Zid

With a name like Barbie Handa, a career in cinema would have been restricted to a side actress who would not find mention in even the credits (I really don’t mean to be nasty).  But unfortunately for Barbie, a change of name of Mannara and her immense contacts in the industry (Barbie is the 3^rd cousin of Piggy Chops) will do little for her fortunes.

Ungli

Rensil D’Silva’s latest and much awaited movie has been in the press for all the right reasons.  The right promotional bursts followed by a tinge of controversy thanks to the use of the much maligned middle finger.  Cutting the use of the dreaded finger twice got it a U/A certificate and a Friday morning reception that was slightly better than some big banner movies.

Hunger Games Mocking Jay Part 1

If you haven’t seen or Hunger Games and Catching Fire Or read the trilogy by Suzanne Collins then I suggest you do so before you decide to watch Mocking Jay.  While some may argue that a movie has to be evaluated independently, those who haven’t seen the prequels will never be able to understand the story completely.

Kill / Dil

Shaad Ali is known for making movies that please the heart more often than not.  Saathiya to begin with and then Bunty Aur Babli.  But for some inexplicable reason after that, he made one called Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and now he has all but indicated of his lack of interest in cinema with Kill / Dil.

La Belle et la Bête (Beauty & The Beast) (2014)

There is a special fascination that I have always had for French cinema although I cannot understand a word of what the cast says (Thank God for subtitles).  There is a regal feeling in the language itself and the expressions speak a million more words in itself.  I had no idea (thanks to my laziness) that Beauty and The Beast was actually a French re-telling of the timeless fairy tale.

John Wick

John Wick had me hooked in the first 5 minutes.  The rest of the movie was a simple process of reeling me in – and it was probably the easiest job in the world for two debutante directors – David Leitch & Chad Stahelski.  Their repertoire was restricted to designing and directing the stunts for some really big movies such as Speed Racer and Tron Legacy.

Boyhood (2014)

In the period 2002 to 2013, Richard Linklater had the following achievements

1. Full Length Feature Films – 8 (including the likes of Before Sunset & School of Rock)
2. TV Film – 1
3. TV Series – 6 episodes of “Up to Speed”
4. Documentary – 1

Interstellar

The most difficult movies to review are the good ones.  That is the only excuse I can offer (and I will use this in the near future as well) for this late review of Interstellar.  The critic in you finds it extremely difficult to focus on the good in the movie and is constantly looking for what was missed out – inadvertently or otherwise.

Big Hero 6

It was only after I began my research that I realized that Big Hero 6 is actually a comic book series from Marvel.  The comic book premise is actually quite different from that of the movie.  The names of the characters stay the same but the story is actually nowhere close (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hero_6).

The Shaukeens (2014)

Towards the end of The Shaukeens, there is a scene wherein Ahana (Lisa Haydon) has landed a plump role in an Akshay Kumar movie and is struggling with that evergreen dialogue, “Mein Tere bachche ki maa ban ne waali hoon”.  It is supposed to be a scene wherein she is acting in a manner that she doesn’t know how to act.  Little did she realize that it came naturally to her.

Rang Rasiya

I began watching Rang Rasiya in the frame of mind of an amateur critic like I always do. The single minded objective was to find every mistake that Ketan Mehta made and believe me that I could find lots of them. There were errors galore to say the least and some of them made you cringe.