Movie Review: Good Will Hunting

Article first published as Movie Review: Good Will Hunting on Blogcritics.

Good Will Hunting rotates around the life of an extra-ordinary talented guy Will Hunting. He belongs to a working class neighbourhood in Boston. He is an introvert and his life revolves around low skilled jobs, hanging out with friends, fighting, and getting in trouble.

Will spends a lot of time at home, alone, interpreting books and storing information in his pictorial memory. His intelligence is brilliant and he can easily solve difficult mathematical problems that elude eminent math professors.

An orphan, Will grew up in a series of foster homes in which he was repeatedly beaten. As a result, Will has a classic attachment disorder. He cannot form trusting relationships with other adults. He cannot control his fury. He cannot integrate his intelligence into his relationships with others, in either communal or work environments. Will's only demonstrative attachments are to a group of three young men from his neighborhood who cannot by any means match his intellect.

Will works as a janitor at MIT (Massachussets Institutute of Technology) but people there are oblivious to the fact that he is a mathematical genius. One day, a mathematics professor at MIT, Gerald Lamdeau, posts a mathematical problem on the board outside the class and asks his students to solve that problem. He also tells them that it took him and his colleagues about two years to solve that question. The reward that he puts up for the solution is the recognition of the student in the MIT Tech Magazine. The next day the professor finds the question, solved on the board. In this way he discovers Will’s great talent.

Good Will Hunting shows that you don’t need universities or colleges to be a genius. If you are a genius, the world will find you and surely, will take you to the place you deserve. It is not your background but the skill and talent that matters in the end.

Good Will Hunting also traces the successful treatment of Will's attachment disorder providing an excellent basis for studying the origin and treatment of this psychological condition. Filled with wisdom and compassion, the movie shows the power of verbal therapy and gives an example of the life-varying insight that can be afforded by psychology. The film is also a catalyst for discussions about the role of dependence, independence and interdependence in human life and the importance of love and consistency in parenting.

The movie also shows the young male culture of brutality and reveals that the need to be tough, to never show vulnerability, susceptibility, weakness, hurt, or sadness leads to a dead end. The movie shows devotion and sincerity towards friends as being the essence of a happy life. It is also a reassuring message to victims who have been physically abused or harmed.

The cast is amazing, with Matt Damon and Robin Williams doing what they do best i.e sweeping audiences off their feet. The transformation of Will from being a traumatized young man to becoming a recognized genius and the role of a mentor in his fight against his demons are both expertly portrayed by these extremely gifted practitioners of acting. At times one can just say a single word and nothing else for their effort; Bravo!

I rate it 4/5 for the content and beautiful portrayal.

Movie Review: Chain Letter (2010)

Article first published as Movie Review: Chain Letter (2010) on Blogcritics.


The success of the Saw series, especially the resurrection of the franchise after Saw 3D, has caused many movie makers to follow in its footsteps. 2010 saw a very well made film called The Tortured and another social thriller called Chain Letter.

Chain Letter addresses the issue of man's over-dependence on technology in the most scariest of ways. It showcases how we have linked ourselves to IDs and numbers, making us traceable and vulnerable.
The film revolves around a group of IT students in am esteemed IT institute who receive a chain letter warning them that if they do not forward it the break of chain would result in the loss of a life. As they are killed one by one and in gruesome ways the viewer realizes how he himself is in reach of any random psychopath searching twitter or Facebook for his next victim! With the premise being close to reality and the events ahead being relevant to all of us the Chain Letter is a chilling experience to say the least.
Chain Letter is rushed in places and that is perhaps the only turn-off. Some of the killings are abrupt and the chain messaging is not tracked in appropriate detail. The historic references to cults and anti-tech groups are also muffled up and are not properly linked to the story. In the end, one really do not understand if it was a single serial killer or a systematic sect doing the killings. The cast comprising Nikki Reed and Keith David etc. has acted average and there is nothing too special to write home about in that regards.

All in all Chain Letter is a thought provoking effort but lacks the technical credentials of an utterly enjoyable movie. I rate it 3/5 mainly because of the content and not the treatment.

Movie Review: The Godfather Trilogy

Article first published as The Godfather Trilogy Taken as a Whole: Still Brilliant After All These Years on Blogcritics.

I recently saw All Good Things and a scene therein reminded me of the all time blockbuster and the queen of all feature films, The Godfather Trilogy. I realized how after so many years since the first part's release, the film still remains a must see and one still marvels at the acting that was on display in every scene of the trilogy.

Since I saw The Godfather in one go i.e all three parts at once, I have always considered the trilogy as one big film and not as three different films. This way I have never ventured into the comparison of the three parts and that has made me admire the trilogy on the whole and as a masterpiece without worrying about any one of the parts being superior.

The Godfather Trilogy to me is Al Pacino's finest work and perhaps his role as Michael Carleone is the best character ever to have graced the screen. Al Pacino according to me has outdone Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro and has made the trilogy his own without anyone else even coming close to his greatness. To me the second-best performance in the film is Andy Garcia as Vincent Mancini.

The cartel, the power and the rise of Carleone's is a treat to watch but what underlines it all is the transformation of Al Pacino from a timid young man to a shrewed gangster and then to an aspirant white-collared businessman.

The Godfather Trilogy is the greatest film of all times and one must see it to believe the myth! I rate it 5/5 and that is because the I have no more to give.

Movie Review: Game (2010)

Article first published as Movie Review: Game (2010) on Blogcritics.

Bollywood's ambition of successfully making a murder thriller has very seldom matured into a watchable film. Unlike rom-coms like Band Baaja Baraat, thrillers don't fare too well with the audience. The main reason behind the incapability of Indian cinema as far as thrillers are concerned is the copied script/story that is often borrowed from a Hollywood flick. What happens is that film-makers borrow a story from Hollywood but do not have the budget or the technical expertise to carry the film forward. Another issue is the limited number of stars available to the film-makers and their reluctance in casting anyone who is not a popular star!

"Game" suffers with the later more than the former. As far as the script is concerned, the film has a very jumbled up story that is good in parts but unbelievably poor in others. It is very patchy with a feeling that many individual parts of the story were forcefully attached together to make a whole.
"Game" is a story about a man Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) whose illegitimate daughter is killed in her early 20s. He collects evidence against the people who he blames for her death and calls them deceptively at his personal Island only to hand them over to international police. The people he invites are, OP Ramsay (Presidential Candidate of Thailand) (Boman Irani), Neil Menon (Drug Dealer) (Abhishek Bachchan), Tisha Khanna (The twin sister of his dead daughter) (Shahana Goswami) and Vikram Kapoor (A film actor) (Jimmy Shergil). After he has told them their contributions in the death of his daughter and that they will be handed to the police with the file that has evidence against them, Kabir Malhotra apparently commits suicide by shooting himself in the temple leaving all four of his guests as suspects for murder!

When Inspector Sia Agnihotri (Kangna Ranaut) comes to take the evidence and the four guests as requested by Kabir, she in turn finds Kabir dead and her intelligent investigation soon reveals that Kabir did not kill himself but was murdered.
"Game" is a search for Kabir Malhotra's murderer and what happens next is better seen than narrated, so I won't spoil it for you.
The cast has failed to impress, with Abhishek doing what he does best i.e playing a slick, stylish role and Jimmy Shergil doing what he does best i.e miserably failing to impress! The worst performance, however, was Kangna Ranaut's and that may be due to the inappropriate casting more than anything else. For a girl who is not comfortable speaking English, to be given a character that speaks more English than Hindi, is unfair and extremely senseless. All in all the acting was below par.

The film's overall impression is below average, with stale action sequences, poor dialogs (unlike Farhan Akthar) and mediocre acting (despite some heavy names). I give it a meager 2.5/5 and you can skip it if you have better things to do!