Cars 2

Pixar has done it again. I cannot agree with the critics on this one. As far as I’m concerned Pixar’s record of not having made a single bad film yet is still unbroken. Many critics have said that they feel this is Pixar’s worst film yet and the first one that does not live up to its previous oeuvre of films but I disagree.

Yes I am a fan of Pixar’s work but this film simply does not deserve the bad press it’s getting. Yes it is a very different film from the first Cars movie and yes it does center more on the Tow Mater character but that does not make it a bad film. In fact this film is very exciting, fast moving and funny with a great message like all of the other Pixar films. And yes this move can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Cars 2 is a completely different movie from the first Cars. Where the first Cars was a story about a big city car coming to a small town somewhere on Route 66 USA, Cars 2 goes even further. It is more of a James Bond film that takes us all over the world. We travel to Tokyo, Japan, London, England and Italy.

It starts out with a very exciting James Bond action piece in the middle of the Ocean and from there it barely lets up. This film is more focused on Tow Mater, the hillbilly tow truck from the first movie, and how he is perceived by cars in other countries leading to some soul searching moments. Mater is invited to come along on a racing tour around the world and is mistaken for an international spy. There is a message about gasoline fuel vs. clean reusable fuel and how the oil companies are keeping us depended on fossil fuels.

Overall it’s a great fun ride with a moving message and gorgeous animation that Pixar does so well. All the Pixar hallmarks are there including little teaser cameos from previous Pixar films.

JP

Shah Rukh Khan the King of Bollywood arrives at Toronto City Hall

These pictures were taken by Marina and myself at City Hall where we waited for SRK to arrive with a huge crowd of admirers.

Shah Rukh Khan and the splendor of Bollywood

With the most incredible production values and exotic locations I have ever seen, not to mention the beauty of such actresses as Kajol, Rani Mukharjee and Preity Zinta, lavish musical numbers and hopelessly romantic storylines, I was hooked.

When it comes to the new Bollywood there are two names you need to know. Kajol and SRK, short for Shah Rukh Khan. These two stars are simply the most magical and charismatic onscreen pairing of the Hindi cinema or any cinema today. Their onscreen chemistry is legendary throughout the world. Watching them together in such films as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) will charm you and make you fall in love no matter what your age or background. Their films have so much heart and humor it is no wonder that they are the most celebrated onscreen couple of the Hindi film industry.

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s classic film gems from Dilwale Dhlhania Le Jayenge (1995), which is the start of the ShahRukh era of Bollywood, to Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) are now some of Bollywood’s most beloved classics, but these films are virtually unknown to North American audiences. The production values, music and sheer visual splendor contained in many of these films alone is worth preserving and introducing to a brand new market that has never seen the likes of these beautiful films. But what really makes these films stand out in Bollywood is the emotional heart and the moral values contained in these universal stories that translate easily to any audience.  I have witnessed first-hand the power of these films on people who did not even understand the Hindi language or subtitles, but were moved by the story purely based on the visuals and the performances.

SRK will be among many Bollywood stars attending the International Indian Film Academy awards in Toronto this week to be held at the Rogers Center. He is up for an award for his latest film that was released in early 2010, My Name is Khan, which is about a Muslim American man living in San Francisco who travels across the USA to tell the President that he is not a terrorist. This major Bollywood event being held for the first time in North America should give Toronto and Canada much greater exposure to the delights of the Hindi cinema. I just hope that we, as many in Britain were, are open to the experience.

For anyone starting their Bollywood experience for the first time here is a list of must see films starring the King of Bollywood, one of its most endearing and charming actors anywhere, Shah Rukh Khan. Hopeless romantics at heart will not be disappointed.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge                               1995

Dil Se…                                                               1998

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai                                            1998

Mohabbatein                                                      2000

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham                                 2001

Devdas                                                               2002

Chalte Chalte                                                     2003

Kal Ho Naa Ho                                                    2003

Main Hoon Na                                                     2004

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna                                     2006

Chak De India!                                                    2007

Om Shanti Om                                                    2007

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi                                           2008

My Name is Khan                                                2010

There are of course many other great Bollywood films with heart worth seeing that do not star SRK, but I would start here for the best of Bollywood and compare the rest to them. You will be hard pressed to find anything as good. Movies I did find comparable and are very good are as follows:

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) Aamir Khan

Jab We Met (2007) with Kareena Kapoor & Shahid Kapoor

Tare Zameen Par (2007) with Aamir Khan

3 Idiots (2009) with Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor

But I’m hardly an expert and have not seen nearly as many Bollywood films as the average Hindi Bollywood fan who watches them on the Asian TV channels every week.

JP

X-Men: First Class

Directed by Matthew Vaughn who also directed the highly acclaimed film Kick-Ass (2010), one of my favorite films from last year, this X-Men film is extremely effective and satisfying as a set-up film for the X-Men trilogy of 2000 – 2006 and explains how the whole rivalry between Professor X and Magneto began. Although there is not as much action in this film as in previous X-Men films, this one keeps you hooked into the story because of the great characters portrayed by wonderful performances from Kevin Bacon, from Apollo 13 (1995), Michael Fassbender, recently from Inglourious Basterds (2009), James McAvoy, recently from Wanted (2008)and The Last King of Scotland (2006), Jennifer Lawrence, recently from Winter’s Bone (2010), and Nicholas Hoult, recently from About a Boy (2002)and Clash of the Titans (2010), and soon to be seen as Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) directed by Bryan Singer who also directed the first two X-Men films, X-Men and X2: X-Men United, and wrote and produced the current X-Men: First Class.

 ‘We must adapt to survive’, says one of the mutants in the new prequel to the X-men trilogy that shows the beginnings of young Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It is a time before mutants were known to exist to humans and to each other. Mutants are mostly just hiding their freakish abilities from the conservative society of the 60s and just want to fit in. But one mutant, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), has harnessed his abilities and is convinced that he and other mutants like him are the next phase in human evolution and that they could never exist together with humans who, he believes, are on the brink of extinction much like the Neanderthals before them.

Neanderthals existed for thousands of years in Europe and Eurasia before early Homo sapiens known as Cro-Magnon man arrived. When that happened the days of Neanderthals were numbed although it took another roughly 50,000 years after the Cro-Magnon man’s arrival in Europe, but during that time period when Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon co-existed together, we can only imagine what contact between these two very different species of humans must have been like. 

X-Men: First Class tries to answer some of those questions with their own version of an evolutionary mutation that will try to out-compete and displace the current human population to extinction. Not all mutants agree with this aggressive point of view. Some believe that peaceful co-existence with humans is possible. The humans on the other hand who foresee their own marginalization will do anything to destroy all the mutants.

The young Charles Xavier and Magneto make an astonishing discovery in this film due to Xavier’s telepathic abilities and a new invention that amplifies his powers. They realize for the first time that they are not alone and that far more mutants exist all over the world than they ever imagined, all with unique powers. They start to recruit mutants and create a school to help them learn to harness their abilities. But the mutants are of two minds and split up into two camps. Those that want to speed up the inevitable and take revenge for how they have been made to feel as outsiders, ashamed of their abilities, and hasten their demise, and those that want to protect, help and work with the humans.

The humans are also split into two camps, Communist and Democratic societies are at war with each other but when it comes to mutants they are united in their fear. Some humans want to work with the mutants but most would rather just get rid of them if they could. But there is the dilemma. Mutants are superior in every way to humans and humans can only hope that mutants will be merciful. And so it was with Neanderthal. Although Neanderthal appears stronger physically and better able to withstand extreme climates, they were not as smart as the weaker early modern humans and eventually they were out competed to extinction. It was our brains that gave us the edge.

The X-Men franchise has an opportunity here to show what might have occurred in this critical evolutionary phase of human history. Competition between people goes on in our daily lives every day. We are always competing for jobs, wealth, opportunities, education, fame, and there are always people who lose out and fall by the way side. Mutants have far more powerful and advanced abilities but alone they are isolated freaks. Our natural instinct is to cheer for the underdog and in the beginning we cheer for the lonely, outsider mutant but soon the mutants group their talents in gangs and become arrogant and just want to use their abilities to destroy mankind. Then we cheer for the mutants who help humans and fight against the more aggressive mutants. 

What I liked about the previous X-Men films is that mutants who started out in one camp would end up by the end of the film in the opposite camp. For example a mutant starting out in the Xavier or pro-human camp would decide by the end of the film to change to the Magneto or anti-human camp and vice versa. A previously known bad mutant would by the end of the film decide to join the good mutant camp. This new prequel film continues this trend and we see how some mutants can change, through ideology, from one camp to another, either because they feel sympathy for humans or because they admire someone in the opposite camp.

This movie franchise has been extremely successful so far and all the movies in the franchise are great as far as I’m concerned, including the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie about the origins of a popular X-Men character called Wolverine. If you are unfamiliar with the X-Men franchise and want to see all the movies this is a good one to start with.

JP

Clash of the Titans: A hero's journey continues

At the end of the 2010 remake Clash of the Titans you have the feeling that a fully realized world has been created were many new stories can be told with memorable characters and beautiful realistic production design. 

Everything about this remake is an improvement on the 1981 original. The visual effects department of course has taken full advantage of the digital revolution that has taken place since 1981 and this is the perfect type of film to showcase those effects. The original was already an effects heavy film back in 1981 when it was released in the same week as Raiders of the Lost Ark. But this being a very low budget film Ray Harryhausen was hired to do his signature stop-motion animation old school style. This was the last film that Ray Harryhausen worked on using his once very popular stop-motion technique that made such films as 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) so popular.

Laurence Olivia, Harry Hamlin, Maggie Smith, Clair Bloom and Ursula Andress have been replaced by Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Sam Worthington and the late Pete Postlethwaite. The new film is faithful to the original but has a much more international feel with a cast and locations from around the world. Filming took place in Tenerife the Canary Islands, Malta, Italy, Wales, England and Ethiopia.

There are many memorable action sequences from the original that fan boy director Louis Leterrier, who also directed The Incredible Hulk (2008), wanted to retain for the new film but needed updating for a modern audience. Some of the best and well known of these new updated scenes are the God's temple on Mt. Olympus, the Scorpioch battle, Medusa’s cave temple battle and the awesome Kraken sequence. In between we get an array of other worldly and mythological creatures from Hades and the Hades effect, winged half-simian bat like flying harpies, Calibos the deformed king, the Stygian witches, Pegasus the flying horse, and the Djinn who are ancient sorcerers living in the desert. 

What I really liked about this new movie was the beautiful realistic depiction of mythical places like Mt. Olympus and the ancient city of Argos. The Greek city of Argos was beautifully rendered digitally as a massive complex of structures built into the side of a sea-side cliff that was filmed in a place called Los Gigantes, Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands using ancient structures filmed in Italy to make up the City. The God’s home on Mt. Olympus was rendered as a wide open round hall with the floor completely open and looking down on a satellite image of the earth from space complete with clouds and realistic topography.

There is a travelogue type sequence in the film depicting our heroes as they journey on the backs of the Scorpiochs across different landscapes on their way to find the Stygian witches and ultimately Medusa's cavernous temple. The photography in that sequence is breathtaking as we are treated to stunning vistas that were filmed in exotic locations all over the world and adds an epic feel to the journey.

Clash of the Titans is a classic tale of the hero’s journey. Perseus played by Sam Worthington, recently from Terminator Salvation (2009) and Avatar (2009), is born a demigod son of Zeus, half human half god, and must find a way to stop Hades from destroying the city of Argos and awakening the fearsome Kraken, a mythic sea creature that lives in an underwater sea cave. Along the way he obtains a loyal following of men, sorcerers and gods who help him fulfill his destiny. Perseus is tested with trials and given magical weapons before he finally confronts Hades and the enormous Kraken. 

The climactic Kraken sequence improves on the original in every way and does not disappoint. The original sequence was quaint but did not have the scale and realism of this new updated version. Now the Kraken sequence is truly awesome in scale and realism and excitingly filmed and edited. It shows not only the Kraken but also street level action in the city of Argos while Perseus is flying through both Kraken tentacles and Argos streets on his flying horse Pegasus.

Here’s hoping we get more films in this promising franchise. What? They’re already working on it?

Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to Clash of the Titans is now being filmed in Tenerife Spain as I write this. This is exciting news. Jonathan Liebesman, who also directed this year’s excellent Battle: Los Angeles, has replaced director Louis Leterrier, but the cast and crew from Clash of the Titans are mostly all back including Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, Sam Worthington as Perseus and Danny Huston as Poseidon. The new film is due for release on March 30, 2012.

The following is an official summary of the storyline from Warner Bros. Pictures

‘A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus-the demigod son of Zeus-is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth... Written by Warner Bros. Pictures’  

JP