مجله کیانوش

Little Children

Little Children is a very good movie, a bit uncomfortable to watch, but for sure it is worth watching. I think it deserved much better than only being nominated for the Academy Awards. There were moments in the movie that I had to stand up and start walking around to contemplate what just had happened.

The Last King of Scotland

I had read, here and there, few citations to Idi Amin, but never been really into his character. So it was not surprising that first I thought the Last King of Scotland had to be a movie like Braveheart. With this assumption, the teaser looked strange, but I didn't get it, at a glance. Then Forest Whitaker won a Golden Globe for his excellent acting, and boom! It was a movie about Idi Amin?!

The last King of Scotland may not be the best dramatization of 2006, but I love it! It has all the elements that my favorite movie should have. A mixture of fiction and historical reality, in 70s'. Adventurous playboyish mind, in one of the darkest spots of the history, tied up with a murderous buffoon. If Munich was my last year most favorite, the credit will go to the King for 2006.

Note: Idi Amin, the former despotic president of Uganda, claimed himself the king of Scotland!

Apocalypto

Apocalypto is the latest of Mel Gibson's history-inspired movies. When the previous two, Braveheart  and the Passion of the Christ  seem to be more faithful to the historical context, Apocalypto tends more toward fantasy, as if the director is Quentin Tarantino, and the movie is a Mayan-era version of Kill Bill!

The screenplay is not obliged to follow natural rules and historical events. The movie starts with this quote form Will Durant:

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.

But when it is expected to see how the civilization is destroying itself, it is shown how that civilization is destroying uncivilized hunter-gatherers nearby. These hunters seem to live at one or two days walking distance from the Mayan capital, but ironically they have not heard anything about the Mayan city, made with stones and bricks, except in old legendary stories! Aparantly the hunters speak the same language as the Mayans, but they haven't heard anything about Mayan sacrificing ritual until the time of being sacrificed! Also, it could be useful to consult an expert about the duration of a total eclipse, which in this movie it was about only 5 minutes from the very beginning of the partial eclipse! Watching this part reminds me of a famous scene in one of Tin Tin's adventures, in Prisoners of the Sun; considering the popularity of Tin Tin stories among 30-40 years-old generation of Iranians, my speculation of the origin of this part becomes more valid when we notice that one of the writers, Frahad Safinia, has a Persian name. To be fair, I think as his first major work, he has done a good job, but only in thrilling. 

In general, Apocalypto is a thrilling movie and bold enough to show unveiled violence scenes. However it fails to express its intended message, I assume, the Durant's quote.

Blood Diamond

I haven't watched the Departed or Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, but Blood Diamond has been my best movie catch so far in 2006.  It is a thrilling movie, but since the filmmakers want to be responsible and informative, sometimes it seems lengthy. It has a high level of violence, but still it doesn't unveil it all, just mentioning the extremes, but not explicitly showing it; for example when Danny Archer (DiCaprio) tells Maddy Brown (Connelly) about his own tragedy that how his mother was raped and killed and his father was decapitated by Zimbabwean freedom fighters, in his land, Rhodesia.   

Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly have excellent performances in this movie, although Jennifer Connelly is way too beautiful to be a journalist traveling to the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, or rebel-controlled Liberia, or Bosnia. I think her character in the story could be expanded more. Here, one of the weaknesses of the story is how suddenly Maddy Brown falls in love with Archer. 

The writers have assumed a high level of responsibility, to not sacrifice their message just for more thrilling. Sometimes the movie seems to be so direct-pointing as in a documentary about the blood diamonds.  I think this movie, however, has been effective enough that the next time when someone wants to buy a diamond ring to think twice and probably ask if it is not from Sierra Leon or Liberia.

the Fountain

What if a man lives forever, in his solitude, in the grief of his lost beloved one?

The Fountain is about love, eternity and death. It is a torture for the first one hour and more, but in its finale, the last 15 minutes, it becomes an amazing visual narrative for the conclusion of all abstract concepts and scattered lines shown before. For this reason, I highly recommend watching the movie in a theater if you are interested enough to follow its swirling plots to the end. Patience is the key to enjoy this movie, like the one to enjoy a piece of classical music. Otherwise, probably you would have the same idea as the guy on the back row, when in the end he said "what the f*** happened?!"

Am I interested in watching it again? Sure, but with the one whom I love. I need to hold her hand firmly and kiss as the movie goes on.

Casino Royale

Casino Royale is a good James Bond movie, but not really a good movie! The new 007, Daniel Craig, has been really fitted into the role. He seems to be a comfortable, smart and athletic secret service agent, with a high level of ego, and moreover, a lady-magnet (here, a married women magnet!), as James Bond is supposed to be. I liked his acting in Munich too. On the other hand, it was interesting to see Eva Green acting as a virgin catholic lady, quite contrary to her other famous role, in the Dreamers, an incest-minded French girl!

In general, regardless of its amazing main-title that, in my opinion, is a true masterpiece of music and computer animation, this movie is long and often boring, with many sporadic events (especially those in Prague and Madagascar). Also its love story, one of the movie's themes, is cliche and immature.

Lord of War

Lord of War is a great movie, but too bad that the general American audiences seem cannot fully appreciate this internationally themed movie, even despite of excellent critics. The story is about an international gun dealer, whose fortune goes tremendously high specially after the collapse of the soviet. Nicolas Cage's actting as the dealer is flawless, with his cold, confident, innocent, and sad face. Screenwriter and director, Andrew Niccole, has implied his message through witty and bitter humors. The movie is a real drama by any definition. The opening of the movie is stunning: it is the story of a Kalashnikov bullet, from the point it was made in a factory in Russia, to the the point that it made its way into the brain of a young African guerrilla! Among the many masterly crafted scenes of the movie, one of my favorites is the scene that an Afghan fighter starts shooting the soviet soldiers (of course with a Russian made AK-47) and Yuri, the dealer, eagerly is gazing at him while we hear the sound of cartridge revolver turning to that of a cash machine. What makes this great movie more pleasant to watch, is its fantastic cinematography, with beautiful, and in contrast, shocking scenes.

It is such a clever movie that every time you watch it, probably you will find a new thing there.

Syriana and Munich

What Syriana and Munich have in common, regardless of their political stories, is about the terrorism with Middle Eastern roots.

Syriana starts in Tehran, where a CIA field-agent blows off a car. The story revolves around literally countless individuals in Washington DC, Dubai, Texas and ... who are all related by one thing in common, Oil. There is a comprehensive critic about this movie in the New Yorker. The screenwriter has been completely aware of the recent history of Persian Gulf, and the movie is really taking its audience serious. The only problem, besides its many characters, is the ending; when some officials on the other side of the globe kill an Arab prince with a guided missile in the middle of desert. In my opinion, that was politically unrealistic and very cynical.

There is a good review of Munich in the New York Times. I liked the movie a lot. It was the best movie that I've watched in 2005 (I haven't watched Cinderella Man yet). The story, which is based on real events, is not exactly like a Spy Movie or a Terror Movie ( for example the Day of the Jackal), but more reflecting on the mentality behind a terror action; however it never loses the surprise and excitement elements hidden in those types of movie. The original score was excellent too, as well as the sound. I strongly recommend watching this movie in a movie theater. The explosion sounds are so real, that even in one scene, when a bomb detonates in a hotel (ironically named Olympic Hotel), you can hear the whistling sound of after-explosion for a while, as you have been there. Finally, I believe this movie has introduced a beautiful Israeli actress to the world, Ayelet Zorer.

Low Height

It was a pleasure to find a movie of my favorite Iranian actress, Leila Hatami (لیلا حاتمی), on Blockbuster Online; and it turned to be a real delight after I watched the movie, Low Height.

Low Height (ارتفاع پست) is a true story of a poor Abadanian family who try to hijack an airliner and fly to Dubai. Abadan is a city in south of Iran, rich in oil but ironically one of the most impoverished regions of the county. The mastermind of the plan, Ghassem, is a desperate oil-drilling worker whose pregnant wife, played by Leila Hatami, reluctantly helps him in this adventure.

The movie is great in Farsi, with good twists and sense of suspense, though in some parts it is spiced up with some exaggerations. However in English, lots of the slangs are lost in translation in extremely minimal subtitles. Also, in the movie there are few referrings that only an Iranian viewer is aware of them, like wearing neckties or removing scarf by some passengers when they realize they are heading toward Dubai instead of another city inside the country.

In one of the beginning scenes, it seems that September 11^th happenings are telecasting live on the airport TV. I am not sure that the real date of this hijacking was 9/11/2001, but probably it had to be very close to that date. A surprising thing for me is that exactly on the same day, and about the same time, I was flying from Dubai to Tehran. That day, I saw a double-ducker Airbus and a French acrobatic Mirage in the Dubai international airport, but I was not aware that a hijacked plane is coming there too! And when I got back home in the afternoon, like the rest of the world I was shocked by what I was seeing live on TV. 

Sky Captain and ...

I do not agree with this motto that Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is different from any other movies that you have seen. I mean it is a unique movie, but I have seen some other movies with same themes dramatized in different parts of the Sky Captain's.

That part of movie that I really enjoyed was the beginning. The movie starts with showing zeppelin Hindenburg III is docking with the Empire State Building in Manhattan, and a mysterious German scientist is sending a note with a pseudo-name. A day after, missing the scientist is on the front page of the Chronicle, a prominent New Yorker newspaper. The reporter who is in charge of the missing article (Gwyneth Paltrow) finds some clues, and in the evening she meets another professor in a movie theater, where the Wizard of Oz is playing on the background. Up to this point the movie is splendid. It has combined elements from Europa , Superman, and Indian Jones. But then some extremely not realistic giant robots attack Manhattan, and make the movie an sloppy PG one. Jude Law aces to show how good he can be for a Pearl Harbor action; and for the rest, the movie becomes an Indiana Jones imitation.

It is not fair to say the movie is a new but sloppy Sci-Fi; There are some interesting scenes out there, but in general it is a kid movie, or a young teenager's favorite. The director, Kerry Conran, has tried to bring about some bright ideas in his first released movie, and he has brilliant ones. But he has rushed and messed them up, like putting a scoop of fine chocolate ice cream over a thick steak. I bought the movie DVD from Amazon on a special occasion with 72% off. It cost me $9, almost same as a movie theater ticket; so I cannot be very regretful for the money spent, but it was not the movie that I expected.