Seven Pounds

A fortnight ago I was persuaded into watching this movie by one of my roomies. Another chef-d'oeuvre from Mr. Will Smith (But of course a second to "In Pursuit of Happiness"). Yes, I am referring to, "Seven Pounds", a wonderful movie.
The movie starts in a very unappealing way. Ben Thomas (Will Smith) makes a 911 call to report a suicide - his. The very next moment he is abusing a customer service representative of a meat company on a phone. And a series of events that really would make anyone hate this guy - Ben. Ben is a IRS employee, whose job is to contact the people, who owe the government large sums of money and collect it back. And this guy is good at his job as he does his homework well before he meets the defaulter.
The movie goes on dull and dark till Ben falls for Emily Posa. Its starts with Ben making a favor to her by extending the tax payment period. In the mean while there are phone calls from Ben's brother who is worried about him (possibly because he is away from his family for quite long). And then there are flashes of his past life with his girlfriend - Sarah Jenson. Life with Sarah seems to be very cozy and rich for Ben. Later Ben reveals to Emily that he is a MIT grad - an Aeronautical Engineer. Emily wants to know more of him but, Ben is not interested in taking the relationship ahead.
Ben seems to have a strange linking for box jellyfish as a pet, linked to his childhood memory of an aquarium visit with his father. He also makes a good rapport with Emily's dog - a Great Dane.
Things seem to be very scattered until the first hour of the movie has passed. But then things start to speed up. Everything seems to be linked up and all of a sudden one faces the fact that Ben is actually Tim and he is not a IRS agent. "Well, then what is going on?", is something that takes the front seat in your mind as curiosity builds up. And soon we discover that Tim had a haunting past. He lost his girlfriend in a car crash, which also claimed seven innocent lives. Tim has been acting as an IRS agent to filter out the right people to server his noble cause. To regret for the accident Tim decides to donate 'Seven Pounds of his flesh', to regret for his deeds. Emily is the recipient for his heart - literally the real heart. And it unfolds that Tim had been planning this since long and acting as an IRS agent he was trying to know more about the people he was donating organs to. The 911 suicide call to report his own suicide was a step to make the donation of his organs.
This movie made me coaxed me into thinking about the way the whole plot was designed. The idea of repenting is very just I feel. Most of us feel of ending lives when we feel things are not going our ways. But repenting for our deeds is not most of us think.
I am, however, not convinced very much about the idea of suicide. Organ donation is a noble deed, agreed. But, suicide? Not justified. One killing self to serve others is not a practical solution to a problem. And the movie glorifies this deed to some extent :(.
So in all the movie is a good theme and a good cast with some moral issues. I would suggest this movie as a must watch.

Monsters Inc.

Friday, 02 January, 2009

11:35 PM

Yet another amazing (or should I say amusing [-:)] ) animated movie by

   Walt Disney Pictures

       and

Pixar Animation Studios

A wonderful animation by Pixar. Disney too has a remarkable contribution to this movie with a really very nice story. The movie begins with a very general scare; "a monster comes out of my closet at night MOM". Yes, the story of the monster coming out of the closet when fast asleep is true. And the reason for them scaring is: Child scream powers the Monster Town. Hmm, I must say that really is something very innovative in this theme.

Now, Monsters Inc. is the company, that harnesses the screams from all round the globe and store them into batteries that power Monster Town. Mr. Sullivan aka 'Sulli' is our hero, I mean the lead actor, I mean the lead Monster, whatever, and is always accompanied by his best friend 'Mike'. Both Mike and Sulli Work for Monsters Inc. and are partners at work. Sulli is the Scare Leader (well a new term for me) with the record number of screams against his name. His competitor or shall I say, "the villain of the movie", Randall wants to take over Sulli's scare record.

What makes getting all those screams so difficult for all those Monsters? Now here's the twist in the story. If a monster gets touched by a kid during the scare hunt, he gets infected (Hmm, that’s scary). To add to the troubles of Sully and Mike comes a child (a baby girl) through one of the doors. Then begins all the fun with Mike and Sully trying to hide the child from other monsters and get it back to its home.

Sully is in the meanwhile emotionally attached to the child. But, also discovers that the child's entry into Monsters Inc. was no accident. This was a plant by none other than Randall. Randall and his evil intentions.

There is a lot of struggle in regards to the child and its all action filled. But in the end; well all's well that ends well.

 I would give this movie a 4/5 and would suggest you to watch it at least once. It would surely bring out the child in you.