Trainspotting

For all those who have experienced drug addiction, it isn’t just a mere fleeting high. What potent ecstasy must it brew up to allow a man to squander and fritter away his prospects, life and even loved ones ?

Trainspotting is essentially, a story. And a very well told one at that. Danny Boyle's first major feature after the criminally underrated "Shallow Grave", it presents drug addiction in a form that delights and horrifies in equal measure. Adapted from Irvine Walsh's book of the same name, it follows five friends and their dalliances with drugs in Edinburgh

Narrated by Renton (Ewan McGregor), the film is about him and his friends: Spud (Ewen Bremner), Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller),Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle). All except Begbie and Tommy swear by drugs and regard it as their reason for existence. Begbie is addicted to violence and loves picking up fights in bars.

The film's black humour is a pleasant surprise and could be considered akin to 'Pulp Fiction' in pop culture reverence terms. However, the real strength of the film lies in it's depiction of what it believes to be a story, without any taking of sides. When Renton tells us “Choose your future. Choose life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that ? I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons ? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin ?"

We begin to see where this will go. The friends have no place to stay and no one to care about or for. They are truly the Lost Boys .

When Renton's parents lock him into a room to go cold turkey on his addiction, we see the full horror when he is tortured by his days of ecstasy. The drugs within him turn into enemies that torment him every second of his ordeal. His friends continue their drug fuelled ecstasy ride with disastrous consequences. Begbie's character is interesting because of his addiction to violence. He isn't so much a danger to himself as to others.

Danny Boyle does very well in bringing out what he wanted to do. He succeeds in creating a film that is fun, serious and not at all preachy. His ease is apparent in the many memorable scenes that dot the film. The music is full of the eclectic pop rock that we've come to expect from British movies and plays a major part in not letting things get too serious.

A major theme here is the one of camaraderie between the drug users. They appear to be good friends, best mates even. However, as the ending shows their friendship didn't mean that much at all. Or maybe, it was the fact that addicts do not care who comes in their way to do what they must.

Ewan McGregor as Renton is good and comes across as a character we might like to be friends with, despite all his despicable traits. His scene in 'The Worst Toilet In Scotland' is one of the most vomit inducing scenes you shall ever see and he deserves special praise for allowing himself to go through with it.

What shines through all this is however the inherent simplicity of the film. At no point does it claim to be a British 'Pulp Fiction' and simply looks like a likeable story strung together very capably. There are no complications, no deep characterisations and the almost bare bones look gives the film a character of it's own. It is what we could call a cult film. With some Edinburgh slang ('shite') and some brilliantly understated black humour, this is one film that should be watched. Not for its drug themes, not for its lessons but simply as an exercise in entertainment. And if you learn something, so much the better.

No Country For Old Men

There are some movies that are just that, movies. There are others that cross the line and stare you right in the face. No Country For Old Men obliterates this line.

Directed by the Coen brothers whose oeuvre includes movies such as The Big Lebowski and Fargo, this is a simple enough story. Set in 1970's Texas, it is a story with three men at it's centre. These men are Sheriff Ed Tom( Tommy Lee Jones), Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) and Josh Brolin (Llewelyn Moss). Their lives intersect in a mire of fate, consequences and pure evil. Adapted from Cormac Mccarthy's book of the same name, it is a highly faithful adaptation and fans of the book will be delighted with the efforts of Joel and Ethan Coen.

The movie starts off with a drug deal gone sour and a hunter, Moss (Josh Brolin) spots the scene of the altercation. He clambers down and finds dead bodies all over the place and a suitcase full of cash which he pockets. There is a barely alive man who asks him for water but Moss shows glimpses of the heartlessness that is at the core of the film by refusing to help him.

Josh Brolin as Moss

To recover the money, a psychopathic hit man, Anton Chigurh is hired. Chigurh is the archetypal psychopath with a taste for refined cruelty. A scene where he strangles a policeman to death with his handcuffs is one of the few times where his face betrays any emotion. When it does, it is an expression that could translate as pure animalistic joy, the very sensation of being alive. After his deed is done, his face returns to being a cold, violent mask.

Looking over all this carnage is Sheriff Ed Tom (Tommy Lee Jones), a veteran whose bitter and rueful humour betrays the trials and tribulations he has faced. He is tired of all the crime in the world and we hear it in the starting voice over when he says "He killed a 14-year-old girl. Papers said it was a crime of passion, but he told me there wasn't any passion to it. Told me that he'd been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said that if they turned him out he'd do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell, be there in about 15 minutes. I don't know what to make of that."

Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom

The three men and their paths intertwine and a game of cat and mouse ensues. The storyline is nothing spectacular, but the Coen brothers are masters of the unsaid. There are scenes which feature nothing more than characters shuffling across doors, waiting in anticipation. The characterisations are vivid and purposeful.

Another factor that contributes to the gloomy outlook is the lack of background music. Carter Burwell comes up with a score that sounds like an indistinct machine hum that you could hear in the street if you listened hard enough. Movies have long used background music to lead watchers on, especially horror ones. But here, this experimental score works like a charm. It breaks the barrier and transports you to dusty, hot Texas.

The film is chock full of scenes that you simply do not want to end. When Chigurh makes an unknowing shopkeeper call a coin toss to decide whether he should live or die, it is the knowledge of knowing that the man we see could die in an instant if he was unlucky enough to call wrong. Moss's wife when faced with the same situation is however aware of what that toss represents. Her defiance in not letting a coin decide rather than being the 'wimpy wife of a tough man' is refreshingly not naive.

Javier Bardem plays Chigurh to his brutal best. He rarely flinches, even when stitching up his own bullet wounds. While The Joker may probably be the best negative character of the previous decade, Anton Chigurh provides stiff competition. While the Joker came across as the devil himself with all his devilish dialogues, Chigurh is more practical, letting his cattle shotgun do the talking.

Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh

The film works so well simply because it reminds us that cinema exists beyond mindless, verbose dialogue and redundant special effects. One of the major feats that this movie achieves is in the darkness that it creates, even though much of it set in bright sunlight. The funereal atmosphere hangs like a giant, gloomy cloud engulfing us and leaving us grateful.

At the risk of sounding like a sadist who enjoys violence,  I will say this. "No Country For Old Men" is a beautiful film, with beauty stemming from it's violence. This despondency is best summed up when the sheriff says " I always figured when I got older, God would sorta come into my life somehow. And he didn't. I don't blame him. If I was him I would have the same opinion of me that  he does."

There Will Be Blood

Paul Anderson is a director who i known for his exploration of different themes which quite uncommonly change from film to film. Starting with his look into the porn industry in 'Boogie Nights' and onto riveting drama in 'Magnolia' whilst taking a romcom detour in 'Punch Drunk Love', he has consistently reinvented his boundaries and been heavily praised for it.

His 'There Will Be Blood' is however a huge departure from his usual works. The oil epic is one of massive proportions and unlike anything he's ever done before. One would think that new territory for most directors is harder to cover but Anderson does a great job.

The movie is about one man and one man only, a certain Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis). We begin with him prospecting in the old Midwest and discovering oil. Despite certain setbacks, he manages to return safely and starts his own oil empire. His dogged determination and ruthless streak are apparent and it is these qualities that lead him to becoming an oil tycoon before long. However, he prefers to call himself an 'oil man’, playing to people's family instincts unlike the big state owned corporations. He adopts the baby son of an employee killed down a well and uses him as a mere prop to proclaim his respectability to the farmer folk whose lands he wants to buy. Privately, however he laces the boy's milk with whisky.

Upon being informed of a poor family that lives on oil rich land, his ambition leads him to become enslaved to corporate social ethics as he promises to build schools and better facilities for the local people. He also promises a donation to the local church run by Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) who is known for his frenetic sermons. Plainview is not impressed however, and believes it all to be a charade.

There is not as much blood as one would have thought but it is obvious that it wasn't intended to be. Oil is the driving force here and Plainview's lust for the wealth and power it brings are responsible for bloodshed. He loses an employee and his loses his hearing in an accident. It is here that we realise the extent of his callousness when he abandons his adopted son.

The plot goes on and on with a multitude of characters coming in, such as Daniel's half-brother and the big oil corporations that wish to quell the challenge of this 'oil man'. It draws on over the years with the struggle between Plainview and Eli very close to the centre. One could say that this is a highly pessimistic film with characters some way off from sanity with Eli and Daniel both shown to be almost deranged in their devotion to oil and the Church.

The film is one very long exploration of Daniel Day Lewis's character and fans of classic cinema with more dialogue and moments open to interpretation will devour it. Lewis confirms what we already know, he is arguably the best British actor of his generation and delivers a hypnotic performance with his measured syllables and pet hates all perfectly done to give us a look at who Plainview actually is. The ending sums up the paroxysm that he can work up if his beliefs are challenged and provides a fitting contrast to how we started the film, admiring him for his determination.

Another theme here at play is the father son relationship, with the sons having enough courage to stand up when needed. Indeed, the scene where Eli leaps on his father and calls him a 'stupid old man' is certainly revealing when considering how often Anderson's films have featured such a theme.

Western epics have received a huge shot in the arm in recent times with the release of movies such as 'No Country For Old Men’, ‘The Assassination of Jesse James' and 'There Will Be Blood'. While certainly not the best of the three, it is still a very intelligent film and indeed an eminently watchable affair.

The film majorly plays on the human curiosity that sociopaths stir up. It is best summed up when Plainview talks to his half-brother and says,"I’ve built up my hatreds over the years, little by little. Having you here gives me a second breath. I can't keep doing this on my own with these... people." and we all think about it for a small second only to condemn or nod our heads in silent agreement.

Sholay (1975)

Gabbar Singh, Jai, Veeru, Thaakur, Basanti , Sambha, Kalia. These are just some names which are synonymous with the masterpiece of Bollywood, an evergreen classic: Sholay.

The film comprises of an ex-policeman, Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) summoning two of his earlier-detained outlaws: Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra) – to hand him over a nefarious dacoit: Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) and that too alive !

At first, the amiable camaraderie between Jai and Veeru is portrayed in a very light and amusing manner which could not be depicted more exquisitely by the very well-known song: “Yeh Dosti hum nahi todenge”. They are shown to split the bounty on them with Surma Bhopali (Jagdeep) for getting them caught and how they dramatically beguile their ‘Angrezon ke zamaane ke’ Jailer (Asraani) and make their way out of the jail. After that, they agree to work for Thakur provided the compensation is right.

Upon reaching Ramgarh Vilage, Veeru falls for the blathering carriage driver, Basanti (Hema Malini); and Jai starts to have romantic feelings for Baldev Singh's widowed daughter-in-law, Radha (Jaya Bhaduri).

Gabbar sends three of his men to Ramgarh to get some supplies but they are intervened by Jai and Veeru and return back empty handed. It is now that Gabbar’s face is revealed followed by his psychotic nature where he plays a game of Russian roulette with his men and kills them deliriously. Amjad Khan is simply enthralling here making it one of the most memorable Bollywood moments ever. He retaliates back on the occasion of Holi and comes to know about Thakur’s measures. Also, it is now when Thakur sheds light on his past and tells how Gabbar slaughtered his family as an act of vengefulness on arresting him earlier. He also leaves Thakur maimed for life by hacking his arms off.

Hence, upon learning the truth, Jai and Veeru turn loyal and vow to bring Gabbar alive for Thakur. Meanwhile, the affection between the two couples flourishes in the village. They also befriend other villagers and instill a belief of freedom from Gabbar's villainous regime.

The movie reaches its climax when Basanti and Veeru are captured by Gabbar’s men and Basanti is agonized by threatening her to keep dancing or else they will shoot Veeru. Jai slyly comes to their rescue and in a chase sequence, asks Veeru to go back to the village with Basanti and get ammunition, to which he refuses. After vain convincing attempts, they finally decide by a toss as to who will stay and who will leave. Jai wins and stays back to ward off the henchmen from coming forward. He runs out of ammo before Veeru returns and is wounded severely. 

Jai dies in Veeru’s lap remarking on their very cherished friendship and that he won’t be there in his future endeavours. Lamenting Veeru finds the coin in Jai’s hand and realized that Jai always won in their tosses because the coin was biased. Yes, it had two heads! Now, he turns berserk and kills all of Gabbar’s men in a rampage, leaving Gabbar at the ‘legs’ of Thakur. Thakur stomps onto Gabbar with his spike-soled shoes and wallops him to death.

Though the underlying theme of the movie is revenge, but it is interwoven with many insightful messages on friendship, love and loyalty. By some accounts, the plot is said to be highly inspired from some cult Western films. Nonetheless, Sholay delivers extremely splendid performances by most of its actors. 

The masterful background score by R D Burman is immensely renowned and each song has become an anthem for a particular theme. Salim-Javed have created an eminent magnum-opus with their work on dialogues and story. Some of the most memorable ones are:
Hum angrezon ke zamaane ke Jailer hai. Ha Ha.-  Asraani
Humara naam bhi Surma Bhopali aise hi nahi hai.- Jagdeep
Arre o Saambha, kitne aadmi the? - Gabbar
Tumhara naam kya hai Basanti? - Jai

Sholay is, at heart, timeless and stands as a testament in world cinema and particularly as an enduring example of what Bollywood can create, but prefers not to. 

Troy

This 60th highest grosser of all time is a mythological war-drama directed by Wolfgang Peterson , which recounts the legends of Trojan war, a historical war fought between the Agamemnon of Mycenae along with a group of his allied kings against the army of Troy to seek control of the Aegean Sea using his brother's revenge as a disguised justification. Based on an epic poem "The Iliad" by Homer, it takes us through the times when war was all about bows and arrows, sword and shields, Kings and Warriors, Strategies and Politics and "Prince and Queens". The main attraction or, as i call, selling-point of this movie was its War sequences, apt film location (Major sets for the city of Troy were built in the Mediterranean island of Malta at Fort Ricasoli ) also commendable costume design and makeup for all its characters, intense fight scenes amongst its protagonists, and also larger than life recreation of famous Greek myths.

The film commences with Trojan Prince, Hector (Eric Bana) and Paris (Orlando Bloom), visiting Sparta to initiate peace talks with their king Menelaus (Brendon Gleeson). During their stay, Paris acquaints himself with Menelaus's Wife Helen (Diane Kruger) and soon are shown to fall in love, and eventually smuggles her to Troy without informing his brother of this act. 

Infuriated by this act, Menelaus vows revenge and in desperate need of getting his Wife back turns to his Brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox), King of Mycenae, and interests him into the matter by making him realise of his aim of gaining control of the Aegean Sea which could be initiated only by the seizure of Troy. The Great Achilles (Brad Pitt), the best warrior amongst the Greek hordes, refuses to fight for Agamemnon in lieu of his ego clashes with the king only to be convinced by Odysseus (Sean Bean) and his mother apprising him of the historical importance and the immortality that clung to this war. 

With Achilles by his side, Agamemnon besets Troy with a vast Greek army. Achilles and the Myrmidons are the fastest rowers and land before anyone else. They kill many Trojans and desecrate the temple of Apollo. Briseis (Rose Byrne), a member of the Trojan royal family, is captured and taken as a prize to the Greeks, despite Achilles claiming her as a war prize himself which then leads him in sitting out of battle the next day. After this, the film gradually moves forward with frames and scenes depicting many failed attempts by the Greek army of breaching the Trojan Wall and also a turn of event which totally twist and shape the course of the battle towards the army which is strategically mightier than the other.

The movie, even though a box office hit ,lacked in some areas such as story which itself was a result of a coarse modification of Homer's poem and hence resulting in criticism from a wide bunch of critics owing to its fiddling of Greek mythology and poor adaptation of the epic poem. But in spite of all the mixed reviews the movies delivers in many fields such as the costume design, for which it received an Oscar nomination, power packed performance by Brad Pitt who with his buffed-up physique delivers a quietus of a performance which is certainly one of his best ever. 



Eric Bana as the caring elder brother of Paris totally justifies his role and Brian Cox as the King stricken with lust for power also doesn’t disappoint. Orlando Bloom as the helpless prince did a decent job along with Diane Kruger who should also receive some recognition for molding in perfectly in the skins of Helen of Troy. This movie scores as an all-time entertainer with all its fight and war sequences keeping you at the edge of your seats especially the epic clash between Achilles and Hector is a must watch.

The best scene in the movie has Peter O'Toole creating an island of drama and emotion in the middle of all that plodding dialogue. He plays old King Priam of Troy, who at night ventures outside his walls and into the enemy camp, surprising Achilles in his tent. Priam asks that the body be returned for proper preparation and burial. This scene is given the time and attention it needs to build its mood, and we believe it when Achilles tells Priam, "You're a far better king than the one who leads this army“. As far as sets and location are concerned, everything from the Wooden Horse to the Greek encampment and the huge kingdom of Troy has been rendered to perfection.

This movie scored heavily on its dialogue which synced in perfectly with the characters, aptly framed to set the tempo of the film , providing thorough description of each character and also in providing the audience a taste of arrogance and confidence of the Greek gods. In all, the movie is a must watch as it has all ingredients of an epic war drama film and the efforts of Wolfgang Peterson in recreating the legend almost perfectly must be applauded.

 

Total Recall

“The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present…”

Paul Verhoeven's 90's classic stands as one of the best sci-fi adaptations ever. The action, Arnie, Sharon Stone and the mind numbing storyline all combined for the quintessential 90's science fiction flick. Len Wiseman (Die Hard, Underworld) and Colin Farrell team up to give us their take on this classic.

Based on Philip K Dick's short story 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale', the plot has remained the same as the original with just a few differences creeping in. Instead of there being a conflict between Martian colonists and Earth’s powerful baddies, Wiseman tries for a fight between the good old United Federation of Britain (UFB) and a sleazy underworld known as the ‘Colony’ – formed by the remains of Australia. The rest of the world is uninhabitable as a result of global chemical warfare but the two habitable areas are at least connected by a huge travel shaft, known as The Fall, that runs through the core of the planet.

Farrell plays Doug Quaid, a humble Colony assembly line worker whose dreams see him as a super spy. To live his dreams he visits Rekall, a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led. The procedure goes haywire, though, and Quaid finds himself on the run, fighting the powers and trying to stop a full-scale invasion of the Colony, using the very robot policemen he’s been making for years in his day job.

The CGI is impressive as you'd expect from the director of Underworld. In fact, it is just all just too impressive and perfect. Somewhere, in this CGI jungle the film loses it's essence and becomes one of those blockbusters fuelled by special effects and machine like. Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale look good as Melina, a resistance fighter and Doug's wife respectively but that is almost all they do.

The action is good and the visuals would remind any movie fan of Blade Runner. However, that is pretty much the only 'classic' factor in the film. Chases and fights abound but all feel horribly repetitive. The director's effort seem to be directed toward giving us CGI thrills whilst forgetting the other components. Despite it's big budget and star studded cast,the movie feels like a soulless adaptation of the original. The dry humour of the original is lacking as well. However, a counter argument could be made in favour of the film as it does not lapse into a cerebral experience and hold it's own as just a sleek action thriller that gives what it promises. Farrell does as good a job as he could but his expressiveness works against him as Arnie's screen presence takes some beating and ditto for Kate Beckinsale who falls a bit short of Sharon Stone's allure.

So, go ahead and watch it if you like your special effects. But don't expect a classic like the original. Indeed, all this movie succeeded in, was reminding me how good the 90's one was.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Originally titled: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo , this spaghetti western movie is the last instalment in the Dollars trilogy, which in itself, is Grand!

The charm of this masterpiece is that it includes everything: fabulous direction by Sir Sergio Leone, riveting soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone, a marvellous cast comprising of Clint Eastwood ( the Legend himself) , Eli Wallach (the most lovable character) and Lee Van Cleef (the best badass ever) , the brilliant screenplay and an amazing plot that keeps you glued till the end.

The world of GBU revolves around the central characters: Tuco (Eli Wallach) –- The Ugly -- is a Mexican outlaw with sin in his heart and a price on his head. Blondie (Clint Eastwood) --The Good-- is an expert gunslinger who is in partnership with Tuco. They make money off Tuco’s bounty by turning him over for reward money and later, Blondie sets him off the hanging noose. And Angel Eyes ( Lee Van Cleef)--The Bad-- is a sadist hitman who is driven by Money and is searching for a lost Confederate soldier, Bill Carson who possesses knowledge of hidden gold.

It is when Blondie leaves Tuco stranded in the desert that they turn rivals and Tuco intends to take revenge. When the tables get turned, and Tuco is busy torturing Blondie in the desert, they see a cart full of dead soldiers. Bill Carson is among them and he is all parched and dying. He persuades Tuco to get him a drink by disclosing the name of the cemetery where the loot is located. As Tuco goes to fetch him water, Carson dies, but not before revealing the name on the grave to Blondie. THE BIGGEST DRAMA follows now.

Meanwhile, Angel Eyes follows the trail of Bill Carson and comes to know about the fortune hunting duo at a prison camp. He beats up Tuco until he gives up the graveyard’s location. But, smartly enough,he proposes partnership to Blondie upon knowing that only he knows the name on the grave. Hence, they set forth to the remote cemetery where Blondie double crosses him and resumes his partnership with Tuco.

In between, Tuco and Blondie exchange their valuable secrets of the graveyard (Sad Hill Cemetery) and the name on the grave (Arch Stanton). Once they reach there, Tuco deserts Blondie and frantically searches the whole graveyard in a never forgettable scene intermixed with the memorable theme “Ecstasy of Gold”. Ennio Morricone at his musical best. Eventually Tuco finds it, but before he can begin digging he's held at gunpoint by Blondie, who in turn is held at gunpoint by Angel Eyes, who has finally caught up to both of them. However, Blondie reveals that Arch Stanton's grave has only a human carcass, not gold.

He proceeds to write the name of the real grave under a stone and places it in the centre of an empty patch of land. What follows is the long and astonishing climax: A three-way Mexican stand-off between The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. 

There are many goose-bump inducing moments in the film with particularly enticing dialogues, most of them going as : “There are Two kinds of people...”. Equally memorable is the onset scene of the movie with 10 minutes of no dialogues at all. But the most overwhelming part has to be the soundtrack.
Without being much of a spoiler, I will just say: For those who love Western action movies, this is undoubtedly a must watch. And those who don’t, this movie will definitely grow your interest in them.

The GBU will remain one of my personal favourites for ages to come.

Greetings.

Hello folks! 
The name's Waseem Ali Sabeel. I'm currently pursuing my engineering in Computer Science and it just so happens that Movies are an integral part of my life. From Western classics to scintillating Science fiction flicks, from delightful animation to brutal action stuff, from historic battles to intellectual drama, I enjoy all genres and seek divine afflatus in Movies.
I have been a movie aficionado for a long time now but yes, I do have a life.

Henceforth I will be sharing my movie experiences and acumen in this mutually shared blogging platform and would love to hear out your opinions on them as well, and as frequently as possible.

Remember, there are two kinds of people:
1) People who like movies and have a favourite,
2) People who love movies and couldn't possibly choose one.

Let's share & explore our lore, ladies and gentlemen!