting for a kiss so many times.

I knew how it was gonna end; I knew it before I pressed the play button. So I was trying hard to find a funny moment that would stick with me for a while.

Favourite scenes include: The lunch date; Pettibone's stupidity.

Alternate Ending: Is asking for a kiss too much? & I found Molly Malloy's suicide attempt to divert attention a bit too much. That could be done away with.

First Viewed: Alone at home in Doha.

Rating-2