Broken City

Cast: Mark Wahlberg,Russell Crowe,Catherine Zeta-Jones,Barry Pepper
Director: Allen Hughes
Genre: Crime, Thriller

 

Very much watchable but with low expectations.

 

Pluses:

• So we see back to back two releases from Russell Crowe, he is a busy man :) And a serious one at here as well. Playing bad man too often, but he is convincing :)
• Mark Wahlberg, is the lead and he is good. Wont really put it forward that it was any challenging role but yet from a mere pivot, he does come up as a hero screwing the person trying to nail him
• Am glad to see there are roles which are available for actresses of her age. Catherine Zeta-Jones, she is old but she doesnt try to act as someone who is a chic, suitable to her role,she does a good job at hand
• Barry Pepper, had a grey shade to him and that makes him interesting to watch
• The script revolves around sombre atmosphere of political cloud and humbug. Nothing new, but you will sit through at least half the movie until the intentions are unveiled

 

Minuses:

• The second half gets to be a bit boring since by now you know wats the story behind, all that you wait for is how does the hero bring the bad man down with no superman powers :)
• The movie feels a little less engaging, somewhere lost in private investigation, an unecessary love story and drama. Looks like the director didnt do his job well
• All the hype is certainly not worth, low expectations is the key to it

 

  

My rating: 2.5/5

Race 2

Cast: Saif Ali Khan,John Abraham,Anil Kapoor,Deepika Padukone,Jacqueline Fernandez,Ameesha Patel
Director: Abbas-Mastan
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

Very similar on the original Race like tracks.Not a bad watch

Pluses: 

• The grandeur of the flick i guess was the USP of it. Abbas Mastan surely knows how to present a movie. Its all about filthy richness and loads of style, preppy clothing and more
• The men Saif Ali Khan and John Abraham where competitive in their own ways. While you can see John Abraham in his wrestling avatar, on the hindsight you can find Saif at his wits end :)
• Among the ladies,Jacqueline Fernandez tops the list. This time she never felt like a second actress, such movies never have much for the heroines to play but yet she had some scenes to her and only her credit to add to all the glamor and attitude quotient :) She looks hottest undoubtedly
• Anil Kapoor was playing his usual self in Race series
• Dont miss a run and chase scene in which they more or so try to cover the town Cypress, its pretty beautiful. Tourism promotion at its peak for Turkey otherwise, Istanbul yet again :)
• A few action scenes were good but most of it is a little overdone. Girls will enjoy John in the wrestling arena for sure :)
• The story goes in a good pace, slightly predictble but yet the story has many folds as you would expect, so it keeps twisting and turning until the end. But since we know Saif is the ultimate Bond in the movie, its largely exagerrated for him
• Music of the movie is good but never actually fits in the scenes as the story flows

Minuses:

• Deepika Padukone wasted. She had practically nothing to play and except for showing her long legs every now and then
• Ameesha Patel did a filthy role with flimsy dialogues. Didnt know she has stooped low to this level
• The final Action drama on air between Saif and John was not very digestible, especially with a wrestling champ John being there, they should not have even attempted to show Saif fightin him arm to arm
• They should have added a little more to the script, instead of making it so easy for Saif to win all his low planned tricks internationally. I wish the producers would have spent some money on technology as much as spent on glamor and locations. Not up to the mark 

My rating: 2.5/5

The Last Stand

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger,Eduardo Noriega(Cortez),Luis Guzmán(Senior Deputy Mike ),Rodrigo Santoro(Frank),Johnny Knoxville(Vintage arms collector Lewis ),Jaimie Alexander(Sarah),Peter Stormare(Burrell )
Director: Jee-Woon Kim
Genre: Action, Crime

 

You will enjoy the action :) Watch it

 

Pluses:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger, goes without saying tops the list. Dont expect action from him right from the beginning till the end, he is old and story needs build up :) But this man over all the current generation action fellas, knows how well to re do same action with no different story plot and yet entertain the audience and retain his fan base :)
• Eduardo Noriega, is the bad man, and you will love him. I want to see more of him in the future. He is not someone who is huge and ugly creature, but a rather swanky and gizmo man, doesnt make him any less dangerous. Didnt really want to see him defeated but the Hero needs to win :)
• The other squad members viz. Luis Guzmán,Rodrigo Santoro,Johnny Knoxville,Jaimie Alexander and the supporting bad man Peter Stormare played their parts well
• However, cliche the story be, thanks to Jee-Wonn Kim for not making it look like one. Given the other two releases of the week which requires you a lot of patience, this one comes as a life saviour with some adrenalin pump. While the other releases leave you cold, this one gets your heart thumping :)

 

Minuses:

 

I didnt like the character of 'Jerry' shown as an idiot cop, feel low about the poor actor :( :)

 

 

My rating: 3.5/5

Les Miserables

  

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne
Director: Tom Hooper
Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance

Beautifully made movie but not for the commercial audience. I recommend to watch the trailor and set expectations first before hitting the theaters

Pluses:

• Hugh Jackman is the man of the movie. It is his story right from the beginning to the end. This man has come a long way, not branded just an action hero but so so much more. He will bring you down to tears by the end of the movie
• The narration of the movie is 100% musical, zero dialogues. People who love Opera would appreciate it much. If not the musical narration, the substance of the movie may not stand out ever. Each and every sentiment could not be described to such depth and detail if it wasnt musical
• Kudos to Tom Hooper, for making such a bold attempt with all the star cast and yet delivering a grand movie to be remembered
• Russel Crowe played a role of very high esteemed loyal of the French police. However negative be his role but his pride and dignity is never compromised for till the end of his role
• Every actor had their own voices giving way to express the emotions. If you do pay attention to it, you will much appreciate all of them :)
• All the other actors viz. Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne, had comparitively lesser screen space but yet equally important

Minuses:

• The reason that it is musical goes against the commercial viewers. If you cant stand Opera, you can stand the movie, as simple as that.
• The length of the flick should have been contained. 3 hours longevity really hurts. You cannot help but feel sleepy
• The movie can very much be expected to be slowly paced. This is not action, this is all about feeling it. You will require a lot of patience to sit through it :)

My rating: 3.5/5

Inkaar

Cast: Arjun Rampal, Chintrangada Singh, Deepti Naval
Director: Sudhir Mishra
Genre: Drama

Trash! Avoid watching if you can resist some good looking faces :)

Pluses:

• USP of the movie is just looks and only good looks. Its a cocktail of charm adulterated with some adultery ;) But thats about it :)
• Arjun Rampal is sexy and hot as ever, not that he was all the while flaunting his godly body and stuffs. A rather modest character for the field he is shown working in
• Chindrangada Singh, oozes hotness, but there are times when she looks rough and rejectible. Thanks to her costume designer, girls have something to watch out for :P
• Music to the context of the scenes were good to the ear, but i dont think you will cherish them for very long. Forgettable

Minuses:

• Script of the movie was very poor, rather confused characters, boring plot, boring presentation. Story starts on a board room table and ends there without much happening on the either side. And by the time the climax arrives, and you are wondering, what the fuck where you then watching till now, for bunch of few fools sitting in the board room and two confused lovers and on the top of it all, why torturing the entire audience. No thrill, no mystery, no story telling, it just goes on and on to end up in a trash can
• The background used for the movie, 'Advertising', am sure they are gonna receive a lot of critisim from the people in the field. The female lead receiving promotions after promotions were completely unjustified, what the fuck did she work to achieve them, for all the junk ideas that you have seen time and again. What is fresh and new in whatever the agency does! I just dont get it
• Very poor direction from Sudhir Mishra, if the script is low, the direction most of the time saves it, but this feels like game of patience played on the audience, whether u walk out in the interval or stay put with all the endurance to the end
• Arjun Rampal and his role sketch was not really written properly. He is the so called CEO of the company and until he goes ga ga about it, you cannot see a CEO in him. Rather confused character when it comes to his lady, 'Maya'. Where in one instance you see him boldy questioning 'Maya' about a relation which never exists and he need not justify to her and on the other hand blaming her for changing the rules of relation. Mind fucking!
• Chintranganda Singh, is all Oomph and practically no substance. She just cannot act, she can only sell herself on the male gushing hormones. :D Her attitude and her body language is over done. A role written for somebody who aspires to work for advertising and dons a hippie look and on the other hand throws a 'Touch me not' attitude, is just not acceptable
• Deepti Naval, completely wasted. Used more as a pivot to pull the movie :P
• This movie doesnt do justice to anything at all,not the characters, nor the proffession, and neither to the audience

My rating: 1.5/5

Gangster Squad

Cast: Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone and others

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Genre: Crime, Action

Based on a true story, a big plus point to such movies. Not to miss. The only saving grace of the week :)

Pluses:

• The script and attitude is the power of the movie. Script which must only be rearranged and more or so reffered since its based on a true story, can still be screwed...but this one doesnt bog you down
• Loads of attitude in all the lead characters and that has always been a whammy about the western actors, given the substance which is bold and doesnt lag...all the attitude is a plus point
• Sean Penn, outstanding actor. While you pay homages to Indian actors of his age, this fellow is powerhouse of energy. He reminds you that he is far from homages yet, and has still a lot to perform and offer. One cannot be nastier than this negative role of  a bad man from 'Mickey Cohen's' time
• Ryan Gosling has always been my personal favorite since his 'Notebook' times :) A rather serious actor, but a tad bit of casanova image suits him ;) Loved him in and out, talking more about him will be a bias :)
• Josh Brolin, a tough one here, apt for his personality and portrature. He never eats onto the roles of the others. He remains strong among all the other actors, giving each one of them equal space
• Emma Stone, is hot, is submissive and a good support to the two great actos viz Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling
• All the rest of the members of the 'Gansgter Squad' had porportionate roles to play, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Pena, Robert Patrick; everyone worth a mention
• Watch it out for how was a great criminal from underworld bought down by an unofficial team of intelligent and powerful troop of its time, based post WWII era

Minuses:

Not really anything that did disturb me in this flick after the most distrubing 'Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola'


My rating: 3.5/5

Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola

Cast: Pankaj Kapoor, Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma,Shabana Azmi, Arya Babbar

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj

Genre: Comedy

OMG! Sustained one experimental torture. Please avoid if you are a sane audience, for all others you are most welcome to the theaters :)

Another recommendation, it wont be a bad idea to get drunk before witnessing the horror :) You may be able to appreciate the feelin better :D

Pluses:

• Out of all the randomness and chaos, i am glad i still have some actors to mention worthy of praises, Shabana Azmi, charismatic lady and wonderful actor. Glad to see here accepting roles which shows us everytime something new
• Apart from the fact of what Pankaj Kapoor is offered to play, i still respect his decision to accept this role. Very very experimental to his choice and it cant be denied that he is a phenomenal actor and what an oustanding performance, you will love him every moment. For those, who fail to understand the complete randomness in his role, he plays a character with multiple personality disorder. This piece of information may ease out a bit of your pain :D Consider that as a charity from my end :)
• Imran Khan, a good attempt, but thats about it
• Arya Babbar, he he he...He is apt for insane roles like this. Perfect for the starcast :D

Minuses:

• An experimental take on satire, which fails miserably.
• The movie is unbearable majorly because of  its unrelated, crazy and randomly wrritten script. Even if you make an honest attempt to decipher each character, you will fail miserably to relate to the utterly nonsense script. In short, the movie is a satirical farce
• The movie was built for humor, but when you expect sarcasm, all you get is simple drunken moments of humor, more on fantasy lines than real to believe
• Anushka Sharma, a let down. Apart from her beautiful and whackily designed constumes, she is a thumbs down. Loads of unwanted attitude with no substance in character
• Music is irritating to the ears. Its a torture. I cannot appreciate Haryanvi folklore either due to its presentation
• Imran Khan, was never strong as one of the lead characters. His role written measly, played measly and he sucks as a revolutioner. Moreover, he has expressionless eyes, they more or so look like puppy eyes and can never portray a non romantic role. A strict piece of advice for him, if he is signing up for an experimental non commercial roles, please hide your eyes behind sunglasses, as far as possible :)

My rating: 2/5

Table No. 21

Cast: Paresh Rawal, Rajeev Khandelwal,Tina Desai

Director: Aditya Datt

Genre: Thriller

A good entertainer with a moral message in the end

Pluses:

• Rajeev Khandelwal foraying into something which is more of a commercialised stream and not a bad attempt after all. He has a typical charm which he throws to the women, and half the audience is allured :) Not a very challenging role but he is still a nice watch :)
• Paresh Rawal is one amongst those actors from old generation who proves it time and again that one need not be a star material nor need to be labelled a villain material always to be recognized. He plays a cold blooded character in this one with a mind for business and a motive to avenge
• The USP of the movie is that it never slows down, you really never bother about the length of the movie and you will hate the interval :) From the start to the end you will not repent having watched it :)
• The script of the flick is nothing great, but the direction and the pace keeps it going. You do see some drama but thats never over indulgding where from its starts sucking
• Music is adequate, not too many and pretty soothing to the ears, though never promoted all that well :)

Minuses:

• There is one major disconnect that the director completely missed or left it intentionally. The mysterious first scene of the movie which has absolutely no link till the end of the movie. Also another mystery to how does 'Mr. Khan' have such an insight about the very personal life of the couple which otherwise no one else knows
• Tina Desai is not a heroine material. She reminds you of Priyanka Chopra at a lot of places, but she is not worth it
• The moral of the story is apt but not very vividly presented. You accept the ending but half heartedly. Such messages should be vehemently put across

My rating: 3.5/5

The Impossible

Cast: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Hollan(Lucas),Samuel Joslin(Thomas), Oaklee Pendergast(Simon)

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona

Genre: Adventure, Family Drama

A very soul steering movie. What makes it even more touching is that its a true story

Pluses:

• The movie belongs to Naomi Watts and Tom Holland equally. Both of them play their roles beautifully with absolute justice.This kid there has a huge potential. Not even for a moment do you feel that the whole depiction is just an enactment
• Negating my expectations, the movie wasnt too very slow. There was in fact a lot of adrenalin rush every other moment, when you are just so unsure about whats happening next
• A round of applause to the Director, Juan Antonio, if not for the presentation, the movie would look like any other tale of victims of natural catastrophe's around the world over the decades
• Kudos to the script and narrators of course, every small detailing were taken care of. Absolutely nothing was on the fly
• Rest of the cast didnt have too much of adventure or struggle for surival, so they didnt share a lot of screen space, but were good at their respective parts. Kids were specially too cute
• The story is a tale of high endurance and the will to live. Watch it to realize the lost love amongst your near and dear ones
• Last but not the least, 3 Cheers to the original survivors of the catastrophe and alive to share their tale

Minuses:

They never failed in covering every detail for the main characters Naomi and Holland, i wish they could cover a bit more detailing on the survivial of the other three as well, what horror they went through, if not in detail to avoid repeatedness but at least in short


My rating: 4/5

Chinese Zodiac

Cast: Jackie Chan, Yao Xing Tong(Coco),Laura Weissbecker (Katherine)

Director: Jackie Chan

Genre: Action,Adventure

A typical Jackie Chan movie in its Chinese flavor :) Complete entertainer

 

Pluses:

• Needless to mention,Jackie Chan, the star of the movie. I am amazed by the man and his energy.Absolutely no questions on his capabilities, as a director and as an actor
• You will love the actions scenes in the beginning of the movie and the at the end of it.Marvellously shot. Entire movie has many action sequences in bits n parts, people will enjoy the most who love intricacies in fight sequences and the deftness
• I hail to the energy level in the chinese movies and its contents. Never ever slows down, so much of adrenalin pump. Long time having seen such a flick in theaters
• Story was just like an adventure flick would be. SOme element of fantasy in it. Complete package to entertainment :)
• Yao Xing Tong, had a significant role and so did Laura Weissbecker. Though the later is depicted as typical blonde foolish woman, the former was rather intelligent
• There is also some presence of humor, which is refreshing
• You will also enjoy watching the making of a few scenes when the curtains are falling

Minuses:

• The background score of the movie is pretty irritating. There is no dip where it is required, its always on a high note. As if there is some chinese rhytm playing behind, and none applied any intelligence in setting it right in accordance to the scenes
• The movie is a bit lengthy. You tend to get bored at certain places
• There were some serious issues with the various languages. one fourth of the movie is either in Chinese or in French. Rest of the english is in chinese accent :D You surely are gonna get blown away half the time with whats happening. And to complete it as a global make, you also get a dash of Hindi by the end of it :D :D :D
• There were too many characters in the movie. And things looked so chaotic at the scene in the island. Crazy mix of people and too much of disarray

My rating: 3/5

Jack Reacher

Cast: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike,David Oyelovo,Jai Courtney,Joseph Sikora

Director: Christopher Mc Querrie

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

An average flick. Nothing extraordinary

Pluses:

• Tom Cruise, goes without saying. A serious and a no nonsene character. Stern and strong. Hotness quotient retained :)
• The thriller part of the movie was may be not the reason for assasinations but the suspects who were involved in the crime
• David Oyelovo,Jai Courtney,Joseph Sikora; all of them did their respective jobs well
• The last action sequence though again nothing extraordinary, but was a good watch

Minuses:

• Rosamund Pike, was a very weak character. Being a lawyer, they never showed her applying any logic on her own, she was fed with the detail given by Jack Reacher and that she used to believe without any verification
• Pace of the movie is bit slow. Without much of any action sequences, you tend to get bored
• The car chase sequence was pretty dragging and boring. Aimlessly directed
• The thriller reason behind all the murders were somehow quite predictable, wasnt a head turner or eye bulger when it came out

  

My rating: 2.5/5