Khamoshiyan (2015) (Hindi)

My best friend and I were having a drink last night and discussing today’s releases.  When I mentioned Khamoshiyan he said, “I don’t go to Vikram Bhatt movies any more because they claim to show a lot of skin but end up showing nothing”.  He was bang on in terms of his assessment much like many of us.  The unfortunate few involved in writing about cinema don’t have a choice per se.

Hawaizaada

First of all let me request Vibhu Virender Puri and of course all other directors listening – Pick a language and stick to it.  Shuttling between Hindi and Marathi turns out to be a disaster. Firstly the dialogue goes flat.  Secondly, when you have a cast that is uncomfortable with either language, it turns out to be the equivalent of several eggs on face – not just one.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

When you have Alejandro González Iñárritu directing a movie you can be rest assured that it has to be at least a little bit “hatke” (off the beaten path).  With movies like Amores Peres, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful under his belt Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) could not have been straightforward.  It would not have been Iñárritu.

Seventh Son

Sergey Bodrov is not a very famous director.  He has been around for a while actually.  Over 40 years since his first short film and about 15 full length features with some documentaries thrown in, Bodrov finally gets his first truly big banner kind of movie with Seventh Son

Foxcatcher

Steve Carell in a role that is not comic and over the top would be perceived by most people as laughable for sure.  But believe me when I say this – Steve Carell as John Eleuthère du Pont will be spoken about for time immemorial.  It is a stroke of casting brilliance and Carell grabs the opportunity with everything that he possibly can.

Mortdecai

Kyril Bonfiglioli was an English art-dealer, actor, science fiction editor, champion swordsman, and comic novelist. He is the author of what is apparently a famous series with a lead character called Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) was supposedly eccentric and witty.  The novels that attained cult status were loaded with dry satire and black humour – Wikipedia.

Dolly Ki Doli

It is always pleasantly surprising to walk into a movie that you didn’t expect to be even remotely watchable and it turns out to be just that a little better for you to walk out satisfied.  Although I will not allow it to affect my overall rating, DOLLY KI DOLI, falls into this category and was a good start to my Thursday.

Baby (Hindi) (2015)

One day…. Maybe someday soon, we will see a refreshing and reassuring Bollywood Espionage movie that is action packed from start to finish.  Stuff that most of our aspirations are made of right? Well fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a ride that has been most strangely named BABY.

Imitation Game

The toughest movies to review are those that leave you enamoured.  I saw Imitation Game last Saturday and over the past 6 days I have been thinking about whether I was blown away by the person called Alan Turing or the actor called Benedict Cumberbatch or was it the story and the narrative that eventually turned into an end product called The Imitation Game.

Paddington

The first kiddie movie of 2015 is here and it draws itself from a 1997 series of children’s books called “The Adventures of Paddington Bear”.  It was probably only a matter of time before the little bear from Darkest Peru found its way to the silver screen.