The big surprise with the 2012 Oscar nominations is the inclusion of Stephen Daldry's 9-11 story "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". Of course, Daldry has the credentials...he has been nominated for a Best Director Oscar for each of his past 3 films - "Billy Elliot", "The Hours" and "The Reader". However, his latest effort has had by far the worst reviews of his career, even more than the divisive "The Reader". I haven't seen it so I can't comment.

The weakest nomination for Best Picture Oscar is probably "Moneyball". No doubt it is a good, competent film with good, competent acting, but I believe the appeal is probably greater for American viewers/ voters than it is for an international audience. Very happy for Brad Pitt's 3rd Best Actor Oscar nomination, though. And as a bonus, he is also a co-producer of the movie, so he is nominated in two categories this year.

The big money to win would be on "The Artist", partly because it has Harvey Weinstein behind it, who knows how to turn a movie into Oscar gold; also partly because it is the kind of 'exotic and foreign-made, but entertaining and accessible' movie-making venture which Oscar voters love to reward...think "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Life is Beautiful" and "Slumdog Millionaire".


My sentimental favourite to win Best Picture would be either Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" or Alexander Payne's "The Descendants". I loved Paris. It is incredible that at this stage of his career, Mr. Allen can write, produce and direct a film like this, which can be both a personal passion project and yet so entertaining and accessible.
I haven't seen "The Descendants" yet, but it's got George Clooney in it, so what's not to like :-)

"The Tree of Life" may win some technical awards, but is too deep and profound for the average audience or voter. It is no surprise that it was nominated, given the very high critical ratings, but I personally found it to be like a companion piece to "The Thin Red Line"...incredibly poetic, but difficult to watch at a stretch.

Both "Hugo" and "The War Horse" will get votes, but not enough to come out in front. I think most voters will feel that both Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Scorsese have had their share of accolades.

That brings me to "The Help". This is my dark horse to win on Oscar night. I genuinely enjoyed this film and would happily watch it again. Unlike the other front-runners, this film has that element of social correctness that would make Academy members feel very good about themselves by voting for it. The same sort of emotional tug that helped "Driving Miss Daisy" win the Best Picture Oscar in 1990.

I would be very happy if either "Midnight in Paris" or "The Descendants" or "The Help" won. I loved "The Artist" trailer when I first saw it, but it seems to have got a bit over-exposed over the past few weeks and now I am have gone off it a bit...and I haven't even seen it yet!

Looking forward to Feb 26th.

I am very happy for Tom Cruise. Ever since he jumped on that couch in 2005 and had people dislike him for his personal scientology beliefs, he has had a rough few years. 

"M:i:III" which was released in 2006 was the first of a string of under-performing Cruise movies, followed by "Lions for Lambs", "Valkyrie" and "Knight and Day".

"M:i:III" suffered as much from the backlash of the couch incident as it did with story and character issues. Audiences found it difficult to deal with Ethan Hunt getting married (look what happened when they tried to do that with James Bond in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1969) and Philip Seymour Hoffman's villain was too dark.
"Lions for Lambs" was just plain boring...and anyway American audiences dislike seeing how their government has made a mess of their international affairs.
"Valkyrie" was actually a very good movie and I cannot account for the mixed reviews it received. I have a feeling that director Bryan Singer was dealing with his own backlash following his hopeless Superman reboot.
I think "Knight and Day" would represent the nadir of Cruise's filmography during this period...a very generic action movie featuring a female lead with whom he had no chemistry whatsoever (I could argue that it is not possible for anyone to have chemistry with Cameron Diaz, but that's another article).
The only bright spot in between was his brilliant turn as obnoxious movie producer Les Grossman in "Tropic Thunder"...that dance sequence has to be one of my favourite movie scenes of all time.

So, I am very happy for Tom Cruise to be tasting genuine success with "Ghost Protocol", the live action feature debut by Brad Bird, who until now was famous for his 3 outstanding animated features "The Iron Giant", "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille". In fact, these 3 rank among my most favourite animation movies of all time. What Brad Bird excels at is his ability to humanize his characters...an important skill to have for an animation director. One could argue that after John Woo and JJ Abrams' respective takes on the M:I franchise, it was in need of a human touch...without losing out on its DNA of complex plot lines, tight editing and breathtaking stunts which Brian dePalma so brilliantly brought to the screen in 1996.

"M:I - GP" clearly stands out from its 3 predecessors due to the occasional doses of humour which makes the audience care for the characters...although I have to admit, seeing Ethan Hunt smile and have a drink with colleagues does take some getting used to. 
The opening scene followed by the prison escape scene both do an outstanding job of setting the tone for the movie before the credits even roll (in true James Bond style).  The highlight of course, is the action set piece on the Burj in Dubai.  The Kremlin operation is truly entertaining as well...look, another interesting use for the iPad!!! 
The scenes with the Indian industrialist bordered on the ridiculous however, but it all goes by so quickly, interspersed with the action elsewhere, that one doesn't really mind. Although the pre-film publicity would have us believe that this movie would have Tom Cruise hand over the reins of the franchise to Jeremy Renner, I have to say, this is a Cruise film all the way through. Renner is very good in his supporting role, but he just doesn't have the charisma to match Tom Cruise. It is also an amazing achievement that a man who is going to be 50 years old this year can be in such incredibly good shape. But that really is Tom Cruise doing a lot of his own stunts and this represents the kind of dedication and commitment that Cruise brings to all his film projects.
Among the other cast, Simon Pegg is excellent; I didn't really remember him from M:i:III, but here he plays pretty much the same light-hearted counterfoil role that Jean Reno played in the first film, which I thought was missing in the 2nd and 3rd installments. 


There is no doubt that Brad Bird has breathed new life into the M:I franchise as well as Tom Cruise's career. Talks are already on for a fifth M:I film, while Brad Bird moves on to the ambitious "1906" project, chronicling the effects of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. We will next see Tom Cruise in 2012 play Stacey Jaxx in the 1980's hair rock musical "Rock of Ages". I was very excited to read about the "Rock of Ages" project, but after seeing the first trailer, I am wondering if this will represent yet another mis-step in his career. Fortunately, he has yet another action thriller coming up in 2013 playing Jack Reacher in "One Shot" an adaptation of the Lee Child novel. 

I am writing about the earliest summer release last. 

The action set piece in the finale was one of the most audacious I have ever seen. Two cars dragging a giant safe through the streets of Rio, chased by police cars...serious cojones.

Not to mention, getting kicks out of watching Vin Diesel go mano-a-mano with Dwayne Johnson.

Gonna be tough to top this one with Fast Six.

Makes me wish I had included a category for Best Action Movie when I did my summer movie scorecard. But then, I don't think I would have had any other contenders. Real non-CGI action movies are becoming rarer and rarer. I still remember the suberb "Ronin" from 1998 directred John Frankenheimer.

OK, since my last post, I managed to catch up with Captain America, Cars2 and Cowboys & Aliens. 

Neither Cars2 nor Cowboys & Aliens is going to change my best movie rankings, however, neither of them are going to change my worst movie rankings either.

Perhaps, because the reviews have been mixed to negative for both films, I went in with low expectations and managed to have a reasonably good time watching both films.

Cars2 was a smart animation movie which I suspect adults would enjoy more than kids, as they would be able to better appreciate the references to classic live action spy movies. Nevertheless, the animation and the locations were outstanding.

Cowboys & Aliens was a tad too long and suffered from the casting, in my opinion. I found it difficult to look past the larger than life personalities of Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig. The movie would have benefited from casting someone else in the lead roles. Also, the script could have been a bit tighter, but I think there were too many cooks in this kitchen...just looking at the big names among the producers credits gave me a headache - Spielberg, Ron Howard/ Brian Grazer, Ryan Kavanaugh, Damon Lindelof/Alex Kurtzman/Roberto Orci (JJ Abrams' writing team), not to mention director Jon Favreau who is a pretty good writer too. How could the script accomodate the opinions of all these heavyweights?

That brings me to Captain America. I really enjoyed this film. If Cowboys & Aliens had trouble with the casting, then Captain America got it perfectly right. Here's the catch, the casting for both movies was done by Sarah Finn, so it could be the the heavyweight producers of Cowboys & Aliens didn't give her a free hand, whereas Marvel (which also has a bunch of opinionated creative people) worked well with her on Cap America. Highlights for me were the performances of Stanley Tucci as Dr. Erskine, the ever dependable Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Chester Phillips, the always creepy Toby Jones as Dr. Zola and of course, my favourite weird man Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull. Not to forget a great understated role by Chris Evans as Cap...perhaps the most understated performance by any actor playing a superhero in the past 20 years. The dialogue was hugely entertaining and really reminded me of the snappy dialogue from movies set during that period in the '30s and '40s.

I would actually rate Captain America very close to X-Men: First Class as my favourite superhero movie of the summer, though perhaps just short of being my favourite movie of the summer.

So, the summer movie season is pretty much over. I have missed out on a few, but have caught most of the big titles. Here's my scoreboard so far. 

Best superhero movie - ok, my bad on this one. I have seen only X-Men: FC and Thor. I haven't yet seen Capt. America and Green Lantern. At the moment, X-Men has my vote and I think it will stay at #1. Thor was fun and the chemistry between the leads was good. Will be interesting to see how Capt. America stacks up against Thor. I don't think Green Lantern is in the discussion. I also didn't bother to watch pre-summer release The Green Hornet. It was part of the in-flight menu on one of my flights recently, but after 2 minutes, I found it tedious to watch. Whoever thought that Seth Rogen would make a good crime-fighter has to have his head examined. 

Best animation movie - I have seen Kung Fu Panda2, Rio, Rango and Gnomeo & Juliet. I haven't seen Cars2 and The Smurfs yet. To be honest, none of the movies have really captured my imagination. Rango was smart and interesting as was Gnomeo & Juliet. Rio was reasonably entertaining, but the songs were unbearable. Kung Fu Panda2 was ok, but forgettable and the story a bit of a mess. I haven't heard great reviews about Cars2, so I don't expect much when I eventually watch it. I have no idea what to expect from The Smurfs. I expect Winnie the Pooh to be reasonably enjoyable, but not particularly memorable. So, I guess it's a tie between Rango and Gnomeo.

Best sci-fi movie - ok, this list is going to include some pre-summer releases, such as Battle: LA, The Adjustment Bureau, Source Code and Limitless. Then there are the big summer blockbusters, namely Super8 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers3. I really enjoyed all the 4 pre-summer scifi films, with The Adjustment Bureau probably the winner, followed closely by Source Code. Among the summer releases, it is a close tie between Super 8 and RotPotA. I haven't watched Cowboys & Aliens or Spy Kids 4, but from the reviews, I am guessing they won't threaten my top scores.

Best fantasy movie - I have used this category definition to include movies as disparate as the pre-summer release Sucker Punch, Harry Potter 7.2, Pirates 4 and Conan the Barbarian. I guess the clear winner here is obviously Harry Potter...there isn't really much competition, is there? Special mention to Sucker Punch for the amazing visual experience and some good over the top B-movie performances.

Best comedy movie - I haven't watched a single comedy release from the summer. That includes The Hangover Part II, Bridesmaids, Horrible Bosses, Bad Teacher and Crazy Stupid Love. Not even Hop and Just Go With It from the pre-summer. So, can't give a score here. 

Worst movie of the summer - a close tie between Transformers: ROTF and Pirates of the Caribbean: OST. 

Best movie of the summer - I am taking the easy way out and declaring a 3-way tie for X-Men: First Class, Super 8 and Return of the Planet of the Apes. Of course, the consideration set for this should include Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, Meek's Cutoff and probably The Help, none of which I have seen because they haven't or don't come to theatres here. Another movie which did well at the box office, but I found difficult to categorize (and I haven't seen yet) is Fast Five. But I am guessing that because of the generic subject matter, it wouldn't be a contender. I think when all is done and dusted, Tree of Life or Meek's Cutoff could end up threatening my current 3-way tie for Best Movie of the Summer. Will try to do a final version of this by the end of September if I can find a way to see the remaining few.

RotPotA is a superbly paced, well written, well edited, dramatic action film that potentially can restart the Planet of the Apes franchise. I must admit, when I first heard about this movie, I couldn't understand why anyone would want to make a prequel to PotA, when the outcome (humans get taken over by apes) is already known. A bit like how pointless it was for George Lucas to make the Star Wars prequels. Then I watched the trailer and that shot of Caeser looking into the camera had a chilling effect on me. Of course, the movie was released a few weeks ago and is now a certified critical and commercial success. I just watched it a couple of hours ago. It was everything it promised to be. 
Clearly a lot of credit should go to the writers - I waited for the credits and saw 2 unfamiliar names - Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. I have now discovered they are a husband and wife team who have only written 2 other movie screenplays until now - one was for the thriller "Relic" (1997) and the other for the John Schlesinger crime drama "Eye for an Eye" (1996). What have these 2 been doing for the past dozen or so years since then? I don't know. I bet they are going to be very busy from now on, because the success of the movie has to do with the way the story is given enough time to breathe and develop. Then, director Rupert Wyatt and his two film editors have taken that material and turned it into a film that has hardly a wasted frame or a slack moment throughout its running time.
Of course, Andy Serkis is the true star of the movie. As I said on my Facebook page an hour ago, Serkis should be given an honorary Oscar for bringing Gollum, King Kong and Caesar to life in the last 10 years. Some of Caesar's facial expressions are heartbreaking.

Film buffs will enjoy hearing the words spoken by Charlton Heston's character from the original movie repeated in a different context here - "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" - this time spoken by Tom Felton, who is now free from having to play Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies.
There's a bit of macabre humour at the expense of James Franco's neighbour who never seems to have a good day.
On one hand, I am looking forward to a sequel. On the other hand, I don't want a badly made sequel to ruin the memory of this very smart, very entertaining adult thriller from the summer of 2011.

I have been reading/hearing about Suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy for some time; I first heard about the trilogy when it was announced that the first book was being adapted into a big budget Hollywood movie. Casting news soon followed with some well known young actors being cast - Jennifer Lawrence who was nominated for an Oscar at the tender age of 20 (she also played Mystique in this summer's X-Men: First Class), was cast in the lead female role. Then came news that Liam Hemsworth was being cast in one of the 2 male leads. I don't know anything about Liam Hemsworth, but his surname already marks him out as a potential rising star...he is the brother of Chris Hemsworth who played the title role in Thor. And Josh Hutcherson was cast as the 2nd male lead...he played one of Robin Williams' kids in the comedy RV about 5 years ago and came across as a very capable young actor. Then a few weeks ago, I read that Lenny Kravitz had been cast as some character called Cinna.
Meanwhile, I started seeing the books in prominent positions on bookstore shelves.
Now I was really intrigued and had to find out what this story was all about. I knew it was set in some dystopian post-apocalyptic future, where teenagers have to fight it out in some sort of contest. I also knew there was a female lead and 2 male leads - yeah, that set-up is a no-brainer given the success of the romantic triangle in the Twilight series. 
So, last week, I started reading The Hunger Games...and I finished it in just 4 days flat. That's a pretty good achievement by my recent standards. Even given the fact that it's a young adult novel, therefore not really full of heavy prose.
In some ways, the plot is reminiscent of another trilogy I read as a kid - The White Mountains trilogy by John Christopher. That also features a human population that has been subjugated to a semi-rural state of living by an authoritarian rule (it was aliens in the case of The White Mountains). It also features a social system whereby the rulers target children as soon as they approach their teens. And eventually, it's these teens who find a way to free humanity.
There is also a very strong connection with the plot of the Japanese cult film Battle Royale.
The Hunger Games is written in the first person, the story being told by the character of Katniss Everdeen (to be played by Jennifer Lawrence), who lives with her family in a coal-mining community. Her best friend is Gale (to be played by Josh Hutcherson). There is another boy in the community called Peeta (Liam Hemsworth) who she barely knows at the start of the story. Their community, called District 12, is one of 12 districts being ruled by an authoritarian regime called Panem in the remnants of what was once North America. To punish the districts for their past rebellion, the rulers of Panem demand a 'tribute' from each district every year, in the form of one boy and one girl (between the ages of 12 and 18) who must participate in a fight to the death, all played out on live television for the entertainment of the citizens of the Capitol, where the rulers of Panem live.
The story begins on the day of the draw of lots for the latest Games. I won't reveal any plot points of course, but most of the book deals with the actual Games and the participation of the key characters in these games. 
Of course, it all ends well...or does it? There is clearly something wrong, which obviously will get resolved in Books 2 (Catching Fire) and 3 (Mockingjay).
I am now mid-way through Book 2. It doesn't have the same pace and freshness as Book 1, but of course, I am a captive audience now and will have to read through the 2nd and 3rd books to find out what happens.
Incidentally, the film is being directed by Gary Ross (Seabiscuit). But what was really interesting is that Gary Ross has requested his close friend, none other than Steven Soderbegh to jump in and help him meet the tight production deadline by shooting the 2nd unit footage!!! That's the icing on the cake for me. Looking forward now to a good movie adaptation, which might rival the success of the Twilight series.

It is inevitable that everyone will compare Steven Soderbergh's upcoming action-thriller "Contagion" with Wolfgang Petersen's identically-themed "Outbreak" released 15 years earlier. Just watched the Contagion trailer. Looks pretty generic and leaves you with a feeling of "I have seen this all before". But of course, what will make it worth watching, besides Soderbergh's direction, will be the star cast - Matt Damon, Kate Winslett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard...super cool. Will be worth the wait till September.

I have been waiting and waiting for the trailer for John Carter (inexplicably shortened from the original title John Carter of Mars). Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic set of stories about a man from one culture who becomes a hero in a completely  world (ha ha, yes, it's that similar to Tarzan), John Carter is being directed by Andrew Stanton, the Pixar man who directed A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo and Wall-E. Yes, it's that big a deal for Disney.

If ever a movie has tried to downplay its most important element, it's this one. First, they shorten the name to John Carter, so that the average kid (who is the key target audience demographic) who hasn't even heard of Edgar Rice Burroughs is going to think this is some biopic of a past US President. Ok, once the kid sees the trailer, he realizes it's not about a US President, but it looks vaguely generic. It could almost be a spin-off of Conan the Barbarian. Absolutely no mention of Mars. Right until the very end, no visuals or even hints of the Barsoomians. And the one shot of a Martian looks terribly CGI-ish. 

I sure hope they throw some money at this and give it the marketing hype it desperately needs. No one is going to come running to watch Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins...their faces might be familiar from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but not their names. So, it has to be marketed as a high concept movie story, set on an alien world, from the author of Tarzan.

They better get it right. I want to like it so much.

I am getting really excited about the cast being put together for Ridley Scott's "Prometheus", which will be set in the same universe as his breakout hit "Alien" from 1979.
The cast list already had Michael Fassbender (emerging now as a major force in lead roles), Noomi Rapace (who acted as Lisbeth Salander in the original foreign films based on the Millenium trilogy novels), Idris Elba (who was impressive as the gatekeeper of Asgard in "Thor") and Charlize Theron (who we haven't seen on screen since her 2008 superhero pic "Hancock" with Will Smith). 
Now, the studio have announced that Ben Foster is joining the cast. Ben Foster is one of my favourite young actors...I would call him a character actor rather than a leading man, based on his performances in X-Men 3 (as Angel), 3:10 to Yuma and The Messenger.
Damon Lindelof, who created the basic story premise for the TV series "Lost", is writing the screenplay. 
Cinematography will be by Dariusz Wolski, who has shot all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Alice in Wonderland. Now that may not sound like the right kind of credentials for a dark space opera. But if you delve into Wolski's past, you can see that was the cinematographer for 2 of Alex Proyas' early movies, "The Crow" and "Dark City", both of which had a tonal palette influenced by Ridley Scott's "Alien" and "Blade Runner". Wolski also shot "Crimson Tide" (the submarine pic directed by Ridley's brother Tony), which would make him perfect for filming claustrophobic scenes inside a spaceship.
Looks like a really potent combination of cast and crew.
So, I am hoping for an instant classic when the film is released in June 2012.