Few lines on all the Hollywood movies I have seen this year and not written full review on them…
American Hustle :
Average plot, but the insane behavior of the characters makes this a very interesting watch. When you see actors like Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jenniffer Lawrence doing unusual things, you can’t stop but admiring it. The first scene itself sets it up, it tells how much mad characters would be as Bale is seen cutting his hairs on head and sticking with gum to form a better hairstyle, and also tells the pace of movie would be on the slower side. There is Jenniffer as wife of Bale, who cracks up in every scene she gets, and that dance she does in final moments of movie. Bradley’s temptation to resist not making out with Amy, and the con games both Amy and Bale play. Jeremy Renner plays the only supporting character who behaves much normal, and probably a reason why you feel bad for him and his friendship with Bale that falls. I can see this movie again and again for all this ensemble cast, and if you are into insane (not as much Pulp Fiction), then you may not regret watching this movie either.
Verdict : 4/5
12 Years a Slave :
Very tough movie to watch, for all the torture the characters go through specially Solomon (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor). I felt there should had been more scenes of Solomon with the 2nd master he served for, probably because he was the nicest of all three. Also, the torture given to the woman by the 3rd master was the hardest to watch, almost made me regret watching movie, plus it shifted the focus slightly away from Solomon which I didnt like. The final scene when Solomon returns back, was quite a emotional one, also all the moments where he was close to giving up but he didn’t, the scene where he tells another slave that this he doesn’t want to survive, he wants to live. Clearly, the director wants the audience to feel the torture this free black man and many others go through after being kidnapped and becoming slaves. He hardly gives you scenes to have breather, the torture gets gruesome scene by scene. Could had shown flashbacks of his old life bit more, when he was happy with his family, also the search going on by them to find him, just to add drama and give slight relief from torture sequences. Its still a good one time watch for Solomon’s performance and the direction of Steve McQueen
Verdict : 3/5
Her :
Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely man, in final stages of his divorce and not quite able to come out of it. He buys a new artificial intelligent operating system which has a female voice by Scarlett Johansson. When was the last time that you don’t see a character in entire movie, only her voice and yet how much you adore and love her. Samantha is funny, sexy, teasing, seduces and despite being a operating system gives hope and company to Theodore, who eventually falls in love. What’s great is the concept of Samantha isn’t limited to just being a operating system becoming aid for Theodre to see his mistakes regarding ex-wife or view life in different manner, but Samantha herself explores various traits of humans that develops her emotions and feelings. She is more or less a human who isn’t visible. The end is kinda of heart-breaking but it serves purpose of knowing how to love. Special mention to that funny game sequence once with Theodore, and then later when his friend is working on one. Great performance by Joaquin Phoenix, and the writing of movie is pretty strong with some very romantic moments.
Verdict : 4.5/5
The Monuments Men :
Easily my biggest disappointment of the year so far after ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. The pace was so fucking slow, and it didn’t appear like they wanted to come to the point. Even actors like George Clooney and Matt Damon get hardly 1-2 scenes to shine. The story of a group of soldiers tasked to find and preserve the art stolen and hidden by the Nazis during World War II was pretty interesting and I thought it would make for a interesting watch. But a very weak script and screenplay going nowhere makes you leave the theatre with a sad face, you hardly take back anything from this film. Easily a film you can skip watching.
Verdict : 1.5/5
Noah :
What I really liked in the film was the special effects and the cinematography for some awesome visuals. And thats it, the movie was a total bore for me with Russell Crowe specially getting on my nerves, seems he’s not doing great roles at all, last time he irritated me in Man of the Steel too. Only reason why I went to see film was Ema Watson, and she didn’t disappoint me.
Verdict : 1/5
Captain America : The Winter Soldier :
After Thor, he’s the next avenger that I find very boring. Not seen previous parts, yet the trailer had me interested and the film exceeded all the expectations. Whats great is that they make Nick Fury (played by Sameul Jackson) so vulnerable, and then Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) isn’t sure what makes him happy with his ongoing issues with Nick and Shield, and there’s a new enemy he is about to witness, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) who is fast and more powerful than him, and his old best friend. All this makes for a compelling drama, with Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) providing lots of laugh out moments. The action is not typical superhero types, instead we see how tough Steve finds to get better of Bucky or even the 1st action scene. Also, excellent performance by Robert Redford. Easily a movie that entertains to the core, and even its end credits scenes don’t disappoint either.
Verdict : 4/5
The Amazing Spiderman 2 :
I am happy that I saw all 3 parts of Tobey Maguire version of Spiderman before watching this one. Still Andrew Garfield would be the actor I would prefer playing Spiderman but in those older versions where story dominated even if the effects were not as good as these new movies have. Problem with Amazing Spiderman 2 is that it tries to be way quick, there’s lot of witty dialogues, then there’s Electro (played by Jamie Foxx) who doest get one great scene, and then other villain Harry (played by Dane DeHaan)whose plot is totally spoiled and his actions appear so out of context. The only place this film goes right is the love track of Peter (played by Andrew Garfield) and Gwen (played by Emma Stone), and even in it they had to make Gwen die which was unexpected but then its my heart which has a crush on her saying this, from film’s point its acceptable. Dane DeHaan has one lovely scene where he enters his office with Electro and has that evil look on his face, and somehow there he resembled a lot with the younger Leonardo di caprio. Another good scene I can recall is the final speech of Gwen that Peter listens to during pre-climax scene. The film looked like an attempt to get as many villains as they can to make Spiderman fight, but they needed to give a solid story also with it to make it look convincing. Even the link to his father secret looked silly and useless. I would prefer the 1st part over this one, that was slow but at least it had a proper story to it.
Verdict : 2/5
Million Dollar Arm :
A sports agent JB (played by John Hamm) decides to find indian cricket players whom he could train as pro baseball players in US. His discoveries are Rinku (played by Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh (played by Madhur Mittal), and he brings Amit (played by Pitobash) also with them who would help them with english/hindi translation. Upto this point the movie is good and enjoyable, once they reach US, the movie slips into regular drama and a very predictable climax. Even Rahman’s music doesn’t give any special feel to the movie. Plus, I don’t understand why montage of India has to have classical music and lots of poor india images in it, can’t we get out of this stereotype. Performances wise I liked Pitobash a lot, specially that small motivation speech he gives at the end. Also, the funny style of pitching by Suraj Sharma and that guy who would assist JB during India tour and sleep all the time. Decent one time watch movie.
Verdict : 2.5/5
Godzilla :
How badly I was waiting for this movie, and had this movie been bad, it would had hurt a hell lot. It was simply outstanding movie, when the opening credits start with that background score I knew this is gonna be epic. If you are looking for Godzilla to be shown after every fucking 5-10 mins, then I guess this ain’t a movie for you. But if you are fine with Godzilla shown properly just 3-4 times in whole movie, then you would enjoy this ride a lot like me. Infact I felt the decision to not show Godzilla fight the Muto’s initially to audience was a great idea too, that actually made the final fight scene totally worth it. And boy, that roar of Godzilla gave me goosebumps. Only weak link in the movie was the lack of emotional connect with Ford (played by Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Elle (Elizabeth Olsen). The director covered Ford’s father and mother back story very well, or be the father-son relation too was handled well. Other thing that bothered me was the way tsunami scene is handled, the people running looked way too fake, never appeared like they are in fear of death with the speed with which they ran. Like the way Dr Ishiro (played by Ken Watanabe) announces the arrival of Godzilla, his keenness to be present to see the 1st sight of him, and then his comparison of Nature to Humans. And special mention to the background score, major highlight of the movie that made it look that good. Love the nervousness during that train sequence, and my fav scene is of course the build up to Godzilla’s 1st appearance with lots of parallel cuts. Can’t wait to buy its DVD and hear Godzilla roaring loud on my computer. Phew.
Verdict : 4.5/5
X-Men : Days of Future Past :
First film in this series that I have seen, and I didn’t really felt hooked to it. Also, some connectivity to past films didn’t help, but mainly it was the concept that didn’t interest me much. That QuickSilver (played by Evan Peters) slow motion scene with the background song was my best moment from the movie. Jenniffer Lawrence also failed to make any mark. Hugh Jackman (as Logan) was great and witty, as long as he didn’t let Wolverine enter. James McAvoy (as Charles) was good in supporting role, liked the scene where Logan asks him to enter his mind and give him hope. I doubt watching old films would make any difference to my liking either.
Verdict : 2/5
Blended :
Decent time pass movie, with some good laughs. The final few moments of the movie gets too dramatic to my liking, and there are places where the gags don’t work. Liked Drew Barrymore most, and that cutest little girl of Jim (played by Adam Sandler). Story wise, nothing new or special. Special mention to those band of guys leader who pops up everywhere to sing ‘Blended’ and stuff, too hilarious he was.
Verdict : 2.5/5
American Hustle :
Average plot, but the insane behavior of the characters makes this a very interesting watch. When you see actors like Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jenniffer Lawrence doing unusual things, you can’t stop but admiring it. The first scene itself sets it up, it tells how much mad characters would be as Bale is seen cutting his hairs on head and sticking with gum to form a better hairstyle, and also tells the pace of movie would be on the slower side. There is Jenniffer as wife of Bale, who cracks up in every scene she gets, and that dance she does in final moments of movie. Bradley’s temptation to resist not making out with Amy, and the con games both Amy and Bale play. Jeremy Renner plays the only supporting character who behaves much normal, and probably a reason why you feel bad for him and his friendship with Bale that falls. I can see this movie again and again for all this ensemble cast, and if you are into insane (not as much Pulp Fiction), then you may not regret watching this movie either.
Verdict : 4/5
12 Years a Slave :
Very tough movie to watch, for all the torture the characters go through specially Solomon (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor). I felt there should had been more scenes of Solomon with the 2nd master he served for, probably because he was the nicest of all three. Also, the torture given to the woman by the 3rd master was the hardest to watch, almost made me regret watching movie, plus it shifted the focus slightly away from Solomon which I didnt like. The final scene when Solomon returns back, was quite a emotional one, also all the moments where he was close to giving up but he didn’t, the scene where he tells another slave that this he doesn’t want to survive, he wants to live. Clearly, the director wants the audience to feel the torture this free black man and many others go through after being kidnapped and becoming slaves. He hardly gives you scenes to have breather, the torture gets gruesome scene by scene. Could had shown flashbacks of his old life bit more, when he was happy with his family, also the search going on by them to find him, just to add drama and give slight relief from torture sequences. Its still a good one time watch for Solomon’s performance and the direction of Steve McQueen
Verdict : 3/5
Her :
Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely man, in final stages of his divorce and not quite able to come out of it. He buys a new artificial intelligent operating system which has a female voice by Scarlett Johansson. When was the last time that you don’t see a character in entire movie, only her voice and yet how much you adore and love her. Samantha is funny, sexy, teasing, seduces and despite being a operating system gives hope and company to Theodore, who eventually falls in love. What’s great is the concept of Samantha isn’t limited to just being a operating system becoming aid for Theodre to see his mistakes regarding ex-wife or view life in different manner, but Samantha herself explores various traits of humans that develops her emotions and feelings. She is more or less a human who isn’t visible. The end is kinda of heart-breaking but it serves purpose of knowing how to love. Special mention to that funny game sequence once with Theodore, and then later when his friend is working on one. Great performance by Joaquin Phoenix, and the writing of movie is pretty strong with some very romantic moments.
Verdict : 4.5/5
The Monuments Men :
Easily my biggest disappointment of the year so far after ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. The pace was so fucking slow, and it didn’t appear like they wanted to come to the point. Even actors like George Clooney and Matt Damon get hardly 1-2 scenes to shine. The story of a group of soldiers tasked to find and preserve the art stolen and hidden by the Nazis during World War II was pretty interesting and I thought it would make for a interesting watch. But a very weak script and screenplay going nowhere makes you leave the theatre with a sad face, you hardly take back anything from this film. Easily a film you can skip watching.
Verdict : 1.5/5
Noah :
What I really liked in the film was the special effects and the cinematography for some awesome visuals. And thats it, the movie was a total bore for me with Russell Crowe specially getting on my nerves, seems he’s not doing great roles at all, last time he irritated me in Man of the Steel too. Only reason why I went to see film was Ema Watson, and she didn’t disappoint me.
Verdict : 1/5
Captain America : The Winter Soldier :
After Thor, he’s the next avenger that I find very boring. Not seen previous parts, yet the trailer had me interested and the film exceeded all the expectations. Whats great is that they make Nick Fury (played by Sameul Jackson) so vulnerable, and then Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) isn’t sure what makes him happy with his ongoing issues with Nick and Shield, and there’s a new enemy he is about to witness, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) who is fast and more powerful than him, and his old best friend. All this makes for a compelling drama, with Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) providing lots of laugh out moments. The action is not typical superhero types, instead we see how tough Steve finds to get better of Bucky or even the 1st action scene. Also, excellent performance by Robert Redford. Easily a movie that entertains to the core, and even its end credits scenes don’t disappoint either.
Verdict : 4/5
The Amazing Spiderman 2 :
I am happy that I saw all 3 parts of Tobey Maguire version of Spiderman before watching this one. Still Andrew Garfield would be the actor I would prefer playing Spiderman but in those older versions where story dominated even if the effects were not as good as these new movies have. Problem with Amazing Spiderman 2 is that it tries to be way quick, there’s lot of witty dialogues, then there’s Electro (played by Jamie Foxx) who doest get one great scene, and then other villain Harry (played by Dane DeHaan)whose plot is totally spoiled and his actions appear so out of context. The only place this film goes right is the love track of Peter (played by Andrew Garfield) and Gwen (played by Emma Stone), and even in it they had to make Gwen die which was unexpected but then its my heart which has a crush on her saying this, from film’s point its acceptable. Dane DeHaan has one lovely scene where he enters his office with Electro and has that evil look on his face, and somehow there he resembled a lot with the younger Leonardo di caprio. Another good scene I can recall is the final speech of Gwen that Peter listens to during pre-climax scene. The film looked like an attempt to get as many villains as they can to make Spiderman fight, but they needed to give a solid story also with it to make it look convincing. Even the link to his father secret looked silly and useless. I would prefer the 1st part over this one, that was slow but at least it had a proper story to it.
Verdict : 2/5
Million Dollar Arm :
A sports agent JB (played by John Hamm) decides to find indian cricket players whom he could train as pro baseball players in US. His discoveries are Rinku (played by Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh (played by Madhur Mittal), and he brings Amit (played by Pitobash) also with them who would help them with english/hindi translation. Upto this point the movie is good and enjoyable, once they reach US, the movie slips into regular drama and a very predictable climax. Even Rahman’s music doesn’t give any special feel to the movie. Plus, I don’t understand why montage of India has to have classical music and lots of poor india images in it, can’t we get out of this stereotype. Performances wise I liked Pitobash a lot, specially that small motivation speech he gives at the end. Also, the funny style of pitching by Suraj Sharma and that guy who would assist JB during India tour and sleep all the time. Decent one time watch movie.
Verdict : 2.5/5
Godzilla :
How badly I was waiting for this movie, and had this movie been bad, it would had hurt a hell lot. It was simply outstanding movie, when the opening credits start with that background score I knew this is gonna be epic. If you are looking for Godzilla to be shown after every fucking 5-10 mins, then I guess this ain’t a movie for you. But if you are fine with Godzilla shown properly just 3-4 times in whole movie, then you would enjoy this ride a lot like me. Infact I felt the decision to not show Godzilla fight the Muto’s initially to audience was a great idea too, that actually made the final fight scene totally worth it. And boy, that roar of Godzilla gave me goosebumps. Only weak link in the movie was the lack of emotional connect with Ford (played by Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Elle (Elizabeth Olsen). The director covered Ford’s father and mother back story very well, or be the father-son relation too was handled well. Other thing that bothered me was the way tsunami scene is handled, the people running looked way too fake, never appeared like they are in fear of death with the speed with which they ran. Like the way Dr Ishiro (played by Ken Watanabe) announces the arrival of Godzilla, his keenness to be present to see the 1st sight of him, and then his comparison of Nature to Humans. And special mention to the background score, major highlight of the movie that made it look that good. Love the nervousness during that train sequence, and my fav scene is of course the build up to Godzilla’s 1st appearance with lots of parallel cuts. Can’t wait to buy its DVD and hear Godzilla roaring loud on my computer. Phew.
Verdict : 4.5/5
X-Men : Days of Future Past :
First film in this series that I have seen, and I didn’t really felt hooked to it. Also, some connectivity to past films didn’t help, but mainly it was the concept that didn’t interest me much. That QuickSilver (played by Evan Peters) slow motion scene with the background song was my best moment from the movie. Jenniffer Lawrence also failed to make any mark. Hugh Jackman (as Logan) was great and witty, as long as he didn’t let Wolverine enter. James McAvoy (as Charles) was good in supporting role, liked the scene where Logan asks him to enter his mind and give him hope. I doubt watching old films would make any difference to my liking either.
Verdict : 2/5
Blended :
Decent time pass movie, with some good laughs. The final few moments of the movie gets too dramatic to my liking, and there are places where the gags don’t work. Liked Drew Barrymore most, and that cutest little girl of Jim (played by Adam Sandler). Story wise, nothing new or special. Special mention to those band of guys leader who pops up everywhere to sing ‘Blended’ and stuff, too hilarious he was.
Verdict : 2.5/5
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