This Is It

I came out of the theater dancing. I came out wanting to celebrate life. I came out inspired. And it's only been four months.
Directed by Kenny Ortega, 'This Is It' takes an unabashed look at the last few months of Michael Jackson's turbulent life. Thankfully for us, and Michael, those last moments were spent doing what he loved to do. Entertain. The sets are vast, the creativity of his team unbridled, the magic of the man still sizzling on stage. Ortega takes us on a journey showcasing not only MJ's passion for his craft, but also his vision of what was to be his final 'curtain call'. What emerges is a man not willing to settle for the ordinary, to compromise on the mediocre. You see Michael quietly take command of this gigantic ship with an authority and calm that would put the best MBAs to shame. He is an uncompromising task-master. Asking softly for reruns 'one more time'.
Even as his perfectionist self demands the best from those around him, he is quick to remind them of why they do what they do. 'All for the love - l-o-v-e. God bless you all.' His sharp cool mind keeps tabs on everything happening around him, even as he loses himself to his art.
I often found myself wanting to reach the person behind the glasses. To understand the driver behind his life, the demons and pain he would undoubtedly carry around. And yet i couldnt hold on to that thought for more than a few moments. For the truth is Michael was real only when he was on stage. And never has that come across more clearly than it did with 'This Is It'. He comes alive in a way few people do. At 50, he seems just begining to take off. With a voice as moving as it was 30 years ago(watch him croon to 'Human Nature'), a verve that runs through his body when he dances, he simply awes the people around him, no strangers to performers themselves. An undeniable presence, that believes with every breath he takes that this is what he was meant to do. And what he was doing was important. Because he was doing it for us. Nobody else. The fans. He would not compromise. He would not be lenient, even with himself and his failing health. For that one last spectacular show. To 'show us a time we had not seen before'.
An inspiration. A man as men were meant to be. Alive.

Capitalism

I'm not entirely sure what an appropriate approach for this review is. And i think that is symptomatic of another Michael Moore production. Once you leave the theater, you're never quite sure what it is that you've witnessed, what the necessary import should be. You're only aware of having been swept away in a wave of reactionary emotion.
'Propaganda is a very strong weapon. I'm always amazed by what propaganda can do', opines an elderly statesman clearly in awe of the State's propaganda machine. Ironically, Moore doesnt seem too reticent in crunching the machine himself. He weaves in and out of political and economic terminologies without as much as a pause, never once clarifying what he means by them. Words like Capitalism, Socialism, Democracy, Corporatism are thrown around in good measure, without a clear ideological thread that binds them or a vision that differentiates between them. Moore uses dramatic footage to prove the evils of Capitalism, but one is never quite sure what he means. He presents unethical company practices and uses them to discredit the 'profit motive' principle. What one has to do with the other, Moore doesnt delve into. He uses priests and bishops to pontificate over how Jesus would not deal in derivatives. He provides endless examples of how the govt-corporate nexus is eating through the core of american value and economic system, and yet ends up promoting further govt intervention.
To Moore's credit, he has a compelling collection of heart-wrenching and anger-inducing portions that eventually work towards getting a rise out of the viewer. But it's painfully obvious that his latest work of fiction is not thought provoking, but simply provoking. He ends the unrelated string of sob stories by insisting on a people's revolution. Whether he prefers a systemic change from within, or simply an off-with-the-head French revolution template, one does not know. What is clear however, is that there is a paradigm shift taking place in this country, where a citizen can create a raw unapologetic piece of propaganda promulgating socialism and receive rave reviews and a thunderous reception from the every day american. This is a far cry from the America of McCarthy, another extremist who attacked american principles from the other side. These are dangerous times, dangerous times indeed. I wonder if historians, decades from now, will consider Moore's Capitalism the first shot across the bow.
'Democracy instead of Capitalism', he exclaims in the end. Moore does not know what he means. Neither did the people in the theater cheering him. And i am sufficiently concerned.

PS: As an aside, one would like to thank Moore for revealing a new hero. Marcy Kaptur kicks ass.

Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In)

Låt den rätte komma in or { let the right one in} is less horror and more of a sweet film potraying a relationship between a normal useless boy and a vampire kid...yeah!! you heard that right a vampire..both of them are of twelve..The film is all about this coward kid who gets a timely teasing fron his classmates learns how to stand and come out of his mess when this little vampire girl comes to his town...The part of vampire played by the little girl is really worth seeing..and you may get attracted to her eyes all of a sudden...The film has an excellent plot,goes by the time,and you might not get bored.The director did make sure that the vampire tradition is shown.I mean they cant get out in sunlight,gets crazy with blood,stuffs like that..The overall film revolves around the friendship and love between this two totally different kid with shots of bloods,headless bodies and some creepy scenes..In the end we have this so called happy ending..well thats all..Last and ofcorse not the least.when i was finished with the movie i had only one word in my mind....STRANGE..
HAPPY WATCHING.

Revolutionary Road

Sam Mendes is a man on a mission. He intends to seek and capture beauty everywhere. Even in the most melancholy situations, in stories that drip despair, Mendes contends that the beauty lies simply in the fact that the situations exist. American Beauty was a masterpiece. But it was also obvious. The ending of the movie, where the fleeting protagonist offers universal redemption, lifts the pall of gloom that desperately needs lifting and concludes that all of human activity is nothing but a series of beautiful actions, irrespective of the emotion attached to it.

There is no such reprieve in Revolutionary Road. The director provides no escape route from the brutal mental hammering that the movie is bound to inflict. There is no benevolent voice of hope that promises answers or eventual peace. In RR, Mendes revisits american suburbia of the 50's, an especially conservative and domestically trying time for the american people. diCaprio and Winslet are a married couple who move to a suburb in hopes of reigniting their rapidly failing marriage. Caprio is stuck in a job he has no love for, while Winslet, a failed actress, finds her dreams of living an exciting life slowly slip by as she spends her days tending to her home and children. The future looks bleak till Winslet suggests that they take life into their own hands, and move to Paris, as Caprio had always dreamt of. There is an especially touching scene, where Winslet tries to convince her hesitant husband why she has any faith in his ability to live life beyond the ordinary. 'Dont you know?', she says holding him close, 'its because you're the most beautiful thing in the world. You are a Man.'

What happens next forms the remainder of the movie, swaying from periods of joy and hope to despair and tragedy. It is the above scene between the husband and wife however, that sums up the movie for me. While Winslet believes that they are meant to be something 'special', Caprio himself has no such illusions and only flirts with the idea. It is this conflict, between what could be, and what is, that threatens to destroy not only their marriage, but the fabric of their existence. It is barely ironic that the only person who calls them out on their silent pretense of a marriage is a social pariah and an implied lunatic(a brilliant Michael Shannon). What gives the viewer the shivers is how easy it is to relate to either of the characters. You WILL relate to one of them. A few will to both. And thats the genius of what Mendes has achieved here. In this relentlessly repressing story, he manages to effuse a sense of beauty simply by tearing the curtain away and presenting you with the truth. And the truth, no matter how dark, no matter how tragic, is always this. Its always beautiful.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

My earliest memory of Wolverine is a tattered dusty comic book i found at my cousin's place years ago. His room had always been a veritable treasure chest from the perspective of a teenager. As i settled into a corner, the comic began (as Wolverine story arcs tend to do) with Wolvie pissed drunk in a bar, quite unaware of the impending danger headed his way. A group of villians, previously torn to ribbons by his admantium claws on some occasion or the other, have joined forces with the intention to de-fang him forever. As they approach the bar, armed to the teeth and well-prepared, a terrific battle rages with Wolverine finally taken prisoner after inflicting much damage. So strong is the thematic violence, that not only do they mercilessly restrain him, they decide to crucify him. So as per plan, Wolverine is shown carefully nailed to the cross, through places not reinforced with the cursed metal. He is raised on a cross, bleeding profusely in the middle of nowhere, left for dead. The loss of blood and scavengers are assumed to finish the job. Close to death, Wolverine turns to what he fears the most, his animal rage. With screams to chill the bone, he begins to pull the nails out by sheer force of will. By the time he pulls himself off the wooden cross, he is a spent force, almost insane with pain and fury.
As i sat watching 'Origins', i couldnt help but replay those feelings of raw animalistic ferocity i had imputed to Wolverine as a young reader, and how those same attributes were now glossed over by this formulaic Hollywood junk, ever so eager to please the average movie-goers baser instincts. I cringed every time Stryker asks Logan to become the 'animal', the latter growling as if doing a Garfield imitation in response. In all fairness, Hugh Jackman does try. But what's clear from the outset is this: they just dont get it. With a healing power making him almost immortal, but not inhuman, Wolverine is perhaps the most exciting of all Marvel characters. Having endured centuries of pain, loneliness, hatred, love and loss, the comic books treat his backstory with a reverence reserved only for Kal El and Bruce Wayne. And yet, all the production houses can offer us in terms of character development is nightmares and screams. What a waste.
Mercifully Schreiber plays Sabretooth with enough menace to give his character some 'teeth'. Spoiler: Reynolds isnt half bad as Deadpool, though i cant imagine why they had him decapitated towards the end. The movie seemed like an extended trailer for future spinoffs, and Deadpool should most definitely get a larger share of that pie.
Overall, the movie doesnt suck. But comic book fans will be disappointed. What could have been another Dark Knight was duly turned into a Spawn because the makers didnt care enough for the character we have come to know and love.