Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice

Lets face it, everybody wanted to see this happen on the big screen: “God vs Man”, “Day vs Night”, “Black vs Blue”, Batman fighting Superman, this is the stuff that makes up fantasies of nerds and superhero fan boys. We were sure to just walk in to the theatre and get an orgasmic pleasure watching our fantasy pan out and there was just no way this movie could have fared badly. No way. But Waaait, did it?

There must be a parallel universe somewhere in which Superman is for real. There must be another parallel universe where Batman vs Superman film absolutely rocked, but this universe, the one which we live in, isn’t home to either *Cries Silently*

The movie begins on a fantastic note. The slow mo, silhouetted scenes showing the all too familiar backstory of Batman was just beautifully shot. Ten more minutes into the film, you get a glimpse of how Batman fit into this universe where Man of Steel happened. Its all very good. The foundation for batman hating superman is laid perfectly in these initial stages. But then what transpires after all that is shocking.

The movie refuses to take off. And we are forced through a drag. While we enjoy the dark cinematic experience that Zack Snyder usually has to offer, the darker screenplay probably blinds us from enjoying this flick. This movie takes itself way too seriously and ends up being a bore. While the action sequences in the later half kind of save this from being a disaster, it still isn’t enough.

The reason why most of us crave for this stuff is because of the larger than life characters with super powers and kick ass stories. We don’t want a story that is too “realistic”, and that is what this movie tries to do miserably. It tries to imagine the real world and consequences that would have happened after the destruction witnessed in the Man of Steel Movie. It was more political than dramatic and it kind of sucked big time. Big big time fellas.

An argument could be made that we have been too addicted to the Marvel movies with their humor and fun quotient mixed into super hero flicks but in spite of this it is just plainly clear that this movie fails to entertain us. We could, for example, take Nolan’s Batman trilogy which was serious and dark, but yet those movies stand in a league of their own. They were entertaining, gripping and fun. So the problem with this film wasn’t more of its dark tone but rather the plot and screenplay writing itself. The other disappointing aspect of this film has to be the background score. It was underwhelming to a large extent.

But coming over to the appealing elements of this film, I have to say that Ben Affleck as Batman has taken it home. He plays the troubled soul, fighting and delivering his own brand of justice to perfection. The fight between Batman and Superman was amazing and you could probably go into the theater just for those face offs. The initial stages of the film has got a different dark classy vibe to it which was pretty good, and the climax was pretty decent too. The visual effects again, coming from Zack Snyder’s school stand apart from other films, as they 300iesque in their feel.

And for someone who hasn’t read comics, I thought Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was a mixed bag. He was good at times, but felt over the top at a few places. In spite of my intial reservations, casting of Gal Gaddot as Wonder Woman seemed like a good choice too.

Though this movie tries to set up the larger DC Cinematic universe, it does so unconvincingly with a not-so-good film. On the whole I would say that Batman vs Superman was a very disappointing fare with a certain few good elements thrown in here and there. The plot and screenplay stand as culprits for this boring, non entertaining super hero film. Saying all this, I would still probably end up going to the Justice League film on the first show of the first day. May be this is a one off bad film from DC and they are going to better from the next ones.

Value for buck: 120/150 (It’s probably 150/150 just for that one sequence where Batman and Superman fight)
My Rating: 2.5/5 

Movie Review: Killing Veerappan

When I watch a phenomenal film after film from Hollywood that’s based on true events and personalities, I cringe at the thought of the kind of movies, Indian film industry usually makes. But that has been changing in the last year. There have been films like Manjhi, and upcoming films like Airlift and Neeraja that hold a lot of promise.

Killing Veerappan is one such kind of film that I back to my bones. There are so many stories in India that are waiting to be told and one such story is off the bucket list, thanks to Ram Gopal Varma.

Killing Veerappan is an intense, absorbing and chilling account of the successful operation to kill Veerapan. Ram Gopal Varma finally, inspite of trying hard to limit the movie to a mediocre film, seems to have by mistake, due to his immense natural talent for film making, made a cult classic.

For the first 15 or 20 odd minutes of the film, the cinematography and the shoddy camera work make it look like a badly made Crime Patrol Television sequence, but that phase is quickly passed off and RGV gets into his element.

The screenplay of the film is so riveting that RGV ties us to every scene with excitement and suspense.  The loud background score sometimes fits the bill perfectly and adds to the chills and cinematic experience, but sometimes, thankfully only a few times at the beginning of the film, falls flat and ridiculous.

The actor who portrayed Veerappan does an exceedingly good job as the lean, brutal, big moustache sporting bandit. But it is Shivraj Kumar who plays the role of top cop, the brain behind the operation that steals the show. He is portrayed almost as brutally as Veerappan himself. The movie covers not just a single operation but couple of other failed operations that preceded it. It also established the brutality of Veerappan quite early in the movie and sets the tone up.

The movie is fast paced, raw and absolute thrilling. It is a must watch! I think RGV has to be one of the finest film makers ever though he tries so hard to be not. But give the man a good story, concept, and this is what he can make. It is such a treat to watch RGV deliver.

Value for buck: 150/150 (Paisa Vasool entertainment)
Rating: 4/5

Wazir Movie Review (Spoiler Free)

From the trailers it is clear that Wazir is a content drive film written by Vindhu Vinodh Chopra and Abhijat Joshi. The latter had written screenplay and story for films like PK, 3 Idiots, Lage Raho Munnabhai which won the hearts of both critics and audience alike, and it wouldn’t have been wrong to place high expectations on this film, especially given the star cast and the tone of the trailer.

When the trailer was out, it impressed everybody and it looked like we were in for a proper thriller treat from Bollywood. But after watching the film, even though I liked the film, I have to concede that it doesn’t exactly make up to be an engaging thriller of a film but rather walks off being a decent revenge drama. The reason for which could be that the movie is laced up with too many threads and themes, and is itself confused of its core theme.

The movie starts off brightly and seems promising too with its Talaashisque tone. But the way the movie unwraps in the latter half isn’t as compelling as it could have been. It jumps from one thread or theme to another quite noticeably. It was almost like taking sharp turns at high speed, and you notice the lack of subtle transition that we are synonyms with Hollywood thrillers.

The movie goes along at a brisk pace and the first half is pitched perfectly but it is the second half that seems hurried. Things almost seem forced and one can’t help but wonder if the movie could have fared much better had there been a plainer, simpler screenplay with a lengthier run time which would have given time for that transition.

But saying that, the last 5 minutes of the movie might drown the entire feel of this movie for the audience. The spoon feeding that ensures at the end was totally unnecessary, and makes the audience feel dumb. I think these are little touches that make all the difference. End the film where you got to end it! I think those 5 minutes could be a very costly mistake for the movie as the audience who are waiting to leave the theater are forced to sit through and be explained of what they already knew. It changes the perception of the film.

But other than this, there are a lot of good elements in the film. The Farhan-Aditi thread is such an element which was very good. They, Amitabh and the rest of the case chip in with fine performances. 

The movie was emotional, well directed and entertaining enough. It has enough content to play with our heart strings. The characters are well established and you feel, root for them and that's a sure shot sign of a good film.

I love any film with good cinematography and this movie does have that dark texture that I absolutely enjoy. So as far as cinematography goes, this film ticks the box. One rather surprising aspect of the film has been its music. I heard all of the songs for the first time while watching the film and I was mighty impressed with at least a couple of songs- ‘Tere Bin’ and ‘Tu Mere Pass’. The former especially was beautifully shot.

The analogy of chess moves to the unraveling of the story is rather intriguing. The first half has the elements that make for a good movie where as the second half falls short of the billing but on the whole the movie makes up for a good one time watch! If you were keen on catching the film, then do, you wouldn’t be too disappointed.

On the whole, Wazir makes for a decent revenge drama if not an engaging thriller.

Value for buck: 120/150 (Worth a watch at the cinemas)
Rating: 3/5

Nava Manmadhudu (Thanga Magan) Movie Review

I have started following Dhanush’s work ever since Ranjhanaa and I pretty much look forward to watching his impressive performances in film after film. So, Nava Manmadhudu (Thanga Magan in Tamil), unofficially dubbed as ‘VIP 2’, starring Dhanush,  Samantha and Amy Jackson is directed by Velraj with music from Anirudh Ravichander, basically the same team that brought the cult hit Raghuvaran Btech (VIP).

Nava Manmadhudu follows a predictable pattern, similar to that of Raghuvaran with the shorter runtime of about two hours being split equally between comedy, romance, verbal face-offs and couple of fights. It makes for a very entertaining first half with clean, refreshing comedy here and there, while the second half makes for a decent engaging watch.

This movie has a simple storyline backed with very strong performances from Dhanush, Samantha and the support cast. And let’s just say Amy Jackson has a very beautiful smile and she is improving with her acting.

For me, the most endearing parts of the film have been the sequences where Dhanush and Samantha were together on the frame. They had remarkable chemistry going for them. Samantha did extremely well in a role that we haven’t seen her before and she carried away the part of a quintessential new bride of a middle class family with ease. She looked elegant in her sarees and put on display new dimensions in her acting that she would seldom have been able to with Tollywood industry.

The USP of this film though, other than Dhanush, has been its music. I have been hooked onto two songs of this film with them being played out in a repeat mode on my playlist. Expectedly I have been listening only to the Tamil versions of these songs, Enna Solla (Emannavo in Telugu) and Oh Oh (Manasa Manasain Telugu) even though I don’t understand the language because somehow I feel the dub songs are never the same. (Link to the Enna Solla Song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iR5V9sHEtQ) The background score of Anirudh is pretty kick-ass too whenever the scene demands for it and I have to say that he is impressing me more and more as a complete film composer with each outing.

But the point where I felt the film falter was that while the second half is engaging enough, it just lacks the strength in its central plot that we expect it to have. Most of it just feels a bit too routine and the ending too is felt a bit abrupt. It lacked certain x-factor, like a single strong antagonist. But all of it can be over looked and on the whole the movie makes up to be a good enough time pass flick.

Nava Manmadhudu (Thanga Magan in Tamil) isn’t another ‘Raghuvaran Btech (VIP)’ but still makes for a good, one-time entertaining watch.

My Rating: 110/150

Bajirao Mastani Movie Review

I always had tremendous respect towards Sanjay Leela Bhansali as a film maker since Black and Guzaarish. Guzaarish for me remains a beautiful film which I believe is a highly under-rated film in Bollywood. Anyway in Bajirao Mastani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali sets out to tell the love tale of Bajirao and Mastani, with pomp and splendor attached to film-making of yesteryears where huge sets and impressive costumes were norms of the day.

The film’s cinematography has that amazing dark-golden texture that glitters many frames. The lighting and the minimalistic use of CGI by setting up smart camera angles is so brilliant that the movie is simply a visual treat all through. There were many sequences which caught my attention for the way they were shot but the one that impressed me the most was the song “Deewani Mastani”. This was amazing! The set, the costume of Mastani and the grace with which Deepika sways to the tune! She took my breath away for a second there, again (Deepika <3 )

Sanjay Leela Bhansali does a tremendous job bringing the historical characters back to life through Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, all of whom own their respective roles. If Ranveer Singh had the body language of a rising powerful Peshwa in the beginning, he was equally good to transform into the troubled soul waging a losing emotional war against his own kin.

Priyanka Chopra excels in her portrayal of the role of Kashibai. But Deepika Padukone steals the show anyway. She was stunning in her costumes and I believe Sanjay Leela Bhansali might have showed Deepika in her most charming way. His use of Slow Motion here and there added the edge to the story telling process. He composes the music himself for this film and he does a fairly decent job. Three of the songs are very good and the background score of the film was pretty pumping too, especially for the small battle scenes.

But for me, the most surprising aspect of the film has been the dialogues of this film. They are the kind of dialogues that would make you whistle in an auditorium but with a certain kind of class attached to that whistle. Well, how can whistles and class go together? Well, it’s those kind of dialogues, trust me! There are punch dialogues, cheesy romantic ones, and solitary mass appeal ones here and there! To give an example, lines like these:

“Cheeteh Ki Chaal, Baaz Ki Nazar Aur Baaji Rao Ki Talvar Par Sandeh Nahi Karte, Kabhi Bhi Maat De Sakti Hai”- Bajirao

“Kiski Talvar Par Sir Rakhu Yeh Bata Do Mujhe, Ishq Karna Agar Khata Hai Toh Saza Do Mu”he"- Mastani

The point is that movies can usually be classified into three tiers of commercial, artistic, and artistic-mainstream cinema. These categories can more or less be drawn by the audience based on their entertainment value or artistic value. Very few films have managed to fall right in between commercial and artistic films, making them both a critical and box-office success. Do not get this wrong, this movie is not a war-film. It's a film on love. And it takes time to build itself. It is more like a drama and hence I don’t see this movie catering to most types of audience. This movie at most would be liked by those who are into watching films that are bigger than mere entertainment for 2 and half hours. It for those who seek a lasting impression from a film and I think Bajirao Mastani does leave a lasting impression. It is just a beautiful film.

And it is tough to see this film garnering commercial success through its entertainment value. This movie is more ‘pure’. It is honest, simple and classy. The movie does not have fast paced writing. The screenplay is kept true to the tale that was promised: “Baajirao Ne Mastani Se Mohabbat Ki Hai Aiyashi Nahi”.

I thoroughly liked this film. Bajirao Mastani has magnificent sets, powerful dialogues, splendid costumes and stellar performances. For a period drama on love, this film is artistic film-making at its best. But can this be everyone’s cup of tea? Probably not.

My Rating: 150/150 (Value for buck!)

Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie Review

The peanuts is my second most favorite comic strip that I check out in the newspaper every day (Obviously, Calvin and Hobbes is my most favourite. Btw! Hey! Hollywood, when will we get to see a movie on Calvin and his pet tiger?) Charlie Brown is one of those characters that you would instantly love. That loves comes from the depths of the pity you feel for the poor guy. It’s the kind of love that we have for Tom. We really feel sorry for him because Jerry sometimes gives him such a hard time. Poor Souls.

And The Peanuts comic strip is about more than Charlie Brown anyway. There’s his dog, snoopy, his sister, Lucy, and his little gang of friends Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, “pig-pen”, Linus and of course the evil Lucy.

So does the movie do justice to all these characters? Does it have the core essence of the comic strip? Yes and yes.

The movie felt just like an extension of the comic strip. It had all the things that you love the most from Peanuts. It had Snoopy’s big dreams- the World War fighter! Fighting his arch nemesis The Big Red Baron who abduct’s Snoopy’s love- and it also delightfully showed everyday struggles of Charlie Brown. He leads a life against such odds! Damn!

The movie also had the arrogant Lucy making life tougher for Charlie. And yes The Little Red Haired girl too- The female lead of the film! The only thing that I missed was some scene with Linus’s blanket. I just love whenever Linus and his blanket show up in the strip. But yes, all of it can’t be there in the movie.

The animation of this movie is a bit different than the conventional animation (I have got to read more about why and how they do it) and it was very good. It fit into the narrative. Once again, my complaint is on the 3D. I did not see why this movie had to be in 3D. A non-3D version would have been equally good. I just don’t understand why Hollywood does this.

The movie was very simple, cute and absolutely fun. It has what is expected of it.  Me and my friend, both of us being Peanuts fans, enjoyed the film. We were laughing out loud at many moments because it was just so relatable. The movie just has those brilliant feel good moments. I go to movies for those moments. These movies capture that "feeling" so well. There are lessons to be learnt for not just kids but for us too. Somehow, movies always inspired me. And even movies as simple as these too work their magic. The underlying current of not giving up, to fight it out, to go that extra mile for something that you want, these are gold!

But at the same time this movie does not have a great story that will pull audience who aren’t familiar with the comic strip. The screenplay could have been tighter, but given the story line that they chose to go ahead with, I thought it was decent enough though. If there was more of an “adventure” kind of story line I guess this movie could and would do much better with other audiences too enjoying it. But surely, the ones who made the film must have had their reasons.

So, can the movie have the ability to create a new fan base? Probably not, but it does strengthen the stranglehold over its comic strip fans. I think the makers were trying to be as true to the original and they made a commendable film for their fan base.

So, if you are familiar with Peanuts and like it, you would most certainly enjoy this. But if you aren’t, pass this one.

My Rating: 110/150

Tamasha Movie Review:

(Disclaimer: Minor Spoilers ahead)

With a combination that boasts of AR rahman, Imtiaz Ali, Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor, four of my most favourite artists in Bollywood from music, direction and acting respectively, I was expecting to get blown away. But well, not so much.

The warning signs were there. The trailers and promo were mediocre, which promised a been-there-seen-that story line and in fact they were even guilty of revealing too much.

There are two surprising things about this film, one is that Imtiaz chooses to reveal his entire story line of the film in the trailer and second, the entire story is done, chewed up, by the interval scene.

As I came out of the theater at the intermission, I was wondering. So if that was basically the entire trailer, a.k.a the entire story, that panned out in an hour and 15 minutes then what was left? Other than the very obvious ending?

It was just an hour and a quarter into the film. So, what was Imtiaz going to do with the film for second half? For another hour and a quarter?

Well, Imtiaz must have wondered so too. Because, it’s ridiculous! This movie has a climax that stretches the entire second half. Even if this was a very melodramatic Hollywood, it would have hardly survived for another 20 minutes. But no, Imtiaz drags it for 75 minutes! 75! Are you kidding me, Imtiaz? Gosh! An entire Sherlock episode is done in that time!

The drag coefficient of this movie was so high that the thrust provided by Ranbir, Deepika, AR Rahman is rendered irrelevant as the movie nose dives into the ground after the intermission.

The film is about a regular guy, an average bloke finding true love, finding himself, finding his calling. It’s a simple enough concept. Except that Imtiaz digs so much into the past of his protagonist that he shades his darkest character yet, beating his own lead character from Rockstar. In fact, if you thought Ranbir screamed a lot in Rockstar, then fasten your seat belts for more of it.

The character of Ved (Ranbir) almost turns sadistic and sociopathic at few moments in the film and in spite of the director’s best efforts to justify through the flashbacks, I just could not buy it. I believe the movie, without Ved going bat-crap-crazy, would still have panned out exactly the same way as it does (and even better perhaps with the shorter run time). Sometimes, there is a concept, there is a story attached to it. Yes we get it. But the execution of which might be very difficult and this here was such a concept. Sure, we understand, the reason for Ved acting the way he does, but do we buy it on screen on reel time? Nope. This is the lowest point in the film for me. There might be film fanatics elsewhere who might like this movie for these moments, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

The first half of the movie though is an altogether different story. It has some good music, great direction and acting that will keep you smiling and enjoying. It has all the Imtiaz Ali flavor that is synonymous with movie-goers. It keeps fans of his, like myself, content. The dialogues were witty and chemistry between the lead couple is electric.

And Ravi Varman (cinematographer of Barfi) weaves his magic throughout the film. The cinematography is top notch. Corsica is captured beautifully and so are the nights of Delhi. It’s just art and I couldn’t help but appreciate it every frame. He has seriously got to be one of the best doing the rounds in India.

AR Rahman does what he always does. There might be folks complaining, ‘this music doesn’t feel like ARR’ but once one watches it in the theater, one would get that ARR scores for the film, the plot. The kind of music that eases itself into the written screenplay giving a particular scene that much more of an impact. Simply put, its music made for the film. Perfect.

Now speaking about my favorite aspect of the film, the acting! Wow! Deepika and Ranbir rock it all the way. Ranbir especially shows us why he is arguably the best in Bollywood right now. And Deepika, my love :p what can I say about her? She is absolutely stunning! Breath Taking! My god! (Wait, I am a huge Deepika Padukone fan, so I wouldn’t even understand even if she performed otherwise, so your call, here) She would rivet anyone’s eyes while she’s on screen. There is no way I was going to watch this film again, but just for Deepika, I might watch it on Blu-Ray sometime later.

Coming to the direction, well, I have to concede I was expecting a bit more from Imtiaz. Sure where do you go with such a concept? About finding oneself? But Imtiaz over does a lot of elements- the melodrama, the dwelling on the past, the obsession on the idea that all the stories are the same, the poetic analogies within the film, the dark side of Ved, the obsession of Tara (Deepika) on Ved- to name a few.

But saying all this, I think there would be some people who might connect to the second half and like the entire film, but for me, nope! Sorry. The second half was a bit too philosophical and sadistic for my liking that downs the entire film.

So I would not suggest you to skip this film as there is Deepika in it, but sure, watch it if you must!

My Rating: 50/150

The Walk Movie Review

The last time I came out of a theatre and said, “Wow, the 3-D for that film was something!” was probably after I had watched Avatar on the world’s biggest screen (Prasads IMAX) in IMAX 3D in 2009. And now after watching The Walk, I revisit the good olden days where 3-D films were exciting and rare! (And mind you, I loved the 3-D experience in spite of it not being an IMAX experience, as we Hyderabadis do not have an IMAX theater anymore)

The Walk comes out as a film that you would least expect to score highly in 3-D experience category, as it is not basically an action or adventure or a fantasy film but rather a simple true story of an incredible man’s unbelievable act of walking on a high wire between the World Trade Centers back in 1974.

The director, Robert Zemeckis, who directed some of my all time favorites like Back to the Future Trilogy, Polar Express, Forrest Gump and Cast Away, brings not only this act to the big screen in the most glorious way but also the heist like planning that went behind in pulling off this stunt back in the 70s in New York. The movie adopts a different narrative style where Philippe Petit (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) addresses the audience directly here and there. That might not be something that everybody would enjoy but I most certainly did. In fact whenever the narrative was on, I felt that the movie almost had a poetic aura to it.

The movie beautifully transcends from the ‘poetic phase’ to the old fashioned heist phase of a movie and then again back to the poetic phase of the final act. The movie had layers to it in terms of story telling and the movie portrayed the layers of emotions running high behind the man, Philippe, brilliantly. 

Don’t expect a fast paced, out and out entertainer, as the first half takes it time to establish the character. But the build-up, the back story, the simple but witty dialogues, the cinematography that captures 70s of Paris and New York, everything, carries the feel good factor throughout the film and culminates in an epic thirty minute final act that was visually breathtaking. Trust me when I say this, that entire sequence on the high wire couldn’t have been any better. It is immersive cinematic experience at its best with direction, acting, visual effects, and editing peaking in tandem.  

Joseph Gordon Levitt as the French guy trying to bend into a New Yorker with an American accent is convincing and that is also a source of intentional comedy. Ben Kingsley in his small but prominent role is a delight to watch as usual. And all the actors chipped in with pretty decent performances themselves.

In short, the movie might be on the slower side in the first half (even though I didn’t feel so) but the last thirty minutes of the movie more than makes up for it as it is truly stunning and the entire film carries the feel good factor. It is inspiring and it most certainly needs to be experienced in 3-D.

My Rating: 150/150 (Worth every buck!)  

The Martian Movie Review

“Yay! Space science fiction again FTW!”

I was excited for Gravity. I was ready to jump off a cliff for Interstellar. Strangely for The Martian, even though I looked forward to it, I wasn’t as excited as I should have been, considering my love for science fiction and space adventure. Was it because of the simple Premise?

Will he or won’t he? (Make it back to the Earth) That was it. That was it about the movie. That much was definitely made clear from the trailer. So, a Cast Away on Mars? Meh.

But let me tell you this much with certainty, when I walked out of the theatre I knew that this was arguably the best space adventure movie. This movie is a testament to what great writing in terms of the screenplay could do to any film (You! Young aspiring film-makers out there- don’t miss this one for this specific reason folks. Screenplay is everything!). You can be on mars, you can be on earth, you can be in a different galaxy, you can be on Everest, you can be on a sinking ship in the Atlantic, you can be racing around in cars, or you can be in a haunted house, but all that matters at the end of the day is the writing and execution. And The Martian truly, truly shows how it’s done in spite of a paper thin premise.

The movie is about a guy who is all alone on a planet fighting for his survival. Has to be depressing right? No! It isn’t depressing at all. It is absolutely a fun ride! There’s a lot of humor. There’s a lot of tension. I was literally on the edge of my seat for quite a few moments, because they were so gripping. Even at 144 minutes, the movie just kept up its brisk pace all through. The screen time shifted wonderfully well, from Mark on Mars, to NASA back here, to his crew members aboard Hermes making their journey back to earth. I will say this again, I have rarely been this impressed with a Screenplay of a film. Delightfully tight!

Ridley Scott the director, man behind films like Alien, Gladiator and Black hawk down, executed this movie phenomenally well. There is so much ‘science’ in this movie (not the Interstellarish science, not to worry!) and it is made sure they are all explained extremely well and the movie definitely does not make the audience feel dumb (Trust me that’s a lot of effort :P ). The movie has amazing cinematography. Earth felt like Earth. Mars felt like Mars, I mean, based on all the pics that I ever saw of Mars, that’s always how I imagined it would be and that’s how it is. Red, desolated, dusty with rocky terrain.

The casting of the film! Phew! Great actors all of them. So obviously, they delivered liked they always do and Matt Damon does what Matt Damon does. Knocks you out with his performance. I am a sucker for performance driven movies. This movie has plenty of that. In fact I am a sucker for thrillers and comedy too and this movie ticks those boxes too.

The Martian is one of the best that I watched this year. This film was not just about the exquisite art in terms of the acting, direction or writing, it was about what a film offers to the audience, and this film has that to its credit. It has got everything to offer. The movie was thoroughly enjoyable. And I would probably end up watching this movie, at least, two more times with my friends. And hence, the rating:

Rating: 450/150. Simply Spectacular!

Do check out the trailer for this film, if you haven’t:

Bahubali: The Beginning Movie Review

Bahubali: The Beginning is like a wave that does not rise high enough in its course but hits the shore with a powerful might, calling curtains on its short lived life with that deafening splash. The first half of Bahubali Part 1 is like that, it does not rise, forget curling and rising up, but yet in the second half strikes us with a force that makes us take notice of a path breaking Indian film from one of the modern masters of Indian film Industry, Mr. Rajamoulli. The movie, not only has some of the best ever CGI shots of an Indian film but also narrates a tale that is worth escaping into. Bahubali takes us quite convincingly into the world of kings, queens, ministers and traitors, and of course wars.

The two biggest surprises to me from the movie were MM Keeravani’s back ground score and Ramya Krishna’s screen presence. While MM keeravani’s score packed a punch and gave depth to most of the scenes in the movie, Ramya Krishna’s commanding role was gripping. Prabhas and Rana Daggubati have both done quite well, and in fact the acting in the film was top notch from all quarters, except of course from Tamannah who has established herself as someone who just cannot act. Period.

The sheer imagination and magnitude of Rajamoulli’s brilliance is at the fore by the end of this film. Notice the use of my words “by the end of this film”, because that is where the problem lies with this film because though it is a path breaking film, it misses meeting its true potential of being one of the finest ever Indian movies. And this primarily is because it suffers heavily from the over ambition of Rajamoulli. There is a fine line between ambition and over ambition that is drawn by pragmatism, and the director caught up in a world of his own creation is guilty of breaching that line.

The movie’s first half wasn’t that great and I am infuriated because had it not been for these three simple, totally avoidable “mistakes” in the first half, we could have had a near flawless masterpiece: Terrible CGI, weak screenplay, and unconvincing sequences.

1.       The unconvincing sequences: One of the foolish arguments that you hear here down south is that “if one can accept some Hollywood star hitting the crap out of 20 bad assess at once, why can’t one accept our heroes doing the same? If one can accept cars flying in all directions in fast and furious, then why can’t we accept our Sumos flying up in the air too?” And the answer is in the word “believable”. As an audience, we like watching unrealistic stuff (Like cars flying off and heroes kicking the hell out of others or even magic), and we like watching unrealistic stuff which are perceived, executed, shot and presented in the most believable of ways. And Bahubali part 1 in its first half doesn’t do that, the sequences stretch from being hilarious to outrageous because it was just not believably shot. For example, if you want a guy to jump from one hill to the another, why to make him look like he is just popping up like superman, instead of showing that guy approaching that jump at least with a run? Just one example to elaborate on my point. There were other sequences like that.

2.       Terrible CGI of first half: The limited resources who could handle CGI: In most of the Hollywood films, there are hundreds and hundreds of CGI artists who work on the innumerable scenes of a single film, who because of their strength of work force manage to maintain quality for every single scene. And an Indian film doesn’t have that strength. And when Rajamoulli showed some of the CGI of the movie in trailers, we were overwhelmed, but the truth is that those brilliant CGI were far and few and were sandwiched between the usual underwhelming Indian graphics. When I first watched Eega, I immediately became a huge fan of Rajamoulli, because in Eega, Rajamoulli was aware of his resources at hand and worked brilliantly to set frames of most scenes in such a way as to minimize the use of CGI, resulting in lesser work to do in terms of generating computer graphics which resulted in quality graphics. Compare that to Bahubali and you would be shocked to see that the same guy had a brain freeze here. For example, there was a shot in which a lady was speaking at the foothill of a waterfall and frame was set from way beneath her so as to show her and also the entire waterfalls behind her when she was delivering a dialogue. I mean why? Just why? That CGI behind her was terrible. Couldn’t the frame have been set higher and minimized the appearance of waterfall to just water cascading behind her? That would not have required any CG? So, basically there were a lot of scenes as such, which looked like they unnecessarily had to go through a very busy computer graphics department, with the end output being compromised CG quality, except for a few scenes of course (On an average it felt like there were 6 terrible CGI scenes out of every 10-with the other 4 being phenomenal).

3.       Clearly, the decision to make this into a two part film was taken citing financial reasons and it wasn’t in Rajamoulli’s initial plans, and one could forgive the loose screenplay as such, but it is no excuse to stretch a film for 160 minutes when it could well have been cut down to anything less than 130 minutes. Those 30 minutes, is the reason why it is generating the negative flak among the masses, because the first half almost felt “tiring” to watch after a certain point. The movie simply was not flowing there.

Saying all this, the movie moved onto a second half which was unlike anything I have ever seen in an Indian film before. The CGI in the second half was near perfect. The entire war sequence was of the highest standards. The story moved at a brisk pace, with some great acting, good background score and some breathtaking moments. And a special mention to art direction team which has imagined and executed the Mahishmati Kingdom aplomb. From the costumes to the sets to the CGI buildings of the empire, kudos!

In the end, it looked like there were a lot of people who gave some of their best work into this film and credit must be given to the director for bringing them together and getting the best out of his team, but sadly, I couldn’t help but wonder if Rajamoulli was both the Hero and Villain of Bahubali: The Beginning, who has both unnecessarily flawed it with over ambition and resurrected it with his natural brilliance. The movie, on the whole though, was pretty good. It was flawed but it was not bad on any scale. It was better than most Tollywood and Bollywood films, but it was only that we, as fans, expected so much of Rajamoulli.

Not to be cruel, in parts, Rajamoulli did deliver what he promised: An Epic.

Rating: 150/150 (Paisa Wasool entertainment)

Jurassic World Movie Review

We all probably don’t remember Jurassic Park entirely, but we certainly do remember the rush of adrenaline when we first watched the film, may be? Well, at least I do. I, for one, used to imagine what it would have been like to have a functional Jurassic Park with all the attractions, had there been no slip up from John Hammond. Well yes it’s a fantasy, but it was something that I used to imagine when I was a kid!

And Bham! Jurassic world does exactly that! It shows my fantasy of how a functional Jurassic Park would look like. And it is here that I loved the movie most.

Erstwhile Jurassic Park, released in 1993, was not just a path breaking film in terms of CG and production scale, but it was the complete package of action, emotion and comedy that knocked everybody out when we first saw the film. And the latest Jurassic World had an onus of redoing those elements, and I think it is these expectations that weigh this movie down.

Don’t get me wrong, this movie is in no way a bad film. It’s a pretty good film, in terms of the action sequences, thrill factor, acting and also a bit of emotion. The biggest let down of the movie though, is simply, the most important ingredient of any film, its plot. It was way too predictive. It felt only like an extension to the trailer. While the trailer does well to prepare us to the idea of trainable raptors and the central plot line of a kick-ass hybrid dinosaur out of containment, the problem is that there isn’t anything else to the film.

Chris Pratt picks up from where he left off in Guardians of Galaxy. He was phenomenal, as usual. He kind of lifts this film with his screen presence, and the other actors did well too. As I am an Indian, I have to say that it was endearing to watch Irrfan Khan in such a big film, in a pretty significant role.   

But it has to be said that the direction and camera work in this film was neat, simple, perfect. Stephen Spielberg, director of Jurassic Park, who is on board as Executive producer for this film, has picked an ideal director, Colin Trevorrow,  to helm this project who was also a fan of the original, and it showed. There were a lot of references to the iconic scenes of the original and it gave the feels whenever they were touched upon.

I felt that this movie, with its lousy script could have gone a lot worse, had it not been for Colin. He worked brilliantly around the limited script resources. This movie, definitely, is not one for the critics. It’s for us, the casual movie buffs, fans of the original, and to those who want to get entertained. This movie is not disappointing. It just pales in comparison with the original but that shouldn’t bother. Jurassic Park was a wonder! And Jurassic World is a fine film!

BottomLine: Entertaining and definitely worth a watch.

Rating: 150/150

PS: There would be five grades in which I would rate movies from now. It actually stemmed from discussions with my own friends of whether a film is worth to buy a ticket for, and as we are students, we could probably use that money for better use :P

So, a) 300/150 (Two times! fix! Amazing! tongue emoticon )
b) 150/150 (Definitely worth a watch)
c) 80/150 (meh!)
d) 50/150 (You could probably wait for the DVD release)
e) I want a refund!

The Imitation Game

With Imitation Game, Benedict Cumberbatch has made sure that he will be remembered for more than his role as Sherlock. And more importantly, he has thrown in a performance here that makes sure Mr. Alan Turing will be remembered and deservedly so.

Alan Turing was a Cambridge mathematician who was instrumental in inventing a machine that could break the code of Enigma, a communication device used by the Germans in WWII to contact its naval bases and authorize surprise attacks on the allies.

And Imitation Game is an epic tribute to Mr. Alan Turing, whose war files have been kept classified for more than 50 years, and was, only as recently as 2013, posthumously honored by the Queen. The movie does extremely well to not just restrict it to the veiled heroics of an unsung hero during war time, but shows glimpses into the man’s personal life, that leaves the viewer in an emotional upheaval.

Mr. Alan Turing in 1951

The movie remains deeply engaging throughout, and those canny dialogues make sure that there is not a single dull moment in the film. The movie has its share of light hearted moments which sheds more perspective into the personality of Mr. Turing. While certain elements of the films are fictional, those could be accounted for the cinematic freedom that is essential for these films to make them commercially viable, and enjoyable.

Other than the performances, the movie’s high points are certainly the screenplay and the music score, and the men behind it, Graham Moore and Alexander Desplat have been rightfully rewarded with nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original score for the academy awards respectively. All in all, the movie has bagged 8 Oscar nominations including nominations for Best Picture and Best Direction, and after watching the film, one couldn’t agree less.

Benedict Comberbatch is simply outstanding, and The Imitation Game is a classic film. I would definitely recommend this and you, most certainly, wouldn’t be disappointed.

Guardians Of the Galaxy

"A bunch of A-holes"

First things first, Guardians of the Galaxy is fun. Ultimate 122 minutes of fun. It basically has everything that you want from a Marvel film- action, comedy, story, more action and more comedy (and for Indians, yes, there is also emotion).

Guardians of the Galaxy takes us deeper into the Marvel universe with this interesting plot and new set of characters- who are going to garner huge fan base after this one (I myself have got two new favorites Groot and Rocket). They have got a bit of the loveable Jack Sparrowish attitude that hugely works for them in their favor.

Bradley Cooper voicing over for Rocket and Vin Diesel for Groot- the only big names of this film- do an amazing job. And so does Chris Pratt playing ‘Star Lord’ (yes Star Lord, we have now heard about you) or simply, Peter Quill. Chris has surely got the right dance moves for the right tracks (as would be evident if you see the film).

The director, James Gunn, who I and many others have never heard of before, does well to make us remember his name with this film. He holds the movie together by bringing all the departments to punch over and above the expectations placed on them.

Like Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy too relies, and rightfully so, on comedy that will leave you in splits many times right through the film. Marvel seems to have perfected the art of blending comedy into action so well that they are outdoing themselves with each film. So Kudos to the creative team that works for Marvel- the writers, the directors and of course, the actors- for creating few of the best action/comedy movies in recent times.

And special mention to the soundtrack and Editing work! Oh My God! “Awsome mix Vol.1” is the star! The soundtrack plays at all the rights times, accompanied with editing that cuts through from one scene to another with such an immaculate comic timing that you would wonder if Tony Stark is the editor of the film.

"I am Groot"

Marvel is well and truly on a roll. If there is a formula to make super hero movies with right bits of everything in them, then Marvel seems to have nailed it. Watch this film with your friends or family over the weekend, just to wind off, and you would be thoroughly entertained.  

Finally, ‘I am Groot’  ‘I am Groooot’ ‘I am Groot’ (Translation: As original as superhero movies can get. Don’t miss this one!) 

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Bryan Singer finally returns to directing a ‘X-Men’ film with Days of Future Past. And with duds like ‘Superman Returns’ in his kitty since X2, fans would have been a bit little skeptic with this one. But with ‘First Class’ and ‘Wolverine’ reviving the X-Men franchise, huge expectations hardly left any room for further skepticism. And to be fair, the film had time travel and superheroes, it couldn't go wrong!

And thankfully, it doesn’t.

Days of future past acting as a sequel to both ‘First Class’ and the forgettable ‘Last Stand’, comes in with a simple, but extremely well written story. With the plot being predictable within the first fifteen minutes into the movie, the film rides on some engaging screenplay and powerful performances from the actors, and rarely does one witness both the aspects clicking so well for a superhero film.

The ‘Past’ enjoys the bulk of screen time, and rightfully so, considering the tremendous success that ‘First Class’ enjoyed. Hence, it leaves ample opportunity for James Mcavoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence to kick off from where they left as Charles, Eric and Raven. With the addition of Hugh Jackman, as Logan, to their band, things could only get better.

The film is packed with right amount of action sequences and humor. And when you have Logan around, you sure got some cheesy one-liners here and there. With the sides of Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique at the verge of rising through within their younger selves, the film makes you connect with the characters at an emotional level, pushing this film higher in terms of substance.

The cinematography too was perfect, capturing 1973 and apocalyptic future brilliantly well. Background score does well to intensify the action scenes and the whole movie in general. Days of future, it seems could do no wrong in any department.

The film has some great moments, and does not falter in its story at any point, putting this film into a separate league of high rated Super hero cult hits. If ‘First Class’ set a high benchmark for the X-men Franchise, ‘Days of Future Past’ does well to raise it further. Do not miss this one.

300 Rise of an empire:

Like the many Greek and Persian ships, this movie sinks too, but only because it is battered away by the high expectations. If we can bring ourselves to the point of treating Rise of an Empire without comparing it with Gerard Butler’s epic, we have a movie that is definitely worth a watch.

Rise of an empire is not exactly a sequel or a prequel to the original 300. It rather tells an interesting tale of the origin of Persian and Greek war and the subsequent consequences which take place at the same time as that of King Leonidas’s battle.

So does it mean we have a winner in terms of the plot?
Sadly no, as the movie is plagued with an uninteresting screenplay writing that treads far too often into the shore of routine un-novelty in its plot.  

So does Rise of an empire, at least, have that cinematographic texture that we love?
Well, yes and no. Yes because it still has that 300 ‘battle feel’ attached to its cinematography but ‘No’ because the red and golden texture of 300 is replaced with Dark blue texture as most of the film deals with naval battles at sea. But Rise of an empire does have its own technical high points too with exceptional Slow-Mo moments filling the film at all the right places. The movie is also a victim of poor background score that doesn’t let us feel its presence till the last 10 minutes of the film.

But what actually saves this film from being an utter failure is the character of Artimisia, sort of right-hand to Xerxes. Eva Green as Artemisia steals the show from the greek warriors with her epic bad ass character. Simply put, evil and vengeance never looked sexier on screen than this. She basically carries the entire film. The presence of Artimisia takes this film all the way from being a “avoid this” to a “one time watch”.

To be very frank, I might just watch this film again for Artimisia :P

Do watch this one if you can stomach warriors slicing of necks and carrying them in hands (and also kissing them-the heads I mean- I mean kissing the head alone without the body attached to it).

Gore. 300 style. Good enough battle scenes. Artimisia. And sword battles. Worth a watch.

Highway

After Bhaag milkha bhaag, this is the only movie coming from the bollywood factory that I actually looked forward to watch. And my interest, initially, had got to do with only two factors: Imtiaz Ali and AR Rahman. 

And Highway happens to be the best of Imtiaz till date, not only because he managed to make a film from the simplest of concepts, but because he narrated that story with deep philosophy, reflecting some of the appalling complexities plaguing everyday lives.

This movie, simply put, is an emotional ride. If Student of the year introduced Alia Bhatt as an actress, then Alia Bhatt introduces, Alia the actress, in Highway. It is the innocence in Alia’s character that makes this whole story so believable, and also light-hearted.  She, along with Randeep Hooda, has done an exceptional job in portraying characters carrying scars of the past, in an unexpected journey (No, not the hobbit like adventure) through the picturesque settings of northern India.

But it is not just direction or acting that make this film such an experience, there is the AR Rahman factor showing its presence throughout the film. To compose music for a journey riddled with so many emotions is a tough job any given day, but the Mozart of Madras delivers as he always does. There are a few scenes where, Imtiaz just hold the frame, and the expressions and music speak the emotions. Kudos to the well written dialogues too!

There is only so much one man can do, sometimes, everybody has to kick in and in that process there is a good enough chance that they create something great, and for me, Highway did just that. It was an joyous watch for me. Loved all of the 130 minutes.   Do not miss this to take this ride of the highway ;) :D

PS: And I am forewarning you, not to take my word for this film, because I have always loved Imtiaz’s work, his brand of films like “Love Aaj Kal” and “Rockstar”, though which were ridiculed by many, remain for me as few of the well made films of bollywood.

Lone Survivor

I will always be glad that I found my way into the theater to watch this one, because this is one movie that I will remember for a very long time. There are movies that are entertaining, brilliant and meaningful, and then there are movies like Lone Survivor which retains all of those adjectives and boasts of two more in its ranks- Inspiring and Moving.

It tells the true tale of four Navy SEALs in a mission horribly gone wrong, in a way that leaves you back in the mountains of Afghanistan, even though you get back home. Cinematography and background music are two tools that took this narrative piece to an all together different level, so it is really not surprising to know that this film has got two academy award nominations for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. 

More than anything, I definitely needed to watch such a film. Know such a story. Experience such narration. If this is playing at a theater nearest you, don't miss this one.