That Critic Who Is Spontaneous and Combustible
The Published Writings of Kamran Jawaid
This is the edited copy of the review. A version of this review was published at Dawn.com
Son of Zeus? Maybe, Maybe Not
By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid
In the years’ second – and far better – reiteration of the Greek hero Hercules, the action (as clearly defined in the trailer) takes as much precedence as the fact that this hero’s fantastic tales may just be a prolonged advertisement campaign in a world where gods and monsters do not exist. Continue reading “Review: Hercules by Kamran Jawaid”
By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid
I don’t know how to start writing this post. I really have no idea. I guess the best way would be to define what I shared with him.
I don’t have many friends. I prefer to have acquaintances, or close acquaintances, but seldom friends.
Musadiq was my friend – and perhaps one of the few reasons why I liked dropping by Dawn’s offices. He made the lonely walk across Dawn’s almost vacant, silent corridors worth it. There was always a smile waiting when I opened the door to his room after a knock or two.
Oscars: Sure bet? I Wouldn’t Bet On It!
By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid
The conversation below was incorporated, in part, within the review of “Son of Pakistan”, now up at Dawn.com
By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid
It was sheer dumb luck I stumbled on to Karachi’s press-screening of “Son of Pakistan” at Nishat Cinema, on the 16th of December. There was no spectacle. No flashy lights. No traffic jams. No prior press invitations or media kits. And although only the balcony was hired for the press by the film’s producers that day (a fact I learned much later), the actual number of audience turnout was distressing.
“Son of Pakistan” is an overexcited flag-waving action spectacle staring a number of actors including Babar Ali, Meera, each with their own under-explored story-threads. Its marketing campaign must have been in whispers.
Below is our unpublished review of Sucker Punch, once destined to be printed in iMAGES, but left out on strict, prejudiced moral grounds. Sucker Punched, the review was!
By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid
“All that gyrating and moaning, the dance should be more than just titillation” What dance? That dance – or the excuse for sexual gyration – that flings male consciousness into dumbfoundry. A dance that’s left for imagination in Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, a movie of reality within a fantasy within a daydream made in the image of a pubertal male’s fetish of seeing youngish women in bordello garb waving samurai swords.
Continue reading “Animadversion: Sucker Punch–Reviewed by Kamran Jawaid and Farheen Jawaid”
The Following Post is an unpublished article, once due to appear in iMAGES. Comments are welcome.
By this time every year, especially the day before the Oscars, the award fever rises to critical highs. Not that anyone cares. For 2009, the most coveted of the award show has little new steam if we take a gander at who’s going to win at what category, but we’ll get to that in a bit. This year the show is designed to draw steadily disappearing watchers back to the glitz of “The Biggest Movie Event of the Year.” During the last few years the American audience turnout has fallen to 32 million viewers, an all time low. Whether Jon Stewart, the previous host was to be blamed, remains a debate (personally we liked the show, ‘nuff said).
This is also the year the show will change the most. Starting with a joint marketing campaign between ABC the America-wide broadcasters of the show and The Academy of Arts and Sciences, the organization which organizes the event. “We decided that we’d get more bang for our buck if we had a fully integrated campaign with a consistent message,” said Janet Weiss, director of marketing for the academy in a New York Times articles. To bring in advertisements, advertising rate has been lowered to $1.4 million per 30 second spot. It was $1.7 million last year. The international ratings and revenue is still strong as American ratings languished. Continue reading “Oscars 2009: The Shape of Things to Come, By MKJ and Farheen Jawaid”
That Critic Who Is Spontaneous and Combustible 