Mardaani

Cast: Rani Mukherji, Tahir Raj Bhasin(Walt),Priyanka Sharma(Pyari), Mikhail Yawalkar(Sodhi)
Director:  Pradeep Sarkar
Genre: Action, Thriller


Cliche plot on a new face! It actually worked :)



You may look forward to:

• Rani Mukherji undoubtedly led the movie through the victory path! We see her after a very long time and only more fitter. She is one actress who out performs herself with growing age, even though she is seen in a very limited set of movies
• The plot of the movie is very cliche, yet the execution is very appreciable. The credit goes to the director Pradeep Sarkar
• Tahir Raj Bhasin actually looked like a second fiddle for very long, but he truly did a good job proving himself to be the lead villain after all :)
• Priyanka Sharma and Mikhail Yawalkar, had good appreciable supporting roles
• What really worked for the movie is Rani Mukherjee, teamed with some good dialogues and good pace

What you can sleep over:

Initial few scenes were way too exaggerated while introducing Rani, lots of flamboyance, it almost gave an impression, that the movie is gonna be all about style and less content. However, the movie pulls back after a while



The dampeners you should be aware of:

There were few scenes done just for the heck of it mostly dealing with Rani with her domestic life, but i guess than can be excused for once




My Rating: 3.5/5

Singham Returns

Cast:   Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor,Amole Gupte, Anupam Kher, Zakir Hussain, Dayanand Shetty, Mahesh Manjrekar 
Director:  Rohit Shetty
Genre: Action


The movie should have been titled as Singham Reloaded. Expect no more or no less than 'Singham'- The first



You may look forward to:

• Everything that you saw in 'Singham', except for the faces in police or female lead :) The roles, the story line, the climax, or the end, most of it so similar
• The action scenes were shot pretty well. Lot of action scenes definitely had that extra punch! Are enjoyable
• Ajay Devgan is seen most of the times in action, and since the action is good, he suits well
• Rohit Shetty at his usual masala best :)
• Some dialogues are so predictable and funny, the humor angle of the movie retains even though cliche
• Dayanand Shetty is a good addition, everyone would enjoy :)
• Amole Gupte and Zakir Hussain, being the bad guys :D Villains these days are less threatening and are more funny :P That ideally should have been a minus, but they were nevertheless entertaining, hence a plus :)
• Anupam Kher and Mahesh Manjrekar were in short but good support. For long i kept expecting Mahesh Manjrekar to show up negative as usual :P But he turned out to be positive throughout, very unlikely of him :P
• Moral of the movie, portrayed in an exaggerated manner but message passed on well
• Music is fine, nothing extraordinary but not an ear sore either

What you can sleep over:

Kareena Kapoor is an over rated actress in Bollywood, her roles never show up any meat, not on the character nor on her body :P She is just there as an add-on to fill in for songs. Yet i wont call her a dampener in here, since her role had a funnier side and she looked really beautiful throughout



The dampeners you should be aware of:

• The storyline being the same as before, is as well a let down for the movie, since people now expect more!
• The length of the flick is a dampener, even though there is enough content in the movie, somehow it feels very stretchy

My Rating: 3/5

The Giver

Cast:  Brenton Thwaites(Jonas), Jeff Bridges(The Giver), Meryl Streep(The Chief),Odeya Rush(Fiona),Alexander Skarsgård(Jonas's father),Katie Holmes(Jonas's Mother),Cameron Monaghan(Asher)
Director: Phillip Noyce
Genre:  Drama, Sci-Fi


Adaption of a novel of a seemingly imaginative future world! Not a bad watch!



You may look forward to:

• It definitely instils some thought process in your mind into a debate, whether a world like shown in the movie, much controlled is good for humanity or suppressing natural human behavior is a sin! Thats the only take home out of the movie, which is the concept!
• All the actors, lead or support enacted as much given to them to their best!

The dampeners you should be aware of:

• I am sure the novel would have carried many things in much more detail. Detail felt missing, things were just touched from the top and let go. It fails to create the necessary impact on you! 
• There has to be a reason why the world as we know today,didn't exist in the movie! A major catastrophic event something, which was never told or shown, the entire mystery around 'Elsewhere' just fizzed out while waiting till the end to be discovered!

My Rating: 2.5/5

Into the Storm

Cast:  Richard Armitage(Gary), Sarah Wayne Callies(Allison), Matt Walsh(Pete),Max Deacon(Donnie),Nathan Kress(Trey)
Director: Steven Quale
Genre:  Action, Adventure, Thriller


It surely thrills you and justifies the name of the movie, though not visually extraordinary!


You may look forward to:

• The thrill and adrenaline rush is in abundant in this movie and no time is wasted in story telling of individuals. Start to finish you have got storms in action
• Visual effects were good, but could have been a lot better
• All the actors in the movie were equally involved and roles distributed uniformly! 

What you can sleep over:

Yes, there were certain stupid instances like the trapped Donnie and girl friend never tried their ways to escape themselves, instead kept waiting for a rescue


The dampeners you should be aware of:

This is not in 3D and may not even be as high budget flick. Visuals even though all right is not as close to those biggie movies. The movie could fair a lot better if this could be fixed!



My Rating: 3/5

Guardians of the Galaxy

Cast:  Chris Pratt,Zoe Saldana,Dave Bautista(Drax the Destroyer),Vin Diesel(Groot), Bradley Cooper(Rocket),Lee Pace(Ronan),Michael Rooker(Yondu),Karen Gillan(Nebula),Djimon Hounsou(Korath)
Director: James Gunn
Genre:  Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi


Time pass Marvel addition. Nothing overtly impressive! I am not really waiting for the next of its series



You may look forward to:

• A completely new team as the 'Guardians of Galaxy' coming from different planets and forming a team under forsaken circumstances: Chris Pratt,Zoe Saldana,Dave Bautista,Vin Diesel as 'Groot', Bradley Cooper as'Rocket'
• Chris Pratt tried to have a comical side to him, his cool dude attitude mixed with missions, appears as though Marvel wants break out from the serious super hero doled out movies
• Vin Diesel as 'Groot'and Bradley Cooper as'Rocket', were the slightly newer variations in the additions, where in you got something more than human-ly species. To my surprise, they play the best of the roles, while i was expecting them to be the forced add-ons!

What you can sleep over:

• Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista, non human characters, with their own serious attitude and missions, just the regular!
• Nothing specifically brilliant in terms of 3D
• Lee Pace and Djimon Hounsou, our villains, not as powerful as should have been, passe!
• Michael Rooker and Karen Gillan were okay-ish support

The dampeners you should be aware of:

• Marvel should now come up with something really different than their regular ways, the entire face of the movie looks so cliche, that you anyway don't keep much hopes from the beginning. Lack of impact-ful stars brushes it further negative. All other characters except Chris Pratt will never become THE FACE. And Chris Pratt himself isn't as charming and convincing to make a mark
• The story line and the plot cliche again, the subplots and crack down of the villains were super lousy
• Lot of directorial misses, like that of Ronan facing Korath in the climax, and Korath just going silent, doing nothing; or be it all the entire action sequences....none well directed and achieved

My Rating: 2.5/5

Entertainment

Cast:  Akshay Kumar, Tamannaah Bhatia, Johnny Lever,Krishna Abhishek(Jugnoo),Mithun Chakraborty,Prakash Raj,Sonu Sood,Junior (the wonder dog) as Entertainment
Director: Farhad, Sajid
Genre:  Comedy


The humor of the movie justifies the title, if not the Dog



You may look forward to:

• Akshay Kumar, and his new catchy lines :) He doesn't fail in entertaining you
• The dialogue writers deserve worth a mention, since the dialogues of the movie is the reason why the movie is worth a watch. It stuffed in enough humor to last the entire show for you
• Johnny Lever, after a long time in a role which is not over the top idiotic and forced into, he was watchable :)
• Krishna Abhishek, even being a second fiddle and a support role, was pretty funny and filled in well
• Prakash Raj and Sonu Sood, were really funny, coming from the villainous roles otherwise! It was my long lost wish to watch Prakash Raj in a comedy role, i find him cute :) Wish granted! :)
• Mithun Chakraborty in a supportive role, mostly as fathers in all movies these days :D

What you can sleep over:

Tamannaah Bhatia, looked good but practically had no significant role except for songs



The dampeners you should be aware of:

• The most talked about dog in the movie Junior (the wonder dog) as Entertainment, was rather a disappointment. He was nothing over the top ordinary than a normal dog. I was expecting a real trained dog for the show after which the movie is named
• Of course you don't expect a sensible story line, things happen just for the heck of it, poor story line and the lack of an appropriate message for the pets, was a let down!

My Rating: 3/5

Lucy

Cast:  Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Min-sik Choi,Amr Waked(Cop-Del Rio)
Director: Luc Besson
Genre:  Sci-Fi, Action

If the plot of the movie is not your favorite study subject, then it is sure to get your attention!


You may look forward to:

• The plot of the movie as the Tag line clearly suggests is about utilizing a human brain to its 100% capacity which is otherwise known to be utilized just 10%. Undoubtedly, it is a subject of debate, nevertheless, the way the story and the imaginations around it are weaved, it surely catches your attention and has you sitting tight till the end of the movie
• Scarlett Johansson is pretty good, as we know she is a strong and sturdy lady. The only action heroine Hollywood has got today and she is the only star of the movie, entire plot riding on her shoulders. :) So given that, there is nothing new that we haven't seen of Scarlett in here, except for the beginning stretch, where in you see an otherwise ordinary 'Lucy' until transformed. The effort Scarlett has put for Lucy before transformation, is commendable, very unlikely of her otherwise image :D Otherwise, in the rest of the movie, we have more or less, our Black Widow'! :)
• Morgan Freeman, in a rather short role but runs in parallel throughout
• Min-sik Choi, our bad man, had little to do again, he is good at his stand
• Amr Waked is a good short support

What you can sleep over:

Lots of tit bits missed in direction and a few exaggerated terrorism of the drug lords


The dampeners you should be aware of:

Well, certainly a few things were funny! Especially the conclusion and the future generation supercomputer and the data stick coming out of it, etc etc... lol




My Rating: 3/5

22 Jump Street

Cast:  Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Peter Stormare(Ghost),Jillian Bell(Mercedes),Ice Cube(Capt.Dickson),Wyatt Russell(Zook),Amber Stevens(Maya Dickson)
Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Genre:  Comedy, Action, Crime


Enjoyable, Stupid but yet a good comedy for a weekend watch!



You may look forward to:

• Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill combination back on screen. Friends and partners, up and down through hilarious joy ride, fightin yet complimenting each other. The duo gets to your liking :) One who is stupid, and a fat balloon to the other who is fit and hot and daring, both of them with their respective characteristics get together to entertain you
• Our bad man and woman :D Namely, Peter Stormare and Jillian Bell, are funny enough. Notably, Jillian Bell who manages to give some really hilarious scenes while in action
• The supporting casts: Ice Cube,Wyatt Russell and Amber Stevens were significantly good

What you can sleep over:

Keeping expectations low will help enjoying this movie



The dampeners you should be aware of:

The plot of the movie is nothing notably interesting, the flow is steady and thankfully the movie is not long, it helps! Otherwise, mystery could be a lot more interestingly presented. The aim of the story went missing at lot of instances




My Rating: 3/5

Hercules

Cast:  Dwayne Johnson, John Hurt(Cotys),Ian McShane(Amphiaraus),Rufus Sewell(Autolycus),Aksel Hennie(Tydeus),Ingrid Bolsø Berdal(Atalanta),Reece Ritchie(Iolaus),Rebecca Ferguson(Ergenia),Joseph Fiennes(King Eurystheus)
Director: Brett Ratner
Genre:  Action, Adventure


Doesn't live up to the hypes, however watchable with reduced expectations!



You may look forward to:

• The one and only man who could live up to the might of the mighty Hercules so far in the many movies released under its name, undoubtedly is Dwayne Johnson. He is strong and a fighter, along with his voice and sturdy looks, he surely wins over
• The sets and cinematography in 3D was impressive, big fights and wars were good for visuals too, never before visualized from the top view, presented pretty well
• Story point of view was as well a lot practically explained rather than completely mythical
• John Hurt and Joseph Fiennes being the bad men of the movie, well wrapped and well twisted
• Rebecca Ferguson being the leading lady, had a softer side to the story
• Rest of the star cast being the support to Hercules and equally important, planned well!

What you can sleep over:

Dwayne Johnson's flamboyant and careless attitude at places were quite dampener for a serious character as his who is nothing more than an assassin who works for money, and who has lost his family



The dampeners you should be aware of:

May be we are used to watching movies of these kinds with utmost seriousness and absolutely no angle to humor, which is why the casual moments of the movie appears to be a big time spoiler for the image of the movie and the seriousness of its characters
There are no particular minuses, but the toned down seriousness of the movie damages the image of the film




My Rating: 3/5

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori,Saoirse Ronan(Agatha),Jude Law,F. Murray Abraham,Willem Dafoe
Director: Wes Anderson
Genre:  Comedy, Drama


This is a subtly executed fun watch! I loved it, not meant for mass audiences though!



You may look forward to:

• The USP of the movie is its subtle presentation with amazing cinematography. The old world charm, and the progressive descend to the past, is very well directed and edited
• Humor of the movie again is very subtle but beautiful, if you cherish British accents, you will like it even more :)
• Ralph Fiennes, is amazing in this flick. His dialogue deliveries are awesome and he is one of the main character's of the movie
• Tony Revolori, is brilliant in the movie, he is the other important and central role in the flick. The chemistry and bonding between the two leads is just impeccable
• Saoirse Ronan and F. Murray Abraham had supportive roles, appreciative!
• Jude Law was just a special appearance, wanted to see more of him :(
• Willem Dafoe's role catches fair amount of your attention as an assassin

What you can sleep over:

Since its a fictional drama, you can give things to it, but yet certain aspects like wearing just one layer of clothing throughout in the movie, in extreme weather conditions, was weird to notice!



The dampeners you should be aware of:

The mystery angle of the story could have been further enhanced, relating to the second will, it was predictable to a lot extent




My Rating: 3.5/5