The Critique

Dir: Martin Scorcese Starring: Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver Dur: 2 hrs 42 mins Genre: Drama PG: People are shown enduring torture and death Rating: 6/10 The name of the film reflects adroitly its nature. It tells the dramatic story of the last two Jesuit missionaries to Japan. The film is perhaps only the second of its kind after Mission , which depicts the life of Jesuits missionaries in South America, and hence the director and crew need to be commended for their choice of bringing this story to the silver screen. The film may not appeal to non-Christians as it is explicitly Christian in words and gestures but it does have some star power. Andrew and Adam Driver are brilliant. The story is poignant and startling at once. It is bound to leave ‘grounded’ people (I mean people who are knowledgeable and passionate about the faith) like myself, shocked. It took me a few days to overcome my initial shock and some of the effects still linger. I don’t ...

Dir: Guy Ritchie Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law Dur: 2 hrs 6 mins Genre: Drama Rating:   3/10 I had great expectations of this film. The trailer promises a visual treat of action and adventure. I had even planned to go to the theatres with my cousins for this but somehow we couldn’t make it. After watching it recently, I thank God we couldn’t go. It is totally unworthy of the ticket fare. King Arthur is a great legend and an iconic figure in British folklore. Sadly, here is given shabby treatment. I am unsure of his origins but the film depicts him as being born a prince but raised in a brothel due to his uncle’s lust for power which resulted in his parents murder. He grows up as a bastard among prostitutes and the other scum of society. Accidentally, he finds himself in the presence of Excalibur , the sword of immense power embedded in a rock. How that came to be is shown later. He draws out the sword and the power knocks him unconscious. From then on t...

Dir: Niki Caro Starring: Kevin Costner, Maria Bello Dur: 2 hrs 9 mins Genre: Biography Rating : 9/10 “Life is difficult” as Scott Peck eloquently said. Every one of us has our problems. Some of us succumb to them while others rise up and face them courageously. The former are what we commonly call “losers/failures” while the latter are “winners/achievers”. Everybody likes stories of “winners” because they are more interesting and inspiring while stories of “losers” are boring. All of us want to be “winners” or “achievers” but few of us are willing to take on the challenge and beat our odds. I am a huge fan of people who beat the odds and achieved something in life. Mcfarland, USA tells such a story, so it found its place in my ‘must-watch’ list. The story dates back to the late 1970’s. Jim White (Costner) and his family are on the move… again, because he can’t seem to keep a job for too long. His last assignment ended when he lost his temper and threw a shoe at...

Dir: James Ponsoldt Starring: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks Dur: 1 hr 49 mins Genre: Drama PG: One swear word Rating: 3/10 The Circle is a technological thriller. What I mean is it takes a relevant topic: media and technology, and maxes out on it. The story is basically the good ol’ technology v/s humanity struggle, which plays out in the same old-fashioned way with humans coming out on top. Here however, it is slightly tweaked to bring in other issues which I found to be great. For example, the chief focus of the film can be summarized in two words: “privacy” and “transparency”. Both are important and good but if pushed to maximum it could have disastrous results, as the film pointedly shows. The Circle is a great film. It’s watchable but is hardly enjoyable. However, it does work as a springboard for discussion on topics related to media ethics, media influence, innovation and the like. Some punchlines from the film really stick. Take for example the line Eamon (...

Jim Powell, Postmodernism for Beginners , Chennai: Orient Longman Ltd., 2001, ISBN 81-250-2023-3, pp. 163, $12.74, Rs. 246. Recently, I attended a course on Postmodernism. The aim of the professor was to debunk some of the false notions people had about postmodernism. This of course, was not revealed to us at the start of the course. He began by asking us to share whatever we knew about postmodernism. All of us had something of significance to state and evidently our knowledge was very vague and clouded by hearsay. None of us had made an attempt to understand what postmodernism was about in the past so the professor made it his chief task to get us acquainted in no uncertain way with the philosophy of postmodernism. In my zeal, I challenged myself to do extra reading on the topic and found myself the present book which I am reviewing. I must say that I was at once taken up with the book. The minute I laid hands on it and flipped through a few pages I knew that this...