My Review: Million Dollar Arm (6/10)

"We might have to tweak that a little."

It had been a while since Disney had produced a sports movie but if you sat for the opening 10 minutes of Million Dollar Arm you could tell that the formula hasn't changed much for the genre over time. Everything about this film is predictable as it follows pretty much every cliché possible. Director, Craig Gillespie doesn't bother to change the successful formula  here so you see pretty much everything coming, but somehow Million Dollar Arm is still an enjoyable film that manages to pull at your heartstrings thanks to a solid cast. Gillespie's Lars and the Real Girl is perhaps still my favorite film of his and I wish he would have played a bit with the genre conventions like he did with the horror genre in Fright Night. I expected a lot more from the screenplay considering Thomas McCarthy's past works were superb (I am a huge fan of his previous screenplays for Win Win and The Visitor). Perhaps he didn't have the same creative liberties considering this was a Disney production and they are known for controlling various aspects of the process. The film was based on true events so the audience was already expecting an inspirational tale and it accomplishes it. There are several funny scenes that elevate the film and the scenes in Mumbai stand out as the movie shows the difference between both cultures. The portrayal of Indians is stereotypical but the humor works nonetheless and it's the highlight of the film. So despite being painfully predictable at times and a bit overlong, the scenes in India and the comedic performances were enough to turn this into an enjoyable experience. I may be a bit biased considering I love sports although I'm not a huge baseball fan, but it is nowhere near being this year's Moneyball. Disney's Remember the Titans continues to be their best sports drama. 

A lot of the success of the film relies on how much you like Jon Hamm, and I thought he gave a solid performance considering his character isn't entirely likable. He is very flawed as this sports agent who seems to be interested in looking out for his agency. Hamm pulls it off and I ended up routing for him. Hamm may not be the most engaging presence of the film, but he leaves that to the supporting cast who all give delightful performances. The Indians, Suraj Sharma (Pi from Life of Pi) and Madhur Mittal (Slumdog Millionaire), play the future baseball prospects who are recruited from the reality TV show that Hamm's character created in India. They are the people who we are routing for as an audience and they achieve the purpose. They bring the emotional aspect of the film. For the comedy, Gillespie recruited Alan Arkin and Bill Paxton who are always a sure bet. Without being exceptional they still managed to be funny. The funniest scenes however come from newcomer, Pitobash Tripathy, who was a fresh addition to an otherwise predictable film. Lake Bell is the only female character present in the film and she delivers a solid performance as well. Her chemistry with Jon Hamm also lifted this film from being a mediocre movie.

My Review: Life of Pi (10/10)

¨All of life is an act of letting go but what hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.¨

This film reminded me of why I love movies so much. Even though it is very hard to come across these gems nowadays, once you finally discover one you completely fall in love with it and are reminded why you fell in love with movies in the first place: it is just such a magical and emotional experience. Life of Pi is among the 3 best films of 2012 and despite my dislike towards 3D movies in general, I loved its use here. The art direction, visual effects, and cinematography were astonishing; it was one of the most beautiful films I´ve seen. This is a film you will want to see in 3D and enjoy the experience as much as possible because in my opinion this is the best use in 3D that I´ve seen. Life of Pi is based on the successful novel written by Yann Martel which many considered impossible to adapt to the big screen, but Ang Lee found a way to do it yet again.  Lee amazed me in 2000 with his wonderful Chinese film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He has always been a magician artistically speaking. He also did a wonderful job with the storytelling and cinematography in Brokeback Mountain, but in Life of Pi he directs his best and most complete film to date. I left the theater totally satisfied and amazed with the wonderful visual experience. I also enjoyed the performances and the storytelling; so I have nothing really negative to critique about Lee´s work here. I also love climatic twist endings and this film has one of the best I´ve seen since The Sixth Sense. This is a masterpiece and a must see movie for all.

A writer (Rafe Spall) has been sent by an acquaintance to visit a man named Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan) who has a story to tell him that will make him believe in God. Pi receives the writer kindly and while he cooks for the man he begins to narrate his story. The writer is curious to find out what Pi has to tell him and he patiently listens to him as he narrates his story from the very beginning. He explains how he got his name, what his family was doing in India at the time, and so on. Of course none of this is really what the writer is expecting to hear until Pi gets to the heart of the story. He explains that his family owned a zoo and that his father suddenly decided to move them all to Canada. While they are all (including the animals) on their way to Canada on a carrier ship a heavy storm intercepts them and the ship sinks. Pi (the younger version played by Suraj Sharma) manages to survive along with a couple animals: an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi struggles to survive along with the animals in the small lifeboat in middle of the Pacific Ocean as he encounters many obstacles that will test his faith. The film is told in a similar fashion to Slumdog Millionaire (through flashbacks which happen to be longer than the present scenes) as we have the narrator telling his incredible story to the writer.

Suraj Sharma is really great here as the main character. Incredibly he has had no prior experience as a film actor, but he singlehandedly delivers this movie considering he is in the boat almost the entire time on his own (the animals were added mostly through CGI). A lot of credit has to be given to the visual effects department considering the animals look so real and believable. This film is really beautiful to watch, everything about it is just wonderful, including the powerful climatic ending which had a great message. I thought the film worked as sort of a parable more than an actual metaphor. I haven’t read the novel, but I really can´t see how it can be better than the film. Lee´s imagination works better than mine, and he has created a wonderful film with many memorable scenes that will stick with me forever. The film touches lightly on themes of religion and faith, but at the end it will make you think about it. Everyone can make their own conclusions as to what story they want to believe, but it was pretty clear for me as to where the director was trying to get as to how he viewed God. The less you know about the film before going into it, the better. The film does start a bit slow, but it was a nice setup in my opinion with some beautiful cinematography, and it just picks up from there.

http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/