One by Two (Hindi) (2014)

I stand corrected from my previous statements about Bollywood being obsessed with objectification of women.  I think the trend is moving slowly but surely to farting on screen.  Is there some focus group discussion that caused this spark to become a raging fire? Every movie seems to have someone in the lead cast passing wind – on demand!!! Getting bored with the dialogue? Hey – get someone to fart and people will be fine.

I, Frankenstein

Did you know that there are 200 titles with the name “Frankenstein” in them? I am not joking.  Here is the link if you don’t believe me - http://www.imdb.com/find?q=frankenstein&s=tt&ref_=fn_al_tt_mr.  I can tell you I expected 15-20 of them but 200!!! That’s a whole lot.

12 Years A Slave

My first experience with Steve McQueen (the director not the actor) was with a movie titled Shame that I saw nearly 2 years back during my trip down under.  I was a novice at reviewing (marginally better now) and didn’t quite take too kindly to the bold moves that McQueen confronted us with (http://kartikr.blogspot.in/2012/02/shame.html) and of course his favourite actor – Michael Fassbender.

La Jaula de Oro (The Golden Dream) (Spanish) (Mexico)

I was in two minds on the 20^th October 2013 if I remember correctly.  I could have seen Bad Hair directed by Venezuelan director Mariana Rondon or I could have picked up another Spanish movie but one of Mexican origin – La Juala de Oro (The Golden Cage aptly retitled – The Golden Dream).  The “Uncertain Regard” tag on the latter and a newsletter from MIFF calling out the top 20 movies moved me towards this one.  I didn’t regret it one bit.

Le Capital (The Capital) (French)

“Money is a dog that doesn't need to be patted. Throw a ball again and again and it will keep fetching it back” is what Marc Tourneuil (Gad Elmaleh) declares at the beginning of this financial drama by acclaimed director Costa Gravas.  I could not get around to watching the special screening of “Z” on the last day. But Le Capital was not a bad way to start of my experience with Gravas.

Giraffada (Palestine)

Once again we find a topic that has never been experimented with to date.  How many of you would have thought of making a movie or being able to watch one that was based on a principal character of a Giraffe? Now juxtapose that into a setting that is the strife ridden state of Palestine and you have a movie that is not just a great concept but definitely endearing as well.

12 ans d'âge (60 Going on 12) (French)

Who is to say that life doesn’t begin at 60.  We live through decade after decade and keep saying, “Life begins at X (read 30, 40 or whatever)”.  I am going to be saying exactly that in about 15 months from now when I turn into a quadragenarian (40 years old for those who are unaware).

Locke

This is why I really really really would have wanted to be introduced to the world of film festivals earlier.  While I knew they existed, I could not make time for them with my “busy” schedules and I always thought they were boring fora where people come to promote “Art for Art’s sake”.  But over the 17 movies that I saw in MIFF, not one fell into this category.  In fact, some were outstanding to say the least.

Ilo Ilo (Chinese) (Tagalog) (Singapore)

Now this is what I call a truly international movie.  It is shot in the Little Red Dot (Singapore if you weren’t aware of this name).  It has a cast that has a Singaporean actor to begin with – Tian Wen Chen.  It casts a Malaysian actress – Yann Yann Yeo – as his wife.  And then it adds in a Filipino maid for good measure.  Who should that be played by? Of course a Filipino actress.  Therefore Angeli Bayani is cast for the role.

Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw) (Japanese)

My knowledge about cinema (or clearly, the lack of it) came to the fore when I was walking into the show of Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw), a Japanese movie, at Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines.  A co-viewer and coincidentally, fellow reviewer asked me, “You’ve come to see Miike”.  I can assure you that my expression was worse than that of a toddler being asked to identify the capital of Swaziland.

Gloria (Chile, Spanish)

Celebrated director Sebastián Lelio, first burst into the limelight with his 2005 films La Sagrada Familia.  LSF received several awards over that year and Lelio has made 3 movies since.  The third in line was one that I had the good fortune of watching at last year’s Mumbai International Film Festival (2013).  I know I am late with this post but better late than never right?

Mandela : Long Walk To Freedom

There are great biopics (Lincoln, Gandhi).  There are really bad ones (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag).  And there are the ones that leave you hanging because the impression that you had about the person was just so much bigger that what the movie portrays her/him to be.  For e.g. there was Jobs from 2013 which was closer to bad.  And now we have Mandela – Long Walk To Freedom.

Jai Ho

What do you expect in a Salman Khan movie? If this question was asked of a focus group, one answer would always be a shirtless fight sequence and in the climax of Jai Ho, the audience was chanting, “Shirt Utaar! Shirt Utaar! Shirt Utaar!” and our hero gladly complies in a matter of a few seconds.  Totally awesome!!!

Carrie (2013)(Horror)

Kimberly Peirce’s much awaited remake of Stephen King’s debut novel from 1974 is facing a lot of criticism from all circles. While a bit of it is warranted, over the past few months it has turned into some sort of a witch hunt.  Yes there are flaws in the movie and it isn’t as scary as the 1976 Brian De Palma version.  But you have to give credit to Peirce for making the movie far more contemporary.

American Hustle

My admiration for David O Russell keeps growing with every movie that he directs.  My first experience was with Fighter where he took Christian Bale and Melissa Leo to Oscars.  Next up was Silver Linings Playbook with Jennifer Lawrence making her mark with the coveted statuette.  Now it seems to be the turn of Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence who have brilliant roles and have backed it with performances that deserve their nominations.

Karle Pyar Karle

Hot on the heels of Yaariyan, we have a movie that wants to strongly stake its claim for the most coveted title in Bollywood these days – The Worst Movie of the Year.  In addition to coming close to this title (yep – Yaariyan was horrible.  This one didn’t go that low) this one will stake the claim for Worst Actor / Worst new face in the form of one Shiv Darshan.

Jack Ryan : Shadow Recruit

It all started way back in 1990 when Alec Baldwin essayed the role of Commander Dr. John Patrick Ryan aka Jack (because Tom Clancy felt he was a Jack of almost everything) in Clancy’s Hunt for Red October.  People remember that one more for Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) than for Ryan.  That anomaly was rectified when Hollywood’s most bankable star (read Harrison Ford) took over the role in the next 2 movies.   Ben Affleck wasn’t too bad as the young Ryan.

Miss Lovely (Hindi) (2012)

For those who will walk into Miss Lovely expecting some flesh on display are going to be severely let down.  Those who walk in expecting a power packed movie because Nawazudding Siddiqui has a lead role are also going to be disappointed.  Those who walk in expecting an art house movie bordering on “art for art’s sake” will probably go back home fully satiated.

The Legend of Hercules

Lauri Mauritz Harjola is better known as Renny Harlin.  Why do we know Renny Harlin? It is because he gave us movies like Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and Long Kiss Goodnight.  Were any of them stunning award winning movies? Not at all.  But they were really solid entertainment and very good for their times.  I would not find it difficult to watch any of these movies once again.

Yaariyan

Famous Last Words – “The toughest job in the world is being a mother.  One of the most difficult things to do is directing a movie.  I did both together” – Divya Khosla Kumar, Director, Yaariyan (read “Probably the worst movie of 2014).

Dedh Ishqiya

Pick the same director - check

Pick the same lead cast - check

Add 2-3 brilliant actors as seasoning – check

Retain some of the "characters" from the first edition – check

Pick yet another rustic premise / story – check

Add flavour with the tongue of The Nawabs – check

Make sure that the music is acceptable if not brilliant – check

Get a great cinematographer to create some gorgeous shots  - check

Get a location that connects with both rural and urban India – check

Hire a set designer who can make that location look even more beautiful - check

Grudge Match

One look at Peter Segal’s filmography and you would never think that he could run a movie that is not a comedy – Anger Management, The Longest Yard, Get Smart, Naked Gun 33 1/3 – all of them more comic than serious.  Maybe that is the reason imdb lists Grudge Match as a Sports Comedy.  What I can tell you is that any element of comedy was ersatz, more often than not.

Autumn Blood (Austria)

Log onto www.imdb.com and search for Autumn Blood – well, lemme save you the trouble - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085752/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.  Notice the roles against each member of the cast.  It gets as simple as that to make a movie right? The Girl, The Boy, The Butcher, The Mayor, The Hunter, The Friend, The Social Worker – how cool is that!!!! Who needs names right?

The Selfish Giant

Statutory Warning – If you don’t understand the way upcountry Brits speak  English then The Selfish Giant is a movie you should watch with subtitles only.  I am not an expert in language and cannot tell you what the exact accent was but it would suffice to say that I was struggling to keep up with what the cast was speaking.  Sadly, the MAMI team didn’t think it worthwhile to keep them on; TSG is a really good movie.

Inside Llewyn Davis

All Coen Brothers fans in the house raise your hands!!!! And once you have done that, check your list of movies to confirm that you have seen Inside Llewyn Davis.  A few of us (about a 500 I am guessing) were lucky enough to see the movie at the Mumbai International Film Festival.  For the rest, PVR Director’s Rare has been kind enough to release it after several delays – 10^th January 2014 is the day.

TimePass (TP) (Marathi)

Ravi Jadhav is one of the reasons for Marathi cinema seeing a renaissance of sorts over the past few years.  From Natarang to Balak Palak (BP) and now TimePass (TP).  He has clearly indicated repeatedly that it doesn’t take mainstream “commercially” acceptable cinema to be commercially viable.  More power to him I say because this is the kind of cinema that audiences should be exposed to and not slapstick sleazy cinema.

Mr Joe B. Carvalho

I write this review with no prejudice whatsoever to anyone or anything.  In fact let me clarify at the outset that I love Arshad Warsi and Soha Ali Khan.  I have been a fan of Javed Jaffrey as well for decades now.  And needless to say Vijay Raaz is one of the finest actors that India has produced in a long long time – one with a superb voice as well.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

And it is turning out to be a great start to Hollywood in India for 2014 – much like last year.  But I guess that’s what happens when you release movies made in 2013 in the first month of the year.  So to that extent it doesn’t count.  What counts however is that for the first time I have seen Ben Stiller executing a role that doesn’t involve any slapstick comedy.

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 ;)).