DJANGO UNCHAINED

Genre: Adventure Drama

Direction: Quentin Tarantino

Lead: Jamie Foxx

Tarantino hardly fails to inspire the quality audience in the world, and this movie is no exception. The direction as well as writing is simply awesome, and the acting of each character is just perfect. There are hardly any negative points to put forth about this movie.

The movie grabs your attention right from the start and never lets go until it ends completely. The characters are deeply designed and even though it might be influenced by the original 1966-released Django, this movie has set its milestone in the industry. The casting has been done perfectly and the action scenes, very brutal, just impact straight through. The ending, especially, is off the hook. Everything in it is just amazingly designed and put in to entertain the better audience.

Highly recommended.

RATING:

HOBBIT, THE: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

Genre: Action Adventure Fantasy

Direction: Peter Jackson

Lead: Martin Freeman

What's amazing about Peter Jackson is the way he holds on to his excellence in directing. Almost all the movies go down with the sequels but he held the quality of the entire The Lord of the Rings trilogy all the way until the end. And that wasn't enough for him, for he has continued his form over this new trilogy project and still maintaining the perfect quality. Jackson truly is one of the best directors in the industry.

The movie is a prequel to the LOTR trilogy and the plots get intertwined as the adventure progresses, and this connecting is simply brilliant. Martin Freeman has done quite a job in wearing the shoes of the Bilbo Baggins character. The action sequences are still great and the thrill never leaves the storyline. The cinematography is awesome, so are the effects in 3D. Unlike most of the movies being released in 3D, this movie's 3D effects actually gave the feel, like Avatar and Avengers did. It's a great experience to watch it in 3D on the big screens. The book is a lot better though, as it gives a lot more detailed storyline about the actual happenings whereas the movie, though oh-so-long, has omitted lot of points, to make the plot simpler.

The only thing that felt missing was the connection with the lead group, maybe because this time it was all dwarfs with similar characteristics, unlike the Fellowship of the Ring, which had people ranging huge diversities. But the film did not fail to deliver the feel of war heroes. It's an incredible action adventure flick that's not gonna leave the fans of LOTR unimpressed!

RATING:

TALAASH

Genre: Drama Mystery Fantasy Thriller

Direction: Reema Kagti

Lead: Aamir Khan

Reema has already set her mark for extraordinary talents in story and screenplay in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, and since the bar was set so high, this movie did not make it upto that level of excellence. Not that the movie lagged anything, it's just that the script was not that powerful in the first place. The movie gives such high-teaser build-ups at times for the accident's mystery that keeps the audience waiting for the suspense to unravel. And that's why the audience is left disappointed in the end because the movie actually gives the feel that it's about a crime case, which it is not. The movie is not about solving the puzzle but about how solving the puzzle affects the protagonist's life and connects with his constant feel of dilemma and regret. The movie is about a caring father who regrets his one mistake that led to his son's accidental death. It's a drama flick revolving around that father and how he is unable to find the closure to his son's death.

The movie has been built up as a suspense flick similar to Kahaani, but it is far from it. There is no such big twist in the end but a simple turn that isn't as shocking, but touching. The writing is simply awesome, but of course(!) why wouldn't it be, as it had some of the best Bollywood writers at work for it - Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar and the director herself. The dialogues are deep! Absolutely superb job of writing.

The pace is quite low though. The constant flips going on raises the expectations from the movie and then for a long time, it doesn't offer anything. So overall it drains down the average energy of the movie. So due to several instances where it gets boring, it loses some points. It's certainly an adaptation of some of the top Hollywood movies but revealing the names of those movies would spoil the fun out of this one. It's a good try for Bollywood, though, for it has entered some new areas to explore. So even though it did not live it upto its expectations, the movie does deserve a pat on the back.

RATING:

LIFE OF PI

Genre: Adventure Drama

Direction: Ang Lee

Lead: Suraj Sharma

Amazing direction as well as cinematography! This could certainly be considered as Ang Lee's best work till date. Most novel-overridden films miss out on plot-points but this being an adventure novel, easily comprised the entire loop. The emotions are depicted splendidly and though reading the novel would be more interesting as it would lead to numerous imaginations of that world in our minds, this does not fail to amaze the audience. Suraj Sharma has done his part greatly and so is the script, but those credits go to the novel-writer Yann Martel, for the deep and touching lines that build up through the beginning of the movie.

The story is about a kid who gets cast away into the ocean due to a ship wreck and with him, is another survivor of the crash, a Bengal tiger. But the story does not stick merely to the bonding of the human and the tiger, but revolves through the complete natural habitat. This can very well be one of the most effective ship drowns ever since Titanic. Everything in the movie has been shown very deeply that will truly touch the hearts.

It would not turn out to be a surprise if this gets nominated for the Oscars, but now the downside, which will be that though the open ending element is really good, it leaves the audience wanting more, without giving them a proper closure. It was quick. And the attachment with the kid is not made that deep, as compared to the other similar movies like Cast Away. The connection feels to be missing a beat and could have been better if it were more descriptive of the character rather than just viewing his experience in the ocean, which reduces the overall pace of the movie. Also, the build-up to the story is very powerful with the lines like "it will make you believe in God" but that element is lost in the way.

All in one, it's a delightful adventure journey to enjoy. Definitely watch it for feeling something extra-ordinary out of the daily life. It's wonderful!

RATING:

STUDENT OF THE YEAR

Genre: Comedy Drama Romance

Direction: Karan Johar

Lead: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhat, Varun Dhawan

Being a Karan Johar movie, one can expect all the corny stuff that one can imagine. It's a chick flick with very bad direction but the movie fortunately turns out to be quite entertaining. At times, yes, it does become irritating with some juvenile humor or cheesy predictable scenes, but overall, the movie is alright.

It wouldn't hurt to watch it once, though the movie has nothing much to offer. The leads have done an alright job as far as portraying the characters is concerned, given they did not have a quality direction to guide them. It's an entertaining flick but the movie does not have a cinematic experience if you're looking for a quality movie.

RATING:

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

Genre: Adventure Drama Comedy

Direction: Colin Trevorrow

Lead: Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni, Mark Duplass

Quite a good kick-off for Colin, this movie, though he did only an ordinary job. It's not a mind-blowing one or a really touching one either. It's plain and simple and delightful. It doesn't bore you and keeps going smoothly. It has its funny punches as well as some moments that make you feel the characters' situations. Acting and writing are good, the story is funny. It's about a guy who has placed an ad in the Classifieds section of the newspaper that he is seeking for a partner who will accompany him to go back in time. And there are these three magazine employees who head out on a journey to interview this guy, actually to get a vacation out of the city.

It's not at all a science fiction movie, per say. It concentrates on the relationships, emotions and the characterizations of each of them. The characters will stick if you're good at reading between the lines. It's not something to for the theater for, but certainly a chill-out movie to watch when you want to relax. It's fun.

RATING:

OMG OH MY GOD!

Genre: Comedy Drama Fantasy

Direction: Umesh Shukla

Lead: Paresh Rawal

It's an adaptation of a Gujrati play named 'Kanji Virrudh Kanji'. The movie is quite entertaining with its humor as well as dramatic instances. The direction is alright, given that Umesh Shukla has not done any good with any of his previous work. Acting was great; one always expects over-acting from a Bollywood comedy flick that ruins the entire feel of humor. But this one is implemented well. The dialogues are very well written to give the exact feel of what they want to portray. It's a bit over-rated though, the dialogues; there is not much new argument but the ones which every common man discusses about. Just putting them on the screen must have took some courage as it was a risk they took. But it is not that offending either to the ones who do believe in God. The movie is not about atheism for that matter, it's just about the flaws in the concepts around which people believe in God. The movie ends with a noble message which is acceptable and that's the point they wanted to make through this.

Now as for the movie, the story-line is utter bullshit! It's like they wanted to lay the points of the argument through something and so they built a movie around those points. The plot has a million loopholes and throughout the movie, there is absolute non-sense going on to make impact of the dialogues, like people constantly cheering without any reason and unnecessary music background. In some instances, it could be managed, but in most, it's like the story keeps purposefully bending to go with the flow that the writer wants, even if it doesn't make any sense. The movie's story and Paresh's and Mithun's characters are not at all fixed to one theme. At one time, they try to show the Paresh's character as an atheist, the other time, he is trying to find logical ways to believe in God. At one time, they try to show a thrilling and intimidating role of Mithun, and then he's stupidly comical. It's like they wanted to be justifying with both the believers and the non-believers, and got lost in the cat's cradle, and then they just released it without giving a second thought. Absolutely no thought process was used to make this movie's story. The entire movie was predictably stupid.

Just watch it for the lessons and nothing more. It does successfully send a noble message. It would have done better being something like a talk show debate, instead of a feature film, as it has a lot of revolutionary punches like the ones we get in George Carlin's stand-up shows. But definitely, a crap story with badly copied stunts of Akshay. Don't expect much expect some fun and a cloud of mushroom to think about after the movie, which has been over out heads already though.

RATING:

HEROINE

Genre: Drama

Direction: Madhur Bhandarkar

Lead: Kareena Kapoor

Madhur Bhandarkar is really unpredictable at his skills. At one point, he makes movies like Fashion and Page 3, and then there's movies like this. This movie has been the worst of his work till now, and it was way too obvious as he picked some of the worst actors of Bollywood for it- Kareena Kapoor, who does not have any clue about acting and goes on doing it at her highest peak, and on the other hand is Arjun Rampal, who has no clue about acting and stays at his lowest peak; the over-actor and the under-actor, what a combination!

The audience who are comparing this movie with Fashion and saying they are similar, have absolutely no sense of quality movies! Actually, if such crowd stopped watching movies, Bollywood might try change to find itself at a better place at the global level. The movie is utter crap with boring drama, which comes as no surprise at all, except for people who are actually dumb enough to have been looking forward to watch it in the first place. Seriously, folks, get a choice!

RATING:

BARFI!

Genre: Comedy Drama Romance

Direction: Anurag Basu

Lead: Ranbir Kapoor

A fun and entertaining watch without a second thought... Ranbir always does a mind-blowing job with the characters he plays. And others too have done all that they could. There doesn't seem to be anything lagging from anyone. The timeline shifting of the storyline has been planned perfectly. A very intelligent job by the director there. All the three genres have been implemented in a great way to touch the audience.

The only downside is the unnecessary stretched length of the movie. Hollywood has a number of such masterpieces and the reason they made the impact was because they were not stretched until they start to bore the audience. The movie should have been edited well. But it doesn't equalize with the tons of good points though. The songs are nice too.

To spoil the excitement though, the entire is made up of clips stolen from movies all around the world. Almost everything creative shown in this movie that entertains the audience is adapted from some or the other foreign movie. But as long as you are ready to excuse them for stealing the material, you are good to go enjoy the flick.

It promises an entertaining ride to enjoy, and does not offer less!

RATING:

EK THA TIGER

Genre: Action Comedy Romance

Direction: Kabir Khan

Lead: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif

With the movie beginning that showcases it as a thriller package, it breaks down instantly after some time. Instead of being an action movie, it turns into more of a chick flick at times. As far as the intelligence level is concerned, just do not think of this movie a spy movie at all, and you'd do fine. Of course, after what Salman has been upto since the last few years, it is expected that there will be not much logic in this one too, but since this movie gives the feel that it's going to be spy action, better be prepared to watch everything but an intelligent plot.

The only good thing about this one was that the comedy element had been atleast mildly enjoyable, unlike the last few bullshit movies that Salman was a part of. This was a little entertaining but not worth wasting time though. Nothing new here, except the same old chick flick theme, only surrounded by some illogical action sequences and a predictable plot.

RATING:

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR II

Genre: Action Drama Thriller

Direction: Anurag Kashyap

Lead: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Kashyap made this one big movie of five and a half hours length in just around 4 months. And for making such a legend, he truly deserves a standing ovation!

Because this was shot at a stretch, there was not even slight degradation in the level of direction. The actors did a splendid job and the plot was good too. The negative point compared to the prequel is that the first half of this movie has a lot of unnecessary build-ups using songs, which lead to some boring instances. But once the plot takes over, it's back to action. The action sequences are better put strategically, especially the climax action scenes. The climax was truly commendable, worth applauding for!

A great ending to the legendary saga...

RATING: