Mortal Thoughts is meh.

So I saw Mortal Thoughts, a thriller/murder movie starring Demi Moore as the friend of a woman whose abusive husband is killed and the two women become the suspects. The first thing that I appreciate about the movie was its unsually storytelling style. Cynthia, the protagonist is being interrogated by detectives and is revealing the facts as she knows them. After a chunk of talking, the detectives counter her statements and try to get her to admit she was involved in the murder, which brings a different light on the developing story.

Additionally, half the movie takes place in flashbacks, and some of the twists in the story are cool because they are hinted at first in the interrogation, before the flashbacks detail them. Moore and Glenne Headly, who plays Joyce have performed pretty well, with their performances mirroring multiple layers across the story. Bruce Willis makes more of a cameo appearance than a full-fledged role, which doesn’t last more than a quarter of the movie. Still, he was very convincing and as the character required it – annoying.

The movie is pretty atmospheric, with a smooth pacing that grips you to it through the entire 102 minutes. I don’t recall being particularly bored at any point during the movie, which is surprising considering I would have turned off the TV had I known the somewhat generic premise. The movie chooses to make the experience multi-layered and sympathetic, as opposed to the usual murder dramas.

Not a bad movie overall, just not entirely satisfying. With its twist ending, it leaves a few loose threads, but that is bearable, I suppose. The movie ends appropriately enough and doesn’t leave you cringing for more, neither does it leave incomplete. Not a bad watch for a bored afternoon, but not a DVD I’d want to own.

Indigo Prophecy

First off, Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit out of the US) is really a good adventure game, that leaves a mark on you no less than classic point-and-click adventure games. It focuses on the game’s storyline and how the plot plays out based on your interactions, as opposed to anything else. If that doesn’t qualify it as an adventure game, I don’t know what will.

Indigo Prophecy takes place in chilly January in New York, where a handsome ordinary guy named Lucas Kane, in a trance, murders an unknown man in a diner restroom. Confused, shocked and scared, Lucas’ life starts going downhill from here on as he begins to see visions, monsters and stuff, all the while hoping the cops don’t get him. The big question is of course, what happened on that cold January night that caused Lucas to kill a man.

Taare Zameen Par

With recommendation from Sonali, I decided to watch Taare Zameen Par, one of the Aamir Khan’s few films to come out in this decade. And I came out pretty much impressed, well, more so than I had expected.

The movie revolves around Ishaan, a semingly normal boy who abhors studies and lives in a world of imagination that can perhaps only be rivalled by H.R. Giger. So, Ishaan lives in a world of hate, with just about the entire world yelling at him for every reason imaginable, from not doing his homework (a cause I support with every lethargic muscle in my body) to fighting with another kid to failing in the 3rd standard. His life was pretty much summed up by the following poster that was conveniently dropped before the release:

Eventually, young Ishaan is thrown into a boarding school and we see him settle into depression, making way for Aamir Khan to walk in. The film, which does a startling job at realistically portraying urban school life goes downhill from here, as all the immersion wears off and you realize you’re watching a goddamned movie.

Darsheel Safary’s performance is as spectacular as it gets, and one of the best I’ve seen in any Hindi film so far. Aamir does a fine job too, albeit I would have preffered that he let a less famous actor take the role, since his presence tends to stand out in the film a little too much. In fact, the lack of familiar faces and the curt editing makes the first half brilliant, with the focus being on how young Ishaan views the world. In the second half, we see the world from Ram Nikumbh’s (that’s Aamir) perspective, and the changes he wishes to see in Ishaan.

The abrupt change of perspective did not go down well for me, as I could relate with a lot of incidences and situations Ishaan found himself in. I liked the soundtrack as well, although it doesn’t hold up in the second half either, with tracks that were either out of context or plain boring, while the first half has songs that perfectly fit in from an aesthetic point of view.

The movie is much better than I had expected, and shines light on the plight children face everyday (or at least I do, to some extent). It left me contentedly, and a little weary.

Hideaway really sucks

Not having watched a good movie in a week or two, I decided to sit around when Hideaway’s Satanic opening scene rolled in on TV. I liked the opening – it had Satanic imagery, sacrifice, horror and all the good stuff. The premise opens up well – Jeff Goldblum plays an antique dealer who suffers a crash that nearly kills him. Surviving a near-death experience, which is illustrated in ugly and unnecessarily psychedelic graphics, he returns with a telepathic connection to a murderer.

The film is based on a novel, which by all means must be better than the movie (the author had his name removed from the credits). After the premise is set up, the film slows to a drag and even though it uses a good mystery model to obscure the plot, the mystery itself is rather shallow and predictable. The film does pick up later as Hatch (our family-man hero) is questioned as being psycho and the killer turns to his daughter, but it is all ruined by a sub-abysmal climax.

The movie is a rollercoaster that makes you want to slap it and continue watching at the same time. The lame conclusion is not worth the movie one bit, neither are the all-to-predictable twists. The narrative is flawed in many ways, such as the movie’s good doctor being a surgeon, a physician and a psychiatrist, all at the same time.

I’m pleased to see it reached only 18% on the Tomatometer.