27. Sikandar (Hindi) (5.5/10)
An interesting film from a child's perspective. How a young teenage child is forced and used for militancy without him being realizing what he has to do with an interesting twist towards the end. Nice performances by Parzan Dastur, Madhavan and Sanjay Suri. The movie holds interest initially, loses steam towards the end but comes back on track with an excellent climax.
26. District 9 (4.5/10)
20 years ago a space ship just hung there mid air in city of Johannesburg. Their refugee camp is called District 9. Now a corporation is trying to relocate them. Wikus is assigned this job doing which he gets infected by a chemical because of which he starts to turn into one of the aliens. Wikus goes on the run from scientists who want to harvest his evolving, new parts and aliens who see him as a threat. When he pairs up with an extraterrestrial secretly planning an escape from Earth, however, what should be a fascinating relationship story becomes a series of firefights and explosions. Interesting but not engaging enough for me.
25. Fame (3/10)
Remake of 8s film by same name that takes us through the lives of various students studying performing arts to get trained in singing, dancing, acting etc. The film fails to grab attention primarily because of really bad acting and all unfinished stories. I would stay away
24. Coraline (4/10)
Teenager Coraline moves in a new house but is bored because her parents are always very busy. Her only friends are some crazy neighbors of hers. One day she find a secret door traveling through which she discovers a whole nw another family and friends sam as her real life but with buttons instead of eyes. Her 'other' parents give her lot of love but soon she finds out a dark secret about this other family and what they are really after. Its just ok. Animations are not my thing but this one really did not have anything exciting
23. The Sea (Iceland) (1/10)
This is the worst movie I have seen. A dying father calls his children back to the countryside and thats where a lot of secrets are revealed. Every single person has a weirdness about him/her and a totally f***ed up past and present and th whole dynamics including father and the step mother. Just stay away from this film. I dont even want to think how did this film manage to get so called Icelandic Academy Awards.
22. Love Khichdi (Hindi) (3.5/10)
Interesting concept not yet fr typical Indian viewer. Randeep Hooda is womanizer who is at the same time either wooing or wooed by 6 separate girls. In all these girls, there is his closest friend and she is the only one he really likes as a friend and who actually loves him back in return which he doesn't realize. A few encounters with the girls are good and interesting but after a while it just gets boring and repetitive. Only good thing is Randeep Hooda who I thouht was pretty natural in the film. Sonali Kulkarni also did 'kaam wali bai' acting pretty good.
21. Rafoo Chakkar- Fun On The Run (Hindi) (1/10)
Terrible movie from every aspect. Acting, story, direction everything you can think of. The things that you can learn from this film is how not to act, how not to direct and how not to write a script. These are the kind of films that make a decent actress like Mita Vashishtha to look like a caricature. Please dont even bother for this one. A shame to the highly entertaining Rishi-Neetu film of 70s by same name.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Time for Bollywood masala
20. Shadow (Hindi) (3/10)
This film was made purely to showcase the talent of newcomer Nasser Khan who is actually blind in real life. To keep that in account, he does singing, dancing, acting and all deadly stunts by himself is pretty commendable. But still the movie is pathetic. Police led by Sonali Kulkarni are trying to solve various murder cases that are happening in the city. Milind Soman and Hrishita Bhatt are reporters handling the case. and then there is a car mechanic who is great at his work and everyone loves , Nasser Khan. It turns out he is the killer and the logic behind it is bad. Poor acting by everyone else and a overweight Sonali in tight pants. Stay away
19. Kisaan (Hindi) (5/10)
This was actually not a bad film. Said to be inspired by Manoj Kumar's Upkar, te story is about kisaan Jackie Shroff with 2 sons. Elder son Arbaaz Khan studies in city and younger Sohail Khan becomes anther kisaan. Enter villain Dilip Tahil who wants to but all kisaan's land which Jackie and Sohail oppose but he smehow infiltrates Arbaaz Khan's mind for monetary reasons. This causes a rift between the family and in the end everything is fine. Dia Mirza and Nauheed Cyrusi are fillers.
18. Firaaq (Hindi) (7/10)
Nandita Das' directorial debut is actually pretty heavy but interesting. It showcases multiple stories of various people and what are they going t hrough after the Gujarat riots. It involves a Muslim slum family (Shahana Goswami), a muslim husband and hindu wife, Deepti naval dealing with he own trauma under abusive husband and a maulwi. Interesting character sketch but some stories were left open ended. Nevertheless, very interesting.
17. Luck (Hindi) (6.5/10)
It is definitely a different movie. Sanjay Dutt alongwith Danny collect people from all over the world who they think are lucky and are in need of money. (Shruti Haasan, Mithun, Ravi Kissen, Imran, CHitrashi etc). They work on human betting and make them go through the most dangerous life threatning games. No one actually gets special treatment though you can say that for Imran Khan. All of thes people play dangerous games thereby eliminating one by one and ultimately Imran wins big betting money of 20 crore. Its def a nice eye candy watch
16. Three: Love, Lies and Betrayal (Hindi) (4/10)
Nausheen Ali Sardar lives with husband Akshay Kaoor in a huge mansion but are in need of money. Husband wants to sel house but she doesn't because its hr parents aakhri nishani. They keep a tenant Ashish Chaudhary. Soon game of deception , love and lies start. Ashish pretends to love Nausheen but whats the secret behind. It turns out Akshay is one deceing her but ultimately how Nausheen ends up being a winner. Something similar came long back in movies like Danger and Jackpot. No one remembers those movies and neither will they remember this.
This film was made purely to showcase the talent of newcomer Nasser Khan who is actually blind in real life. To keep that in account, he does singing, dancing, acting and all deadly stunts by himself is pretty commendable. But still the movie is pathetic. Police led by Sonali Kulkarni are trying to solve various murder cases that are happening in the city. Milind Soman and Hrishita Bhatt are reporters handling the case. and then there is a car mechanic who is great at his work and everyone loves , Nasser Khan. It turns out he is the killer and the logic behind it is bad. Poor acting by everyone else and a overweight Sonali in tight pants. Stay away
19. Kisaan (Hindi) (5/10)
This was actually not a bad film. Said to be inspired by Manoj Kumar's Upkar, te story is about kisaan Jackie Shroff with 2 sons. Elder son Arbaaz Khan studies in city and younger Sohail Khan becomes anther kisaan. Enter villain Dilip Tahil who wants to but all kisaan's land which Jackie and Sohail oppose but he smehow infiltrates Arbaaz Khan's mind for monetary reasons. This causes a rift between the family and in the end everything is fine. Dia Mirza and Nauheed Cyrusi are fillers.
18. Firaaq (Hindi) (7/10)
Nandita Das' directorial debut is actually pretty heavy but interesting. It showcases multiple stories of various people and what are they going t hrough after the Gujarat riots. It involves a Muslim slum family (Shahana Goswami), a muslim husband and hindu wife, Deepti naval dealing with he own trauma under abusive husband and a maulwi. Interesting character sketch but some stories were left open ended. Nevertheless, very interesting.
17. Luck (Hindi) (6.5/10)
It is definitely a different movie. Sanjay Dutt alongwith Danny collect people from all over the world who they think are lucky and are in need of money. (Shruti Haasan, Mithun, Ravi Kissen, Imran, CHitrashi etc). They work on human betting and make them go through the most dangerous life threatning games. No one actually gets special treatment though you can say that for Imran Khan. All of thes people play dangerous games thereby eliminating one by one and ultimately Imran wins big betting money of 20 crore. Its def a nice eye candy watch
16. Three: Love, Lies and Betrayal (Hindi) (4/10)
Nausheen Ali Sardar lives with husband Akshay Kaoor in a huge mansion but are in need of money. Husband wants to sel house but she doesn't because its hr parents aakhri nishani. They keep a tenant Ashish Chaudhary. Soon game of deception , love and lies start. Ashish pretends to love Nausheen but whats the secret behind. It turns out Akshay is one deceing her but ultimately how Nausheen ends up being a winner. Something similar came long back in movies like Danger and Jackpot. No one remembers those movies and neither will they remember this.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
September is cruising along fine
15. The Hours and The Times (1/10)
In 1963, just months before Beatlemania swept the world, John Lennon and the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, took a four day vacation together in Barcelona. They were there to relax after a grueling series of concerts, but the trip remained charged with an unspoken tension. Those four emotional days are embodied in The Hours and Times, a flight of imagination that evokes the complex relationship between Lennon and Epstein. It was a a very slow movie and mot much happened. Plus it being so called fictional work as to what happened during that vacation makes this movie which is not my cup of tea.
14. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (4/10)
A sweet film for teenagers , a comedy which happens in a span of one night. Nick a budding musician is recovering from heart break and Norah if trying to figure out her own assumptions of the world. Though they have nothing in common except for their taste in music, their chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show and ends up becoming the first date in a romance that could change both their lives.
13. Fox (Hindi) (5/10)
It could have been a decent thriller but hindi film makers still need to get a pulse of this genre. Arjun Rampal , a lawyer has made lots of money defending criminals. But soon he realizes his mistake and leaves law profession and is living in Goa. He gets book published which is not really his. Soon he finds himself being trapped in some conspiracy where he is now being held for murder of 5 people and Sunny Deol is handling his case. Finally the suspense is revealed which is a major letdown. Good for Tv watching and spend s a decent 2 hour of thrill. Could have been better.
12. Harry, He's Here To Help (French) [With a Friend Like Harry] (6/10)
Michel and Claire are on vacation and they meet Harry who identifies himself as friend of Michel from back in school days. He remembers a lot about Michel specially his poems and writing skills. Michel being the nice guy invites Harry and his girlfriend to their summer house. He wants to make Michel's life better which starts with buying up a new car and continues with killing his parents, brother, his own girlfriend etc. because Harry thinks that they are all the people who are making Michel's life unhappy and stopping him from continuing his writing. The film is slow in the beginning but gets very interesting midway. Although why Harry is doing all this is not very clear but he clearly is very inspired by Michel's writing skills. Def a worth watch
11. Yeh Mera India (Hindi) (6.5/10)
Yeh Mera India is an attempt to explore the real stories behind these headlines. These stories deal with racial bias, communal bias, caste bias, class bias, gender bias, lingual bias and immigrant bias that plaque the today's society and the outcome is startling. A huge ensemble cast where everyone delivers fine performance and how all individual stories all come together is very heartening. It is a story of one day in the life of 12 people from different strata of Mumbai city which is a melting pot of cultures. Very very strongly recommended.
10. Born On The Fourth Of July (5.5/10)
Based on the memoir of combat veteran Ron Kovic, the film stars Tom Cruise as Kovic, whose gunshot wound in Vietnam left him paralyzed from the chest down. He is deeply embittered by neglect in a veteran's hospital and by the shattering of his patriotic idealism because of the horror and futility of the Vietnam conflict. While painfully and awkwardly adjusting to his disability and a changing definition of masculinity, Kovic joins the burgeoning movement of antiwar protest, culminating in a climactic appearance at the 1976 Democratic national convention. The film started off well but somewhere it just lost my interest. Tom Cruise definitely acted really well.
In 1963, just months before Beatlemania swept the world, John Lennon and the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, took a four day vacation together in Barcelona. They were there to relax after a grueling series of concerts, but the trip remained charged with an unspoken tension. Those four emotional days are embodied in The Hours and Times, a flight of imagination that evokes the complex relationship between Lennon and Epstein. It was a a very slow movie and mot much happened. Plus it being so called fictional work as to what happened during that vacation makes this movie which is not my cup of tea.
14. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (4/10)
A sweet film for teenagers , a comedy which happens in a span of one night. Nick a budding musician is recovering from heart break and Norah if trying to figure out her own assumptions of the world. Though they have nothing in common except for their taste in music, their chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show and ends up becoming the first date in a romance that could change both their lives.
13. Fox (Hindi) (5/10)
It could have been a decent thriller but hindi film makers still need to get a pulse of this genre. Arjun Rampal , a lawyer has made lots of money defending criminals. But soon he realizes his mistake and leaves law profession and is living in Goa. He gets book published which is not really his. Soon he finds himself being trapped in some conspiracy where he is now being held for murder of 5 people and Sunny Deol is handling his case. Finally the suspense is revealed which is a major letdown. Good for Tv watching and spend s a decent 2 hour of thrill. Could have been better.
12. Harry, He's Here To Help (French) [With a Friend Like Harry] (6/10)
Michel and Claire are on vacation and they meet Harry who identifies himself as friend of Michel from back in school days. He remembers a lot about Michel specially his poems and writing skills. Michel being the nice guy invites Harry and his girlfriend to their summer house. He wants to make Michel's life better which starts with buying up a new car and continues with killing his parents, brother, his own girlfriend etc. because Harry thinks that they are all the people who are making Michel's life unhappy and stopping him from continuing his writing. The film is slow in the beginning but gets very interesting midway. Although why Harry is doing all this is not very clear but he clearly is very inspired by Michel's writing skills. Def a worth watch
11. Yeh Mera India (Hindi) (6.5/10)
Yeh Mera India is an attempt to explore the real stories behind these headlines. These stories deal with racial bias, communal bias, caste bias, class bias, gender bias, lingual bias and immigrant bias that plaque the today's society and the outcome is startling. A huge ensemble cast where everyone delivers fine performance and how all individual stories all come together is very heartening. It is a story of one day in the life of 12 people from different strata of Mumbai city which is a melting pot of cultures. Very very strongly recommended.
10. Born On The Fourth Of July (5.5/10)
Based on the memoir of combat veteran Ron Kovic, the film stars Tom Cruise as Kovic, whose gunshot wound in Vietnam left him paralyzed from the chest down. He is deeply embittered by neglect in a veteran's hospital and by the shattering of his patriotic idealism because of the horror and futility of the Vietnam conflict. While painfully and awkwardly adjusting to his disability and a changing definition of masculinity, Kovic joins the burgeoning movement of antiwar protest, culminating in a climactic appearance at the 1976 Democratic national convention. The film started off well but somewhere it just lost my interest. Tom Cruise definitely acted really well.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
September so far only bad movies
9. State of Play (6/10)
Russel Crowe is working on investigation of a murder of a secretary of his Congressman friend Ben Affleck with Rachel McAdams. During the process he uncovers truth and harsh reality that threatens to bring down US's big corporates. The truth thats is finally reveald is very interesting and unexpected.
8. Bhaji On The Beach (UK English) (3/10)
Gurinder Chada's first (I think so) movie. Much before "BILB'. This movie was total disaster. Lot of over the top acting, miscellaneous characters everyone trying to deal with their issues. A group of estranged women go on a trip out to the beach and the film follows their troubles: a broken marriage, 3 old women, a pregnant teenager, 2 sisters etc. A very odd movie.
7. Employee of The Month (4.5/10)
Matt Dillon seems to have perfect life with fiance and a job at a bank and his best friend. Day starts with he getting fired, fiance dumping him and fights with friend. Next day there is a huge robbery in the bank and his dealing with it. How even though he was the master mind behind it with his friend and his mistress in bank, ultimately every single person is wearing a mask and is cheating and finally killing the other person.
6. Bruno (5/10)
Another funny stroke from Sacha Baron Cohen. This time he plays a gay Austrian who wants to get famous. There are a lot of scenes which evoke a genuine laughter but over all the movie is a bit downer. Previews make u expect more but thats all it turns out to be. It definitely runs out of the fizz. But I must ay that he did a pretty good job.
5. Ghatothkach - Master of Magic (Hindi) (3/10)
The only interesting thing abut this was that I had no idea about the story between ghatotkach and abhimanyu and it was interesting. Apart from that bad animation and worse songs. Give us a break from mythological hindi animation movies
4. Maruti Mera Dosst (Hindi) (3.5/10)
A girl tells her friends her childhood story of how Lord Hanuman himself was her friend as a kid and how he protected her from al evil forces including her step mom's evil mother. The characters had pretty much nothing to do. The young boy playing Maruti is the only character that holds your attention. Th eveil forces are straight out of some bad bollywood hindi kids film in which they ham and overact.
3. Kalaakaar (Hindi) (5/10)
It was interestng to revisits 80s films. Kunal is budding singer. Sridevi taps her talent and makes sure he gets a chance. Love blooms but soon Kunal finds out he has blood cancer, He tries to snub Sree so that she can hate him and marry someone else but she finds out the truth and commits suicide by the time Kunal also dies. An age old love story formula that worked big time in 80s. Excellent score
2. Agyaat (Hindi) (3/10)
It was a complete downer. First 30 minutes boring. Finally when the invisible creature starts killing people, the suspense if build but the climax is a total let down. You feel totally cheated. Plus I personally did not feel any chills or thrills. And why everyone in Ramu's films overact these days is beyond my comprehension.
1. Razzle Dazzle (4/10)
An australian hilarious mockumentary about kids' competitive dance, complete with overbearing parents, precocious kids, eccentric instructors, and a host of other quirky characters. It had very interesting characters like mothers of teenagers and dance teachers and how seriously (or not) they take the competitions.
Russel Crowe is working on investigation of a murder of a secretary of his Congressman friend Ben Affleck with Rachel McAdams. During the process he uncovers truth and harsh reality that threatens to bring down US's big corporates. The truth thats is finally reveald is very interesting and unexpected.
8. Bhaji On The Beach (UK English) (3/10)
Gurinder Chada's first (I think so) movie. Much before "BILB'. This movie was total disaster. Lot of over the top acting, miscellaneous characters everyone trying to deal with their issues. A group of estranged women go on a trip out to the beach and the film follows their troubles: a broken marriage, 3 old women, a pregnant teenager, 2 sisters etc. A very odd movie.
7. Employee of The Month (4.5/10)
Matt Dillon seems to have perfect life with fiance and a job at a bank and his best friend. Day starts with he getting fired, fiance dumping him and fights with friend. Next day there is a huge robbery in the bank and his dealing with it. How even though he was the master mind behind it with his friend and his mistress in bank, ultimately every single person is wearing a mask and is cheating and finally killing the other person.
6. Bruno (5/10)
Another funny stroke from Sacha Baron Cohen. This time he plays a gay Austrian who wants to get famous. There are a lot of scenes which evoke a genuine laughter but over all the movie is a bit downer. Previews make u expect more but thats all it turns out to be. It definitely runs out of the fizz. But I must ay that he did a pretty good job.
5. Ghatothkach - Master of Magic (Hindi) (3/10)
The only interesting thing abut this was that I had no idea about the story between ghatotkach and abhimanyu and it was interesting. Apart from that bad animation and worse songs. Give us a break from mythological hindi animation movies
4. Maruti Mera Dosst (Hindi) (3.5/10)
A girl tells her friends her childhood story of how Lord Hanuman himself was her friend as a kid and how he protected her from al evil forces including her step mom's evil mother. The characters had pretty much nothing to do. The young boy playing Maruti is the only character that holds your attention. Th eveil forces are straight out of some bad bollywood hindi kids film in which they ham and overact.
3. Kalaakaar (Hindi) (5/10)
It was interestng to revisits 80s films. Kunal is budding singer. Sridevi taps her talent and makes sure he gets a chance. Love blooms but soon Kunal finds out he has blood cancer, He tries to snub Sree so that she can hate him and marry someone else but she finds out the truth and commits suicide by the time Kunal also dies. An age old love story formula that worked big time in 80s. Excellent score
2. Agyaat (Hindi) (3/10)
It was a complete downer. First 30 minutes boring. Finally when the invisible creature starts killing people, the suspense if build but the climax is a total let down. You feel totally cheated. Plus I personally did not feel any chills or thrills. And why everyone in Ramu's films overact these days is beyond my comprehension.
1. Razzle Dazzle (4/10)
An australian hilarious mockumentary about kids' competitive dance, complete with overbearing parents, precocious kids, eccentric instructors, and a host of other quirky characters. It had very interesting characters like mothers of teenagers and dance teachers and how seriously (or not) they take the competitions.
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