Abhay Deol has a knack of choosing off-beat-ish movies, that generally end up being nice. They may not all be "extremely good", but they are certainly never bad. I was quite apprehensive of watching "Ek Challis Ki Last Local" - Neha Dhupia doesn't have a good track of starring in good movies (neither is she considered as a good actress), and the songs (from the movie) that I'd seen seemed sorta tacky.
But the movie does quite well. It feels as if the makers of the film wanted to tip their hat to Tarantino. (There is a scene quite similar to the one in Pulp Fiction where Vic Vega "accidentally" shoots Marvin.) It seems to me that some of the non-mainstream directors have been pretty influenced by the multiple-stories-converging-in-a-mess-at-the-end storyline. Well, in this movie you expect that to happen within the first 5~10 minutes.
Hmm... a little Google-fu & IMDB points me to more Pulp Fiction references!
The humor is quite dark, and funny too. I love the fact that such movies don't hesitate to use rough language, it adds color to the dialogue and makes it more believable. It feels as if the director was uncomfortable with making the movie shorter than 2 hours, there are quite a few places where the movie drags. Especially at the fag end!
It's a fun movie, probably a one time watch. Though, with this movie, I've started to appreciate the fact there are quite a few directors in India who are technically good, have tons of references up their sleeve and have good stories to tell. All is not lost!
A stream meanders, and what is left are the lakes. The oxbow lakes - a record of the paths taken and places visited by the meandering stream.
Showing posts with label comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comedy. Show all posts
Monday, December 6, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Scott Pilgrim
I had seen the trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs The World a long time ago - sometime in August I guess. (Here it is.) I was very intrigued and knew that this kind of movie is a hit or a miss (for me). It reminded me of "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny", which starts of brilliantly and just gets weird.
I found out that Scott Pilgrim (the movie) was based on a graphic novel. But the trailer seems to suggest it is based on a video game from the 90s. Most of the reviews that praised this movie also seemed to be baffled by it. And the movie did not fare well at the box office. So when I sat down to watch this movie, I was prepared for a "different" kind of a movie.
And I still had all those "what just happened?" and "how the hell did the director get away with this" moments.
From the trailer, you pretty much know that there are going to be video-game (think Mortal Kombat) style fight sequences. But in fact, those sequences are where I got bored. They seem fun in the beginning of the movie, but later on get a little tiring. What I found fun was how he used all those video-game / graphic novel techniques in the normal scenes.
Some shots pretty much shout out "I used the graphic novel as a storyboard" in the style of '300', 'Sin City' or 'Watchmen'. There is a shot with Scott Pilgrim sitting alone on a swing, as seen from above, with his shadow filling up the rest of the frame. Then there is a shot where we can seen the passageway in the house and a timid Scott peeps into the frame, only his head visible.
It's a really baffling movie, and I really don't know what to make of it. I'm glad I watched it and I'm sure not everyone will like it. The jokes are really good. The movie felt packed with them and I might need another viewing to get the subtler ones. The movie is packed with visual gags that drive the dialogue based jokes. This movie might be an excellent example of how an overdose of CGI and carefully crafted special effects mimicking cartoons and comics can make a movie better.
I found out that Scott Pilgrim (the movie) was based on a graphic novel. But the trailer seems to suggest it is based on a video game from the 90s. Most of the reviews that praised this movie also seemed to be baffled by it. And the movie did not fare well at the box office. So when I sat down to watch this movie, I was prepared for a "different" kind of a movie.
And I still had all those "what just happened?" and "how the hell did the director get away with this" moments.
From the trailer, you pretty much know that there are going to be video-game (think Mortal Kombat) style fight sequences. But in fact, those sequences are where I got bored. They seem fun in the beginning of the movie, but later on get a little tiring. What I found fun was how he used all those video-game / graphic novel techniques in the normal scenes.
Some shots pretty much shout out "I used the graphic novel as a storyboard" in the style of '300', 'Sin City' or 'Watchmen'. There is a shot with Scott Pilgrim sitting alone on a swing, as seen from above, with his shadow filling up the rest of the frame. Then there is a shot where we can seen the passageway in the house and a timid Scott peeps into the frame, only his head visible.
It's a really baffling movie, and I really don't know what to make of it. I'm glad I watched it and I'm sure not everyone will like it. The jokes are really good. The movie felt packed with them and I might need another viewing to get the subtler ones. The movie is packed with visual gags that drive the dialogue based jokes. This movie might be an excellent example of how an overdose of CGI and carefully crafted special effects mimicking cartoons and comics can make a movie better.
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