Date Night : Couple In Trouble

Yesterday was a rather lazy day, waiting for the impending IPL finals between CSK and MI. RCB was already out, and they ended up at No.3; thank God for that. So, I wasn’t cheering for anyone. And we decided to go for a movie.
The traffic on road was sparse, and the drive to Fun Cinemas was pretty easy. We reached by 5.20pm and got the Gold tickets. The show was at 7.30pm, and that meant we had to spend 2 hrs meandering about the place.

We moved around the mall and got back just in time only to see that people were standing upright near the steps which led to the auditorium. Oh! the national anthem was being played. I was startled. So much respect for the anthem that people did not even deem it necessary to find their seats first, they just became a statue the moment they heard the anthem. In a way its good, but its also fake! The very same people spit on the roads, throw trash out of the car, drive haphazardly and make a mockery of the system; but here they were standing upright as the most respected citizens of the country. I am still surprised!

Ok, we took our seats and the movie began. It took a slow start with a boring american couple who are busy with work and kids and they don’t find time for themselves. Hence, they come up with the concept of date-night whereby they go on a date once a week to re-ignite the old flames and add some enthusiasm to their lives.

On one such evening, they decide to try a new sea-food joint in Manhattan. The restaurant is full and with no advance bookings made, the Fosters are disappointed. Just when they think of going to another place, the staff announces a table for two for the TRIPLEHORNS.
Now, if the couple hadn’t faked to be the TRIPLEHORNS, they would have been happier; I guess. But no, Mr.Foster claims to be Triplehorn and occupies the table. The Fosters had no idea that the Triplehorns are being hunted by the underworld don for having stolen a flash drive. From here onwards the movie is one hell of a fantastic ride. From being mistaken to be the Triplehorns to impersonating the Triplehorns, from not knowing what a flash-drive is, to boat-ride in Central Park at night to driving a swanky Audi and beating the $hit out of the car with high-speed police chases and car crashes and finally a pole dance in a shady club, the movie has it all.

The couple gets chased by police, by the detectives and by the underworld; while the real triplehorns have already taken a back-pack and disappeared. The laughter and joy is sustained throughout the movie. The couple finally come up with a plan which is a do-or-die.

Steve Carrel and Tina Fey are superb in the role of the Fosters. The chemistry and the physics is awesome between them. The funny lines don’t end and neither does the action. Mark Wahlberg, as detective Holbroke, is pleasant in a shirtless friendly appearance. The movie had the jokes and the gags and what starts as a silly rom-com ends with hilarious dialogues and superb comedy. Don’t miss this one.

 

half a dozen movie releases of this weekend

this weekend saw nearly 6 movies being released, and to be frank, i am interested in just a couple of them. lets start with aparna sen’s movie ‘the japanese wife’. the movie is based on a book written by kunal basu, which did not sell that many copies. the book was slow, melancholic but romantic; the romance builds on as we continue reading it and see the characters unfold. when i heard of the book, i never thought anybody would make a movie on it.

but somewhere it must’ve touched aparna sen that she decided to turn the book into a movie. rahul bose and aparna sen were really good in ‘antaheen’ and even her previous directorial venture ‘mr and mrs iyer’. having seen previous movies of this duo, i am waiting to watch this movie. here’s what rajeev masand had to say about the movie

It’s the charming love story of Snehamoy, a mild-mannered schoolteacher in the Sunderbans (played by Rahul Bose), and Miyage, a chatty girl in a faraway Japanese village (played by Chigasu Takuku), who start out as pen-pals, fall in love, then get married and stay committed for 17 years without ever meeting face-to-face. Their romance unfolds through a series of letters and occasional phone calls.

rajeev masand is all praise for the director aparna sen. sample this

Aparna Sen’s assured touches come through in scenes like the lively kite competition between Snehamoy and the villagers, which escalates into something of an Indo-Jap tussle. Or the scene in which Snehamoy accompanies Sandhya to the market where the ease between them reminds you of a long-married couple.

you can read the entire review here

even anupama chopra’s review speaks well of the movie

This isn’t a love story with grand sweep and passion. It’s a minimalist rendering of a chaste, almost surreal love. But Sen makes us believe in it because she tells the story with great empathy and affection.

the other movie that i am really interested in watching is ‘date night’. tina fey is a fine actress and her comic timing is superb. so, i am hoping this movie will make me laugh and enjoy. even masand promises the same in his review

In the end it’s up to the two leads, who strike up a comfortable chemistry, to make the most of this tired premise. And to be fair, they succeed to some extent. Entirely convincing as a pair of Regular Joes who’re just as surprised as we are to find themselves at the centre of this mess, Carell and Fey turn Date Night into an easy enough evening out at the movies.

this weekend also saw two war-related movies, one of them being the oscar winner ‘the hurt locker’ and the other being matt damon starrer ‘green zone’. THL has already been in the news for winning a handful of oscars and it does not require any kind of recco to be watched, so please go ahead and do so.

we all know of the legends of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and bush’s rhetoric on it. ‘green zone’ deals with this, where-in matt damon is on a mission to iraq to find WMD’s. masand calls this an average war drama in his review

Relying on his trademark hyperkinetic camerawork to shoot the film’s breathless chases and non-stop combat scenes, Greengrass lends a sense of visceral immediacy to the action that makes Green Zone more engaging than your average war drama.

having spoken about bengali cinema and hollywood movies, let me finally bring up the bollywood releases of the weekend. two movies released, both duds in my opinion. nevertheless, ‘prince’ has taken a good opening thanks to the skimpily clad women and fantastic action sequences by alan-amin. masand calls it marvellously moronic and this is why

The actors struggle to pull off cool, but given those CGI-enhanced action scenes, the ill-fitting leather costumes, and the puerile dialogue, cool is impossible to achieve. Even the obvious inspiration from Mission Impossible, Matrix and the Bourne movies doesn’t seem to help director Kookie Gulati in constructing a half-convincing tale.

even anupama chopra echoes the same thoughts about the movie in her review

It’s hard to say what’s most ridiculous – the plot which has everyone chasing a coin which has the chip or the amount of posturing these actors are indulging in.

we all saw jadoo come down to our planet in a spaceship, and it wasn’t that good looking to be paired opposite to hrithik roshan. but jacqueline fernandez in ‘jaane kahan se ayi hai’ is just the kinda material that we need from outer space, charming and graceful. so, when transcends to earth and into ritesh’s  mundane life, he is more than trilled to escprt her like a tour guide. but this tour isn’t all that fun, as said by our reviewers. anupama chopra says

The laughs deflate at an alarming rate. Instead we are made to suffer feeble match-making efforts, the clichéd journey from friendship to love, the usual misunderstandings and even a last minute chase to Tara’s spaceship so that the soul-mates, Tara and Rakesh are united.

you may read her review here

masand too is not so thrilled about this alien drama. the movie has special appearances by akshay kumar and farah khan, in a bid to spice it up. but even that works only upto a point. masand points out the flaws in his review

There’s so much mushy dialogue that even the guys who write those Hallmark cards would feel uncontrollably sick; and just the basic plotting of the romantic track is too corny and juvenile to inspire any real sympathy for the characters involved. It doesn’t help that Ritesh and Jacqueline lack the spark to keep you hooked to their romance.