Alpha and Omega

We have had animations movies about almost every living creature in the world to date but I guess somewhere someone missed out on wolves. There has been the odd reference here and there or a significant importance in movies such as Jungle Book but never a full-fledged animation dedicated to wolves and their nuances and obviously some adventure and a couple of love stories thrown in. Cute right? Not very though. Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck – 2 amateur directors in the field of animation come together to try to capitalize on the market gap as one could call it. But unfortunately come a little bit of a cropper. The movie is an OK watch and has its moments but the overall execution of animation and 3D falls woefully short. Nowhere close to the ones like we have been seeing of late.


In the Wolf World, family structure is everything. At the high end of the pack you have your Alpha wolves (either male or female). Serious, strong and they mean business. At the other end are the Omegas. Pretty much diametrically opposite. Fun loving, always upto mischief and their main role is to break up fights whenever they happen. In Wolf World they are kept quite busy. Especially if you are caught between the Eastern Pack in the valley and the Western ones in the hills. And times are not too great. Food is running out quickly and that is leading to major differences between the two packs who are led by Winston (Danny Glover) and Tony (Dennis Hopper). Winston calls for the meeting to figure out the way forward and they decide that the only way out is for Tony to honour his commitment of getting his Alpha daughter, Kate (Hayden Panettiere) married to Winston’s Alpha son, Garth (Chris Carmack). A marriage that would get the families together and bring peace to the land. Kate agrees to do what is right but a relocation exercise gets her moved from the Jasper National Park to one in Idaho. But she is not alone. With her is Humphrey (Justin Long) who is an Omega. The two have grown up together and Humphrey has always liked Kate. And is obviously thrilled that he has a chance now. But Kate needs to get back to the park to prevent the packs from shredding each other up. Along the way, they are assisted by a goose Marcel (Larry Miller) and a duck, Paddy (Eric Price) who play golf in the Idaho Park.

As I had mentioned earlier, it is the animation and the 3D where this one falls woefully short. Like when her mother tells Kate that she looks very beautiful, one really cannot make out the difference. The only entertaining part of the movie seems to be when Marcel and Paddy are on screen. Quite funny. But the shots of Humphrey Air Guitaring and some unnecessary melodrama in the end don’t quite add too much value to the movie and are definitely over the top. Even the wolves howling don’t seem anywhere close to real. No surprise that it didn’t make it to the Oscars this year or that it wasn’t released earlier in this year. I cant give it more than 5 on 10. But kids may like it a bit.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3345090329/

The Longest Yard

Never been much of a fan of Adam Sandler and this movie doesn’t really do much for his position on my rating scale (not that he would care). And by this I don’t mean Adam Sandler cannot act. Its just that I cannot keep up with his goofy, slapstick ways of putting himself on screen under the pretext of comedy and qualify to be a good actor. Add to that his capability of taking obnoxious roles such as Little Nicky and making a complete fool of himself on screen. Having said that, he is fairly successful thanks to his brand of comedy being popular with a fair portion of the audience I guess. And even in my books he is miles ahead of the absolutely despicable Ben Stiller.


Paul “Motley” Crewe (Adam Sandler) is a washed out quarterback from the NFL. He was, if I remember correctly, the first player from the NFL to be officially indicted and tried in a court of law for shaving off points in a game. Crewe had managed to get himself into a compromising situation with some not so compromising people it would seem. But it was never really proven in a court of law. He walked away a free man but a much hated man. Throwing a game away and getting caught in the bargain is the biggest mistake any sportsman can make surely. He now finds himself in a situation where he has a rich wife (a very slutty looking Courtney Cox after her boob job) who considers our hero (if we can call him that) to be her boy toy but there is this hole in his life which just doesn’t seem to get filled. That hole is usually called love which is definitely missing in this relationship.

One fine day, Paul decides that he has had enough of this and takes off with his wife’s Bentley, gets into a fight with the cops and some civilians too en route and finally after a high speed chase crashes the Bentley (ouch! Ouch!! Ouch!!!) into a melee of cop cars. A classic example of extremely cruel direction. Before you know it, Crewe finds himself in a Texan Correctional Facility (Cannot call them jails any more is what I hear) where he is given a rather crude welcome from the Captain of the gaurds – Knauer (William Fichtner) who asks him to keep away from the football field during his stay there. A few minutes later he finds himself in the Warden Hazen’s (James Cromwell – don’t ask me what he is doing in the movie) room who wants Crewe to hop on board the Football band wagon and consult the Team of the Gaurds who apparently are hot property in that part of the world. He now finds himself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and add a third element which is an entire jail full of criminals who don’t really like him. Now how in the blazes does he get out of this situation?

The Longest Yard is the kind of movie you would watch on a Thursday evening because its playing on Star Movies and you are too darn tired to sleep and too darn tired to do anything else. You just lie down on your bed and gaze at the TV screen and maybe glance towards your mobile phone to see if you have received a message that maybe more interesting. Now its not a really bad movie considering that its about a sport and about a bunch of criminals beating a bunch of cruel gaurds in a game of touch football and you feel all good at the end of it all. And you really cannot expect “quality” cinema from the likes of an Adam Sandler and Chris Rock pair. You do get several slapstick one liners and a few good ones thrown in to retain the title of a comedy. And at the end of the day despite the lack of direction, you feel reasonably satisfied. 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi821428505/

Killers

If director Robert Luketic wanted to classify Killers as an Action movie, then somewhere along the way he has gone grossly wrong. Random gun fire and mindless attempts at killing someone with some eye candy thrown in as garnish and a love story to boot does not an action movie make. And definitely not when you have Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl in the lead. It becomes a bit too much to associate action with. Add to that the limited talent that the two of them have. Mr. Luketic seems to have got that X factor of an Action movie wrong this time around. Maybe he should stick to the standard formula of Romantic Comedies that has got him so much success to date – and good RomComs mind you. Everyone of them in the 5.5 to 6 on 10 range. The likes of The Ugly Truth & Legally Blonde. Oh yes, he did make a non RomCom and a good movie at that called 21. Not surprising that he could not follow the same levels with Killers – Ashton Kutcher replaces Kevin Spacey – like duh!!!!


Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl) has just been dumped. Now why would anyone dump someone as gorgeous as Heigl is beyond the comprehension of my limited intelligence – but for now lets assume that it is possible. She had planned a vacation with her boy friend and her parents (maybe that explains why she was dumped) who she is extremely close to. She adores her dad (Tom Selleck) and absolutely loves his moustache. Needless to say, she is extremely protected and her mother (Catherine O’Hara) doesn’t quite agree with the whole concept but plays along. The vacation, however proceeds as planned and they are off to Nice, France.

Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher) has a license to kill – no he is not James Bond – he works for the CIA or something like that. He has killed 13 people to date and is on his 14th assignment in Nice, France – now how is that for a coincidence. He has been trained right from college. Ideal candidate. No parents. No attachments. The usual mix. He bumps into Jen in the elevator. One thing leads to another in a matter of a few hours and he falls for her. Oh and yeah – he completes his 14th assignment also parallel – slick I must say. But that’s not it. Before you know, he has walked away from his role in the agency despite his contact Holbrook (Martin Mull) warning him otherwise, and hang on – THEY GET MARRIED!!!!!!! That’s where I thought the story was going haywire and it spirals down to god knows where after that.

Consistency has never been the mark of Luketic so I will not go down that road. But at least he has always given us a story that can be watched. This one was all over the place like the aftermath of an air crash with the debris spread over a few square miles. Katherine Heigl is the only person in the world that I can associate the words pretty and hot in the same thought / sentence but seriously she should stop getting into standard roles of the submissive, paranoid, cute, control freak who keeps getting Knocked Up (all pun intended) in every damn movie!!!! Surely, if she tries hard enough she can get roles that demand acting of her. No comment for the rest of the cast. I give this one 4 on 10 of which 2 are because I am in love with Heigl :P – even more so in this one – she looks completely sizzling – drool drool drool drool.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3390441241/

Hachiko - A Dog's Story

I spent most of yesterday recovering from a severe body ache and watching movies. Was quite sure about watching one of my DVDs to round off the day but was intrigued with the trailer of “Hachiko – A Dog’s Story” that they showed around 8:20 pm as next on HBO. It seemed to be just about different for me to get interested in the movie. A couple of minutes of quick research on google and I was introduced to the true life story of Hachiko. I had to see the movie after it. That it had Richard Gere and Joan Allen in it definitely helped.


Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) is a professor of music. He stays a train ride away from his place of work with his wife Cate (Joan Allen) and daughter Andy (Sarah Roemer). On his way back home one day, he bumps into a puppy at the railway station which seems to be lost. He tries to get the station master, Carl (Jason Alexander) to keep it and find the true owner but Carl doesn’t. Left with no choice, he decides to risk taking the pup home. I say risk because Cate is not willing to keep a dog @ home since their previous dog, Luke, passed away. Obviously the reaction at home is not very pleasant but Parker manages to convince Kate to keep the dog for the night which eventually turns into the weekend and when all efforts to find a home seem to be futile, Cate kind of buckles and lets Parker keep the dog. The tag around the neck says Hachi – Japanese for the number 8. So Parker decides to name him Hachi.

Hachi is a breed of dog called Akita which are found in Japan and grows up to be an extremely lovable member of the family and the town. He walks to the train station with Parker every day and finds his way back home. Around 4:45 every evening he makes the walk / run back to the train station to receive Parker who is back usually by 5 in the evening. If Parker is late, he waits. Right outside the station at the circle till his master returns. In the bargain, he makes friends with most of the people around like Carl and Jasjeet (Erick Avari) the hot dog stall owner outside the station and the local butcher and Mary Anne (Davenia McFadden), the local librarian and anyone who choses to be friends with him.

One morning, Hachi tries his best to not allow Parker to leave. He tries everything in the book including fetching a ball which he normally doesn’t. He knows that Parker will not be back that evening. As luck would have it, Parker dies of a heart attack that evening. Hachi is sent to stay with Andy after that. But he runs away once again to the railway station to wait for his master. After a while, Andy lets Hachi go and he promptly makes his way to the station and makes his home under a railway carriage. He continues to come to the station every evening – waiting for his master.

What makes the movie even more heart rending is the fact that its based on a true life story. Hachi has been immortalized outside Shibuya Station in Japan where he spent the last 9 years of his life, waiting for his master to return. The happened between 1925-34. A wise man once said, “There is no one who can love you unconditionally in this world. No one except a dog”. Hachi’s story is yet another example of the unrequited love that is associated only between a dog and his / her master.

Hachiko is a tear jerker for dog lovers – keep a box full of tissues handy for sure. It is extremely difficult to work with animals and from that perspective, Lasse Hallström has done a good job. One basic flaw however and I am open to correction here. I think the dog that played Hachi was female and not male. Despite the other consistency errors, the movie is imminently watchable. 6 on 10 from my end along with a reiterated warning of keeping a box of tissues handy.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2296906777/

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amelie)

Always wanted to watch Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain a.k.a. Amelie (In English) and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity when I found out that it was playing on UTV Movies this afternoon. I had heard only good views about Amelie to date. Ranging from cute to beautiful to good fun. At around 1830 hrs this evening, I joined that fraternity because everything that I had heard about the movie turned out to be true. In fact I think even my mom had seen the movie and enjoyed it. I know I know. Its embarrassing when your mother sees a movie before you do. Who is the amateur movie critic by the way. But then most of you would be surprised even further to hear the movies that I haven’t seen to date. Quite a few well known names. So its not really surprising that I missed out on the #45 movie on imdb’s Top 250 of all time.


Raphaël (Rufus) and Amandine Poulain (Lorella Cravotta) are your average ordinary everyday couple. They are married because…. They are married. They go about their day to day lives focusing only what they like and avoiding what they don’t. Nothing too exciting. They have a daughter, Amelie who like any other child craves for the love of her parents which is anything but forthcoming. Now they don’t hate her or anything of that sort. They are just too pre-occupied with their work. So, Raphaël’s interactions with Amelie are limited to the monthly health check ups – he is a doc. And when he suspects that Amelie has a weak heart, both parents decide to school her at home. And that’s how Amelie grows up. Protected.

Amelie (Audrey Tatou) is now 20+ and works at the local deli. She is going about her life as always – an introvert. A twist of fate helps her discover a metal box in her apartment which probably belonged to the previous tenant. She starts the arduous task of finding out who they were, tracks him down and delivers the box to him in what would seem like a sheer coincidence. The happiness that she sees in him on getting his small toy cycles back after so long compels her to think about how she can get other people to get happy as well. And it so that Amelie starts her journey towards becoming the “Godmother of the outcasts, Madonna of the unloved”. On this journey she gets even with her dad for having ignored her, helps her neighbor who suffers from brittle bones, helps the helper at the local vegetable vendor, makes the Vegetable vendor suffer for being rude to the helper and is attracted to someone who she has only seen outside a polaroid photoshop @ the East Station in Paris.

Amelie is a beautiful representation of an otherwise regular story. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet it is a fabulous example of brilliant cinematography and screenplay which come together to make it much better than it actually is. The cast on display is also very good led by Audrey Tatou (Da Vinci Code) who plays the introverted and scared Amelie very well indeed. Nominated for the Best Foreign language film in 2002 and 4 other Oscars, it lost out to the likes of Lord of the Rings, Moulin Rouge & Gosford Park. I haven’t seen the Bosnian film, No Man’s Land which won the Oscar in the foreign language film category but I am quite sure it would have been superb for Amelie to have lost out (made mental note to watch it when possible). Amelie is also probably the first example of a Romantic Comedy that I have seen nominated for the Oscar. An indication of how well the movie has been made. Its been 10 years since its release but I enjoyed catching up with it. Watch it when u can. Playing on UTV World Movies these days. A clear 8 on 10.  Oh and its a French movie by the way. So ensure the DVD has subtitles.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2330460441/

Shoot 'Em Up

Are you in the mood for TNA (Total Nonstop Action for the not so educated with wrestling as a sport). But the TNA that I am talking about now has nothing to do with wrestling. Just a TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation) that I wanted to use for a long long time. But then the movie that I saw around 2 pm this afternoon was a heavy load of TNA in the style of Clive Owen. It had guns, guns and loads of guns. It had a chase or a fight sequence every 38.37 seconds. And for most part, you will be wondering as to why are these fights happening in the first place? Thankfully you will not need to wait for too long to find out. Thankfully. The pace of the movie is fast enough through its 86 minutes – 80 minutes thanks to the editing that has been done on Warner Brothers Movie Channel – and you will reach the levels of understanding that you want to reach sooner than later.


Smith (Clive Owen) is waiting at a bus stand in the middle of the night (or so I assume) when he sees a woman (Ramona Pringle) in a bright yellow coat walking past holding her stomach and crying out in pain. Yes – she is pregnant but doesn’t really seem like she is about to deliver immediately. A few seconds later, she is followed by a villainous looking man with a gun. She runs into a warehouse of sorts and the man follows, obviously with an intent to relieve her of her life and the life that she is carrying. Smith, obviously cannot look the other way and mind his own business. Only cowards do that right. So he follows the 2 into the warehouse and just as the man is going to kill the mother to be, Smith stops him and follows it up by killing 10-15 other men while simultaneously helping the woman in the yellow coat deliver her baby. Once the baby is delivered, he is confronted with another bunch of shooters, this time led by the lead villain, Hertz (Paul Giamatti) who is after the girl and her new born. This time around, hero not only manages to keep the bad guys away but does it with the woman and baby in tow – in his arms – after a point of time, you check the screen again to see if its Clive Owen or Rajani Saar. So when they show the woman with a bullet in her head – our hero is unable to save her – you are reassured that Rajani Saar is still in India.

A few more bullets and a few more car chases later, you are more clear on what the entire story is about. Expected a bit better from Clive Owen – in his choice of movies that is. This one is more like a mindless Vin Diesel movie and not one for Clive Owen. Clive Owen is a bit more classy than this. And what the hell is Paul Giamatti doing here? Taking his new found love to be a villain a bit too seriously? Hello – both of you – stick to roles that demand a bit more of you. And if you are running short of money then the find yourself an investment consultant soon. But don’t stoop down to these levels. The silver lining in the movie – and this has nothing to do with good movie making – is luscious eye candy in the form of Monica Bellucci – red hot furniture (a term I have used previously with Eva Mendes in The Other Guys). The direction is average at best. And I would not put too much of money on Michael Davis henceforth if I was a producer. But, if you like action movies of the mindless Vin Diesel, as mentioned yesterday, variety then this one is definitely for you. As a movie – 5 on 10 is what I can give this on my best days. Today isn’t. So it will be a 4 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2256994585/

21 Grams

This one is going to be extremely difficult to write. Anything that I write could be considered as a spoiler alert for the story. Advance apologies if at any given point of time I land up giving away something that I probably should not have. Have never found a more challenging movie to write about to date. Add to that the factor that it has been directed by someone who I consider to be one of the most talented directors of our times - Alejandro González Iñárritu. 21 grams is his second movie. After he stormed into the circuit with another masterpiece titled Amores Perros. Urban legend would say that Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel are a trilogy but that’s definitely not verified on date by the man himself. Would be glad if someone could. They all however deal with the same topic of life and death and how everything in the life seems to be interconnected in some way or the other.


The basic essence of the movie can probably be surmised with one dialogue. I quote, “They say we all lose 21 grams at the exact moment of our death. Everyone. And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost? When do we lose 21 Grams? How much goes with them? How much is gained? How much….. is gained? 21 Grams – The weight of a stack of 5 nickels, a humming bird, a chocolate bar. How much do the 21 grams weigh”? Coming in a review it may seem like a whole bunch of philosophical words that you stare at. Watch the movie and these words suddenly take the form of poetry or fall into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

The vagaries of death and the complications that come with it are brilliantly portrayed in atypical Iñárritu style by blending the lives of three completely unrelated people (or for that matter their families as well) and building it up to a superb climax. Paul (Sean Penn) and Mary Rivers (Charlotte Gainsbourg) are a couple struggling to keep their relationship alive. Paul is counting his days thanks to a bad heart and a chronic smoking problem. Mary is desperate to conceive before Paul passes away but cannot thanks to a bad abortion earlier. Cut to Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), an ex-convict and a born again Christian who is married to Marianne (Melissa Leo). They have 2 children and are struggling to earn an honest day’s living. Jack also tries to get more people into following The Saviour. Completing the trio is Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) a reformed drug addict, now happily married to Michael Peck (Danny Huston). They have 2 daughters. Unfortunately, anything more I say would probably ruin the viewing experience.

21 Grams is a film maker’s delight to say the least. It has the powerful performances of 3 of the most talented actors ever to have hit the screen along with the direction of Iñárritu. Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro are exquisite to say the least. Naomi Watts, however, does show some gaps especially in the scenes that involve shedding a few tears. The editing is near perfect with the story shuttling back and forth and left and right all through the nearly 2 hours that it runs. The screenplay from Guillermo Arriaga is superb. The supporting cast is also very good. Melissa Leo is outstanding in her portrayal of the wife of an ex-convict and the desperate attempts that she makes to keep the family together. Funnily, all of this got it only nominations in the major awards for 2004. Maybe well worth the effort to find out which were the movies nominated for the Oscars in the same year. If there is anything that the movie falls short on, it is pace. The above average movie follower will be rooted to your seats and waiting to catch what happens next. Definitely not one for the masses though. I would be very harsh if I were to give this less than 8 on 10. Guess the academy thought otherwise. But then again, I am an amateur critic.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3383951641/

Burlesque

Spunky is the word that first comes to mind when you watch Burlesque. First time director Steve Antin (well almost first time since his other video movie didn’t really create waves) gives us an extremely heady mix of jazz put together in a style that can only be described as Coyote Ugly meets Moulin Rouge. One could choose add a taste of Chicago to it as well but just a dash mind you. Small town girl aiming to make it to the bright arc lights of Los Angeles. Spice it up with a couple of affairs. Add to that 2 of the best voices known to man. Garnish it with a reasonable story and a feel good ending and voila you have Burlesque.

Alice Rose (the oh so sizzling Christina Aguilera), Ali for short is all starry eyed about song and dance. She has the voice to make her feel that way. But she is from Iowa where she works at a local deli. Fed up with waiting tables – one would automatically be that way if you are not paid for a while – she takes off for LA to do what she really wants to do. As she is moving from place to place to place she passes by a neon sign that says – Burlesque Lounge. Intrigued, she walks in to see what it is all about and reluctantly pays the $20 entry fee (she is really short on money right). And its love at first sight. She asks the bartender Jack (Cam Gigandet) as to who is in charge and is directed to Tess (Cher). But Tess doesn’t have the patience to meet some new wannabe starlet and brushes her off. She sends her to Sean (Stanley Tucci) the arranger who asks her to leave her name and number with Jack again. Back to square one I guess.

Not willing to give up, Ali uses her charm to get herself a job at Burlesque itself. Jack is more than willing to accommodate. At this time, I would like to clarify that Jack is a genuinely nice guy and does not give Ali the job because of the size of her hooters. A couple of days into the job, Ali comes back to see her house looted. With nowhere else to go she lands up – no points for guessing – at Jack’s place for help and Jack being the good friend he is, offers her the place for the night. Till the next morning, Ali thinks Jack is gay but is not too comfortable when she finds out otherwise and that Jack is engaged to be married to Natalie, a struggling actress who spends more time in NY than in LA. She however stays back because as I said earlier, Jack is a really good guy.

Ali’s efforts to get herself into the main act keep falling flat but her break does come in when one of the dancers, Georgia (Julianne Hough) gets knocked up. Tess is mighty impressed to see that she has learnt all the dance moves by just being a waitress. An even big break comes up when the jealous Nikki (Kirsten Bell) decides to pull the DJ plug while Ali is performing. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Ali decides to sing and continue with the performance and before you can say Jack Daniels, the show is aligned with her as the star attraction. All this is however happening with Tess being on the verge of bankruptcy and an aggressive developer, Marcus (Eric Dane) on her back to force her to sell the bar.

If you like all the things that I mentioned earlier in this review then Burlesque is a must must watch. The soundtrack is a must have too I am definitely going to try and get my hands on it at the earliest. Cher and Aguilera are both fabulous with their voices although their acting talent can be questioned. Also, Aguilera can be questioned on her dancing capabilities with most of the supporting cast being much more talented in this aspect. If, however, you don’t like musicals, then this is definitely not the place to be. Overall, Burlesque is a well made movie. Not in the class of a Chicago or not remotely as larger than life like Moulin Rouge but an entertainer nevertheless. 6 on 10 is what I would give it. But watch it on the big screen to feel the experience.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1405094169/

Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji

Madhur Bhandarkar for the first time moves away from his standard formula of a topical movie – Page 3, Fashion, Jail etc. I have always thought that he is vastly over rated but for some wonderful reason – one of the mysteries of the world – he has always gotten away with it. Probably because he makes movies that just about make the cut. Movies which appeal to the audience just enough for them to overlook the ridiculous amounts of inconsistencies and gaffes. It was quite amazing to see that even last nite although at a much more muted level. There were enough and more people who actual found the stale humour which was grossly placed actually humourous. I was taken back to my experience with Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani where I was probably the only person in the hall who wasn’t laughing. This time, however, I wasn’t alone. Thankfully.


Naren Ahuja (Ajay Devgn) is an executive in a bank. He is 38 years old. He is married to Madhavi (Rituparna Sengupta) who is a news reader. They have a daughter. Their 8 year attempt to sustain their marriage has not succeeded. That too by a fair margin. When things come to an absolute head, they decide to part ways. Mutual Separation. She keeps the daughter though. Not that Naren seems to mind in any manner. Naren moves out to his parents place (all of this is in Mumbai) – and what a place it is!!!! If I were Naren, I would not have moved out of the place at all. Nevertheless, he now has the tough job of finding a couple of paying guests just to keep the house occupied. Not good to stay alone after a divorce you see.

In come two drastically different personalities. Milind Kelkar who works with jhatpatshaadi.com and considers himself to be a modern day poet. Needless to say he is atrocious at poetry and even more atrocious with women. His luck is about to go worse when he meets Gungun Sarkar (Shradha Das), an RJ with Big FM @ a poetry recital. He falls head over heels for her and so begins his love story. The other guy is Abhay aka Abby, lesser of a gym instructor (his day job) and more of a Casanova whose only aim in life seems to be to bed every single woman in the world. And they all seem to be suckered in; quite comfortably at that. A monetary constraint gets him thinking and he uses his charm to be the boy toy of ex Miss India Anuskha Narang (Tisca Chopra), the wife of a big time industrialist. He is the magnetic opposite of Milind. Where Milind spends all his savings on Gungun and company, Abby gets Anushka to spend money on him. Rounding off the female love interests is June Pinto (Shazahn Padamsee) who joins Naren’s team as an intern and gets him all smitten for her. Not going to reveal the entire point of Shruti Hassan who plays the role of Nikki Narang. That will retain the bare minimum element of suspense in an otherwise drab movie.

There are only 2 semblances of acting in the movie. Ajay Devgn in his role of the 38 year old divorcee desperately seeking to impress a girl half his age and the associated embarrassing situations are quite well done. And Tisca Chopra continues to show the talent and class that can be associated more often with stage actors than others. Shruti Hassan is confident and much better than her previous outing (Luck) but still doesn’t convince you that she comes from the gene pool of 2 of India’s finest actors. Shazahn Padamsee should stop acting – IMMEDIATELY  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE – go to acting school and come back with some semblance of acting capabilities. Ditto for Omi Vaidya who I believe is one of the most over rated actors in recent times. Don’t know what to say about Shradha Das. Lastly, Emraan Hashmi should stick to Mahesh Bhatt movies with a super sound track that do a fabulous job of hiding his acting skills or should I say the lack of them.

Extremely disappointing effort overall. This time around Madhur Bhandarkar does not meet his “just about par” formula for success. Sorry producers. You are going to lose some money here. Viewers – please don’t lose yours. 3 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvtFLd6sAMU

Udaan

I have no clue why I missed this one when it released. And I cant fathom how movies such as Lamhaa, Edge of Darkness, Knight and Day and I Hate Luv Storys would take precedence over screen time over such a powerful movie like Udaan. I can, however understand them giving precedence to Inception which released around the same time but which I am quite sure did not eat away into screen time so much that the movie houses could not have given Udaan more time. Surely there are more takers for quality cinema in India. Guess I am not right on that count.


Rohan Singh (Rajat Barmecha), Maninder Singh (Manjot Singh), Vikram (Raja Hudda) and Benoy (Varun Khettry) are four seventeen year olds who are in the last year in school. Obviously this comes with the excess baggage of a chip on their shoulders and raging hormones. They decide to play truant from the hostel @ Bishop Cotton Shimla and watch a soft porn movie – Kanti Shah Ke Angoor (ROTFL – reminds me of our days in college). As luck would have it, the school warden, Rathod (Sanjay Gandhi) is also in the same show. Our foursome cannot rush back to the hostel faster than Rathod on his moped thanks to one of them spraining his ankle. Since it is the 3rd time that they are in gross violation of school roles, all of them are expelled and now make their way back home.

Rohan’s dad, Bhairav Singh (Ronit Roy) is Hitler personified. In the words of his brother, Jimmy (Ram Kapoor), every dad wants his son to grow up to be like him and no one else. Add to that the frustration of having lost his first wife over 8 years back and a 2nd failed marriage that has left him with another son, a 6 year old - Arjun (Aayan Barodia). He hasn’t made an effort to visit Rohan in school over the past 8 years. And Rohan is blissfully unaware of Arjun’s existence. But after the initial friction, Rohan and Arjun both realize that they are both on the same side. Rohan wants to be a writer / poet but Bhairav will have nothing of it and forces him to work @ his factory in the day and study at the local engineering college in the afternoon. Despite Jimmy’s best efforts, Bhairav doesn’t budge.

Udaan traces the story of how Rohan tries to break free from the shackles of his ruthless father. But one cannot really help but feel sorry for Bhairav and is also compelled to think from his side – not that his actions are justified in any ways – purely with a perspective of intent. Ronit Roy truly deserves the Star Screen Award that he got for his performance in a “Villainous Role” although it would be very harsh to call the role of a Villain. They should be fair and actually give him the best performance for the year is what I say. I don’t think anyone who is nominated for the Best Actor this year in any of the awards has performed as well as Ronit Roy has. Full credit to him and the fact that Vikramaditya Motwane has extracted the performance from him. Motwane joins the list of first time directors this year. But what makes him different is the attention to detail, the ability to hold a story line and the courage to cut the riff raff. Udaan runs for a compact 134 mins with nothing which seems unnecessary and maybe a couple of instances of inconsistency – for instance, how did Rohan get into an Engineering College without passing class 12 (irrespective of the best efforts of his father).

I don’t mean to undermine Rajat Barmecha’s performance – which was quite solid – but it was clearly over shadowed by Ronit Roy. Purely my opinion. Ram Kapoor comes up with yet another super sincere performance – an attribute that one has started associating with him over the years. And a gem of a performance from the kid, Aayan Barodia which got him an award for the Best Child Artiste this year. Truly deserving. It is not for the heck of it that Udaan has received the best movie award @ this year’s Star Screen awards. Its truly a good movie. Was it the best in the year – probably not. Pipped @ the post in my books by Do Dooni Chaar and Tere Bin Laden both of which were super quality cinema. I would nevertheless give Udaan the same rating as these 2 – 7 on 10. Put it to your must watch list folks.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1334248985/