Okay doing it again.. writing my views on seen movies in past month or so in fewer lines. Will try once more to be regular from this Friday onwards.
Hindi Movies
Bombay Talkies : I am not a fan of short movies that have no connection to each other directly used as a entire film, still the big names of directors and actors, plus the storyline had me interested. Celebrating 100 yrs of cinema, this movie is in no way a commerical movie. Karan pulls off a triangular love story that is based on gay brilliantly, but the impact isnt great due to small duration and the end which looks very abrupt as well quick, songs like ajeeb dastaan and lag jaa gale are superbly used in narration. Saqib Saleem and Alisha Shaikh are the picks of this story. Dibakar's story is the best one out of all 4 with Nawazuddin Siddiqui as main lead showcasing his great acting talent once again. The idea of wide shot with Nawazuddin reciting old famous dialogues was very good, and that whole long sequence was best one of film. Also, Sadashiv Amrapurkar asking Nawazuddin, how he will say 'Ae'. One may complain that the story proceeds at a very slow pace but I felt that made me understand the life of Nawazuddin's character much more. Zoya's story surprised me as I from trailer I felt I won't like it. Except for unwanted sequence of Katrina Kaif appearing before Vicky (played by Naman Jain), the story was perfectly narrated. The conversations between Vicky and his sister, and the way Zoya handled the dream of Vicky was applaudable. Also, the use of 'Sheila ki Jawaani' song at the end. Anurag Kashyap story was good in pieces, it was Vineet's struggle to reach Amitabh Bacchan and the breakdown he has that was likeable in the story. Quite dissappointed being a lover of Anurag Kashyap cinema. Special mention to the 'Give it up for Bacchan' song. The final tribute was good until Aamir enters, after that its plain boring.. they should had kept the current actors scenes edited to the song too. So, as a whole the film was
NICE. Another thing to note was that all short films had something filmy in it. My order in the end was, Dibakar > Zoya > Karan > Anurag.
Go Goa Gone : Powerful 1st half with super funny dialogues and comic timing of all the characters, 2nd half is slightly low with the proceedings getting repeated. Condom scene, the talks between Vir and Kunal on Vir's old gf or new gf, the face-off with zombies and many more hillarious sequences. Just wish the writer had some more twists in 2nd half, maybe give new power to Zombie, but climax was very well thought of. Khoon Choosle and Slowly Slowly songs were great to watch. Vir and Kunal were superb in their performances. That scene where Kunal makes his last night gf who is not turned into zombie run around him to divert her from boat was excellent spoof on old hindi movies. Also, 'What do we know, what have we learnt' use time and again. To try and move like a zombie and fool them, was a good idea..
VERY ENTERTAINING MOVIE portraying zombie concept comically.
Gippi : Students who haven't got great looks or are fat, can even be fun loving and have the right not to be made fun of... is what the theme of movie is. Basically, its a chick movie with many girly sequences that are presented in very larger than life manner. Yet the director Sonam Nair shows her talent in the way she handles Riya Vij (gippi) and her mother Divya Dutta (pappi) private conversations or when Gippi tries to make her mother talk to her ex-husband at his 2nd marriage. No preaching at the climax either, and no change of heart between Gippi and her rival in school. Even though her rival, Shamira is portrayed way too mean probably I never witnessed anything like that in my school life. Good tribute to Shammi Kapoor with all those dance scenes. Nicely edited, keeping it short and sweet at 1hr 45 mins. Riya Vij and Doorva Tripathi (playing gippi's best friend) are the best performers in the movie, along with Divya Dutta and Taaha Shah in supporting roles.
NICE movie that will have its audience.
Aurangzeb : Way too heavy dialogues, otherwise Rishi Kapoor performance driven this film has some good twists coming specially in 2nd half. The pace also was too slow, plus some unintentional comedy like 'hum big boss big boss khel rahe the'. Arjun Kapoor isn't as convincing as he was in Ishaqzaade. Good to see Jackie Shroff in a decent role. The character of Prithviraj had scope to be developed much more. 'Barbaadi' song was well used, my most fav song of album.
AVERAGE film it turns out to be in the end.
Ishkq in Paris : My main problem with the film was the irritating dubbing voice of Rhehan Malliek, plus the screenplay which was very boring. There was no need to narrate the story with a voiceover of Preity Zinta's wife, and at interval say that the story begins now, really ? The best part of the movie is the adventure both Preity and Rhehan have together, and sadly thats totally inspired from 'Before Sunrise'.. still I didn't mind watching it as it took the movie into the good looking rom-com way, until it took the usual back turn. Performances of both leads were good but Preity needs to do a better film to make any kind of comeback to the category of well known actresses at present. Another
AVERAGE movie.
Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 : The first sequence of movie, and I told myself you are in for a headache movie. But even 1st part was good in parts so I thought I will find something good, and I kept searching good part until end of the movie. Yes, Dharmendra provided 2-3 funny moments, nothing more. The songs were average, Sunny and Bobby were hamming to the fullest. Neha had not much scope, while Kristina did well acting dumb, but when the script itself is full of dumb scene, how can one judge acting talent. The movie is full of wierdest and idiotic sequences, not to forget the monkey/gorilla (Whatever it was) to provide humour.. nothing new, havent we seen Anees Bazmee do it many times too. Anupam Kher and Johnny Lever were in roles I would not like to remember at all. Even Annu Kapoor was wasted. Only 'Q' dialogue and spoof on 1st part were laughable scenes. One of those films that I thought of leaving mid-way. Eventually I left it when climax ended without watching the end credits song 'Main taa aida hi nachna' which was my only fav song of album. Maybe deols fans will love this film, don't see anyone else liking it at all.
INTOLERABLE movie.
Fukrey : I liked Pulkit much more in this movie than I did in his 1st one. Specially his lottery number telling, and the relation with Priya Anand. Manjot played the innocent part efficiently. Varun Sharma was very funny. Richa Chadda was slightly loud, still likeable. Pankaj Tripathi was superb in supporting role. Special mention to the music, loved most of the songs especially Ambarsariya and Rabba. One of good things was the movie never went into other sub-plots and instead kept them as part of main proceeding which was the lottery. The climax was little weak and also Ali Fazal's story, otherwise enjoyed the movie pretty much.
VERY GOOD.
Raanjhanaa : The movie is narrated from the point of view of Dhanush mostly, and I am happy director opted for it. He is the reason why the movie worked for me despite it having a name called 'Sonam Kapoor'. Though Sonam unlike her previous films, wasn't totally plastic though her dialogue delivery still irritated at most places, so did the way she played the 2nd half part. Abhay Deol has a small cameo, and is fine in it.. like his dialogue in hospital with Dhanush. Swara Bhaskar and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub are mindblowing in their acts as supporting roles. Notice Swara during Banarasiya song, and Zeeshan saying the 'Sanjay Dutt' and 'Katrina Kaif' dialogues to Dhanush. They both compliment Dhanush fully as great performances. Dhanush is the real life of Raanjhanaa, despite his problem in speaking hindi.. except for maybe 1-2 scenes, his dubbing looked perfect.. hardwork pays off for him. What I loved about his character was the love that he had for Sonam remains intact despite all the events that happen, be it her love for Abhay or her ignorance towards him. Though Dhanush is given scenes where he shows his anger at her too, like the one where he takes scooter inside lake and walking off not caring about Sonam or the one where he warns her about cutting her wrist this time. But at the end of the day, his love over her was above anything else, even Swara Bhaskar's love towards him. It was Sonam and the track between Sonam and Abhay that derails the movie, because before the entry of Abhay.. it looked very lovable movie. 2nd half specially goes haywire, only Dhanush kept it going till the end, otherwise the political angle was not convincing at all. The final dialogue sequence of Dhanush is simply fantastic with beautiful visuals, 'par saala ab kaun uthe, kaun phir se mehnat kare.. dil lagaane ko.. dil tudwaane ko.. par uthenge kisi roz uss ganga ke kinare damroo bajane ko, unhi galiyo mein daud jaane ko, kisi zoya ke ishq mein phir se padh jaane ko'. Infact dialogues of the film were quite good. Rahman music is good, specially Tum Tak, title and Banarasiya.
NICE movie, wish it was much better in 2nd half.
Ghanchakkar : Raj Kumar Gupta fails to make it a hat-trick of great movies after Aamir and No one Killed Jessica. But the script and screenplay are to blame a lot too. The film's story moves at highly low pace with the scenes repeating themselves, like Emraan and Vidya's dining table talks including his mother's call, mujhe kuch yaad nahi hai dialogue said by Emraan time and again, and the over-dose of laugh by Rajesh Sharma and Namit Das when they meet Emraan for 1st time. The film is more of a dark comedy thriller, its hard to guess who is speaking truth but the journey towards the truth is painful, sadly. The robbery sequence is one of hillarious scenes of the year, thanks to the idea of using those 3 particular actor masks. Also, the scene where Emraan and Vidya dine with Rajesh/Namit. The final twist in the climax is good one too, and so is the fact that they used just 1 song in the narrative, and I liked the way song is picturised on Emraan. Performances wise, its 2nd time in a row when I haven't love Vidya in a Emraan hashmi starring movie. She is again good, but not convincing enough for me. Emraan is quite good if you consider the climax and think of how he made the character look vulnerable and doubtful without giving a clear angle. Ghanchakkar dissappoints me when I expected a awesome movie, totally let down feeling it was. Wish they had worked on script/screenplay.
BELOW AVERAGE.
English Movies
Mud : Interesting film with great cinematography. Two kids who find a boat across a river, meet a guy called Mud. Out of them, Tye Sheridan gets curious to know more about him, even travel to his girlfriend's place trying to re-unite Mud and her. Tye even makes his own new gf, but as the story goes on.. Tye realizes ugly side of love, be it his parents where he stays, his gf who forgets him or Mud and gf having their own issues. Felt slightly slow at times, yet its definately one time watchable movie. Good performance by Tye and Matthew McConaughey.
Star Trek into Darkness : I haven't seen any of previous versions of this movie, so dialogues or punches made in relation to that didn't click to me. Yet, as a new film too I was very much bored watching it. Plus, Zachary hairstyle was big turn-off. His love and hate relation with Chris was good, also scenes of Benedict were nice.
The Great Gatsby : The first 20-30 mins is narrated in way to tease the decaprio fans and also create a certain mysterious image of Gatsby as its for the characters in the movie or Tobey Maguire. And it works. What a entry scene Leonardo has, and that dialogue of Tobey with it. Treat for fans of decaprio. If there's some weak link, then its the military scenes of decaprio that look not so real, but more filmy. I haven't read the novel, so don't know how much justice the film did to it. The green light reference with life and love was very good one. Leonardo so easily brought that mad lover, who would get rich and do anything he could for his love, and just to imake sure she likes it all. That scene where he shows her his place, and everything that he kept for her like major variety of clothes, or the love letters turned into a book. The song 'Young and Beautiful' further enhances that major romantic feel in that whole sequence. Its like two lovers are re-united for good. But, destiny has something in stores for them or one of them to be specific. The cruelty of love shown through use of 'love is blindness'. Liked how director has filmed scenes, special note to the cinematographer for those river scenes. Also, how leonardo enacts when he is to meet his love Carey Mulligan after 5 years, that fear to see her eye into eye, one hell of a funny scene. Tobey Maguire narrates the whole story, so his role becomes important, and he did very well.. 'I was within and without', one of his main dialogues. Good sad end to the life of gatsby. The background score also was really good. Easily one of my fav hollywood movies.
Now You See Me : Very pacy thriller, well edited.. but the face they hide in start and reveal at the end.. made the film look less convincing. The magic acts were good, once again how much they were real and how many illusions left to wonder. Jesse Eisenberg, Melanie Laurent and Woody Harrelson were pick of good performers. Isla Fisher looked gorgeous.
Man of Steel : Dissappointing film completely, only Hans Zimmer background kept me stay glued to the screen. Even from Zimmer standards, the score wasn't exceptional.. my fav being 'Earth'. The problem with film was screenplay, too many flashbacks connected to present.. and time and again reminding Superman that he shouldn't use his power and reveal it. The scene where his acting dad dies was very well directed, also when his real dad saves his life by sending him out of the planet towards Earth at start of movie was another good scene worth enjoying. Though Russell Crowe's role after death in film was unintentionally funny. Henry Cavill as the superman was pretty good, but a weak script and screenplay didn't allow him any space. I liked him more when he felt vulnerable, than when he used his super powers.
World War Z : My second zombie movie after hindi Go Goa Gone. This one too very thrilling but takes zombie in serious way. Few changes here been that zombies here walk quite fast, and instead of drugs there's a cure by which you become invisible to them. Again one may argue with this cure in terms of logic but I think this one is still far better than drugs one. The first 20-30 mins of movie were slightly let down by the lighting, though it added to the scary feel the characters were in while running from the zombies, possibly the intention of director. The movie takes Brad Pitt as central character who will try to find where and how zombies started, but he would only drag himself into upcoming struggles facing zombie whom you can attack on head to kill but if they attack you, you would also become a zombie. As a dialogue says in movie 'Every human being saved is one less zombie to fight with'. Love the climax sequence, though I would say there could had been just one more extra scene. Somehow that feeling came that it all ended sooner. But then the story of movie shows that they just found a cure to fight zombies and not end the zombies, so if at all 2nd part is to be made, it may continue the story where it ends in this one.
The Heat : Very good entertaining movie, what works is the great punches and the comic timing both leading ladies Sandra Bullock and Mellisa McCarthy carry. Infact Mellisa performance is so good that even in her serious scenes which are very few, I feel this should end quickly and her next great line or act should come up. Love the scene where Sandra helps her fbi team locate guns which even the dog fails, or when she reaches Mellisa place for next case she keeps going in wrong direction, Mellisa trying to park car and then beats car door badly (hillarious), Mellisa making Sandra's outfit look good enough for club with her comments passed over her, Mellisa putting the knife back on Sandra, Sandra trying to reach room of hospital and the final scene where Mellisa brings the cat to Sandra only to realise that Sandra lied to her about it being her own cast. They both share awesome chemistry between them, and since the runtime of movie is just 117 mins, the plot never gets time to get too serious into the brother of Mellisa case, which is not much convincing aspect of the movie.
