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An error has ocurred. Please try againI have arranged the first 40 films based on how much noise they have made on the festival circuit. I may not find time to cover the remaining films. But do experiment with your film selections; that's where the fun lies.
Let me know in the comments below if you think a film needs to be pushed up.
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Reviews
Butter (2011)
A delightfully funny satire
Butter is a delightful little comedy that has most of its best jokes in the trailer but still manages to make you smile throughout. It is set around a 'Mastery in Butter Sculpting' competition which is very popular in Iowa. I just found out the competition has been a staple event at the Iowa State Fair for close to a century. Veteran sculptor Bob Pickler wants out but his much feared wife Laura is in no mood to give up just yet. There's a new kid in town with a knack for sculpting and more trouble arrives in the Pickler household in the form of a stripper. What follows is a surprisingly entertaining hour of satirical humor leading to a mushy climax.
Destiny is a foster child who lives out of a suitcase in all her homes in the hope that her real mother would turn up. She is unbelievably good at things and doesn't give herself any credit for it. Her latest foster parents are quite surprised when she decides to take up a traditionally redneck vocation. Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone play her immensely likable foster parents who suddenly add a warmth to the film, making it even more palatable.
As a political satire, the film pits a typically God-loving, semi- racist, conspicuously Republican Laura against a young African-American kid who has a way with words. Geddit? There's a dinner table scene, which later gets sculpted into butter, that reminded me of American Beauty. I suspect that was an intended nod.
The language is wonderfully profane, with most of the quick-fire curses flying out from the pretty mouths of Garner and Wilde. Comedies usually stage a huge setup around sex scenes, but Butter takes you by surprise on more than one occasion with the unlikeliest of people getting intimate with each other.
One doesn't have to look closer to see that the film has many problems. Bob hooking up with Brooke (Wilde) makes sense and the narrative flow leads up to it, but Laura doing it with her one time flame Boyd Bolton was completely out of place. I am not justifying Bob's actions and condemning Laura's; it's just that whatever she did was not to get back at Bob but to use Boyd's services and get back at Destiny. Kaitlen Pickler, played Ashley Greene, has a half-baked character and goes nowhere. She's a typical teenager who hates her family but that's not the issue. Her little experimental fling with the stripper Brooke is, shall we say, pointless. Wait, what? I cannot believe I am complaining about the hot, girl on girl action. Never mind.
Wilde is a firecracker as the stripper Brooke; she is the funniest even though her character hangs very loosely to the story. The Jackman cameo, which is what it is, felt a tad in-apposite as well. Actually, most of the actors felt underutilized as they didn't get enough screen-time. It always gets problematic when kids act like grown-ups. Destiny is a cool kid and all that but the final scene, with her advising Laura, was way too cheesy, or should I say, buttery.
The film's strength is its short run-time. At a little over 80 minutes, the film opens up quick, makes you chuckle and sometimes laugh, and wraps up before you worry about its problems. It is necessary for me to address these problems but I honestly didn't care much for them. I had a lot of fun watching it.
Prometheus (2012)
Search for the Beginning could indeed lead to the End.
We have known two theories about the birth of mankind- Creationism and Darwinism. While one has too many flaws to be plausible, the latter doesn't answer all the questions. I have not given this subject much thought to be honest and the idea of another theory never even occurred to me. As suggested by the movie, if Engineers, as we refer to them, indeed created us, it doesn't stand next to the two existing theories as a third. But it simply replaces the God in creationism with Engineers. Now what good is that? Of course, good or bad is not even the question here.
We are told that Elizabeth Shaw is infertile, but a life is created in her. By this, how strongly are they indicating that Earth was barren before the arrival of the 'Engineers'? The movie only dares to attempt answering questions about the birth of mankind on Earth. It has no opinion on the creation of the Universe.
It is indeed fascinating that humans, on their quest to find out about the species that created them, take along a species which they created. David has no soul. He has little regard for the value of human life even though he was created to serve them. He very casually does an experiment on a member of the crew and the results are frightening.
So now we have a robot attempting to learn more about humans by watching their dreams as they sleep in the Cryo, we have humans who are spending trillions of dollars and a good 6 years of their time, risking their life in the meantime, to find out about their creator, and the supposed creators, who we are told were far more advanced, may have done their own share of search for the one ultimate creator. A pattern emerges, and along with it, so many questions. Are we looking in the right direction? Is the search even necessary? Are we to assume that it was indeed a God who created everything and set this never-ending puzzle in motion? How did he come into existence then? What was before him?
Let's buy what it is trying to say. Engineers create Humans, and right after creating them, they abandon them, attempting to make contact (with the prehistoric men belonging to every civilization that formed from time to time) only to 'invite' them to their world. They, I assume, went away to explore other worlds, leaving behind some of what they possessed. If ever humans manage to reach this place, they knew they would revive the one person who was left behind in the Cryo. This would mean successful completion of their grand experiment. Now the humans will be either destroyed or mutated with the black goo (presumably alien semen) to create newer species. One chain leads backwards while the other leads forward. But this is extremely 2001: A Space Odyssey-ish. I don't know, I believe this is right.
To support my theory, in the beginning of the movie, we are told that Prometheus was a mythological character who attempted to make humans equal to Gods, and for this he was killed. The spaceship Prometheus has done pretty much the same thing. It has made Humans, a mere product of a social experiment, on par with the creators or Gods, if you will. And the consequences will be dire.
It Was Nice to Meet You (2009)
It Was Nice to Meet You
This movie is so relatable for any film buff. I have always agreed with the "I'm a girl and I date jerks." bumper stickers. The guys in question aren't really jerks, but from my POV, people who have little regard for good movies, but show an unabashed admiration for universally accepted bad movies can be termed as jerks, especially when they have the girl. The film was really well made, despite its low budget. The use of wall- less rooms for the sake of reducing cost was very intelligent idea. The DVDs which used simple title cards instead of the actual outer jackets made sure the viewer's attention didn't get diverted. I found the search for 'least favorite' movies part extremely funny. It's a lovely little movie.
Vaaranam Aayiram (2008)
Disappointing.
Disappointing. The movie has its heart in the right place, yet it fails to strike a chord with ours. I enjoyed the first half but by the time the movie ends it all seemed vague and distant. I definitely wont agree with people who say that past intermission it was boring. For me, the whole movie failed. Remember tat wonderful scene from 'The Godfather' between Pacino and Marlon Brando before the latter dies? Had there been one scene in the movie like that it would have saved it. The scene where Surya does all the 'Bourne' stuff in New Delhi was not required one bit. Simran looked old when she was supposed to look young and vice-versa. Both Sameera & Divya were very pretty. Surya deserves special mention here for his acting, which was quite good. Harris's music as always was outstanding. But on the whole this movie just didn't work for me. P.S. Just give it a try. At least for Suriya.