Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

Director : Michael Davis.
Genere : Action / Thriller / Comedy.
Cast : Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci.
Rating : Must Watch

Well I can’t say this as a heartwarming movie or it carries you in its magical arms, but it does pumps up your adrenalin. At least I can say this is what one expects from a Hollywood flick of its kind. Like its name, it never stops shooting from the very beginning. But guess what; I was enjoying the music of guns and bullets. Shoot 'Em Up is a perfect trinity of action packed thriller-comedy, which doesn’t have even a single minute of boredom to let you take your eyes off.
In one line- it’s the story of a hero along with a beauty tries to save a baby from the villains by shooting them up. “My god! Do we really suck or this guy really that good?” I can’t say may be like our hero said “Eating carrots can magnificently improve one’s eye sight” Or maybe the others are shooting blanks, but I truly enjoyed it. Although I give full credits to the special effects team (both Audio and video), I must say the dialogs are perfectly written to go well with the spirit of the action that’s going on the screen. All Thumps-Up for Michael Davis. And the reason I didn’t categorize this mainly as a comedy is just because the hero doesn’t kills the baby himself at the end (probably for a better cause, like saving the world from a deadly virus the baby is carrying or something) and it doesn’t have Tom Cruise from Tropic Thunder as the main villain.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Waltz with Bashir (2008)

Vals Im Bashir (2008)

Director : Ari Folman.
Genere : Biography / Drama / War.
Cast : Animation.
Rating : Master piece

Media and movies have created a strong impression in peoples mind that heroes are someone who descend from heaven and fights for his country until his last breath. And enemy is someone who is born and raised as evil and all he has in mind is the destruction of his adversaries. There are some films which do not follow these rules; Waltz with Bashir is one of them.
Waltz with Bashir is a journey through the memories of the main character, that often switches between real and unreal worlds. The film portrays the life and actions of young boys send to war. Before entering the Lebanese soil they sings, jokes and enjoys as though they were on an excursion, after entering Lebanese soil they were greeted with RPG's and AK47 fires from all directions. Without knowing where the attack is coming from, all they can do was shoot hysterically without knowing who they were shooting at and in which direction they were shooting. Every war is complex and bloody, those who really fought it can never forget it. The hallucination and trauma haunts them even after 20 years.
The main theme of this movie is the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which Christian Phalangists kills thousands of Palestinian refugees, for the assassination of Bachir Gemayel. It vividly tells that war is a slaughter house for both combatants and no one can be innocent. The conclusion of the movie is very simple and unbelievable and may be unacceptable for many. Killing is not a joke nor a game; the memories will haunt you even if it were your worst enemy. David Polonsky and Yoni Goodman along with Ari Folman had to be congratulated for their outstanding work in creating a surreal world and an excellent combination of cinematic and documentary style through hand drawn animations.