House of Cards (TV Series-Season 3) (2015)

Creator: Beau Willimon
Cast:      Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly

The third season of 'House Of Cards' follow the Underwood power couple, having become the POTUS & FLOTUS at the end of second season, trying to get things going on the policy front deflecting enemies from their own party, the congress which is stalling them and some geopolitical troubles from the cold war enemy Russia. This season is much more about them looking inwards into their relationship itself rather than it being about them confronting their 'enemies' like in previous seasons. 

So, that is me finishing the whole season within twenty four hours from starting it, and I need some fucking sleep. But Liverpool-Man City game starts around 90 minutes from now and I guess I won't get much sleep after that if Liverpool ends up not losing, and if they indeed do I would have to cry myself to sleep. I digress...The second season ended with Francis achieving his goal of being the President and that was a logical end point for the show with the iconic line: 'Democracy is so overrated'. Well, they didn't stop there and we have got a third season which won't definitely be the last considering how it ended.

Another big question was the fate of Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), one of my favorite characters from the series, who was fatally wounded at the end of season two. He survives and his is a major plot-line this season, much of it away from Francis Underwood during his recovery. Another major character is Petrov, the very Putin like Russian President, a worthy nemesis for the Underwoods. What is great is that he is portrayed as a complex character which wouldn't do Putin any harm in terms of perception. Even the Pussy Riot band makes an appearance during a state visit and one of their songs feature in an episode's end credits. The main things that Underwood is trying to achieve in terms of his legacy as President is some resolution in Israel-Palestine crisis by deploying a UN Peace keeping force in Jordan Valley and introduction of America Works program, which aims to cut social security spending and divert that money to create jobs for unemployed. Both these sound and are ludicrous when you think about it but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying the show. Claire Underwood is feeling left out in the whole white house shindig and wants to secure her own future by becoming the UN ambassador, just in case Francis don't win the 2016 Presidential nomination. All these kind of end with disastrous consequences for them but still Francis try to win the nomination. 

Overall it is a typical HoC season-at times ridiculous but very much an enjoyable watch nevertheless. I do think it is the least enjoyable of all the three seasons and I don't care whether they proceed to make another season of it. If they do I will end up watching it mind. David Fincher didn't direct any of the episodes and Robin Wright directed two of them. I have read some people complaining about Claire's actions in this season not keeping in with the character from previous seasons. I don't particularly agree since the whole affair about motherhood, abortion, rape etc suggested that she can indeed be impulsive sometimes. Anyway it is only fair that they would undergo some change after achieving what they set out to do. Meechum doesn't have much to do this season and I thought that Seth Greyson would play a much bigger role this season in terms of strategy. At least they didn't go with a cliched route of tensions between the underlings. Season can be summed up by common theme of all of the major characters facing an existential crisis, except for Francis Underwood of course.

Rating: 3/5

                                                                    

Relatos salvajes (Wild Tales) (2014)

Director: Damian Szifron
Writer:    Damian Szifron
Cast:       Dario Grandinetti, Maria Marull, Monica Villa, Ricardo Darin
Language: Spanish

It is an Argentine-Spanish anthology film, composed of six standalone shorts united by a common theme of violence and vengeance. Film was co-produced by Pedro Amodovar and Augustin Almodavar.

The stories get better and better one by one with all of them are hilarious. The first one has the surprise element since we don't know what the film is about and is kind of a thought exercise. The second one also retains the surprise since we think it is some sort of back-story to first one only to realize that it is an anthology. Second one is the weakest of all the stories. First two are about revenge for past deeds while the next two are about reaction to things that happen presently when people just lose their shit when things happen to their automobiles. Fourth and fifth are the most we in the developing world can relate to since it involves corruption with the latter being about a hit-run case by a rich guy. The last one is about a wedding between two people from rich families and it is something that makes George R. R. Martin's 'Red Wedding' appear mild. I don't know whether it was significantly longer than the others but it had so many twists and turns that I felt it could have been a feature length film by itself thus ending the whole affair on a very high note. It also reminded me of Vinterberg's 'Festen'. 

It was included in the official selection at the Cannes where it received a ten minute standing ovation after the screening. It was also nominated at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Picture film category, thus becoming the seventh Argentine film to be nominated thus far with the last three involving the excellent Ricardo Darin. I guess this is the best Argentine film I have seen so far but is a selection from a small sample with other two alos being Ricardo Darin films-Secret in their Eyes and Nine Queens.

Rating: 5/5

                                                                    

Hross í oss (Of Horses and Men) (2013)

Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Writer:    Benedikt Erlingsson
Cast:       Ingvar Eggert Siggurdson, Charlotte Boving
Language: Icelandic

It is a collection of interlocking stories about a group of rural Icelanders' relationships with their horses and each other. Its tone can be described as a black comedy about sex, death and fate set in exquisite locales. 

We see horses in many films but don't see many aspects involved in actually owning a horse that are not very glamorous. It is like how Pulp Fiction elevated people going to toilet as a major plot point when in most films it is something from daily life that is actually ignored. Tone of the film is set when a proud villager is taking a mare out to tame it under the watchful and voyeuristic eyes of his fellow villagers, only for it to get mounted by a wild stallion while he is sat on it. Embarrassed, he proceeds to shoot and kill the mare. Other stories involve people meeting their deaths on horses, how they go out to capture wild horses and one involving a man who kills his horse and empty its entrails to go inside of it to escape from cold. In some of these stories the horses acts as mere observers for the actions of the humans involved with them.

Overall it is a strange film but a very good watch. The soundtrack sounded a bit like Arabic music and I don't know whether the director is intending for us to be reminded of camels who are a big part in Arabic lifestyle. Since I didn't get any amazon links for the film, am just leaving a link for the Icelandic band Sigur Ros' music.

Rating: 3.5/5

                                                                

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer:    Robert Rodat
Cast:       Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon

Following the Normandy landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

I had seen the beginning of this film some years back. The headache inducing portrayal of Normandy landings in it is known for its realism and was shot with a budget of $12 million. Problem with the film is that after those initial 27 minutes, it just peters out. With Spielberg at helm, you expect only a feel good story despite it being set in a terrible situation. He did the same with Schindler's List but it being based on a true story kind of bails him out. 'Shaving Ryan's Privates' is a rather fictional story  inspired by a situation in WW2 where a family's eight siblings died in the war. 

I didn't expect to like this film since am not a fan of Spielberg and his shitty manipulative films which are high on production value but low on subtlety. After the half an hour bloodbath at the beginning of the film, Tom Hanks playing Tom Hanks gets orders to rescue Mr. Ryan because of the situation of his brothers being already dead. With some men under him they go to find Ryan based on hunches with some in the group questioning the logic behind the whole exercise. Along the way you get manipulative situations for the director to exhibit his 'Skills' involving a soldier who wants to rescue a child, another one who is protecting a POW, a sort of mutiny etc, all of which you have to watch cringing the whole way through only to finally find Ryan (Matt Damon) who doesn't want to go home before completing his mission of destroying a strategically located bridge. Bingo, we got a final set-piece of lengthy action sequence to give us some symmetry to the whole thing. 

Terence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line' also came out in 1998 and is the exact opposite of Saving Private Ryan. The latter dumbed down version of a war film was the box office hit predictably with the former standing the test of time. Nowadays most people recognize that Saving Private Ryan hoodwinked people into believing that it was good film based on the 'Call of Duty' opening. Still many people go on about how 'Shakespeare In Love' won the Best Picture Oscar over Saving Private Ryan but they should be complaining that Malick's effort didn't win. It is like people complaining about Forrest Gump winning over Shawshank Redemption when in reality Pulp Fiction was the best of the nominated lot.

Rating: 2.5/5

                                                                       

Foxcatcher (2014)

Director: Bennett Miller
Writers:  E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
Cast:       Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo

The greatest Olympic Wrestling Champion brother team joins Team Foxcatcher led by multimillionaire sponsor John E. du Pont as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul- a union that leads to unlikely circumstances.

Well, fuck me that was an intense watch! There is practically not a single bright moment in the film and it is grave from start to finish. The only laughs you will get is if you find some dark comedy in the antics of Mr. John du Pont who has the pretension of being a coach and mentor to the wrestling athletes he is taking care of by providing infrastructure and money. I did find some of it funny because I was reminded of the Oligarch asshole, Roman Abramovich, who owns Chelsea football club and treat it as his dildo. I am not really in a position to say whether Mr. Abramovich fancied himself as a coach but there were some rumors of him getting involved in the dressing room and imposing expensive players he bought on to the coaching staff. Sorry for digressing. 

An almost unrecognizable Steve Carell plays the role of millionaire benefactor and Ruffalo and Tatum plays the older brother and younger brother respectively. There is some sibling rivalry going on between the brothers with the older one being a family man involved with coaching now after retiring and the younger one being a loner with short temper. This kind of leads to Mark (Tatum) joining the millionaire's facility first and he is the only medal prospect in the Team Foxcatcher. He develops a relationship with the millionaire which gradually erodes leading to David (Ruffalo) also joining the facility. During all this, we are shown why the benefactor is behaving in this manner and it is because of his uneasy relationship with horse race loving mother who owns a stable. She finds Wrestling to be a low sport and the upbringing that she gave to her kid might have very well created all kinds of insecurities in him. I kind of knew someone was going kill someone in this film based on whatever tidbits that I have read about it but didn't know who was going to do it. The ending kind of came as a surprise to me. The great thing about the film is that you really don't find the action to be out of character which is a testament to how well the characters and their motivations been established over greater than two hours running time. 

Overall it is a great watch despite it being very depressing. I have seen all three feature films done by the director Miller with other two being Capote and Moneyball. This one is much more closer to Capote than Moneyball and similarity with the latter is limited to the sporting background of its characters. Miller won the best director award for it at the Cannes. *Spoiler Alert*. Credit to America that the status of being from the wealthy Du Pont family doesn't absolve you from a grave crime that you commit. John du Pont died in 2010 while serving time for the murder. I really wonder what would happen if it happened in India. Something similar happened in Kerala recently for which the investigation is going on but I am not really hopeful about justice being served. Kerala Story

Rating: 4/5

                                                                       

Inherent Vice (2014)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writers:  Paul Thomas Anderson, Thomas Pynchon (Novel)
Cast:       Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston

In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles private detective Larry 'Doc' Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend. 

The trailer for Inherent Vice, which Paul Thomas Anderson himself cut, gave the impression that it will be a very similar to Coens' 'Big Lebowski' in its tone. The last two films of the director was quite different when compared with his works pre-There Will Be Blood and the trailer made it look like that it will be more like his earlier works. Nice work Anderson, because you would've fooled everyone who went by trailer. Luckily for me, I was aware of trailer being misleading and didn't negatively affect my viewing of the film. That said there is some similarity with 'Big Lebowski' in the sense is that both of them is about a slacker kind of character who is caught up in an investigation and for both the films the plot is not that important. The latter could be one reason for people not to like 'Big Lebowski' when they watch it first time round because many do have a habit of getting hung up on plot even when the film is not really about that. Anderson takes it one step further by making it almost impossible to make any sense of it. I really don't have any clue about major portions of the film as he introduces newer and newer characters with vague connections to the central investigation and by the end of it you are just dazed and confused. I guess Anderson manages to convey how a stoner is feeling about things but I need some of my stoner friends to confirm the same for me. 

Another film that is all about giving the stoner vibe for the audience is Terry Gilliam's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. Inherent Vice takes a very different approach to it but Benicio Del Toro is common in both films playing the role of lawyer friend to the protagonist. The other main character in  the film is Doc's nemesis cop 'Big Foot' (Josh Brolin) who has a propensity to suck some inappropriate looking things (chocobars, black banana etc, you get the idea) throughout the film. Both Phoenix and Brolin are super great in the film playing very different characters to their normal fare. The way Joaquin Phoenix goes about in public, a common criticism that he gets when it comes to his films like 'The Master' and 'The Immigrant' is that he is just playing his usual self. This film will shut up those people since you don't see Phoenix at all in the role. Robert Downey Jr. was initially associated with the project but I am glad it finally went to Phoenix since the same criticism would have come with the former. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood is again involved with the soundtrack which starts on the best footing with Can's 'Vitamin C' used during the opening credits. 

Overall it is a great watch and don't ask me anything about the plot. Like the last two Anderson films, this one also require multiple viewing but I am not sure whether my liking for it will depreciate, appreciate or stay the same with it. Forgot to mention that it is an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's, what was regarded as an un-filmable, novel with the same name. The title Inherent Vice, as explained somewhere in the film, is a terminology used in marine insurance to refer to substances that deteriorate because of the fundamental instability of the components as opposed to external forces.

Rating: 4.5/5

                                                                  

I am Offended! (2015)

Director: Jaideep Varma
Features: Vir Das, Raju Srivastav, Johnny Lever, AIB guys

The documentary was released last week on the back of controversy around AIB Roast. They made use of the issue and the title to make the maximum out of the timing of the release to make it seem out to be more on that particular issue. It works more like a film that charts the evolution of stand-up comedy in India, relatively a recent phenomenon. India's audience is unique when compared to their Western counterparts in the sense that there is a higher probability of them taking offense rather than the comedians being heckled on stage. It is a place with pretty low sense of humor and I don't mean people don't laugh but that the standard of humor required to generate laughter is pretty low.

Film can be described as 75% on the history and the current scenario of stand-up comedy in India and the rest 25% on the troubles that they face when some assholes get offended by it. I would have preferred a little bit more of the latter because it is something that I really feel strong about. I am not really a stand-up comedy aficionado and tend to listen to only those guys who confirm my own worldview like Bill Hicks, George Carlin and Bill Maher. Anti-establishment liberal voices are not very prominent in the Indian scene. From the guys featured in this documentary, I guess Varun Grover's seems to have the kind of material that I will enjoy. India is severely lacking in Satirical and fearless take on current affairs in the mould of 'Real Time with Bill Maher' or 'Last Week Tonight' and I hope something worthwhile comes soon enough because the corporate owned mainstream media does not look capable of being the anti-establishment voice. 

                                    

In the documentary the comedians give their twopence on their own trade and it is done in an interesting way so that you get different take on same things. There will be someone contradicting what someone else said immediately before and you get a sense that like genres in film, stand-up comedy also gives same kind of variety in its offerings. I prefer people who take a critical look at current affairs and ideological issues to the ones who have got a permanent sketch like routines and jokes based on stereotypes (Russell Peters-lite). I do think the documentary was kind rushed and looks a bit uneven in its tone maybe because they wanted to make use of the AIB thing.

I guess I will also my take on AIB Roast controversy for what it is worth. The roast itself was not very funny and since I consider Bollywood to be the lowest form of entertainment in India and the people involved with it the ultimate lowlifes, it is not a surprise that I didn't enjoy their circle-jerk. It is not that hard to make fun of couple of guys who are very low in the Bollywood food chain. My dismissal of the show's quality is not a hindrance for supporting them when the controversy occurred because it is a matter of freedom of speech and it is a big issue in India. They have went on to make an apology to a fucking priest of all people and that kind of restored my low respect for these people and their material. This documentary is funnier than their AIB Roast thing and is a recommended watch. I enjoyed that particular instance where a pilot in the audience clarifies that they don't actually engage in in-flight sex, and that kind of sums up our sense of humor. 

Rating: 3.5/5