Stand Up Guys (2012) - Crime / Comedy

I totally love it when an Actor plays his own age in a movie and does total justice with the character – exactly the way these three superb actors in one movie did in “Stand Up Guys” – Al Pacino is a guy behind the bar for a majority of his life after a heist gone wrong, has only one day to live before his own best friend is supposed to kill him. His best friend happens to be Christopher Walken, another mind blowing performance by him and they have a third friend too who is almost on death bed – Alan Arkin, who happens to be their getaway driver. What they do in the course of one night is the movie all about, their discussions are hilarious, performances are superlative, body language is simply awesome, they are all criminals but you just cant help falling in love with them. And how it all ends – is one mind-blowing watch. It was totally fantastic stuff – a movie with whom you just cant do justice by watching it one time – I bet – whoever have seen this will definitely see it multiple times just to enjoy those heart to heart discussion between Pacino and Walken as well as for those precious 20 minute of footage of Arkin – one hell of a movie. If you see it from the writers perspective – its such an easy and simple writing – where there is no suspsense and secret – you exactly know where and how it is going, still the way they handle those characters and what all they do makes up for a fantastic viewing. I mean everything is so kool, like the way they walkin to a chemist shop which is closed and steal the stuff, its after effects, the way they pick up what they are going to wear on their last day as well as how they screw up baddies and rescue a girl they don’t even know and so many other things. It’s a must must watch for all comedy lovers – especially for those who have loved Pacino, Walken and Alan all these years, I will definitely give it a good 3/5 with two thumbs up. Not to be missed by anyone at any cost.

Fast & Furious 6 (2013) - Action

Fast and Furious is the only movie franchise (I guess) which keeps getting better with every new part and keeps its fans hooked to the upcoming one, this one is no different. I mean the way it starts – you already know where you are heading, its predictable yet its shocking to say the least and some action sequences are freaking so mind blowing that it actually made us gasp – big time – not believing what just happened – laugh on it – cheer them – clap – whistle and look forward to the next shot which in turn keeps getting better and better again till it leads to the grand finale and trust me when I say this – it became the first of the series to actually make my eyes go wet as the last shot almost made me think that we are going to lose Dom and the way it all ends. That’s indeed too good for a movie of this genre to achieve that and then you have that surprise ending which is going to make us all wait about a year or longer for the upcoming terrific part (It has to be super mind blowing with the new addition – you need to see it to believe it). It has all the twists and turns – shocks and awe moments required in the movie of this kind – the story doesn’t make much sense but who anyways is looking for a sense or logic? But the Action sequences are simply mind blowing to say the least – I am definitely going to see it again a couple of times more just for them, cars cars and more kool sounding cars on big screen is totally amazing but sorely no hot babes this time around still it works big time. The two very well shot – hand to hand combat scenes – one between two leading babes and the last between Rock and that hunk are mind-blowing, that was the biggest cheer drawing moment of the movie and almost the full crowd jumped, clapped, hooted, whistled and what not. It has so many laugh out loud moments – those precious one liners and all the histrionics associated with all of them – not too much this time like the last time but too good. I am definitely going to give a fundoo 3/5 and two thumbs up – a must must watch for all action loving people, not to be missed at any cost.

The Host (2013) - Science Fiction

If trailers were to be believed – this should have been at least an average Alien invasion thriller cum action but what it turns out to be is a cold drab drama of the worst order. My bad luck that I read just now that it is based on a book by Stephenie “Twilight” Meyer – I guess I would have ignored it otherwise. But trust me it has some positives too ;) for starters – they have turned all humans into aliens just like them but the only difference between them and us is their eyes with two corona rings (Remember BMW Head lights?) looks totally awesome. Plus these aliens love Chrome and a lot of it, so much so that all the cars they drive are Chrome, even the bikes are and trust me the egg in which their spirits come in too is made of Chrome J. As in every other alien movie we see – they all wear crisp white dresses and dunno what they work on those flat screen computers with no CPU – all of them seriously work and trace the last of the humans hiding anywhere (Obviously in US of A). Even the humans are too smart as they are Americans obviously – they know how to survive and hide in huge caves with ample of water, electricity, farm land and oh yeah! How can I forget – they all have now become vegetarian, slowly you see they have some furniture too in caves, trucks and cars as well, an almost fully equipped medical facility as well. I wondered one more thing that when the aliens were so good, cool and lived in swanky apartments, driving superb cars, they cant get hurt plus those awesome corona ring eyes – humans should have given up and turned themselves into aliens – I wud have surely not mind being one of them but that would have defeated Stephenie’s purpose but in the end she does that – oh my god and we all love peacefully with aliens happily ever after. You still wanna see the movie? Its almost two hours long. I will definitely give it a good 1/5 rating, half for those Chrome cars and half for those beautiful rings in their eyes. Give it a big miss.  

Le Mans (1971) - Thriller / Action

If you like or follow car racing especially F1 – this is a must watch as fortunately I saw it today right after I was done watching Qualifying rounds of “Monaco Grand Prix”. I read an article a couple of days back and this movie showed up in “Top Five Car Racing movies of all times” and now I know why. Of its total running time of close to 100 minutes – there are no dialogues – the first official dialogue of the movie comes around the 36^th minute and that’s totally amazing. Yet, it’s an engrossing watch so much so that I can challenge you – literally you cannot watch it sitting straight, it has so many “heart in your mouth” moments, full of scenes which will make you shout and you will be using a lot of F words too ;). Superb movie, full of shocking moments, twists and turns, in its entirety its shot with a moving camera sometimes inside the racing cars, behind them, parallel and even a couple of aerial shots too. Made in the year 1971, its totally rocking stuff to see the best of Ferrari’s racing with the best of Porsches, hell of a sound of those cars going around in a circuit for 24 hours endurance race. It still takes place in real time too and have been going around since the early 1920’s near the town of Le Mans, France. The movie gives a great insight in the real time racing and what happens around town in the same time, the way it starts and reaches a climax is simply mind blowing, even after almost 40 years after its making – it was too good. Steve McQueen as the hero is cherry on top, with hardly any dialogues, a lot is said by his expressions and the way he drives and faces the challenging task – what happens in the end is one amazing thing. I will not spoil it for you here – if you like thrillers / action / racing movies – this should be called one of the best – I am yet to see the remaining four from the same article but will definitely get them soon and give them a shot. This I will definitely rate as a good 4/5 on any given day, worth keeping in my collection of movies for future viewings. Go for it – do not miss it any cost.

Gippi (2013) - Drama

Another disaster in the name of “Being Yourself” movie from Karan Johar camp, guess he saw too many interesting kid movies in last couple of years and attempted one of his own – the best achievement for this movie is that it takes Cliché word to the new heights. Wonder how much freedom he gives to a Director working in his production is quite visible here – you can actually tell every five minutes that the scene was “Signature Karan Johar” and the poor Director was just helplessly watching it shot. I mean imagine there is a scene where Gippi’s mother Divya Dutta attends her own Husband’s second marriage and is all emotional about it, wtf scene of the year! A teacher telling kids in classroom about Male and Female organs and trust me when I say this – she does uses words like “Penis and Testicles” (Twice) – WOW!! Who says we don’t have awareness classes in India? Hats off to you KJ – I guess that was a joke and all of us were supposed to laugh on it? And you made this shit for teenagers? Awesome. Too much use of 60’s songs in his movies is another thing that I have got bored of big time, OK we know you love them – we do too but this is too much dude – move on! In flat first 10 minutes you can call it an amateur’s attempt at “mean girls” type movies but going nowhere and the cherry on top was when my kiddo actually asked me “Dad, when’s it going to end?” for a moment I thought I was too old to understand it but then realized it made no sense to my 7 year old daughter and to my teenage nephew too. Give it a miss as you have already done ;) you aren’t missing anything.

The Place Beyond The Pines (2013) - Crime Drama

After reading and hearing so much about this movie from some of my close friends – finally I got to see it today and I must say – what a roller coaster ride this one turns out to be. For the first 45 minutes it’s a totally breath taking movie – shocking with every scene so much so that I was making faces with turn of events, didn’t wanted the character to do what he was doing, as if it was in my hands, thrilling, sympathizing with him, feeling for him big time yet he remained a hero of sorts even after whatever bad he does, never predictable. Ryan Gosling as the biker stuntman struggling to make the ends meet is too good although I feel he is getting typecast playing same to same role (At least in his last 3 movies that I saw). How and what he does to support his girl friend and an infant son, is simply awesome. After “Silver Linings Playbook” I had great expectations from Bradley Cooper and he proves his worth yet again - superb job and a damn good role. Even Eva Mendes is apt in this movie and the character she plays suits her to the T. One bad turn of events changes their life for good and how it effects them in the longer run is the movie all about. There is no “Undo” in life. But the only problem I had with the movie is its length, it’s a little too long for the story / drama, they could have easily chopped out a good half hour out of it and it would have been a sleep affair nevertheless it works big time for me. As it keeps traveling from one character to another and after taking a jump of almost 15 years it engrossed me yet again and what a fundoo ending it has, totally rocking stuff. If you like thriller cum dramas – I will call it one of the best of 2013 so far, do not miss this at any cost, I will definitely rate it a good 3.5/5 with two thumbs up, a must watch for Ryan and Bradley fans.

Bombay Talkies (2013) - Short Stories

A fantastic tribute to Indian Cinema’s completion of 100 years by four of the best Directors from industry, its timing and content is simply superb. First story itself directed by Karan Johar proves that he is shouting from the roof tops about his sexuality and no one is listening, was a shocking start but Rani Mukerji, Randeep Hooda and that new guy makes it a little easy for the audience, high time our society accepted the fact and adjusts with them as its alrite to be gay. The best of the lot as per my choice is the heart touching story of a failed theater artist “Nawazuddin Siddiqui” again in a rocking role and character – oh my god – it touches deep inside somewhere and gives you the reality of life, end of the day it’s all about love and happiness rest of it all is pointless, superb direction by Dibakar Banerjee. Third by Zoya Akhtar is good too, story of a kid who wishes to do something whereas his parents want him to do something else – how he works it out is simply superb and hilarious but proves that kids in today’s time are way too smarter than their parents could imagine. Another fantastic performance by the little guy, he is definitely going to go a long way. Second best story as per me was the last one by Anurag Kashyap, story of a small Towner from UP and his bed ridden father who has no hopes of surviving unless his last wish is fulfilled. Again another story which touches you to the core as it indeed is a reality as so many line up at the Super Stars door everyday just to get a glimpse of him, Big B obliges big time his fans as well as in the movie too, simply a high point of the movie is his split second presence, too good. If you live and love cinema like the way I do – you shouldn’t miss this one. If nothing else it works like a great time pass and you do have a great surprise at the end of the movie – not the one they show you every 10 minutes on various TV channels. I will definitely give it a good 3/5 with two thumbs up and a must watch for all cinema lovers.

Iron Man 3 (2013) - Action

The first problem that I personally have with every Super Hero movie is that someone needs to tell the makers – “you do not need to make one every year”. Relax, get a better script, work on visuals, shock us, thrill us, make us laugh and oh yeah – save the world once again but in style. The speed with which they are churning out movies of the same genre is the reason why they run out of steam and end up making just about an average drama instead of a superb action movie like it happened with “Iron Man 3” – for starters – if you are able to sit thru the boring half hour initially – chances are – you may end up just about liking it – I tried my level best but just couldn’t love it. The only good thing about this one is that it had some story to tell but by the time it ends – it becomes pointless, another new thing is – how Tony Stark dresses up with his Iron Man uniform – makes you happy a couple of times but that’s that! Barring that there is nothing new this movie had to offer, it’s too long and offers too little in the name of entertainment especially when you look forward to a mind blowing action movie thanks to the title and makers – it never works on that level. I would have definitely chopped off good 20 minutes from the initial half hour itself. Now I need to seriously re read the reviews of my own good friends who saw and loved the movie. I will definitely not give it anything better than a 2.5/5 and will call it a great heart break for me. We all love Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) will always be cute and how can one not love Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) but still they were unable to do that magic on me this time. Two solid action sequences shot in good 3D is all the movie had to offer – rest of the time you just cling on to the glasses with nothing much happening on screen. Go for it only if you follow the franchisee and have enough patience otherwise just wait a little to catch its 2D version on Star Movies shortly. Nothing great, not even a good time pass. As I reached home – even wifey said “See, I told you, when you watch a movie without me, you end up disliking it even when it’s an Iron Man movie”.

Midnight's Children (2012) - Drama

I was totally surprised to see that the movie released and got off the theaters in a blink – before even I could decide whether to see it or not. Now after watching it last night – I realized why that happened and shockingly none of my friends or known people ever saw it, the only friend who did wasn’t too excited about it either. I had no idea what it was based on – other than that it revolves around India’s independence and a couple of decades there after. It’s a damn good story but told in the most boring and over stretched way so much so that you lose track of things half the way and yawn your way to most uninspiring ending. It’s a story based on two kids born on the night of India’s independence – one in a rich family and another in tatters but as fate would have it – they were deliberately exchanged by a nurse, what happens next is the story and before I forget – here comes the disaster part – all the kids born on that fateful night were born with some kind of special powers – I guess India’s reply to “X men” of west, unfortunately never explored fully in the movie, dunno about the book as never read it. It’s an ultimate drama which confuses you after the first hour as it makes you think – why the heck they gave such a big introduction when it was all about kids and their powers and then that too isn’t told in details? Anyways! If you go by casting – it shouldn’t be any less than a super classic but no ways. As nobody had any scope in the haphazard story and lousy script, I was actually wondering what was Deepa Mehta smoking before hiring such talents and under utilizing them all? If you haven’t seen it – give it a miss – I would rather say – go ahead get the book and I am sure it must be way too good than the movie. My ratings a good 2/5.