Dark and light
APTLY for a movie called Mirror
Mirror, this retelling of Snow White looks absolutely luscious. Everything from the Renaissance-meetsWonderland costumes to the surrealist sets are a feast for the eyes, and perfect for reimagining a twist on the classic fairy tale.
Note that the man behind the project is Tarsem Singh, director of such visually-arresting movies as The Cell, The Fall and Immortals. Unfortunately, there’s another thing all his movies have in common: they’re all more style than substance, and Mirror Mirror is no exception.
Part of the problem is that the movie can’t seem to decide what tone it wants to adopt: campy or serious. Hence, the plot wanders around aimlessly (and a sudden nod to the director’s Bollywood roots at the end just seems completely out of place).
That said, I appreciated the mix of clever humour with the outright slapstick jokes. Much of the credit goes to the cast. Julia Roberts is a suitably self-obsessed evil queen, with excellent comic timing that makes even the more outrageous scenes work, while Lily Collins is adequately sweet as Snow White (though I must say, her eyebrows are distractingly shaggy).
And not many prince-types can pull off that ideal combination of suave and silly, but Armie Hammer manages it with oodles of charm to spare. Nathan Lane as the queen’s minion Brighton, too, gets a laugh with every line. The real scenestealers, however, are the seven dwarves, who not only share great chemistry, but are delightfully diverse and funny too.
In short, Mirror Mirror is certainly not a rotten apple, but is not as delicious as its tempting exterior may suggest. – Sharmillaganesan
Titanic 3D
BOTH Leonardo dicaprio (he sure was thin then) and Kate Winslet (she sure has lost a lot of baby fat) have obviously aged since Titanic, but the story has not. It is still very watchable, even though you will look at the tragedy with a new pair of eyes (one that’s coloured by all the terrible events the world has gone through in the past 15 years).
Erm, you are also slightly distracted when you spot a familiar face (is that Ioan Gruffudd serving tea to the captain? Surreal!) or when you see scenes that have been spoofed way too many times (“I am king of the world.” Bah!).
But that’s not the point of this rerelease. The point is director James Cameron has meticulously converted his 2D 1997 film into 3D. And he has done an amazing job of it. You notice depth where there was none before – like when the lead characters are walking on the firstclass deck and the windows and people look a lot further away than before. Also, you can see the details in some of the things that were just a blur in the background before.
There are also moments that catch you by surprise – like how a plank suddenly appears really close to you or just how massive the pistons in the engine room are. All this makes Titanic a somewhat new experience.
Maybe that’s why you are once again drawn to the story of two star-crossed lovers who find each other on board this “unsinkable ship” as though it’s something you haven’t seen before (although you may have seen it more than once. Oh, just admit it!). As previous times too, the scene in which the musicians continue playing as the ship goes down is still heartbreaking. Sob, darn it, this happens every time. – Mumtajbegum
3
3 COULD have been 2 great movies, but ends up being 1 pretty decent one.
What really takes this Tamil-language film beyond the ordinary are some excellent performances by the leads and a refreshing perspective by first-time director Aishwarya Dhanush.
Telling the story of Ram (Dhanush) and Janani (Shruti Haasan) from their schoolday romance all the way to a complex adult relationship, the movie takes a low-key, naturalistic approach to depict how two young people fall in love.
The first half, where Dhanush and Shruti play secondary school students who gradually fall in love, is absolutely delightful, with just the right balance of humorous and touching moments. The actors do a great job, and share wonderful chemistry, with the youthful yet melodious songs by Anirudh Ravichander adding a nice touch.
The second half of the movie, however, veers into much heavier territory, showing Ram and Janani in a marriage where there is more beneath the surface than it first appears.
Dhanush really shines here as a man with a dark secret, and really, the second half belongs to him completely. Aishwarya, who wrote the screenplay, also deserves credit for not holding back, and instead depicting a difficult issue with stark honesty (although there are several large plot holes that could have been handled better).
The problem is that the first and second halves of the film are so different in tone that they seem like two completely different movies. The transition from lighthearted Lawless This film should not to be confused with another production with the same title starring Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling. Lawless features Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf and Guy Pearce and was previously called The Wettest Country.
These three actors (hailing from Britain, the United States and Australia) are players in a film set in Franklin County, Virginia, during the Great Depression. Hardy love story to heavy psychological drama is too jarring. Nevertheless, it’s worth watching for some good performances, a lovely first half, and for dealing with subjects rarely seen in Indian films. – Sharmilla Ganesan (
Wrath Of The Titans
IF you loved or hated Clash Of The Titans (2010), I’m pretty sure that and Labeouf are bootleggers. They are caught in a tussle, and Special Agent Charley Rakes (Guy Pearce) decides that he wants a cut of their profits.
Directed by John Hillcoat, Lawless also features the talented cast of Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska. It is tentatively scheduled to arrive here on Aug 30. you will feel the exact same way about this sequel; mainly because the producers and director seem to have gone for the exact same formula as the first movie.
We’ve got the gods – Zeus (Liam Neeson), Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and Ares (Edgar Ramirez) – the smart-ass sidekick Agenor (Toby Kebbell), the strong female Queen Andromeda (now in the form of Rosamund Pike), and we even get an actual Titan this time round – Kronos, the destructive father of the gods.
And of course, we still have demigod hero Perseus (Sam Worthington), who, as a fisherman and single father, is quietly raising his 10-year-old son Helius (John Bell).
But with the gods losing their power due to fewer believers, and a plot to release Kronos in the works, Perseus has to leave his quiet life and be the hero again.
The action scenes, I have to say, really reminded me of the fights in the original movie, with only the participants – except for Perseus – being replaced.
Instead of harpies, we have chimaeras; in place of scorpions, cyclops; Medusa is replaced by the Minotaur; and for the climactic battle scene, we have Kronos, instead of the Kraken.
And even this final battle is similar in that there is a simple way to kill the monster, but we need to sit through a huge deal of drama before it happens.
However, I did enjoy the movie’s visuals, especially the huge labyrinth in Tartarus, and I really wish Bill Nighy as Hephaestus had a bigger role in the story.
Overall, a perfectly acceptable action movie if you just want some mindless entertainment, but not if you’re looking for some originality or even decent Greek mythology.
And in spite of everyone supposedly being Greek, I counted at least five different accents in the movie; have fun spotting them! – Tan Shiowchin