Rajeev Masand – movies that matter : from bollywood, hollywood and everywhere else

November 24, 2017

Cast: Voices of Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Anthony Gonzalez, Alanna Ubach

Director: Lee Unkrich

It’s the holiday season, and the makers of Pixar’s new film Coco choose an unusual backdrop to frame its plot against – the Mexican festival Dia de los Muertos, otherwise known as Day of the Dead, or the day you honor the dear departed. Ironically, it’s this morbid touch that gives the film its heart. Just as the film’s protagonist Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) crosses over into the Land of the Dead, you feel the movie come alive.

“Coco” tells the tale of 12-year-old Miguel, born to a family of shoemakers, but who dreams of becoming a singer. This is easier hummed than done because the family has a longstanding allergy to music ever since Miguel’s great great grandfather abandoned his wife and his daughter in search of a singing career and fame.

The story is predictable, as Miguel, enraptured by Mexico’s late singing legend Ernesto De La Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), wants to follow in his footsteps. But it takes flight when the boy, by a quirk of fate, crosses over to the Land of the Dead. It is his skeletal ancestors and some splendid spirit animals that can help Miguel back home. Meanwhile, seeking out De La Cruz in this land of the dear departed, Miguel encounters a kooky musician, Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal), who is desperate for his family – back home in the land of the living – to remember him so he doesn’t fade into oblivion.

Coco is resplendent with macabre imagery, especially the gorgeous Land of the Dead – a metropolis reached by a bridge of marigold petals, and where skeletons have to pass by an airport immigration-sort of check. It’s the delicious tongue-in-cheek humor, the exotic Mexican culture, lilting songs, and heartfelt emotion that powers the film along its journey.

Pixar scores on these fronts, and frankly, because director Lee Unkrich imaginatively seasons this narrative about family with the bittersweet flavors of death. It’s a bold theme for a film that will be widely consumed by children, but it’s inoffensive, accessible stuff.

I’m going with three-and-a-half out of five for Coco; the film’s beautiful ideas of death and beyond will linger with you, long after you’ve left the cinema.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

November 24, 2017

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Leslie Odom Jr, Derek Jacobi, Olivia Colman, Lucy Boynton, Tom Bateman

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh’s film version of Agatha Christie’s classic 1934 novel is a lavish but plodding affair. Murder on the Orient Express is directed by Branagh, and also stars the veteran Shakespearean actor as Hercule Poirot, the iconic Belgian detective character who featured in several of the author’s stories.

This one is set on the famed Orient Express that’s barreling across Europe with a disparate bunch of travelers, including an art dealer (Johnny Depp), his private secretary (Josh Gad), an American widow (Michelle Pfeiffer), a Russian princess (Judi Dench), a governess (Daisy Ridley), a devout missionary (Penelope Cruz), and a handful of others, among them Poirot himself. After the train is stopped by a rockslide on the tracks during a snowstorm, one of the passengers is found stabbed to death in his locked compartment. Of course it’s up to Poirot to interrogate the dozen or so strangers to figure out who did it.

The film is crammed with stars, and yet the biggest attention-grabber is Branagh’s oversized mustache that more or less wraps itself around the front of his face. It’s incredibly distracting, and along with his clunky accent, reduces Poirot to a caricature. Branagh also fashions the detective as something of an action hero, giving him a gun, and more than one chase scene. Fans of the book, prepare to be outraged.

The film is extraordinary to look at, boasting exquisite production design, flashy camerawork, gorgeous costumes, and staggeringly beautiful European landscapes. But it’s let down by a script that feels dated and verbose, and unmistakably flat. There’s way too much talking, and not enough sleuthing, leaving the viewer easily bored.

I’m going with two and a half out of five for Murder on the Orient Express. It’s a bloated but underwhelming adaptation that feels as creaky as the train’s wheels. Such a shame.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

November 17, 2017

Cast: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Ciaran Hinds, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons

Director: Zack Snyder

Justice League, which marks the much-awaited team-up of ultimate DC superheroes Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg, is both more coherent and a good deal more fun than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But ‘fun’ isn’t a word anyone would use to describe that film, whose grim, dark, humorless tone made it a slog to get through – a superhero slog, if you like.

The new film feels like a course correction in many ways. It’s decidedly lighter, both in tone and flab. And the emphasis is clearly on establishing a clutch of fan-favorite characters from the comics and watching them work together as a unit. To that end, director Zack Snyder (with help from Joss Whedon, who finished the film after Snyder stepped back due to a family tragedy) has delivered a reasonably enjoyable romp, but one that isn’t without its problems.

Chief among those problems is an underwhelming villain. In the comics, Steppenwolf is the epitome of evil from Apokolips; a feared figure, eight-feet tall. In the film, however, he’s reduced to something that looks like a cross between a warrior and a horned goat, an entirely CGI creation that evokes none of the intended dread. He’s the latest in DC’s lineup of disappointing bad guys after Doomsday in Batman v Superman, Enchantress in Suicide Squad, and Ares in Wonder Woman.

The film’s plot is set into motion when Steppenwolf and his army of wasp-like alien creatures show up in search of three mysterious Mother Boxes. “The boxes don’t contain power,” someone helpfully points out, “they are power”. Suffice to say Steppenwolf is seeking the boxes to wipe out the planet.

Meanwhile, with Superman dead and the Earth vulnerable to all manner of attacks, Batman reaches out to Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman and the pair set out to recruit a trio of new teammates to join their planet-protecting mission. That’s where Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg come in.

Not surprisingly, Justice League is most enjoyable when it’s focused on the group as they bicker and bond and ditch their personal baggage to ultimately work together. It’s these scenes that infuse the film with humor, and in some cases emotional depth. It’s what keeps you invested in these characters.

And boy, what a bunch of characters they are! Ezra Miller practically steals the film as lightning fast nerdy teenager Barry Allen aka The Flash, who’s just thrilled to be invited to the big boys’ table. Jason Momoa owns the part of Arthur Curry, the hunky, amphibious hero with an attitude aka Aquaman, who, in one of the film’s cheekiest scenes, reveals more than he intended to in a rare moment of candidness. And then there’s Victor Stone aka Cyborg, played with genuine feeling by Ray Fisher as a deeply conflicted young fella that a freak accident has turned into a half man-half machine.

It’s a good thing the characters work, because the plot is wafer thin and relies too heavily on rusty tropes. There are some good standout moments, but the action on the whole isn’t particularly memorable, and the climax is the same old mess of mind-scrambling CGI nonsense. Too often the film feels patchy and disjointed, and at the cost of repeating myself I’ll say the villain is just a crushing disappointment and never feels like a credible threat.

Yet it’s the uncharacteristically light tone, the steady stream of one-liners, a crisp running time just shy of two hours, and dependable turns by Gal Gadot, still terrific as Wonder Woman, and a more relaxed Ben Affleck as Batman, that save the film from sinking under its own weight. There’s also a big reveal that you’ll probably see coming from a mile away, that just brought a big smile to my face.

Justice League isn’t perfect. But for a movie whose sole purpose is to endear us to new characters and establish a team, it fares perfectly well. I’m going with three out of five. There’s enough to enjoy on this bumpy ride.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

November 10, 2017

Cast: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, Susan Sarandon, Justin Hartley, Jay Hernandez

Director: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore

What’s more disturbing than the idea of three young moms behaving irresponsibly?

Well, you’re about to find out in A Bad Moms Christmas. This hit-and-miss sequel to last year’s bawdy comedy Bad Moms reunites best friends Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell), and Carla (Kathryn Hahn), while introducing us to each of their overbearing mothers who drop in on them over the holiday weekend.

Amy’s mother (Christine Baranski) is a dominating diva who doesn’t miss any opportunity to take a swipe at her daughter. Kiki’s mom (Cheryl Hines) is clingy to the point of obsession, getting the same haircut as her daughter, demanding to be her best friend, and buying the house next door to be closer to her. And then there’s Susan Sarandon playing Carla’s mom, a hard-drinking, doobie-smoking rock-n-roller who only shows up when she’s broke and needs a handout.

Written (and directed) by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore aka two men – and not just any two men, but the two men behind The Hangover – this film tries to find the sweet spot between crassness and comedy, frequently mistaking one for the other.

Unlike the earlier film, which gave its trio of leading ladies all the room to flex their comic chops, this sequel gives the older generation a chance to monopolize the naughty laughs. After opening with a lazy expositional voiceover to establish the stress of Christmas on mothers, the film hits its stride with the arrival of the Senior Moms.

They’re all three at the top of their game, but Baranski is in especially good form as the icy, disapproving control freak whose running joke about forgetting the existence of her daughter’s boyfriend are some of the film’s best bits.

There are some awkward laughs to be had from the surprisingly tender romance between Hahn’s character, who works at a spa, and a male stripper (Justin Hartley) who shows up to have his…umm…privates waxed.

Still, aside from some inspired portions, A Bad Moms Christmas feels formulaic and safe, and never as over-the-top as this kind of sequel needs to be. These moms may be bad, but they needed to be ‘badder’ for this film to truly fly. I’m going with two-and-a-half out of five.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

November 03, 2017

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, Karl Urban

Director: Taika Waititi

At a crucial point in Thor: Ragnarok, plotting an escape from a bizarre faraway planet, our Asgardian God of Thunder, played by Chris Hemsworth, and two allies debate the possibility of a safe getaway through Devil’s Anus.

You heard that right.

Except you probably never thought you’d hear that in a Marvel movie. One that doesn’t star Ryan Reynolds or Chris Pratt anyway.

Thor: Ragnarok isn’t merely the funniest film in the Marvel canon; it’s the loosey-goosey nature of the humor that truly makes it one of a kind. The tone is established early on…in the film’s opening scene in fact, where Thor, trapped in a cage and dangling before a volcanic lava-resembling villain, coolly asks his captor to wait until he stops spinning to continue with his end-of-the-world threats.

Another running joke involves Thor discussing whom he likes more out of The Hulk and his mild-mannered alter ego Bruce Banner…depending on which one of the two he’s discussing it with. There are throwaway lines about Loki’s betrayals as a kid, a really cool cameo by an A-lister in addition to fleeting appearances from other Avengers, and plenty laugh-out-loud moments.

New Zealand director Taika Waititi – whose credits include the flat-out brilliant vampire spoof What We Do in the Shadows – is responsible for the film’s wacked out comedic tone, and especially for giving it a distinct voice and personality. That’s true in literal terms too, in the shape of Korg, a scene-stealing, walking-talking pile of rocks that Waititi himself ‘plays’.

But frankly the irreverent humor and the bold, candy-colored visual aesthetic can’t hide the fact that the plot is kind of weak and all over the place. After establishing the combative relationship between Thor and his backstabbing adoptive brother Loki in the two previous stand-alone films, Thor: Ragnarok introduces our hero to the evil sister he never knew he had.

Say hello to Hela, the Goddess of Death (Cate Blanchett), who is determined to bring Ragnarok, which basically means total destruction, down on Asgard. It’s up to Thor to stop her, but for the most part of the film he’s imprisoned on a distant planet named Sakaar, where a cheerful tyrant known as the Grandmaster (a terrific Jeff Goldblum) forces Thor into a gladiator-style duel with his “old friend from work”, The Hulk.

The best bits, not surprisingly, include the hilarious bickering between Thor and The Hulk about who’s the strongest Avenger among other things. For the first time since he took the role, Mark Ruffalo really gets to have fun with the Big Green Guy, while giving us just enough of Banner too. Underused in this outing sadly is the always dependable Tom Hiddleston as God of Mischief Loki, and it feels as if some of his screentime might have been crunched to accommodate a new character, the badass Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson).

Blanchett, who’s kitted out in a black catsuit, goth makeup, and an impressive head of horns, appears to be having a jolly good time playing bad, and is especially entertaining when she’s doling out her deadpan sarcasm.

The film’s last act succumbs to the usual CGI mayhem, but Waititi smartly intersperses the explosions with some laughs and never lets it become a slog. Hemsworth is in particularly good form, the humor giving his character a whole new unexplored dimension to build on in future films.

The unavoidable trappings of the genre notwithstanding, Thor: Ragnarok is a whole barrel of fun. I’m going with four out of five.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)