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Doctor Strange (2016)
Doctor Strange is a strange trippy, mind bending, visually stunning and wonderfully acted movie which must be witnessed in IMAX 3D
When Marvel studios decided to go on further with their Movie-verse, someone decided to get Doctor Strange-one of the comic book Hero who is not as interesting as Thor, or even Hawkeye- With such weak background story as Doctor Strange, the studio banked on the trippy mind bending visuals and it Worked. Doctor Strange stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the titular role, with supporting star cast that include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams and Mads Mikkelsen . The movie is directed by Scott Derrickson, the guy who directed The Day the Earth Stood Still and a brilliant and underrated horror movie Sinister. The Director travels down a completely new path through a superhero movie and actually finds a quite stunning yet curved path. Doctor Strange is a story of Mr.(Dr!) Strange, a surgeon who excels in his craft. Egoistic and proud Doctor Strange is not a likable character in the beginning. He loves himself, but a tragedy-an accident- takes him down a path where he loses the thing he loved most-his craft. When countless trials of surgeries and Medicine could not treat his hands, he turns towards east to a place in Kathmandu, Nepal. A place about which he learned have a miraculous healing technique. There he meets the Ancient one (Tilda Swinton) and finds a world beyond imagination and time. He is drawn into the world of Mystic Arts and magic where Multiple dimensions lay and in one dark Dimension is a creature so dangerous that he can devour the planet. And of course there is one disciple (Kaecillius-Mads Mikkelsen) who went rogue and wants to bring Dormammu from the dark Dimension.
The story much like other origin stories skips supporting actors like Rachel McAdams to provide much more screen time to Benedict Cumberbatch who never fails in even one second. It feels like Mr. Cumberbatch was born to portray Sherlock and Doctor Strange. The transformation of Strange's character is remarkable and can be felt through Benedict's acting, his eyes says it all in many scenes. HIs helplessness is palpable and intense. But much akin to Strange is an even stranger character of the ancient one played by Tilda Swinton, the power and elegance seeps through her portrayal, her hand waving is exceptional, she is too powerful. The wonderful intro sequence says it all. When she starts waving her hand so elegantly, and bending the space itself. Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo is also pretty good with a compulsory marvel funny character portrayed by Benedict Wong.
The movie is a treat to the eye. The greatest 3d effects I have seen till date. A must watch in IMAX 3D, if you can. When the characters enter multi dimensional space or distorts space and time, strange and trippy visuals replace the entire screen. They are stunning and wonderfully crafted. One look and you feel you are also falling just like Strange is through the dimensions. The movie is colorful and yet remarkably dark in a few scenes. The Climax scene defying the laws of universe and cinema is just a scene to observe in wonder. There are not enough words to describe the wonderful visuals of this movie. Now let us move on to the cons of the movie: Much like other Marvel movies, the antagonist does not get enough screen time to be even called a villain, he is just there, because you cannot have an origin story without a negative character. Thus we can not understand Kaecillius's reasons to go about destroying the world. The run time feels constrained and thus many characters are skipped about and just gets a little introduction. There is just not enough time to build up any character than Strange. Another issue with the movie is that it is very convenient the way Doctor Strange acquires his powers, it feels forced and very quick. To finish it, Doctor Strange is a strange trippy, mind bending, visually stunning and wonderfully acted movie which must be witnessed in IMAX 3D.
Inferno (2016)
Inferno : Climax Saves the Sinking Ship
There is a switch. If you throw it, half the people on earth will die, but if you don't, in 100 years, the human race will be extinct. You are humanity's final hope.
With such powerful and maddeningly insane plan for the antagonist, you might think the movie cannot go wrong, but then the first act of the movie unfolds. To which you can just shake your head on the blatant dullness and stupidity. The last act though saves a sinking ship and propels it to a thrilling climax.
Inferno is the third movie in the franchisee involving Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) the Professor of art and history at Harvard University.Directed by Ron Howard and based on the Novel Series written by Dan Brown. While we all know the saying that the third movie is worst of all, this movie almost certainly defies the saying. As it is undeniably better than The Davinci Code.
Harvard Symbologist is back in another Italian City with another Unknown lady in an adventure that much like the others follows him through mysteries and Puzzles. This time the Mysteries are about Dante's Epic Divine Comedy and his vision of hell in Inferno. With haunting Nightmare filled with strange bodies, death, disease and blood Robert Langdon finds himself in a hospital room in Florence. He has retrograde Amnesia and has no idea how he reached to Florence as the last thing he remembers he was in Cambridge.
Inferno starts off with quick edited sequence which is used to elaborate Robert Langdon's confused mind, it actually confuses the viewer and it gets hard to follow. The stage is set too quickly, which do not let the characters breath. The First Act is hurried filled with awfully written dialogues, they also skip through very Important stuff from the Novel. Many changes that they have made also feel unnecessary and they add many mistakes to the plot. For example in one scene, we have been told that Robert has lost his recent memory, due to retrograde amnesia. But in another scene we are shown for the sake of comic relief Robert cannot remember a simple thing like Coffee. This only confuses the viewer as to the extent of Langdon's Injuries.
Fortunately second act of the movie picks up the dull tone by the appearance of quite well acted cast, which include famous names like Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Fellicity Jones and Ben Foster. Each has done quite nice work in the movie, especially Ben Foster and Irrfan Khan. Irrfan's quirky-nature adds up the humour in the movie, but then we again arrise to the fundamental flaw of Ron Howard's Direction, he does not let the scenes and setting breath, each character does not get enough screen time and importance to be considered important. He does not even rely on moment, cutting scenes way more quickly than necessary.
The Third act arrives, and this is where things hit the roof and the movie reaches at its peak. The build up to the climax may have been dull, but the climax is very intense and full of thrill. The character arcs meet at the Red Lagoon, in a tension filed finale, where to avoid controversy the director again shifts from the Novel. The movie ends completely different from the finale, but the end is satisfying.
When you are shooting in such beautiful places like Florence,Venice! and Istanbul. You would want to shoot the scenes in cinema scope, fill in the screen with the beauty of the background. But Somehow some idiot decided to shoot the movie in Wide Screen. It infuriated me as a movie and art lover to not see the beauty of filmmaking. And as a Dan Brown Fan, i was not impressed by this movie at all.
The Studio seriously need another Director if they are going forward with The Lost Symbol.
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Pink (2016)
Pink is not a movie, it is a thought Process. A Beginning Indeed.
Pink, a color associated with the feminine, a color still thought to be weaker than others. Why is that? Pink is not a movie, it is a thought process that needs to be changed. An emotional roller coaster ride filled with tension, it is as gripping as any thriller, it is a slap on feudalistic minds of the patriarchal society we live in. It comments on the men who think they are above the female counter parts. Men who believe that any Woman wearing Jeans and drinking alcohol is a loose woman of questionable character.
Pink as a movie is not a perfect or great movie, the court room drama do not feel as realistic as it should have been, like it was in another movie that came out this year, 'Aligarh'. Piyush Misra's Advocate character is very one dimensional, it feels over the top.
Amitabh Bachhan's excellent acting is still the thing that binds the second half of the movie, His sometimes scary , over vigilante character is brilliantly acted. The trio of ladies head by Tapsee panu has done exceptionally well, with the character of Falak over shining others.
Pink as a court room drama is not above 8/10, but the themes the movie revolves around and Director's brave choice of not showing what actually happened until the end credits is a masterstroke and makes it even more emotionally impact.
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Tamasha (2015)
Tamasha | Complex Story Breaking the Monotony- Complete Analysis
In a conversation with an Auto Driver and a broken Ved (Ranbir Kapoor), Ranbir finds out the real image of Auto Wala and the driver then utters a dialogue which actually sums up the movie, "Andar se kuch aur hai hum, aur baahar se majboor" . "From Inside we are different and from outside Helpless" This dialogue strikes a chord in many ways to me, it helps explain Imtiaz Ali's Blatantly dull and out of the world characters. And also shows the pain of a person who is burning from the inside, the hurt of artist who has been pushed inside by the Society is palpable through the screen.
Tamasha literally have two meanings either a performance with dance and music or a fuss. It quite literally is a Tamasha and then it also makes a fuss out of Tamasha(s). Imtiaz Ali has proved that his movies are not made for everyone, they have a different tone, they have out of the world characters and he uses different styles and narratives which sometimes can be hard to follow. Tamasha is another of his gem that will be a slow burner and will certainly be seen as great in coming years.
Tamasha starts in beautifully shot Corsica where Tara (Deepika Padukone) meets Ved (Ranbir) who is very enthusiastic and strangely amusing, they come up with a verbal pact that they will not tell their real identities to each other and will not meet ever again and get physically attached. Tara Leaves Corsica despite getting romantically attracted towards Ved. She returns to Kolkata and become successful in her Tea Business. But something keeps on troubling her, thus in a business trip to Delhi she tries to find Ved and thus they meet each other and Tara professes her love for him. But Ved is in "real life" is a Product Mananger and not the 'don' she fell in love with...
Tamasha is certainly the most complex story from Imtiaz Ali till now, the story works in different layers, the story keeps on skipping bravely through the time in pure Ali's style and thus gets hard to follow sometimes. Ved's character is lost and finds himself again in the movie just like Ranbir's Character in Rockstar does or Geet's Character in Jab We Met.
Imtiaz Ali uses this style of story telling in all his movies, his characters are always a little out of world and somewhat crazy. He follows parallel narration in his movies which gets a little too heavy sometimes. Parallel Narration has its own artistic brilliance though that can never be captured in a Linear Narrative. In a parallel narrative the plot and themes can be revealed with much more panache and it gives a story teller a lot more ways. May it be in Ali's Rockstar or Love Aaj Kal, he uses Parallel Narration to amplify the reveal in the climax. He also divides his 'Tamasha' in 5 Acts naming them like Chapters.
Imtiaz Ali is certainly in his best as a director in Tamasha, he uses Shakespearean 'Play in the play' theme and Narrators to Narrate their own tales. He does so with cinematic genius. Throughout the movie you can witness mirrors in many scenes involving Ved. Imtiaz Ali uses Mirror as a prop in many scenes to show internal conflicts which goes on in Ved's Mind. He uses small cuts to show Conformity of a Mediocre Life, like the quick cuts showing: Ved Slamming his Alarm Clock, him brushing his teeth, driving daily, waiting for the lift, wishing good morning to his Colleagues. ----------Review too long for posting-
In The climax when he sits down in front of his father to tell him a story and recites a story about himself, he narrates about someone who made him feel special and i quote: " Ek Tha Jo kehta tha ki main special hun (There was someone who used to say that i am special)" That someone was a poisonous snake ready to strike lurking in the garden. The snake was called Childhood. His creative and imaginative childhood, but he killed that snake when he grew up. Crushed the snakes neck by stepping on it. Now he could live his Mediocre life. Using this Metaphor Tamasha tries to make us understand the meaning of living. The mechanical life like automated robots is not the life that we are made for. Everyone in this world is made for something , that he is born to do. But the society and the needs lead him/her to destroying the dreams. Tamasha comments on the Materialistic monotonous Society that we live in. It is about Self Discovery and it is about writing your own ending to your life's Safarnama (Travelogue) Full Review AT www .filmicsite. com .
9/10
Suicide Squad (2016)
Suicide Squad | Worst Heroes Ever with great potential, but wrong execution
Suicide Squad is an all out entertainer, a movie filled with fun. But if you take it more seriously and go in riding the hype, you are going to be disappointed. Go in with low expectation and you will have the greatest and most entertaining movie experience of this summer.
So Let us dissect the review and let me tell you why the worst heroes ever are not a part of worst movie ever that many people seem to be saying.
First of all, Suicide Squad is about a group of criminals banded together by Amanda Waller played by (Viola Davis), and the team of villains involves Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney ), Diablo (Jay Hernandez ), Killer Croc, Captain Flag and Enchantress (Carla Delvigne). And joining them is Jared Leto as Joker.
The thing that we need to remember is that there are hell lot of characters involved in Suicide Squad and most of them have never been seen on Movie Screen across the world. So every character needs an introduction which makes the first 40 minutes of the movie as just introduction to various characters as their name is shown in fancy colors with Flashbacks covering the introduction. Now this marks up the theme of the movie and the movie never loses that theme. Its clear that the director wants you to know that the movie is not taking itself seriously.
This lead to another complication, the lack of time leads to lack of good base to form characters on, and without a good base, a character can not stand. This is what happens with most of the members of Suicide Squad, they are forgotten after a few scenes and are added just for a few gags in every few minutes or so. This soon becomes a little annoying and boring. The Director David Ayer flourishes the character of Deadshot and Harley Quinn, but in the process leaves behind others, especially Boomerang.
The Good : Moving on to the good parts of Suicide Squad : Jared leto as Joker : Jared Leto did his completely original Joker in Suicide Squad, He takes the fun of Jack Nicholson's Joker and the insanity of Ledger's iconic performance and multiplies them together to form this highly insane and utterly charming antagonist. The movie has very less Joker, but the amount of screen time he gets, he makes it worth it. I cannot wait where his character leads to and would love for him to get a much broader open role.
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn : Harley Quinn is Joker's Queen, she will do anything for Joker. She will die and even live for him. Once the psychiatrist of Joker, she fell in love with Joker and left everything for him. Margot Robbie not only is gorgeous and her seductive remarks brilliant she is completely unpredictable as Harley Quinn, just like herself in Comics.
This bring me to another great thing in this movie, The chemistry between Joker and Harley, they are born to be together. The queen to the joker as they are made to go together in a game of Solitaire. The genuine obsessive love is drawn out by both actors brilliantly and kudos to director for creating that chemistry in between all the actors in the movie.
Will Smith plays Himself, he fits right in as our lead actor he is brilliant, he has more back story which solidifies his character even more than others. He has his humanity with him, and a loving father to her daughter. The interesting bit is the sort of 'father-daughter' kind of relationship that Deadshot and Quinn has, they understand each other more than anyone else. The bad Let's see, Joker is not even in 30 minutes of the movie, that makes the best thing in the movie also a the bad thing . The overly sexualised Harley Quinn does not go well with the flow, especially regarding the PG-13 rating it got.
Weak Villain: I won't spoil anything, but the motive of Antagonists to go against 'the world' is a laughable one dimensional plot device. The choppy editing makes it even worse. You can easily see that many scenes are abruptly cut, probably due to the re-shoot they did and the pressure after the failure of Batman v Superman.
Bad Camera Work and Direction: Now this is the point that took away all the score of the movie. David Ayer forgets that he is directing a Superhero Flick driven by action, we get a lot of close up and not even a single good enough wide angle shot throughout the movie. Now this is the fatal flaw in his direction and Suicide Squad, he relies too much on few characters which isolates and separate other characters from the movie.
What Avengers and Captain America Civil War and Even Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman did was get all the characters which are part of the team inside the frame. In almost every scene in Civil War, more than three characters are together, this gives a momentum and stillness to the story that is hard to achieve. It also solidifies the team. Suicide Squad does not feel like a Squad because of this reason.
The excessive use of Shaky cam is another down point in Ayer's Direction. Conclusion 7/10 Fun Summer Blockbuster with few brilliant performances. Full review and other reviews at www . filmicsite .com
Aligarh (2015)
Aligarh | Sensitive yet Powerful | Prejudice and Homosexuality
It was 25th June 2015 when Supreme Court of the United States ruled favor in to make Same Sex Marriage a right, the US erupted in Celebration. Human right organization claimed this to be a major win. According to News Reports Facebook reported to more than 26 Million people changing their profile pictures throughout the world. It is possible that the reader might have used that tricolor filter too.
For citizens of the USA, this was a way of celebration, for showing they stand united in a cause. For many other counties like India though, this had another Significant meaning. This was a chance to show a support and a way to protest for Indians.
It was in 2013, when Supreme Court of India withheld the amendment of Section 377 of Indian Penal Code which was passed in 2009. Homosexuality in India was once more a crime.
So when Professor Siras (portrayed by Manoj Bajpayee) in Aligarh says with brimming eyes in a phone call, that he might go and live in USA after retirement, at least he would get respected as a Human there. You can feel his emotions and that's the striking power of Aligarh.
Hansal Mehta's Aligarh was released to world wide critical acclaim at a time when in February 2016, the debate on Section 377 was reopened by Court. This actually worked well for the movie, because of these issues, the movie transforms in to an even more powerful Drama.
Just a few days back, I wrote an article about Philadelphia (1993) on AIDS and Homosexuality-link below-, the parallels between two individual original movies are striking. Both in their essence are court room dramas commenting on the society of their time. Both involves a prejudiced and discriminated individual fighting for his rights. On the one hand there is Tom Hanks in Philadelphia who portrays a lawyer who was fired from a leading law firm because he had AIDS, with homosexuality running as a subtext beneath it. And on the other hand is Manoj Bajpayee's Professor Siras who gets suspended from Aligarh University when he is caught suspiciously in his bed with another man.
Leaving aside the politics and the ethics involved in each case, we are sure that both character portray someone who has been discriminated. It shows the pain of not being accepted in society and being seen down upon by the rest of the world. The essence of prejudice in the society is shown perfectly in both the movies. Rest assured, if somehow Tom Hanks's and Bajpayee's character found themselves in the same room, they would be able to find their own self in each other.
Another great issue tackled in Aligarh is Politics running beneath the innocent facade of Institutes. Petty politics in Aligarh University leads to the ultimate destruction of Professor Siras's life. Hansal Mehta has directed the movie and tackles the real life story with poignancy and elegance unmatched this year. He brings out the best in every character in Aligarh. Shooting in real life locations and bringing in the viewer to the streets of Aligarh, Hansal Mehta portrays Professor Siras's life with brilliance. Hansal Mehta in the two hour biopic, touches upon many topics and works on the viewer's minds.
Directors these days rarely use long shots and panning as narration. First of all they are hard to achieve and sometimes decrease the pace of the narrative. The movie Aligarh starts as a long shot showing Professor Siras arriving with his partner, the rickshaw driver. Followed by the reporters arriving with the camera to shoot the scandal. Another example is when Professor Siras sits at his home listening to Lata Mangeshkar through his cassette player, the camera rests on Manoj Bajpayee's face for a long duration, bringing us as a viewer in close proximity to the actors and to the story. Things like these make Hansal Mehta a great director and Aligarh an even better movie.
Complete Article on filmicsite . com
The Hateful Eight (2015)
The Hateful Eight – Hate to Love it | Filmicsite Review
As I sat in front of the screen watching The Hateful Eight, it proudly proclaimed 'The eighth film by Quentin Tarantino(QT)' I will say that i was excited to watch it. I have watched all his earlier classics like 'Pulp Fiction' , 'Kill Bill' and 'Reservoir Dogs'. In each movie I stated above there was a particular quality which was mastered.
In The Hateful Eight, QT masters his storytelling power and he sets his best piece of Drama. His earlier movies were not exactly drama, but the Hateful 8 is an excellently made and suspense filled story which will keep you on the edge of seat throughout the movie with terrifying bass of Ennio Morricone (the master does it again at the age of 90s) strumming behind. The Hateful eight has the most simple story among QT's previous works, the story involves a bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) who is traveling in a stage coach with a criminal lady who has a bounty of 10,000 on her head named Daisy Domergue(Jennifer Jason Leigh), with a blizzard following them behind they are trying to get to Red Rock, so that The Hangman can get Daisy hanged. They encounter Major Marquis Warren(Samuel L. Jackson), a black man with a Lincoln letter, on their path who is also taking his bounty to Red Rock, only difference being his are three dead men worth 9,000. As they move ahead with gritty well crafted sometimes overly long dialogues, they encounter another man in the snowy blizzard, he is fount to be as the new Sheriff of Red Rock(well he proclaims to be), So Chris Mannix () also enters their coach and they stops at Minnie's Habidasharie for two nights and meet four other men and thus our stage is set with 7 Men and one women in a Habidasharie stuck for two to three days because of a Blizzard, will go back alive.
While the movie is slow to start, minutes before interval, things hit fan as a gruesome monologue from Samuel L. Jackson about General Samuel Smithers's (Bruce Dern) son death begins which is followed by quite explicit flashback. Its dirty, disgusting and just like QT's style. The Movie then progresses like a stage play of a murder mystery with next chapters crafted brilliantly and written with Agatha Christie's panache.
The twist comes as a prequel type of chapter, chapter 5, the Four Passangers, where the violence turns up and then the blood spurting and head blowing never stops throughout the movie. The movie is not for everyone as is takes a powerful stomach and a strong heart to take it all in, but if you can, you will get a great movie watching experience.
The use of widescreen 70 mm Panavision is visible in the scenes involved outside, but more than that it helps the cottage transform into a stage, giving the characters a wider place to act and director more angles. Its awfully difficult to direct a movie based in a single room, it do not take a lot of time for the camera tricks to be exhausted, but Quentin Tarantino does it perfectly in the movie. Acting from Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifor Leigh is over the top and perfect while the others also have acted well. The title itself states that you cannot love these characters, they are the hateful eight. You will be afraid of Daisy's maniacal qualities and Major's gruesome dialogues, and will hate them, but i hate to love them, if you know what i mean.
The Hateful Eight with all its writing flaws, cleverly written twists, racial spurs spewn as if saying Hello, all its gruesome blood spurting, nuts exploding, head booming and excessive use of N bomb has its moment but is not for everyone, it gets an 8/10.
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Lights Out (2016)
Light Out Review: Scarefest of Mental Illness
Lights out Directed by David Sandberg is a feature length adaption (or extended version) of a short movie directed by the same man in 2013. Produced by the the one who is the big name in horror industry right now, James Wan. It is easy to identify his influence over the movie, with the use of lighting and slow tension done just like Wan would have done Himself. But The Director cannot reach the boundaries pushed by James Wan with Conjuring and its even better sequel released earlier .
That in no way means that the movie is bad. The movie has a couple of brilliant moments when the movie scratches that line of greatness that every horror movie aspires to cross. But if you want to be blown away by the movie, you will be underwhelmed. As the movie is like every other psychological horror movie and gives out nothing new and groundbreaking like The Witch did earlier this year.
Lights Out Follows a family in turmoil, they are going through difficult phase, with the mother having continuous bout of depression and after the death of the father, Martin (Younger Son played by Gabriel Bateman) soon finds out that his Mother-Sophie- is not good mentally and she is talking with someone in the shadows. Meanwhile Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) the elder daughter of Sophie (Played by Maria Bello) from his first husband (Who left them) finds out about Sophie's extent of illness and unearths some dark past of his mother. OH and yeah, the father was killed by a monster who lurks in he dark, who cannot enter areas which are lighted and who is also the one responsible for many things.
The interesting thing about the movie thus is what i proved above, the monster or the women is a part of the movie, but if you remove the monster you will still have a decent Drama, tackling family issues, Mental Illness and Medical Depression. In an Interview with Screen Junkies last night the cast of Lights out was asked, which movie would 'lights out' would come close to, each cast member answered the same thing- The Babadook. Yes it is blatantly obvious that the Director has tried to make another Babadook, but could not even touch the mark.
The direction is to the point and in some scenes quite remarkable, using flickering lights to increase the tense atmosphere and in one scene using flashing neon light to illuminate the dark. The movie is well shot with some beautifully lighted scenes that take you inside the screen. But the movie could not skip from the clichés of horror flicks like the dumb characters, who even after knowing that darkness is where the monster is, will walk into dark corners without doubts. The point that the ghost is affected by a particular frequency light elaborates the nonsensical points in the movie. In some unimportant scenes we can hear sounds coming from brightly lit places, how would she do that if the place is lit like Christmas. The actors has done a decent job, Teresa Palmer and Bateman giving marvelous performance.
In the end Lights out is a scary movie that will give you shudders in moments but you would not get feeling of closure. For a horror fan, it is worth it, to watch it with lights out, because it will amaze you . Whether you look at the movie as a metaphor to depression or just a straight forward horror movie, it scratches the mark of greatness, but rests in the 'good' range of horror movies.
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Neerja (2016)
A salute to Real life Hero which will leave you emotional
As i have discussed before, there has been a change in Indian Audience's movie choices last few years. Indians have started to appreciate Contemporary Cinema and is separating slowly from its cliché filled days of musicals. Bollywood for last few years have been evolving into something bigger and better. The trend it seems is still going strong.
Another trend which has been set since last 4 or 5 years: We have had many movies with strong female lead, having feminist approach. From English Vinglish(2012) to Queen(2013) and from last year's Dil Dhadakne Do to Masaan. We have had so many movies with positive perspective of females. And that trend is still on with latest Neerja.
Director Ram Madhvani's debut feature film is a strong well acted biopic with emotions filled to its core. The Movie will leave many viewers teary eyed. I want to thank the whole cast and production team of Neerja for introducing me to the brave and fearless Neerja Bhanot. The Youngest recipient of India's highest Bravery Award for saving hundreds of lives in a plane hijack.
Sonam Kapoor blends right into the core of Neerja's character, this is clearly her best movie of the career leaving her acting in Raanjhana way behind. She plays the character of a flight purser of a Pan Am flight who is also a struggling model. Neerja has recently been divorced from an arrange marriage and is a huge Rajesh Khanna's fan. Her first flight as a purser gets hijacked by terrorists.
Another actor who has done a commendable job is Shabana Azmi, she is so compassionate as the mother of Neerja that you can feel the pain and loss through her character.
In its essence Neerja is not just a biopic, its a drama with thrilling ride of tension. Perfectly paced and well directed, the movie is a must watch. I have not discussed much because i do not want to spoil the ,movie for you. So go and watch it. Neerja- 9/10:Must watch www . filmicsite.wordpress .com
Predator (1987)
Predator-terrifying Sci-Fi Classic
Predator a Sci-Fi Movie released in 1987, became an instant classic. The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as "Dutch" a tough army Major who is leading a special Black Ops Mission to assist "Dillon" (Carl Weathers) who is from CIA to rescue some survivors in South American Jungle. As they arrive Dutch realizes that they have been sent there by supplying false information. But this information is their least problem because there is someone or something in the jungle who is hunting his team one by one.
After giving great action flicks in 1984 as The Terminator, Conan and Commando in 85 Arnold returns as the hardcore angry army major, he is not afraid of killing anyone or anything. The supporting cast works well too except some scenes involving Elpidia Carrillo Mexican actress.
The Director John McTiernan is able to create an atmosphere which helps convert this action science fiction movie into horror movie in second act. The shooting location inside the jungle is well chosen and helps to add in the terror spread by the creature out to hunt-Predator.
Watching hardcore commandos turn into panicky prey with Alan Silvestri's Classical soundtrack again amplifies the horror quality of the movie. As the climax is reached the viewer is so pumped up that he forgets about other characters and the girl. The final act is full on one to one fight between man and predator portrayed brilliantly by McTiernan.
One of the best thing about the Predator was its practical effects and special effects. The Predator's vision is well made which lends into the suspense of what is hunting them. While this movie may not be for everyone and faint hearted as the movie get a little bit too graphic at some points. But the effects still holds strong after 28 long years.
A survival-horror-suspense-action-scifi-thriller with Arnold and directed by McTiernan. What else do you need.
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Rang De Basanti (2006)
Rang De Basanti: The most Inspirational, Ambitious and Honest Movie That Every Indian Youth Must Watch
Let us start by quoting Movie itself, the Character DJ played by Amir Khan Speak in the movie: There are only two ways to live life: Tolerate things the way they are... Or, take responsibility to change them."
This line portrays beautifully what this movie wants to convey to The Youth of India, that it's time for a wake up call, it's time to work against the injustice, the system, the corruption and the social and economic problems faced in our country.
Rang De Basanti is a story of an English woman who embarks on a journey to find talents in Delhi University to film a documentary on Indian Freedom Fighters, and she finds friendship through the six actors of her Film. The struggle for freedom is relived on screen and off screen simultaneously.
The movie portrays various problems faced in this Incredible Country India like: Social Injustice to various particular sections of society, the problems faced by a foreign woman in India, the Political system, need for introspection by the Indian youth. This movie led to Awakening of Indian youth which affected the Jessica Murder case investigation which was going on while the release of the movie, the movie actually led to candle marches and demonstrations for justice at India Gate. There is no limit for the lines to quote from this Movie but I would like to quote another dialogue: "I think sometimes a person can be pushed so far that they reach a point beyond fear; a place where you find a strange peace, where you free yourself to do the right thing; because sometimes, that's the hardest thing to do."
While the movie plays a part in awakening the youth of India, the movie itself is well made and very well acted with an ensemble cast, the movie pretty much Flows like Poetry and is an example of sheer brilliant film making.
The Direction of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is exceptional and the acting of every actor outshines the story line. The clever way of Storytelling is also used brilliantly by showing the scenes from documentary in the first act and how it changes the actors' character and in the second act the society is shown and the director has tried to show that we are still being oppressed like Colonizers used to.
With extraordinary Music by none other than A R Rahman, this movie scores high in every category. To finish it I would like to quote few lines from the song Rubaroo of this movie: "Aandhiyon Se Jaghad Rahi Hai Lau Meri Ab Mashaalon Si Bhad Rahi Hai Lau Meri"