Of gods and monsters

SPENDING IT

WHO SAYS India can't teach Western moviemakers a thing or two. Director Wolfgang Petersen (Troy) should get full marks for giving Homer's tragedy the typical Dharamveer flavour.

Yes the computer generated imagery (CGI) is fantastic, the sets and locations will leave you spellbound, but if you think Achilles' tragedy comes across through the goldilocked Brad Pitt, you are mistaken.

Eric Bana's Hector is the one standout act in this film, but that's primarily because the righteous, self-sacrificing man of honour is always a good watch. Pitt is fabulous in the most watchable part of the film "" the classic combat with Hector "" but beyond this the film lacks the brooding intensity that a tragedy of this stature demands.

Finally a word on Orlando Bloom's portrayal of Paris, who elopes with the married Helen, taking her away from the clutches of a passionless Menelaus.

Paris is a complex character and more than anything else, someone like Peter O Toole should have offered him some voice modulation lessons on the set. But O'Toole himself seemed happily in love with his voice and wrinkles. It felt like he was mimicking our own "jaani" "" Raaj Kumar "" "jaani yeh Troy ka talwaar hai.....".

And at three hours, the film for once justifies the virtues of song and dance routines to lighten up proceedings. If only we had Salma Hayek and Catherine Zeta-Jones doing item numbers to entertain the tired armies, we would see it again.

On to armies of zombies now. One of the interesting subtexts of George Romero's 1979 horror classic Dawn of the Dead was the dig at the consumerist culture in the story of glaze-eyed zombies (literally) taking over a shopping mall.

The remake, currently playing in our halls, isn't quite as allegorical "" it's a more straightforward scare flick "" but with the mall culture currently in full sway in India, one could argue that it's come here at the right time.

If you're not averse to the genre, you might be pleasantly surprised by this movie "" it doesn't overreach itself, the scary moments are largely effective and the script and acting are better than the average horror film.

A different sort of horror story is the true-life tale of prostitute-turned-serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who murdered seven men in 1989 and who was executed in 2002.

Charlize Theron won the best actress Oscar for her stunning performance in Monster, which sees limited release this week. This is a stark, difficult-to-watch movie that tells Wuornos's story as dispassionately as possible, without either justifying or condemning her actions.

Monster is arguably the best movie currently playing here but in the light of the recent controversy over Girlfriend it would be interesting to see if it provokes any reactions from our moral brigade "" at the heart of the film is Wuornos's lesbian relationship with Selby, played by Christina Ricci.

Nagesh Kukunoor is milking his blues. The enjoyable Hyderabad Blues has paved the way for a sequel, and to save on cost, Nagesh has decided to just borrow pre-recorded tracks from the music company's library and release a compilation. Yeah okay, Fuzon's song is the pick of the lot, but then one might as well buy the band's earlier albums. At Rs 150, the CD can be given a pass.

And if film soundtrack is something Nagesh wants to do, maybe a title score is where he should start. And what better a treat for soundtrack aficionados than to find Ennio Morricone's score for Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and the Ugly [CDs Rs 315] on Indian shop shelves, including ten previously unreleased tracks.

Exceptional flamenco guitaring and fabulous minimalism immediately conjures images of bleak landscape, a stark noose and three gold digging mercenaries.

And in the months ahead you'll see Quentin Tarantino using the immortal tracks in the second instalment of his revenge saga Kill Bill. But that's for another column.