An extravagant and a visual treat. Even though it belongs to the Drama genre, still was a delight to watch in 3D. The parties will put the worlds biggest real life parties to shame. Baz Luhrmann has touched the perfection on every detail in the movie to show New York as the raining money capital of 1922. For a moment I thought I was watching an episode of 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous' before the Great Depression of 1929.
The storyline is simple and may look more inspired from the Bollywood love sagas; in reality it's inspired from a book. Unlike the musical Moulin Rouge, this is not a musical flick, yet has some beautiful songs and background score in it; not to forget the modern day rap by JayZ and Kanye West inserted into the party scenes, displays Luhrmann's risk appetite and creativity.
Leonardo DiCaprio acts the perfect gentleman and has given more than his character has demanded, while others meet expectations of their grand characters carved into the script.
Overall it's an entertaining movie, which will keep you engaged into the life of the Great Gatsby (only one 5 mins long scene made me yawn)
However, if you have already watched Aurangzeb and planning for another flick, this is a must watch over the weekend. People waiting to watch it on Blu-Ray will miss enjoying this colourful movie on big screen.
Score: 3/5
PS: This page has always posted unbiased reviews so far, but this flick gets a 0.5 more than it should, only because of the writer's personal account entangled into the story of Mr Gatsby. Else it's a flat 2.5
Mira Nair has successfully portrayed an ordinary story of a common Pakistani young man with extra ordinary dreams - the American dream. Like her earlier movies, she has focused completely on the protagonists life only, and no other intertwining stories around it.
The movie runs around the pre 9/11 era, where everything was smooth as silk for this young Pakistani strategic consultant and his American dream. Post the 9/11 attack, his world shifts a bit, with additional checks at the airport and few verbal abuses here and there. The point here is that the story has not gone too far to show the extremes of the investigations (like the movie Khuda ke liye or New York).
The movie aims on finding your identity, being proud of it and most importantly, accepting it. It also delivers a message of how every human no matter from USA or Pakistan demands and wishes for love and peace.
A slow paced movie though, where you might have yawns here and there, but an interesting one if you dive deeply into the life of Changez Khan - the protagonist (played by Riz Ahmed). Riz's performance is above average and deserves an ovation. Veterans like Om Puri and Shabhana Azmi look under utilised though, but they execute their characters to the tee.
Overall, a movie well directed which deserves a onetime watch from movie buffs. Watch it in a theatre if you are a hardcore Mira Nair flicks fan, else a Blu-Ray / DVD should serve the purpose.
Score: 2.5/5
Déjà-woo'd.... The humour is much more urban and targeted at the youngsters. It's has a sprinkle of the Delhi Belly comedy; but at the same time, it will woo you with its perfect dialogue timing.
The story is like every other zombie movie, be it Night of the living dead, Zombieland or even Resident Evil. The much appreciated part is that being a Bollywood movie it's playtime is less than 2 hours. This helps the audience to quickly digest the entire package without going for the overkill, and not making them ask the question "How much time more yaar?". Lot of urban lingos, especially the usage of the letter between "E" and "G", which primarily made the young audience belong within the young characters, ( excluding Saif)
Timing which is always crucial in delivering comic dialogues has been perfectly executed by the entire star cast especially the trio - Kunal Khemu, Vir Das and Anand Tiwari. Saif Ali khan has got a bit overboard with his Russian accent and has given an average performance like most of his movies. It's ok though; one has all the rights to do anything in the movie (colour his hair blonde), he's paying bills for.
Overall, it's a movie which will be a part of your weekend debriefing at Monday in offices, cafeterias, coffee breakout areas. You will meet people recalling the scenes for another week (my favourite being the Dumb Charades one - shown at the end of the promos). No matter what, just go and watch it before everyone turns into zombies and the world stops.
PS: Even though your parents are over 18 and are allowed in the theatre, do not, I say it again, do not take them to watch this movie or there's a fair chance you would have to behave like a zombie for another month. It's a pure play flick to be watched together with people of the same age group.
Score: 4/5
3 words... Mazhaaa aa Gaya...
Well that's just me, it could be different for you depending your liking towards the Gangster genre of movies.
The movie has a very slow beginning. It doesn't kickoff like every other Bollywood flick which starts with a bang and introduces every character with a scene to remember in it.
The story picks up pace with the song Barbaadiyan (now playing on my iPod) and then keeps on accelerating till it reaches the top speed (the end).
The direction of the movie is average. But a superb storyline compliments it by keeping the audience at the edge of their seats. The story has got a truckload of twists in it. Hint: Good guys are Bad guys; Bad Guys are Good Guys. Also Good Guys are Good guys and Bad guys are Bad Guys in it. Confused? I'm sure you would not be able to solve this puzzle until the scenes unfold in front of you on screen.
Brilliant performances by Rishi Kapoor and Prithviraj Sukuraman. A special mention for Arjun Kapoor's acting as he proves that being from a Bollywood family does helps to launch oneself, but your acting skills help you sustain the stardom.
Overall, it's an average movie with an above average storyline. It's a must watch for all the audience who were going Gaga with excitement to watch Manya Surve and enjoy gangster movies especially the classy Godfather kinds.
PS: Don't trust anyone, even the spouse/partner sitting next to you. Make sure to empty his/her pistol before you enter the theatre.
Score: 3/5
High rise apartment, a luxury sedan, flying First class are the basic necessities of a fast lane corporate raider. Although his life is full of exquisite materialistic possessions, it still has emptiness lying somewhere in the deepest valley of his heart.
What if the same man, gets a chance to revisit everything and have a glimpse of an alternate way of life; a life he would have had if he would have not taken the corporate highway and its fast lane career. A modest life; a life with a beautiful and a kind wife, a life with kids and a pet dog, a life where he goes to sleep peacefully throughout the night, without worrying about what rate his stock is getting traded at the Japanese stock exchange.
This is exactly what the movie is all about. It gives you a glimpse to both the lives; a fast lane corporate man and a slow paced family man. It will make you ask a question of 'what if' at every corner of the movie as if life has just offered you a second chance.
The story revolves around an investment banker (Nicholas Cage) who pursuits a high flying career at the cost of a relationship with his girlfriend (Tèa Leoni). 12 years later, he meets an angel on a Christmas Eve who punishes him for being an arrogant man of believing "having everything in life". The punishment is nonetheless; to wake up a life of an ordinary man who is married to the same girl he once left in ruins for a top shot financial career. Moreover he now is also a father to two sweet little kids born out of this marriage and earns his livelihood owning a small time tyre station in New Jersey.
The movie has many humorous scenes which will keep your mood light and make you chuckle at different moments. The story will keep you glued and engaged at most of the times helping you try to solve the puzzle of life, try to make choices; Choices of waking up by a squeaking Blackberry or by a jumping dog and squeaking kids by your side.
Not disclosing any story further, I would want you to watch it by yourself and live the life of Jack Campbell once throughout the movie.
Statutory Warning: This flick may change your life and your thought process which may or may not be in your interests of your current juncture of life. I know it did for someone, and he made some good choice out of it. Most importantly, he made a choice
I know I’m too late to post a review on this flick (please hang me for this
), but it would have been an injustice if I would have missed a flick which celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema.
Not a typical movie with a high beam star cast and intertwining stories at the end, but a flick with actors who know how to act. It is an episode based stories (with no connection with one another) one after another (30 mins each) for 2 hours
The objective of the film is very clear; celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema by portraying abstract stories far from the normal spectrum of scripts. Yes, the stories in the movie are very unusual, the ones which are seldom used for commercial purpose.
Each story tries to teach us an abstract lesson to life. From the 4 stories directed by Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar and Anurag’s episodes are my favourite. The stories are more or less like abstract paintings at an art gallery, for which everyone will decipher a different message from it.
There is no exceptional performance in any of the stories, but everyone has done a justice to their respective roles. A special mention can be given to actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui who is improvising acting movie after a movie and knows the high stakes of the industry.
Amit Trivedi with his contemporary music composition does not woo the audience, but yes one song touched me; a song called “Murabba”, a song of hope - lost and found, Light of life – bright and dark.
Overall, nothing great about this movie, made for city masses and people who love to derive a meaning out of a story and not searching for entertainment within such flicks.
Score: 3/5
Not a typical movie with a high beam star cast and intertwining stories at the end, but a flick with actors who know how to act. It is an episode based stories (with no connection with one another) one after another (30 mins each) for 2 hours
The objective of the film is very clear; celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema by portraying abstract stories far from the normal spectrum of scripts. Yes, the stories in the movie are very unusual, the ones which are seldom used for commercial purpose.
Each story tries to teach us an abstract lesson to life. From the 4 stories directed by Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar and Anurag’s episodes are my favourite. The stories are more or less like abstract paintings at an art gallery, for which everyone will decipher a different message from it.
There is no exceptional performance in any of the stories, but everyone has done a justice to their respective roles. A special mention can be given to actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui who is improvising acting movie after a movie and knows the high stakes of the industry.
Amit Trivedi with his contemporary music composition does not woo the audience, but yes one song touched me; a song called “Murabba”, a song of hope - lost and found, Light of life – bright and dark.
Overall, nothing great about this movie, made for city masses and people who love to derive a meaning out of a story and not searching for entertainment within such flicks.
Score: 3/5
A plain attempt of Indian cinema to translate a story from a bookshelf to a theatre screen.
Add some flavour of Sanjay Gupta's modern day gangster masala and you get is Manya Surve and his naive mafia gang.
Although the director has tried his way to create the gangsters of the 80s yet his habits of the portraying the bad boys from Musafir and Kaante can be spotted on the screen.
The dialogues cannot be termed as absolutely hilarious, but they worked their way up just like any other Sanjay Gupta mafia movies.
I don't know if the stories of gangsters are always the same, that is, rags to riches, an ordinary boy becoming a victim of the system's ordeal and then putting himself back up to avenge the injustice. But this turned out to be something one could predict.
John Abraham plays the perfect Marathi gangster, but still has to work hard on his acting skills. He should not kiss his acting goodbye, only because now he is making more fortune being a producer than an actor. Tushar Kapoor adds the 'Kya kool hai hum' comic essence and Anil Kapoor has met expectations by being the standard template Bollywood tough cop.
Manoj Bajpai's talent looked under utilised, while Sonu Sood has given his 130% and may have carved a fortune for his future.
The movie also has some unrealistic developments to the story; like a common innocent boy training to become a fighter in 4 weeks to have his hand painted red in blood; and not to forget the ease and comfort with which Manya's gang is formed which will put a startup entrepreneur to shame who struggles day in and day out to build his company.
Overall an average movie, which ran out of potential to be better. Worth a watch in theatres if you are a die hard fan of gangster movies.
PS: Do not, I say again, do not take your girlfriend/wife along just because you didn't have any company to watch this movie with; else be ready to see her become the Manya Surve, at least in your life, for the rest of the weekend.
A typical animated movie, focussing mainly on age group 8-16 yrs. The movie has a plot of a regular animated movie; with a hero (this time it’s an entire family), their good times, their bad times, and rising up from a fall and a happy ending.
The story revolves around a prehistoric family who believes darkness (not taking risk, sticking to the comfort zone) is the best way to lead a life. Until one day, an exactly opposite human being walks into their lives and changes it for good. An adventure set in the age after the dinosaurs, with the family's race against time to evade the biggest threat they would have ever faced on the planet.
If you have kids, it would be a nice flick for them to watch in theatres, as many of the life lessons are bundled and delivered through numerous scenes... to name a few; creating and not killing the curiosity within kids, value of family above anything else, taking risks and staying out of the comfort zone (applies mainly to adults)
The 3D effects are average, and may depend from theatre to theatre (based on the type of 3D goggles provided).
Overall a movie to be watched with your kids (preferably in theatres), else to wait for the Blu Ray to release and watch the animation on your HDTV
PS: The theatre was filled all over with giggles from the little viewers.
Score: 2.5/5
I'm sure by now everyone of you would have enjoyed the 3D version of "Life of Pi" in theaters. I was one of the select unfortunates who couldn't spare time for such a beautiful work. Although a movie inspired by a book, it still is a tremendous task to put it up on screen. I believe it is always the greatness of a director to create movies out of books while outrageously trying to exceed the expectations of not only the flick fans but the bookworms as well. Ang Lee has succeeded in pulling off this act (no wonder he won the Oscar for Best Director).
The movie teaches numerous life lessons of Courage, Friendship, Perseverance, Fear of letting go and many more strong values including Spirituality.
The English used in the movie is more pure and polished, which makes it sound as if the book written by author Yann Martel has been narrated to all the viewers.
Irfan Khan as usual is very natural in his character of playing an elderly Pi narrating his life to an American writer. Suraj Sharma, who played the character of Pi on the lifeboat has too given his 110%, however at some point I felt acting came out of frustration rather than the call of the character.
The movie has some of the best visual effects (I'm sure 3D would have been amazing) capturing all the life forms of the ocean world which left me with an awe while watching it on my LED television. The animation of the tiger, other animals and other ocean bodies (Humpback whale) has achieved the goal of bringing all the characters to life. It has also given a scene of one of the best shipwrecks ever made in Hollywood, which will keep you buckled up in your seat for the 5 minutes it lasts on screen.
Cast away movies have limited characters like the survivor, his life boat and the vast ocean. Now what movie could one make with limited characters making them connect with each other throughout the movie. But with the writings of author Yann Martel, director Ang Lee made a dreaded journey of one boy form into several life lessons for its viewers to takeaway with them after the movie.
Overall, it's a good movie to watch along with your family. An adventure which will keep you engaged all throughout. A movie made for all the age groups and could be used for carving certain life lessons on the young minds of your children.
PS: Try watching the HD version of the movie if you have missed it in theatres.
Score: 4/5
A good friend defines this movie in its simplest form, "Hangover 3 has no hangover in it, yet it successfully managed to give the audience a real bad Hangover".
After the long gruelling 2 hours in the movie theatre, I'm still trying to solve a mystery of English Grammar, i.e - If worst is the superlative of bad, then is Hangover 3 the superlative of worst??
While I completely understand that the same original plot cannot be repeated over and over again; the movie absolutely failed to meet even the basic expectations of executing a different storyline.
The only thing interesting in this flick is Alan's one-liners, which will ignite your laughter at first; but soon all of it will be extinguished by the dialogues from the other characters.
This flick is a complete No-Go for the audience to invest their precious 2 hours of this weekend. Watch it only if you are getting the Blu-Ray for free, once it's released.
PS: My keyboard has refused to type any further!!!
Score: 1/5
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