Movie Reviews
gosh i can't believe its been so long since i last updated here! RL just got so hectic all of a sudden and i just didnt get a moment. i have been meaning to post some icons but i still haven't finished the batch, hopefully it will be soon. but in the meantime, 2 movie reviews that got published (yay!) recently:
Becoming Jane
Jane Austen may not be considered the most prolific writer in English literature, having penned ‘only’ 6 full length novels during her career, but she is certainly one of the most beloved. With each of her books having been successfully adapted for either the small or silver screen in the past (in some cases even for both), and with more adaptations and Austen inspired movies on the way its only natural that Hollywood’s attention now turns to the source itself in the form of the biopic ‘Becoming Jane’.
With Anne Hathaway in the title role, ‘Becoming Jane’ introduces us to a chapter in the author’s life that, if this movie is to be believed, was the inspiration for much of her writings. The film opens with a twenty year old Jane living an idyllic life in the English country with her family where she aspires to become a writer one day. But things are seldom ever as peaceful as they appear and soon it is revealed that as was customary in those days (and to some extent still is in Pakistan these days) Jane is under constant pressure to marry as soon as possible and as rich as possible in order to secure the financial future of her family. As Mrs Austen says, when it comes to marriage “Affection is desirable. Money is absolutely indispensable!” When Mr Wisley, the nephew of and the soul heir to the estate of the very rich Lady Gresham (who is not only played impeccably by Dame Maggie Smith but is also clearly the inspiration behind the wealthy self-centred Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride & Prejudice) takes a fancy to the charming, spirited Jane, Mrs Austen starts to think all her prayers have been answered. The only problem is that Mr. Wisley’s insipid personality makes him completely unappealing to Jane whose interest in love is only awakened when the roguishly handsome yet penniless lawyer Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy) makes an appearance in town.
What follows is a whirlwind romance, or at least as whirlwind a romance as 18th century decorum would allow, which the movie suggests inspired Austen to pen practically the whole of Pride & Prejudice in one night’s sitting, as well as it almost led to her running away from home with Lefroy in hopes of getting the happy ending that all her characters get to enjoy.
While Austen herself is famous for her witty, charming and insightful writing, full of satire and irony, the movie based on her life and times is anything but. Anne Hathaway does well with the material she is given although she is not quite as brilliant as she was in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, where she finally graduated from her Disney-esque roles and held her own against the screen queen herself, Meryl Streep. James McAvoy cuts a dashing figure as Tom Lefroy whose initial snubbing and subsequent adoration of Jane is definitely the inspiration behind Austen’s most famous leading man - Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. In fact the whole movie plays out much like a recently discovered first draft of Pride & Prejudice which lends it a slightly stale air and takes away from the impact it could have had.
If you are looking for something on Austen that is historically accurate, this is not the place to find it. A little research disclosed that the only information that is available regarding this incident in Austen’s life comes from letters that she wrote to her sister Cassandra with whom she was very close. In those letters Tom Lefroy only got 2 brief mentions, one in a letter dated January 9, 1796 and the other in a letter dated Jan 16 of the same year. It’s hard to believe that the events outlined in this movie or the intensity of the feelings suggested therein could have possibly developed over a course of a week! However, if you pretend this is a work of fiction and enjoy it as a chick flick set in the 18th century it’s worth the rental for a slow rainy afternoon.
The Bourne Ultimatum
The summer of 2007 could easily be called the ‘Summer of the Three-quels’. So far we have had Shrek 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Spiderman 3 and Ocean’s 13. Now comes the latest offering in the form of the third instalment in the Bourne series called The Bourne Ultimatum. While the other four were fuelled by the success of their predecessors and did little to improve upon them, Ultimatum actually carries the narrative forward in a way that makes it an integral part of the series and even perhaps the best one. Based on the novels by Robert Ludlum the previous two Bourne movies (The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy) were instant hits but neither were bigger than this - Ultimatum broke the record for the biggest opening for a movie in August by raking in a cool $70.2 million at the box office on opening weekend.
Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne in what he says will be his last reprisal of the role. The Bourne Ultimatum finds the amnesic spy/assassin struggling to find his identity while the agency that created him desperately tries to take him down. While this sounds a lot like the previous two movies, this time round Bourne has a very strong lead in British journalist Simon Reed (Paddy Considine), a security correspondent for The Guardian, who discovers a source very willing to talk about a top secret CIA black ops project - the very same black ops project that was responsible for Jason Bourne. Once his expose gets published Reed finds himself being tracked by both Bourne and the CIA - Bourne wants to know who the source is so he can find out the truth about his past while the CIA is interested in his source so they can shut him up! There’s a great chase sequence featured at the London Waterloo train station, the consequences of which trigger an adrenaline filled ride that takes us from London to Madrid to Tangier and finally to New York where the final act of the movie unfolds.
Oscar nominated director Paul Greengrass (United 93) is back at the helm after his masterful handling of the Bourne Supremacy. His use of handheld cameras and tight angles make it seem as if you are right there in the scene; be it listening in on confidential conversations between top CIA operatives or running down the tight congested streets of Tangier, Greengrass makes the audience feel as if they are watching real events unfold through hidden cameras rather than an action movie playing out on their screen. Speaking of hidden cameras, the sequence that takes place in London really brings home the ubiquitousness of the cctv camera network in the capital that the world got a glimpse of during the 7/7 bombing investigation.
While the spy films genre definitely requires the suspension of disbelief from its audiences, its details like these that ground this particular movie and give it a greater sense of reality than that found in most other films. There are no invisible cars a la ‘Die Another Day’ or tongue-in-cheek one liners being delivered just before the bad guy gets whacked as in Die Hard 4. While one does marvel at Bourne’s ability to survive situations that most mortal men would have trouble getting through, he does bleed and bruise and suffer pain and above all, feel remorse for causing the deaths of those that fall by his hands.
The Bourne Identity gave Damon serious credibility as an action hero who could carry a movie solely on his shoulders and with each subsequent part he has made the character increasingly his own, to the point where chances are he will forever be identified with the role and the role with him.
Joan Allen, Julia Stiles and David Strathairn turn in great performances in their supporting roles. The interaction between Allen and Strathairn in particular is fraught with palable tension due to their opposing views on Bourne and lends to some of the best scenes in the movie. The Bourne Ultimatum is an intense, gritty, intelligent spy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat till the credits start to roll.
Becoming Jane
Jane Austen may not be considered the most prolific writer in English literature, having penned ‘only’ 6 full length novels during her career, but she is certainly one of the most beloved. With each of her books having been successfully adapted for either the small or silver screen in the past (in some cases even for both), and with more adaptations and Austen inspired movies on the way its only natural that Hollywood’s attention now turns to the source itself in the form of the biopic ‘Becoming Jane’.
With Anne Hathaway in the title role, ‘Becoming Jane’ introduces us to a chapter in the author’s life that, if this movie is to be believed, was the inspiration for much of her writings. The film opens with a twenty year old Jane living an idyllic life in the English country with her family where she aspires to become a writer one day. But things are seldom ever as peaceful as they appear and soon it is revealed that as was customary in those days (and to some extent still is in Pakistan these days) Jane is under constant pressure to marry as soon as possible and as rich as possible in order to secure the financial future of her family. As Mrs Austen says, when it comes to marriage “Affection is desirable. Money is absolutely indispensable!” When Mr Wisley, the nephew of and the soul heir to the estate of the very rich Lady Gresham (who is not only played impeccably by Dame Maggie Smith but is also clearly the inspiration behind the wealthy self-centred Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride & Prejudice) takes a fancy to the charming, spirited Jane, Mrs Austen starts to think all her prayers have been answered. The only problem is that Mr. Wisley’s insipid personality makes him completely unappealing to Jane whose interest in love is only awakened when the roguishly handsome yet penniless lawyer Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy) makes an appearance in town.
What follows is a whirlwind romance, or at least as whirlwind a romance as 18th century decorum would allow, which the movie suggests inspired Austen to pen practically the whole of Pride & Prejudice in one night’s sitting, as well as it almost led to her running away from home with Lefroy in hopes of getting the happy ending that all her characters get to enjoy.
While Austen herself is famous for her witty, charming and insightful writing, full of satire and irony, the movie based on her life and times is anything but. Anne Hathaway does well with the material she is given although she is not quite as brilliant as she was in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, where she finally graduated from her Disney-esque roles and held her own against the screen queen herself, Meryl Streep. James McAvoy cuts a dashing figure as Tom Lefroy whose initial snubbing and subsequent adoration of Jane is definitely the inspiration behind Austen’s most famous leading man - Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. In fact the whole movie plays out much like a recently discovered first draft of Pride & Prejudice which lends it a slightly stale air and takes away from the impact it could have had.
If you are looking for something on Austen that is historically accurate, this is not the place to find it. A little research disclosed that the only information that is available regarding this incident in Austen’s life comes from letters that she wrote to her sister Cassandra with whom she was very close. In those letters Tom Lefroy only got 2 brief mentions, one in a letter dated January 9, 1796 and the other in a letter dated Jan 16 of the same year. It’s hard to believe that the events outlined in this movie or the intensity of the feelings suggested therein could have possibly developed over a course of a week! However, if you pretend this is a work of fiction and enjoy it as a chick flick set in the 18th century it’s worth the rental for a slow rainy afternoon.
The Bourne Ultimatum
The summer of 2007 could easily be called the ‘Summer of the Three-quels’. So far we have had Shrek 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Spiderman 3 and Ocean’s 13. Now comes the latest offering in the form of the third instalment in the Bourne series called The Bourne Ultimatum. While the other four were fuelled by the success of their predecessors and did little to improve upon them, Ultimatum actually carries the narrative forward in a way that makes it an integral part of the series and even perhaps the best one. Based on the novels by Robert Ludlum the previous two Bourne movies (The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy) were instant hits but neither were bigger than this - Ultimatum broke the record for the biggest opening for a movie in August by raking in a cool $70.2 million at the box office on opening weekend.
Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne in what he says will be his last reprisal of the role. The Bourne Ultimatum finds the amnesic spy/assassin struggling to find his identity while the agency that created him desperately tries to take him down. While this sounds a lot like the previous two movies, this time round Bourne has a very strong lead in British journalist Simon Reed (Paddy Considine), a security correspondent for The Guardian, who discovers a source very willing to talk about a top secret CIA black ops project - the very same black ops project that was responsible for Jason Bourne. Once his expose gets published Reed finds himself being tracked by both Bourne and the CIA - Bourne wants to know who the source is so he can find out the truth about his past while the CIA is interested in his source so they can shut him up! There’s a great chase sequence featured at the London Waterloo train station, the consequences of which trigger an adrenaline filled ride that takes us from London to Madrid to Tangier and finally to New York where the final act of the movie unfolds.
Oscar nominated director Paul Greengrass (United 93) is back at the helm after his masterful handling of the Bourne Supremacy. His use of handheld cameras and tight angles make it seem as if you are right there in the scene; be it listening in on confidential conversations between top CIA operatives or running down the tight congested streets of Tangier, Greengrass makes the audience feel as if they are watching real events unfold through hidden cameras rather than an action movie playing out on their screen. Speaking of hidden cameras, the sequence that takes place in London really brings home the ubiquitousness of the cctv camera network in the capital that the world got a glimpse of during the 7/7 bombing investigation.
While the spy films genre definitely requires the suspension of disbelief from its audiences, its details like these that ground this particular movie and give it a greater sense of reality than that found in most other films. There are no invisible cars a la ‘Die Another Day’ or tongue-in-cheek one liners being delivered just before the bad guy gets whacked as in Die Hard 4. While one does marvel at Bourne’s ability to survive situations that most mortal men would have trouble getting through, he does bleed and bruise and suffer pain and above all, feel remorse for causing the deaths of those that fall by his hands.
The Bourne Identity gave Damon serious credibility as an action hero who could carry a movie solely on his shoulders and with each subsequent part he has made the character increasingly his own, to the point where chances are he will forever be identified with the role and the role with him.
Joan Allen, Julia Stiles and David Strathairn turn in great performances in their supporting roles. The interaction between Allen and Strathairn in particular is fraught with palable tension due to their opposing views on Bourne and lends to some of the best scenes in the movie. The Bourne Ultimatum is an intense, gritty, intelligent spy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat till the credits start to roll.