20140730: Drama Review--Madras Cafe

Madras Cafe

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Indian live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 126 minutes, action, political thriller, bollywood, historical fiction.
2. IMDB: 7.9/10.0 from 9,759 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 350 million INR.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet...' and 76% liked it from 417 audience ratings.
4. Directed by: Shoojit Sircar
5. Starring: John Abraham as Vikram Singh, Nargis Fakhri as Jaya Sahni, Rashi Khanna as Ruby, Avijit Dutt as Swarup, Sanjay Burbuxani as Former Prime Minister, Ajay Rathnam as Anna Bhaskaran.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The setting is the turmoil of the 1990s in Sri Lanka.  Vikram Singh is the point man for Army Intelligence (RAW, or Research and Analysis Wing) in the matter.  He is drawn in when there are clear signs that an assassination attempt will be made on the former Indian PM, who seems likely to regain his seat of power.


2. The enemy is faceless, well-organised, and quite good at segmenting what any individual or small group needs to know.  Vikram and his entire organisation work very hard at this, and arrest several groups of perpetrators, only to find that there are many small, highly effective bands with the same goal.


3. At one point, when Vikram gets close to a piece of the truth, he is kidnapped and tortured.  He is rescued from this, and goes on the do more exceptional investigatory work.  By the end of the story, though, Vikram has paid many high prices.


4. Through the course of the investigations, Vikram interacts, guardedly, with war correspondent Jaya.  Their careful sharing of information was a well-written part of the plot.  Vikram's whole-hearted pursuit of the case had more than one bad effect on his relationship with his wife Ruby.


5. The movie opens to Vikram in later life, alone, alcoholic, limping, and plagued with guilt over failures.  Told in flashback style, the years spent pursuing the terrorists is gripping.  The long effort at stopping the plot of Anna and the LFT was bulk of the film.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Well-directed political thriller concerning the turmoil in 1990s Sri Lanka.
2. Four stars of five


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 Usually great, with a few moments of hand-held nonsense.


2. Sound: 6/10 I liked the music over the closing credits.  Sound was not done in the traditional Bollywood fashion, but then this is a more serious work than the more common musicals.  Still, some instrumental music for accenting mood might have been nice.


3. Acting: 8/10 The acting by the principals is outstanding.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 The many threads are woven together rather well.  The depiction of violence was difficult to watch at times, but trenchant and central to the overall story.  Much more screen time goes to political intrigue and efforts at stopping a determined terrorist group from achieving its goals.

20140119: Drama Review--Argo

Argo

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 120 minutes, biography, drama, history.
2. IMDB: 7.9/10.0 from 289,273 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 44.5 million USD; estimated domestic gross, 136 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 96% on the meter; 90% liked it from 193,623 audience ratings.
4. I watched this on DVD.  The picture quality was good but not HD.
5. Directed by: Ben Affleck.  Screenplay by Chris Terrio.
6. Starring: Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez, John Goodman as John Chambers, Bryan Cranston as Jack O'Dell, Alan Arkin as Lester Siegel, Victor Garber as Ken Taylor, Zeljko Ivanek as Robert Pender, Kyle Chandler as Hamilton Jordan.


2. Setup and Plot
1. During the storming of the US embassy in 1979, six American personnel escape to the Canadian embassy.  The CIA puts together plans to get them out of Iran.


2. The winning plan was to produce a Canadian science fiction movie shot in Iran.  Tony flies to LA and gets together a director, a complete script that they own, a prosthetics genius, a walk-through of the script by a full cast of actors in full costume, and a storm of press coverage.  In Iran, Tony convinces the six escapees to study up on their biographies as his crew.


3. The relevant ministry gets the script for the fake film, Argo, and the press releases.  He writes Tony that he wants to discuss locations with his crew the next day.  The six learn their new identities as movie people.  They meet with the minister at the appointed place. This is not without challenges along the way.  Presenting the difference between American and Canadian has to be done now and then.


4. In the night before the last day, the day to fly back, Tony grills the six on their backgrounds.  After a long session of this, the movie tells us that Washington pulled the plug on the operation.  So what do Tony and the group decide to do?


5. No surprise.  They go through with it.  Jack in the CIA threatens Hamilton Jordan with embarassment if it does not go through.


6. The last piece was really delicate.  The only Farsi speaker explains the story boards.  The guard wants to verify with Los Angeles.  Unfortunately, John and Lester are out of their office and blocked by filming.  But they connect just in time, and the guard sees a story about Argo in the papers.


7. Still, other parts of Iranian justice are after them, and the suspense continues.  Will they make their flight and get into international air space?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Entertaining when considered as fiction; fine ensemble acting.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Good looking, even on DVD.


2. Sound: 9/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10 Great performances by Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Victor Garber, and Ben Affleck.


4. Screenplay: 7/10 This account was strongly different than the one given to the public in 1980. At the time, the efforts of the Canadians were assigned roughly 100% of the credit for the plan and the successful execution.  I remember feeling a great deal of kinship toward the Canadians at the time.  Also, reactions from Canada in 2012 mirror the same view.  So, accuracy was not set at a premium here.  Considered as a fiction, however, this is an entertaining movie.

20140118: Movie Review--Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 157 minutes, drama, history.
2. IMDB: 7.5/10.0 from 152,871 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 40 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 93% on the meter; 80% liked it from 188,278 audience ratings.
4. I watched this on DVD.  The picture quality was not quite as hoped.
5. Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow.
6. Starring: Jessica Chastain as Maya, Jason Clarke as Dan, Reda Kateb as Ammar, Kyle Chandler as Joseph Bradley, Jennifer Ehle as Jessica, Harold Perrineau as Jack.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film follows current history from just before the 9/11/2001 attacks through the successful finding and execution of Usama bin Laden in May of 2011.


2. Maya is the centre of the piece.  She is a new analyst for the CIA in Pakistan shortly after the 2001 attacks.


3. When Maya's friend Jessica, plus six other CIA operatives, are killed by al Qaeda, Maya becomes even more focused on finding bin Laden and seeing to it that he is killed.


4. The film concludes with the successful raid by Seal Team Six on the compound where bin Laden had been staying in Pakistan.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Well crafted exposition of the search for bin Laden from the CIA POV.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 The extended night-vision sequences were low on detail.  The film's 'look and feel,' though, was convincingly accurate.


2. Sound: 9/10 Good.


3. Acting: 10/10 Excellent performances by Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Harold Perrineau, James Gandolfini.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Tight and nicely crafted, but just too long.  The insistence on accuracy about the compound and the attack helicopters was quite rewarding.  If you have access to the DVD, the extras are well worth watching.