Life of Pi (2012)

“Life of Pi” follows the harrowing spiritual journey of an Indian teen named Pi (newcomer and sure-to-be-famous Suraj Sharma) who is swept away from a sinking cargo ship and lost at sea in a life boat for months, with a Bengal tiger as his sole companion and nemesis. Lost to Pi is his family -– father, mother, and brother, their zoo -– and before him lays certain death by starvation, heat stroke, thirst, insanity, or likely being the last meal of the tiger. Of all the books I read in the past decade, this has to be most un-filmable, yet Ang Lee -- who made “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” -– took it on. Cheers to him. Lee uses some of the best 3D and visual effects imagery I or you will ever see and every aspect of the film is just as top notch (including the music score) but … And I must be careful here not to spoil the end, author Yann Martel, in his award-winning book, dared stare God in the face and did not blink. Lee blinks. He shows all the beauty of spirituality, but not the darkness. Read the book. The movie insists on lightness. Martel, and God, knows different. B+

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

Comedy-drama “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” follows seven derailed-by-life Brits who leave Queen and Country for Jaipur, India, and promises of a sunny paradise resort for “the old and beautiful.” What they get is a barely-functioning pile of bricks and mortar, geese in rooms, and a bouncy 20-ish manager (Dev Patel) who pops off witticisms such as, “Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, it is not yet the end.” Film-geek goose bumps boom at the cast: Maggie Smith as a racist grouch, Judi Dench as a broke widow, Tom Wilkinson as a judge on a quest, and Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton re-playing husband and wife as they did in “Shaun of the Dead.” Nothing as exciting as zombies here. We get stories of redemption, new love, and prejudices and xenophobia laid to rest, or revealed. All is alright in the end. Every Brit actor is naturally top notch, but Patel pulls a muscle to compete with his costars as the script has him running “Slumdog” style for his lady love. Nothing as exciting as that here either. My parents would love this film. B