Life of Pi

Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irfan khan

Director: Ang Lee

Genre: Adventure,Fantasy,Drama

Clearly overhyped. Liking the movie is subjective to whether the audience wants to go by the hysteria created around it or goes to watch with an independent view.

Pluses:

• Suraj Sharma, undoubtedly a brilliant performance. He was very expressive, be it pleasure or despair, he doesnt overdo any. Was a pleasure watching him
• Brilliant cinematography and graphics. The tiger felt no less than a real animal. You cant even a speculate a single flaw in it. Its a fantasy delight to the eyes. But no where even close to Avatar or Titanic, the comparison to these legendary movies hurts me
• Irfan Khan, is a serious actor and a fab one. Less opportunity to perform in this flick, but his appearance was a treat to eyes specially for an Indian on an international platform :)
• The bonding between 'Pi' and the tiger 'Richard Parker' was beautifully shown, however it remained only one sided always.Alas!
• Adil Hussain and Tabu had merely any role to perform, but a mention to them is worth
• Script was written with quite a few detailing in mind which makes it a beautiful journey to watch, but it doesnt come totally clean without any flaw
• I am afraid, there is absolutely no more postivies to add in this section for the so called epic movie

Minuses:

• The director seemed somewhere indecisive whether to present it as a fantasy or a real adventure. If they meant to make it look like a fantasy, then why did the tiger not share an emotional bond with the boy. Why didnt Richard Parker turn back.So much for the togetherness. You win the hearts of the audience when you complete a fantasy movie with a happy ending. This one disappointed
• The conclusion of the flick is to narrate a story which will in turn establish faith in god. I didnt find even that being established in any sense. A very clear depiction of 'Pi's childhood shows that there has always been a debate between the parents on being rational and on being a blind folded believer in god and mythologies. And the adventure of 'Pi' led him to decipher the truth finally. On one side he says, the story makes you believe in god and on the other hand he says, his father was always right, without whom he could have never learnt so many truths of life. Not very clear if that was a selective belief or a wholesome thing
• Very slow depiction. Movie belonging to such plots can be expected to be slow, provided the audience can connect to the character. Feels his emotions, his pain. Alas! even after trying hard, couldnt connect to the boy
• Quite a lot of flaws here and there. They showed him gettin tanned, thinned, hair growing, but never any beard :P I disagree to believe he was underaged for that. :) Nor did he ever dehydrate or dry up. Agreed, they show him with the supply of drinking water, but the heat and the number of days he was stranded is enough to dehydrate anyone if not till death. Another flaw, missed showing on high contrasting temperature differences in ocean. Oceans usually have extreme chilly nights and equally hot days. He is all comfortable with one kurta or no kurta at all. Difficult for me to understand. Perhaps, his belief in god was keeping him warm :P
• The character of the novelist, to whom the story was narrated, was himself never scripted properly :P He being a writer, gotto be having a lot of patience. And when you see his capacity, you see him gettin impatient more than often, and wanting to fast forward the entire story to the point where he immediately starts believing in god, as if he was an atheist till now :D
• The open end towards what was shown about adult Pi's family lacked clarity as well. Those who read the book may tell, whether he ever went back to get his love and married his sweetheart or it was a complete new estlablishment alltogether
• And of course it was left to the people to infer, out of the two stories in the movie that he narrates, which one was true :) And after watching a true to believe fantasy story, you wont want to perplex your mind with another story, in fact you even loose patience to listen to his second narration after 2 hours of the duration already covered
• And finally, the 3D was not all that worth it

My rating: 3/5

Luv Shuv te Chicken Khuraana

Cast: Kunal Kapoor, Huma Quereshi

Director: Sameer Sharma

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Time pass flick. A lil over hyped post release.

Pluses:

• Kunal Kapoor looked stud. We are seeing him after quite a while. He did his best job. Long time seen as a lead in any flick
• Huma Quereshi is adorable. Her weight issues are overlooked for her acting skills and charisma. Thanks to 'Wasseypur', she shined as she stood to be the only one out of the ordinary looking league of people, grabbed the limelight :) No looking back, but she isnt meant for the mainstream. We gotto see if that gives birth to another star out of of main stream or just another lady fading away gradually
• Mystery of Chicken Khurana was wrapped up well, and unveiled not once but twice in the duration of the flick
• I personally loved the character of Dolly Ahluwalia. She is a real charismatic woman, and such flawless acting. Remember the 'Vicky Donor' days :)
• All the other supporting characters are very well woven, everyone have equal roles to play. The distribution of roles to each is worth commenting. None wasted
• You will love the character of Rajesh Sharma(the adopted crack mama). He builds in 70% of the humor in the movie

Minuses:

• Script was written keeping humor in mind. But it doesnt really live upto the genre. It feels more of a drama which keeps going on and on without any direction
• Music is passe
• Too lengthy. A lot editing was required

My rating: 2.5/5

1920 Evil Returns

Cast: Aftab Shivdasani, Tia Bajpai, Vidya Malvade

Director: Bhushan Patel

Genre: Horror

Complete waste of time. Not worth a watch

Pluses:

• You may not mind watching it when drunk :D
• Music is not all that bad, though a little funny lyrics here and there, otherwise audible
• As you can see posters are good :D But not the content :(

 

Minuses:

• Aftab Shivdasani wasted. Not that he is otherwise a very utilized actor, i still think of 'Kasoor' days, he could have done some better movies nonetheless
• Vidya Malvade wasted. All she has done in her entire film career is 'Chak De'. Never anway showed a great potential, she only proves the same everytime she is seen on screen
• Tia Bajpai is hopeless. No good at acting nor looks. Boring romance, boring possessed woman to tolerate
• Script has no content at all, the mystery feels so jaded. Climax is equally trash. Vikram Bhat now should retire
• Bad cinematography, bad background scores, bad editing. Nothing chilly or spooky about the whole persentation. Hogwash!!!

My rating: 1.5/5

Ajab Gazabb Love

Cast: Jackky Bhagnani, Nidhi Subbaiah, Arjun Rampal

Director: Sanjay Gadhvi

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Actually not a bad watch. Watch it with a light heart and entertainment is guaranteed

Pluses:

• The USP of the movie is its simplicity and light humor. No adultery and a clean movie for the entire family
• Watch the movie not for the romance but for the humor
• Arjun Rampal, this guy just cant stop looking suave and swanky. A real dude in all respects
• Jackky Bhagnani, tried giving his best, be it building his body, or all his attempts to dance, or acting, be it even to look good. I still cant say he is someone best in the market, not even close to that in fact. But as long as he doesnt look like an eye sore, its taken :)
• Nidhi Subbaiah, looks charming. Started with pathetic, unbearable acting, but later did catch up, looked close to natural
• Music is a plus point for a change. Its good to ears and locations shot for the song sequences were good to eyes :)

Minuses:

• Coming majorly from a romantic genre, its diappointing. Romantic angle is quite cliche, on the top of it idiotic and the couple dont look charming at all together
• Wont like to dig more into minuses, cos it never set any huge expectations on which i be disappointed

My rating: 3/5

Ted

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane(Voice of Ted), Mila Kunis

Director: Seth MacFarlane

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

Absolute entertainment. Less of a kids thing but more of a guys thing.

Pluses:

• Seth MacFarlane, for creating the character 'Ted' and producing it as well :) He was a very convincing voice behind a live fluffy toy
• The character of Ted may get some mixed reviews, i shall have my take on both, but i cant deny the fact that it never failed to amuse the audience throughout, and without whom the movie will have nothing to boast about. Ted is funny, he is adult, he is a best buddy, he has commitments and at the same time he can be irresponsible. Ted is a mixed bag and very well explained how it grew up to be something like this :)
• Its a best watch with your gang of buddies, not over a popcorn certainly but some beer :)
• Script is written very light heartedly, it doesnt invite too much of criticism. However,i am glad that it was released in India :P
• Mark Wahlberg, felt more of a supporting character in the presence of Ted, Nevertheless, his role was equally involving and important. He did his best job
• Mila Kunis, didnt have much to do, it wasnt her story after all. She did well in what she was asked to do

Minuses:

• A big NO to the ignorant parents who may mistake it to be a kiddie stuff. Parents are sure to repent if they commit this mistake. And thats a flaw in the way the movie was promoted. It looked very much a Universal flick to the ignorant eyes. Its a big time adult flick
• Here is where i can say, the character of Ted at a lot of instance was over done, could be even called way too offensive and a few things could be parked at the bay

My rating: 3.5/5

Rush

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Neha Dhupia, Aditya Pancholi, Sagarika Ghatge

Director: Shamin Desai

Genre: Thriller

Actually not a bad watch. Not to go by the box office success, this movie faired in my eyes.

Pluses:

• Emraan Hashmi, he may not look good, but he very well can act much more than just kissing his heroines around :P Doesnt disappoint here either as an ardent Crime reporter with some brains :)
• Neha Dhupia does a role that suits her, extremely feminish Indian roles or that of a slut doesnt actually go by her somehow. She shines as a corporate woman
• I have always loved Aditya Pancholi, he cannot look poor :D as simple as that. He is rich corporate honcho and the bad guy of the movie, very much convincing
• The script never slows down anywhere and that keeps you going. Needless to say, the story unravels the reality of media, news channels and their running authorities. I really dont mind watching a flick with some sense in it after all, sad to witness the box office is fairing for the ones without one
• Again goes without saying, music is always plus factor in an Emraan Hashmi flick. Its good to the ears

 

Minuses:

• Sagarika Ghatge, after so long that you get to see her onscreen, i wonder was she in a derth of any script at all so many days or she didnt want to pick any. I still cant figure out what made her choose this particular role, this one had nothing much for her to perform nor did she have any strength in the role to stand her out
• I guess the movie needed tadkas like that of Madhur Bhandarkar flicks to make a box office success for a reality based show. This one clearly lacked it

My rating: 3/5

Cloud Atlas

Cast: Tom Hanks,Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim sturgess,Jim Broadbent,Ben Whishaw,Doona Bae

Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Genre: Drama,Sci-Fi

A very lengthy and boring movie for a casual audience. A movie not for all, much deeper than what you perceive.

Pluses:

• Six stories, interweaved in different centuries, and all the characters played beautifully their individual parts
• Doona Bae deserves stand alone appreciation. She beautifully portrays a naive lady who starts with zero emotions and all work, to someone who stands out to be the face of a huge revolution, and her love for the man who saves her life
• As for Ben Whishaw, this comes out to be one character who never forgets his love through the various course of his life however short. A gay by nature, never ever witnessed something so beautiful and so gleefully presented when being a homesexual was a taboo even in western countries during that era. Or be it his love for music that he develops over time and the cry for freedom so as to publish his own creation. Finally, the one line he says before he ends his life, that suicide takes a lot of courage and its not for the faint hearted, just wins you over
• Three different directors, different work, commendable

Minuses:

• I believe many appreciated the attempt to showcase how energy travels from one generation to another and gives birth to revolution in every life. However, i dont think i can appreciate this all that much. The revolutions were on individual level except for one story which is based in the future of 2144. Such revolutions lies in everyone of us, doesnt really show any flow of energy to me
• Instead, the story felt exhumingly large, and you keep watching each time the different turn of stories with practically no big event happening till the end. I felt quite empty even after the movie ended. Your head as nothing in it and you feel blank

PS: I would appreciate someone explaining me the depth beneath which i fail to see. Anyone!!

My rating: 2/5