Movie Analysis : Inside Out

Directed by Pete Doctor & Ronnie Del Carmen
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/

My most loved animation movie till date, full of fun and emotional moments too. 

Young Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) who is 11 years old has to make a fresh start to a new school, new friends and new home as her Dad (Kyle Maclachlan) gets new job in San Francisco. Riley misses old friends, her old home at Minnesota. Her emotions named Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader) controls her, just like it does to any of us.   These emotions live at Headquarters , the control center inside Riley’s mind that tells what next action Riley will have. Joy tries her level best to keep Riley 24 hrs happy including her dreams. But, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger get their way in as Riley struggles to manage at a new place.

The idea of showing all the emotions working together, one trying to interfere with other and causing problems is very creative and they have executed it brilliantly including the looks of all these emotions!

My personal favorite was ‘Sadness’, she always looked like someone no other emotion was fond of (ain’t surprising) and yet how significant she proves to be in life of Riley. And yea, some fun moments too including when she needs to rest and get over the sadness before she can walk again with Joy. I loved most is what they portray with her character in the final parts of movie, that its okay to be sad and show it, instead of trying to be happy all the time.

Most hilarious moment comes when Joy and Sadness are not at Headquarters, and its upto Anger, Disgust and Fear to manage happy thoughts in Riley’s mind which is Joy’s work. And how badly they struggle. The inside brain of Riley parents while having dinner was super fun. Also, watch how all the emotions of bus driver (in end credits) are Anger. Also, the continuous run of chewing gum commercial that tests the temper of Anger.

The choice of voice-overs were so apt, not a single character sounded boring or unreal. Also, the extent to which they expand the entire idea of looking at emotions inside Riley is applaudable. We see islands named after ‘Friendship’, ‘Goofball’, ‘Hockey’ (as Riley loves it)’, ‘Family’ etc. The islands get stronger when Riley has a happy memory related to them, but they can crash too if something negative happens with Riley.  Then there’s the train of thoughts, a dreamland, bing bong (a imaginary friend), and guess what a team actually writes a script for Riley’s dreams and there is a imaginary boyfriend whose only line is ‘I can die for you Riley’.

Inside Out isn’t just full of fun moments, but it also has some lovely emotional side to it too.  Like when Joy realizes the importance Sadness has in Riley’s life. Or when Anger is about to take control from Joy when Riley’s mother’s polite talk with Riley surprises Anger. And the best one when Riley cries and admits to her parents about her current behavior. Also, they carry out the ‘can’t feel any emotion’ scene so well.


What’s good is that Inside Out isn’t just looking to please kids, but this one will get thumbs up from the adults too. Its my most loved animation movie of all the ones I have seen (yet to watch the ones people call classics in this genre). Its a movie that I can watch again and again!

Do watch the end credits for some inside the brain emotions of other characters other than Riley. Also, watch short ‘Lava’ video that is played before start of movie. The song gets repetitive but the visuals make up for it, humorous as well as touchy. 

Verdict : 4.5/5 

Movie Analysis : Insidious Chapter 3

Directed by Leigh Whannell
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3195644/

Least liked chapter of Insidious series, good performances by Lin Shaye and Stefanie Scott

Insidious is one of my favorite franchise (might be surprising for horror fanatics). I loved first two movies, because of the storytelling. Specially the 1st one where the concept of ‘The Further’ comes into notice 1st time. The unnecessary jump scares were very less, though they did that in 2nd movie which was sad, still it was worth a watch for me as there were plenty of nice twists and scare moments.

The 3rd Chapter goes to the events that happened before 1st movie i.e before the hauntings in Lambert family. I would had preferred them to continue from the end of 2nd movie where Elise (Lin Shaye) sees a demon that terrifies her. Instead we have a altogether new story about a teenager girl Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) who tries to connect with her dead mother but ends up calling a dangerous supernatural entity known as ‘a demon who can’t breathe with a mask’. Quinn and her father have to opt for physic help from Elise who herself is recovering from tremors she faces every time she goes into ‘The Further’.


Whannell doesn’t really attempt building story, he directly starts with a scene between Elise and Quinn, as Quinn wants her help to connect with her dead mother. What follows thereafter is, the usual scares like door bang, footprints, neighbor giving hint about demon indirectly etc. There are some good horror moments for sure, atleast for those like me who gets scared easily. One scene where Quinn is lying on floor while the demon shuts doors and switches lights off is scary though they end that scene very tamely, but my fav jump scare moment was when Quinn and her father follow the footprints and look down the road from the window, I almost jumped out of my seat.

What turned me off was the relationship between Quinn and her father, aren’t we tired of watching a family member experiencing supernatural power around while the other member ignores it and not believing it, something ‘The Conjuring’ didn’t do and even 1st two parts of Insidious. Also, there is that lack of emotional connect as Quinn’s father is represented poorly with no significant scene.

I like how they introduce characters of Tucker and Specs, who form a team with Elise eventually as you would know from last 2 parts. Also the climax again has a surprise twist, making you leave theatre thinking where the 4th chapter will lead to.

Another aspect I felt was a let down, was when Elise goes into ‘The Further’, they didn’t make it scary enough, like have lots more of demons and not just that lady who is after Elise. Felt it was less spooky then it should had been.

In the end apart from the good scary moments, it was Lin Shaye’s performance that was likable who gets larger role in this part. Also, Stefanie Scott does well despite a script that is not so pleasing.


Insidious Chapter 3 is the least liked movie in this franchise for me, but if you haven’t liked the 1st two, then who knows this one might work for you, not for me though.


Verdict : 2/5 

Spy and Any Body Can Dance 2 - Reviews

Couldn’t get time to write full fledged reviews,  so posting my views on both the films in few lines only.

Spy

Hillarious movie, some great dialogues, performances by Melissa (I just love her comic timing, her best performance I have seen), Jason Statham (he gives laugh out loud moments despite being a cameo, doing stupidest things possible), Rose Bryne (looks hot), Miranda Hart (in that 50 cents scene was superb) and Nargis in a comical brilliant action sequence. Even good comedy is created through over the top action scenes, specially that WTF moment when Melissa single handedly fights everyone in the final part of movie. The person who Aldo was very good too specially that dialect.

Easily one of my favorite movies of this year. Hope this becomes a franchise, won’t mind watching a silly look at the way agents handle this profession unlike Bond/Bourne series.

Verdict : 4/5 



Any Body Can Dance 2 

Much much better than 1st part with right choice of cast who can dance well and act too. Dance pieces are brilliant, Prabhu Deva’s “should I tell him or show him’ as he showcases those dance moves that leaves everyone in the song including us in audience awestruck, only you wish that the song played was also of the same quality. Bezubaan dance is wonderful as it comes at a keypoint, sadly the middle part that includes water scenes lessened the impact. In Las Vegas, the semis Ganpati act is to watch out for, can’t find a fault in it. Also, the comical Charlie Chaplin dance act. The Final act infact on ‘Vande Mataram’ was a bit disappointing as the level was set too high by then, and also the over-dramatic setting doesn’t help.

Remo tries to insert too much of sympathy early on with those overdose of ‘Cheater cheater’, could had focussed just on main characters I felt. Like that scene where Suresh (Varun Dhawan) connects to his mother while being in pain over the accusation of copying choreography. And what the hell was that dialogue ‘your mother died with her ghunghroos on’. Also, the un-wanted love triangle created with Lauren was so silly which includes 2 of her songs, one that introduces her  and other a dreamy sequence, both should had been cut out. And why did Raghav let his friend make the team suffer in the final act, instead of making sure his dream to be part of Final stays and he takes position in that final formation in such a way that it doesn’t make his cough problem to occur, really Silly just to add drama!

Varun Dhawan’s performance is very good, these are the roles he owns completely. Shraddha can definitely dance well too just like her singing, sadly her acting is still very dodgy, can’t help to repeat what I always say, its her dialogue delivery that always lets down her performance. In supporting cast, Raghav and his friend were very good, specially their intro dance sequences. Also, you can trust Lauren when it comes to dancing, she is one of the best! And in acting too she did fairly well. Prabhu Deva surprisingly, emoted way better than the 1st part, but then maybe because he wasn’t the central character this time.

Any Body Can Dance 2 isn’t a great movie, but its a very good step forward in the franchise (expecting more to come) after the 1st one, if Remo could just keep the cliches aside, and let it be fully dance based!

Verdict : 3/5 

Movie Analysis : Hamari Adhuri Kahani

Directed by : Mohit Suri
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3483612/

Forgettable Mohit Suri movie, Emraan’s performance and music only saving grace. 

I had loved ‘Ek Villain’, and started to think that Mohit Suri is coming close to that magic he created in ‘Awarapan’, but with ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’ he takes a step back and gives one of his most forgettable movies.

Vasudha’s (Vidya Balan) husband  Hari (Rajkumar Rao) goes missing after 1 year of marriage. She stays with her son, and keeps waiting for 5 years. She is a florist by profession, and meets Aarav (Emraan Hashmi) who is a famous business tycoon owning over 100 plus hotels. Aarav falls in love with Vasudha, and she does too after hesitating initially thinking about her husband and all the traditions and norms she lived with. But when Hari returns back, it creates a dilemma for Vasudha. A triangular love story, where Emraan plays the positive hero deeply in love, Vidya a wife that has lived a tortured life (shown only through 2-3 flashbacks, thankfully) and Rajkumar who considers his wife as his property rather than loving her.

Mohit Suri continues the similar narration pattern like he did in ‘Ek Villain’, as he reveals the end right at the beginning of movie so that the entire movie works only in a flashback through a diary.  There are those typical Suri elements visible here - God angle, a romantic repeated catchline/moment (Aarav asking Vasudha for a photo always) and the way lovers meet at the end.

Its the script and terribly heavy dialogues written by Shagufta Rafique that never allows you to connect with the story. At interval, you get a uneasy feeling that tells how badly the movie fails to engage you. Suri tries way hard to manipulate, make you sympathize with Vasudha, feel bad for Aarav when Hari returns. It all appears so made up, nothing comes out natural. Even the love story of Aarav-Vasudha is very unconvincing.

The flashback story of Aarav’s mom is hilarious and so is the Shimla sequence, whoever the lady was who played the role totally hammed. And then there was that police inspector who tries to help Aarav in a sequence by saying a line starting with ‘Kaaynaat’ something, but by then I had already lost interest in how the kahani will remain adhuri!

Cinematography by Vishnu Rao is good,  that gives some eye-catching visuals. Raju Singh’s background score is lovable as always.

Music from Mithoon, Ami Mishra and Jeet Ganguly is fantastic. Almost all songs you could hear non-stop, and will stay with you for years. And they are indeed used very well in the narrative, specially ‘Humnava' my most fav track. Title track gives one of movie’s most emotional moment but spoiled at the end with a cliched visual.

In performances, its Emraan Hashmi who shines the most, he looks wonderfully good and emotes brilliantly through his eyes. I almost felt bad coming out of theatre thinking he would have another bad film to his name despite his own performance being so good.

Vidya Balan only gets one powerful scene, where she bursts out at Hari, coming out of her crying and remaining silent avatar. Her character is so badly written that even she couldn’t pull off a performance to admire. Sad that Vidya Balan has gone missing ever since Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani happened.

RajKumar Rao has lesser role, but his character of a husband treating wife badly has been done many times before, and thereby never interested me. Being a fan of his acting, he still didnt disappoint specially the scene where he is in utter shock and fear when he sees how much Vasudha has changed and transformed from what she used to be once.


Hamari Adhuri Kahani had great music, three very good lead actors and yet it fails to make any mark at all. Except for some good romantic moments, its a movie that should be skipped.


Verdict : 2/5