Movie-thon

E came up with the perfect antidote to beat the blues two weeks ago - watching five movies across three days!

I can laugh out loud when I think of how we plonked ourselves at the PVR counter in Forum on Thursday afternoon, with E declaring: Now you have to listen carefully...first you give us X tickets for Y movie for today's show, then XX tickets for YY for tomorrow afternoon, then.......I tried my best to pretend I didn't know her as we succeeded in confusing a series of ticketing attendants and caused adequate exasperation amongst the folks standing in line behind us (poor guys probably wanted tickets for the show that started 5 minutes ago!) . But I could not help giggling every time she threw the charlie into an even bigger tizzy by demanding tickets for King Lear or Shakespeare’s Lear (as opposed to The Last Lear)!

So here was our Movie-thon Itinerary:

1. What Happens in Vegas: Predictable chick-flick, with both Ashton Kutcher & Cameron Diaz doing what they do best - acting silly & romantic. Great 10PM week day fare when you are looking for something mindless and completely timepass. Good start.

2. The Last Lear: Why did we decide to watch this on Friday 10 PM ! The story had potential – the last shot at Shakespearean glory for a talented stage actor who is persuaded to act in a movie by a brilliant but diabolical director. The casting was also good – the original Angry Young Man is now a masterful Cranky Old Man and did a fantastic job of depicting Harry’s anguished brilliance and of mouthing Shakespeare; the ethereal Shefali Shah was brilliant as Harry’s mistress; and Preity Zinta as the inexperienced model-turned-actress & Arjun Rampal as the director were adequate. But somehow, Ghosh lost his way – the story within the story of the clown was not given sufficient attention and came out sounding hollow, the reason for AB quitting stage was very flimsy, and Ghosh spent un-necessary time dwelling upon the unhappiness of the two women. P was probably right when she remarked that Rituparno Ghosh has made a habit of disguising lazy filmmaking as art cinema - when will he realize that showing dirty sinks and torturously lingering over the despair of his female protagonists do not a good movie make.

3. A Wednesday: Ironic that I got an sms about the blasts in Delhi while watching this movie. Neeraj Pandey has done an outstanding job with this movie about terrorist bombings - given that they are alarmingly becoming a more frequent part of our lives. A timely and relevant story, well etched characters, great pace and humor (the Police Commissioner gets a call from a credit card company on his counter-terrorism hotline), a twist-in-the-end and fantastic acting (Naseruddin Shah & Anupam Kher were at their brilliant best). Great watch.

4. Mamma Mia: So I say, Thank you for the music, the songs we’re singing, thanks for all the joy they’re bringing…. Watch this only if you’re an ABBA fan – and if you are one, go watch it NOW and have a blast! Who would believe that Meryl Streep is close to 60 when you see her rolling & jumping & dancing with sooo much energy– what a fantastic actress she is (so what if she is barely able to open her mouth thanks to all the Botox – P’s astute observation again). This is not a movie that you sit down and watch in a cinema hall– I wish Opus would screen this on their Kroakanites and let everyone just sing and jump and dance alongwith! I’m sure E & I irritated quite a few of our neighbors in the hall by loudly singing out each and every song – but who cares when we got extra large dollops of joy and verve for our Saturday evening!

5. Righteous Kill: Jon Avnet gets Al Pacino & Robert de Niro together in a movie after decades, and what does he do? Casts them as boring old New York police detectives and gives them a story where the so-called suspense is evident in the first 30 minutes itself. No pace, no drama, no story, no suspense – no wonder Sonny & Bobby sleep walk through their roles and give us a dud of a thriller. Russell Gewirtz can surely do better than this, especially after giving us the brilliant Inside Man.