First Order of the Phoenix Pictures!!!!

Check out the first ever official pics from the fifth Harry Potter movie. One shows Harry in Wisteria Walk and the other
shows Umbridge at the time of the sacking of Professor Trelawney. The movie will release on July 13
2007. Cant wait!!

The Classics: Is their greatness overplayed?

Being a certified film buff, I was surprised to note one day that I hadn’t watched what movie critics generally call the greatest movies of all – the classics. So I determinedly bought certain classics whose quality critics generally swear by – Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, and the Great Escape.
Yes, it was a refreshing change to watch these classics. Gone with the Wind was a 3 ½ hour behemoth, with an epic story of a woman’s travails during the American Civil War, with some great dialogue. Casablanca, I felt was a better film set in the World War II era, a tragic love story where the guy does not get the girl in the end. Good stuff, especially seeing the limited technology of their day. And then, I saw the Great Escape, considered as the greatest adventure film of all time, which had a wonderful story about a group of prisoners of war who dig a tunnel to escape.
However…
There had to be a “however”. Though I did enjoy these films, does it count among my all time list of “greatest” films? Heck no! It’s ironic. These three films figure in just about any greatest films list around, but why is it that they did catch my attention likewise. Yeah, the easiest explanation is that I’m a moronic reviewer with no knowledge of cinematic beauty. Perhaps that’s right. But there’s also one more thing.
I guess it’s the generation chasm that’s erupted after all these years. Those movies are more than 60 years old – technology has developed, production values have gotten more slicker, and the stories can be told in so much more powerful ways today. They say The Great Escape is the quintessential adventure movie – is it still? I don’t think so. Today’s movie makers have gone to so much lengths to tap the power of cinema, that I felt it was downright boring in some sequences. Give me Spielberg’s Jurassic Park any day. Forget the special effects, do you remember that iconic kitchen scene where the raptor’s breath clouds the windows? But no, the high brow movie critics don’t seem to think it matters – “Escape” is on the IMDb Top 250, but JP isn’t.
It’s the same with the other two movies. Love stories – I’ve seen so many movies that has made me go “Aww!” and clouded my eyes just a little bit; Notting Hill immediately comes to mind, heck even the Lion King had some beautiful romantic situations, helped a lot by the excellent Elton John songs and Hans Zimmer score. In Casablanca, on the other hand, the dialogues are top notch stuff, I agree, but otherwise it just went over my head.
I might also add this perception of remakes. Peter Jackson’s King Kong is sooooooo much more better than that 1933 movie with a guy in a monkey suit. Why don’t people recognize that? The original s on IMDBAgreed the original movie was great in its day, but it seems like it’s so difficult for the old grey haired critics to come out of their stupid nostalgia and look at movies from a child’s point of view. Does it excite? Does it fire up the imagination? Does it make you stuck to your seat? Does it make you give out whoops and groans and exclamations, all in one breath? It looks like the persons who write such lists have forgotten these questions at their childhood.
Does that reiterate that I am a lousy reviewer? Again, maybe. But I don’t need anyone telling me that Jurassic Park and Lion King do not deserve to be on a Greatest Movies List. It’s about time people’s perception on movies changes with the times. Take the simple example of my own parents – they refuse to watch any new movie, even fantastic ones like Black or Rang De Basanti, but they didn’t even hesitate for a minute to go to the cinemas to watch the re-released colourized version of Mughal-e-Azam.
I guess the fact is that, since movies are such a powerful medium, they remain etched in memories like a blast from the good old days. Hey, who knows, maybe one day I might be telling my kids in 2025 about how great Back to the Future was, and how they make trash “these days”. Looks like we don’t grow with age – atleast in the case of movies.

Kya Jhakaas Film Hai, Mamu!

They say lightning never strikes twice at the same place. I beg to differ. In January Aamir Khan’s brilliant Rang De Basanti floored audiences and reaffirmed my faith that Indian cinema can be both classy and commercial at the same time. And for the second time in the year, another film has managed to do just that – Munnabhai, we love you!
Well, what can I say. Just a few weeks ago I posted that there was a lack of quality family films these days. Lage Raho Munnabhai has effectively shut me up. This masterpiece from the Vidhu Chopra stable is a veritable gem of a movie; a movie that does everything that a movie must do – it makes you laugh, cry, sit back ad think, and most importantly have a good time. Comedy can so easily be overdone, but it takes great writers of this caliber to make a subtle blend of both slapstick and classy humour, and that’s what Munnabhai has successfully done – again. Sanjay Dutt IS Munnabhai, and it would be unimaginable to think that someone else could possible replicate his character.
And wait a minute… when was the last time you went for a comedy movie and ended up learning valuable lessons in life? To be honest, I gawked the first time I heard that Munna would be advocating Gandhian principles in the movie – it sounded so unrealistic and heavy handed. But I was just thrown back by the sheer ingenuity by which the makers of the film incorporated the Mahatma into the scheme of things. For a world which has increasingly got to accept that Gandhian principles are outdated, its weird how it takes a mass market commercial film to hammer the truth, which it so effectively does without for an instant sounding preachy.
Alright, so it may be a bit unrealistic at times (that live acion-and-reaction radio show a *little* bit over the top) but who’s complaining? Munnabhai is exactly why we go to the movies – to cut ourselves out of the real world, while enjoying a few hours of unadulterated and quality fun. I have no hesitation in saying that the Munnabhai series will become a cult classic in no time, an icon that generations of Indians would venerate, the same way that our parents talk about Sholay and Gabbar Singh. Its India’s very own cult character, an export to the outside world, something that Amitabh Bacchan’s “Angry Young Man” was in the 70s. No kidding – a Hollywood movie based on Munnabhai MBBS called “Gangsta MD” is in the works with Chris Tucker in the lead role. Looks like we have come a full circle.
Who needs accolades from old grey haired American geysers to tell us that Lage Raho Munnabhai is a great piece of cinema? We don’t need your Oscars or Golden Globes or BAFTAs. – you can keep them yourself. If this is the quality of movies that Indian cinema is churning out, we can only say Lage Raho!
Rating: 4½ on 5

Cars: They did it again

God Bless the day Disney and Pixar decided to work together. Their partnership has given us some of the greatest movies of all, the kind that we can watch over and over again. Their latest offering, Cars, follows that tradition.
This labour of love from John Lasseter is great fun, with all the familiar Pixar ingredients – really funny lines, state of the art animation and clever writing. The story has a very “Swades” feel to it, about a big city race car driver finding the simple pleasures of friendship and loyalty (the most staple Disney product for the last 8 decades).
Although Cars is technically brilliant, I wouldn’t rate is as the best from the stable. Each Pixar movie topped its genre – Action couldn’t get better in Incredibles, Emotions was dealt with style in Finding Nemo, and side splitting humour couldn’t be funnier that Monsters Inc. Cars on the other hand has a small dose of everything, so while that may be a good thing, it doesn’t top any particular aspect. Without a major plot to pull through, Cars falters in the middle.
But however nitpicky you get, there is no escaping that Cars is yet another achievement from the seemingly infallible duo of Disney and Pixar.