Movie Reviews: 2013

Monday, 20 May 2013

COMPLETE DATABASE

Friday, 10 May 2013

GO GOA GONE

Genre: Action Adventure Comedy Horror

Direction: Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru

Lead: Vir Das, Kunal Khemu, Anand Tiwari

Bollywood's first ZomCom (Zombie Comedy) certainly does not come out as a failed attempt. The direction is good, so is the cinematography. Songs and background scores are awesome. The first half of the movie is quite gripping but the second half lacks creativity. The pace drops down as far as the screenplay is concerned, but the movie does set its mark.

Entertainment is full of wacky humor, though the delivery of the punches could have been much better. The comedy could have been better designed and made funnier, but it's not so bad either. Some jokes are repetitive and acting is not so good. None of the actors have done justice to their roles, even Saif Ali, who has done a terrible job, but it seems he tried his best. His "Russian" accent keeps turning on and off throughout the movie. Much profanity is used but not as over-used as it was in Delhi Belly. The abusing feels casual.

It's an entertaining flick and youngsters will definitely enjoy a watch of this. It feels good to see Bollywood trying out new ventures and not delivering a complete flop. It's fun.

RATING:

Friday, 3 May 2013

BOMBAY TALKIES

Genre: Drama

Direction: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anuraag Kashyap

Finally, this is a break-through in the art movie genre after Bollywood's last Dhobhi Ghaat tried its best. Well, this one did quite better for its cinematic touch. It's a collage of four short stories designed by the legendary directors of Bollywood, except for Karan Johar, but this time, he did good too. Each story has almost equivalent depth of characters, touching emotional drama and a well-designed simple storyline to mildly leave a feel on the viewer.

This movie is not for the amateur audience who are into the mainstream Bollywood. This one is for those who appreciate a great cinema and who enjoy the higher class of movie-making. The other three directors were expected to perform splendidly anyways, but Karan Johar is really the surprise element in this as he delivered possibly his best piece of work in this, that actually made him stand in the line of the serious talents in the industry. The acting of every character is to perfection and all four stories are designed to concentrate on specific elements of the society, very different from each other.

The movie teaches great lessons of life for those who can grasp a good cinema. It's a delightful and heart-touching flick and people who like classy direction must without a doubt give it a watch.

RATING:

Friday, 26 April 2013

IRON MAN 3

Genre: Action Sci-Fi

Direction: Shane Black

Lead: Robert Downey Jr.

It is better than the second part but could not make its way upto the first one. This is actually a sequel to The Avengers, and not Iron Man 2.

The movie plot lacks the gripping power. The storyline is that of a typical sci-fi movie which has been so overused in Hollywood that it has become mundane, the playing around with genetics for human evolution so as to gain superpowers. The previous parts atleast had eye candy for the viewers, the locations, the gadgets. This one is just too static. The power downs, the malfunctioning of the machines are so overused that it loses the humor of it.

Though the movie is entertaining enough for a watch, it just did not seem good enough to be the end of a series. Robert played the part well as always, and Guy Pearce was good too. Ben Kingsley's character seemed to be disappointing though, right from the start, though the idea was good but the character isn't implemented properly. The Mandarin was supposed to be a great villain for this series but the movie just destroyed the original character. Rebecca Hall and Don Cheadal could not help build up the characters either. Gwyneth Paltrow maintained her character's chemistry well but the overall dialogues of the lead couple failed to generate the spark.

Though being predictable, the movie is alright to watch merely for fun, but from the cinematic perspective, it just does not stand out at all.

Only a reboot could save the Iron Man now.

RATING:

Friday, 8 February 2013

SIDE EFFECTS

Genre: Drama Thriller

Direction: Steven Soderbergh

This is a pure thriller that really keeps the plot turning. Though the first half of the movie is very slow-paced and at times boring, the plot intertwining that happens in the second plot is worth it. So patience is all the movie requires from the viewer and it will provide a great experience in return.

Though the central plot of the movie revolves around the prescriptions of drugs and their side-effects on a woman, the movie portrays deeply the psychological impact and the slowly fitting together puzzles, which keeps getting interesting as the plot thickens. The screenplay is commendable, the direction is good and the acting is quite well too. The only thing the movie could have done better with, is some intelligent writing. Some deeper dialogues would have given this movie the power to stick through, and would have kept the audience keen through the first half, which seems a little drawn away.

The movie is great and it leaves a lasting thrill in the mind. It does deserve a watch, and if it were just a little fast-pacing, it surely would have deserved 4 stars.

RATING:

DAVID

Genre: Drama Thriller

Direction: Bejoy Nambiar

Lead: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vinay Virmani, Chiyaan Vikram

It really is sad to see the Bollywood industry, that gets hit performances on box office for bullshit movies, whereas movies like these don't get an acknowledgement. David is really a true masterpiece for Bollywood. Not only it proves that a period movie can be created artistically in India too, but it can also implement mixed timelines fashion in a superb way. Bejoy Nambiar definitely deserves a hats off for this movie!

The movie comprises of three different stories: One in 1975, one in 1999, and one in 2010. And each minute detail related to the portraying of the specific eras on the screen has been done to perfection. Each of the timeline is designed so as to deliver complete effects splendidly. The three stories are about three different men with the same names, who are each about to take a step that is going to change their lives forever. And the way the stories end interlinking and having an impact on each other, is simply marvelous.

The acting is good, the writing is great, and the direction is off the hook. The cinematography also deserves a special credit here. This movie is a milestone for Bollywood, for this is one of the very rare pieces of the industry that truly delivers a powerful cinematic output.

RATING:

SPECIAL 26

Genre: Crime Drama Thriller

Direction: Neeraj Pandey

Lead: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill

Since the movie was publicized on the basis of Neeraj Pandey's last movie A Wednesday, the first point of this review has to be that this was nowhere close to that one. A Wednesday sets a significant milestone in the Bollywood industry but this movie merely makes its presence felt with its good quality in direction. But it had nothing else to offer. The movie is unnecessarily stretched to a length that makes it boring at times. There is a love story included in this thriller which has absolutely nothing to do with the movie, and the movie would have been a lot better without that romance element. Not to mention, the actress has done a terrible job.

But that is not all of it. Even without the love story subplot, the movie has a lot of sucking elements. It's like the movie did not have enough storyline to display for an average movie runtime. It's like they had 2-3 powerful scenes they wanted to show the audience, and then they designed a movie around those scenes. The movie actually deserves only around 45 minutes to be perfect. Everything else is a drag. After and before every robbery, there are too many fillers used where there is simply good music for a long time while the four people are arriving at the place of crime, and leaving that place respectively. Even the raid scenes have musical beats that gives the feel that there are some fast-paced intelligent action tricks going on, but all the screen delivers is the 4 people roaming around in different rooms, opening cupboards and stuff. They definitely lacked the content.

The writing was only okay. The direction however was splendid. The only thing that this movie deserves a pat on the back for, is that Neeraj Pandey has shown that even Bollywood can create a well-furnished period movie. The props used in the movie and everything that comes to the eye, really gives the effect of the era that was decades ago. But unfortunately, apart from the direction, the movie has not much to give, except an expectation that something intelligent is coming. But the entire plot is predictable. All the twists are too easy to predict way before they reveal it, except the final twist. But even that is not a great one, just unexpected, but it's not sold in a way that would stick.

The climax had a good idea but maybe if they had more content to build it up and an unpredictable way to showcase it, the movie might have been a little better.

RATING:

Thursday, 7 February 2013

ABCD (ANY BODY CAN DANCE)

Genre: Drama Music

Direction: Remo
Lead: Prabhu Deva

After turning a legend like Accepted into the disaster F.A.L.T.U, Remo came back to try to steal another piece from Hollywood, Step Up 4, including some dance themes and the basic storyline, but this time, Remo did quite well. And obviously the main reason behind it is that this time, the theme was dance, which is his ultimate interest after all. Prabhu Deva does crappy acting, but fortunately this movie isn't all about it. It's about street dancing and the dancers on the screen do successfully win the viewers' hearts by their talents. It was a good idea to launch the movie in 3D, like the Step Up series has started to. And just to make the audience enjoy the dances in 3D more, there obviously has to be a dance in the water. The movie has stolen many little pieces from other movies, but ultimately provides a delightful entertaining dance flick.

The dialogues are good, really great at times, and they touch the hearts. The movie has some moments which truly makes you feel connected to it. But the comedy is pure South Indian shit. The comical over-acting just takes out all the fun from the movie and some of the punches that could have been really funny, just got spoiled because they were delivered in an immature way. But overall, the movie is simple and watchable, for some moments are simply amazing. It were for a better director and actors, the audience would have gotten a better movie. Even the acting is bad, but it's manageable.

The dance quotes delivered by Prabhu Deva are really motivational and inspirational, and they are worth watching the entire movie. In fact, those quotes make the movie even better than the original Hollywood flick.

RATING:

Friday, 11 January 2013

MATRU KI BIJLEE KA MANDOLA

Genre: Drama Comedy

Direction: Vishal Bhardwaj

Lead: Pankaj Kapur, Anushka Sharma, Imran Khan

A film by Vishal Bhardwaj, there's always something unexpected coming! The genre of dark comedy has never made its way in Bollywood until this one. The direction is splendid obviously, but the writing is simply awesome! The lines are so deep at times that they just keep ringing in your head. This movie is an absolutely unique take on politics that no one would have ever thought of! Each character in the movie is mapped with acute details and leaves a mark. Given that lately, Bollywood has been releasing absolute bullshit as far as most of the comedy flicks are concerned, this has formed a new apex with a very distinct touch of feelings. The dramatic sequences stick! The acting is very commendable, especially that of Pankaj Kapur. Hatts off to that guy. And the intense lines about politics delivered by Shabana Azmi couldn't have been done better to skip viewers' beats.

The storyline is twisted and turned in a marvelous way that makes the movie quite intelligent. The plot is not that much unpredictable, but the delivery of the story through this type of screening leaves the viewer amazed. There are innumerable movies released on Indian politics every year, but this movie has certainly set the bar a bit high for this year. Never has such controversial topic been camouflaged in such crazily catchy manner. The lines seem very profound at times that literally pierce right through and make you wonder of the facts of this plain reality that's running our social systems. From dual personalities to abstinence side-effects, Pankaj's character has been filled with everything that would touch the brains and the hearts. Same goes for other characters. The movie is a great ride of emotions, both joyful and heart-weeping. It's profound and deep, and is covered with excellence.

Indeed, a very innovative movie by Bhardwaj!

RATING: