The Theory of Everything

Stephen Hawking has a brilliant career and loving marriage ahead. But diagnosed with motor neuron disease, he's given two years to live - can Hawking solve the equation of life?

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie CDavid Thewlis, Harry Lloyd, Maxine Peake
Direction: James Marsh
Genre: Biopic
Duration: 2 hours 3 minutes

The Theory of Everything Review: In 1963, Stephen Hawking was very far from the world-revered figure he is today. Instead, this biopic depicts Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) as a partying, rowing Cambridge student, interested in the "physics of lust", bantering with buddy Brian (Lloyd). Hawking is brilliant but yawningly lazy, giving Professor Sciama (Thewlis) answers scrawled on train schedules, meeting Jane (Felicity Jones) at a party, the pretty languages student bowled over by the awkward, charming young man. Love's blossoming when Hawking is told he has motor neuron disease, his muscles will degenerate - and he has just two years to live. Jane insists on marrying Stephen - but their journey isn't simple.

Remarkably, this biopic is, although it houses three narratives - the life of a gifted, afflicted being, a love story through time, a philosophical debate over God's existence versus scientific evidence. Excellent acting brings these together. Playing Hawking - humourous, luminous, increasingly dark as his body gives way despite his mind and heart growing - Eddie Redmayne delivers a stupendous performance. There are scenes when Redmayne can only express thorough his eyes (Hawking couldn't speak after surgery) and the anger and anguish of his glances are extraordinary, just like his naughty grins at nurse Elaine (Peak), who efficiently manages his moods and his reading of Penthouse. Alongside, Felicity Jones presents a powerful Jane, in love, growing fatigued, attracted to choirmaster Jonathan (Cox), racked by tension.

The music and cinematography, capturing Cambridge's lush prettiness, add glow, this portrait considerably brighter than a biopic like A Beautiful Mind, also exploring genius and agony. For those expecting a science lesson though, this film provides only fleeting moments of diet-physics. Instead, the focus is on Hawking's emotional discoveries, his "simple, elegant equation to explain everything" - love, hope and human endeavour, balancing the sadness of 'If only' with the courage of 'What if...?'

This movie reportedly made Stephen Hawking cry. Watch it. You'll see why.

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Foxcatcher

Thanks to his inherited fortune, John du Pont (Carell), cold and self-obsessed, can afford to indulge his eclectic whims, from ornithology and philately to freestyle wrestling. He wants to train his 'Team Foxcatcher' (named after his mother's horse-racing stable) to win big at the 1988 Olympics and enlists Olympic gold medallist brothers Mark and Dave Schultz to help achieve this.

Cast: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave
Direction: Bennett Miller
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 14 minutes

Review: Mark (Tatum) and John reside at either end of the wealth spectrum. Mark has a wrestling gold from the 1984 Olympics and John, scion of the enormously loaded du Pont family, has a sense of hollow self-importance that sounds almost ridiculous if it weren't laced with a fairly apparent feeling that he is rather odd fellow with creepy mannerisms.

Mark is flown to John's estate in Pennsylvania and asked to train for the Olympics - gold and nothing less, mind you. He is put up in a chalet offering him every luxury, except any female company. Both men, however, are lonely and therefore, for a while, they soon become best mates - two individuals who commonly crave an elusive, inner sense of lasting accomplishment.

Dave (Ruffalo, excellent) later senses his brother is uneasy about something and flies to John's estate to train and more importantly, look after Mark. John meanwhile, desperately but quietly craves his mother's (Redgrave) approval. She loves horses but turns up her nose at wrestling, calling it a 'low' sport. John's derision for all things equestrian is apparent when, during one champagne-soaked evening, he yells to Mark: "They only eat and shit!"

The Carell-Ruffalo-Tatum trio put in terrific, edgy performances. Tatum thrills in his most mesmerizing performance to date as a hulking man-child who is emotionally stunted. But it's Carell's (otherwise known for his comedy roles) impeccable timing that gives his character a chilling, nuanced intensity tinged with hidden homoeroticism regarding his proximity to Mark. Foxcatcher is aided by a powerful script (Max Frye and Dan Futterman) and is based on a true story. The tale is no doubt an unsettling one... and yet, you'll not want to miss a second.

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Birdman

Riggan Thomson, an erstwhile superhero superstar, post a disillusioning spell orchestrates his mighty comeback with a Broadway play based on Raymond Carver's 1981 classic, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

His rendition as the writer-actor in the play pushes him towards a journey of self-exploration excavating his latent doubts, fear of failure, scrambled personal relationships and the brooding question - whether he will be able to resurrect his image and fly beyond the fleshed persona of 'Birdman'.


Cast: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts
Direction: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 2 hours 2 minutes


Review: It's a riveting portrayal of a fading superhero star who is used as a prop to understand the workings of prestige, power games and how fame's intoxication can soon wear out into futility and redundancy. Michael Keaton brings palpability to this tailor-made role, in which he seems to mirror his prior experience of playing Batman in two successful stints, only to bow out of it over artistic principles.

Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu infuses in his tale a keen understanding of the flip side of glamour's alluring world and brings it alive on celluloid without making it somber, lacing the story with sinister humour and shrewd wit, as jazz drums compliment the film's tempo and Lubezki's cinematography adds drama to the tapestry.

As this tale moves sharply through cataclysmic failures of its preview nights, the venom in Birdman's omnipresent voice strengthens, driving the narrative towards its rather expected, nevertheless, powerful climax.

The film is memorable for its scenes - Sam (Emma Stone)'s outburst rupturing Riggan (Keaton)'s bubble full of pretentious airs, the one where Mike (Edward Norton) tells Sam how stage is the only place where he can be genuine and finally Riggan's bitter face-off with a critic who gets him weary by pointing out that he is a celebrity and not an actor, are all instances of its nuanced, observant writing.

What ups the enigma here is Keaton's power packed performance ably supported by the terrific Norton and the phenomenal Stone. Watts, Riseborough and Galifianakis are pitch-perfect in their bits.

Birdman, in its 122 minutes' runtime, transforms into exhilarating cinema that gives a heady rush.

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Seventh son

Only the 'seventh son', Tom Ward (Barnes), has the power to help stop an evil, shape-shifting witch named Malkin (Moore), who having escaped from imprisonment, will come to power during a Blood Moon night. Before Ward can even hope to have a chance, he must be trained in the art of battling the supernatural by the Spook, John Gregory (Bridges).

Cast: Julianne Moore, Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges, Kit Harington, Alicia Vikander, Djimon Hounsou, Antje Traue, Olivia Williams
Direction: Sergei Bodrov
Genre: Action
Duration: 1 hour 43 minutes

Seventh Son Review: John Gregory is the last survivor of a group of knights who used to, in days of old, battle all manner of evil, be it from this world or the next. As the last man standing - or in his case, hunched over a bar stool in a tavern and nursing a pint of ale - he is now grizzled and old. Gregory is approached by his apprentice for a mission - recapturing Malkin, who has escaped her remote confinement from what looks like the medieval version of the Grand Canyon. While Gregory (whose warbling speech sounds like he has a mouth full of marbles) manages to survive various battles, his apprentices aren't that fortunate. Gregory later turns up at Ward's country home. The latter often has visions that are meant to convey that he can look into the future, and is according to Gregory, the one who can stop Malkin before the Blood Moon rises in the near future. Initially bumbling, Ward gradually finds his depth, along with a love interest in Alice (Vikander) who is the daughter of a witch named Lizzie (Traue). It all leads up to the final battle between Malkin and her monsters versus the Spook and Ward.

The sets look like budget Lord of the Rings and the script isn't really much to write home about. Almost no backstory is offered for any of the main characters or how they connect and it's also unclear whether the movie is set in medieval Europe or some fantasy world.

To be fair, it's apparent that the most effort has gone into the visual effects and the battles, which are the two redeeming factors about this film.

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Mortdecai

Mortdecai (Depp) is an art dealer who knows his Raphael from a Rembrandt. Almost on the verge of bankruptcy, his fortunes could however turn around when he is approached by the Mi5 to trace a valuable Goya, once captured by Hermann Goring, that contains a secret code to a treasure trove of Nazi gold.

Cast: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Jeff Goldblum
Direction: David Koepp
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 1 hour 47 minutes

Review: From the moustache down to his character's bon vivant-isms, this is among Johnny Depp's craziest and looniest screen outings. We get an inkling of this in the opening scene, where the debonair Mortdecai (with Oxford accent on fourth gear) meets three Chinese toughs for an art deal. Mortdecai has cheated them in the past and they now intend to collect. The meeting quickly degenerates into a bar brawl and it is Mortdecai's manservant Jock Strapp (Bettany) who saves him from a premature end. And indeed, Jock (also shown to have a voracious sexual appetite) routinely saves Mortdecai's ass throughout the movie.

Johanna (Paltrow) is Mortdecai's statuesque wife who is as mortified about her husband's freakish facial fuzz as she is about their impending insolvency, despite living an unabashedly aristocratic life. He is approached by Martland (McGregor) of the Mi5 and is coerced into recovering the lost Goya. The hunt then takes him to Russia and LA. The only trouble is that there are others who will do anything to get their hands on it too. Not helping Mortdecai is the fact that the dashing Martland has eyes for the lovely and willing Johanna when he is away.

Everything, from the accents to the mannerisms of the title characters, is impeccably British to the point of parody. The film is paced well but unfortunately, a lot of the jokes fall flat. The film simmers but never really sizzles, despite moments of potential. Mortdecai's stiffly waxed moustache stays unruffled through car chases and fist fights and shades of Jack Sparrow clearly creep in many times, especially when it comes to Depp's by-now familiar sozzled-and-swaying screen routine. While the script is lacklustre, it is only Depp's talent that keeps this film afloat.

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The Imitation Game

Story: During WWII, mathematician extraordinaire Alan Turing's mission is to crack the Enigma machine's code used by the Wehrmacht. Turing's work will not only be instrumental in shortening the war but will also as a result, save many millions of lives. Apart from that, this is a masterful portrayal of a genius.

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Alex Lawther, Peter Hilton, Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Matthew Beard, Jack Bannon
Direction: Morten Tyldum
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 1 hour 57 minutes



The Imitation Game Movie Review: "Pay close attention. I will not pause. I will not repeat myself..." intones Turing (Cumberbatch) very early on in the movie. And so, indeed without pause or preamble, steadily unspools the tale of one of the most brilliant minds of modern times.

In Bletchley Park (Churchill's Secret Intelligence and Computers HQ), Turing is interviewed by the imperious Commander Denniston (Dance) for a 'secret' job. When Turing utters the word 'Enigma', the deal is done. Helping him along in Hut 8 are a few code-breaking experts Hugh (Matthew), John (Leech), Peter (Beard) and his future fiance Joan (Knightley). None of their lives would ever be the same again.

Enigma has "159 million million million" combinations, says Turing, and as if things weren't difficult enough, the Nazis change the combination every midnight. But Turing sees a sliver of statistical possibility. He builds a machine that can as he hopes, crack Enigma. Only a machine can defeat another machine, he believes, as his disbelieving teammates look on.

The film bounces between three time periods - Childhood, WWII and post war. But it is the death of his childhood friend Christopher (Bannon) that becomes Turing's guiding star in life. He names the machine Christopher. A room-filling behemoth fuelled by arterial power cables and venous wires, it is like a manifestation of Turing's own complex mind.

Joan's warmth and intellect both complements and is a counterfoil to Turing's personality. While his sexuality did cause him problems in his native England, this is not a tale of tragedy but rather, one of triumph. And as Turing was told as a child: "Sometimes, it is the people whom no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine." An affecting tale of an extraordinary human being.

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American Sniper

During WWII, mathematician extraordinaire Alan Turing’s mission is to crack the Enigma machine’s code used by the Wehrmacht. Turing’s work will not only be instrumental in shortening the war but will also as a result, save many millions of lives. Apart from that, this is a masterful portrayal of a genius.
Known for his fascination for character studies, this time around, Clint Eastwood gets into the psyche of the late Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL, proclaimed as the 'most lethal sniper in U.S. military history'. Based on Chris' best-selling memoir, this biopic follows the legend's war service in Iraq and how it took a toll on his personal life.

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Jake McDorman, Luke Grimes
Direction: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Biopic
Duration: 2 hours 12 minutes

American Sniper Review: Unnerving and tense, the trailer of this film opens to a remarkable scene, where an American sniper (Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle) is shown aiming at a suspicious woman and child in war-torn Iraq. The anxiety about whether he pulls the trigger brings a lump to your throat. It left us pumped up about the film and though it indeed comes close to meeting our expectations, somewhere, Eastwood's biopic falls short of hitting the bull's-eye, unlike its protagonist.

Speaking of the titular role, as a man torn between his sense of duty to his country and his obligation to his family, an enormously buffed up Bradley Cooper is a revelation. His physical transformation, coupled with the subtle intensity he exudes in times of hypnotic silences, is note-worthy. This is clearly one of his finest performances.

Without an ounce of melodrama, the filmmaker too executes suspenseful war scenes with equal aplomb. However, despite it all, the effort seems a tad tepid in front of The Hurt Locker (2008), which was an extensive, in-depth testament of 'life in a war zone', with due focus on the bigger picture.

While we don't mind Eastwood's unhurried storytelling of this one-dimensional tale with a narrative that suits jingoistic thinking, it's the monotony and stagnancy that fail to make the desired impact. Chris' one-upmanship with Mustafa (a Syrian sniper) is an interesting track that stays unexplored.

Also his conversation with wife (Sienna Miller), who begs him to quit his dangerous job, is cliched. 'You don't know when to quit,' she says. Barring this line, and a few more, the dialogues don't contribute much to stirring up deep emotions.

American Sniper is hard-hitting, no doubt, and predominantly a performance-oriented film, where Cooper shines. It isn't the Clint Eastwood classic you expect it to be, though.

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