Now Welcoming CR Buffs (Guest) Reviews! [Email - celluloidraiders at gmail dot com]

Celluloid Raiders is happy to present its first 'Buff' (Guest) Reviews by Abhishek & Vijay Giri. We hope to receive & present more Buff reviews from you.

WRITE A REVIEW NOW...

THRILLER	ACTION/ADV.	DRAMA	FOREIGN
SCI-FI	COMEDY	HORROR	WAR
WESTERN	FANTASY	ROMANCE	DESI

Review: 21 Grams (2003)^{Raided Now!}

Quality Score: 7.5/10

Starring: Sean Penn (Mystic River), Naomi Watts (King Kong), Benicio Del Toro (Sin City, Traffic)

One needs to watch this movie twice. Not only because it's good, but also because one finds it difficult to follow it the first time – unless one has already seen Amores Perros by the same director.

The movie is a series of excerpts from the story of three individuals played by Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio del Taro, finally brought together by fate through one freaky accident. It's the jig-saw puzzle of broken images that come to form a complete picture of tragedy and redemption. Had it been linear, the story though predictable, would've still been unique and brilliant.

Enthralling performances by Penn, Watts and del Toro make it an actors movie. Sean Penn brilliantly portrays Paul, a math professor with a bad heart. He speaks eloquently with his eyes and his beautifully scripted dialogues. Though his marriage with Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is on the rocks, he still wants to have a baby with her. But he needs a heart transplant to do that. The heart donor comes in the form of Cristina's (Naomi Watts) husband who died in a car accident caused by Jack Jordon (Benicio del Toro), an ex-con who has served his sentence and is on the path of spirituality.

Naomi Watts is convincing as a depressed, drug addict. Benicio del Taro as a severely guilt ridden Jack Jordon, essays perhaps the best role of his life to date. The entire movie demands one to sympathize with the characters and leaves you a bit shaken.

The first half of the movie does get confusing, as the scenes are not in chronological order. One even wonders if there have been a series of editing errors. By arranging the pieces abruptly, the director actually demands attention from the very beginning. The pieces have been brilliantly shot, showing the past, present and the future of the characters lucidly.

The music is peaceful. High contrast visuals evoke somber imagery apt for a dark, non-linear narrative. It's only when the movie is over that you will fit all the pieces together and watch the movie again. And this time, you'll love every scene in it.

Alenjandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 21 Grams is a masterpiece (Also on CR - Alejandro's Babel).

Genre: Drama

Movies You May Like: Babel, Amores Perros, Ayutha Ezhithu (Yuva), Pulp Fiction

-Vijay V. Giri

Review: Tie me Up Tie Me Down (1990) - An engrossing watch^{Raided Now!}

Quality Score 8.5/10

This is a touching French film titled – Átame. It is the story of Ricky (Antonio Banderas), a young man recently released from a mental institution. He is obsessed with Marina (Victoria Abril), a former porn star and recovering heroin addict since he shared a night with her in the past. Ricky kidnaps Marina, believing that he can force her to fall in love with him. Eventually Marina does fall in love with him, but still considers herself as his prisoner and tells him to keep her tied up so that she won't try to escape. Subsequently, she reluctantly escapes with the assistance of her sister Lola and what happens thereafter completes the story.

Pedro Almodovar’s skill as a master story teller and his ability to enagage the viewer comes to the fore. Rather than populate the film with many characters, as he did in his other films, here the story focuses on the compelling relationship between the actress and her kidnapper as they literally struggle for power and are desperate for love, too. The film's title line Tie Me Up is unexpectedly uttered by the actress as a genuine request. She does not know if she will try to escape or not, and when she realizes she has feelings for her captor, she prefers not to be given a chance.

Indian star Kamal Hassan’s creation Guna (1992) was inspired from this movie. Volver is yet another offering from Almodovar you will enjoy.

Bottom Line: All in all this is an Almodovar classic!

Genre: Drama, Foreign

Movies You May Like: Guna (Tamil), Volver

- Abhishek Bharathkumar

Review: Tashan(2008) – Little style and No substance^{Raided Now!}

Quality Score: 4/10
Masala Value: 7/10

All polls and surveys taken over the recent months unanimously said that Yash Raj Film’s Tashan was the most awaited film of 2008. Obviously, I did everything possible to see the movie at the earliest but only to be disgusted and totally disappointed.

Bhaiya-ji (Anil Kapoor) is a dreaded gangster who desires to learn English before he meets with a foreign delegation. His secretary Pooja (Kareena Kapoor) seeks the services of Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan), a call center employee; Casanova and part-time English teacher and entrusts him with the job of teaching her boss English. Subsequently, Jimmy and Pooja join hands to swindle Rs. 25 crores from Bhaiya-ji. A humiliated and defeated Bhaiya-ji then summons his protégé Bachan Pandey (Akshay Kumar) and orders him to capture Jimmy and Pooja and thereby recover all his lost money. The sequence of events that follow when these individuals come together is the base of the story.

Director Vijay Krishna Acharya, has bungled big time with this one. Vijay’s story is based on a wafer thin plot and his script is nowhere close to his previous works - the blockbuster Dhoom series’. He takes the audience for a ride and assumes that they will accept anything if presented in the name of ‘masala.’ Though there are a good number of twists and turns in the story they don’t come as a huge suspense; I’m not sure if it is the screenplay or execution that has failed to deliver this effect on the viewer. Anil Kapoor’s Hindi-English phrases do sound funny but since all of his lines are in Hindi-English it gets monotonous.

I consider Akshay Kumar as one of Bollywood’s true action heroes – a guy who dares and does all of his breathtaking stunts on his own. It was really pathetic for me to see him do these outrageous sequences that seem ridiculous even if you forget your brains. It even makes me wonder why he agreed to be a part of this sad show. The climax and the entire action sequence shot at a dilapidated warehouse look stupid (for lack of a superlative) and meaningless. Saif emerging out a small and narrow canal in a water scooter could be the funniest scene of the year and Kareena’s air-show with effortless flight and immaculate landing could maybe win her a spot in a Quidditch team.

However, without any surprises the only positive thing to come out of the movie is Kareena’s brand new chic avatar. She had specially groomed herself for this movie, her hour-glass figure and stylish looks fueled the promotion of the movie and got her on the cover of every fashion/glamour magazine you could think of. As if to vindicate all of this, she does look stunningly pretty in the dark colored salwars and scorching-hot in a bikini. From her perspective it is a role and movie that will be remembered for various reasons.

The duo of Vishal-Shekar disappoint with their mediocre music score. Just the melodious number, “Falak Thak” strikes a chord and is also shot well.

Watch this movie only if you are a die-hard fan of one of the stars else I’m sure you will have better things to do.

Genre: Desi/Hindi, Action/Adventure

- Varun Prasad