Double Whammy
In recent times, I’ve complained vociferously about the lack of originality in any offering from Hollywood. Heck, I’ve said that their totally bankrupt of any imagination since what we got out of Hollywood has been consistently dreck. Imagine my surprise then to find not one but two great movies over the course of just two days 🙂
The movies couldn’t be any further apart even if somebody tried. One shines for great writing, great plot and very few plot-holes. The other has a plot so wafer-thin that it is almost invisible. Probably a good thing since otherwise the gaping plot-holes would have made it look like a swiss-cheese that had been machine gunned :p But both were great movies.
The first, Stardust, surprised me because it turned out to be a Neil Gaiman novel which was adapted as a movie. To be honest, I’ve never read any Neil Gaiman. But that’s mostly because the vibe I got about his books wasn’t something I really liked. So I was surprised to see this beautiful, sensitive, brilliantly plotted movie and to learn that it was based on a book written by Gaiman. I was determined to get the novel and read it after the movie but then I learnt that the movie is considered to be more "kid-friendly" than the book because the book is supposed to be an "adult" fairy tale. That kind of killed my enthusiasm to read the novel but I’ll still probably read the novel just because I’m curious as to how true the novel remains to the storyline in the movie.
The movie itself is wonderful. It’s magical. It’s romantic. It simply scintillates. I won’t give away the plot or any story elements here but suffice it to say that if you love fantasy and movies, that this is a must see.
Speaking of fantasy, the other movie, Shoot ‘Em Up, is a true work of fantasy :p The situations are improbable, if not downright, impossible; the action scenes out-Matrix the Matrix; and it all looks like something created by John Woo on speed 🙂 But if you’re having the kind of day where you just want to punch somebody in the face, this movie will work wonders for you since you see people being killed right, left and center like so many bowling pins. It’s just so much fun to see so many people being killed in such amazing ways 🙂
In fact, the movie felt a lot like Kill Bill in a way but was a much more fun ride. The action sequences were to die for because they seemed to have the best action sequences from most movies made down the years. There are classic John Woo scenes as well as ones I might have seen in a Bollywood movie or a Hong Kong flick. But all are a treat to watch and it’s mostly action all the way. This is wonderful and fun ride as long as you’re willing to leave your brain behind 🙂
No Responses to Double Whammy ↓
Subscribe to comments with RSS
There are no comments yet... Get the ball rolling by filling out the form below.
Leave a response