THE BLACK SWAN - Best of the year?

A mid-week hello, frEek fellows!

Ask any freEk for the year's best movie so far, and the answer in all probability will be INCEPTION, Chris Nolan's dream opera, seems a shoo-in for the best picture awards next year; that is until this trailer showed up on the internet..

With such classsics like Requiem for a Dream, the Wrestler and the Fountain behind him, Darren Aronofsky is one of the best directors of our generation, and when he comes up with this dizzying trailer about jealousy, mystery, sex, and shaky camera work (did i also mention sex?) in the world of ballet, our freEk senses go in a tizzy!!!

Black Swan features Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as well as the legendary Vincent Cassel
(the guy who married Monica Bellucci) in a tale set against the New York Ballet. The trailer reveals Aronofsky's now-trademarked k camera work, and one hope the movie lives upto its promise!!!

Inception, finally seems to have some competition!!

freEk

extra freEky - I'm getting a Fight Club vibe from this, and you?

Predators - Review!!!

A Jungli Hello, frEek fellows!!

For all the action buffs amongst us, John McTierman's 1988 "Predator" remains a masterpiece. It pulled of the impossible task of making Arnold Schwartznegger, look scared and introduced the world to the bad-ass alien hunter species known only as the PREDATOR. Sadly, none of other sequels (Predator 2) or even the cross-over with the alien species (Predator Vs. Alien 1 & 2) failed to live up to the tone set by the first one, which is a shame given that you would expect better movies due to better CGI, make-up and so on! When Robert Rodriguez, announced a re-boot of the Predator franchise to be helmed by Nimrod Antal (Vacancy), much hype was generated. When Oscar winner Adrien Brody was added to the cast, the hype bubble grew bigger! And when the final product released...

What it is: Continuing the tale of the Predators "hunting" other species, Predators tells the tale of several humans who find themselves on an alien planet, these being: Royce (Adrien Brody); A mercenrary, Mexican drug cartel enforcer Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), Spetsnaz soldier Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), Israel Defense Forces sniper Isabelle (Alice Braga), Revolutionary United Front officer Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), death row inmate Stans (Walton Goggins), Yakuza enforcer Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien), and doctor Edwin (Topher Grace).

What Works: On a much larger scale than the 1988 original, Predators features some great visuals, the dark jungle locations are put to great use, the usage of CGI to create alien creatures is also nicely interspersed. The movie also benefits from the unique casting. While many had cried foul over casting someone like Adrien Brody (obviously much skinnier than Arnold), you may realise, that real-life soldiers/mercenaries, are actually lean rather than the bulk-a-saurus that Arnie was!! The fight sequence between Hanzo and a Predator, is one of the highlights of the movie ( cheesy, but fun!!)



What doesn't: The original Predator featured only one Alien, massacaring an all star team of mercenaries, hence the concept of a rag-tag team of convicts taking down several predators is a bit unsettling!!! While Adrien Brody does his best to play the "mercenary-with a conscience" none of the other characters do make a lasting impression.

Verdict:


A measly 2 FreEkies!!


Extra FreEky: Manliest Greeting ever...

AMOL PALEKAR KI INCEPTION!!

A much delayed hello my FrEek fellows,

Heartfelt apologies for staying away from my blog so long. If you are half the freEk i think you are, you have already been overwhelmed by what the critics have called the greatest movie in the last five year; INCEPTION!!!

Chris Nolan's masterpiece has everything going for it, a great cast, amazing visuals, a stirring starcast, and yes, a less than simple plotline!!!! Without spoiling much, it suffices to say, that you will have been left scratching your head, there are a lot of webpages that have sprung up, trying to explain the convulted web of dreams..

still confused? fret not folks!! for Bollywood's favourite friendly man, Amol Palekar has taken upon himself to explain the cinematic twists and turns of Inception, and that too in sing-song manner!!!

don't believe me?? take a look!!

Think about it, wasn't Inception after all "Sapne main dekha Sapna" phenomenon? Trust the great Amol Palekar to helps us out of this cinematic mess!!

Stay freEked!!