Horror and Mystery perfectly blended - Angel Heart

Angel Heart (1987)

Cast: Mickey Rourke, Robert de Niro, Lisa Bonet

Director: Alan Parker

 

It’s exciting to see a movie with mystery and suspense right from the beginning to end of end credits. Fight Club, Seven and Mulholland drive are few examples to mention. It is even more exciting when a favorite actor has acted in it even if it is a small role. Angel Heart is one such, a relatively unknown and underrated cult movie. The film has Mickey Rourke in the lead role and my favorite star Robert de Niro in special appearance, the reason why I took special interest to watch it (I am a diehard fan of de Niro!!). 

Angel Heart is a perfect blend of mystery, horror and detective genre. The plot is set few years after the end of World War II, in the 1950s in which Harold ‘Harry’ Angel (Mickey Rourke) is a private detective from Brooklyn. He is hired by a wealthy but quite mysterious man Louis (de Niro) to find a singer named Johnny Favorite whether he is dead or alive. Throughout the course of his investigation, things get more and more bizarre when Harry unfolds something crucial and there is another knot waiting for him to tie around his neck, and get him into mess as if he is going to be transported to another world which has no return path.

Adapting the novel Fallen Angels, director Alan Parker has done a meticulous job of setting the extremely dark and scary environment full of secrets. It is a horror movie without any cheap scares. But the real scare elements are the visual and the music score. The visual presentation is distinctive and well matching to the film’s environment. The soundtrack scored by Trevor Jones is breathtaking, eerie and builds tension. The script is good with some really catchy dialogues. These aspects are well synchronized and leave the audience anticipating what may be an unusual and unexpected twisted ending.

Robert de Niro in Angel Heart

The film has a powerful acting. Rourke takes the lead as a chain smoking, least bothered private detective, giving a tremendous acting showing us the horror through his eyes. Initially he is reluctant to accept the job, but eventually agrees when Louis is ready to a lucrative sum. The ‘special appearance’ by de Niro as Louis is much special that, with only 10 to 15 minutes of screen presence out of 112 minutes duration, de Niro had given a stunning acting. This is one of his best in the line of Taxi Driver, The Godfather II, though not much popular among many. For those who have seen him as a gangster all these years in most of his movies, you people can see him in a completely different character, a role that he has done neither before nor after this film. When there is a slight lag in the screenplay, the gap is superbly filled by de Niro and Rourke’s sparkling acting. Rest of the cast also does their part quiet satisfactorily, mainly Lisa Bonet as the voodoo girl and Harry’s lover Epiphany, and Charlotte Rampling as Margaret, a fortune teller.  

I wonder how movies like this are underrated despite having near perfection in almost every aspect. Those who like the above mentioned genre and the fans of de Niro who haven’t seen it yet, will surely enjoy this thrill ride. Please do watch fully till the end credits are over.

My Rating: 8.8/10

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A Jackie Chan film with Less Action - Shinjuku Incident

Shinjuku Incident (2009) - Hong Kong

Cast: Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu

Direction: Derek Yee

Genre: Drama, Crime, gangster

Jackie Chan, the action king is the favorite star of most action freaks. He has attracted the kids and teens by the funny actions he does in his films. It’s rare if action freaks don’t like him. Likewise it is rarer if we see him deviating from his usual and typecast action movies. Isn’t it? Yes. After acting in numerous action films and having achieved an unbreakable action hero image, Chan turned his focus towards drama with powerful story and least action. 

 

 The plot follows the rise and fall of Chinese immigrant workers into gangsters amidst the native Japanese clans. Chan plays Zhao aka Stealhead, an illegal immigrant from a Chinese village among many others, and does odd jobs for living. He wants to get legal status in Japan and protect the fellow immigrants from native gangsters’ assault and law enforces. After a couple of conflicts with native Yakuzas and Thai gangsters, he rises to prominence as the boss of his fellow immigrants.

Shinjuku Incident is a heavy drama with least action. The plot is dark and set in an amazing manner, with Chan in a completely different and ‘never seen before’ performance. He delivers a stand out, laudable performance and steals the show. I must say that this is the best film of Chan’s career. It was produced by Chan himself. I wondered why Chan hasn’t acted in movies like this before. Also this is the most violent of all his movies, with some brutal killings and bloodshed. But it suits very well to the tone of the film. Added to Chan, the supporting cast also gave more than average performance. Chan’s ex lover and his present lover, inspector Kitano, gang leader Eguchi, and fellow immigrant Jie did their roles above the mark. The film tells a moral truth that newly found power and money makes people tend to become corrupt, sinister, and aggressive and lose their control. Trusts, love, deceit, defeat, guilt, regret, all of these are in Shinjuku. The film has more dialogues and emotional expressions rather than fist fights, martial arts and chases. There are of course fights in the movie of course, but not Chan’s usual comical type. 

Chan’s and hardcore action fans may get disappointed if they expect much action like his earlier movies Police Story, First Strike, etc. Those who are very much fond of dramas, this is highly recommended. Please do watch the Hong Kong version. The English dubbing is not so good.

My rating: 8.3/10

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The Name is Bond, James Bond - Era of Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig is all set to take a ride in his upcoming film Skyfall as the fictional MI6 spy James Bond for the third time. The 23^rd Bond film is scheduled for release on October 26 2012, also marking the 50^th anniversary of the series. With the marvelous and catchy performances in previous two bond films and also in his recent Fincher directed universally acclaimed The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, Craig became one of my favorite actors. Javier Bardem, the assassin who threatened us in No Country for Old Men now takes the seat of main bond villain. The cast also includes another finesse Ralph Fiennes, and Judi Dench as M for the 7th consecutive time. The movie is directed by Sam Mendes, famous for American Beauty. With all these factors, my expectations are soaring towards Skyfall.

 

Most of the successful persons get criticized from different directions, mostly by the media before they achieve. Craig too didn’t escape from them. There were numerous protests and internet campaigns opposing him when he was chosen as a replacement for Pierce Brosnan. Daniel was even mocked as “my name is bland, James bland” because he is not tall and handsome as how they have seen the bond in previous films. For those who think he is not handsome, please watch the movie Layer Cake. What a stylish and stunning performance! And that landed him directly the opportunity and made EON head Barbara Broccoli to choose Craig as a strong contender for the next bond. The producers too were under lot of oppositions as to whether the decision of choosing Craig is correct. Nevertheless, he achieved what he deserved by his flattering performance in Casino Royale and returned as even grittier and vengeful in Quantum of Solace. There lies his success story and the blue eyed actor is back again in Skyfall. He is a bad guy working for good people which is how Craig describes his characterization as Bond. He has given a new dimension to the most famous spy film series as a newly promoted, dark and gritty, dangerous and ruthless killer agent. He is completely different from other versions of bond.

In Daniel Craig era of bond, there are many firsts. Chosen as bond at the age of 38, he is the first actor to portray bond who is younger than the series itself. He is the first blond actor to play bond and also portrayed as a rookie for the first time, learning his lessons to whom he must trust. Many film enthusiasts told that Craig truly represent Ian Fleming's James Bond from the original novel as ironic, brutal and cold. He is more vulnerable as a rookie agent, and emotional too, the aspect which was largely missing in Roger Moore or Sean Connery’s bonds. Bond movies are usually noted for the stunt and fast action scenes. But most of the yesteryear bond actors never afforded to injure themselves and so used body doubles. But in Craig’s era, he did all his stunts in both the films by his own. Right from falling on the roof of bus to jumping from a three storey building, he did all by his own. A close realism in action scenes are accomplished, obviously without relying on Q’s gadgets..!!

No matter whatever people tell, he is the best bond actor and there is no second thought from me in this.  I am eager to watch it in big screens..!!!

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Carlito's way - one more diamond to Al Pacino's crown

Carlito’s Way (1993)

Genre: Gangster, Crime, Drama

Cast: Al Pacino, Penelope Ann Miller, Sean Penn

Direction: Brian de Palma

 

Set in East Harlem in 1975, Carlito (Al Pacino) is a gangster who while serving 30 years of prison sentence gets released in 5 years using the legal exploitations by his lawyer and close friend David Kleinfeld (Sean Penn). After his release he commits himself to be clean and off from his past gangster life. Back home, he is all set to earn sufficient amount of money to retire peacefully and open a car rental shop with his friend in Bahamas. He also renews his relationship with Gail (Penelope Ann Miller), his former lover.  But he soon realizes that his past never lets him do what he wished for and he is unwillingly dragged into criminal life where his fate lies.

Carlito's Way is one of the best works of both director Brian de Palma and actor Al Pacino. The main emphasis of the film is that one’s past activities determine his fate in future. It is depicted brilliantly in the form of the Rican gangster Carlito’s life. Al Pacino lifts the movie to a greater level with his as usual marvelous and unbeatable performance. Its like adding a diamond to the acting crown of Al Pacino. The elaborate speech by Carlito in courtroom about his reformation has quite a style. Talking about performance, it would be unfair if there is no mentioning about Sean Penn. He gave a leap out performance as a skinny, successful lawyer with a different hair style which became difficult to identify him at first. He also has some troubled alliances with his criminal clients and also addicted to drugs. Penelope Ann Miller as Carlito’s lover did her role well but I don't know why she looks kind of sad most of the time. Both Ann Miller and Sean Penn were nominated for Golden Globe Award. Viggo Mortensen and Luiz Guzman appear in a minor role but played their part well. Unlike most gangster crime movies with heavy action scenes, it is less action and more character centered.  The climax scene at Grand Central Station is filmed beautifully and adds more tension to the audience. I guess it’s a favorite spot of de Palma! The same location appears in the climax of his another film The Untouchables. The romantic subplot is unnecessary, which makes the pace of the story dragged down then and there. But it is justified that Carlito wants to live with her lover for the rest of life.

Even though it received many praises, it is one of the underrated gangster genre movies and absolutely deserves more than what it has earned. Simple but well written script and, terrific acting make it a great experience watching the life of Carlito Brigante.

My rating: 8.7/10

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Another set of movie trivia

Already I have posted few trivia about hollywood movies. Here is another list of few interesting movie trivia. To see previous post about trivia, click here..

Casino Royale is the first bond film in the series to show Bond as a rookie in MI6. In all the other bond films, he had been a spy for long time.

Daniel Craig is the first actor to play James Bond who is younger than the series itself.

Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to Casino Royale and begins as a continuation, just after few moments from the end of Casino Royale. But Bond is seen wearing 3 piece suit at the end of Casino Royale, and a different 2 piece suit in the beginning of Quantum of Solace.

 

None of the music used in Kill Bill was original. All were from Tarantino’s music collections.

In Spiderman, The scene in which Peter catches Mary Jane's lunch on the tray has no Computer Graphics involved. Tobey Maguire did it by himself by placing some sticky substance in his palm, and practiced quite a lot times and achieved it exactly what it is seen on the screen. 

Halley Joel Osment, the kid who acted as Android David, never blinks his eyes throughout the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence, as his role David is an android in the movie.

Almost every shot contains an animal, usually a dog in the movie Children of Men. 

In The Matrix trilogy, one can see a greenish color dominating in many scenes. It’s actually a clue that, all scenes occur within the matrix have green overlay and the scenes in the real world are blue tinted.

The green color codes that are seen in The Matrix trilogy are actually mirror images of Japanese characters, along with English alphabets and numbers.

 

Eastern Promises is the only gangster genre movie without having the usage of guns even in a single frame.

In City of Angels, the angels rarely blink when they are shown. Nicholas Cage actually practiced not blinking and was able to do it for several minutes by the time the film was done. However, once he became human he was able to blink all he wanted.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was the only person on the set strong enough to lift the machine gun his character Terminator used in the Cyberdyne shootout scene in Terminator 2: the judgment day.

 Source : IMDB

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I am Shiva the god of death - Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton (2007)

Genre: Drama, mystery, thriller

Direction: Tony Gilroy

Cast: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson

Michael Clayton(Clooney) is an attorney working for a New York based law firm Kenneth, Bach & Ledeen. As a ‘fixer’ for the firm, he cleans up the messes for the firm and its clients using the loopholes in law. In addition to that he has gambling addiction and is in debt to a loan shark. Arthur Edens(Wilkinson) is a senior attorney in the firm and a good friend of Michael. He is involved with a lawsuit against U-north, an agricultural products manufacturing company headed by Karen(Swinton). In the middle of a meeting with one of the plaintiffs in Milwaukee, he does a misconduct of stripping himself which is believed due to fail in taking his medication, and arrested. Michael is sent to fix the issue and escort him back to New York. Things get toughen and Michael’s situation becomes worse as he is entangled into a web of conspiracies.

The plot of the movie is strong, and well executed with a terrific opening. The increasingly suspenseful story keeps engaged with impressive performances from the main cast in this slow paced excellent thriller. George Clooney delivers the required powerful performance in a neat and clean manner, and so are Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson. Tilda won Oscar award for best supporting actress for her role as Karen. Gripping screenplay, excellent performances, and fewer characters along with a good background score makes this thriller movie an engaging and a must watch one.

My Rating: 8.5/10

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Infernal Affairs vs The Departed

2007 must be an unforgettable year for Hollywood’s ace director Martin Scorcese in which he got his first Oscar award for Best Direction for his film The Departed. It took 30+ years to achieve this though he deserved it years before. Well that’s not our concern here. Actually the best picture winner has its script adapted from one of Hong Kong's best thriller Infernal Affairs (Hong kong title Mou Gaan Dou) directed by Anthony Lau. Both films bear same plot about cat and mouse game between two infiltrators, one in police force and the other an undercover cop inside crime syndicate. What is presented below is about what the similarities and differences these two films have, in my view. It’s not an in-depth analysis of which of these is superior or a detailed plot explanation like one of my previous posts. In fact both are perfect in their own way with few flaws then and there. For simplicity, let me call the two movies in short, i.e. Infernal Affairs as I.A and The Departed as T.D, as they are going to be used below in many instances.

The main roles in both films gave top-notch performance as usual. In IA, the main roles are done by Hong Kong’s well noted actors Andy Lau as the rat inside police force Ming, Tony Leung as the undercover cop Yan, Anthony Wong as supdt. Wong, and Eric Tsang as Hon Sam, the crime boss. Their Hollywood counterparts are Matt Damon as the mole inside Massachusetts Police force Collin Sullivan, titanic boy Dicaprio as Billy Costigan, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg as superior officers of Costigan, and the shining star Jack Nicholson as Costello. Lets see few more about these two films (there are few spoilers present below). 

• Lengthwise, IA is shorter in duration than TD by almost an hour. Things get unfold in a fast pace. But TD takes an elaborate narrative right from the beginning to the bloodshed climax but not slow paced either. TD moves in faster pace similar to IA.
• Both Yan and Billy are tormented by their undercover operation, with a fear that they may lose their real identity. Even their black leather jacket and the beard appear to be same. 
• The other moles Ming and Sullivan are two faced and deceitful, except that Ming is remorseful and guilt ridden, kind of less evil. The pre-title sequence in both films shows how Ming and Colin are recruited by their respective bosses and sent to police academy.  

• Yan is undercover for 3 years with Sam, and other bosses before. But in TD, Costigan’s undercover operation has completed a year only.
• In IA, there is only supdt. Wong who knows about the undercover operation, and Yan’s identity, whereas in TD, there are Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam.
• In IA, Yan uses morse code to communicate with SP Wong, whereas in TD Costigan uses mobile phone to contact Queenan.
• South Boston crime boss Costello is dreadful, spiteful, and violent and of course more menacing than the Traid boss Sam who appears quiet mostly and don’t lose his temper easily. Nicholson’s performance sounded overacting to me in some places, but his presence gives The Departed a powerful villain that is almost missing in IA. In affairs, Sam doesn’t fully trust Yan, whereas in Departed, Costello doesn’t trust Bill, and at the same time has his frustrations over Sullivan too. Also the meeting between Sam – Ming/Costello – Colin in theatre is exactly the same.

• In IA, Lau already has already fiancée Mary, who is a novelist and they move together as the movie progresses. It is she who hears the tape which exposes her lover who he is. Yan on the other hand is in love with his psychiatrist. He also has an ex lover whom he meets her one day with her child, probably Yan’s. In TD, these three roles are bound to a single character as psychiatrist Madolyn (Vera Farminga).
• In TD, The two guys are barely or not even aware of each other’s existence, but sleep with same woman, Madolyn. Thankfully such a nonsensical love triangle is not present in IA.
• The pivotal climax is scene by scene same in both the films, right from the rooftop to the elevator, except that in TD there is another one officer who gets killed. This is absolutely unnecessary. 

Rooftop Climax

• In IA, as the story progress we see that all the relations are already established, and things are set in motion. In TD the two guys meet only after the death of Costello whereas in IA, they meet very earlier before Sam’s demise, in a stereo shop, without knowing about each other. Also during the raid and sabotage of drug deal, they both present in the same place.
• Some unnecessary additions are also there in TD. Scorcese regular Alec Baldwin’s character is almost not present in IA. There is no close associate to Sam unlike Mr. French’s character (Ray Winstone) closely moving with Costello. I don’t know why this character even exists in the movie. These two actors were underused in my opinion.
• Another point to note here in TD is its adherence to the moral belief that the bad should be punished for what has been done by him or her. That’s where Sergeant Dignam comes into picture. In IA, the movie ends at the funeral of Yan and what is the fate of Ming is not known though he is now legally clean.
• The consequences of events associated with IA are elaborately shown in Infernal Affairs III which happens to be a semi prequel and semi sequel. In that case TD becomes a remake of Infernal Affairs I, II and III. I must say that Marty has cleverly shown the equivalent of what has happened in IA III, in only one scene, the very last scene of TD (my favorite scene!!).

Overall, both films are masterpieces in which IA gets additional credit for its originality. Without IA, there wouldn’t be another masterpiece from Scorcese. If you have watched TD and haven’t seen IA, watch it asap in its original language because the dubbed English dialogues are not up to the mark. And if you haven’t seen both, proceed with the original first...!!

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