Quick Reviews: Evan, the Surfer and Jhoom:
There is a common theme in all the films below. The reviewers hated em and I have no idea why. None of em is great, or even close to it, but they're pretty good and better than a lot of stuff I've seen thats much more positively reviewed.
Evan Almighty
Steve Carrell is great. No one else plays "naive dude in an awkward situation" better, and this role has him playing a little less naive and the situations much more awkward. The movie doesn't try to make profound statements, but the laughs work, the story is uncomplicated, the characters extremely sympathetic and the final message warm and fuzzy. What's not to like?
I just don't understand why all the reviewers hated it so much. I looked at all their complaints about the film and disagree with most of em.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
This movie is apparently better than the first, which isn't saying much because the the first Fantastic 4 movie was reviewed so negatively I didn't even bother to go see it! And I loved the Fantastic 4 as a kid! I watched the cartoons quite a bit and I thought the story lines and character arcs were relatively quite complex (the key being the word relatively.)
The movie is exactly the opposite. The writing is pretty lazy and predictable, though the special effects and pace of the thing keep things buzzing. Ehh..
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
OK, I actually caught this one with the parents when they were visiting and I had a good time watching it.:)
But.....This one is like a long music video with dialog in between that isn't as funny as it should be. Now enjoying most Hindi movies, especially Yashraj films this millenium, requires you to be comfortable suspending all sense of reality, but this one is asks too much. I cringed at least a dozen times at dialogues that were too corny, mannerisms that were too stereotypical, jokes that were too sleazy/lazy and stereotypes that were too well...stereotypical.:)
Also I've seen far too many Bollywood films where the protagonists are in London or NY. Hindi film stars need to shoot in India more.
The cast is actually surprisingly good and have fun with their roles, especially Abhishek Bachchan, and like you'd expect from a music video, the camera work is more energetic than I remember in any Hindi love story. There are a couple of "in" jokes that not everyone will get, but you'll enjoy if you do. Lets just say I'm not unhappy that I saw it.
Evan AlmightySteve Carrell is great. No one else plays "naive dude in an awkward situation" better, and this role has him playing a little less naive and the situations much more awkward. The movie doesn't try to make profound statements, but the laughs work, the story is uncomplicated, the characters extremely sympathetic and the final message warm and fuzzy. What's not to like?
I just don't understand why all the reviewers hated it so much. I looked at all their complaints about the film and disagree with most of em.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
This movie is apparently better than the first, which isn't saying much because the the first Fantastic 4 movie was reviewed so negatively I didn't even bother to go see it! And I loved the Fantastic 4 as a kid! I watched the cartoons quite a bit and I thought the story lines and character arcs were relatively quite complex (the key being the word relatively.)
The movie is exactly the opposite. The writing is pretty lazy and predictable, though the special effects and pace of the thing keep things buzzing. Ehh..
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
OK, I actually caught this one with the parents when they were visiting and I had a good time watching it.:)
But.....This one is like a long music video with dialog in between that isn't as funny as it should be. Now enjoying most Hindi movies, especially Yashraj films this millenium, requires you to be comfortable suspending all sense of reality, but this one is asks too much. I cringed at least a dozen times at dialogues that were too corny, mannerisms that were too stereotypical, jokes that were too sleazy/lazy and stereotypes that were too well...stereotypical.:)
Also I've seen far too many Bollywood films where the protagonists are in London or NY. Hindi film stars need to shoot in India more.
The cast is actually surprisingly good and have fun with their roles, especially Abhishek Bachchan, and like you'd expect from a music video, the camera work is more energetic than I remember in any Hindi love story. There are a couple of "in" jokes that not everyone will get, but you'll enjoy if you do. Lets just say I'm not unhappy that I saw it.
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