One-Liners: Wild Rides

THE ROAD MOVIE (B) - This delightful distraction compiles dash-cam videos from cars on Russia's roads. It can be both amusing and harrowing. Because the audio is recorded, you listen in on mundane conversations and various radio broadcasts as you brace for impact. You also hear many variations on the Russian words for "Oh, god" and "Oh, fuck!"

A truck driver spills nimbly out of the front of his cab after a serious crash, and a kid falls out of the back of a van. Vehicles navigate icy roads, race past forest fires and plunge into a river. Weirdos and freaks besiege windshields; fights break out, sometimes involving guns or a sledgehammer. (And you thought your town has demented drivers.) Two people narrate the scene of a multi-car pile-up as they count their blessings that barely avoided the crash. We watch a tank pull up to a carwash for a wild scrubbing.

It's all random and riveting. It puts you in the driver seat and makes you wonder why people could pull such stupid maneuvers while reminding you that you've done the same and worse but survived to tell about it.

We get no narration, just ambient sounds. It skips by in 67 minutes. It is a torrent of sights and sounds capturing nature and human nature. It's a roller-coaster of a YouTube jag.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008) (A) - Danny Boyle, at the top of his game, slaps life and color across the big screen to tell the irresistible tale of a kid from the slums of Mumbai hoping to win riches on a game show.

Dev Patel ("Lion") stars as the young man held for questioning by authorities suspicious of his ability to nail ever answer, pressing to the brink of the top prize. The reason he knows the answers: Each question triggers memories from his past, which are explored in flashbacks. It becomes an old-fashioned fable in which a boy grows up destined to reconnect with the girl he has always loved (Freida Pinto).

Boyle -- combining the grittiness of "Trainspotting" with the heartwarming glow and childhood scrappiness from "Millions" --  makes no false moves over an even two hours, directing the narrative like a chess master. Mumbai jump-starts the viewer's senses, and the soundtrack sizzles with snippets of memorable songs, including, famously, M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes."

Indelible characters slice through the scenes, including Anil Kapoor as the oily game-show host ("Who wants to be a mill-a-naire?!") and Irrfan Khan as the bemused police inspector. Patel and Pinto are the cute couple next door you cheer for. It's a giddy ride.

BONUS TRACK
"Paper Planes":



And the "Road Movie" trailer: