The Cold Blue, The Steel Grey and The Odd Brown

Cover of Once Upon a Time in the West

Once upon a time in west – A review

The western by Sergio Leone is considered to be a masterpiece in movie history. The movie tells the story of America, the land of dream for all the adventurers from the Isles, and those who made the land. It is a beautiful movie with every pieces blended to make it a great art work.

The story is set against the backdrop of railroads which was signaled the end of horses and the end of old west. Railroads brought in towns and law which was to transform America, making steel and industries. The cast of Henry Fonda, Leone's favorite actor in anti hero role against Charles Bronson as mysterious harmonica player who is seeking revenge, and Jason Robards as Cheyyene, an ethical bandit made the movie as good as it could ever been.

The movie tries to be true to the prospectors and people who came to try their luck in the new country. In the town of flagstone, you see Chinese laundry while Jill rides through the town. You see a good mix of people, Indians, Chinese, British, Irish(from their sideburns) and the prospectors. The Negroes are also shown in uniforms. The railroad is to connect civilized east and wild west. Many pieces condensed into a 160 minute movie.

The story shows woman in good light. The only woman in the movie, Jill played by Claudia Cardinale is a survivor. As a beautiful woman in the old west could hope to be no more than a lady if she is poor, but be a prostitute. As Cheyyene says Jill is quite like his mother who was the biggest whore in all of Almeida but the finest woman ever lived. Though in the end, both Bronson and Robards leaves Claudia Cardinale to build the town with the people.

The dialogues are the strongest part of this movie with very short, caustic and true words spoken by all actors. When Cheyyene meets Jill, he starts to put her down making her feel as if she is powerless in front of him. Jill replies, he can pull her on the table and ravish her, maybe even call all the guys outside, but in the end when they are gone a good hot bath is enough to take of all the grime. They have no more power on her than the dirt on the road, and a bad memory. The dialogues are short and very much rhetorical, without the bang.

The finest line of the movie is when Fonda comes back to seek Bronson. The dialogues goes like this:

F: Surprised to see me?

B: I knew you would come.

F: Well, this makes me different from Morton who wouldn't have cared if you were alive somewhere out there.

B: Guess you are not yet a businessman.

F: Only a man.

B: An ancient race.

The men of the west were not the ones who cared for money or the women. They lived and died by something which the land gave to them, each a different man. The land took them back to her womb in due time. They never lived for sake of glory. They were the last of the breed which roamed the vast lands of America. The Iroquois, The Mohican's, The Chippewas and the Irish, The Scots, The Angles. Ah, an ancient race.

The high light of the movie is the score by Ennio Morricone. The music when Fonda comes, the harmonica for Bronson are so in tune with the movie. Each move and eyes are scored by music which makes the scenes light up to the moments. The sound of the waves rise when the piano forte dies while Morton struggles to reach to the rivulet. The score is the best for any movie, even bettering Morricone's own The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The music emotes to the story and adds as the extra character in the story.

The scene at middle of movie when Bronson first sees mirage of a man walking towards him is perhaps the best cinematography in a western. It fills the suspense of who the person is. Fonda asks Bronson who he is and we wonder who that guy in mirage is. Until the end of the movie, viewers are withheld the identity. Each shot is extremely precise in camera. What is not said by words are said through lens.

Henry Fonda gave finest performance as Frank. Claudia Cardinale is beautiful, strong and shows some skin. Bronson has the steeliest eyes in the industry. A face which displays very fine set of emotions. My first movie of Jason Robards and he is good. On the whole a very fine movie.

Academy Awards 2010

Best Picture: Hurt Locker

A great movie on fictional life of EODs in Operation Victory in background of Iraq War. Excellent cinematography and sound mixing. Of course, if you are hearing breath from the suited up soldier, it is something right. Story based on a journalists account, and from which tabloid was he? A star is born in this movie, well he is a mix of D. Craig and T. Cruise right. The best thriller I have seen after Crimson tide.

Lost candidate: Avatar

An ordinary movie which is normally seen by kids in Nickelodeon and CN but suddenly watched by millions of adults on pretext of taking their kids or even checking if they can let their neighbours kid watch it. Another war movie, but this time in outer space(we have seen that too - even Samurai Jack has did that). So why harp. Because this movie shows greed, how science is usurped by it. How humans who have power is not always the right person to be in control. Why it is necessary to fight back, but only at great self loss.

Best Director: Katherine Bigelow for Hurt Locker

Lost: James Cameron for Avatar

After all, it is first ever decade for AA. They seem to redeem themselves to many greats of yesteryears. Avatar could have come in mind of a genius. The entire concept is mind blowing. Why did it lose? Maybe the AA guys were myopic in distinguishing a good picture from good director. Surely, that is harsh. She killed two great actors to make sure Jeremy Renner gets top billing. Surely who would have thought they will see someone so talented as Guy Pierce for less than 5 minutes? Or the ladies would have wished to have some more of Ralph Fiennes.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges

After seeing Arlington Road, I have always wondered why this guy was never in big league. Well, he still has got talent. He is one lucky guy to have Jessica Lange at start:)

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock

Well, haven't seen her acting so good till now.

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Waltz

The best actor in supporting role. Wasn't Fuhrer furious!! He is class personified. The perfect Nazi. Superlative performance.

Best Script: Mark Boal for Hurt Locker

Should be given. He cut off unnecessary talk, really.

Best Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd for Hurt Locker

This is the highlight of the movie. The entire movie was shot exquisitely well.. The middle eastern sun was perfect. Wouldn't know if night life was as shown, but people were there. Each and every character was there in the movie, none being props.

QT: Deathproof

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Everyone raves about Reservoir Dogs, almost all has a superlative comment on Pulp Fiction and ultimately says Quentin Tarantino is THE director. QT, as he is better known, has other movies like Oscar nominated Inglorious Basterds or story board Kill Bill or Jackie Brown or Death Proof.

Death Proof has very few raving about. I seen this movie without knowing it is a QT movie and I was wondering all along who directed this noir-istic thriller in a Russ Meyer style. All along movie has a feel of the hippie 70's, the age of flower girls and butterflies.

The start of the movie drags along with some bunch of girls, all three in number, having their shit talk. Pretty boring. Can girls be sensible at any time? Bitches can talk only about sex and guys as fuckabilly rides. Girls are really whorish, not beautiful. Then comes Kurt Russell as Stunt man Mike in his great car, which he calls as death proof. He meets up with girls and starts to scare them. And what a use of Robert Frost. Couldn't imagine such a line in those setting. What ensues is a great close up shots of a lap dance set to some of the best tunes of the age. I guess, Rose McGowan might have thought this movie was a lot better than sleeping with Marylin Manson. She dies in the car, cos as Mike says, to get the benefit, she had to be in his seat. Then he starts for his other three girlfriends and slams them to death by his car.

Now the state is Texas, and the sheriff is a cowboy. He ain't looking for trouble nor he is interested in some shit accident. He knows what happened, but he doesn't give a damn as long as his town is safe. So Stunt man Mike is left in the hospital bed to be seen after 14 months.

This is where the story kicks off. This time, frame is in black and white. Another bunch of girls, three in total, again talking. Same scenes re-enacted by different actors but this time, the one of them is silent. No shitty talk from her. The whole tone of movie is different from first. You begin to wonder if she is different! And then they stop at a store, she is still lying down. Other girls goes and gets what she asked for. Enter Stunt man Mike and sees her feet. The voyeur inside him needs to see her and he does it in real creepy style. She wakes up, and Mike races his car away. She is not impressed, and tells her friend so. Then she goes and leans on the hood. The scene cuts off and B&W is off. You see a cherry red top and sexy Grey skirt, with long boots on the body of voluptuous Rosario Dawson, on top of a yellow Mustang(i guess). And her friend is in cheerleader dress, yellow again. And they discuss Italian Vogue. What the fuck? These are same kinda girls as you have seen before. Another death proof murder. Then another girl enters, making it four as before. Wait a minute.

As the other girl enters, the two(other than voluptuous and cheerleader) are stunt girls. They want to ride a Dodge Challenger. Well, this is different. They go and do some really wacky dialogues to get to the ride. The three girls are going to do some ships mast. You don't know what it is and when you see it, you say 'cool'. Stunt man Mike, the voyeur, spies them and comes to scare them. They are driven all over the country till somehow they manage to make a dent in his arm. He goes off saying it was fun to the girls. The girls are not impressed. They chase him down and kicks his butt, making him cry out. He was not a male, never a male, crying and making as if he is sorry for what he did. Then they take turns to kick him and knocks him off which brings 'The End' on screen.

The contrast from first half of the movie to the second half is glaring. It defies convention, defies in making you jumping into conclusion for the movie, and makes you look at colour, dialogue and music together to get the feel of movie. I believe this is the best movie by QT. If all the elements of a movie is made to fit together as a piece by Mozart, then truly it is a work of art. I have later learned that this movie is part of double feature Grindhouse. Other part is directed by Robert Rodriguez, a master director, for me.

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• 5 reviews of Pulp Fiction (rateitall.com)

Greed, Avarice and Gold!

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The treasure of Sierra Madre by John Huston is probably the best movie I have seen(barring Batman Begins and Returns). A superb commercial movie with light hearted acting by all lead players except a superlative performance by Humphrey Bogart, The treasure is a movie which doesn't preach neither take sides, only puts a theme through to the viewer. The viewer may take it or leave it. There are lots of loose patches in the movie but it only adds to the load given to the viewer to take it or leave it.

Spoiler warning: Though the story is given below in skeletal details, some may find the story revealed. So only those who take in the nuances of story while watching, and not the superficial viewer, is suggested go ahead reading before watching the movie.

The beginning of movie starts with Bogart's character begging for lunch, without even a slight hesitation. Though an explanation is given why he begs, it strikes the viewer that this movie has no heroes, only humans. Bogart's character meets Holt at park bench. They later meet on the way to a swindler's labour camp. During this period, it is presumed that they become comrades, though nothing is shown. Later, they are cheated from their pay, only to see the guy outside a bar. He tries to outsmart them only to be beaten by the two working together. Here Bogart's character takes only the money due to them. Before that incident, they see an old man – Walter Huston at a dorm building who tells stories about prospecting. There again Bogart's character tells him that gold won't change him to a bad man. He will take only what is due to him.

Once they get the money, Bogart's character and Holt feels it is better to be out prospecting rather than biding their time for a job. They seek out Huston and plans to go out into Sierra Madre. They travel on foot into the mountains. The old man turns out to be the better man, finding the gold and teaching the two a thing or two about the real world. Once they strike gold and sit upon it in the night, suspicion starts to build inside Bogart's character. He starts to show streaks of greed. Holt saves him from a cave-in even then Bogart's character always doubts him. He even goes off his word of taking only what is required, though he always said he needs fifty. Later they are attacked by bandits. They have a fourth guy who warns them but who is shot. Here too Bogart's character shows lecherous nature while Holt shows empathy. Huston is all along the worldly wise old man who never takes too much into these young guns. Once they escape from bandits, they decided it is enough and starts to Durango. On the way, Huston saves an Indian kid and is asked to stay back at their village. He is forced to part with his gold and told he will be waited for at Durango. Once Bogart's character and Holt are left together, greed takes hold of Bogart's character and forces him to take a shot at Holt. He is mad because of gold. Though a good man basically, but who is weak, makes him go insane. He goes off alone only to be killed by bandits later. In a very significant turn of events, the bandits thinking gold to be sand throws it away. Before Holt and Huston could catch up, Bogart's character is killed and gold is flown by the winds back to the trail.

Bogart superbly plays the character's weakness and makes it visible only in streaks. The character is made to speak through eyes which gleams with doubt, only Eli Wallach's ugly has come close in such a beautiful essaying. Holt has the got some talent though he is no match for Bogart's brilliance. I have tried not to spill the story, though there is lot more to see in the movie and even more to take in independently. So watch the movie and enjoy!

Star Wars Saga

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A day of monumental movie viewing, for I have never seen so many movies in a single day ever. I have seen all the six movies in star wars saga now, and it was aided by a long forgotten similar streak of watching movies a decade ago. I had seen all the three movies which consists of the rebels fighting for the freedom of galaxy parts long before, and conveniently forgotten them. Even then I would admit that I still love the scenes with Han Solo. Han Solo's character is superbly played by Harrison Ford who has that scoundrel's perpetual smirk on his face and a hero's attitude when he let go of his smirk. You see him as any kids dream idol, a kinda cleaner and ideological 'dirty harry'.

Though the first three movies which were made after(confusing but it is so) last three movies are far superior in execution, the lack of a character like Han Solo makes it a bit less interesting. The characters of Qui Jan and Obi Wan(as they are called in movie :P) are really good. Anakin is a quite a bore once he grows older. This opinion has nothing to do with him being in love with Natalie Portman, I mean, Padme. Once he dons his black suit, he is quite a jolly good fellow, sounding like a vaccuum cleaner and moving with swish swash of the cleaning lady. The best movie of the series is the fourth one - A new Hope which intorduces Han Solo. The fifth one is also good and the last one is the worst of the lot. Actually, Lucas should consider making last one again. Maybe even consider making all the six again in one go. A bigger, snazzier Star Wars!

The Lord of Sith, Master Sidius had a master. A story of the legend of sith could be done. The whole series has enough leads to make it like LOTR or Narnia - these two being creations of far greater geniuses than Lucas is. All the character buliding and legends will make it into one of screen gems which could take on literature. Movies have never explored this avenue. QT tries and tries. Frank Miller did it admirably. That is where a master artist meets a master story teller. A lot can be done through movies.