The Croods

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds,Cloris Leachman
Director: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family

 

Refreshing family watch, entertainment for both kids and adults

 

Pluses:

• The writers knew what to make, one notch above the regular animated stories. The story retains the mode of adventure from the beginning till the end. One animated movie where i never felt bored even for a moment :)
• 3D is good, well made in quality
• The character of cave girl 'Eep' voiced by Emma Stone is the role in focus, guided by a human 'Guy'-Ryan Reynolds, and centrally revolving around the cave family headed by 'Grug'-Nicolas Cage...is a complete package of fun and frolic as they take you through their adventure sortie in finding the 'Tomorrow land' when they learn the Earth they knew is changing
• Every countenance on the character were very expressive and well made. You will love the various emotions that radiates through 'grug' mostly towards his family, protective while nasty towards the Granny :) And how he changes his intransigent outlook towards 'Guy' over time and accepts him as a part of family
• The writer did a great job. My personal favorite was the idea of a family picture (imprint), caveman interpretation of modern stuffs, damn cute!
• I personally liked the character of 'Granny'-Cloris Leachman, such characters are quite common in animated families and is fun to watch :)
• Direction is beautiful. I love the way things unfold and how they portray a cave man build up intelligence from a simpleton, no brainer bunch of strong self defensive demi humans :) Its a fun ride, not to miss until it runs in the theaters

 

Minuses:

 

Nothing notably wrong

 

 

 

 

My Rating: 4/5

Bombay Talkies

Cast: Rani Mukherjee, Randeep Hooda,Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui,Naman Jain,Khushi Dubey and Vineet Kumar Singh
Director: Karan Johar, Dibakar Bannerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap
Genre: Drama

 

Celebration of Bollywood and Hindi Cinema, four different stories...Not all of them worth. But the whole movie is very much watchable

 

Pluses:

• Every story more or less is attached to the cinema except for the one by Karan Johar. Its amazing to see how does cinema really influence people from different backgrounds in interesting ways
• The movie is a lot experimental venture by four big directors of the industry. Watch it for the potentials of each one of them
• Rani Mukherjee, Randeep Hooda and Saqib Saleem did great jobs and were awesome to their director Karan Johar. Witness the first on screen smooch between men, a bold step by the male leads. Saqib Saleem has come a long way clearly, proves the industry can run without hero looking materials as well
• Naman Jain and Khushi Dubey are clearly Zoya Akhtar's babies. She knows how to bring out the best of the performances and how to present stories. I was moved by the portayal of the relationship terms shared between the siblings. The support to each other was explicitly wonderful. Watch it for the bro-sis duo
• Vineet Kumar Singh being a small time actor gave his best job in the last story by Anurag Kashyap. You may start running out of patience as the story keeps moving, but the end reaps it all. Strategically placed at the end of all the stories, ensures you walk out smiling of the theater. Salaam to Anurag Kashyap and to Hindi Cinema :)

 

Lukewarm:

 

Nawazuddin Siddiqui rather disappointed us. He could have done a lot more. The notion behind this particular stint by Dibakar Bannerjee is almost unclear and left to individual interpretation. If i have to go by my sensibility, all i understand is he tried to portray the leads inclination towards theater than on business, and walking down the lane of acting gives him that peace of mind and eyeful sleep in the nights. Could have been made much better!

 

Minuses:

• For the most of the stories, it leaves you gazing at the sudden end. Stories conclude abruptly feeling incomplete. And this feels the most in Karan Johar's story. Its never clear what happens to Saqib Saleem by the end of it
• The entire feel of the movie comes out to be very average. Somewhere something wasnt right. May be the promotion or the marketting. It never does set the right expectations

 

 

 

 

 

My Rating: 3/5

Shootout at Wadala

Cast: Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Kangana Ranaut, Manoj Bajpayee, Sonu Sood and Tusshar Kapoor
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Genre: Crime, Action

 

Another regular gangster flick. You will not be disappointed if you are not looking for something new

 

Pluses:

• Quite a few characters in the movie, all of them did their part well. None of them were any extra ordinary but they were good in general
• Movie has three item numbers by three hot ladies of the industry, viz. Priyanka Chopra, Sophia and Sunny Leone. Enjoyable
• Its a fun show for the men..guns, gaalis and ladies :) One could enjoy the uncensored version which you wont find screening in theaters
• Dialogues were heavy, you may appreciate

 

Lukewarm:

 

Kangna could have done much more than a petty role

 

Minuses:

• Nothing new, everything was pretty much the same as you would expect from any gangster flick
• Dialogues were good but too many, over loaded and starts irritating after a while
• John could do much more, his role clearly lacked the punch which could appreciate him as a lead. He was lost in the many other characters! Certainly not the best take in his career so far

 

 

 

My Rating: 3/5

Aashiqui 2

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor,Shraddha Kapoor,Shaad Randhawa,Mahesh Thakur
Director: Mohit Suri
Genre: Musical, Romance

A beautiful romantic drama. A must watch for those who appreciate to interpret characters in depth

Pluses:

• So glad to see Bollywood coming up with some really nice romantic movies minus SRK. The yersteryears romantic directors are pretty much directionless in trying to identify what is love to the generation today. This one movie tells you how things can be so sensibly going wrong in love and yet without any ugly third grade humor to support
• The entire credit goes to the script and execution. Mohit Suri did a great job in getting the right emotions out of actors who are themselves new to the industry. Rendering right context and excitement in right places is very important in movies like this, otherwise it doesnt take any effort to burn a genre like this to ashes
• Aditya Roy Kapoor did a fab job. Though we have seen Aditya even before on screen, but never like this one as a full fledged movie to him. Very aggressive and a complicated character to play, must not be an easy job. You do feel the more intense expressions missing on his face at a lot of instances, but yet i give to him for being able to pull it through
• Shraddha Kapoor made a beautiful choice for her debut. She is not a Heroine material in anyway, and she didnt choose one. She was nice and cute and better half of a rather distrurbed lover in true sense. Hope she chooses her roles intelligently going forward
• What is a romantic movie without the chemistry between the lovers!! This movie never had a goody goody angle to it any moment, yet was immensely beautiful. Every time you see 'RJ' going through complex behaviour and unusual turmoil, the more you feel how true is his love for the lady. In the same way, everytime you see the lady not giving up on her love even if she can let her hard earned success go, you realize every other emotions, be it self esteem, fear of soceity,envy and everything else fade away when it comes to love. You dont really see such kinda love in the generation today and a lot is due to the ugly trendsetting movies that are coming up. All the wrong influence and the base of a relation goes missing, and hardly any right influence to the downtrodden soceity today. This movie however gives a good direction at the minimum to feel an emotion called 'love' with a sense of honesty
• Music of the movie are very soothing to the ears. A few of them already doing rounds. Its a great challenge to make a musical romance, where music plays great significance. Gladly this one is a success :)
• Shaad Randhawa and Mahesh Thakur were good support. No villaneous character anywhere as such. Diplomatically handled :)

Lukewarm:

Lot of scope for both the actors to improve on their acting skills

Minuses:

I dont like digging into mistakes until and unless they are so upfront. This one scores good without any blunders :)

My Rating: 4/5

Go Goa Gone

Cast: Saif Ali Khan,Vir Das,Kunal Khemu,Anand Tiwari,Pooja Gupta
Director: Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru
Genre: Comedy, Horror

 

A new cult movie from Bollywood. Laughter guaranteed. Go with light expectations

 

Pluses:

 

• I absolutely loved the way a genre like 'Zombie movie' was handled with a rather light and humorous composure, making things explicitly funny. The success of the movie goes to the script writer and the Directors. Unlike any other zombie flick, whether home made or made in foreign lands, this one will definitely leave you with a good feeling
• Vir Das and Kunal Khemu formed the funny duo best complimented by Anand Tiwari. Catchy new generation jokes, lifestyle today...effortlessly portrayed well, and then to follow it with some dramatic changes, fantasy elements...the trio keeps you entertained through the adventure
• Saif Ali Khan was rather funny in this one. You may hate his put up accent, but nevertheless..the character as it was a caricature in itself, you wont really mind
• Needless to say, the music of the movie is already doing rounds. For that matter, the promotions for the movie were done just right, and music had an important contribution to that

 

Lukewarm:

• Pooja Gupta didnt have much to do except for looking hot :) In fact, she looked quite awkward with a gun in hands and never seen shooting :D
• Few instances were rather stupid, so typical of mindless Bollywood comedy, however over all it was tolerable

 

Minuses:

 

Never looked for quality in the movie, hence no digging into the odds :)

 

 

 

 

My Rating: 3/5

Star Trek Into Darkness

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana,Simon Pegg,Peter Weller, Alice Eve
Director: J.J. Abrams
Genre:Sci-Fi,Action

 

This movie will always keep you at the edge. Must watch

 

Pluses:

• Very much as you would expect, the movie fills you with loads of oblivious twists and returning some hard core action back. You will love the various packages in which the entertainment is delivered
• Benedict Cumberbatch is the man, who plays with all the other characters keeping them on his toes. Deceptive in nature..every now and whence, when you think of a character like him, you know its a well thought and well carved role. He wins you over with all his shrewdness and sheer power
• Chris Pine is the lead of the movie. He is the captain who needs to work together with the others. Decisions in his hands, he quirks at a few places and then bounces back. Love him for the difficult role he has to play and for his good looks ;)
• Zachary Quinto, as we all know him as 'Spock', is a character which irritates you for when he is so bound to the rules, but at the same time is adorable when he acts more human and even more when a hero, as he takes up the charge of the ship in difficult times
• Simon Pegg had an important role as well. If not for him, the mission could have never been successful. One of those most important supporting roles

 

Lukewarm:

• Zoe Saldana and Alice Eve, had nothing much to do in this one. If not for their size of the role, they did well
• Peter Weller was the bad man in disguise, which has in itself its own shade of grey, but a rather typical villaneous role, nothing exciting about it!

 

Minuses:

 

Few instances were pretty much predictable, like the hero coming back to life :) and more. Could have made those a bit more raunchier

 

 

 

 

My Rating: 3.5/5

Iron Man 3

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow,Guy Pearce,Don Cheadle,Ben Kingsley
Director: Shane Black
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Over hyped piece of junk. Keeping expectations low is strongly suggested

Pluses:

• Gwyneth Paltrow did a great job. You can see her rising, from a PA to a hard core business woman to an Iron Lady in itself. She is the lady of the movie undoubtedly
• You may like the over all feel of the movie. After all its our favorite Iron Man. You find things humorous at its place. Some good action as well here and there. A few scenes may be to even clap for :)
• And now there is an open end to the sci fi drama. We are to see what comes next to the series of Iron Man

Lukewarm:

• It feels like Robert Downey Jr wanted a movie made to himself. He didnt want to hide behind the suit any more. Hence, he made a complete humorous caricature of himself. Cracking jokes and one liners for what we love him. But alas! all the humor cannot pull the movie through without the iconic Iron Man into some serious action instead of playing around with kids or fooling around.
• You will enjoy Robert Downey Jr's role, and he will make you laugh, but thats not enough for an Iron Man, doesnt make him complete
• Ben Kingsley had a rather short role and a rather deceiving one. You will like him for sometime and then the character starts irritating you
• Don Cheadle has always had a lukewarm support, so does he here as well

Minuses:

• The entire overthrow looks like a mistake coming from the director.Jon Favreau is the man for Iron Man series. Change of director is not a very happy welcome. Shane Black screwed up the entire feel of Iron Man
• The sci fi super hero character bogged down to the level where it doesnt matter he exists or not. Innumerous automated suits can act for him. Don Cheadle can take up his place. Never the least, Gwyneth Paltrow can become the Iron Lady. Why do we really need an icon then, and where do we need him!! He aint saving any world
• All we see are the bad men trying to destroy him. US President in Hollywood movies are reduced down to puny materials. Every now and then being captured. No feel of authority, just a mere showpiece. Even the president can get into the suit of an Iron Man, big deal :P
• Lame script. Absolutely no show and tell of how things are happening. America was never such low on security in movies for President, that someone can simply enter in a suit without any checks and can wreck a havoc. Bad men looked more of a zombie than sci fi villains. A big let down
• Guy Pearce hence didnt have a good job to do. He wasnt handsome, he wasnt fierce, he wasnt a lover nor was he any threatening

 My Rating: 2.5/5