Underworld Awakening [Views]

Directed by : Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein

Imdb Link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1496025/

My heart is not cold. It's broken.

Apart from the stunts, and to certain extent, the climax.. there's nothing much that I enjoyed in this film. Plus, the fact that vampire films I have never intended to watch, this was first of kind for me, and expectedly it didn't impress me.

The story is of Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who is trying to survive against the humans after her, Michael (her love) and her child Eve. She comes to know that she and her daughter are the subjects being treated upon by a doctor whose interest lies in something else.

There are some thrilling moments, and I like scenes between Selene and Eve. Selene's escape from hospital, the action sequence where Eve is taken for healing and the climax are some of the best portions in the film. Also, some good 3d sequences, for a change.

Screenplay is weak, Editing is fine. Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein's direction isn't convincing.

Among performances, Kate Beckinsale shines in a very good performance. India Eisley is nice in a small role. Rest supporting cast are decent.


Overall, Underworld Awakening is a below average film.. watchable for Kate at best.

North by Northwest [Views]

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125

Roger : What's wrong with men like me ? 
Eve : They don't believe in marriage. 
Roger : I've been married twice. 
Eve : See what I mean ? 

Only my 2nd Hitchcock film after 'Rear Window', and how much I ended up loving this film.....

Roger O Thornhill (Cary Grant) works as a executive at a advertising agency, who is mistakenly kidnapped by a group of people thinking he is the government agent. They assume he is 'Kremlin', a person who doesn't exist.  Roger manages to escape, but in order to find the truth about Kremlin, he lands himself into numerous problems, to such a extent that the police is also after him now.

The screenplay is terrific, just what a thriller requires with perfect dose of humour, romance and drama. I specially loved the humour in the dialogues, so well written. Editing was very good.Then, hitchcock's direction was supreme.. special reference to two sequences especially, one where he zooms in to the close up of Roger when the group of people come to kidnap him. And the other one, crop duster sequence.. notice that scene where we are made to view the scene through the point of view of Roger, for some 2-3 mins, just like him we are made to see the empty roads and no one around, to get that frustrated and what the fuck! feeling. And, when finally a person comes, a wide shot shown with Roger looking at him, hoping for a wave, then with little doubt he finally goes to talk. Superb scene that was!

Also, the scenes between Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) and Roger were so romantic, specially the whole train sequence had the blend of romance and seduction to a certain extent. Clara Thornhill (Jessie Royce Landis) as the mother of Roger was superb in small supporting role, those expressions through her eyes were so funny, first in court sequence with 'Ha!' and then the lift scene 'You gentleman aren't really trying to kill my son, are you?'.

James Mason as Philip and Martin Landau as Leonard, gave fine performances. Cary Grant was splended in the lead role, the style, pose and the way he delivers the dialogues, special mention to that drunk scene driving car.. classic expressions on his face! Also, the bidding scene.. loved that to the core.

Overall, North by Northwest is a wonderful film, especially if you love thrillers. It keeps you interested till pretty much the final shot of the film!

Doctor Zhivago [Views]

A flashback told by Zhivago's brother Yevgraf (Alec Guiness), who is in search of his niece. He believes no one could find the worth of Zhivago (Omar Sharif) while he was alive. We see few scenes from Zhivago's young life, a very long shot of Zhivago looking at the dead body of his mother, who is getting cremated. 

Zhivago is good at poetry, which is loved by his wife but the real inspiration comes when he meets his 2nd love Lara (Julie Christie). Lara is exploited by her step father Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), so much that she tries to kill him but fails in her shooting. 

The film is set in the backdrop of 1st World war and a russian revolution, how the life of Zhivago gets affected, he tries to balance between both his wife and the love of Lara. While Lara who initially loved Pasha (Tom Courtenary) changed ways with Zhivago, since the time they got seperated during a fight sequence. Zhivago who is a doctor, comes as a aid to the injured people, with Lara helping as a nurse, the time where the love starts to blossom between Zhivago and Lara but they dont get physical since Lara feels that would spoil Zhivago's image. 

Cinematography is excellent, be it that rain sequence when Zhivago is a kid, or the one where he is on a horse coming back from meeting Lara, or the beautiful garden Zhivago and his wife create outside their new house. 

What makes the film emotionally moving, is the love shared by Zhivago and Lara, nothing exceptional though but in the context of the film and the times they meet, it makes it special. Plus, the chemistry between them is really good. Special mention to the scene where Zhivago and Yevgraf meets for 1st time, no dialogues shared. 

I like the climax dialogue 'Ahh.. then its a gift'. The background score is good, especially during scenes involving lots of action (not fights). 

Only problem I find in film is, its way too long, over 3 hours. Could had edited it a bit, though those long and silent moments at places makes the film beautiful only, so not really hard feelings.

Overall, Doctor Zhivago is a film especially aimed for movie buffs only, a good one time watch for sure. 

Arthur Christmas [Views]

After Puss in the Boots, this is 2nd animation film that I loved a lot. The writing is so good and creative, they presented Christmas in such a funny and loving way, with lots of emotions too. The screenplay is very good. Arthur has the job of reading mails sent by ppl to Santa, and he replies back to them. His father's brother Steve handles the technical department of North Pole, to check if all the people got their gifts from the Santa (his dad).

Unfortunately, Santa forgets to send gift to 1 person, a glitch by mistake. The girl he misses was to get a cycle. Steve and Santa both decide to ignore, as its a .0000000025 % they missed out. But, Arthur can't see a girl sad on Christmas Day, and with the help of his grandpa Santa, he goes there to deliver the gift himself.

I loved the role of Elves a lot, cute and so hillarious like the conversations it has with grandpa during plane sequences or it wraps a cycle in climax, also the opening sequence that is full of such elves.

Plus, the sequence where Arthur lets Steve, his dad Santa and grandpa Santa to watch the girl see her present, to see her happiness which mostly they never did. For them it was a day that ends the moment they kept the present at their places, and just went away.

The 3d yet again dissappointed me, hardly anything worth having it. My fav characters were Arthur, his mom and elves. The technical place setup was very well done.

Overall, Arthur Christmas was a good fun film, should be seen atleast once if you like animation films.

Movie Analysis : Players

Charlie (Amitah Bachchan) gets a team of good players, Ronnie (Bobby Deol) who is a magician, Riya (Bipasha Basu) a thief, Bilal (Sikandar Kher) good in explosives, Sunny (Omi Vaidya) deals with make overs and Spider (Neil Nitin Mukesh) a hacker. The mission is to steal gold from a train going to Russia. 

It's a Abbas Mastaan film, hence you expect that there would be a certain someone who would betray Charlie in the plan. There are 2 sequences where intentionally a gora is made to obey indian traditions or sing indian songs, a way to bring humour into the film as per the director. Silly! 

In a thriller, its important that there are good twists and turns, and the end isn't easily guessable or the other way around, its not easy to guess how the exeuction would take place. The reason Players fails is, one, some of the twists don't surprise you as you guessed them correctly, and second, the performances lacks the firepower or screen presence to keep you interested in a 2 hr 40 mins long film. 

The twist after succeeding in getting gold, is the best of all. Other than that, the small car sequence is good one, and so is the climax gold one. Dialogues are average not well written. Editing is okay. Screenplay was predictable.

Music is good, and used pretty much as per requirement of the narration of the story. Jhoom jhoom female version filmed on Sonam and Neil was the best of all, and so was yeh ladki hai naadaan. Unfortunately, the screenplay had no place for dil yeh beqarar song, which was the best one in entire album.

Abhishek Bachchan may had enacted his role sincerely, yet the lack of his screen presence lets the film suffer especially when you have Omi Vaidya, Sikandar Kher and Bobby Deol as three supporting actors. 

Omi Vaidya does have few good moments in the film, which in itself is a victory for him who is just repeating himself ever since 3 Idiots. Sikandar Kher and Bobby Deol have small roles, with not much significance.

Neil Nitin Mukesh is the best of all the actors, though he is let down with weak punchlines. Sonam Kapoor looks wonderful, and to a certain extent is likeable in the film.. her acting is still bad but atleast you can manage to see her this time around. She was wonderful in that dance no with Neil Nitin Mukesh.

Bipasha Basu role had no freshness, seen her in similar roles too often.. infact she reminded a lot of Race, just that she was with other person this time around. She was definately apt for the film, but could had swapped roles with Sonam probably.

A interview said that Vinod Khanna is gonna be seen in a film after long because this script appealed to him, Really ? The 1st sequence with those funny looking inspectors was enough to tell what a stupid role he said Yes to!


Overall, Players turns out to be a below average film due to weak screenplay and actors who couldn't bring the kind of style this thriller required to have.


Verdict : Below Average

Movie Analysis : Chaalis Chauraasi

Four people decide to earn money by looting a place that has around 20 crs of money, with only 2 people safeguarding it. They decide on a plan of going as police, stealing a van but on the course of the plan they get into the liberties a policeman has, as a result getting away from their task resulting in lots of troubles.

I like the screenplay, non-linear and very good way of introducing the characters. Infact, they show those sequences twice which as a viewer I didn't mind as the comic element was high in them. Also, there is a sherlock holmes kind of sequence(one way though) twice in the film, where the protoganist dreams what would happen if he does something. Very innovative.

Camera-work is good, and editing is impressive. I like the climax, keeping it simple without going over-the top which some directors could had done.

The music is well used, without effecting the flow of the film.. plus the songs are entertaining with the kind of choreography done. I especially loved Hawa Hawa ae hawa, old time classic song, re-done in a very good way. And, notice two songs, one relating to Munni badnaam and other to Sheila ki jawaani very much intentionally. The choreography also has a deja vu of those songs.

Among performances, Naseeruddin Shah is fantastic as a person who is always calm even in tough situations. Notice his reactions when they fall in their own trap or when he meets the Haryana police. Offlate, he has been dancing a lot, in 3 songs we see him do that in this film.  Atul Kulkarni for me was the best performer of the lot, mainly because he plays a wanna be singer who turns a pimp and then partner in a crime to be done, in short he is the one who gets scared a lot easily. Special mention to the scene where he keeps repeating '2 hi log the'.

Kay Kay Menon, I always felt had a good comic timing even in his serious movies and one of his performance in 'Sankat City' that wasn't much noticed. Here in this film, except for few overdose of expressions in starting van scene, he was perfect in the rest film. Especially, his dream car sequence, or the pistol scene.

Ravi Kissen shows he can act, and not just ham if given a proper role. How contrary the role is to his image we have seen in other films, he plays more of a responsible person among the four. And he does it effectively!

Manoj Pahwa was okay. Zakir Hussan is fine in a small cameo. Rajesh Sharma could get typecast in police roles again and again, if he remains this good, though something should be done about his appearance, at one stage I felt he has come directly from No one killed Jessica story. But, isnt it a good thought, a particular character repeated in films (but than which actor would like to do one kind of roles in every film).


Overall, Chaalis Chauraasi is the first good film of 2012, it has the entertainment value, a humour to connect with and laugh at, and good performances by the 4 actors.


Verdict : Very Good 

Movie Analysis : Ghost

Its only one person at the end of the film that you would like to blame for this mess of a film, or for the fact that she allowed such nonsense to be viewed by the audience. It is Puja Jatinder Bedi, who is director, writer and editor of the movie.

Few murders take place at City Hospital, all happen at 3 a.m and the method is same, destoying the face completely and taking the heart out of the body. Very brutal murders they are and hence, a detective Vijay (Shiney Ahuja) is employed to solve the case who takes the help of a doctor Suhani (Sayali Bhagat).

It appears that the load of writing and direction was too heavy for Puja, as we see very long shots throughout the film, terrible editing. It appeared as if she had no idea how much boring the sequence is looking. Plus, the songs that arrive from nowhere and are cut so badly, bringing a sharp pull. Vijay-Suhani romantic moments are poorly directed, also they totally take the main part of the film away. At one side you have murders taking place, and here both of them are interested in roaming and clubbing.

Music by Sharib-Toshi is also dissappointing, only javed ali's song 'dil ke liye' was pleasant enough to the ears.

Even the performances are so weak, Shiney Ahuja clearly appears to be out of form after all those personal controversies. The body language was missing, and he is a poor dancer, visible in salaame song. Not a good comeback to films!

Sayali Bhagat was very bad if compared to her performance in 'The Train'. Only worth thing was, her looks in the film. But, I wonder if doctors actually wear the kind of sexy dresses in hospital ?

Julia Bliss chose a poor script to make debut, she hardly has good scenes in a clear face.

The twists make no impact, infact the climax gives the deja vu of 80's horror films where a girl is taking revenge from every person responsible for her death. Dialogues are too funny. The computer graphics were well done, but of no avail when they are used in such a poorly written film, with a un-interesting screenplay and editing that would make you feel that I could had made a better film than this.

Overall, Ghost is a waste of time with nothing worth at all, you hardly get scared in the film.


Verdict : Avoidable