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A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
The Story of us and The Most Realistic Non-Exaggerated Practical Scientific Movie ever made.
Plot: This movie is a story of us, humans in not-so-distant future where global warming and greenhouse effect have taken its toll and sea level all over the mother earth has risen beyond danger levels due to melting of polar ice and continental areas have submerged in the water partially and hence their surface areas have reduced, barely supporting some Homo Sapiens (human beings) for their livelihood. But those humans have done considerable progress in all fields, especially Robotics.
Storyline: This is a movie about a robot child adopted by a couple whose only son is suffering from some grave illness and is placed in a cryogenic chamber in a comatose situation. There are almost no hopes of him being recovered and hence the couple decides to adopt a artificially intelligent (possessing a self learning processor) robot child called 'David'. Initially he is just a robot coming to grasps with his new surroundings, his new family. But then as time passes on he starts adapting himself to the humans. Then one day the comatose son of the family recovers suddenly and then he has to share the love of his parents with David, the robot. But then the human child, under pangs of jealousy, mistreats David till his mother decides to have David disassembled and hence takes along with her to the manufacturers. But the 'mother' factor in her does not have the heart to do that and so she leaves him mid-way in a jungle. Here David meets a Robot who works as a Gigolo and has run away from the world. And then this movie is the saga of their adventure together as they travel.
Acting: Perhaps the most mesmerizing in the world considering it comes from a child - Osment(Sixth sense, The(1999)) as the Robot. No, wrong ... Let me rephrase it. OSMENT 'IS' THE SELF-LEARNING, ADAPTING, TRANSFORMING ROBOT.
Undoubtledly best by any child in movie-history considering the demands/complexities of the role. Jude Law's performance is ON PAR with Osment's but he is shown to us as the already adapted robot so no more major transformations in personality here.
Connor's performance of the heart-broken mother made me speechless.
What NOT to expect: If you are a fan expecting that a sci-fi movie ONLY means black leather, Ray-Bans, bullets, guns, explosions, ruthless man-killing robots and mind-boggling action scenes, this is not the movie for you. Sorry, but ordinary life situations in a realistic sci-fi movie do not demand fireworks. (I do love the Terminator / The Matrix series but they are a LOT futuristic and contain Time warping events.) 'AI' is a LOT PRACTICAL and talks of only practical near-future life of any ordinary human being / Robot.
What to Expect: Mind-boggling performances and even more Stunning Visual Effects Extravaganza. A flawless direction and script considering the demands of the movie. Remember, its easy to make a series of totally-out-of-the-world 'Star-Wars' movies but very difficult to create one single practical movie like this. Get Real.
This is the Ultimate Masterpiece in cinema history. Simply because it not only required realism/practicality as a base to the Plot but also Brains and Science. Also the Emotional and Philosophical Factors in this movie will undoubtedly touch any existing living human being who understands English. But the technicalities depicted in this intelligent film (...And I am not talking about the visual/sound effects of the movie) can be only be grasped (not totally but still...) by those in the engineering fields especially Software(like me), Robotics and Electronics, basically anyone from the field of Artificial Intelligence. This movie is made for people like us. People like us don't care if this movie becomes the Greatest blockbuster of all time or not. Simply because this movie satisfies us.
Ironically, this is movie has not been made keeping the ordinary non-technical movie loving public in mind even though it IS concerned with the near-future of all human beings.
Perhaps this is the ONLY perfect example of any masterpiece voted down by some people NOT because they did not like it BUT because they did not like it since they did NOT understand it in the first place. It is the various Technical Theories in this masterpiece that some people could not properly interpret and digest. This movie takes itself seriously and correctly so. Also only two types of movies never win any Oscars: 1. The 'Razzie trash' types that don't go well with the critics because they are way below the IQ of the critics and hit below the belt. 2. The 'Artificial Intelligence' types that don't go well with the critics because they are way ABOVE the IQ of the critics. This movie belongs to the second category i. e. a category of itself.
This is Kubrick's Best but this is better than Spielberg's supposedly 'Best': 'Schindler's List(1993)'. Because 'List' deals with the traumas of war-stricken humans and is a easier-to-sympathize-with history chapter BUT this movie is much more complex / challenging and requires intelligence to create a REAL near-future life of humans that is yet to happen and yet teaches us 'Love'.
Terminator / Matrix Series get a 9/ 10. 'Artificial Intelligence' gets a complete 10 / 10.
Buy/ study this movie and Enlighten yourselves.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Humans are always Polygamous.
Man: "I never understood why you walked away (from medical studies)."
Friend: "It's a nice feeling. I do it a lot."
The "nice feeling" that the Man's friend, here, is referring to is perhaps, the Sense of Freedom that a man with No Attachments whatsoever, can enjoy without hesitations or boundaries...The Power to walk away from Commitments.
Right at the beginning, the social event where the Man (who is a doctor) and his friend meet each other after many years, is an Anonymous Party, where no one knows anyone and hence one could make willful choices of actions towards perceiving that illusive personal Happiness he/she is in the quest for. This Party could be an Allusion to that ideal place where one hides away from the others for a while and does what one desires for experiencing Happiness, and it could be some Flirtation, Sex or a seemingly harmless combination of Heroin and Coke ...or just a passion for playing a plain Piano.
The Man and his beautiful Wife, return from the Party, but only after having their Commitments for each-other seriously challenged, and they discuss, question and probe anything that defines any aspect of a marital/sexual relationship between a Man and a Woman. Love and Loyalty. Expectations. Jealousy. Wife's (illusive) desire for Security and Commitment, Human being's Polygamous Nature and the futile attempt to control it. The Wife even dreams of her subconscious desire to stray more and more away from the Man, mentally and physically.
Realizing that the Wife is not entirely faithful to him, the Man gets involved into adventures of his own. But will he be really as deceptive as one of the earlier lines in the movie says: "One of the charms of marriages is that it makes Deception a necessity for both the parties." ?
...Does their marriage survive this Storm ?
Watch it in Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut (1999)'
Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020)
The Uncomfortable Truth
As a Maratha, I have always been fascinated by my own History.
National Hero, Chhatrapati Shivaji's Legendary Life was a History-Book for us in Standard-IV.
Without him, as one of the earliest Freedom-Fighters in one of the toughest Times, we would have been living as Slaves suffering Atrocities and as Forceful Religious Conversions in some Third-World Country like Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Bangladesh, witnessing our Women and Girls abducted at Will by these Invaders, having to pay the Jiziya Tax, our Homes being burnt or captured.
Chhatrapati Shivaji was a inspiring Visionary, Decision-Maker, Leader and a Fighter. But this Movie is not about his Story. This is a Story of one of his beloved childhood Friends and his Lieutenants, Tanaji and his Mission: Kondhana, The Fort.
This is a Story of the Mental Will, Strategy and above all, the Courage to stand against Injustice, against all Odds. This is a Story about the Desire to protect our loved Ones from Hell and Fire. This is the Story of the Protectors of the Nature-based Scientific Ways of Life that already existed in India long before the rampaging, invading Religious Cults that entered India, have decided to destroy them. This is the Story of the Will to fight against the Challenges set by Nature itself.
This is the Story of the Sacrifices one has to make for one's People, to achieve immortal Greatness. This...is the Story of those Men who crossed their own Limitations to set new Standards of Values of Life.
...And this one has pure, raw Taste of History, crispy Direction and great Action-Scenes.
10/10 ...just for being genuine true non-Islamic, in an otherwise Islamic Bollywood.
Sátántangó (1994)
Not just a Movie, but...An Experience.
"Cowardice, sinful Impotence" -- Irimiás, an outsider.
As the movie opens, a Herd of Cattle is seen wandering aimlessly in the Village. These animals differ not much from the Villagers they symbolize and share the rural air with. The humans here, are living (or rather dying) a life of Hopelessness, Aimlessness and Despair with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do.
As if to augment villagers' own Woes, there's Mother Nature, hell-bent on grinding, beating the Villagers down with a Catastrophe of it's own: Heavy Torrential Rains that do succeed in hiding the tears of the Villagers, but also succeed in destroying everything that the Villagers have a scarce sense of ownership of, ...including the thin Coats on their stagnant bodies, which perhaps are their Last Resort of Protection.
To stave off a certain Madness looming over them and thus to ascertain Psychological Survival, each villager has an elusive escape-route of his/her own: extra-marital affairs, brandy, note-taking, holy books...anything goes by. It's a tragic affair, because not even small children are exempted from this shadow of Pessimism and their Neurotic Behavior is always simmering on the surface.
The degree of Despair in the Villagers can be gauged from the fact that they trigger into some kind of blurry action only after a particular Tragedy strikes them and that's because each villager is a Reactive individual, not willing to find solutions himself/herself, but waiting passively and infinitely for some external miracle to show them the way.
Each villager has a Personal Story of his own...and a varying Degree of Madness. The Doctor is mad, the Repent inside him not being sufficient enough to offset his Addictions. Kelemen is crazier than the Doctor. But Kelemen, still, may not be as mad as the Madman who tolls the bells of the dilapidated church the whole day, but he is surely on his way there.
Thankfully, Irimiás who arrives from outside the village as per the orders of the Law to help the Villagers, is looking for a Redemption from a personal past of his own.
If not for the above quoted stinging words that Irimiás describes the villagers with, until their hearts burn, probably they might still have been lying around snoring, exactly like the Doctor believes them to be. But Irimiás has a plan...not a definite one...but nevertheless he has something that he has brought with himself that the villagers don't have: A Sense of Authority, Leadership Qualities ...and a Glimmer of Hope.
Can he save the Villagers from their own Pessimism? ...Or will the Heavy Rains succeed in grinding the Villagers down?
---- Sátántangó (1994), a Hungarian Drama from the acclaimed director, Bela Tarr.
In a way, this movie is strangely ironic in that, we realize that the level of Despair in the atmosphere is at its deepest...but we also know that it cannot get deeper than this and now the only way out, is the way of Rising high up.
The background scores by Mihály Víg, play a very important character in themselves and provide a distinct personality to each scene.
The technique that makes this movie unique, is that we are witnessing the same Segment of Time from different Point of Views of various characters involved. Each View, arrives at a common point of a specific Revelation that has an immediate impact and then moves onward to that specific character's Individual Arc that again climaxes with a concrete Event.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Should have been given the 'Best Picture' Oscar and ... (Part I)
**** WARNING!!! POSSIBLE SPOILERS !!!!! POSSIBLE SPOILERS !!!!! ****
What some people thought and what I think about what they thought... (i) The Lana Turner gag was a huge nothing. --- All events in this movie have depths and these depths are the ones that are to be actually explored. This movie has a pessimistic atmosphere to it. So the Lana Turner gag was not actually supposed to be a joke to be laughed at. It was just to show what disgusting levels the plastic-surgery business had fallen to in those days and to what extent people can fall from grace to achieve name and fame even (if it is borrowed one). Fallen so much that even the REAL Lana Turner was suspiciously looked at to be a look-alike. (ii) The relation between White and Bracken was not required'--- Bracken is the one who inspires White to change himself from a bull-dozer to a microscope and White then starts working more intelligently and less physically on an individual case of his which latter provides him a big breakthrough. (iii) The only way that Ed Exley and Bud White can end their rivalry and unite to solve the crime is completely dependent on a scene where Exley visits the hooker. And that is a weak thread in the script.'--- Exley, White and Vincennes were working in not three altogether different continents but in the same city called ... 'LA'. Each of them found a thread for three different cases to work on, that anyway, would eventually have finally brought them together on One Big Case. What has the event of Exley (visiting/not visiting) the hooker got to do with it? The scene is in the script just to showcase the nature of Bud White and hasten the union of White and Exley.
(iv) Some people thought that the wrong officer gets the girl and hence the movie is bad.--- These people didn't like 'LA' merely because the girl goes to a brutal headstrong guy like White who they think is unworthy of the girl. Unbelievable! I hope these people do not take 'film-criticism' as a career. Anyway, it's the choice of the female who she goes out with and no male can enforce himself upon her else he is punishable by law. (v) Some people thought that Exley is supposed to be the face of Morality and he is shown to kill another officer -unnecessarily shooting him in the back which is wrong.--- Now this reason to justify that 'LAC' is a bad movie is ridiculous. 'LAC' is actually about the very process of gradual degradation of Exley as a cop. That's why Exley killed the Officer by the time the movie ends.(vi) Some people thought White was not required to account for his murder of the TV-watching black guy which is a flaw in the movie.--- A cop killing someone in self-defense is NOT guilty. In order to prove that he just defended himself, White shoots a bullet from the black guy's line of fire towards the door to set up that he (White) was attacked.(vii) Finally some people thought that this movie is so highly rated because of younger viewers like the lure of sex and violence regardless of quality. --- Ridiculous. Do only young guys watch movies and rate them ? AND are most of the young guys irresponsible in life ? I doubt heavily.
And this one... (vii) Some people thought it is one of those movies where everyone dies instantly from one gunshot except the main characters who get shot multiple times and take forever to die, if they do at all.--- What is trivial and non-vital to the cause of carrying the plot forward should be wrapped as early as possible. Which characters gets how many bullets to die is not at all important. But some particular characters who get shot multiple times and still live which is just to dramatically depict the grittiness, stubbornness of the nature of their character.
And Lastly,... Kim Bassinger deserved the Oscar she won. Now don't ask me 'Why?'.
By the way, this masterpiece was robbed of the Best Picture Win and some acting nominations as well. A perfect 10 on 10 from me.
Angels & Demons (2009)
Tried its best to live up to the source.
No Movie can beat it's book-source. Not even 'The Godfather' could.
Look at this movie as a movie without any external linkings and you will understand how surprisingly good it is.
Comparing a movie to it's book-source was the BIG mistake that people made when they rated the under-rated 'The Da-Vinci Code (2006)' which by itself was a very good movie.
You just can't pack everything from a book into just a two-hour movie.
Tom Hanks is as great as ever. Ron Howard did enough, as much as he could within his limits. This movie is really a very-fast paced one with lot of information flowing every second. Hang on to your seat-belts and go for a ride.
*** Spoiler(IF it is one) ***
My only complaint is: The Hassassin is down-graded.
Otherwise, A&D is one of the best movies ever made. A perfect example of 8-out-of-10-stars type movie. No more, no less. Period.
The Kid (1921)
Personal Top 25 Movies that made an immediate impact on me.
In no particular order(As on 25th September 2008): (Rule:More than one parts/(Most) Trilogies count together as single subject.)
Kid,The(1931)-A beautiful relationship between a man and a child. Just one name: Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin.
M*A*S*H*(1969)-The Best Black/Dark Comedy ever. Nothing is Darker than ...a War. This movie has shown us the best use of loudspeakers: to amplify and broadcast moans Serpico(1973)-A Screaming movie.A mind-blowing performance by Al Pacino as an 'honest cop'.
'GodFather' Series(1972-74)-The Third Part was good too.
Dressed To Kill(1980)-First of my favorite two Murder Mysteries. One step better than 'Psycho'.
'Terminator' Series(1984-91)-Schwarzennegger plus Cameron. Stunning Action/Performances/Script/visual/sound effects. Can't Believe it was made so long ago. The Terminator is chilling cold and so are cool his damn good one-liners.
Cry Freedom(1987)-Perhaps Denzel Washington should have won his first Academy award in 1987-1988 itself and not been made to wait till 1989-1990 for Glory (pun intended).
Good Morning Vietnam(1987)-A pacifist radio commentator in the middle of the Vietnam War. A true classic.
Hannibal Lecter-Trilogy(1991-03)-A serial killer who is-brilliant, ruthless,romantic, with sharp olfactory nerves, on the run, cannibal and an outstanding psychiatrist-all at the same time. Lecter is chilling cold and so are cool his damn one-liners.
Schindler's List(1993)-Violence is an inevitable part of life. But it should be meaningful and justifiable. Oskar Schindler in the middle of a meaningless massacre. May sound stereotyped but-The Best Movie Villain EVER-Amon Goeth.
Se7en(1995)-Second of my favorite two Murder Mysteries. The villain is a genuine nightmare. May sound clichéd but-The Second Best Movie Villain EVER - only after Amon Goeth in 'Schindler's List'. He is chilling cold and so is cool his damn good justification at the climax. He is just plain good old EVIL served chilled. Just like he says: "When this is finished, it will seem surreal, but it will be a whole, crystalline reality. And, no one will be able to deny it, no matter how hard they try." Crimson Tide(1995)-The friction between a Boss and his junior is universal but why during the time when your enemy is about to/has fired a torpedo on your submarine? The Best Submarine Movie ever made. Better than the supposedly best-'Das Boot' which is pessimistic, unlike this.
Life Is Beautiful(1997)-A Poetry as optimistic as possible, on a subject as pessimistic as possible:Gas Chambers Matrix-Trilogy(1999-2003)-The SECOND Best meaningful Sci-movie/s ever made.
Sixth Sense, The(1999)-A grand Psychodrama. The SECOND best child performance ever witnessed by me -Osment.
Cast Away(2000)- This movie is an epitome of acting and should have won the Best Actor Academy award and not Gladiator that year. Instead, Crowe should have won for 'L. A. Confidential(1997)' or 'A Beautiful Mind(2001)'. And instead of 'Training Day(2001)', Washington should have won for 'Malcolm X(1992)'. He can perform like 'Training Day'-in his sleep. And instead of 'Scent of a Woman(1992)', Pacino should have won for any of the six roles that he was nominated for before 'Scent'. OK, enough of backward speculation.
Erin Brockovich(2000)-After 'Silence Of The Lambs', perhaps the only other Leading Female Role (Legal Assistant) and its excellent execution in terms of POWERFULNESS. During a tense situation Erin say to her boss here :"F*ck you Back". That was the epitome of the guts of her character in the movie. A real story.
Unbreakable(2000)-The only other better Superhero movie before Nolan brought Batman. Just One Name: Samuel L. Jackson.
Artificial Intelligence(2001)-"The Most Realistic Non-Exaggerated Practical Sci-Fi movie ever made". Not everybody's cup of tea except those who have done post-graduation in Artificial Intelligence (like me) or in Robotics. The BEST (child) performance ever by any (child) actor, Osment, especially considering the demands of the complex role.
Beautiful Mind, A(2001)-The perfect tribute ever given to any Scientist by Hollywood. Perhaps Howard's next-'Angels and Demons(2009)' will match that as a tribute to Scientists/Science.
Lord Of the Rings-Trilogy(2001-03)-The Best Epics ever expressed as a movie.
Minority Report(2002)-The SECOND best along with the Matrix series in Sci-fi. In terms of practicality, it is second only to 'Artificial Intelligence(2001)'.
Batman Begins(2005)-The most adored Realistic Superhero (without any superpowers) in the world. A movie that justifies the spirit of The Batman who is a hero for a mature man as well as a child. Nolan's Batman is not for children to watch. Actually, if correctly depicted (as Nolan did), the Batman never was.
Munich(2005)-Who would not like to see all terrorists in the world nailed in a way similar to their own Modus Operandi? Dark Knight, The(2008)-A movie is only as good as the villain in it. A Posthumous Oscar is lying in wait for Heath Ledger for his Joker. Anyway, Slaughter is the best medicine.
Finally that's it. Maybe upcoming Howard's 'Angels And Demons(2009)' and Cameron's 'Avataar(2009)' will modify my List from my PERSONAL TOP 25 of All Time to PERSONAL TOP 27 of All Time.
Batman Returns (1992)
A Comparison of those who played Batman in movies.
Four Actors: Bale, Kilmer, Keaton, Clooney
BALE: He's leaps and bounds ahead and best among them all. No need for comparison. No need to explain.
KILMER VS. KEATON: The real Issue. Kilmer had everything correct about him except one: he was in a Bad Movie. One simply canNOT refer to Bad scenes in a Badly scripted Bad Movie by a Bad Director to explain why the actor was not good to play his character. I understand, Kilmer could have never replaced Bale, but he would have easily replaced Keaton (who even though was a good Batman, WAS a wimp Wayne). Even if we forget that Keaton was the least good looking and had the least physicality required for an ideal Wayne/Batman respectively, we still cannot forget that he never had the ideal Wayne magnetic personality to attract females. He was a plain idiotic wimp as Wayne. Whereas while Kilmer was definitely muscular/handsome of the two, his was unfortunately limited by the Bad Movie itself that he worked in, that did no justice to the character of any roles in it, least of all Batman. Also, we can't forget that Kilmer did play a very good playboy-Wayne of whatever the script allowed him to. That is what is important (where Keaton failed). Because once you're inside the caped costume, it does not matter who is inside it, because nobody's going to recognise you anyway. So the character that must be given more priority is of 'Wayne' where one cannot hide behind a costume.
Remember, Kilmer was a good Wayne/UNDERUSED Batman in a bad movie by a bad director. Keaton was a good Batman/wimp Wayne even in an overall OK movie by a very good director. Even worse was that, unlike Keaton who got two opportunities as Batman under the very good director to prove himself as Wayne and yet failed on all points as Wayne, Kilmer never got a second chance to prove himself as Batman even though he had proved himself as Wayne, no... not even under the same hellish director.
MY POINT: If the physically strong, play-boyish Kilmer was that good as Wayne under the hellish Schumacher, imagine how great he could have been in costume (Batman) under the very good Burton.
CLOONEY: As for 'Batman & Robin', every thing was wrong about it and so was Clooney who only played 'himself' both as Batman/ Wayne. And he will always be remembered for that. Anyway, except when the movies are called 'Syriana', 'Ocean's Eleven' and 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', Clooney is all 'himself' everywhere. No Surprises here. I seriously hope they destroy all records/sources of that B&R-crap.
My Ranking: 1. Bale 2. Kilmer 3. Keaton.
Clooney? Who Clooney?
AS for this movie, I don't understand why people call this movie 'Dark'. This movie is Bad because it is TOO dark. Totally unwatchable / unenjoyable for children. On the contrary, the Penguin here, would give the innocent children, traumas for life. Don't ever show this movie to your children. Penguin is a seriously (pun intended) a horror crap here. Too Hideous, No Fun. And what's the use of the movie being Dark when you have No Character Development here. Penguin is a ridiculous villain and they have not shown even a single glimpse of his childhood, that is how the Penguins nurture him which is utterly impossible even in comics/fantasy, especially if they portray the movie and the Penguin as 'serious' and 'dark'. But yes, De Vito has been a good obedient actor here and did what he was told to do efficiently.
(P.S.: As for the Comparison between those 'Batmen': Believe me, as the tag-line of 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' goes - 'It's Nothing Personal.' None of these four actors is my personal favourite. I love Denzel Washington.)
Batman (1989)
A comparison of those who played Batman in movies.
Four Actors: Bale, Kilmer, Keaton, Clooney
BALE: He's leaps and bounds ahead among them all. No need for comparison. No need to explain.
KILMER VS. KEATON: The real Issue. Kilmer had everything correct about him except one: he was in a Bad Movie. One simply canNOT refer to Bad scenes in a Badly scripted Bad Movie by a Bad Director to explain why the actor was not good to play his character. I understand, Kilmer could have never replaced Bale, but he would have easily replaced Keaton (who even though was a good Batman, WAS a wimp Wayne). Even if we forget that Keaton was the least good looking and had the least physicality required for an ideal Wayne/Batman respectively, we still cannot forget that he never had the ideal Wayne magnetic personality to attract females. He was a plain idiotic wimp as Wayne. Whereas while Kilmer was definitely muscular/handsome of the two, his was unfortunately limited by the Bad Movie itself that he worked in, that did no justice to the character of any roles in it, least of all Batman. Also, we can't forget that Kilmer did play a very good playboy-Wayne of whatever the script allowed him to. That is what is important (where Keaton failed). Because once you're inside the caped costume, it does not matter who is inside it, because nobody's going to recognize you anyway. So the character that must be given more priority is of 'Wayne' where one can't hide behind a costume.
Remember, Kilmer was a good Wayne/UNDERUSED Batman in a bad movie by a bad director. Keaton was a good Batman/wimp Wayne even in an overall OK movie by a very good director. Even worse was that, unlike Keaton who got two opportunities as Batman under the very good director to prove himself as Wayne and yet failed on all points as Wayne, Kilmer never got a second chance to prove himself as Batman even though he had proved himself as Wayne, no... not even under the same hellish director.
MY POINT: If the physically strong, play-boyish Kilmer was that good as Wayne under the hellish Schumacher, imagine how great he could have been in costume (Batman) under the very good Burton.
CLOONEY: As for 'Batman & Robin', every thing was wrong about it and so was Clooney who only played 'himself' both as Batman/ Wayne. And he will always be remembered for that. Anyway, except when the movies are called 'Syriana', 'Ocean's Eleven' and 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', Clooney is all 'himself' everywhere. No Surprises here. I seriously hope they destroy all records/sources of that B&R-crap.
My Ranking: 1. Bale 2. Kilmer 3. Keaton.
Clooney? Who Clooney?
(P.S.: Believe me, as the tag-line of 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' goes : 'It's Nothing Personal.' None of these four actors is my personal favourite. I love Denzel Washington.)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Beautiful Intelligent Scientific Series. But only after...
My appeal to all People: Rate DOWN any movie you want but ... ONLY IF you understand the movie totally and then think it does not deserve a very high rating and NOT because ... you simply did NOT understand the movie at all in the first place so it irritated you and you did not like it.
Remember, it may really be a masterpiece like this one movie, valued down only due to YOUR incompetence.
Plot: We're into a very, very futuristic life on earth to the extent that there is almost no life existing on the earth surface due to the Big War between Artificially Intelligent Powerful Machines who have taken control of themselves and us humans. The Former have taken the latter as slaves. And using humans as a source of their requirement for energies. But in order to ensure that the slaves don't rebel, the Machines create a Virtual Reality atmosphere called 'The Matrix' that represents a version of the 20th century and it wraps the humans with the Matrix so that the poor humans think everything is going on fine with them and everything is perfect in their universe. But soon, humans find out that the universe was far too perfect for their liking albeit only subconsciously and so the Machines consider that all humans might rebel which may result in non-yielding or 0 % efficiency of energy creation because humans are the source of energy after all. So the Machines create a new Matrix but NOW it also contains a separate space for the rebel humans, if any present, that they can use as a haven/ home for themselves called ''The Zion'. These Rebels in Zion are provided with an aim to find 'The One' (the Anomaly) who will be their leader and the only one to defy the Matrix. But their's a twist. The aim is also provided by the ... Machines ! ... thus creating an illusion for the humans again. And the Machines can regularly keep cleaning the Zion off the rebels whenever they want to. Also the Agents are nothing but some Infecting Viruses injected into the Matrix by the Machines themselves. Each Version of the Matrix has its own version of the Anomaly (Neo). In this movie, Neo, finally, has the two choices: 1. Returning to the Matrix but which will result in the destruction of all humans. 2. Allowing to clean the Zion and refilling it. Of course, his power of choice is too an illusion created by the Machines again. He in fact can only 'choose' the second one.
Oh! I really love this Matrix series! Far too intelligent! It overestimated its audience! My Opinion: Perhaps this is the only SECOND perfect example of any masterpiece after Kubrick's/ Steven Spielberg's 'Artificial Intelligence(2001)' to be voted down by some people NOT because they did not like it BUT because they did not like it since they did NOT understand it in the first place. And this opinion comes from a movie-crazy fan like me who has done a Physics Major and works in the field of Software. It is the various Technical Theories in this masterpiece that some people could not properly interpret and digest. And this makes some movie-fans go crazy and bring the rating down because: 1. it challenges their IQ that fails to stand up to the required criterion set by movies like these. OR 2. They have enough IQ but are simply too lazy to put efforts to grasp movies like this. (At the time of me writing this, this is overall rated 7.0 which is not bad but still it deserves a NINE.) The Matrix Series is the Second most Ultimate Masterpiece in the Sci-fi Criterion, only AFTER 'Artificial Intelligence(2001)' which perhaps is one of the Best Masterpieces in cinema history. All these movies are better than '2001: A Space Odyssey'. The technicalities depicted in this intelligent film (...And I am not talking about the visual/sound effects of the movie) can be only be grasped (not totally but still...) by those in the engineering fields especially Software, Robotics and Electronics, basically anyone from the field of Artificial Intelligence. This movie is made for people like us. People like us don't care if this movie becomes the Greatest Blockbuster of all time or not. Simply because this movie satisfies us.
What to Expect:If you are a fan expecting that a sci-fi movie ONLY means black leather, Ray-Bans, bullets, guns, explosions, ruthless man-killing robots and mind-boggling action scenes, then ... this IS the movie for you. And a lot of Stunning Visual Effects Extravaganza. PLUS a very,very intelligent plot line.
Ironically, this is movie has not been made keeping the ordinary non-technical movie loving public in mind even though it IS concerned with the long-range future of all human beings.
Also only two types of movies never win any Oscars: 1. The 'Razzie trash' types that don't go well with the critics because they are way below the IQ of the critics and hit below the belt. 2. The 'Artificial Intelligence' types that don't go well with the critics because they are WAY ABOVE the IQ of the critics. This movie belongs to the second category.
The more times you watch this series, the more you learn.
For me, perhaps the Best Sci-fi movie ever made till date, is the most realistic practical scientific movie: 'ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE(2001)' which gets a 10 out of 10.
But since this, the Matrix Series and the Terminator(1 and 2) series contain some Time and Space warping events that are a little too futuristic even by today's technology standards, I subtract one star from their ratings and give them both: 9 out of 10.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Cameron's Best Masterpiece. BUT the Greatest Sci-fi Movie Ever Made is ...
This is a very, very good movie, especially considering that it was made so many years ago. Superb unparalleled Oscar winning Visual / sound Effects ... even today. This is Cameron's Best, better than the 'Titanic', in terms of contents. Schwarzenegger's Perfect here because this is the Perfect role him and nobody can match him, the Greatest Action hero of all time ... OK, just behind Jackie Chan / Bruce Lee. But in terms of Biggest Blockblusters at least.
What to expect: An impeccable script, plot, storyline. Revolutionary Mind Blowing Visual/Sound Effects. Stan Winston (RIP) was a Master at the effects. Terrific Unforgettable Background Scores By Brad Fiedel(True Lies(1994)), an another Master.
As far as I have remembered and observed: The following were the revolutionary FIRST steps in the various types of Visual effects we enjoy today. Each of these movies had unique first-of-its-kind Visual effects contained in them:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) The Abyss (1989) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Jurassic Park (1993) Forrest Gump (1994) Titanic (1997) The Matrix (1999) Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) The Polar Express (2004)
For me, the most realistic, non-Exaggerated, practical, Scientific movie ever made is Steven Spielberg's 'Artificial Intelligence(2001)' which gets a 10/10 from me. Nobody beats that.
In my personal opinion, as a Scientific movie, I rate both Terminator / Matrix series as 9/10,subtracting one star from each, simply because these movies contained some Time/Place Warping events (Paradoxes) which are a long way to happen even by today's Physics i.e. they are a LITTLE-BIT unbelievable for me considering I did a Major in Physics.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
The Story of us and The Most Realistic Non-Exaggerated Practical Scientific Movie ever made.
Plot: This movie is a story of us, humans in not-so-distant future where global warming and greenhouse effect have taken its toll and sea level all over the mother earth has risen beyond danger levels due to melting of polar ice and continental areas have submerged in the water partially and hence their surface areas have reduced, barely supporting some Homo Sapiens (human beings) for their livelihood. But those humans have done considerable progress in all fields, especially Robotics.
Storyline: This is a movie about a robot child adopted by a couple whose only son is suffering from some grave illness and is placed in a cryogenic chamber in a comatose situation. There are almost no hopes of him being recovered and hence the couple decides to adopt a artificially intelligent (possessing a self learning processor) robot child called 'David'. Initially he is just a robot coming to grasps with his new surroundings, his new family. But then as time passes on he starts adapting himself to the humans. Then one day the comatose son of the family recovers suddenly and then he has to share the love of his parents with David, the robot. But then the human child, under pangs of jealousy, mistreats David till his mother decides to have David disassembled and hence takes along with her to the manufacturers. But the 'mother' factor in her does not have the heart to do that and so she leaves him mid-way in a jungle. Here David meets a Robot who works as a Gigolo and has run away from the world. And then this movie is the saga of their adventure together as they travel.
Acting: Perhaps the most mesmerizing in the world considering it comes from a child - Osment(Sixth sense, The(1999)) as the Robot. No, wrong ... Let me rephrase it. OSMENT 'IS' THE SELF-LEARNING, ADAPTING, TRANSFORMING ROBOT.
Undoubtledly best by any child in movie-history considering the demands/complexities of the role. Jude Law's performance is ON PAR with Osment's but he is shown to us as the already adapted robot so no more major transformations in personality here.
Connor's performance of the heart-broken mother made me speechless.
What NOT to expect: If you are a fan expecting that a sci-fi movie ONLY means black leather, Ray-Bans, bullets, guns, explosions, ruthless man-killing robots and mind-boggling action scenes, this is not the movie for you. Sorry, but ordinary life situations in a realistic sci-fi movie do not demand fireworks. (I do love the Terminator / The Matrix series but they are a LOT futuristic and contain Time warping events.) 'AI' is a LOT PRACTICAL and talks of only practical near-future life of any ordinary human being / Robot.
What to Expect: Mind-boggling performances and even more Stunning Visual Effects Extravaganza. A flawless direction and script considering the demands of the movie. Remember, its easy to make a series of totally-out-of-the-world 'Star-Wars' movies but very difficult to create one single practical movie like this. Get Real.
This is the Ultimate Masterpiece in cinema history. Simply because it not only required realism/practicality as a base to the Plot but also Brains and Science. Also the Emotional and Philosophical Factors in this movie will undoubtedly touch any existing living human being who understands English. But the technicalities depicted in this intelligent film (...And I am not talking about the visual/sound effects of the movie) can be only be grasped (not totally but still...) by those in the engineering fields especially Software(like me), Robotics and Electronics, basically anyone from the field of Artificial Intelligence. This movie is made for people like us. People like us don't care if this movie becomes the Greatest blockbuster of all time or not. Simply because this movie satisfies us.
Ironically, this is movie has not been made keeping the ordinary non-technical movie loving public in mind even though it IS concerned with the near-future of all human beings.
Perhaps this is the ONLY perfect example of any masterpiece voted down by some people NOT because they did not like it BUT because they did not like it since they did NOT understand it in the first place. It is the various Technical Theories in this masterpiece that some people could not properly interpret and digest. This movie takes itself seriously and correctly so. Also only two types of movies never win any Oscars: 1. The 'Razzie trash' types that don't go well with the critics because they are way below the IQ of the critics and hit below the belt. 2. The 'Artificial Intelligence' types that don't go well with the critics because they are way ABOVE the IQ of the critics. This movie belongs to the second category i. e. a category of itself.
This is Kubrick's Best but this is better than Spielberg's supposedly 'Best': 'Schindler's List(1993)'. Because 'List' deals with the traumas of war-stricken humans and is a easier-to-sympathize-with history chapter BUT this movie is much more complex / challenging and requires intelligence to create a REAL near-future life of humans that is yet to happen and yet teaches us 'Love'.
Terminator / Matrix Series get a 9/ 10. 'Artificial Intelligence' gets a complete 10 / 10.
Buy/ study this movie and Enlighten yourselves.
Batman & Robin (1997)
Blasphemy Plus Sacrilege
An appeal to Bob Cane (RIP), Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, Jeph Loeb and others who worked hard to make Batman actually as he should be:" Forgive these mortal people (who worked on B&R) for they do not do this intentionally for fun's sake (that anyway does not exist in this crap) but just out of the age-old sin called 'GREED'." Yes, this is a perfect example of what happens when a group of mere mortals, out of some greed to make more money, get together to reduce an immortal legend to scrap.
But the worse part was that one of those mortals was the production company itself that was assigned with the task of preserving the Legend as it was.
Way back in 1997, when I watched this movie in theaters as a teenager and knew nothing much about The Batman except that he is a superhero who works at nights, I was not that much interested in Batman as I was in Schwarzenegger. I was and still am a big fan of Arnold for everything he is and whatever he has done in his life. Given an opportunity of four lifetimes, ordinary people won't be half as successful as he is today, in those four lifetimes. But... an actor, director or the producer can NOT be larger than the character in the movie itself. If they try to be, that is Blasphemy for me. And today, after reading a lot of authentic material about The Batman, I realized they actually practiced Blasphemy. They destroyed the characters of all: Batman himself, Robin, Batgirl, Poison Ivy and in particular my favorites Mr. Freeze and Bane (oh, that was the cruelest blow.) OK, I can imagine this: Suddenly out of some sleep, Warner Bros. wakes up and thinks itself to be the Disney Company. Now they're thinking of nothing but money and more money. They bring on Goldsman who also wakes out of some deep slumber and jolts down on a piece of paper, something called 'family friendly script for B&R'. WB, already wearing the goggles of greed on its eyes, approves it. WB then brings on-board the same Schumacher who had already destroyed Batman in 'Batman Forever'(I won't even mention the year, I won't want people to refer to it on IMDb.). And then what follows is the non-direction of actors with capabilities ranging from OK to Good, acting for a non-existent script with campy utterly-bad stunts/visual effects/lights/one-liners. And its unimaginable they decide to use Batman as a medium for family entertainment(???) (which he is not for), just because they had the rights to Batman franchise ! Acting: George Clooney as Batman? He only plays himself and lays himself in every movie he works with (OK, 'Ocean's Eleven', 'Three Kings', 'Syriana', 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' were good but there are more bad movies of his then good ones.). He could never make it as the Dark Brooding Vengeful Batman. Uma Thurman, a decent actress herself, has bordered on the lines of cheap profanity here as if undergoing fake multiple org**ms. That's the ONLY way to describe it. I can't believe she played 'Poison Ivy'. And I can't believe Arnie rolled back his promise of not playing villains in movies for this scrap role that was anything but Mr. Freeze. Oh, yes! the money, of course! 30 million something! A record at that time!
I can understand these actors are helpless in front of the big three: producer, writer, director. But they at least knew what they were getting into and that makes them guilty enough.
I am OK with the IMDb's concept of not having ZERO in their rating system. Otherwise, it will appear as if even though any movie whether, good or bad, people are not aware of it and therefore nobody rated it. But IMDb should come up with one negative rating: '-1'. Particularly for movies like this. At the time of me writing this, this scrap is rated as high as '3.5' ! Do people who rate scrap as more than '1', exist? This is a sacrilege for Batman fans like me. I observed some people rated this movie 9/ 10 just because 'they liked it, the fun/action and all'. But then where would then the actual masterpieces like 'Schindler's List(1993)', 'SE7EN(1995)', Goodfellas(1990), Godfather,The(1972-74), Terminator(1984-91), Matrix,The(1999-03), ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE(2001), LOTR(2001-03), Silence of the Lambs(1991-2003), Forrest Gump(1994), Malcolm X(1992), Glory(1989), Cry freedom(1987), Sixth Sense,The(1999), Unbreakable(2000), Elizabeth(1999) stand? Thankfully, common sense prevailed and Nolan brought the real-real Batman movie: 'Batman Begins(2005)' and the phenomenal masterpiece: 'Dark Knight,The(2008)'.
No other good or great movie from Schumacher, Oscar winners Goldsman or Clooney is going to repair the irreversible damage that they have done to Batman. (They never read the Batman comics, They just shamelessly *BEEP*ed it up.). I hope these three Blacken their faces and hide somewhere, Oscar winners or not. All existing records/proofs/sources of this B&R-scrap should be destroyed. NOW.
... And there were no Nipples needed on the Bat or Robin suit which they anyway showed. But they somehow forgot to put them on the suit of the full-some Batgirl. How hypocrite is that? Maybe, otherwise, I just would have found her more erotic enough and given this movie a one extra star. My Rating: '-1' / 10.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
The Dark Knight IS the Big Daddy of all 'Mummies'
Ever since it started in 1999, this 'Mummy' series was not my type of series, fantasy or not.
Personally, for me, if you are Actually Enjoying a Mummy movie, that means only two things ; either you have infinite amounts of tolerance or you are simply brain-dead.
And yet I forced myself to watch this one movie, even though here in India, our national daily had rated this movie as ...a pitiable 2 / 5. And pleasantly for me this movie is not one bit above as it was judged by our daily. It IS exactly 2 / 5 or even below. My reason to watch ? I was eager to learn whether this movie does have it in itself to dethrone the Best Movie of 2008 till date: The Dark Knight. Thankfully it does not. And thankfully, The Knight in its third weekend slashed the mummy in its opening and rightfully so. The Dark Knight is one of those rare movies ever made that is soaring like the majestic eagle right now and breaking Box Office records at the time of me writing this. And I hope more and more sane people watch more and more of the insane but cunning Joker's Bad Jokes in 'The Dark Knight(2008)' IN THE THEATRES and help it reach it's rightful place : The World-Wide Top 10 movies. ( If a pretty ordinary movie like Spiderman-3 rises as high as Rank 11, 'The Dark Knight' definitely deserves better.) The DVD of Dark Knight will arrive when it has to. Don't wait for it. My appeal to all those crazy young girls and senior citizens (all 60+ men and women), who had never ever in their life before, watched anything that can be technically called a 'movie' BUT still watched 'TITANIC(1997)' and made it so successful : Please watch the intellectually challenging and entertaining 'The Dark Knight(2008)' while it is in theaters, especially in an IMAX one. (OK, I understand... since Titanic, eleven years on, most of those pretty young girls must have metamorphosed into beautiful young moms and most senior citizens must have already booked a place in heavens/ hells, but still...there will still be some of those type of losers present today... including of course, Spiderman-3 / Mummy fans.)
....And, uh,....yes, I had completely forgotten that we are in the Mummy's territory and not in the Bat's or in the Atlantic Ocean. So..... would just say that I have nothing much worthy to say about this 'Mummy' movie but since Fact is stranger than Fiction, if you still want to watch something important and breathtaking related to mummies, Tutakhamen is lying in wait for you on the National Geographic Channel and THAT series is really outstanding without any doubt. And since I have watched everything about the Egyptian King and other mummies on the NGC, I could not find anything entertaining / thrilling / chilling in this Hollywood 'Mummy' movie even for fantasy's sake. So I rate that NGC series a 10 out of 10 and this Mummy movie or ALL in this series: 1 out of 10, just on the basis of watching ONE. (If you really want to watch a much better fantasy and adventure series: Watch the 'The Lord of the Rings(2001-2003)' trilogy or Indiana Jones series or the more intellectual and more scientific -'The Matrix(1999-2003)' series or the amazing visually stunning 'Arabian Nights I/II/III(2000)' TV movies) The Best Fantasy Movie that I have ever watched in my life till date is Spielberg's scientifically accurate 'Artificial Intelligence (2001)' - ( 10 out of 10 ) - which has a REAL scientific base to it and definitely is not everybody's cup of tea except those of software engineers (like me). But that is an altogether different issue.
Finally, what is to be the top priority is to avoid these pieces of junk called 'Mummies' ( from Hollywood of course, NOT the NGC) and better spend your hard earned money in buying the tickets for TDK because The Dark Knight is ... the Big Daddy of all Hollywood 'Mummies'.
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Joker : An Oscarworthy Performance, nothing less and a truly great Batman franchise unfolding.
Boy, this only gets better and better! First of all, let's NOT compare 'The Dark Knight' to the excellent 'Batman Begins'. 'Begins' was just the Beginning, a prequel and never was something different than 'Knight' in a way so as to draw comparisons. It is a continuous process.
This, the second of the 'Batman' franchise comes from the acclaimed director Christopher Nolan unleashing now with it the actual foresight and vision the director must have had in 2005 as to how a batman should be when his 'Begins' hit the theaters. The director took and used his time resourcefully in 'Begins' to build a crescendo right from the base, to explore what The Batman in fact was.
In this movie, as a supporting actor Gyllenhaal provided the emotional factor to the plot effectively. Morgan Freeman, a seasoned veteran, exactly knows what he has to deliver in a Batman movie in a very short time. As in 'Begins', here too, he has delivered a crispy witty performance. The other Oscar winner, Caine, was heart-warming as the butler Alfred to provide moral support/guidance to Bat/Bruce, of course, with his own one-liners. Eckhart was brilliant in his acting as an honest, crime fighting District Attorney but the transformation from a DA to a Two Face was amazingly performed. Compared to him, the Tommy Lee Jones' Two Face was a joke. Oscar winner Jones too was capable of doing a much better job than he actually did but they never allowed him to. Tragedy is what Two-Face should depict and Eckhart did that successfully. Gary Oldman has done really well to play a character hanging delicately between his allies and enemies.
The cinematography was outstanding. The camera angles made me feel like I was flying with the Batman. The background scores by Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, The Lion King, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code) and Newton Howard (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs) were simply haunting right from the beginning till the end never losing the pace... just like the storyline. The editing was crisp. The action was terrific. The dialogs were simply superb. Bale's was a well-balanced performance. What we are looking for is a well trained, well educated, scientific-minded, have-seen-it-all-type, Ninja in a Batman movie with emotions under control. So all is well with Bale, The Perfect Batman, the perfect Playboy.
And now, to the real 'Jewel' of the movie: Heath Ledger. With all due respect to Jack Nicholson, the three time Oscar Winner, he has finally been outclassed by Ledger in playing the role of this particular deadly, psychopathic, psychotic, ego maniacal, sinister, unconscionable, egregious character of one of the biggest adversaries of Batman known to Batman fans: The Chaos-spreading Joker which Nicholson never was, if the aforementioned qualities are compared. This is the Mind-Chilling-Man-Killing-Lip-Smacking-Smiling Joker we, as Batman fans, have known, read about and imagined. Nicholson has lost the race here to Heath Ledger. The previous franchise really was a comic book franchise ...literally. If they really wanted to make a serious real life metaphor of a comic book, they would have, but they didn't. Otherwise Nicholson could have also been chilling too. But this franchise is injecting Batman and his adversaries into Real Life and vice versa. Just like what The Joker in this movie says: "This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm going to give it to them." And truly Ledger has given it to us. Ledger has simply put astonishing life and sadistic energy in The Joker. The Joker here in this movie is like a nightmare come true. I always used to say: nothing gets more chilling or colder than Barry Foster in 'Frenzy (1972)', Anthony Hopkins in 'Silence of the Lambs 1991)', Kevin Spacey in 'SE7EN (1995)', Ralph Fiennes in 'Schindler's List (1993)'. But here we can add one more chilling role to the league of the best 'cold-hearted' roles executed ever. Ledger has NOW truly put The Joker in the pantheon of the greatest movie villains ever. Watching this performance alone we can easily judge that Ledger, who died so young could easily have become Oscar material if he had lived. He can still win it as the Best Actor for this role posthumously though because his performance here is demanding one.
This also is one of the Best Sequels Ever along with: Godfather II (1974), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park 3(1999), Lord Of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of The King (2003), Matrix Reloaded (2003), Mission Impossible 3 (NOT 2), The Jason Bourne Series, The Da Vinci Code (2006) - DVC is a sequel to Ron Howard's forthcoming Angels and Demons (2009).
Not only is this the Best Batman movie, this is The Best Superhero movie and one of the best masterpieces ever made. Truly deserves many Oscars with at least the Best Actor's. If crime based 'The Departed' can be the Best Picture (because Raging Bull, Taxi Driver were better) than this definitely can also be.
The previous franchise was literally comic, made for children. This franchise is dark and deep, made for teenagers / adults. And that is what a realistic Bat-Series meant to be. Based in the REAL world. By that, it does not mean Batman is for real. But he is in a world where rules of Physics hold true and are not distorted. Two more Batman movies from this franchise and this one will wipe out the ill-effects of the previous franchise ... completely.
Just like The Joker says to Batman: "You've changed things forever. There's no going back." This franchise has changed things forever. There's no going back.
And yes, Long Live Ledger (in our hearts). By the way, I was amazed at The Joker's Pencil Disappearing (sick) Trick. Don't Ever Try That At Home. This movie gets a perfect 10 on 10.
Dasavatharam (2008)
One of the Best innovative Indian Movies ever.
Finding fault with the graphics, makeup and other finer details of this film, is like Kamal Haasan (KH) trying to show us the beauty of the bright full moon by pointing at it with his finger and we, the ignorant ones, instead of soaking in the beauty of the moon, telling him:"Look! your finger has a big, ugly wart on it".
This movie does not deserve a 9/10 or a 10/10 overall (though for its innovativeness it does),but whoever has rated this movie anything less than 8, have merely found faults with its finer details only and not with the intention. Yes, this movie is faulty on the technical side. On the brighter side: at least this Indian movie dares to enter the unchartered waters of technicality. Movies are meant to be serious, some are comic, some happen to be entertaining and some turn to be eye-opening. This movie can be classified in the last three types that I mentioned just now.
I am a Maharastrian and unfortunately, don't understand a single word of any of the South Indian languages. But Humans don't need Languages to communicate intelligence and wisdom. And KH is both Intelligent and Wise. I am yet to watch the movies of KH, they call 'masterpieces' in the South, but I have watched a lot of his Hindi movies,commercial as well as off-the-track ones. Without exaggerating a bit , The Best Movie of India ever made till date is 'Hey Ram (2000)' followed by Swades(2004). You have to watch these to believe these. As for this movie: I, myself, don't believe in God, - for me, it's the usual 'Science versus Religion' conflict - but I do believe in the good intentions, good nature and common sense of any human being, even if he/she is a high priest of any temple. I loved every bit of word of what this guy, 'sivausa' has said about this movie. Everyone should read what he has to say about this movie. That's the whole summary of the movie. KH's all 10 performances varied from good to great, most of them great.The most entertaining of them being undoubtedly the characters of the Intelligence officer, Balaram Naidu and THE George Bush.
As a Science Professional (I'm a software engineer), I know and understand the Chaos Theory, though not every bit of it (it's deep) and love every little deed done towards understanding any phenomenon of Science. KH has done his bit in an entertaining, hilarious and a comic way and may be hopefully more movies of the revolutionary type will come from him. The Best Scientific Movie ever made till date is the Steven Spielberg's no-nonsense 'Artificial Intelligence (2001)'. And so some ignorant people will definitely laugh at KH for his efforts on movies like this one or the great movie 'Hey Ram (2000)'. But for me, what matters is the intention behind any efforts irrespective of the output at the box-office. And in this movie, even the output was great and hilarious. The direction-overall and the 'Butterfly effect'-in specific, definitely HAS to be KH's genius idea, even though director named in the credits is somebody else. That's what usually happens with great actors like a KH, Amir Khan or a Denzel Washington. They dominate the captain of the ship, the Director. And yes,... they also make for good Directors themselves. KH has tried to highlight through this movie, some major issues that haunt the world and India in particular: Caste, creed, religion, environment, politics and the biggest of them - GOD. This movie is both informative as well as entertaining. So I suggest, don't take it seriously where it is not supposed to be. Here, I am talking of the comic storyline or rather how many times KH's character loses the Vial throughout the journey. If somebody does want to attack the plot/storyline here, I would rather recommend him/her to go and watch more serious movies like 'Hey Ram(2000)', 'Schindler's List(1993)', 'The Godfather(1972-90)' or 'Artificial Intelligence(2001)' instead and dare challenge their plots there if possible.
Asin's performance was over the top and torturous sometimes but OK overall.
Reshamiya's tunes in some songs like the opening song of the Vishnu worshiper-priest/ 'Mukunda-Mukunda'/ the Pop singer's stage song, I did find to be catchy, even though I am not a fan of Himesh.
I have seen better storyline(Hey Ram(2000),'Artificial Intelligence (2001)',...long list). I have experienced better special effects('AI(2001)' again or Jurassic Park(1993), The Matrix(1999), Death Becomes Her (1992),...long list). I have observed better stunts (Any Jackie Chan / Bruce Lee movie). I watched better makeup(Star Wars(1977),Lord of the Rings(2001),Monster(2003),...many more).But still I would rate this movie no less than a full 8/10, only because of a talented KH's truly pure and great intention in making this movie.
KH is truly up there with the world's best actors, script-writers and directors.
...And yes, Kamal Haasan truly came very near to enacting a role every hot-blooded guy dreams of playing - a ruthless Schwarzenegger-style bad Terminator (as in Part One).
I also recommend viewers to watch 'The Da Vinci Code(2006)' and Swades(2004).