Stellar

Complex and defining, inevitably compared to 2001 – A Space Odessey, and generally panned for its surfeit of near-pretentious mastery of quantum physics, Christopher Nolans’s latest magnum opus – Interstellar – is making waves worldwide as we speak. Set in a mildly dystopian, post-apocalyptic frugal future, Cooper (Matthew MacConnaughey), farmer turned pilot, stumbles upon the remnants of NASA, at the cusp of seeking to send a person to space and making contact with – well, something that could potentially save humans on Earth. Dazzling visuals, an intriguing storyline that requires the average viewer to pull up his/ her socks on the topic of quantum gravity and the like… Interstellar is quite the entertainer. Full marks to a brave movie that pushes the boundaries of what can be digested on “popular” cinema

16/20

Still there after All Those Things..

Gone Girl is an extraordinary movie that picks on (simultaneously) intense parenting, scheming wives, cheating husbands, doting siblings, obnoxious media, enthusiastic policemen – and a lot more - all in one swift stroke of genius from David Fincher (Fight Club, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). Nick (Ben Affleck) and  Amy (Rosamund Pike) are a copybook couple in New York – the recession and career changes takes them to faraway Missouri – wherein the chinks in the armor of their marriage (who has the money? Kids, anyone? How about old flames, or pretty young things?) – begin to unravel. Yes, Amy is long gone – but in a black comedy of extremes, she makes her way back to Nick’s life – or does she? This is a stellar thriller-cum-drama rolled into one. Unmissable.

16/20

One in a Million (or at least in a few dozen..)

Albert (Seth McFarlane) is the quintessential misfit in the harsh Wild West – a well-read polished gentleman who tries to reason his way out of gunfights, much to the chagrin of bemused on-lookers who have come for a day’s entertainment i.e. watching one of the duelers die. Sheep farmer by profession, and spurned by gold digging girlfriend Louise (Amanda SeyFreid), Albert loses his heart to Anna (Charlize Theron), and almost his life to her husband – notorious outlaw Clinch (Liam Neeson). Hilarious in parts, crass in a few, eminently watchable and an unexpected winner overall – A Million Ways to Die in the West does not fail to remind you often enough that the Wild West really sucked..

14/20

Hope (Slowly) Belied

A Most Wanted Man is a dark brooding (way too brooding) adaption of a John LeCarre novel. Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) is escaping the war in Chechenya and the horrors inflicted by the Russians – including his own father – and immigration lawyer Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams) becomes a source of hope for him, in seeking asylum in Germany. Anti espionage agent Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is looking at extracting information – and an amicable solution to the plight of Grigoriy – but is that likely to happen? Ponder over that along with the chain-smoking Gunther, slowly and laboriously, as the answer indeed shall come to pass. Marketed as a thriller but clearly a drama at heart, A Most Wanted Man is one for the diehard spy whodunit aficionados

12.5/20

Future on Edge

The indescribable something – some element of movie magic – that does not quite come together in Minority Report and later Oblivion, comes through in Edge of Tomorrow – and how! This is an unmissable one from Tom Cruise’s “I-alternate-between-future-saver-of-Mankind and Mission-Impossible-Part-Zillion” stable. US Military officer Cage (Tom Cruise) finds himself thrown into direct warfare – against an invading alien army called the Mimics. Through a strange power that has been bestowed only on him on account of his actions, Cage finds himself being reborn over and over, with ally Rita Vrajanski aka Full Metal Bitch (Emily Blunt), and, over the course of the re-births, the duo try to salvage the future of mankind. The strength of Edge of Tomorrow derives from a well-written script as much as it derives from sterling performances from the lead pair. Mankind can heave a sigh of relief over this one.

14.5/20

Retreat, Hell

Fury zones in on the tank battles in the wake of the German retreat, at the fag end of World War II, in April 1945. The Germans are determined – well, by and large – to protect every inch of territory down to the last man, woman and child. Enter battle hardened Don Wardaddy Collier (Brad Pitt) ad his Sherman tank crew. Minor skirmishes – turns out that resistance can be led by children too, blossoming love and loss, but above all, intense tank battles – especially pitted against the significantly superior Tiger tank, are the hallmark of this movie. Fury is not one of the best World War II movies ever made, but captures the theater of tank battles rather well

13/20

Tragedy

It is interesting to think that the central character of Haider (Hindi) is not Haider (Shahid Kapoor) but his mother – Ghazala – and her fickle heart. A heart that sends Haider away, lets in Khurram (her brother in law) into her life, removes Hilal (her husband) from her life, and eventually destroys the last vestiges of their family. Loosely based on Hamlet, Hilal is the victim of an army crackdown in Srinagar. As his son Haider tries to trace him down, the complicities of the relationships within the family – and that with Arshia (Shraddha Kapoor) – Haider’s girlfriend – begin to unravel. Extremely watchable, intense, and somewhat disturbing

14/20

Bengali Warrior

I must confess that I am thrilled by a Bengali hero (Dev) holding his own through kitschy plots filled with a delectable heroine - Nandini (Mimi Chakraborty), malicious villians, a storyline that could be a copy of a hundred others, and special effects that are some three decades behind Hollywood - in short, a Bengali movie that looks oh-so-suspiciously like a Bollywood flick. Dev holds his own as a passable warrior and a mostly passable romantic hero, as a flashback storyline plays back and forth. Yoddha is quite entertaining for the average Bengali movie-goer who gets a treat of Bollywood from Tollywood.

12/20

Movie to Die For

Dripping with intensity, Sin City 2 – A Dame to Kill for – the latest edition of the noir graphic novel-turned-thriller is perhaps my movie pick for what has unarguably been one dull year for movies. The story somewhat centres around Marv (Mickey Rourke), a character of formidable intensity, the face-off between the young hustler Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the power-hungry Senator Roarke (Powers Boothe), and the machinations of the devious vixen Ava Lord (Eva Green). With animation blending into reality, and oozing with memorable dialogue, the stellar cast and cinematography will hold you in thrall. Suffice to say, watch this movie.

16/20

Maze of Errors

Maze Runner is a fast-paced teen fiction - turned - movie, that will keep you reasonably entertained, as long as you do not apply yourself on the glaring inconsistencies in the movie. Cannot desist taking pot shots at a few - over three years, a bunch of people that can build complicated huts but did not think of building themselves a ladder, an experiment that makes little coherent sense, a helicopter ride that was three years too late. Anyways, the story is about a group of boys that arrive - in gaps of one month - into a clearing in the middle of an ostensibly life-threatening maze. Having said that, if one is willing to suspend all semblance of a logical storyline, Maze Runner does not feel like an utter waste of time

11/20

Reptile Vigilantes

It cannot be easy making a convincing storyline about four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their mutant rat chief, living in the sewers of New York, being overly fond of pizza, and going out of their way to save New York from a copybook gang. To its credit, the movie pulls it off, thanks to in part the disconcertingly attractive journalist April (Megan Fox), the excellent special effects - notably an avalanche and some capers atop the Empire State Building, and an easy-as-pizza-to-digest storyline (call it a bare shell of a plot?) where all key players are inexplicably intertwined. In the balance, an excellent treat for kids, and for adults like yours truly, not a bad deal either

14/20

The History of November

Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) is a secret agent who has trained protégé David Mason (Luke Bracey), but has not quite been convinced about the latter’s capabilities. Enter intrigue in the Balkans – an escaped witness to war crimes in Chechenya – Alice Fourier (Olga Kurylenko), who is being hunted down by the Russians, Russian presidential hopeful Arkady Fedorov (Lazar Ristovski) with his own bag of secrets, and people within the CIA itself that cannot be trusted. The November Man shifts the centre of the copybook Hollywood spy thriller to Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the ubiquitous shootout and car chase now permeating beautiful Belgrade

13.5/20

Somewhat Expendable

The Expendables 3, while adding to the star cast of the traditional expendables (Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson) also brings forth a new kind of “expendable” – Kellan Lutz of Hercules fame, or Ronda Rousey of MMA fame, in particular. The storyline remains superficial, and actions continue to speak louder – much louder – than words. Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) puts together an all-new crew to take out friend-turned-foe Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). With much killing in myriad forms, as expected, The Expendables 3 does nothing to detract from the possibility of a fourth edition

12.5/20

Reflected Horrors

Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and brother Tim (Brenton Thwaites) set out to undo a wrong – a father accused of killing a mother – theirs – and seek to prove, through a carefully controlled experiment, that the actual culprit was an antique mirror in the house. Armed with extensive research into the series of deaths surrounding the mirror, Kaylie aims to set all wrong right with a “kill switch” what will destroy the mirror, eventually. In a (reasonably) riveting drama of two determined siblings vs. the supernatural, Oculus executes well, and trails off with a rather poignant climax

 13.5/20

Twisted Encounters

Into the Storm follows the predictable path of the eponymous Twister, into great storms of unimaginable fury, threating to wreak havoc on US Midwestern towns and familial relationships. The intensity is immense, in fits and starts, and some light touches of humor and romance help nudge the light storyline along. The power and might of 21^st century special effects are, of course, brought to bear. Mid-week Midwest entertainment for me and the family

13/20

Demi-god by Design

Hercules finds a circumspect puffed up lead (Dwayne Johnson), who, along with his band of mercenaries, sides with the Thracians to defeat the warlord Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann). Things are not quite what they seem, however, and the warrior soon finds himself requiring to draw upon his remarkable strength as well as the many legends surrounding him, to rally armies in favor and bring to pass what is righteous and just. Nothing like the disaster earlier this year (The Legend of Hercules), Hercules is a treat to watch, with a reasonable balance of special effects and the human element, and a few no-holds barred treats in raw physicality to boot

13/20

Galactic Hotch-potch

Guardians of the Galaxy – well, I refuse to review this one. As I write this, I am looking at mindboggling ratings on the *leading movie review sites* for what is really a smorgsbard of an intergalactic thriller (that I am sure Marvel aficionados are well aware of) that does not have a speck of originality save the tepid bursts of mild humour. I quite liked Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) but, for the most part, he careens through a chaos of a plot, that, surprise surprise, is succeeding wildly at a commercial level. All the best to this Galaxy

9.5/20 

More Dragon

Here’s to finding a parent, dragon-care in the family and beyond, and having a good old bare-knuckles good-vs-evil fight with alpha dragons and some not-so-beta-dragons. While How to Train your Dragon 2 is quite entertaining, perhaps the grown-up watcher will notice the lame effort for a storyline. Or, perhaps not. My kid loved it, is enacting sequences at home right now. Mission accomplished, Hollywood for Kids..

12/20

The Lizard Chronicles

Godzilla aka Gojira is yet another tired remake of a hackneyed franchise. Barring a few visual effects that stand out somewhat, the balance is largely a smorgasbord of Gojira playing the guardian angel and trying to save the West Coast of the United States from some mythical destructive insect species, thereby following the laws of Nature of a gargantuan scale. Again, vague memories of the movie and its many clichés, without remembering a single concrete detail. My bad. Or is it?

11/20

Mutant Woes

X-Men - Days of Future Past - is another prequel to a continuum of X Men movies that I have long lost track of. This one is about Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) being sent to the past (1973, to be precise), to save mutant-kind from the scourge of the Sentinels - robots that have been created by the Trask group to find and exterminate mutants. A week down the line, I vaguely remember it as a mildly watchable movie but little else besides - a sign that this franchise, like several others, is for the diehard fan beyond a point

11/20