July 10, 2008

Khusro’s Pics

Why is Jannat such a big hit across the border? Beats me. The movie really has nothing new to offer. Emraan Hashmi repeats his obsessive, mildly dangerous lover boy role that he’s essayed in dozens of other films and he looks the same (with a permanent two-day stubble) and he acts the same. The leading lady Sonal Chauhan is kind of cute-ish and a kind of cross between Sonali Bendre and Amrita Rao but she isn’t as good as either. The story is the age-old one about the war between love, money and scruples and offers no new insights. The direction by Kunal Deshmukh is merely functional and the soundtrack by Pritam offers only one outstanding track (and this being Pritam, it’s probably a lifted track from Korea or Japan or Turkey, but I’ve haven’t really gone Googling to confirm the assumption).

Producer Mahesh Bhatt, ever the showman and salesman, has been out flogging his film and calling it an exposé of the betting and match-fixing that revolves around the cricketing world and also claiming that it tackles the so-called “murder” of ex-Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer. The movie really doesn’t deliver on either front. While there is betting and match-fixing, there is no exposé as such. And while a white-haired gentleman who is the coach of a cricket team does meet his maker in the movie, his death hardly has anything to do with the rest of the film.

Okay, so our own Javaid Sheikh is in the movie as an underworld don and he does a creditable job, but that’s hardly any reason to watch the film. Awaarapan, another Vishesh Films’ Emraan Hashmi vehicle was a much better, more intense flick (albeit a lifted one) with a good soundtrack but it bombed at the Indian box-office. So why did the earlier film fail and this one succeed? If I knew the answer to that one I’d become a betting man myself.
 

OR

While The Bank Job is a reasonably engaging film it is not as exciting or interesting as it could have been. A movie that incorporates bank heists, sex scandals (and not just any sex scandals but ones involving the British royalty), intelligence agencies, the 70s black power movement, pornography, gangsters, good cops and corrupt cops, strip clubs, government cover-ups, drug smuggling, crosses and double crosses, murder, torture and blackmail, should have been more fun and thrilling. But it isn’t and certainly doesn’t come close to some other great caper movies such as The Asphalt Jungle, Rififi or The Italian Job (the original one) despite the fact that it is actually based on real-life events, something which generally tends to add spice to a film.

However, The Bank Job is the kind of film that you can pop into the DVD player at the end of a long day and it’ll help you unwind. Action hero Jason Statham and the high-cheek-boned Saffron Burrows lead the cast while the best turn in the film comes from David Suchet (television’s Hercule Poirot) as Lew Vogel, the porn king of Soho. Director Roger Donaldson (Smash Palace, No Way Out) keeps events moving at a brisk pace and the film, based on the infamous (and still unsolved) Lloyds Bank robbery of 1971, has the appropriate look and feel of a 70s film. But the movie lacks a distinct personality and that’s why it doesn’t really rise above being a serviceable B-grade British caper film. — Khusro Mumtaz kmumtaz1@hotmail.com
 

Single

DJ Spankox is quite an Italian stallion in the music world. When he discovered that the late, great Elvis Presley recorded a track in the sixties titled Baby Let’s Play House, he wanted to record a modern version because as a house music guru he couldn’t resist the play on the word “house.”

The result is one of the biggest hits in Italy today, topping the single sales charts for seven consecutive weeks and holding the #1 spot for eight weeks on Italian iTunes. Following in the footsteps of two other recent remixes of the King’s tracks — JXL's smash A Little Less Conversation (2002) and Paul Oakenfold's Rubberneckin' (2003) — Spankox is hoping to conquer the world music scene with this phat track.

He really can’t go wrong as the number is irresistible. Elvis is in top form with his harmonies spot on, his voice as silky smooth as ever and a groove that will have you wanting to dance, hum or sing along to. Interestingly, the lyrics are far from simple with such provocative flavourings as Now listen to me, baby/Try to understand/I'd rather see you dead, little girl/Than to be with another man.

Rather see you dead? Now, that doesn’t sound like happy talk from the King. Still, sung by the King everything sounds playful if you don’t listen too closely. The timeless song still sounds fresh and modern and Spankox really hasn’t done much to it. Perhaps that was wise of him as the King doesn’t really need re-doing. The Italian DJ may get the glory but, at the end of the day, this is really just a reintroduction of one of the greatest artists of all time to a new generation.

Let’s play house… — T. U. Dawood
 

Album

Disney’s High School Musical is so popular it is in fact the most successful Disney Channel Original Movie of all time. The sequel was equally popular and there is high anticipation surrounding the third film High School Musical 3: Senior Year, expected to be released in October.

Its female star Vanessa Hudgens has used that platform to launch her own singing career and hit gold with her debut album V, released two years ago. Her sophomore disc Identified, unfortunately, falls far from expectations.

The material is so weak that it doesn’t show the willowy brunette’s voice in the best light. Instead, her vocals sound limpid on Last Night, dull on Amazed and uninspired on debut single Sneakernight. She’s so squeaky poppy that it is only when she allows the timbre of her voice to be more nuanced that there are hints of great potential here.

Better moments on the album include the title track and First Bad Habit, two songs that were produced by DJ Luke. Even on these she has not brought her A game, but at least she is trying and the melodies are quite appealing. These two tracks should also hit it big as club remixes as they can be translated easily into fun dance tracks.

There is not enough variety or depth to this album to indicate whether the Disney girl will outlive her teeny bopper career, but neither does it signal a death toll for the wannabe diva. It’s too early to “identify” whether Hudgens is made for the big time. — TUD
 

DVD Review

Superman is undoubtedly the most watched, most followed and most popular comic character of all times… but what does one know about the pre-Superman days of Clark Kent other than that he came to Earth from Krypton and eventually became the Man of Steel! Smallville follows the exploits of a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling), from his teenage years to his evolution into becoming Earth’s champion, fighting for truth and justice, the American way!

Developed for TV by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, Smallville premiered in 2001, taking certain liberties in reinventing the Superman mythology. Smallville, Metropolis, Jonathan (John Schneider) and Martha Kent (Annette O’ Toole) and the LLs — Lana Lang (Kirsten Kreuk), Lex Luthor and Lois Lane (Erica Durance) — all are fashioned in a new light. In a twist to the Superman saga, Clark and Lex (Michael Rossenbaum) are initially shown as friends; the gamble paid off, driving the show to new heights.

The one character that sets Smallville apart from DC Comics is Chloe Sullivan ... Clark's friend and the show's original creation, played brilliantly by Allison Mack. The fast-talking, always-on-the-lookout Chloe maintained the "Wall of Weird" — a collection of bizarre and eerie events in Smallville — during the initial stages of the show. She later joined Daily Planet as a junior editor where her cousin Lois Lane and Clark would work someday!

Over the course of the first four seasons of the series the teenaged Clark struggles with everyday angst, deals with his emerging superpowers and battles strange villains that swamp his hometown Smallville after the meteor shower that brought him to Earth in the first place. In season five, the show ventured into adult settings, while season six saw an increase in the introduction of other DC comic book superheroes and villains. Seasons six’s episode Justice featured the naïve version of Green Arrow, The Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman who combined with Clark to destroy the Luther Corp facility creating an army of kryptonite-enhanced people.

Other notable episodes of the rest of the series include Exile, the season three premiere where Jor-El lends his powers to Jonathan Kent to get Clark back from Metropolis … while in Relic, Clark finds out Jor-El’s connection to the death of Lana's Aunt Louise (Welling and Kreuk in double roles) back in 1961! But in Transference, the most amazing of all episodes, Clark and Lex’s father Lionel (John Glover) switch bodies and while the latter wreaks havoc with his new-found powers and body, Clark figures out a way to get both back, before it’s too late.

Tom Welling is clearly the star of the show and shines in the leading role of Clark Kent, a refugee from another planet. His life and times are well-chronicled in the series that has sent the DC Comics fans and Superman followers into the kind of trance they experienced way back in 1978, when Richard Donner released Superman: The Movie.—Seema Faruqi
 

Events

Karachi

July 7 to 14: Art exhibition: The work of Imran Mir will be on display at the V.M. Art Gallery from 10.30am till 7.30pm. — QAM

Lahore

July 10 to 11: Music: A Sufi night will be celebrated at the Peeru's Café on Thursday, while a ghazal night will be held at the same place the next day, featuring various popular local artists.

July 11: Discussion: A group discussion is organised by the Road Association on the topic “Naujwan nasal ki adab sai doori” (Youth’s Lack of Interest Towards Literature). The event, scheduled for Friday, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm is to take place at 5 Zaman Park’s ‘Nehar ghar’. The admission is free.— www.danka.com