Writing 3-4 lines views on films that I have seen in last 2 months and not reviewed, would prefer to write in details later whenever I could.
English Movies
The Illusionist : It had a decent story, but the cast put me off.. didn't like them much and as a result except for some magic tricks or that last one in particular I found the film quite ordinary.
The Sixth Sense : Totally loved it. Amazing screenplay, the way its edited hence keeping you not think of other alternative the story could be showing you, and when the climax comes you are shocked. To a certain extent the logic behind the movie works very well when I rewind back. The first sequence would be among one of best ones I have ever seen, artistic and forming the way to a great story. Great performances by Bruce Willis and Halley Joel.
The Shashank Redemption : Excellent Movie, now I know why it is rated no.1 on Imdb, because it says so much about 'Hope', if you are pessimistic by nature, then this is a must watch movie for you. Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in perhaps their best or one of best performances ever (those who have seen more of their films, could say it with much more confidence). Also, here too the first sequence is among the best ones ever, how the background voice increases as we are told Tim is about to enter jail. The shots of jail, the life Tim leads initially and how he adapts to it making it useful for himself. But, there comes a point when you breakdown, he does too, yet he finds a way out of it because he always believe in one thing 'Hope'. Also, when someone asks me your favourite friends based movies, this one will always be there now.
Lincoln : The best thing I found about this movie was that they didnt show a young age to old age biopic on Abraham Lincoln, instead they took one particular event of his life and layed entire emphasis on how he won that event. And the oscar winning performance by Daniel Day Lewis.
Silver Linings Playbook : How bradley cooper fights his mental condition through help of Jennifer Lawrence who has her own problems too, along with the finale dance performance that is quite hillarious in its own ways. Jennifer Lawrence looks smoking sexy, and a great performance too. I liked the screenplay but it is one of those films that I liked but didn't love. Robert De Niro's superstitions sequences were funny too.
Obvilion : Another of those confusing hollywood movies (I get confuse a lot easily). But, the screenplay is too slow, all the twists that comes much later therefore doesn't help much. Even Tom Cruise couldn't lift the movie with his performance. Morgan Freeman I felt had too short a role.
Oz The Great and Powerful : Decent adventure film, though the final act was a let down for me. James Franco as Oz was pretty good.
The Place beyond the Pines : The camera follows Ryan in 1st shot, until he reaches the stunt place as his face is revealed. The pace and character of Ryan Gosling matches 'Drive' quite a lot. But still it kept me interested, but a certain change of events, and film goes resting over Bradley Cooper, one of reasons why I felt movie started loosing steam, plus the two school age kids never interested me, except for the scene where son of Ryan seeks revenge from Bradley Cooper and his son. But to be fair to the movie, the role of Ryan is rightly not kept too much, as per requirement of the story. Yet, the movie turns out just Nice for me.
Django Unchained : Tarantino's magic in the movie once more, the way he plays with camera making shots look stylish with those quick zoom in's, and the dialogue conversations. Christoph Waltz was spectacular in his funny reactions. Leonardo di caprio in a evil villian role and Jamie Foxx had his own scenes to shine too. Also, Sameul L Jackson gets good cameo.
Zero Dark Thirty : Fantastic screenplay depicting how Osama Bin Laden was finally caught, but all the struggle, hardwork, pain and loss that they had to go through before finding his location. Also, loved how they shot the mission osama sequence, the lighting and editing spot on there.
Hindi Movies
Commando : Some great action scenes by Vidyut Jamwal, but the treatment and the feel to the movie is very old fashioned which turns the movie into a average fare. Jaideep Ahlawat was the pick of the actors, specially those santa-banta jokes..
Nautanki Saala : Not a great follow up to Vicky Donor by Ayushmman Khurana. The writing is the main culprit though. There are some laughable moments throughout the movie, but in totality the film falls flat plus the role of dumb girl Nandini plays (not as dumb as Race/Race2 had), doesn't help the screenplay. The songs appear more like forced into the narrative too, though they are good to ears as music of film is very good. Average movie in the end.
Chashme Baddoor : Quite enjoyable movie, the shayaris of Divyendu, the bholapan of Ali Zafar, and the filmipan of Siddharth, wonderful triology it was. Tapsee Pannu has her cute moments too. Only Anupam Kher track was out of place, and un-neccessary. I liked that David Dhawan kept the humour more likeable, and not vulgar or cheap like Rascals was. I love the choreography of Andha ghoda race mein dauda. The flashbacks scenes were funny, so were the two ideas of Siddharth that Divyendu spoils in the 2nd half. There are places where the jokes don't bring a laugh, still as a whole I very much liked the movie.
Himmatwala : Wonderful spoof on Psycho, a spoof on 80s dialogue writing.. but Sajid Khan failed to create the emotional drama, even the dialogues in such scenes looked silly, so did his direction. Only Tamannah was good thing in the movie for me apart from those 1st two points I mentioned. Even Ajay Devgan hammed a lot. Below Average movie.
Aatma : Screenplay never generates interest, it may not be kind of horror movies Vikram Bhatt or Ram Gopal Verma makes, yet it doesn't lives upto the need of the genre. Nawazuddin is decent, Bipasha has done enough of such films now, so nothing spectacular from her side either. The small kid was good though. Average Movie.
Rangrezz : I quite liked this movie, because the friendship angle was very well shown plus Jackky Bhagnani gave a very honest performance. Though, the close up shots of the injuries he and his friends get was hard to watch on screen. Only problem I had was, why did they show the kidnapped boy and girl's parents as politicians who are very dangerous, when in the end they did almost nothing, apart from death of Jackky's grandmother. The final scene was good, not the typical hindi film ending, more realistic.. I felt the film had good hardhitting moments.
Mere Dad ki Maruti : Saqib Saleem is funny in another comedy movie. The movie has lots of funny moments specially when his dad's car gets lost by him, but at many places the comedy doesn't work out. Also, Rhea Chakroborty wasn't convincing enough in her performance. Average Movie.
3G : Too slow screenplay, and when the suspense gets revealed.. you feel what the hell it was. By trailer, I felt Neil may have great role to do here, but it didn't turn out so. Writing as well as director to blame for the failure of this film. Below Average.
Jolly L.L.B : If you remove the Amrita-Arshad love angle which I don't know why our directors love having in a film that doesn't require it, then this was a superb film that had comedy, drama and a message too. Boman Irani and Saurabh Shukla had great supporting performances too.
