Vicky Donor

 

Made the exit at half time, after a long time. Surprised that they still have intermissions. 

Rating: *

Zindagi Na Milega Dobara

Reminded me of one Jacob Koshy in Bandra (ran an audio store somewhere on Waterfield road) who when asked what he thought of Yamaha amplifiers by a friend of mine replied, "I'll piss on it. Piss on it". Thats what I would say about this mega shit.

Rating : *

Blue Valentine

 

6 years is a long time for any relationship and much can change. Blue Valentine is a study on precisely this - how shit things can get between 2 individuals who were ore in love in the beginning. Director Derek Cianfrance, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams all put in spectacular effort to get you close to the shit and feel just as suffocated as the characters themselves. 

Rating : * * *

Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives

Nek (aka ex-political reporter K Kuppuswamy) pointed me to this rather honest take on this Uncle Boonmee film : "If you like films in which a princess with a skin disorder is ravished by a catfish under a waterfall, a buffalo goes for a walk in the forest, and a Buddhist monk watches the television for a very long time, this is for you." All of which really takes place + the character from the poster, who is dead, but comes along every night and hangs out with his mother at a rather dark dinner table.

Well, Kogi this film is not for you. And I see you are quite familiar with this said director.

I suppose it is quite normal to scratch your armpits after the experience. But I must say there is something about that Thai country side that is quite aptly captured by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. All those trees, the rather peaceful people that populate the areas and the simple yet fantastic food they eat - all captured in the mystic fashion that encapsulates Thai people and countryside.

Rating: * * +

Being Flynn

I felt this whole pressure being lifted as I walked out the cinema. Of wondering if they actually do show good shit in the theatres these days. All I knew about 'Being Flynn' were the 2 solid actors in it - Robert De Niro and Paul Dano. Rememeber that I was quite impressed by the latter in his turn as an evangelical priest who had then matched Daniel Day Lewis every inch of the way. 

Being Flynn is a story of a father and son who eventually meet each other in unforseen and unfortunate circumstances. The elder, played quite brilliantly by Robert De Niro, maniacally trying to understand the legacy he is going to leave behind in this world where he finds himself isolated. While the son engaged in trying to understand the legacy that he inherited - from a dead mother and an invisible father. "We're all works in progress" -a lofty idea to be deconstructed over 90 minutes, but a fine film.

Rating : * * *

The Avengers

The refrain of "Avengers Assemble" was echoing out of this film as Marvel, after years of setup with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America, bring their iconic team on to the big screen. Technically the film should have been called The Ultimates with Joss Whedon liberally borrowing from the Marvel reboot of their Avengers franchise. Loki is up to mischief again as he steals The Tesseract (go see Thor) in return for an alien army from the mysterious Other to subjugate Earth. The story does not get deeper than that as the film focuses on the formation of The Avengers and the ensuing carnage against the invading alien force. Granted the plot could have been made complex if Whedon borrowed a tad more from the graphic novels. But sometimes action that causes enough adrenaline to pump is good enough excuse for enjoyment.

Rating: * * *

Kick-Ass

Mark Millar's epic graphic novel graces the screens bringing to colorful life the morbid story of high school loser, Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who decides to become a super hero with disastrous results. I.E. until he meets the crazy father-daughter duo, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz). Their mission is to bring down the evil drug lord Frank D'Amico. Throw in is some teenage romance, carnage, violence and you have a way to escape your sorry life for a couple of hours.

Rating: * * *