Gone Girl

Its official. Ben Affleck is the Ravi Shastri of Hollywood - overachieving and overrated at the same time. Credit where its due and all, but who gives a fuck. David Fincher digs deep, as always, to tell us the best-selling, diabolical story of Nick & Amy in a super smooth and engaging manner.

Rating: * * +

Gangs of Wasseypur

 

Was reminded of this * * * * movie when I saw Nawazuddin Siddiqui in The LunchBox recently. Plucked seemingly out of nowhere, NS plays Faizal Khan to perfection - a shadowy, chillum-smoking character who reluctantly transforms to become the lynchpin of one of the gangs involved in a bloody multi-generational tussle. GoW, the finest hour of Anurag Khashyap's career thus far, in a way is also a study of the evolution of India from independence to "modern" day. Outstanding soundtrack. And a brilliant cast of nobodies.

Rating: * * * *

Haider

Vishal Bhardwaj has always delivered impressive films - Omkara and Maqbool being good examples. The unfortunate bit about Haider is the choice of Shahid Kapoor as the main lead. Schooled in the Shah Rukh Khan school of acting, the film eventually succumbs to junior SK's theatrics. Despite the odds, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon along with some spectacular Srinagar footage keep the interest going. 

Rating: * *

Lucy

Lucy is forced in to becoming a drug mule that sees her turning in to something way nastier. The drug pouch that is shoved in to her intestines leaks in to her blood stream and makes her neurons fire between pathways undiscovered in the human brain. In the background you have a professor lecturing about the untapped power of the human brain while Lucy starts to kick ass. Unfortunately, neither Mr. Freeman's voice or Ms. Johansson's pyrotechnics saves this film from the shit pile. 

Rating: * +

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Ploy

A Thai-American couple, Dang and Wit, checks into a Bangkok hotel after a long flight from the US. A death brings the two back to their homeland after many years. Jetlag has captured Dang while Wit falls prey to restlessness.Wit's entry to the hotel coffee shop introduces us to the other characters in the movie. The movie languidly wanders over the state of the couple's marriage while cutting to some bizarre disconnected sex scenes. One of Mr. Ratanaruang's earlier films that shows his silent promise.

Rating: * *

Poster via Wikipedia.

Edge of Tomorrow

Director Doug Liman hit upon this original idea of making a movie that resembles a video game where you have no control over the players. He then roped in Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt to play the leads and lend sex appeal. For two hours you watch Tom die, live, die again at different points as he tries to stop an alien race from annihilating the human race. Unfortunately, you are not given an option of playing as an alien.

Rating: *

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Finding Fanny

Reminsicent of this fim, 'Finding Fanny' is about a dysfunctional group of friends, family & an artist who undertake a road journey across Goa in search of a long lost love. A robust cast with the best of the past (Pankaj Kapur standing out) and a couple of the young brigade. A decent addition to director Homi Adjani's resume but the general cuteness kills any edge - of the kind we saw in his earlier film. Yes, they are very different films. Nevertheless.

Rating: * * +

Divergent

Every once in a while it is important to check on your prejudices. Watching 'Divergent' was just that. Reassured me that it is perfectly rationale to avoid the realty game show type, hormone filled adventure genre.

Rating: * +

The Fifth Estate

Julian Assange & his WikiLeaks escapades had caught my attention at the time and still does in a way - what happens when the Ecuadorian Embassy's lease runs out in London? 

Anyway, I knew that the movie based on his one-time partner's Daniel Domscheit-Berg book, would portray only one side of the story. What had me more worried was having to sit through Benedict Cumberbatch's wierd ass Assange hairdo. In this instance, the general anti-hype helped me. Cumberbatch showed that he has the temparement to step into different kinds of roles. I got more than what I bargained for.

Rating: * * +

The Angel's Share

The film opens with a drunk man talking to a loudspeaker on a train platform. One after the other you are introduced to the main players of the film including the lead, Robbie, who are all charged with petty crimes of some sort. Community service introduces the lot to the vast world single malt scotches. Robbie in particular takes a liking in a connoisseur fashion. In the foreground to this is Robbie's issues with his girlfriend's overbearing family who think he is a piece of shit. Throw in a heist to this mix and you are left with a comedy that does not leave you in splits, but is definitely good for a chuckle or two.

Rating: * *

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2 States

It had all the smugness that I had seen before. And the sense of nauseousness still prevails. Well, thats not what 2 states is about. It is about 2 young MBA students, from 2 different states, who fall in love and find that their respective parents don't seem to agree. Based on a true story, this trite can safely be ignored.

Rating: * +

Nowhere Boy

Aaron-Taylor Johnson does a reasonable job as young John Lennon in this film, which has very little about The Beatles. Yes, there is a Paul here and a George there - but it is pretty much about a young boy who is torn between his foster mother Aunt Mimi and his real mum Julia, who had abandoned him early on. And with no father figure in sight. It kind of adds up when you know how he treated women in his young adult life and possibly explains the Yoko Ono adventure. Nowhere Boy ends up being an accomplished ~90 min backstory of a mega star. Worth a watch only if you are interested in John Lennon.

Rating: * * +

Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel's cosmic mishmash of a superhero team makes it way to the big screen. The comic books are known to be a little meandering with a host of characters and plot lines. This of course had to be simplified to make things fit in a 2 hour time frame. What you have then is an action packed slug fest that brings a team of an earthling, a tree, an assassin, a rodent and a green thug chasing after an orb whose fate will seal the future of the galaxy. Lots of 80s music and cheesy humor makes the film pleasant, but the Bollywood like melodrama wears on you after a while. Do watch it if you are a faithful Marvel fan for the sake of completion otherwise give it a miss.

Rating: * *

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Metroland

I read the Julian Barnes novel in early 2000. And that was after I had picked up the Mark Knopfler soundtrack the previous year. Both captured the spirit of the times and ore enjoyed them. Recently, for no particular reason, I found myself googling for Mark Knopfler soundtrack movies and was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was Christian Bale that played the lead in the film. 

The movie didn't disappoint at all and captured the 'Metroland present' vs the 'Paris past' divide, the central theme of the story, very well. Christian Bale was effortless as Chris and managed to climb up to the same level as Mark & Julian. Possibly, a notch higher.

Rating: ***

A Most Wanted Man

Intricate, deliberate and a plot that takes its time - all the hallmarks of a Le Carre adapted film. Inevitably, Philip Seymour Hoffman takes centre stage. Everything about Gunther Bachmann - a heavyset, heavy drinking, heavy smoking, heavy betrayed German intelligence officer who runs an underground intelligence team in Hamburg - yearns for PSH.  The film, as it is with Le Carre's recent novels, is more about personalities than a scintilating plot. 'A most wanted man' finishes off with a scene that is eerily close to reality. Gunther parks the car, gets out, shuts the door, walks off the screen, we see cars driving by and as one expectingly waits, the credits roll.

Rating: * * +

Neram

Mathew is a young man in love facing bad times. In spite of being an enterprising young computer engineer he has no job. The debt he owes the vicious gangster Vatti Raja for his sister's wedding is due. To make things worse his would be father-in-law is on his heels. Throw in his girlfriend running away from home into the mix and you have a spicy plot with lots of laughs. Given that there is an inspector named Ukkan Tinto (mallus will get the joke) shows that the humor is subtle and there is none of the over the top noisy raillery that is the wont these days. The director has taken many pages out of the Tarantino handbook and it is refreshing to see new film techniques showing up in Malayalam cinema. Let this be a warm welcome to Mr. Alphonse Putharen whom I hope has some good times ahead of him.

Rating: * * +

Poster via Wikipedia.

Ustad Hotel

Young privileged Gulf boy's dreams of being a chef in London with a white woman for a wife are shattered by his father who wants him to settle down with a good Indian woman and run a 5 star hotel. The boy rebels and ends up working for his estranged grandfather at Ustad Hotel, a dingy seaside biriyani restaurant. A film that engages you for the first 30 minutes starts to loosen its grip as it meanders down a cloying melodramatic path that makes you want to throw up at the television.

Rating: * +

Poster licensed via Wikipedia.

Quartet

The film is Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut as he drags a West End play onto the big screen. It centers around an old age home (as we would call it in India) populated by retired musicians. The plot centers around Reg, Wilf and Cissy who were part of a famous quartet. The home is falling on tough times that they hope to recoup from the sale of tickets to the yearly gala. But death and lack of participation is posing a problem. This is when Jean Horton, the last member and Reg's ex-wife arrives on the scene. Sparks fly and old people quarrel like children as the film proceeds down often visited paths.

The only bit of interest is that most of the supporting cast in the retirement home are played by actual retired musicians. There was an apparent dispute in the music circles over this film and The Late Quartet given the latter is all played by actors and their musical talents are minimal. While I agree Christopher Walken and Philip Seymour Hoffman might not look natural with a string instrument but damn can they act. This film in spite of all the real musicians makes one wish Mr. Hoffman kept to acting and left this to be a West End play.

Rating: * +

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Breakfast with Hunter

A documentaric glimpse into his days of Hollywood fame. But not one that showcases his originality unfortunately. Lots of footage of his toy boys/girls, the likes of Johnny Depp & Johnny Cusack and various others, reading his works with the Hunter smugly reminiscing. But as the words are read, and as he speaks of his writing, one realises that the beauty lies in his writing. Like good butter chicken -  unobtrusive but immensely involving. Making me wanting to read more. The film was made before his goodnight speech:

Football season is over

No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun -- for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax -- This won't hurt.

He was in control apparently. One will never know. 

Owl's farm, one of the cool things that one learns from the movie, is the centre for art appreciation these days.

Rating: * * +

Drishyam

Georgekutty (Mohanlal) is a self made man running a cable service in an obscure town in Kerala. His wife and two kids lovingly fight against his frugality and age old ways. Other than his family the only thing Georgekutty cares about his movies. He spends every waking minute getting a tan from his television and going so far as to making life decisions based on movie plots. It is in this simple life that an unwelcome guest arrives as a form of complication and danger. What starts off as a family drama morphs in to a thriller albeit a predictable one. But given the recent history of Mohanlal films this is like a blast from the past and shows us that the man has not lost his skill. Give him a good director and a decent script he can still hold his old Kireedum on his head with pride.

Rating: * * +

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.