Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain

Cast: Martin Sheen, Kal Penn, Rajpal Yadav, Tannishtha Chatterjee(Dilip's wife), Manoj Joshi(Doctor),Gopichand Lagadapati(Gupta), Joy Sengupta and Mischa Barton(Reporter)
Director: Ravi Kumar
Genre: History, Drama


One movie deserving appreciation. All those who remember or are aware of the history related to Bhopal Gas tragedy should watch this one



You may look forward to:

• History and every nuances behind the story very well depicted. Looks like quite in depth study was done on what actually went wrong in the factory before making into a movie. This story isn't restricted on surface only where Martin Sheen is not centered as the only negligent person and the only person to be blamed for. The story shows the inner side of factory level detailing, on how progressive negligence bought upon the accident which resulted in mass murder
• The director Ravi Kumar did a very serious job of bringing about the smaller bit of stories from the slums and lifestyle of villagers to that of the rich American investors, to the job of the reporters, every single detailing well executed
• Martin Sheen didn't have a very elaborate role who plays 'Warren Anderson', he was in all probability kept intentionally under low light. Nevertheless, commendable 
• Kal Penn, one hell of an actor. He was my hero of the movie. Brilliantly depicted role of the reporter. Clap Clap!
• Rajpal Yadav, gets the much deserved break through, he is a brilliant actor and he gets enough opportunity to perform :)
• Tannishtha Chatterjee, Manoj Joshi, Joy Sengupta and Mischa Barton, are the supporting cast, all of them limited role but everyone has distinctive character sketches and beautifully played
• Gopichand Lagadapati had a mean role, he was one of the reasons of the catastrophic event in Bhopal

The dampeners you should be aware of:

• Warren Anderson's role wasn't detailed enough. It may have been concised down intentionally, but he was a major key, and should have been covered well
• The tag of 'A prayer for rain', isn't justified. There were only handful mentions of drought, while the entire attention remained with Union Carbide. Could have captured a bit of the misery

My Rating: 3.5/5

This Is Where I Leave You

Cast: Jason Bateman, Tina Fey,Adam Driver(Phillip), Corey Stoll(Paul),Jane Fonda(Judd's Mother), Rose Byrne(Penny),Kathryn Hahn(Annie),Abigail Spencer(Quinn), Connie Britton(Phillip's Girl), Timothy Olyphant(Horry), Dax Shepard(Judd's Boss), Ben Schwartz(Boner) and Cade Lappin(The only Kid)
Director: Shawn Levy
Genre: Comedy, Drama


A happy, fun and adult family drama :) Perfect Sunday watch :)



You may look forward to:

• A relaxed light enjoyable watch with your spouse or with your friends. If you are tensed, you will be rejuvenated:)
• The movie completely justifies its genre of Drama as well as Comedy :) That's all you've got in here. Plenty adult jokes and complications with relationships, multiple contradictory characters under one roof, fights and snuggles, laughter's and cries, realizations and frustrations, all sort of human emotions depicted on lighter notes. And yes life still moves on :)
• Crazy lot of characters to credit, however the main lead being Jason Bateman, every other role seem revolving around him. He is one character who learns to appreciate a complicated life over a planned single track steady life :) His journey through the realization in 7 days is subtle and good :)
• Tina Fey,Adam Driver and Corey Stoll,playing the siblings of the lead, all of them equally distributed roles balanced out with another significant role played by Jane Fonda, the perfect Mother :) Loved Fonda's character absolutely :)
• Rose Byrne, Kathryn Hahn, Abigail Spencer and Connie Britton, are the supporting cast of the movie, mostly the reason of all the complications in an otherwise perfect family :D
• Timothy Olyphant, Dax Shepard and Ben Schwartz, playing the second level of supporting star cast, shorter screen presence but each one of them leaves a different impression of his own :)
• And a must mention of our cutest character: Cade Lappin :D Well, he reminds you how important it is to clear your bowels, on all the 7 days :P

The dampeners you should be aware of:

Too short a duration of a movie involving these many characters, character sketches are kept concise, not delving too deep. But the director does a good job, not letting that be any minus of the movie




My Rating: 3/5 

Action Jackson

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Sonakshi Sinha, Yami Gautam,Kunaal Roy Kapur, Manasvi Mamgai and Anand Raj(Xavier)
Director: Prabhudheva
Genre: Action, Drama


Expect below negative, you will end up enjoying it :)



You may look forward to:

• Exotic locations. Yet again, dancing around the trees :D Nevertheless, NZ and Bangkok showcased very beautifully
• Humor of the movie isn't bad, you do laugh out,certainly more than a giggle in various scenes, specially ones post interval
• Both the lead actresses: Sonakshi Sinha and Yami Gautam, looked absolutely gorgeous. Any time they are on screen opposite Ajay Devgan :), you cant take your eyes off them
• Ajay Devgan, did quite a good job in action scenes, this movie is all about action in the end. And he has worked hard, which you can see
• Prabhudheva tried to give his best, if one notices, you could see, every action scene was set differently from another. Once in rain, then the other like an International take with slow western background scores :D He tried to make all the action scenes look good
• Kunaal Roy Kapur is his idiot best, he does manage to make you laugh time to time

What you can sleep over:

• Anand Raj didn't look convincing in the beginning as an International criminal, however as the movie advanced, he does manage to pull it off
• Music was very okayish. Forgettable. Thankfully not an ear sore

The dampeners you should be aware of:

• Manasvi Mamgai is the biggest disappointment of the movie. She dominated the second half,next to Ajay Devgan, and she sucks big time. I wonder how did she manage to get selected for this role which requires to not just be a vamp but also a sultry seductress!! All she does is to expose her chest, every now and then, where at a point i wonder, why does she even wear clothes. Looks very average, rather a little slutty, going by her character and acts very okayish, spoils the second half of the movie entirely
• So what did not really work for the movie? If there are all the masalas and these many pluses and efforts put by everyone....!!!! Well, the era of mindless action flicks seems to be have finally gone from Bollywood. If this movie was released a year back, would have succeeded. People detest the same shit which they loved one year back. This movie was made at a wrong time or rather miscalculated by Prabhu Deva. And that's the only minus of the movie. Perhaps a bigger name like SRK can only make it look like a box office hit, if not rated by the audience :)

My Rating: 2.5/5 (An extra 0.5 for all the effort visibly gone into the making of the movie)

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Cast: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, María Valverde, Issac Andrews 
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Drama, Action


Doesn't meet the set expectations! Not a bad watch otherwise!



You may look forward to:

• Beautiful and larger than life sets, you almost wish you could to be there. The many acts of god, even if they don't make sense(No offense), do look life like on big screens
• Joel Edgerton did a good job, the many expressions of a ruthless ruler, to a betraying friend, to a caring father and a husband, he portrays pretty well!
• Issac Andrews, this little fella deserves a mention. This guy gives out outstandingly mature expressions while being such a natural. One hell of an actor in the kid
• María Valverde is beautiful, though not much long for her screen presence, but she does have a role significant enough

What you can sleep over:

Christian Bale disappointed me. I expected a lot from an actor like him and with a movie selling on him, i expected a much meatier role than Gods doing the most for him. And yet, as an actor, he isnt a minus




The dampeners you should be aware of:

• The movie looked cliche in terms of war, no different stroke of sword, no specific act of valor.There were no moving or catchy dialogues. The movie lacked excitement big time. I felt sleepy out of inactivity and cliche scenes by interval
• A period movie work only if it gives you a feel which is grand in terms of sets, in terms of characters and which makes an imprint on the audience that this character is the leader. Christian Bale's character lacked the true sense of leadership big time, failed establishing him as one, which in turn failed the success of the movie 

My Rating: 2.5/5

Horrible Bosses 2

Cast: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz(Mr. Hanson)
Director: Sean Anders
Genre: Comedy



A complete fun and frolic journey. A must watch for all the adult comedy lovers



You may look forward to:

• I believe i love this part more than the first :) A good storyline, along with crazy team of 3+1, one helluva ride :) 
• Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day, the awesome threesome, with completely three different character sketches, entertains you till the end
• Jennifer Aniston and Jamie Foxx, are the amazing characters without whom the movie is incomplete. Their mere presence is hilarious
• Chris Pine is a super awesome addition to the bandwagon. He is hot, is intelligent, hilarious and smart. He delivers really well to the changing moods
• Christoph Waltz, a hardcore businessman. He is a subject to be hated :D
• Sean Anders does a fantastic job in directing the fun filled drama

The dampeners you should be aware of:

You don't get bored at all, no minuses




My Rating: 3.5/5

Ungli

Cast:  Emraan Hashmi,Randeep Hooda,Angad Bedi,Neil Bhoopalam, Kangana Ranaut, Sanjay Dutt, Neha Dhupia, Arunoday Singh,Raza Murad,Mahesh Manjrekar
Director: Renzil D'Silva
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Thriller


A good plot goofed up. Doesn't serve anything more than a pass time flick



You may look forward to:

• Innovative lessons taught to Government employees in various sectors involved in crime and malpractices. Adds to good humor while executing interesting ways to torture for the offense :)
• Angad Bedi and Neil Bhoopalam, largely look alike, when teamed with Randeep Hooda :D They do a fair job
• Sanjay Dutt these days is a special appearance. Doesn't have much to do, but yet good to see him
• Neha Dhupia doing a decent job in the petty roles that she does these days, better than doing item numbers :)
• I feel sorry about Arunoday Singh doing puny roles like this, however, he still did fine to whatever short screen presence that he has
• Raza Murad on screen after a long time
• Mahesh Manjrekar, short role as our antagonist :)
• The only worth remembering song of the movie 'Dance Basanti' fared well with Shraddha Kapoor. Double Whammy for the lady :)

What you can sleep over:

• Emraan Hashmi wasted. He had nothing much to play, he is absent in half the movie
• Randeep Hooda wasted. He has much more potential to act in far better movies than these

The dampeners you should be aware of:

• Kangana Ranaut, is the biggest waste of the movie, who is just used for promotions. Zero value add and skimpily written role
• The movie lacked punch. The direction was poor. It failed to leave any good moral message for the nation worth remembering
• Movie lacks a lot of common sense as well. Things happen as if every action is a piece of cake. 
• Too many loop holes to muster

My Rating: 2/5

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

 

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks(Effie), Philip Seymour Hoffman(Rebel Leader), Julianne Moore(Rebel Leader) and Donald Sutherland(President Snow)

Director: Francis Lawrence

Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama

More of a build up than a good delivery. You may enjoy it only if you are a fan of the book

You may look forward to:

• Josh Hutcherson, is the only character to look out for in the entire movie. The darkness that looms around him throughout and the climax that ends with him, is worth the watch
• Last half an hour of the movie is the only watchable section which manages to pick some attention
• Liam Hemsworth had much better role in this one, he was much more than just a secondary lover of our female lead :)
• Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks, do their best jobs as the mentors and supporters of Katnes Everdeen
• Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore, the newer characters, do play a strong backing to building the base of the movie
• Donald Sutherland, our major antagonist, plays his regular best in provoking and playing cruel with the districts and its people

What you can sleep over:

All the over dramatization around Katnes Everdeen. Agreed, Hunger Games is also known for its grandeur and show offs. But marketing and show offs only with no content, is not convincing enough

The dampeners you should be aware of:

• Now this one is very similar to "Twilight- Breaking Dawn I'. Extremely slow, dramatized, low on content and poor in delivery. All it does is to create a premise for its next release
• Jennifer Lawrence wasted. She did nothing in the entire movie, accept for firing one shot and showing concerns around the survival of 'Peter Mellark'. She was more of an item girl, who was just used for a pivot. All through the movie, the camera doesn't move from her face. Felt sleepy and tired of all the extra attention given to her. Every breath of her used for marketing, and less to do with fighting against Capitol

My Rating: 2.5/5