Incept this...

If the mind is the scene of the crime, your hand is the bite of the mouse. Just click this... http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/

First look of Up in the Air - WOW!

If a trailer could be beautiful, this is it. If a trailer could theorise life in 2 minutes this is it. If a trailer could make you reach out for the movie, this is it. Up in the Air is the new film by Jason Reitman, who made two brilliant films Thank You For Smoking and Juno. Up in the Air is about Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, who lives his life simply by travelling around the world! He has no relationships, family or attachments. And this trailer explains Ryan's theory as he gives a two-minute speech on how the relationships you carry ultimately weigh you down. It's beautifully worded and makes an instant impact in the 120-odd seconds. No wonder the film created waves at the very important Telluride Film Festival. Check out the trailer and tell me if you feel the way I felt about it.

How Tarantino talks his way through his films

A Facebook friend wrote on my wall the other day: "I am a regular reader of your column, sometimes basing my decision of watching a movie solely on your reviews. Would you care to share your judgment of Tarantino's pulp fiction? i think it is wayyyy tooo overr.."

Well, unfortunately, you picked the wrong guy. I happen to be a HUGE Tarantino fan. And I will tell you why. Because of Pulp Fiction. Of course, I love the manic brutality of Reservoir Dogs, the biting charm of Jackie Brown, the comic book violence of Kill Bill and the lap dance of Death Proof. But what really sums up QT for me is the yapfest of Pulp Fiction.

I recently went to a screenwriting workshop and my instructor there was a really knowledgable guy (and a filmmaker) and he helped me clear a lot of issues with my script. Now, one thing he told me that I totally disagree with is that when two characters talk, the topic has to have a direct motivation to the plot. It was in Pulp Fiction where Tarantino showed us that the dialogues might not have anything to do with the plot. When two assassins discuss European burgers and the metric system, what has it got to do with the film? But then when you think of Jules and Vincent, the thing you remember the most is Royale with cheese. Because that is what makes the film.

The more the characters yap, yap, yap, the more they become characters. It's not without reason that one of the taglines of Pulp Fiction was Just because you are a character doesn't mean you have character! When Inglourious Basterds premiered in Cannes, all the critics went that there was too much of talk and very little action. But then the trailer very clearly told you "You ain't seen war if you haven't seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino." And that is Tarantino - he talks his way through a film. That's his style. That's what makes him what he is today. Just because he made Kill Bill, doesn't mean that all his action films would have fountains of blood spewing out of beheaded basterds.

Forget what I think, the great critic Roger Ebert, my absolutest favourite movie man around, writes in his Inglourious Basterds review: "Immediately after Pulp Fiction played at Cannes, QT asked me what I thought. 'It’s either the best film of the year or the worst film,' I said. I hardly knew what the hell had happened to me. The answer was: the best film. Tarantino films have a way of growing on you. It’s not enough to see them once."

Watch Pulp Fiction again my friend, after a few days, and let it win you over. Honestly, you don't have a chance against it. 

Here's a few of my favourite lines from Pulp Fiction which have nothing to do with the plot. I want you to tell me which one is your favourite...

Jimmie: I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys shit. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It ain't the coffee in my kitchen, it's the dead nigger in my garage.

Jules: Well, the way they make shows is, they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that show to the people who make shows, and on the strength of that one show they decide if they're going to make more shows. Some pilots get picked and become television programs. Some don't, become nothing. She starred in one of the ones that became nothing. 

Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood.
Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.
Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces.
Jules: I don't eat dog either.
Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?
Jules: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way.
Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?
Jules: Well we'd have to be talkin' about one charming motherfuckin' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?  

Captain Koons: The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slopes gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it, in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you. [This one did set the watch up and does have a bearing on the plot]

Trudi: You know how they use that gun to pierce your ears? They don't use that when they pierce your nipples, do they?
Jody: Forget that gun. That gun goes against the entire idea behind piercing. All of my piercings, sixteen places on my body, all of them done with a needle. Five in each ear, one through the nipple on my left breast, one through my right nostril, one through my left eyebrow, one in my lip, one in my clit... and I wear a stud in my tongue.
Vincent: Excuse me, but I was just wondering... why do you wear a stud in your tongue?
Jody: It's a sex thing.

Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald's. Know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris? 

Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese? 

Vincent: Naw, man, they got the metric system, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is. 

Jules: What do they call it? 

Vincent: They call it a "Royale with Cheese". 

Jules: "Royale with Cheese"? 

Vincent: That's right. 

Jules: What do they call a Big Mac? 

Vincent: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it " Le Big Mac". 

Jules: Le Big Mac. What do they call a Whopper? 

Vincent: I don't know, I didn't go in a Burger King.

I want to stare at The Men Who Stare At Goats

If there's one Hollywood film I am really looking forward to it's the incredibly titled The Men Who Stare At Goats. Yes you read that right. One look at the cast and you are already in love with the film. George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and Ewan McGregor! Well, you may not be fans of all of them but is it possible that you don't admire a single one of the four? As for me, I am a huge Kevin Spacey fan, a Big Lebowski myself - you know as much as it's possible here in Calcutta - and I really dig George Clooney's style. That gives me three reasons to watch the film.
And then I saw the trailer.
I saw it again.
And again.
Again.
And I laughed and I laughed and I laughed.
Well, all of you who have stumbled on this page MUST catch the trailer (link below). But here's what it's about. Reporter Bob Wilton (McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (Clooney), who claims to be a “warrior monk” with unparalleled psychic power. He and his tribe can read the enemy’s mind, pass through solid walls, and can kill a goat simply by staring at it! What's more, the program’s founder, Bill Django (Bridges), has gone missing and Cassady’s mission is to find him. When the pair do track down Django at a clandestine training camp, they are up against renegade psychic Larry Hooper (Spacey). 
The Men Who Stare at Goats was inspired by Jon Ronson’s non-fiction bestseller of the same name, an eye-opening and often hilarious exploration of the government’s attempts to harness paranormal abilities to combat its enemies. The screenplay was featured on the 2006 Black List, a listing of the best unproduced screenplays of the year. The film is set to premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival, before hitting theaters in the US on November 6th.
Avatar can wait. I want my goats. Enjoy!