Australia

April 23, 2013 2 Comments

ausGenre: Period/Drama | Year: 2008 | Duration: 165 mins | Director: Baz Luhrmann| Medium: DVD (Sony Home Video) | Trailer: HERE | My rating:4*/5

Fav Dialogue: Magarri: “If you’ve got no love in your heart, you’ve got nothing… No dreaming, no story, nothing”

This historical romance is set in pre – WWII picturesque Australian outback is a story of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole kidman) an English aristrocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch in Faraway Downs (Northern Australia) whose husband is killed shortly before her arrival. Sarah is helped by this rugged ’Drover’ (Hugh Jackman) with whom an unbashed romance grows over time. Sarah is also captivated by a young boy Nullah (Brandon Walters) who’s called ‘creamy’ by local white population as he had an aboriginal mother and a white father. The movie shows the undercurrent of racial tensions between the aboriginees and the white population. Towards the end of the film, grief, loss and disaster is beautifully portrayed through Japanese attack of Darwin (1942)

This overstretched yet ambitious film filled with sheer adventure and slapstick humor is my “Movie of the day”.

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CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN

April 17, 2013 Leave a comment

220px-Mandolinfilm1Genre: Romance/Drama | Year: 2001 | Duration: 131 mins | Director: John Madden| Medium: VCD (BIG Home Video) | Trailer: HERE | My rating: 3.5*/5

Fav Dialogue: “Dr. Iannis: When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No… don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is!”

Even though am a fan of Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz, I enjoyed this movie mostly because of its beautiful cinematography. The film’s story, based on Louis de Bernieres novel, is of a beautiful greek girl falling in love with an infantry officer from the occupying Italian forces during the second world war. Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicholas cage) has a love for music and keeps his mandolin in his knapsack insead of an officers’ baton, and strumming on his mandolin charms the gorgeous Pelagia (Penelope Cruz) off her feet (and her pants too!). However John madden fails to capture the essence of music transcending the brutality of war and nationalistic boundaries. Cage didn’t sound Italian enough and nor did Cruz did justice with the Greek accent. The movie does show brilliance in parts in bringing out the pathos and grit of war time romance.

This flawed, yet sweet war-time romance is my ‘Movie of the Day’.

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SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW

April 8, 2013 Leave a comment

skyGenre: Action/Sci-fi | Year: 2004 | Duration: 106 mins | Director: Kerry Conran| Medium: VCD (BIG Home Video) | Trailer: HERE | My rating: 4*/5*

Fav dialogue: “Dex: [walks in on Joe aiming a gun at Polly] Oh, great, we all made up!?”

Manhattan is attacked by giant robots and robotic birds, and mysterious disappearances of world’s top scientists, makes Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her dashing ex, Sky captain ( Jude Law) go around the world on man hunt for Totenkopf (with a biblical plot of futuristic arc and miniaturised animals), till they reach Tibet to find underground lair of the nerd villain. The entire film reminded me of moving comics and brilliant CGI, and even the robots were cool along with the mysterious protector of the legion (Bai Ling), the use of amphibious WWII plane by the sky captain seemed too outdated (he certainly deserved a mean machine). Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie) as the commander of an all-female fleet adds the oomph factor (even though there are no hot scenes throughout the movie), and Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) the technical genius abducted by the robots suddenly re-appear at climax to rescue Polly & Sky Captain.

Being a lover of sci-fi & comics/animation, I enjoyed it as my ‘Movie of the Day’.

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