The Wolf of Wall Street

WARNING - WHILE THE MOVIE IS MAINSTREAM IT HAS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF SEXUAL CONTENT AND DRUG ABUSE AND FOUL LANGUAGE - THIS DESPITE THE CENSOR BOARD'S BEST EFFORTS TO CHOP AS MUCH AS THEY COULD.  DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE RESERVATIONS ABOUT THESE ISSUES.

When you have 2 of the biggest names in Hollywood coming together for the fifth time in a decade, you usually wait with bated breath for the first sign from people who are more fortunate to have seen before you.  You wait to hear if this one is remotely as good as the previous ones – Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and now The Wolf of Wall Street – the 5^th Time Leo DiCaprio and Scorcese have come together.

47 Ronin

A Samurai without a master or one who has lost his master’s privilege was as good as one without a home i.e. a wandering man.  Loosely translated, in Japanese, it meant “wave man” or Ronin – How's that for a piece of trivia to begin 2014 with.  Although I ended 2013 with the preview of 47 Ronin, you will be able to catch up with it only from the 3^rd January 2014.  A decent watch I must say.

Death At A Funeral

This was my way of ringing in 2014.  Once we had decided to spend NY Eve at home, the choice of a movie had zeroed down to a comedy.  The last thing I wanted was to ring in NY 2014 with a sad movie – no matter how well it was made.  And in my not so limited collection – I could easily pick Death At A Funeral as one of the top 5 British Comedies (with all due respect, the Americans make slapstick ;)).

Walking with Dinosaurs 3D

So my good friend and soon to be collaborator Srinath Bharadwaj posted his views on Walking With Dinosaurs a little over 12 hours back and I threw back my head to say, “He’s a new kid.  He is obviously over excited about a Dinosaur movie.  It will be yet another dinosaur tale with all sorts of corny puns that leave you a tad exasperated but with good effects”.  In fact I had already written my summary line on that thought.

Kalyana Samayal Saadham (Wedding Feast) (Tamil)

If I remember correctly, the last Tamil movie I reviewed was also coincidentally the first movie on this blog.  It was called Ravanan (Ravan in Hindi starring AB Jr.).  It was one that I enjoyed quite a bit.  Sadly, it took an alignment of my schedules to accommodate another movie to watch my 2^nd Tamil movie in over 3 years – on the big screen that is.  Mental note made – should watch more Tamil movies in 2014.

Mahabharat (Animation) (2013) (Hindi)

The trailer starts with the predictable, “Yada Yada hi Dharmasya….” (for translation, visit - http://www.asitis.com/4/7.html).  That and the really bad quality of animation visible on the trailers prepared me for pretty much the worst.  The fact ironically remains that India will be the largest exporter of animation in the world (citation needed) but will not spend money in making a quality animation movie.

Oldboy (2013) (English)

Oldboy started in 1996 as a Manga written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi.  There were 8 volumes released over 2 years.  South Korean filmmaker Park Chan Wook made this into a trilogy that I am desperate to get my hands on - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003), and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005) – Themes of Revenge, Violence and Salvation respectively.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Several factors have contributed to this extremely later review of The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug.  Firstly, I saw the movie on a Sunday (15^th December 2013) as against the Thursday (12^th December 2013) preview that was organized @ PVR Juhu – Now that was on principle because it is nothing less than rank insulting to watch The Hobbit at any other screen but for an IMAX one.

Dhoom 3

I left home this morning around 8:35 am for an 8:30 am show - you see PVR Cinemas usually plays upto 17 minutes of advertisements into the show time. So an 8:30 show will usually start @ 8:47. And if it is a Yash Raj film (or any big banner one for that matter), it would not have started before 8:55. But more importantly, I had Blackie and Whitey (the dogs in my building) looking @ me eagerly, as if to say, "what's the point of you going for a Dhoom movie. Spend time with us. It may be more exciting".

Jackpot (Hindi) (2013)

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