The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth,Woody Harrelson,Donald Sutherland,Nelson Ascencio

Director: Francis Lawrence  

Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

 

Wasnt a bad watch, could have been better!

Pluses:

• So is this actually the Oscar fever bestowing all the blessings on Jennifer Lawrence which supported the movie to be a huge success! Well, i wont buy the entire fact, though undoubtedly she is good and a very few female actors have this capability to shoulder entire flick soley on her, she being not so old in the industry yet manages to pull it through. She deserves  round of applaud nervetheless :)
• She can definitely make all others look like accessories, yet Josh Hutcherson was a good support and poor guy, i really  pity his role in this flick, where he is always being played around by the lead lady :D
• At least, the bad men never looked undermined and remained powerfull, claps claps for Donald Sutherland and Nelson Ascencio
• Woody Harrelson, though in a rather shorter supportive role, has maintained his dignity throughout this series so far :)
• Special effects were not bad, but indeed not like nothing we havent seen before. But this is all which will keep you glued  to your seats in the second half
• Ohhh man...her costumes! Fantabulous! Unfortunately, I dont know who is the costume designer but he surely deserves a big round of  applaud as well
• The cinematography also deserves appreciation, be it the presentation of grandeur during the victory tour or the poor state of respective districts and then the real hunger game, they are fab

Lukewarm:

• And then we have this another poor soul, who however good in his own way, doesnt make much of any mark under the shadow of  the lead lady, here we present to you Liam Hemsworth in Hunger Games, doing what! Not sure, may be just playing a candy :)
• I cannot really credit to the script a lot, of course based on the novel, the readers may infer better! However, i can  surely comment on the direction, and it wasnt very captivating. While we all know whats in store for the second half, the  first half is obvious, all that may interest you,ha to be shouldered by the director. And i believe, Francis Lawrence could have done a much better job at it

Minuses:

• Yes, the first half is extremely slow, the build up to the second half did cost me quite a bit and i literally heard  audience snoring beside me...sigh!!
• The way it ends suddenly seemed a little incomplete, even though we know there is another sequel coming to it, but yet  could have been more sensible and much more explained

My rating: 3/5

Bullett Raja

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha,Jimmy Shergill,Vidyut Jamwal,Gulshan Grover,Raj Babbar

Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia 

Genre: Political Drama, Action

Quite a disappointment in terms of quality, however if you are looking for only masala, it will score better than Chennai Express :)

Minuses:

• Storyline was such a big time disappointment. Half the story was disconnected, it felt as if all they aimed for with this movie was to showcase UP type masala and a revenge for a brother killed. Add up another star to make up for the second half as seemed like Tigmanshu Dhulia wasn't confident of Saif pulling the entire movie on his shoulders alone :P
• Romantic angle was pathetic, i have never seen any romance so unhappening and pale and useless and meaningless in my entire Bollywood history. Someone please explain how was the character of Sonakshi written, was that a dope effect or something else
• A big let down from Tigmanshu Dhulia, we expected much better. If you cannot make romantic angles, please take advices from others(I dont mean Karan Johar :) ), but please dont ruin the entire show with something you have no expertise of
• OMG, overdose of Sonakshi Sinha, back to back both the weekends her releases, i couldn't conjure more courage to go for Shahid-Sonakshi disaster after watching this. Sonakshi, i think you are called for a voluntary retirement now, please take it and stop torturing the audience

Lukewarm:

• I was looking forward to Vidyut Jamwal, he was under utilized as well. Though thankfully the gravity of his role wasnt undermined by the end of it, and they scripted one section of it well :)
• They covered music in all three categories, pathetic, average and good :D Out of which just one soft number is worth a mention :)
• Action was so-so. As i said, the only star shining had to be Vidyut Jamwal, but even he was underused

Pluses:

• In the entire movie, the best enjoyable part is the first one hour of the movie before Sonakshi enters(and then everything is screwed, reminds me of 'Kites' :P), and the ending section of the movie (again where Sonakshi wasnt involved :D)
• Saif gave his best, and somehow suits the rowdy UP type bhaiyya caricature, accent flows in well and doesnt feel made up. I dont mind watching him as long as other paramters of the movie have weight as well, else its still difficult for him to pull an entire movie just by his charm
• Friendship between Jimmy Shergill and Saif Ali Khan was worth watching out for and the co relation between Vidyut Jamwal and Saif at the end
• Jimmy Shergill is my personal favortire...cant help appreciating this guy. Thankfully, he remained without a heroine :)
• Raj Babbar had a gray shade to his role, all due respect, played well :)
• Gulshan Grover is my personal favorite again :) Short role but good show :)

My rating: 2/5

Gori tere pyaar me

Cast: Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Anupam Kher

Director: Punit Malhotra

Genre: Romance, Drama

 

Not all that bad as mostly would expect. Watchable but lengthy

Pluses:

• Imran Khan steals the show for me. He convincingly looks a south indian of current generation. I like him in lighter roles than serious ones. He suits here better and loved most of his dialogue deliveries specially in the first half
• The songs "tooh" and and groovy number looks pretty catchy and nice on big screens
• The story narration and flow was interesting and easy going in the first half. You will have a few laughter here and there and does also not miss on the love affairs and relation aspect, you do look forward to the story past interval
• Shraddha Kapoor is pretty, demure lady as usual and fits in well :)
• Anupam Kher is versatile, i need not write more :) He can convincingly make the audience love him or even hate him as per the role played :)
• I personally liked the first half for the various practical scenarios and statements in the movie, makes a lot of sense and does trigger good lot of thought :) The drama felt very new age, and that is the plus point
• For all the bangalore residents, there is quite a bit to see :) I thoroughly enjoyed watching different corners of Bangalore and major landmarks on big screens :)

 

 

Lukewarm:

• Kareena Kapoor is just about fine. She looks quite beautiful although but her overdone attitude just shows up everywhere, bored of it. Her role was significant but i think its her attitude that in the end ruins it all
• Rest of the songs were very average in terms of music
• The second half was very long and very filmy, seen it a lot of times before...appreciate the way they shot the phases one after another, yet should have been shortened

Minuses:

• The length of the movie starts irritating in the second half. They pulled it too long
• You never feel the chemistry between the two in the second half, the entire rating of the movie drops only due to the show(or rather no show :)) post interval
• Second half gives you a feeling as if you are watching a completely different movie :) If you wish to watch two movies at the price of one, go ahead :D

  

My rating: 2.5/5

Ram-Leela

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Supriya Pathak Kapur, Richa Chadda

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Genre: Romance, Drama

Watch it only for the larger than life sets, rest of the movie is not worth it!

Minuses:

• You can notice many glimpses of 'Ishaqzaade' in the story and many attempts to create 'Devdas' in the acting. So to wrap it up, there is nothing new :)
• Script is lousy, boring. Backdrop of warring clans never justified to its might and rather looks silly. The big events in the movie like big brothers dying are so predictable and yet based on such lame reasons. It feels like you are watching this movie just for the heck of it. And the only reason they may bind you to the seats will be the romance between the lead pair, which is again lousy!
• I need to mention the romantic angle between the duo as an independent negative aspect since its meant to be a love story. And all you see is lust ONLY. Until the physical admiration is a part of a romantic story, its nice..but when there is nothing more to the characters apart from simply trying to be wild with each other...it doesnt help create a romantic saga of its own! And its all the more clearly visible when Ram acts rude to Leela for no reason, they fight like cats and dogs, clarifying again the only binding factor between them being physical  attraction...bunch of fools!!
• Both the lead actors, Ranveer and Deepika, though did give their bests, but clearly are not mature enough to bring out those heart felt emotions and both of them looked outright caricatures only.They never felt real or life like and never create a lasting impression
• I was surprised by a few songs and lewd dialogues in the movie, absolutely censor-less. Didnt expect such cheap tricks to be coming out of Bhansali movies. I wonder why did he restrict from showing a full fledged love making scenes between the lead pair, as that was the only factor they could have had a potential :P

Lukewarm:

• First half is not bad, you can enjoy watching it. Second half is absolutely fucked up!
• Music is luekwarm, nothing even close to 'Hum dil de chuke sanam', just an attempt to create one

Pluses:

• The only character i absolutely loved from the beginning till the end was that of Supriya Pathak Kapur. What an actor for the big lady :) You will love her jittery quips, her anger, her wrath, her feet into the shoes of a DON :)
• Richa Chadda was good too. She is a serious actor, does every role with sincerity
• Ranveer Singh cannot be dis regarded. He unbashedly looked the hottest in this career so far. One man who can carry the bearded look with such an aplomb and make it look sexy ;)
• Deepika Padukone at her horny best ;) Yes, she looked quite a diva, but no match to other divas from Bhansali productions
• The massive sets and amazing cinematography is something worth appreciating. Though i agree, the culture they tried to portray in the movie was quite denigrated, yet...this movie was beautifully shot. No doubts about it
• Priyanka Chopra's item song was a mouthful delight to watch :D She looked the real Diva :)

  

My rating: 2.5/5

Thor: The Dark World

 

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston,Christopher Eccleston,Anthony Hopkins

Director: Alan Taylor

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Scored much below the set expectations on my chart! A joke on the face of serious plot!

Minuses:

• Absolute mockery, made out of every character. No seriousness in any character at all, the enire movie felt like being built for fun, very unlikely of Thor-The movie. I wasnt expecting a mockery show here since these guys are interweaved with many other serious superhero movies like that of 'Avengers' and the likes, and the lead characters have a rapport to hold. Totally disappointing
• I have no idea what was Natalie thinking while accepting the script for her kiddish, stupid and nonsense role. Playing with her childish tools and help making huge changes, doesnt make any sense! Not well explained. She is dying, and no one takes that seriously, not even her, who just through the movie keeps making short quips
• The script was real bad..none of the things were properly explained, it was running to give you just a few visuals, no story! And the many sacrifices and major deaths, were hilarious :D
• And the biggest disappointment was 'Loki'...Tom Hiddleston. Never saw a fun side of Loki, was completely unacceptable. His role was so predictable even by the climax and the end. Was nothing interesting over all
• I would say, the entire flick is the fault of the Director. He didnt make this project with a serious outlook. Alas!

Lukewarm:

Thor was much mightier in any other movie than in here. I personally love Chris Hemsworth...he is godly. Nevertheless, he can do so much better, than making techno movie type plans and execute them

Pluses:

• Christopher Eccleston was still not so bad as the evil. Quite a lot like regular evil but yet, this is the only character who didnt make a mockery of himself
• Anthony Hopkins was a good support. Rest other supportive characters were idiotic and nonsense
• You may watch it out for the visual effects which are quite at par the quality as prequel :)

My rating: 2/5

Ender's Game

Cast: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield,Hailee Steinfeld,Abigail Breslin,Ben Kingsley,Viola Davis

Director: Gavin Hood

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

 

 

VFX abode, a spendid watch for all teens and a good one for men :)

PS: You cant help but draw comparison to Krrish3 when it comes to its mind blowing VFX's, as both of them have released the same week


Pluses:

• Watch it for the visual effects, the leadership, the courage and you will feel you are in a video game all through the duration of the flick :)
• Asa Butterfield, is the hero of the movie. Any given day a grand beginning for a teen with an appropiate exposure. And this kid doesnt disappoint you. You can see him in different expressions, a helpless kid, a small loving brother, a leader but all the time very defiant. He never looses the limelight. You will love him :)
• Rest of the star cast however important in their respectives roles were all supports, appreciative!
• Need not re iterate specifcally on the amazing VFX's, migrates you to a different world

Lukewarm:

The story was very average. A little silly too. I mean who risks the entire world in the hands of a teen :) Capacitive for future, understood!! But the climax was too filmy :D

Minuses:

Nothing notably bad except for the not so appealing script



My rating: 3.5/5

Krrish3

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Kangana Ranaut, Priyanka Chopra,Vivek Oberoi

Director: Rakesh Roshan

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action

Ambitious project for Bollywood. Low on technical quality, however the story and the over all look of the movie doesnt disappoint you

Pluses:

• To my surprise Krrish 3 doesnt disappoint. Go with an expectation to watch the only successful super hero league of Bollywood films and draw no comparison to english movies. There is a still a long way for it to grow
• The plot and script was rather interesting, and much better than what i expected. A few things did make sense as well. And thankfully, less family drama :)
• Hrithik Roshan of course, he can make things look big and not a joke. Both the caricatures of 'Rohit' and 'Krishna' were very well played, danced well...and better action than most other movies
• Kangna was a delight to watch. She has worked a lot on her accent, looks very international...amazing VFX used to portray her role
• Vivek Oberoi was again unexpectedly cool, he looked negative and he justified the evil in the role, though i hated his costume by the end :)
• Cheers to Rakesh Roshan for having given another success much against the criticism and a round of applause to have carried forward the legacy

Lukewarm:

• VFX used were just about average. Yes, there are instances where you like it, and instances where you feel they deliberately screwed it. I was trying to keep my expectations low, but this movie gambles with you in technicalities. It raises your expectations and then dumps you. A let down! Quality should be consistent throughout
• Priyanka Chopra didnt have much to do in this movie. She was just required to complete the family picture. Works well

Minuses:

• The mutant versions used in the movie were not upto its standards! In fact looked rather funny!
• Few dialogues here and there were damn funny, unsuitable and idiotic
• Music was real bad, on big screens you may take the songs with the visuals, but audio of the music is absolutely nothing like at par!
• Promotions and marketting are pretty bad, reduces down the hype even before its release

My rating: 3/5 (Without technical quality, such genres cannot prove its might with starcast and story alone. Could have been
much better!)