The Grey [Views]

Directed by Joe Carnahan
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1601913/

Once more into the fray. Into the last good fight I will ever know. Live and die on this day. Live and die on this day. 

When you survive a plane crash, you feel 'I am lucky'. You see only 6 other ppl survive. You decide to take them along to find shelter at a island where there is no scope of help. Just then, enters wild wolves who would not like to see a single human living at their place. And now you wonder, Was I lucky to survive the crash, and face this shit ? Thats what this film deals with, the battles with the wolves, deadly wolves.

Ottway (Liam Neeson) leads the group of survivors, and as is the case.. there are few badasses among them who take time to agree that Ottway knows the right way to tackle wolves, as his job in past has been to kill them. A scene where one survivor challenges Ottway and the wolf takes advantage of the moment to try to kill him. Another one where, that same guy chops the head of wolf off while they are burning it for their food.. to tell the wolves, I am the human, not you. That was some scene, hardly could see it.

I love that background theme that keeps running for Ottway, specially the longish one in the final mins of the film. Also, the flashback sequences, its like whenever he closes his eye, he would see her. Plus, they keep her death a bit of mystery, only revealing a wee bit in the final flashback scene.

Also, special mention to that poem of Ottway's father 'You live or die on this day'.  The sound mixing work was amazing, I could really feel the scare of wolf suddenly, all the time with their voices hearble but they not visible, especially in those night scenes.

[SPOILER]The end of the film is open, you can assume whatever happened in that wolf fight. Its hard to assume that he survived, as even if he killed that one, there were so many other wolves waiting to kill him. Maybe, they just wanted to show, he was a fighter.

Only flaws I may say would be slow narrative in first 20-25 minutes until the wolf scare enters. And, the foolishness of some of the survivors, but then such people do exist,

I love how Ottway keeps going, not giving up at all when the other survivors keep losing hopes. The circumstances could easily shatter anyone, but Ottway doesn't as long as his legs have energy to walk. There's only one time when he feels lost, asking for help from God, and feels dejected.. with the dialogue 'Fine, I will do it myself'. Liam Neeson performance was really good!


Overall, I loved the film. It may not appeal to many, but it does to me. To fight even in the worst of situations is what the film deals with, situations that will test your mental as well as physical strength.

Men in Black 3 [Views]

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1409024/

Agent K : There are things out there you don't need to know about. 
Agent J : That's not the lie you told me when you recruited me!



I had not seen the 1st two parts. So, read the synopsis of them, and went to see this 3rd part of film. I liked the film very much, its very humurous, good screenplay and not too long.

Will Smith as Agent J is too good, makes funny expressions and gets his comic timing completely spot on. Tommy Lee Jones fits as the straight face, means business all the time role. Though, he is more of a supporting character in the film as J gets more screen presence.

Boris the animal was a irritating character in the film, specially that 'kiss' scene or the thing coming out of hand, but for the film it works.. just was hard to see it.

Some very good comic dialogues, love the time jump sequence, and the scenes involving Andy (Bill Hader).

Overall, its a nice fun film. Quite enjoyed it.

Hugo [Views]

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970179/

A broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do.. Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose... it's like you are broken. 

I love Scorsese films usually, and this one has won some oscar awards too. Still, I found this film pretty ordinary, and may not like to watch again even.

I drew lot of comparions with 'Extremely Loud Incredibly Close', both films were adventure and related to small boy trying to find or fix something left over from his dad. The film does have some nice moments, like the flashback sequence where Asa Butterfield shares moments with his Dad, and his discovery, unfinished discovery. Also, Asa's running scene going into that station clock. And the same sequence in the climax. The train dream sequence, and the reality one. And Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) love for adventures, all her scenes with Hugo were lovable.

Where the film fails for me, is the screenplay. Good moments as mentioned do come in the film, but those 'Wow' sequences are almost next to none in the film. I found Chloe really good, that scene where she says 'Adventure? I love adventures'. She gives some nice humour to the film. Also, Asa Butterfield scenes with father of Isabelle (played by Ben Kingsley)  in early part of film were really nice. And special reference to the final part of film, where they show clips of real old films, one of them being 'a train scene shown in theatre for first time' and the audience feeling its real train coming towards them, funny but true incident.

Overall, Hugo doesn't really appeal to me, be it creatively or on the emotions level.

Movie Analysis : Ishaqzaade

Directed by Habib Faisal 

Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2308773/

'Joya ka Parma, Parma ki Joya' ...

Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra made this film very much likeable despite the fact that director Habib Faisal didn't live upto the expectations one had with his last film being 'Do Dooni Chaar'. The screenplay and the script were loose, 1st half is tad slow while the Parma and his mom relationship required more footage to really accept the change of heart. Also, the final 15 mins could had been written some different way.. [SPOILER AHEAD] After all, what was the need for Zoya (Parineeti Chopra) to meet his dad on Eid who she knows is after her death too.

Some dialogues are good. Editing is nice. Scenes like 'maafi de de' are over-done. Love the interval sequence, also very good climax with perfect background. 

The songs are excellently used, loved Pareshaan the most, and aafaton ke parindey too. Jhallah was nice, while Chokra hua jawaan was the worst, mainly for the song being bad. 

Parineeti continues her super run from 'Ladies vs Ricky Bahl', in another aggressive talkative role full of abuses. It could be interesting to see her in a non-aggressive role in future. 

Arjun Kapoor looks good, has a great smile, right expressions and dialogue delivery.. could be a actor to look for among the new ones. 

Gauhar Khan looks great in 'Jhallah' track, plays good supporting role. Would like to see her more in films, not limited to just item songs. 

Rest of the cast did a decent work. 

Overall, Ishaqzaade is a nice film, and I can watch it again just for the performances of Arjun-Parineeti and the songs. If the narrative was better, it would had been much better film. 

Verdict : NICE

Movie Analysis : Jannat 2

Directed by Kunal Deshmukh
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2319889/

Unn dono mein se kisi ko bhi takleef aayi na, toh bahut takleef ho jaayegi datta .. 

Jannat was a superb film that I fell in love in 2nd view. Kunal Deshmukh fails to live upto those expectations in this film, and ends up doing what he did in his last outing 'Tum Mile', good in one plot and poor in rest.

The story revolving around arms dealing, is given less scope with just 1-2 sequences that create a impact. They should had written more scenes that focussed on it. Unlike Jannat, here the love angle between Emraan-Esha fails to impres either. It surprises me more because I am a huge fan of Kunal Deshmukh's direction when it comes to filming romantic plot.

What actually worked in the film was 'Emraan-Randeep' sequences. Randeep Hooda especially was the real scene stealer in this film, his acting was fantastic amongst his best till now. The way he speaks the dialogues as a drunkard, and all the mannerisms.. the laugh at the misery of Emraan during interval sequence and the concern to keep Emraan alive. It almost appeared as if the film was written with him in mind. Imagine, if they had showed the past story of Randeep, and kept Emraan-Esha as just a mere sub-plot.. could had been different film then, maybe more likeable ?

The songs are also poorly picturised, with the least good track 'Deedar hua' turning to be the best used. Kunal specially made a complete mess of 'Jannatein Kahan' and 'Tujhe sochta hoon'. Sad.

The screenplay is okay, Editing is fine. Dialogues by Sanjay Masoom are better than Blood Money, but lots of improvement required, specially in writing those punch lines. The background theme in the story of Pratap Raghuvanshi (Randeep Hooda) was too good.

Emraan Hashmi is decent, his comic timing is good especially in scenes with Randeep. Also, the one where he tells the details of rifle without being scared of it. Its just the poor writing that makes you not connect to his character.

Esha Gupta is wooden, can't act at all. And she has a 3 movie-deal with Bhatts ? She better show some acting skills in Raaz3.

Manish Choudhary looked misfit in the role. Mohammad Zeeshan was good.

The pre-climax scene was silly, but then so was the case in Jannat too. They made it up with a great final scene in both series.


Overall, Jannat2 fails to live upto my expectations. But it gives me a character 'Pratap Raghuvanshi' to remember. Also,its high time that Bhatt Camp start to give a closer look to the scripts before asking director to film them, they chose good subjects with improper written scripts.


Verdict : AVERAGE



--------------- SPOILERS [Read at your own risk] -----------------

I couldn't understand why Zeeshan (Emraan's friend) had to die. Pratap caught Sarfaraz, and they could had framed scene in a way that Zeeshan doesn't get noticed. It looked forced to bring that feeling of 'pity'.

Also, I may argue that killing Emraan in the climax was un-wanted very much like Jannat.


Yash

Movie Analysis : Vicky Donor

Directed by Shoojit Sircar
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2317337/

Sperm se thora upar aake dekho, heart naam ki cheez hoti hai.. what about love ?

Vicky Arora (Ayushmann Khurana), punjabi guy, is a bachelor, and jobless. He happens to meet Dr.Chaddha (Annu Kapoor) who wants help from him as he is in need of a sperm donor. After denying continuously, Vicky finally gives in citing the good money he would get for it, with a deal that it should always remain confidential. Vicky falls in love with a bengali girl, Ashima (Yami Gautam) and decides to marry her. But, what would happen when she comes to know the real profession of Vicky.. and would she accept him then ?

The screenplay is v.good, the first half totally hillarious. The second half do gets bit serious, but with decent dose of funny sequences. Another thing that I liked was, the message through the film without preaching it.

Excellent writing, the dialogues are connectable and very real, like the constant use of 'fuddu' and many other punjabi words.

The punjabi-bengali culture sequence, ashima's dad asking no drinks in marriage cut to expressions of Vicky's mom and grandmother cut to they dancing in marriage drinking, and every Vicky-Chaddha sequence were best moments from the film.

The songs are very well picturised especially pani da rang.. one of my most favs in the film and 'Rum Whisky' is hillariously used.

Ayushmann Khurana acted brilliantly, in this being debut film. Love the mischievous expression he has in many scenes. And he sings well too, pani da rang is one of best songs to have come out this year, also composed by him too. It would be interesting to see him in a non-punjabi role next, to test his acting skills.

How well Annu Kapoor gets into a new character, the dialect he catches up.. can't believe why the directors don't give him more opportunities. Easily among his best performances till date.

Yami Gautam acted well, looks good... but don't think the role was much challenging to tell much about her scope in hindi films. One scene she did mess up badly or maybe director handled her poorly was, where she shouts so loudly at Vicky when he reveals the truth.

Dolly Ahluwalia was amazing, even in her angry scenes she would make you laugh. Superb performer, and that imitation she does 'bandar jaise naachiyo type', too hillarious. Also, all those drink sequences.

Kamlesh Gill was superb, a supporter of Vicky, modern grandmother for him unlike his mom who takes time to understand. Love that scene where for first time, Kamlesh has to keep quiet and not support Vicky. Excellent acting!

Jayant Das was good as Ashima's father, the role looked perfectly suited for him.


Overall, Vicky Donor is a awesome film. Well written and great performances. Its a must watch!


Verdict : VERY GOOD

Movie Analysis : Tezz

Directed by Priyadarshan
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706317/

Zindagi se jyada mohabbat nahi karni chahiye, aakhir mein sabse haseen dhokha zindagi hi deti hai... 

I liked the trailer, but the film thanks to a weak 2nd half turned out to be average. The 1st half was entertaining only because the train sequences, and Aakash (Ajay Devgan) chase game from the police keeps you interested. But in the 2nd half, the film becomes slow, infact the interval sequence was the last good action scene in the film. The climax is very filmy, plus I couldn't sympathize with Aakash character. The direction of that part that made him take revenge should had made more impact, because the whole story is based on that incident only.

There's very good resemblance between Burning train and this film, specially the character of Boman whose child is in the train, and he has problems with his wife, plus he is in charge of train.. can't be coincidence, right?

Also, that scene where two trains at a particular speed are diverted, looks very fake to me. Is it really possible the way they showed to be happening in real ?

The sound-mixing isn't proper. Screenplay dissappoints, while Priyadarshan isn't at his best in direction, that touch of Aakrosh is missing. Also, the flashbacks slows down the narration. The songs aren't worth listening, except for Rahat one which is badly placed.

Ajay Devgan is good but the film offers very less scope for him to outshine in a weakly written and directed film.

Kangana Ranaut's performance is very average, almost wasted in the film. High time, she starts taking good films else she would come into the category of forgettable actresses.

Zayed Khan is decent. Boman Irani is good. Sameera Reddy is okay. Anil Kapoor is fine. Mohanlal I thought is famous actor in South ? If yes, then his fans must be dissappointed watching him in a nothing role.


Overall, Tezz is good till 1st half, after that you just wait for it to end.


Verdict : BELOW AVERAGE