The Ides of March [Views]

Directed by George Clooney

Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124035/

All the reporters love you. Even the reporters that hate you still love you.

Stephen (Ryan Gosling) works as a campaign manager for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney). Stephen believes in his idealistic ways of working, and he believes in Morris a lot, therefore wants him to be President at any cost. Stephen gets a call from opponent campaign manager, plus something else goes wrong in Morris campaign and the girl Molly (Evan Rachel Wood) he was having romance with, has a secret that would shake every bit out of him. 

The film goes into exploiting the behind the scene activities in Politics, lots of manipulation and scripting of speeches, plus how much your loyalty is questioned irrevalent of what kind of person you are who is questioning it. 

I like how well the framing and lighting is done in the film, and some great camera-work too. Ryan Gosling is excellent in a character who despite believing in his morals commits few mistakes to be made to question, he has to chose between his job, and the morals he prefers to have while working. And, he does make a right choice. 

George Clooney is more of a supporting actor in the film, and very efficient. The kind of greyness his character holds is so invisibile (as most of his scenes are to enact the speeches written for him by Stephen's team), that one has to applaud the writing of his character especially for this result. Infact, the writing as a whole is pretty impressive, never getting preachy which a plot like this would easily do. (One of the reasons I felt Raajneeti looks so small in front of this film)

Almost every actor in the film has got that one big scene to get noticed, Duffy (Paul Giamatti) has that one scene with Stephen where he tells why he can't hire him now when he was interested to do so before. Its a scene where you have to agree with the reasons the opponent campaigner Duffy gives to Stephen. 

Evan Rachel Wood brings some of the light romantic moments in the film, especially the two sequences, both with Stephens, one in his cabin as he tries to ask her out or she makes him ask her out, and other when they are in a restaurant. 

Paul (Phillip Hoffman) is very good in a supporting role, especially the sequence where he questions the loyalty of Stephens, or the silent sequence with Morris in car. 

Ida (Marisa Tomei) and Ben (Max Minghella) were good in their small roles.

Overall, The Ides of March is a very good film for the way it portrays behind the activities of politics without getting over-board, and how a single person's life gets affected through some of his own wrong steps taken, and the rest by his own colleagues, yet he finds his way through in a place he has learned is very dirty and his idealistic approach won't help him no longer. 

Breakfast at Tiffanys [Views]

Directed by Blake Edwards

Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054698/

Okay, Life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness. 

The film appealed to me more in the 2nd half than the 1st one. Its story of a call girl, Holly (Audrey Hepburn) who lives in a New York apartment. The person living a floor up always gets irritated by the disturbance caused by the social parties Holly is always engaged in. A new person Paul (George Peppard) comes to live in a apartment next to her. Paul and Holly despite having very less in common, happen to bond well, and eventually fall in love. But Holly ain't ready to marry someone who isn't rich. She has some reservations against marriage.

I like the fact that the director keeps the film non-vulgar. Audrey's performance specially is very good, a talkative girl who shares what she actually is mainly with Paul, whom she finds so close and similar in appearance to her brother Fred. She is not ready to accept that she can actually love someone, and someone can actually love her a lot. She has more or less taken herself as a girl who would just use the rich customers to her own benefit and lead a luxury life, even if deep inside she knows that won't really give her the real happiness, that's why she repeatedly says 'At Tiffanys you never feel low, you can't feel sad here. Its just so good here'. The story is more of her self-realization that takes place by Paul as the story goes forward.

 The conversation between Holly and Paul when they meet for 1st time,, the hillarious party sequence, the tiffany steal scene and the climax are the best scenes of the film. Also special mention to the opening credits, I like the work of DOP, very good camera angles too. And, the cat references throughout the movie telling how similar the life of Holly is to the cat whom she isnt willing to give any name. And, the final sequence is again related to the cat, making her realize some hard-truths she was running away from.

George Peppard is just about fine in his performance. He excels in the climax scene though. While I loved that guy whom Paul asks for help when in jail, his small cameo was nice and funny.

The person living in upper apartment of Holly, was just irritating.. what was that lamp doing above his bed, a total waste of character.

Overall, despite a low 1st half, the 2nd half so much makes up for it that its among the movies I may like to watch again too. Its mainly to do with good direction and audrey's great performance.

Chronicle [Views]

Directed by Josh Trank
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706593/

Three highschool friends gain super-powers from a wierd incident. They are happy that they have something anyone else doesn't have, they could control and do things the way they want. But, what they don't know is 'With great powers, comes great responsibility'. How the misuse of their powers turns the lives of not just these three but the people living in the same city in danger.

In super-power films, one thing is usual that there would be a person who has got some problems in life, here its Andrew (Dane DeHaan) who is shy, gets beaten by school kids, has a mother who is ill and has a abusive drunkard father. Not only Andew, but his two other highschool friends, one being his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and Steve (Micheal. Jordan) also get the power to fly things or themselves. The first 20-30 mins of film is narrated through the point of view of Andrew ala LSD style, a camera Andrew uses throughout the movie to film every incident of his life. One may get little tired of watching it for too long, but it works quite well for me, not over-done at all.

The problem in film comes with the quick change in attitude of Andrew, who firstly mis-uses power during car sequence, then feels humiliated while trying to make out with a girl during a party, and then the lightening sequence with Steve. One may understand why Andrew does all  that, but if only that part was higlighted more where Andrew was about to become a massive destructer for every person living in that city, it could had helped a lot in connecting to his reactions towards his dad or friends.

Also, the mystery isn't revealed as to what actually led to those superpowers, the only thing we are told is they visited a rock kind of thing and eventually got those powers. And the plot involving Matt and his girlfriend was not interesting at all, the writing could had been engaging there.

I liked Dane DeHaan performance a lot, specially his dialogue delivery syncs very well with his character sketch which is more of a loser, and a laidback person. Alex was good, while Micheal a bit over the top. The guy enacting Andrew's father was effective in few scenes he had.

Overall, Chronicle is a film that's good for all the stuffs the three friends do with those powers, and the mis-use Andrew does in the end. But, the story as a whole fails to create magic, especially for the treatment of final 30 mins.

Man on a Ledge [Views]

Directed by Asger Leth
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568338/

A man, Nick (Sam Worthington) is standing on a ledge trying to prove his innocence. He was convicted for a crime, he never committed. To help him out, he seeks help of Lydia (Elizabeth Banks).

The film has good quotient of thrilling moments, for most part of the film it keeps you on the edge of the seat. There are few loop-holes though, for instance the sequences between Joey (Jamie Bell) and Angie (Genesis) distract the serious plot that we are very much engaged into. Plus, the sequences happening while Nick is standing on the ledge, do not quite bring the same impact. In a scene, ts hard to believe that in real a journalist just to cover a story would risk the life of a already dying person. Also, why is it that the crowd is so eager to see him jump.. I couldn't really digest that.

What works is the scenes between Lydia and Nick, they had good chemistry and their conversations take the movie forward making you guess what's next in store. Plus, there is a uncertainity about Nick that whether he is in real a innocent guy or not, and if he would really jump early or by end etc.

Mike (Anthony Mackie) plot should had been developed more. While the action scenes are pretty ordinary.

On the whole, despite its flaws, its a good enough thriller to be seen once.

Love You To Death [Views]

Directed by Rafeeq Ellias 

Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1774473/

A dark comedy film that works in pieces mainly for the characterization of the characters, guy interested in money and ambition, girl into the environment stuff, mother prefers video games, father likes wild life, servant dreams of massage parlours in Goa, a small dog 'baby' suffering from human trauma's, a theatre teacher allowing his students to practice by killing the girl in real and a friend of the girl playing a tarrot card reader.

What lets down the film is the screenplay that's bit dull, and the humour that never makes you laugh a lot. Yuki Ellias was the best among all actors in the film, Chandan Roy was a bit restrained and in one scene he totally went into Kaminey mode. Good to see Suhasini Mulay after a long time. Rest cast was decent.

Rafeeq Ellias as a director excels in some particular sequences only. Also, its hard to understand that Chandan and his mom agrees to meet Yuki at a party knowing she might try to kill them.

Some of the best moments from the film would be, the complete doctor sequence which was so hillarious, the theatre teacher sequence, the scene where Yuki prepares food for Chandan and his mom, and the 'Mudh mudh ke na dekh' finale. Also, the interval sequence was classically shot, much like a metaphor.

Overall, Love you to Death could had been much better if the treatment was good. Its a different kind of film, so watchable atleast once.

Movie Analysis : Gali Gali Chor Hai

The promos gave a feeling of 'how bad' this film would be. The film turned out to be on same lines, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

Based on corruption, whether its police or politicians or theif or lawyer.... all demand money irrespective of their fraud. The story resembles the famous Tv Serial Office Office to certain extent. What lets the film down, is the sub-plot of the cliched wife-husband-pg story, and a terrible climax. A wife having probs with her husband showing too much interest in the girl who lived at their house as paying guest, could had been acceptable if you weren't making a hard-hitting film because to be frank, the corruption plot is very well done thanks to Vijay Raaz, Anu Kapoor and Akshay Khanna. Even, the ram leela sequences are good if you ignore the over-the top Amit Mistry.

The direction of Rumi Jaffery is average, with a screenplay thats weak and the ordinary dialogues. Even the editing is bad, so many jump cuts.

Most of the songs are used to slow down the narration, only Mohit's song is pleasant to the ears. Veena Malik's item number is ridiculous, Mamta Sharma repeats herself in same type of singing like 'Munni' song, while choreography is a big yawn, and Veena can't dance. Special mention to the disaster costumes given to her in the song.

Akshay Khanna despite a good performance should not do these kinda of films. Shreya Saran was decent, Mugdha Godse hasn't been getting a good role ever since Fashion, same applies to this film. Annu Kapoor was fantastic, plays a cop role 2nd time in row with such conviction and that brilliant dialect.

Satish Kaushik is nice, but nothing fresh. Vijay Raaz is nice. Murli Sharma is fine.

Overall, Gali Gali Chor Hai is a below average film.. good in few parts and intolerable in rest.


Verdict : Below Average

Movie Analysis : Agneepath

There are two exact sequences from old Agneepath in this newer version, one exact dialogue scene and few same sequences handled differently. Rest portion has been changed, in terms of settings and screenplay. Dialogues are fresh too. Yet, the film fails because the vision of new director 'Karan Malhotra' is just too weak.

The main plot is the same, Vijay (Hrithik Roshan) as a small child watches his father Master Dinnanath Chauhan (Chetan Pandit) die in front of him by conspiracy set against him through Kaancha Cheena (Sanjay Dutt). Vijay seeks revenge now, and as he grows up he aims to become stronger to fight against Kaancha Cheena one day, to get back his village Mandwa which Kaancha has taken away.

The main reason why this new version of Agneepath not working for me is, the different vision I have from Karan Malhotra. Karan presents Vijay a lot more emotional with the anger stored inside that unleashes at various moments. I strongly believe a revenge film should refrain from emotional moments as much as possible, but that's not the case here. Here, we see Vijay having problems to marry Kaali, breaking in tears watching his sister, or pre-climax scene with Kaali.. Infact, when a grown up Vijay for first time goes to Mandwa to meet Kancha, the emotional expression over-takes the anger, a big fail!

The film doesn't begin in right way either for me, not for the story.. the role of Master Dinnanath Chauhan. Chetan Pandit was good, not denying it.. but the impact of a master was missing so as to pity his death later. Thats why I felt, a very good contender for Master's role was in the film itself i.e Sachin Khedekar. Instead we see Sachin typecasted in a role that resembles Singham! Bad work on the characters by the casting person ....

There are various scenes where Karan fails as a director for me, one was Vijay-Kaancha first meet.. there had to be some dialogues there, instead a hug and breaking into Chikni Chameli song. Then, the famous sequence 'Vijay and his mom at dining table', more blame to Piyush Mishra here, as the writing was bad. I could like only the one moment in this scene, where Vijay breaks down eating rice.. with Kaali for not getting a single loving moment, the hug from his mother. And then, the climax.. I agree with Karan has the arguement that Kaancha is heavily built.. hence Vijay has to struggle, but he clearly over-did the no of times Vijay gets stabbed... you just can't misuse the word 'cinematic liberty' to such a large extent.

Sanjay Dutt as Kaancha Cheena was a very big dissappointment. Again, Karan Malhotra the culprit.. he fails to extract the kind of performance he should had. The look is stunning, but what about the dialect ? Such terrible dialogue delivery, and going into Vaastav mode again and agian.

Also, what was the point of repeating certain dialogues 5-6 times 'aatma na marti hai' or 'poochna toh mujhe hi padega', 'main maaru'. And, evil characters especially Kaancha and Surya (Pankaj Tripathi) have a habit of laughing a lot before/after speaking a dialgoue, what for ?

Kaali (Priyanka Chopra), her performance is good, though at times she goes into 'Pinky' mode of Kaminey. But, the way it was told Vijay-Kaali would be much more than old one, I thought they would present the romantic story beautifully, and it doesnt happen here. Infact, if they kept Kaali out of the screenplay, the film would had become slightly likeable as the mammoth 3 hrs length would had decreased, plus few emotional sequences out!

The best addition done into the film is 'Rauf Lala' (Rishi Kapoor), his performance is way above Sanjay Dutt. And, the writing is terrific here. Watch him in the conversation scene with Kaancha, or the one with his son Mazhar Lala (Rajesh Tandon) and the selling of a girl on both occasions. Not just his look, but the way Rishi has moudled himself into the character, clear effort is visible and it pays off brilliantly.

The screenplay would had worked better with some unwanted characters and scenes taken away, plus it would had then reduced the amount of time where we see Kaancha missing! You can't let the main villian stay away from limelight for too long. Editing by Akiv Ali is fine. Cinematography by Ravi K Chandran is superb, specially love the sequence where Vijay comes to Mandwa, and walks around the village.

Dialogues are ordinary, you miss punchlines from the movie when you come out, only one stays with you 'kamzor n pahelvaan one'. Costumes  from Manish Malhotra are another good highlight of the movie, Vijay in shirt mainly light colours, mostly white. While Kaancha always in black, and Priyanka mostly colourful sarees, love that red one.  Rishi Kapoor, in a typical pathan kind of attire. Background score is very loud, though in a way suits the film which is presented in same manner too.. yet what I miss is some good background themes throughout the movie. If you carefully notice, the old agneepath's theme is used twice here, re-worked.. specially like it when its used during young vijay's pistol scene with police.

'Shah ka Rutba' and 'Deva Shree Ganesha' are best used songs in the album, and they were my favs too.. so happy about it. Abhi mujh mein kahin fails to make any mark on me. O Saiyyan is used as a background. Gun gun guna is very well choreographed, yet it comes at a time when the story is just trying to pace up.. and as a result song slightly becomes mis-fit. Chikni Chameli is worst used song of the film, no proper scenes kept to lead to the Katrina's item number. As a result, if they had removed this song, it would had made no difference, Kaancha could had asked Vijay at bargad ka pedh 'kuch toh chahte hoge', and Vijay replied 'Mandwa', and directly cut to Kaancha beating Vijay. Common Sense a good film-maker/writer should have!

Katrina Kaif is amazing in the special apperance of 'Chikni Chameli', lovely choreography. Om Puri kinda of repeats the Don2 character, but this time he appears more interested in his character, his urge to raid Mandwa scene the best of all.

Zarina Wahab, was turning to be my fav since My name is Khan, but here she completely dissappointed me. Below the par performance. Rajesh Tandon is fine, Deven Bhojani over-does his problem act in the film. Arish as young Vijay was good, if I compare to old agneepath's Vijay, he is no where close.. but as a newbie, I quite liked his performance. Special mention to the scene where he points gun to a police inspector.

Hrithik Roshan has 3-4 best scenes in the film, one is when he feels its time to become stronger, second is when he is in boat and emotionally looking around at Mandwa village, once his homeplace. And lastly, 'Naam vijay chauhan, vijay dinna-nath chauhan poora naam'.. he doesn't copy Amitabh here, delivers dialogue in his own way.. and the anger with the gulaal red colour on face as he walks off, probably best scene of the movie. But, the dialogue should had ended at poora naam, and not extended further.. Clear case of over-trying by Karan Malhotra. And the scene, where his anger for Rauf Lala unleashes, Note how his walk slowly transforms into a angry run.. another of those fav moments from the film.

The best thing about Hrithik's portrayal of Vijay is, very rarely you feel he is even trying to copy Amitabh, as he is totally different. Most of the times, he emotes with his eyes. His performance is best until he meets Kaancha in the story. After that he falters, some blame to Karan for trying to keep his emotional side visible, and some to Hrithik because he shivers his face a lot during angry scenes, a thing that is getting monotonous about him whenever you see him in such a situation of a film. Even in the final poem reciting scene, he fails big time.


Overall, Agneepath is a weakly directed movie from Karan Malhotra, you may like the film if you connect with his vision. I couldn't and hence I disliked the film. Too many flaws in the film, with 3 hr movie length. The style in the film should had come naturally, instead here we see lots of shots where actor walks towards camera, build up shot of grown up Vijay etc etc. Karan Johar had a dream to make this cult film of his father a big hit, he has got his dream fulfilled, only wish he chose a good director too.. who would had given proper justice to the film. Its only Rishi Kapoor and parts of Hrithik Roshan's performance that pleased me..


Verdict : Average