Cinema Paradiso- All about Cinema: March 2014

Friday, March 28, 2014

Noah, 3 D English Hollywood Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating : * *

English Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Film: Noah

Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins,Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Kevin Durand,Dakota Goyo

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Rating: * *

Synopsis:Darren Aronofsky brings the story of Noah's Ark to the big screen.Aronofsky directs from his own script co-written by Ari Handel and John Logan.

Review

Aronofsky’s Noah is rather a humble servant driven to the edge of madness in his effort to do the Lord’s bidding. Counterintuitive, perhaps, but by no means sacrilegious, yet the film never rises to the heights of a great epic. Aronofsky’s uneven but undeniably bold, personal, visually extravagant take on the Old Testament tale is not likely to go down well with those immersed in christianity. It just may entertain the others though with it’s trendy , unconventional veering off into areas where the Bible does not take us.

The film appears to have been a risky passion driven gamble, much like ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Gravity’ before it. The film is austere and Spartan in it’s sweep and changes the equation between Noah and God. “Noah” doesn’t look like any biblical epic we’ve ever seen before, with the verdant hillsides and ashen volcanic flatlands of Iceland standing in for the deserts of the Middle East, photographed with rugged grandeur by Aronofsky’s longtime d.p. Matthew Libatique. The costumes by “American Hustle” Oscar nominee Michael Wilkinson, looks more modern- more like army surplus. Aronofsky and co-screenwriter Ari Handel have taken made boldfaced transgressions so much as interpretations, additions and embellishments designed to flesh out the spare Noah narrative to feature length. But the experience is not satisfactory at all.

The ark itself, Designed by production designer Mark Friedberg (and built, to the actual dimensions specified by the Bible, on a New York soundstage), is an awesome thing — not the traditional sailing vessel, but rather an enormous wooden warehouse constructed with the help of the Watchers (the film’s version of the biblical Nephilim), fallen angels exiled to earth for their loyalty to mankind and imprisoned inside towering granite bodies that they lug about like walking mountains.

There are a handful of sequences here that use time lapse photography and montage editing to get a whole lot of information across very quickly, but they’re not as effective as bits of economic storytelling.this film is more of a personal qbout redemption and new beginnings.

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Sabotage, English Hollywood Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * *

English Film review

Johnson Thomas

Film: Sabotage : Sporadic action nut lacking in tension

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard |

Jo Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Max Martini, Kevin Vance, Mireille Enos

Director: David Ayer

Rating: * *

The story is simple. Members of an elite DEA anti-trafficking task force find themselves being taken down one by one after they rob a drug cartel safe house.

There’s not much to it in terms of plot but the investigations and counter investigations that follow leading up to the urban shoot-outs does add up to some adrenaline rush. Unfortunately nothing is consistent here. The screenplay is pretty much confused and confusing. The characters have no clear background and the performances are too wooden to cover up for any shtick. The actors don’t have much to do other than look brawny, dirty , do some chase sequences and belt out some bullets. In that sense this one is a routine affair. There’s nothing exemplary here. The treatment is also quite inconsistent. The pace lags when the narrative fails to maintain a direct absorbing connect. The action is sporadic and there’s not much tension either. So the experience is quite simply Listless!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Taptapadi, marathi film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * *

Marathi Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Film: Taptapadi: Emotive period Drama

Cast: Veena Jamkar, Kashyap Parulekar, Shruti Marathe, Neena Kulkarni

Director: Sachin Balram Nagargoje

Rating: * * *

Love, devotion and sacrifice are an integral part of this emotive period drama inspired by Guru Rabindranath Tagore’s short story titles ‘Drustidaan,’ directed by Sachin Balram Nagargoje. The narrative derives it’s strengths from the age old culture, values and human intricacies of society that were in practice much before India attained her freedom. The period setting is facilitative if not impeccable while the costumes and styles lend an old-world charm to the proceedings. This film is an intimate study of two individuals who fall in love, get married and then find themselves floundering in a sea of inequities caused by a honest desire to please the other.

Meera(Veena Jamkar) who lost her mother when she was a kid , has been brought up by her aunt who has a son, Madhav(Kashyap Parulekar), studying to become a doctor. Meera and Madhav have been close since childhood and when they attain their teens they fall in love and decide to get married. Since Madhav has yet to complete his studies, Meera is expected to stay back at home in the village. But the lovers are not content living separately and soon they decide to live together. Meera gets pregnant and has a miscarriage. Soon after her miscarriage she finds herself afflicted with an eye infection which her husband who has not yet been certified, decides to treat himself. The experiment goes wrong and Meera is forced to consult a specialist who tells them that it’s too late to save Meera’s eyesight. Meera resigns herself to her fate and casts no blame on her loving husband while he, burdened by guilt is unable to cope with the changed equation between them. He sets her up on a pedestal while she continues to crave for his love and affection-which he is unable to fulfill. Right at that point of crisis, walks in their great aunt(Neena Kulkarni) who suggests that Madhav should marry again. But Madhav , at first vigorously rebuffs that suggestion as he had already promised Meera that he will continue to serve her as a loyal and true husband. But the great aunt has already set things in motion by inviting an unmarried relative, a learned young woman of 19 yrs who is considered past marriageable age, into their home. Madhav is in conflict. He is unable to see Meera as a flesh and blood woman while his great aunt has brought temptation to his door.

How the misunderstandings are cleared out and Madhav and Meera rekindle their love for each other forms the basis for the rest of the story.

The narrative starts out a bit hesitantly but once Madhav and Meera get married, the tempo picks up, the pace becomes inveigling and the drama gets thicker. Nagargoje handles the niceties in the relationships with a lot of care and concern. Veena Jamkar, Kashyap Parulekar and Shruti Marathe give solid competent performances but it’s Neena kulkarni who steals the show with her assured matriarch persona- one who knows what is good for her young relatives and does not flinch from calling it as she sees fit. Nagargoje’s deft handling of emotions and drama make the experience both fulfilling and entertaining. Santosh Swarnakar’s shaded cinematography is enrapturing-drawing you into the moods of the moment with disarming grace. Nagorgoje has modified the original story a bit and he does it quite effectively without losing out on the central point. Nagargoje and Madhugandha Kulkarni’s dialogues are punchy (when required) and effective. All in all this is a very assured dramatic effort- one that will draw you in and slowly and steadily into it’s varied moods and moments!

Johnsont307@gmail.com