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M*A*S*H, a review by Jon

M.A.S.H.
4 out of 5



Hailed as one of the best comedies ever made and nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the story focuses on army surgeons who develop a lunatic life-style in order to handle everyday horrors encountered in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated this irreverent mob of madcaps is equally adept at making a shambles of army bureaucracy.

M.A.S.H. is a great comedy. Kind of like a forerunner of Police Academy, except not. It feels authentic even when in the middle of utter lunacy. Much of this is due to Robert Altman's unique direction style. Even though this was an early film for him and a difficult shoot, his method is key and follows little of what you may expect to be a proper narrative. Scenes are fluid, with few edits, but threads are left unresolved as we move onto a new set-up and it isn't clear how long it's all taking; days, weeks, who cares? This is really funny stuff! Essentially, disguised by the laid back pace, it's a collection of hilarious set-pieces as we follow Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland), Trapper John (Elliot Gould) and Duke (Tom Skerritt) stitching troops back together in Korea.

If anything I was disappointed that there wasn't more serious scenes. I don't remember the TV show well, but I seem to think there was more poignancy. But that's being picky, because within the film is a unique atmosphere that must have seemed very audacious on release and it does have moments that make you think. Nothing is focused on for too long though. Like a good magician, Altman is all about misdirection (dialogue in particular is indistinct). I think you could watch this film a dozen times and keep finding something new.

All the cast work very well together with fantastic banter between them and playing to their strengths. For instance, Robert Duvall is possibly the most serious as Frank, which just makes him funnier in the chaos. All the running gags like the Colonel's one-sided conversations and the base announcements are great fun and serve as tenuous links to the next inspired caper, like a trip to Japan to operate on a child and get a game of golf in, or the quest to find out if Hot Lips really is blonde! Brilliant stuff.

Altman went on to greatness, but here only earned a flat-fee. Funny thing though, is his son wrote the theme, which carried on into the TV show and he ended up earning far more than his Dad!

(From DCO third annual November Alphabet Marathon - discussion/review/banter thread on November 12th, 2009)

Chak De! India, a review by dfmorgan

Chak De! India

Year: 2007
Director: Shimit Amin
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Vidya Malvade, Tanya Abrol

Overview: Jo nahin ho sakta hai, wahi to karna hai...

Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) knows what it's like to come back from the dead. The ex Indian Captain has now come back in the avatar of the Coach of the Indian Women's National Hockey team. A team that exists more on paper & less in reality.

The team is a rag-tag bunch of girls with their own agenda. A bunch of girls who have forgotten what it is like to play for the love of the game - of playing because you want glory for your country. Not because you want a pensioned job or a government flat. They have all forgotten the sharp thrill of just holding the hockey stick, keeping their eyes on the ball and playing for all they are worth. They have played every game but hockey to make sure they get selected every year in the Indian National team. But what does it really mean to play for the Indian National team? To play for India?

"Mujhe sirf ek mulk ka naam sunaai deta hai - India"

The girls have never known the thrilling energy of being Team India. Of giving their all to see their country's name on a trophy. But Kabir Khan, once a captain, now forgotten, does. He knows what it takes to get there. And what it means to return empty handed. This time, he wants to make sure that it is different. He knows there are no second chances. Despite his past, he believes that if only the girls played as one, anything would be possible.

Because Kabir Khan believes that it is not that we can't win. It's just that we never believed that we can.

Chak De India is the story of a coach's fight of making his team, Team India by overcoming their diverse backgrounds, by learning to use everything that lifehurls on them as a secret weapon. It's a story about honesty, sincerity and integrity. A story to remind the nation of its National sport.

Watched: 24th. Oct 2010
My Thoughts: An excellent enjoyable sports drama. There were no real diversions from a sports plot here but a couple of things did surprise me -
a) No song and dance, there were 3 or 4 songs but they never broke off into characters singing or dancing
b) No romance.

A ragbag team of disparate girls are joined by their new coach Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan), an outcast since losing to Pakistan in a world cup final. It's his mission to take them to the world cup but first he has to get them to become a team. As I intimated earlier no real surprises, the girls gelling as team was clearly signposted once the ruckus started. Not too sure about how quickly Bindia Naik (Shilpa Shukla) switched her antagonism off after the coach tells her she is the only one who can save the team but then again that would have killed the film dead if she hadn't.

My Rating: I thoroughly enjoyed this so a 4

Dave

(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on October 24th, 2010)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by Achim

14. The Good WoundMy comments:
Kyle Reese is back ... Sarah uses Kyle for an inner monologue to make herself trust the doctor she took hostage and to overcome the pain. I liked these scenes way more than I expected at first and kept thinking about that it's only her talking to herself and was delighted to see how well they wrote it. As Matthias pointed out before,.. Team Connor is ripped apart. The previous episodes already did the same and also her we see all main characters individually, rarely together; they all have their own story, failing to function properly as a team. While no plot advancements are achieved, this episode portrays nicely how Sarah realizes how alone she is (another reason why she summons Kyle). The subplot with the doctor seems a bit contrived but otherwise works quite alright in the context.

John and Cameron are in the hospital because of Riley . Cameron makes nice subtle points to John, that Riley is better left alone (pragmatism, not jealousy). After Riley is removed from the hospital from Jesse we get to see that she has way more attachment to Jesse than John, something Jesse rather dislikes. Are we still missing pieces in the puzzle about them?

Ellison begins to realize that teaching John Henry may not have been a good choice. On the other hand Weaver and John Henry get closer... I am still not able to guess if Weaver has other motives than the obvious ones



(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on February 14th, 2010)