SearchIndia.com Blog

By Madmax673

I’ve drawn flak on several occasions for not watching “Star Wars”.  The movie from which that Kollywood “genius” Maniratnam stole visuals from. Or was it E.T? Or was it both?

The idea of characters pulling action/adventure shit together in space or in some wonderland excluding the earth with some unimaginable ugly robotic nonsensical machines just doesn’t appeal to me.

Am I not a “sci-fi” guy? No! I’ll come to it by the end of this review.

After hearing favorable reviews about the ‘Star Trek’ reboot (2009), I watched it and was mildly surprised. So that raised my expectation towards this sequel.

Alas, this sequel was a bit disappointing.

Plot

The movie starts with the familiar spacecraft  USS Enterprise exploring the indigenous civilization in a remote planet called “Nibiru”.

Following a volcanic eruption, Captain Kirk gets demoted by his higher officer, Pike for saving a logical Vulcan Spock and in the process exposing the space ship to the alien race, who actually end up worshiping it as a cult.

In the meantime, Starfleet agent John Harrison bombs London and kills Pike during an emergency meeting, thus setting our hero in the quest for capturing and bringing John Harrison to justice.

As the adventure continues, there are a few interesting twists in the form of who actually John Harrison is and where was he from and how was he set up and all that.

Since I don’t consider this movie as hideous compared to a few other movies I watched recently, I choose not to give away much. Continue reading »

Once is enjoyable!

Twice, barely endurable!

Thrice, intolerable!

Help, I can’t take this repetitive Iron Man drivel any longer!

Tiresome Spectacle

How long is Hollywood going to flog this poppycock, of a man in a metallic red suit zipping through the air and dispatching his enemies when he’s not muttering sarcastic asides.

Now how much ever you camouflage it by changing the scenery and shrubbery, at the end of the frame it’s still the same billionaire inventor and savior of mankind, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr) in the same metallic red suit doing the same bizarre antics and the same hideous gal Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) vainly trying against impossibly heavy odds to look pretty.

The flying, the tinkering in the labs, the heavy gun-fire, the Tony-Pepper romance and the ultimate triumph against a maniacal monster yield not joy a third time but a weary deja vu.

Even the introduction of a 10-year-old Tennessee kid in Iron Man 3 and hooking him up with Iron Man to inject some emotional-connection failed to deliver the adrenaline jolt I so desperately longed for!

This time the villain is ‘Mandarin,’ a shadowy figure who looks like Osama bin Laden’s twin brother and his entourage like the Taliban.

But why make a repetitive plot simple when you can twist it freakishly convoluted. That’s the mantra of Iron Man 3 director Shane Black.

Ergo, we have the Extremis project with the cockamamie DNA upgrade and its Mephistophelian creator Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who 13 years later is still sore about an appointment that Tony Stark failed to make it to.

And so it goes on, with Presidents kidnapped, Air Force One destroyed, mid-air rescues and Iron Man chained to a bar until it all ends not so spectacularly in a huge ball of fire on an oil rig.

I will admit though that I never saw the twist coming.

Alas, the twist never lifted the movie out of its mundane depths.

Krishna – My Salvation

If there’s anything I liked in this bore, it was our fine ‘Gujarati actor’ Krishna Pandit Bhanji and his portrayal of “Mandarin.”

Krishna Bhanji is one of the great actors of our times and in Iron Man 3 the man excels in an odd, short role.

I won’t give more away other than a hint that there’s more to Krishna’s ‘Mandarin’ than meets the eye.

Bottom Line

The visual effects were all right but nothing I haven’t seen before in a gazillion Hollywood films.

Even if they were appealing, there’s still no fun unless you marry visual imagery with a non-repetitive, engaging plot.

SearchIndia.com strongly recommends you skip Iron Man 3 if you’re the sort that likes some originality, some soul and some drama at the core of a film.

If there’s an Iron Man 4, count me out!

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruit, you shall know them. – Night of the Hunter

Just as there are not many bank robbers running around the U.S., there aren’t many serial killers stalking the dark streets either.

And the rare few dumb or desperate enough to engage in repeated murder and mayhem invariably meet a sorry end.

Still the public has a bizarre fascination for serial killers,  suggesting that beneath the veneer of civilized conduct the blood lust, even if vicariously expressed, remains strong as ever in the hearts of most people.

And Hollywood is ever ready to pander to the public’s fondness for seeing serial killers commit their vile deeds on screen.

A 1950s Era Film

An early Hollywood serial killer movie from the 1950s is The Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Naughton based on the popular eponymous novel by Davis Grubb.

Both the book and the films are based on the real-life serial killer Harry Powers, who was caught and hanged in 1932.

In The Night of the Hunter, a black and white noir film set in depression era West Virginia, Robert Mitchum plays serial killer Harry Powell masquerading as a preacher.

So many murders has Harry committed, mostly of vulnerable young widows, that he can’t even remember the number of his victims.

Be they 6 victims or 12, it’s all the same to Harry!

During one of his stints in prison (for car theft??), Harry’s cell-mate is Ben Harper, who’s in prison for robbery and murder. Ben has stashed away $10,000, proceeds from the robbery, disclosing the spot only to his two children John and little Pearl.

Despite Harry’s insistent efforts to get Ben to disclose the location of the loot, Ben goes to the hangman with sealed  lips.

Not one to be easily deterred, soon after his release Harry goes to Ben’s widow Willa in the guise of a retired prison chaplain who knew her husband, woos her and, before you can say Jiminy Cricket, marries her.

Now Janus-faced Harry begins his deadly quest for the$10,000 in earnest.

But determined Harry has not reckoned on the strong will of his two young quarries, John and Pearl, who refuse to yield to his threats and escape down-river pursued by the killer on a stolen horse.

Can the youngsters escape the fate of Harry’s earlier victims? Continue reading »