KELLY'S HEROES (1970) - ENGLISH

Meticulous planning and execution leads to a successful treasure.

In life too, if we plan and execute meticulously, we shall end up with a treasure that's worth more than our own anticipation That's a life lesson to be learned from this. 

Now, the film is comical and I am surprised that an end to end war film that is devoid of any politics can be so hilarious. I am more so surprised about the dialogues and their delivery. Writing is exceptional but the acting is much more substantial than the writing. Those lines could have been bland, if not expressed well.

Clint Eastwood as Kelly stands out and the other one for me was Donald Sutherland as Sergeant Oddball. These are the most memorable performances of this film.

Technically, this is brilliant, the war seems real and the plot is inspiring in itself. Money drives the soldiers into greed and makes them heroes for their country too. There is an irony that's worth appreciating in the film.

This film is a proper commercial war film, that has songs, action, emotion, humor and above all war. It ticks off the word go and takes us through interesting turns to a happy destiny. I am all for such interesting bumpy rides and this film was that one.

Thanks to director, Brian G Hutton who made another wonderful film WHERE EAGLES DARE prior to this one.

A 4/5 for one of the most hilarious war films you may ever see.

INTERSTELLAR (2014) - ENGLISH

Its by far one of the most abstruse and absurd sci-fi film from an acclaimed director.

Christopher Nolan, is a director of great potential. His body of work speaks volumes of what he has done and what he has capable of. After all he is also a human being, and I suppose he has forgotten that humans have limitations. This film is illustrious of the limitation, which is that the director does not have an audience that thoroughly understands quantum physics.

I am a big lover of physics and was a faculty of the same for 4 years of my life. Yet, the dialogues were incomprehensible by me. I must admit my in-competencies here as quantum physics, time travel are something not in my sphere of thorough understanding. Yet, I must also admit that this is the first Nolan film, I felt bored. I dozed off briefly after 20 minutes in the film and it never ever happened in a Nolan film for me. 

Now, there are few comparisons I would like to draw with an earlier film of Nolan, that is INCEPTION. If Inception, was also equally incomprehensible in the first go, it made me rush to the theater to decipher what it was all about. While INTERSTELLAR is also incomprehensible in the first viewing, it lacked the drive to push me to see it once again. Indeed, I felt exhausted after a near 170 minutes. 

The performances were superb and Matthew McConaughey has given a terrific performance. He is more a father than an astronomer. Others were all appreciable too. The technicalities were brilliant but those were all on the expected lines, considering the scale of the film. What I am only disappointed is, the screenplay lacked Nolan's magic. Yet, there are moment of awe and the climax, indeed the final shot was surely my pick as it triggers some thoughts in the brain.

As per me, this is a lacklustre film form a genius of a director. More than anything else, I am just disappointed.

If you want to watch a great sci-fi film, there are many ranging from the 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY to the most recent GRAVITY. If you see this and feel this is great then I would congratulate your feeling. For me this is an exhausting lesson in quantum physics.

Also, a word about the IMAX where I saw this. The IMAX in Hong Kong is way below the quality I admired in Hyderabad, India. The screen seems much smaller, the audio is not upto the quality, the acoustics are not updated as per technology. I miss the IMAX at Hyderabad in these aspects.

A 2/5 for this film, For sure, you may neither love it, nor hate it but surely you cannot ignore it.

JUST SAY

Give up, give in, give a way
Come in, come on, go away
Sleep, creep, weep, but just say
That, I am for you and you are for me
So let's go out and play