Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

[*** stars/*****]

What does monogamy in marriage mean? Surely fantasizing about another person is not betrayal? 

How many of us assume that faithfulness in marriage is natural ...or as Bill puts it - woman are loyal to their partner by nature?  

Dr. William "Bill" Harford (Tom Cruise) and Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman) seem happily married, and live in New York with Helena, their seven-year-old daughter. 

Then one Christsmas eve, the handsome, beautiful, and well-off couple are at a party hosted by one of Bill's affluent patients, Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack).

Bill ends up running into good friend Nick Nightingale (Todd Field), medical school dropout and now pianist. 

Meanwhile, a Hungarian businessman Sandor Szavost (Sky du Mont) attempts to unsuccessfully seduce Alice. 

Bill is flirted at by two young models, then abruptly called in by his host to help Mandy (Julienne Davis), who apparently overdosed on a drug while having sex with Ziegler. 

Mandy recovers, thanks to Bill's timely intervention. 

The next evening at home, Bill and Alice smoke marijuana, and idly discuss monogamy and temptations. 

Bill sounds traditionally righteous, that he is never jealous of other men hitting on Alice, as a women's nature is to be faithful. 

Alice laughs at this remark, and reveals how she fantasized having an affair a year ago. 

She was charmed by a naval officer whom she never met, during their summer vacation hotel stay back then. 

Alice casually admits that she considered leaving Bill and Helena for the officer.

The disclosure shakes up Bill, and in a turn of events over the next couple of days, he strongly considers having sex outside marriage, leading to dangerous, alarming events.  

Kubrick's last hurrah 
Though Eyes Wide Shut limps to its last act, turning into a mitigated, ambiguous social satire (hence the title) from an erotic mystery thriller, I was blown away by the sheer visual power. 

The Larry Smith cinematography, the Jocelyn Pook score and eerie use of classical music, including a Tamil song in the shocking mansion scenes, director Stanley Kubrick lured me unblinkingly deep into the half-baked conflict.  

Every frame is magnificent and painstakingly clean in detail, the art direction is exemplary. 

Adapted, with many major changes, from Traumnovelle (Dream Story), a 1926 German novella by Arthur Schnitzler, Stanley Kubrick last film (he died six days after a director's cut screening to Warner Brothers and the lead cast) is undone by its writing and boxed characterization. 

Prominent questions are seldom confronted or juggled around with. 

The one-track journey of Bill's search for sexual encounters, required a varied voice of Alice to build up the drama. 

But Alice's side in largely muted by Bill's journey, which, despite the shock, doesn't add up. 

Bill is played up as a Hollywood hero, rather than a person, creating a detached feel - Cruise only lacks a superhero cape.  

Eyes Wide Shut is muted in voice and reason, neither does it deliver on its dark and potentially devastating premise. 

The resultant nudity, sexual imagery and orgy scenes end up as gimmicky, having no bearing on the story. 

Eyes Wide Shut is worth a watch for its incredible visual charisma, the Cruise-Kidman and ensemble acts, despite the failed yet assured attempt at cinema immortality as in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) and The Shining (1980). 

Wonder what more lethal worlds Kubrick would have conjured, if he had lived a decade more. 

(Eyes Wide Shut is streaming on Netflix.) 

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

[**** stars / *****] 

Afterthoughts rush through my mind tunnel after catching up with Mission: Impossible – Fallout on the big screen. 

That there are three kinds of people in the world. 

One with pot bellies like us, watching the latest MI movie with wide open eyes, the second kind who are into fitness, and the third of which there is only one on the planet, a 56-year-old man called Tom Cruise. 

Why does the MI franchise still work, 22 years since the first film came out? Tom Cruise and his "I will do it myself" stunts. Cruise fills his role with an old-world action hero passion. Watch him running, this is not an ageing man, this is a man beating himself to the finish line.   

Breathless, Exciting Action! 
Mission: Impossible – Fallout would have been a dull affair, but for Cruise hopping off buildings (breathtaking), a swift, impressive escape on a motorbike (scintillating), the stunning skydive sequence (aha!) and a nervy helicopter ride finale (superb!).

But it is the punch-pounding, gritty bathroom fight - Cruise, Henry Cavill vs Liang Yang that is among the film's most seat-gripping moments. 

The action feels real and dangerous. No special effects, please! At least not until the culminating cliff sequence.  

The rest of it, though not always convincing, is clever. 

It's like they put the best of previous MI movie plots into a mixer... and still managed to come up with decent stuff. The face mask element (a much-repeated MI plot element) is given a nice sharp twist here. Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson are all good. 

But without Tom Cruise, there is no MI.

P.S: Inspired by Cruise, I am doing my own stunts from now on too. The first one is called, "Jumping out of bed and landing on the floor, at the first sound of the alarm clock." 

Do not try this at home. 

Wish me luck!     

The Mummy (2017)

[** stars / *****] 

An ambitious Egyptian queen-to-be goes on a family murdering spree to ascend the throne. For her sins, she is mummified alive and sunk in a mercury-filled grave. Centuries later, she is unwittingly released by treasure hunter/ US Army personnel Nick (Tom Cruise, chirpy at 55) to wreck havoc. 

We are soon caught in a swirl of curses, evil, an ancient dagger, mummy victims,  and immortality talk. Sounds familiar? 

A friend made a valid point prior to the The Mummy morning show. We are still viewing the same movies that we used to watch in our childhood. The more movies we watch, the more they remain the same? 

Hollywood is so embroiled in sequels and prequels, that more commercial movies are resembling extended, tiresome TV episodes now. 

The Mummy reboot review  The Mummy stands out as the most unnecessary remake in recent times. The reboot does score in eerie atmospherics and some stunning special effects where it lacks oh so badly in the story.  

Russell Crowe's Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde turns are a miss, while Sofia Boutella as Mummy/Ahmanet is great casting. So is a lively Annabelle Wallis as the female lead. But the lack of creative spunk and freshness lets them all down.

Apart from the stunning plane crash sequence, the proceedings attain a predictable quality. Finally, The Mummy entertains thanks to its art direction and cast, but don't expect anything new.

Fresh ideas, please.

The terrific plane crash sequence, the only exceptional take away from the film.