All of you would
know what to expect when you walk into a movie that has the tag of the
Burmawalas associated with it. One can
expect a lot of colour. By colour I mean
every perceivable shade of every perceivable colour would be splashed all
across the screen in primarily in the form of the outfits that some gorgeous
specimens of humanity would be seen wearing.
In Race 2, the colour extends itself to the houses, the parties, the
aircrafts, the scenery, the ruins and of course – the parachutes.
Showing posts with label 5.5 on 10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5.5 on 10. Show all posts
Friday, 25 January 2013
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Blood Money
Mahesh Bhatt follows a very simple formula with his movies. There was a time that he was the keen producer director who looked at making serious cinema. But he was quick to learn that Bollywood is anything but the arty farty types. At the end of the day, it is the cash registers in the Box Office that determine success and therefore it is important to strike a balance between quality of cinema and commercial viability. That saw the movement of Shri Bhatt from producer director to just producer after Kartoos (1999). The rest as they say is history. Over the past 13 years I cannot remember the last time a Mahesh Bhatt movie flopped.
Blood Money is no different. A simple formula based movie. Take a couple of young actors and give them reasonable roles in a story that is again quite reasonable but filled with clichés. Kunal Kadam (Kunal Khemu) and Arzoo (Amrita Puri) are a newly married couple who have come from a supremely middle class background. In fact Kunal has worked his way up from the streets to complete an MBA (god such a cliché) and finds himself in his dream job (another cliché) in Mahesh Bhatts favourite location – South Africa (cliché 3).
His dream job is with an Indian diamond tycoon Dharmesh Zaveri (Manish Chaudhary) who is actually a presumed to be dead terrorist – Rajan Zakaria. Needless to say, the trail leads to blood diamonds and terrorism across the globe but Kunal is in too deep before he realizes his folly. Now he has to find his way out of it else he meets a gory death like all who have tried to get out of the spider’s web.
Blood Money is filled with the corniest of dialogues such as, “Mujhe yahaan se vidhwa banke nahin jaana hai Kunal” (I do not want to leave South Africa a widow) to call one out. In fact the weakest point of the movie is the screenplay and dialogues. Writers Sanjay Masoom & Upendra Sidhaye sure have a long way to go in the script writing business. Some decent music from Jeet Ganguly, Siddharth Ganguly & Sangeet Haldipur is the better part of the movie – like most movies from Mahesh Bhatt.
On the performance part, Kunal Khemu is decent as always. I have always believed that he is capable of much more but no clue to what is holding him back. Amrita Puri doesn’t quite carry over her good performance from Aisha where she was the highlight of the movie. She is good here but at places quite over the top. Needs to move over to a more serious role that just of a simple girl. Manish Chaudhary is the highlight of Blood Money by far with a very solid performance.
On the whole, Blood Money is a decent one time watch. Not necessarily on the big screen though. nothing that you would not have seen before but not bad at all. I was hoping for a 5+ score when I walked in and I got exactly that. 5.5 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2cdBzl8qg
Blood Money is no different. A simple formula based movie. Take a couple of young actors and give them reasonable roles in a story that is again quite reasonable but filled with clichés. Kunal Kadam (Kunal Khemu) and Arzoo (Amrita Puri) are a newly married couple who have come from a supremely middle class background. In fact Kunal has worked his way up from the streets to complete an MBA (god such a cliché) and finds himself in his dream job (another cliché) in Mahesh Bhatts favourite location – South Africa (cliché 3).
His dream job is with an Indian diamond tycoon Dharmesh Zaveri (Manish Chaudhary) who is actually a presumed to be dead terrorist – Rajan Zakaria. Needless to say, the trail leads to blood diamonds and terrorism across the globe but Kunal is in too deep before he realizes his folly. Now he has to find his way out of it else he meets a gory death like all who have tried to get out of the spider’s web.
Blood Money is filled with the corniest of dialogues such as, “Mujhe yahaan se vidhwa banke nahin jaana hai Kunal” (I do not want to leave South Africa a widow) to call one out. In fact the weakest point of the movie is the screenplay and dialogues. Writers Sanjay Masoom & Upendra Sidhaye sure have a long way to go in the script writing business. Some decent music from Jeet Ganguly, Siddharth Ganguly & Sangeet Haldipur is the better part of the movie – like most movies from Mahesh Bhatt.
On the performance part, Kunal Khemu is decent as always. I have always believed that he is capable of much more but no clue to what is holding him back. Amrita Puri doesn’t quite carry over her good performance from Aisha where she was the highlight of the movie. She is good here but at places quite over the top. Needs to move over to a more serious role that just of a simple girl. Manish Chaudhary is the highlight of Blood Money by far with a very solid performance.
On the whole, Blood Money is a decent one time watch. Not necessarily on the big screen though. nothing that you would not have seen before but not bad at all. I was hoping for a 5+ score when I walked in and I got exactly that. 5.5 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2cdBzl8qg
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Ekk Deewana Tha
There is something too arty farty about most Gautham Menon movies or is it just my imagination playing tricks on me. Something that tells me that the man is one of those eccentric, unpredictable directors who makes movies really slow under the pretext of calling them good art. Something to the extent of saying that each frame should tell a story and therefore the audience should be given time to absorb it and so on and so forth.
Arre bhai – agreed but that doesn’t mean that words should have space bars between them even when you are speaking… or does it? Gautham could save at least 30% of screen time if he just stops asking his actors to put an emphasis on a pregnant pause after each word that they speak. Ekk Deewana Tha is no different from his other attempts to date. In fairness, the pauses are required in some of his movies but EDT does not fall into that category at all.
Ekk Deewana Tha is a remake of the Tamil movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (Will you cross the skies for me?) which Gautham himself made a couple of years back. It tracks the story of Sachin (Pratiek – who prefers not to use his father’s family name anymore – not that it is getting him to act any better) who falls head over heels for Jessie Joseph (Amy “look how gorgeous I look in a saree” Jackson) at first sight.
But there are several problems on the way. 1. She is a Christian and Sachin’s family are Maharashtrian Brahmins. 2. She is a year older. 3. She has a brother who looks and behaves like a goon. 4. She has a father who is 6’ 3” tall and thinks going to the movies is a sin. 5. She has seen only 5 movies in her life and Sachin wants to make a career in the movies. 6. Sachin himself is the biggest problem of all with all of 22 years under his belt and little or no experience in matters of the heart.
EDT should have released on the Friday before Valentine’s Day and not after. It would have guaranteed full houses. I wonder why there was a delay. Gautham Sir could have been laughing his way to the bank by now. From what I understand, the younger generation had a lot of expectations from the movie. And that Pratiek has a big following. This author however believes that Pratiek is as constipated as ever. No signs of genes there. If Amy Jackson has dubbed herself, then it is a fantastic first time effort. The rest of the cast doesn’t really have much of a role to play.
On one hand, Gautham Menon uses great camera angles and has done justice to the Malayalam aspect by retaining the Mallu dialogues. On the other hand there are gross consistency errors with no attention to detail – like soft spoken dialogues on a bike or absolutely no cuts and bruises after a fight scene. And then there is the aspect of the movie being terribly slow. Rahman’s music also seems to be one of his lesser works. But despite all of that, probably the best Bollywood movie released over 2 weekends. Worth a dekko I say 5.5 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6b462zkgJA&feature=fvst
Thursday, 26 January 2012
I am Kalam
Missed out this one when it released a year and a half back. And that’s where in-flight helps significantly. Catching up with movies released a little while back and with those which have released internationally and not made it to the screen in little known and unimportant India. Therefore Flight MH134 (if I remember correctly) was inaugurated with a Hindi movie to keep my loyalty to my roots.
Chhotu (Harsh Mayar) is an extremely bright kid who is capable of picking up and understanding almost everything that he reads. He comes from a desolate part of Rajasthan to help his uncle Bhatti (Gulshan Grover) with his tea and small eats shop which supplies food to the palace of the local but erstwhile King or Raja (Suresh Acharya) who has converted the palace to a hotel so that he can continue to have his indulgences. His wife the Queen or Rani (Garima Bharadwaj) and son or Kunwar / Prince (Hussan Saad) make up the family. There are helpers all around like royalty should rightfully have. And like most royalty, there are rules to be followed. For e.g. Treat people lower than you in terms of status well but don’t get friendly with them. Make friends only with royalty. Etc. etc. etc.
But who is to prevent 2 kids of a similar age from getting to know each other and eventually become good friends. Chhotu, inspired by the President of the country rechristens himself as Kalam. Kalam and Kunwar Sa become great friends primarily because they have no one else to talk to or interact with. Kunwar helps Kalam with English and some good clothes and books to read. Kalam helps Kunwar with Hindi and through one of the guests of the hotel (Beatrice Ordeix) with French as well. A metaphorical representation of the India of new which is slowly but surely moving towards not caring much about the differences in class, caste or creed.
I am Kalam represents the aspiration of the average child in this country. The child’s desire to go to a school. To learn. To study. To have fun like any other of their own age. Of equality in treatment in terms of having access to the facilities that any rich kid would have. Of being given an equal opportunity as anyone else to make it big in the real world. To have a shot at stepping into the shoes of arguably the most loved President that India has ever had. To walk in his footsteps and make a difference like he did. In a sense it is a dedication to Hon. APJ Abdul Kalam and his vision for the children of India. Something which has left that office with him a couple of years back.
A good first attempt from Nila Madhab Panda. Average performances overall. Really bad finishing though.especially with the foreign support cast which was relaly bad. Several inconsistencies as well. However, solid message. One that should make you ponder. 5.5 on 10. Watch it if you stumble upon it by chance. Worth a dekko definitely.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hts1peF2gc
Chhotu (Harsh Mayar) is an extremely bright kid who is capable of picking up and understanding almost everything that he reads. He comes from a desolate part of Rajasthan to help his uncle Bhatti (Gulshan Grover) with his tea and small eats shop which supplies food to the palace of the local but erstwhile King or Raja (Suresh Acharya) who has converted the palace to a hotel so that he can continue to have his indulgences. His wife the Queen or Rani (Garima Bharadwaj) and son or Kunwar / Prince (Hussan Saad) make up the family. There are helpers all around like royalty should rightfully have. And like most royalty, there are rules to be followed. For e.g. Treat people lower than you in terms of status well but don’t get friendly with them. Make friends only with royalty. Etc. etc. etc.
But who is to prevent 2 kids of a similar age from getting to know each other and eventually become good friends. Chhotu, inspired by the President of the country rechristens himself as Kalam. Kalam and Kunwar Sa become great friends primarily because they have no one else to talk to or interact with. Kunwar helps Kalam with English and some good clothes and books to read. Kalam helps Kunwar with Hindi and through one of the guests of the hotel (Beatrice Ordeix) with French as well. A metaphorical representation of the India of new which is slowly but surely moving towards not caring much about the differences in class, caste or creed.
I am Kalam represents the aspiration of the average child in this country. The child’s desire to go to a school. To learn. To study. To have fun like any other of their own age. Of equality in treatment in terms of having access to the facilities that any rich kid would have. Of being given an equal opportunity as anyone else to make it big in the real world. To have a shot at stepping into the shoes of arguably the most loved President that India has ever had. To walk in his footsteps and make a difference like he did. In a sense it is a dedication to Hon. APJ Abdul Kalam and his vision for the children of India. Something which has left that office with him a couple of years back.
A good first attempt from Nila Madhab Panda. Average performances overall. Really bad finishing though.especially with the foreign support cast which was relaly bad. Several inconsistencies as well. However, solid message. One that should make you ponder. 5.5 on 10. Watch it if you stumble upon it by chance. Worth a dekko definitely.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hts1peF2gc
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
The Proposal
Now, how many of us (men) would love to have a hot female boss? All those who said no can hang a board around their necks which says “LIAR” in big bold italics in the largest font available these days. Now I am at no point of time suggesting that Sandra Bullock is your version of a “Hot” Boss. It was just a fictional question. Now think about how many of you would want to get married to a boss that looks like Sandra Bullock and behaves like she is the bitchiest (if there was a term like that) person on mother earth? In this case, I am quite certain not too many of us would like to. But then such bosses do not really look at consensual marriages right? Especially when their existence in a country is threatened because she has over stayed the period as allowed by her visa. And worse, there is a promotion due. Well, you have the best possible concoction for a romantic comedy which is not too much of a drag per se but definitely gets a bit boring in parts.
The Proposal is director, Anne Fletcher’s (one of the regrettably few female directors we have on the block) 3rd movie if I am not mistaken. She did have notable mentions in Step Up which has gone onto become a reasonably successful franchise if I understand correctly and 27 Dresses which starred the gorgeous Katherine Heigl and was one of the better RomComs made to date. Doesn’t make Fletcher a great director or anyone in the league of the likes of a Garry Marshall. The Proposal barely makes the cut as a Romantic Comedy. Quite a few unnecessary “awww” moments that are expected to look cute but fall a bit flat. I personally thought the scene with the dog, mobile phone and an eagle thrown in should have been chopped off on the cutting board. Fletcher’s team doesn’t exceed too many benchmarks in terms of screenplay either with it being uninspiring in most parts.
And the acting is barely average. Now that I think of it, almost all aspects of this movie are barely average. Surprising to say the least that the likes of Sandra Bullock who got her Oscar in the same year as The Proposal right – for the Blind Side. I guess she reserved most of her acting talent for the more serious movie. Not that she has been a shining beacon of hope for most actresses but she is definitely more capable than what I saw in this movie. I would say the same of Ryan Reynolds who has been brilliant at picking up some of the most horrible movies ever. Thankfully for him, The Proposal wasn’t really as bad as some of the other disasters in his life. The only performance that seemed to be a bit endearing was that of Betty White as Annie Gammy (Grandma). Entertaining in bits but a bit below par on all counts to sum it up. 5.5 on 10 but watchable.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi125895193/
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Friends with Benefits
The last Will Gluck movie that I reviewed was one called Easy A – with Emma Stone in the lead. It was a decent chick flick which I had rated as an ideal “in-flight” movie and given a 5.5. Gluck seems to be building a lovely niche for himself with little improvement on either the scale or the kind of movie that he is proficient at making. Don’t get me wrong here. Both Easy A and Friends with Benefits (FWB) are highly entertaining movies. But they are just entertainment. Casual fun. Not for the serious watcher of “cinema”. I have always liked this genre of cinema i.e. the RomCom and the Chick Flick. FWB gets added to the list. Gluck sure knows how to make them – easy viewing. What I don’t quite understand is the obsession with Emma Stone (enough to give a bit part as an ex-girl friend) and her name from Easy A being used as a tribute of sorts on one of the boards at the airport. Found that to be a bit over the top from Gluck.
And yes, FWB is quite like No Strings Attached. Man meets woman. Man and woman like each other – a lot. But they want to be friends only. No relationships etc. Man and Woman have both been in relationships before. Both have been unsuccessful at the relationship scene. Both come from family backgrounds which are a bit troubled. Man’s mother left the family over a decade ago. Woman doesn’t know who her father is and has been bought up by a reckless, single mom who cannot remember who the father was either. Both Man and Woman are quite afraid of what a relationship would mean to them and whether it would last at all. But since they like each other enough, the decide to be the crutch the other person needs. Just pure “Friends With Benefits”. But then they hadn’t heard about the age old adage popularized by a certain brand ambassador of Rotomac over 20 years back which said – Ek jawaan ladka aur ek jawaan ladki kabhi dost nahin ho sakte (A young man and a young woman can never be “just friends”). And so the complications start creeping in as always and there are lows in the relationship that take it to a breaking point before a gyan session from the single mother to her daughter and the now single father to his son and the eventual happy ending will keep everyone happy.
What works for FWB is the slick humour thrown in all through the movie. Clean and not slapstick which is quite surprising for a movie from across the Atlantic. Like
Jamie (Kunis) : Why don’t they ever make a movie after the big kiss?
Dylan (Timberlake) : They do. Its called Porn.
Loads of rib tickling one liners make this a movie that is imminently watchable. It is fast paced and has 2 lead actors who I am fast developing a huge liking for. I have always leched at Mila Kunis from her That 70s days and she has only grown into being even more delectable. And yes did I mention that she can act – extremely well? Justin Timberlake is as natural an actor like I have ever seen. He continues with the confidence he showed in Social Network and executes the role of Dylan with aplomb. I liked FWB and would give it a 5.5 on 10 as a movie. But as I said before. It is very very entertaining. Go ahead. You will not regret it.
The trailer can be viewed on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2190056729/
And yes, FWB is quite like No Strings Attached. Man meets woman. Man and woman like each other – a lot. But they want to be friends only. No relationships etc. Man and Woman have both been in relationships before. Both have been unsuccessful at the relationship scene. Both come from family backgrounds which are a bit troubled. Man’s mother left the family over a decade ago. Woman doesn’t know who her father is and has been bought up by a reckless, single mom who cannot remember who the father was either. Both Man and Woman are quite afraid of what a relationship would mean to them and whether it would last at all. But since they like each other enough, the decide to be the crutch the other person needs. Just pure “Friends With Benefits”. But then they hadn’t heard about the age old adage popularized by a certain brand ambassador of Rotomac over 20 years back which said – Ek jawaan ladka aur ek jawaan ladki kabhi dost nahin ho sakte (A young man and a young woman can never be “just friends”). And so the complications start creeping in as always and there are lows in the relationship that take it to a breaking point before a gyan session from the single mother to her daughter and the now single father to his son and the eventual happy ending will keep everyone happy.
What works for FWB is the slick humour thrown in all through the movie. Clean and not slapstick which is quite surprising for a movie from across the Atlantic. Like
Jamie (Kunis) : Why don’t they ever make a movie after the big kiss?
Dylan (Timberlake) : They do. Its called Porn.
Loads of rib tickling one liners make this a movie that is imminently watchable. It is fast paced and has 2 lead actors who I am fast developing a huge liking for. I have always leched at Mila Kunis from her That 70s days and she has only grown into being even more delectable. And yes did I mention that she can act – extremely well? Justin Timberlake is as natural an actor like I have ever seen. He continues with the confidence he showed in Social Network and executes the role of Dylan with aplomb. I liked FWB and would give it a 5.5 on 10 as a movie. But as I said before. It is very very entertaining. Go ahead. You will not regret it.
The trailer can be viewed on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2190056729/
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Chillar Party
We were always in the age of the first time director. And now it is the age of first time director pairs. Vikas Bahl and Nitesh Tiwari seem like 2 people who really like kids and canines alike. To pick a project such as Chillar Party as their first movie takes a lot of courage and more importantly would require loads of love for children and dogs to be in a position to handle the stresses that come with it. And I must say that it showed. Their handling of 8 brats and 1 girl was commendable for a first attempt. Not that the artistes were mind blowing in any way (with the exception of a couple) but they made the cut for certain. It would have been quite an experience for both directors and the cast I am certain. What was heartening to see was for the first time someone has taken up the cause of protection of dogs and the ridiculous rules that the government keeps putting up from time to time to “rid” the city of the “menace” called stray dogs. Being a dog lover like I am, I was quite thrilled to see the effort and call out three cheers on the subject of the movie for sure!!! I hope the movie gets people to change their perspective about street dogs in general and that they are nowhere close to being dangerous animals.
Chillar Party is a movie that parents must take their kids for not just because it is an all out entertainer but because it has so many messages. Once you filter those which are useless such as speaking “Mawali” (local lingo in Mumbai) you have a story that is inspirational. The movie talks about how it is important to take up a cause and fight for it to the end. Do what is right even if it means you don’t keep everyone happy. Stay with friends and stand up for them and their rights no matter what. Kids have a heart and have feelings too – a fact that loads of us forget – and it is essential for parents to not only recognize and acknowledge that but also channelize them in the right direction. The Chillar Party of Lucky Singh aka Panauti (Chinmai Chandranshuh), Silencer (Vedant Desai), Ramashanker Aiyer aka Akram (Rohan Grover), Shaolin (Divji Handa), Balwan aka Jhangya (Naman Jain), Aflatoon (Aarav Khanna), Laxman aka Second hand (Vishesh Tiwari) and Arjun aka Encyclopedia (Sanath Menon) team up with the local mini celebrity who is called Toothpaste (Shreya Sharma) to generate excitement and push for retaining 2 people who come into their lives and become an integral part of it – The local car washer Phatka (Irfan Khan) and his cute mutt Bhidu. In the bargain, they ruffle up a few feathers, make a few enemies, shake up the system, help people look beyond the external looks and most importantly show the world that you are never too small to take on a challenge – ala David v/s Goliath
Chillar Party is not really worth raving about from a perspective of acting – and I have mentioned this that I hate to break a kid’s heart but have to call out the acting as average at best – a tad robotic in parts. Stand out performances come from Chinmai Chandranshuh and Naman Jain. The direction is above par but the music isn’t. The story is good but the finishing and narration are not. Overall too many cons from a perspective of movie making but entertaining and enjoyable. Don’t miss the “Chaddi March” which is the highlight of the movie other than “Tain Tain Phis” starring Ranbir Kapoor which comes after the credits and is extremely well choreographed. I give it 5.5 on 10 as a movie but encourage you once again to watch it for sure.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls7hxjVnHNQ
Chillar Party is a movie that parents must take their kids for not just because it is an all out entertainer but because it has so many messages. Once you filter those which are useless such as speaking “Mawali” (local lingo in Mumbai) you have a story that is inspirational. The movie talks about how it is important to take up a cause and fight for it to the end. Do what is right even if it means you don’t keep everyone happy. Stay with friends and stand up for them and their rights no matter what. Kids have a heart and have feelings too – a fact that loads of us forget – and it is essential for parents to not only recognize and acknowledge that but also channelize them in the right direction. The Chillar Party of Lucky Singh aka Panauti (Chinmai Chandranshuh), Silencer (Vedant Desai), Ramashanker Aiyer aka Akram (Rohan Grover), Shaolin (Divji Handa), Balwan aka Jhangya (Naman Jain), Aflatoon (Aarav Khanna), Laxman aka Second hand (Vishesh Tiwari) and Arjun aka Encyclopedia (Sanath Menon) team up with the local mini celebrity who is called Toothpaste (Shreya Sharma) to generate excitement and push for retaining 2 people who come into their lives and become an integral part of it – The local car washer Phatka (Irfan Khan) and his cute mutt Bhidu. In the bargain, they ruffle up a few feathers, make a few enemies, shake up the system, help people look beyond the external looks and most importantly show the world that you are never too small to take on a challenge – ala David v/s Goliath
Chillar Party is not really worth raving about from a perspective of acting – and I have mentioned this that I hate to break a kid’s heart but have to call out the acting as average at best – a tad robotic in parts. Stand out performances come from Chinmai Chandranshuh and Naman Jain. The direction is above par but the music isn’t. The story is good but the finishing and narration are not. Overall too many cons from a perspective of movie making but entertaining and enjoyable. Don’t miss the “Chaddi March” which is the highlight of the movie other than “Tain Tain Phis” starring Ranbir Kapoor which comes after the credits and is extremely well choreographed. I give it 5.5 on 10 as a movie but encourage you once again to watch it for sure.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls7hxjVnHNQ
Sister Act 2 : Back in the Habit
We are in the season of sequels and it was only obvious that when Sister Act was playing on Star Movies, the next movie that followed was Sister Act 2 : Back in the Habit. A back to back exhibition of classic acting and comic timing from a class actress – one of the few ladies who have a natural flair for comedy and ace their part of the deal every single time that they come on it. But this time around it is directed by Bill Duke – who would probably be best known for his roles as an actor and not the ones behind the camera. Remember the guy who plays Mac in the Arnie starrer Predator? The big African American guy? If not then maybe you would remember the guy Cooke from Commando? Well it would seem that he is a director as well. Well whaddya know!!!! He has about 5-7 full length features to date but a bulk of his work behind the camera has come from Television and you can add his name to the long list of people who probably haven’t made the transition quite well from small screen to big screen – especially as directors. Duke probably got his chance with Sister Act 2 thanks to Emile Ardolino (the director of Sister Act 1) kicking the bucket sometime in 1993 (the year of its release). Guess he got a bit lucky i.e. Duke.
This time around, Deloris Van Cartier or should we say Sister Mary Clarence (Whoopi Goldberg) is not running away from anyone or anything. She is just basking in her success as the nun who got a gangster into jail and then made it big as a show singer in Vegas. She is now immensely successful and well written about. So money is no longer a problem. But the sisters want her back. They want her to come back with them to a school that they have started and pay back to society by teaching music. They want to use Deloris’s excellent capabilities to rally people around her in the noble profession of teaching bright but extremely rowdy children in a school that is probably going to be shut really really soon. Reluctantly Deloris agrees to don the habit once again. Needless to say, it’s a roller coaster of sorts after that happens.
Sister Act 2 however doesn’t manage to recreate the magic that the first part does so very well. Whether it was due to change of director or a story line that was OK or because it released the very next year of the first part releasing one can never tell but it may just about be a combination of all of these points. Sister Act 2 marks the debut of a couple of stars in Hollywood - Lauryn Hill & Jennifer Love Hewitt both of whom go on to be reasonably successful in tinsel town. The fun moments are however quite limited this time around. Which is probably the reason it gets a rating that is a tad lower that the first part. 5.5 on 10 from my side.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80E5KTjvmA
This time around, Deloris Van Cartier or should we say Sister Mary Clarence (Whoopi Goldberg) is not running away from anyone or anything. She is just basking in her success as the nun who got a gangster into jail and then made it big as a show singer in Vegas. She is now immensely successful and well written about. So money is no longer a problem. But the sisters want her back. They want her to come back with them to a school that they have started and pay back to society by teaching music. They want to use Deloris’s excellent capabilities to rally people around her in the noble profession of teaching bright but extremely rowdy children in a school that is probably going to be shut really really soon. Reluctantly Deloris agrees to don the habit once again. Needless to say, it’s a roller coaster of sorts after that happens.
Sister Act 2 however doesn’t manage to recreate the magic that the first part does so very well. Whether it was due to change of director or a story line that was OK or because it released the very next year of the first part releasing one can never tell but it may just about be a combination of all of these points. Sister Act 2 marks the debut of a couple of stars in Hollywood - Lauryn Hill & Jennifer Love Hewitt both of whom go on to be reasonably successful in tinsel town. The fun moments are however quite limited this time around. Which is probably the reason it gets a rating that is a tad lower that the first part. 5.5 on 10 from my side.
Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80E5KTjvmA
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Easy A
High School is probably the toughest time in anyone’s life – I don’t say that. Its those blokes from Hollywood go to significant extents to re-emphasize on that point time and over again with the string of chick flicks / RomComs that they come up with based on someone’s life and the pressures of High School. Now the case may not be similar in India but from what I hear, whatever is shown on screen is pretty close to the real deal in the West and in some cases probably made to look better. I can’t begin to imagine the pains that parents would be going through day after day. I wonder what I would do if I had kids. Tip my hat to the parents of most teenagers – especially those with teenage daughters. Cannot claim to understand your pains and fears but honestly, I wouldn’t want to be in your position – not even as close as a country mile and a half.
Did you know that my name is an anagrame for “I Love”? That’s what Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) asks of the boyfriend of her best friend, Rhiannon (as Alyson Michalka). That too in her sultriest possible way http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3453552153/. She has waltzed into school wearing a black corset with the letter A sewed onto her left breast, black skin tight jeans (and she is really really skinny), black sunglasses, the reddest of lipsticks – in short, looking at her sluttiest best if it could be called that. Most of the guys in class have their jaws on the floor and drool all over. Needless to say Rhiannon is not very thrilled about the entire episode and she promptly declares her friendship “OVER”. Not that Olive cares – anymore that is.
It all starts off when Olive excuses herself from a weekend with Rhiannon’s parents. She lies about a date that she has over the weekend. But she spends the weekend only listening to “Pocket full of sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield. Olive is basically your average ordinary everyday girl. A nobody @ school. With only one friend i.e. Rhiannon. So when Rhiannon repeatedly asks her how her weekend was and whether “something happened”, she takes recourse to lying once again and says that she got laid. Bad news that the overly enthusiastic “Christian”, Marianne (Amanda Bynes) is in the loo during this conversation. And The Times of Marianne goes to work immediately after that. Before one can say, Jack Daniels, Olive becomes the high school slut. Someone who gives in very easily and is available. Olive takes this in her stride and actually decides its good for her image. So when the gay boy in school, Brandon (Dan Byrd) asks her to lie about having had sex with him, she decides to play along.
Easy A tracks the life of a kid whose attempt to gain popularity just goes that little bit out of control. But the fact that she has trusting parents helps. Probably a good class for parents struggling with teenage kids at home and needless to say, for teenage kids on what should be done and what not. Emma Stone seems to be someone with talent and probably waiting for her big break of sorts. I think she is capable of it. The rest of the cast are atypical chick flick cast with the exception of Patricia Clarkson & Stanley Tucci who play the role of Olive’s parents. Directed by the young looking Will Gluck (nothing much to write home about currently) it is a decent watch. Reasonably entertaining chick flick. 5.5 on 10 from my side.
Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1057359641/
Did you know that my name is an anagrame for “I Love”? That’s what Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) asks of the boyfriend of her best friend, Rhiannon (as Alyson Michalka). That too in her sultriest possible way http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3453552153/. She has waltzed into school wearing a black corset with the letter A sewed onto her left breast, black skin tight jeans (and she is really really skinny), black sunglasses, the reddest of lipsticks – in short, looking at her sluttiest best if it could be called that. Most of the guys in class have their jaws on the floor and drool all over. Needless to say Rhiannon is not very thrilled about the entire episode and she promptly declares her friendship “OVER”. Not that Olive cares – anymore that is.
It all starts off when Olive excuses herself from a weekend with Rhiannon’s parents. She lies about a date that she has over the weekend. But she spends the weekend only listening to “Pocket full of sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield. Olive is basically your average ordinary everyday girl. A nobody @ school. With only one friend i.e. Rhiannon. So when Rhiannon repeatedly asks her how her weekend was and whether “something happened”, she takes recourse to lying once again and says that she got laid. Bad news that the overly enthusiastic “Christian”, Marianne (Amanda Bynes) is in the loo during this conversation. And The Times of Marianne goes to work immediately after that. Before one can say, Jack Daniels, Olive becomes the high school slut. Someone who gives in very easily and is available. Olive takes this in her stride and actually decides its good for her image. So when the gay boy in school, Brandon (Dan Byrd) asks her to lie about having had sex with him, she decides to play along.
Easy A tracks the life of a kid whose attempt to gain popularity just goes that little bit out of control. But the fact that she has trusting parents helps. Probably a good class for parents struggling with teenage kids at home and needless to say, for teenage kids on what should be done and what not. Emma Stone seems to be someone with talent and probably waiting for her big break of sorts. I think she is capable of it. The rest of the cast are atypical chick flick cast with the exception of Patricia Clarkson & Stanley Tucci who play the role of Olive’s parents. Directed by the young looking Will Gluck (nothing much to write home about currently) it is a decent watch. Reasonably entertaining chick flick. 5.5 on 10 from my side.
Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1057359641/
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Band Baaja Baaraat
Bittoo Sharma (Ranveer Singh) is in his final year in college. He is your atypical hostelite and “Dilli Ka Chhora” – loads of attitude, lukkha, street smart, can hardly speak a word of English, but still thinks he is God’s gift to style and mankind in general. He is also quite sure that he would do anything but become a farmer like his father. He doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in the sugarcane fields. Quite the popular one in college thanks to his effective contact base of the right people which helps them gate crash weddings quite frequently.
However, at one such wedding, he does get caught in the act by Shruti Kakkar (Anushka Sharma) who is assisting a small time wedding planner. Complete moo-phat (outspoken), she is smart enough to differentiate between an actual guest and a wedding crasher. Bittoo manages to wriggle himself out of the situation but is quite taken in by her charm. He spends the rest of the evening shooting the wedding which is primarily Madam Shruti doing her jhatkas. Our street smart hero is quick to find out relevant details that anyone would want to know. He introduces himself the next day to her under the pretext of giving her the recording of the previous nite. All he wants is “frandship” (read friendship – a la Dilli style). “Yeah right” says Shruti (smart woman I say). Not willing to give up with the snub, Bittoo uses his charm to break the ice. But when he realizes that Shruti is a ambitious 20 year old with a single minded focus to get into the wedding planning business, he loses interest as quickly as he gained it.
The twist in the tale happens when Bittoo’s father comes to collect him. Not wanting to go back to the sugar cane fields, he tells his father that he has decided to get into a partnership for a wedding planning business. Now that he has got himself into trouble, he has no other choice but to go back to Shruti and beg her to take him in. Shruti flatly refuses, but by a stroke of luck, Bittoo helps her get into an “internship” with the #1 wedding planner in Delhi. When things sour @ her internship, the 2 of them decide to go ahead with their partnership and form “Shaadi Mubarak” along with a florist Maqsood Bhai (Neeraj Sood), a caterer Rajinder Singh (Manmeet Singh) and a DJ – Santy (Revant Shergill).
BBB is a nice movie. Not technically perfect. Several inconsistencies. But leaves you feeling “nice”. Director Maneesh Sharma’s first full directorial attempt seems to be a very sincere one. His previous movies were as asst. director on YRFs Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi & Fanaa. Guess it helped. Anushka Sharma is lively and continues to have the best smile that this industry has. But tends to overact just a bit more than required. Our debutante, Ranveer Singh is not one to be written off. He has done just about enough to make the cut. Could do with a good shave every now and then. But I believe there is potential there. Lastly, the music makes BBB even more enjoyable. Avaiyen Avaiyen is going to be doing its rounds for some time. Salim Sulieman has done a great job with it and so has Vaibhavi Merchant with the choreography.
This is wrtier Habib Faisal's 2nd movie that i have reviewed this year, the previous one being Do Dooni Chaar. Both of them based in Delhi. Both of them being well written. Solid future prospect. Also, the movement of movies to a background of Delhi seems to be catching up. This year has seen at least 3 such movies now. Do Dooni Chaar, Aisha and not BBB. Maybe more but I cant remember them off hand. Good to see that. Overall, a decent movie to watch. Much better than what I expected. 5.5 on 10.
However, at one such wedding, he does get caught in the act by Shruti Kakkar (Anushka Sharma) who is assisting a small time wedding planner. Complete moo-phat (outspoken), she is smart enough to differentiate between an actual guest and a wedding crasher. Bittoo manages to wriggle himself out of the situation but is quite taken in by her charm. He spends the rest of the evening shooting the wedding which is primarily Madam Shruti doing her jhatkas. Our street smart hero is quick to find out relevant details that anyone would want to know. He introduces himself the next day to her under the pretext of giving her the recording of the previous nite. All he wants is “frandship” (read friendship – a la Dilli style). “Yeah right” says Shruti (smart woman I say). Not willing to give up with the snub, Bittoo uses his charm to break the ice. But when he realizes that Shruti is a ambitious 20 year old with a single minded focus to get into the wedding planning business, he loses interest as quickly as he gained it.
The twist in the tale happens when Bittoo’s father comes to collect him. Not wanting to go back to the sugar cane fields, he tells his father that he has decided to get into a partnership for a wedding planning business. Now that he has got himself into trouble, he has no other choice but to go back to Shruti and beg her to take him in. Shruti flatly refuses, but by a stroke of luck, Bittoo helps her get into an “internship” with the #1 wedding planner in Delhi. When things sour @ her internship, the 2 of them decide to go ahead with their partnership and form “Shaadi Mubarak” along with a florist Maqsood Bhai (Neeraj Sood), a caterer Rajinder Singh (Manmeet Singh) and a DJ – Santy (Revant Shergill).
BBB is a nice movie. Not technically perfect. Several inconsistencies. But leaves you feeling “nice”. Director Maneesh Sharma’s first full directorial attempt seems to be a very sincere one. His previous movies were as asst. director on YRFs Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi & Fanaa. Guess it helped. Anushka Sharma is lively and continues to have the best smile that this industry has. But tends to overact just a bit more than required. Our debutante, Ranveer Singh is not one to be written off. He has done just about enough to make the cut. Could do with a good shave every now and then. But I believe there is potential there. Lastly, the music makes BBB even more enjoyable. Avaiyen Avaiyen is going to be doing its rounds for some time. Salim Sulieman has done a great job with it and so has Vaibhavi Merchant with the choreography.
This is wrtier Habib Faisal's 2nd movie that i have reviewed this year, the previous one being Do Dooni Chaar. Both of them based in Delhi. Both of them being well written. Solid future prospect. Also, the movement of movies to a background of Delhi seems to be catching up. This year has seen at least 3 such movies now. Do Dooni Chaar, Aisha and not BBB. Maybe more but I cant remember them off hand. Good to see that. Overall, a decent movie to watch. Much better than what I expected. 5.5 on 10.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Jhootha Hi Sahi
Siddharth (Sid) runs a book store called Kagaz Ke Phool in London along with his partners – Omar (Raghu Ram) and Amit (Omar Khan). He is in a relationship with Krutika (Manasi Scott) – an air hostess. Omar lives next door to Sid with his extremely pregnant sister Aliya (Alishka Varde). Aliya is in a relationship with Nick (George Young) who is, I can only assume, a 2nd generation Japanese dude because he doesn’t show any signs of being Jap. Looks fairly European to me. But yes, he definitely has a Jap surname. Nick is apparently madly in love with Aliya and doesn’t stop short of proposing to her almost every single day – he would do it every hour if he could.
Now Sid is not really in love with Kruttika. And the rest of the gang is not really hot about her either. Omar keeps asking Sid when he is going to break up with her but Sid is in denial. Sid stammers when he is in front of beautiful women and he believes he is in love with her because he doesn’t stammer with her – and just in case your devious mind thinks that she is not beautiful – Mansi Scott is gorgeous to say the least (drool drool). Nevertheless, all of this takes a twist of fate when “Dost Help Line”- a suicide helpline for Indians in London, prints Sid’s residence number instead of their number. Sid is inundated with calls through the night. When the helpline realizes their mistake, the representative (Nandana Sen) requests Sid to keep help by taking calls and giving the actual number – a person who is about to kill oneself is definitely prepared with a pen and paper to take down a new number.
Sid is not pleased but offers to help since it is a matter of life and death. As luck would have it, that very night he receives a call from someone who is not willing to speak at all. So Sid is left holding the line through the nite – which he does painstakingly through a few coffees and large doses of National Geographic. The next morning, the caller – who has by then slept off, introduces herself as Mishka (Pakhi) and goes on to give her entire sob story of how her mother committed suicide and how her boyfriend Kabir has left her etc. etc. Now Sid, to keep her pepped up gives a whole lot of bull shit about how he has climbed Mt. Everest and worked for NASA and that life has loads to look forward to and it is not worth ending. Slowly a friendship develops between Fidatoh (that’s what Mishka calls Sid over the phone coz she doesn’t know he is Sid). Inadvertently, Fidatoh tells her about a book that is available only in one book store in London i.e. Kagaz Ke Phool. Now Sid meets Mishka and the complicated balancing of life between Sid and Fidatoh begins.
Most of the male cast tends to go overboard on the acting front. The entire female cast is quite balanced. Pleasantly surprised with Pakhi who has also written the movie it would seem. I wonder what the confusion with Friends is all about. Cant remember any episode of friends that goes this way – but then I am not a huge Friends fan anyways. Abbas Tyrewala had only one directorial venture before this which was a huge success – Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. This one will not be as huge but is quite decent. Humour is a bit forced in part but good overall. Entertaining movie I say – 6 on 10.
Now Sid is not really in love with Kruttika. And the rest of the gang is not really hot about her either. Omar keeps asking Sid when he is going to break up with her but Sid is in denial. Sid stammers when he is in front of beautiful women and he believes he is in love with her because he doesn’t stammer with her – and just in case your devious mind thinks that she is not beautiful – Mansi Scott is gorgeous to say the least (drool drool). Nevertheless, all of this takes a twist of fate when “Dost Help Line”- a suicide helpline for Indians in London, prints Sid’s residence number instead of their number. Sid is inundated with calls through the night. When the helpline realizes their mistake, the representative (Nandana Sen) requests Sid to keep help by taking calls and giving the actual number – a person who is about to kill oneself is definitely prepared with a pen and paper to take down a new number.
Sid is not pleased but offers to help since it is a matter of life and death. As luck would have it, that very night he receives a call from someone who is not willing to speak at all. So Sid is left holding the line through the nite – which he does painstakingly through a few coffees and large doses of National Geographic. The next morning, the caller – who has by then slept off, introduces herself as Mishka (Pakhi) and goes on to give her entire sob story of how her mother committed suicide and how her boyfriend Kabir has left her etc. etc. Now Sid, to keep her pepped up gives a whole lot of bull shit about how he has climbed Mt. Everest and worked for NASA and that life has loads to look forward to and it is not worth ending. Slowly a friendship develops between Fidatoh (that’s what Mishka calls Sid over the phone coz she doesn’t know he is Sid). Inadvertently, Fidatoh tells her about a book that is available only in one book store in London i.e. Kagaz Ke Phool. Now Sid meets Mishka and the complicated balancing of life between Sid and Fidatoh begins.
Most of the male cast tends to go overboard on the acting front. The entire female cast is quite balanced. Pleasantly surprised with Pakhi who has also written the movie it would seem. I wonder what the confusion with Friends is all about. Cant remember any episode of friends that goes this way – but then I am not a huge Friends fan anyways. Abbas Tyrewala had only one directorial venture before this which was a huge success – Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. This one will not be as huge but is quite decent. Humour is a bit forced in part but good overall. Entertaining movie I say – 6 on 10.
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