Of Prince of Persia and a few others

I watched Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time on last Friday itself, and loved it immensely. But am getting down to express my opinion only now (no, I did not update my status on FB, post something on twitter or write a blog or call someone to tell them). For a change, I haven’t read any of the critics’ opinion on the movie yet as well. It’s hard for me to reflect back on the movie and identify that one thing that worked for me. The movie was as movies should be. An idea well executed. Fast paced, full of excitement, on many occasions larger than life, and on a few, just as narrow as living itself. The stars of the movie did not do anything great (Ben Kingsley included). But they did not do something wrong either. And that’s why I liked the movie I think. For the ~2hours, I did not think about anything else. Not even the movie. It was, for some reason, about being in the moment on the screen. So, in short, the movie worked for me. It’s the kind of movie that I would easily give a 9 on 10 to. Maybe a 10. Except that the purists would find too many flaws with the dialogues and cheesiness of a lot of scenes 😉

On an alternative note, I watched 12 movies on a recent US trip (inflight entertainment stuff). The movies I watched were – Invictus, Leap Year, Valentine’s Day, What Happened In Rome, Did You Hear About The Morgans, The Hurt Locker, Shutter Island, Dr. No, Golden Eye, Deewana Mastana, Fung Wan II, and The Blind Side. They ranged from “Yea Right” to “Oh Yeah” to “Hell Yeah!”.

Yea Right

Leap Year – lame chick flick about a dame who wants to follow the hypothetical Irish tradition of proposing on 29^th Feb to his boyfriend, and falls in love with another dude in the Irish countryside while everything else around her is going wrong. Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are fine in a movie which has nothing to offer really.

Did You Hear About the Morgans – another lame movie, generally speaking. Especially if you are tired of the Hugh Grant movies where he just keeps mumbling. By the end of the movie, I was so strongly reminded of that separated at birth picture of Sarah Jessica Parker and a horse. The cowboy dude living in Ray, Wyoming was a pretty cool dude though.

Valentine’s Day – Lots of chick flick studs in this movie, like Ashton Kutcher, Anne Hathaway et al. And a lot of other big names too – Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, etc. But the movie, an extreme Hollywood stereotype. Multiple threads running in parallel, and converging in the end in that final mushy mushy scene. There isn’t much to write about, except that it explores hundreds of different relationships in the valentine context.

When  in Rome – OK OK! I don’t quite enjoy most of the chick flicks, but I watch them nevertheless. Its an addiction since Notting Hill. WHIR is another lame one about a girl picking coins from a fountain, and the guys who had earlier made a wish on those coins falling for her, etc etc. You get the drift, right? No? Then you’re on the wrong blog. You should be downloading the movie right now.

Oh Yeah

Dr. No – Have seen it many times. Saw it again. There is something about the “Bond” style, and then there is the famed Ursula Andress scene. Overall, the movie is the kind of 60-70s flick that I absolutely louuve watching. Random gadgets, wicked villains who would not kill the hero when they get the chance, but would rather explain their entire world domination plan to him, a sexy heroine who doesn’t mind kicking a few butts in the climax scene, a friend, water, boats, cars, etc. Good fun.

Golden Eye – Need I say more?

The Hurt Locker – I know the movie won an Oscar, and a lot of people would put it in the Hell Yeah category. Maybe I was sleepy, maybe I am not that enlightened, or maybe I don’t care about Iraq war anyway. But net result, I liked the movie, but I did not louuuve the movie. Honestly, I think I was sleepy. I still don’t know what is the meaning of Hurt Locker. But the actors were all good, and the editing, screenplay and direction – pretty damn good.

Deewana Mastana – baby steps, baby steps. Loved the movie several years back. Love it still. Absurd, ridiculous, but great paisa vasool. And imagine, I was watching it for free, free, free. Govinda does what only he can do, that is, be ridiculously funny. And Juhi is so pretty, and so funny. Isn’t she?

Shutter Island – did not work, did not work, did not work for me. Its not a badly made movie. But its not a movie that left me with a nice feeling. Way too much. Of what? I don’t know. I guess everything. I am ok with putting it here, simply because its pretty well made.

Hell Yeah

Fung Wan II (The Storm Warriors) – Man, we need more martial arts movies. What a ridiculous movie!! What a lovely movie to watch!!! Style, action, and martial arts. From the word go. And a sad ending to top it up. What more do I need in life?

The Blind Side – Agree. It’s a movie that was made to get Sandra Bullock on the Oscar’s list. But I loved the movie. I generally have a soft corner for sports movies. But this one was a rocking one. The dude who played Big Mike was awesomer than Sandra Bullock. And the little brother was phenomenal. Everyone else did quite well. But the manipulative story that it is, it was just newyork cheesecake kinda smooth and gooey and sweet and feel good.

Invictus- Something about Morgan Freeman, isn’t it? Again, a movie made for the Oscars or so. But I liked Matt Damon’s restrained performance, as well as the overall narrative style. Not the usual movie where the president might have had resorted to some crazy things (like picking the ball and giving a long speech). Overall, very composed and very interesting movie to watch. And it touches on some of the apartheid issues, without blowing them out of proportion.

So, what have you been watching? How do you spend your flight time? Sleeping?