Flagging Race

Race 2 moves fast, entices, glitters with Jacqueline Fernandez and Deepika Padukone glam, but does not captivate. Ranvir Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is on a  revenge trip against Turkish don Armaan Malik (John Abraham), but whether Armaan’s girlfriend Omisha (Jacqueline Fernandez) and sister Elena (Deepika Padukone) are friend or foe, are to be determined over the course of the movie’s many twists and turns. In the end, Race 2 is an entertainer that does not quite live up to its hype

11/20

Power in Grey

In the power plays in an ad agency, ad maven Rahul (Arjun Rampal) and protégé Maya (Chitrangda Singh) turn competitors and lovers. Even as they get into daily workplace skirmishes, the tension between them manifests itself in an ugly sexual harassment lawsuit. Inkaar is not about taking sides in the “sexual harassment in the workplace” debate. Rather, it is about two individuals, drawn by mutual attraction and shared levels of ambition, yet pitted against each other in the typical Darwinian workplace. Some pretty demanding character acting sets this one apart – though in the end the movie trails off rather inconclusively. Inkaar has been generally poorly received, a fact that does not do justice to the rather intense performances by the two not-so-seasoned leads

12/20

Rise of Innocence

 

Do you believe in Jack Frost? How about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Rabbit, and Sandman? It is when the innocence of children believe in these, that they come to pass. Else, they disappear. And what of Pitch, aka the Boogeyman? Again, the belief of children alone makes it come to pass, or otherwise. Together, the Guardians must defeat Pitch, who is out to basically steal from children the very essence of childhood – the sense of wonder. What stands out in Rise of the Guardians is the truly exceptional visual effects. The quality of production herein is truly outstanding, which keeps it from becoming just a children’s fable at the theater and keeps the adults – well, believing. A must watch for children that parents will enjoy as well

14/20

Chulbule II

The irrepressible Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan), now hitched to wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha) is now posted in Kanpur, where he continues his streak of doing the right acts for the wrong reasons. Replete with item numbers and catchy one-liners, Dabangg 2 however does not quite pack the element of surprise that was Dabangg. Nevertheless, it has been quite successful, commercially (expectedly) and is apparently leading to a prequel that explores the origins of Chulbul Pandey

11/20 

More ghosts of Bengal

Close on the heels of Bhooter Bhobishyot, a fairly successful spook movie in Bengali, comes Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy, a bouquet of three ghost stories directed by none other than Sandip Ray. A seasoned spook-watcher hits the trail in North Bengal on an overnight stakeout. An avid reader reaches out to a friend for spending a day in an erstwhile English mansion, where a rumoured ghost called Simon does the haunts. An author in search of solace and inspiration comes across a ghost with an agenda, and much treasure instead. Simple and unpretentious, reasonably original, and good for a single viewing

12/20

 

Fixed Gear, Steel Frame, No Brakes

 

 

It is hard to come up with a genuinely interesting and never-a-dull-moment script centered around the all-too-familiar New York, and car chases. So, Director David Koepp changed the game – and speeded up things by making them slower – on bicycle, in fact. Profiling the best-in-class NY bicycle messenger Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), on a Premium Rush – a high-priority dispatch – with a little help from girlfriend Vanessa (Dania Ramirez) and arch rival Marco (Sean Kennedy), Wilee outruns everything in sight – cars, people, other bicycles, and even stationary objects – as he helps one Chinese student Nima (Jamie Chung) re-unite with her daughter. Get ready for an unexpected rush from this under-rated movie

13/20

Brave Daughters and Bears

Mothers wish the best for their daughters, and the road to alienating children is almost always paved with good intentions. And thus it was with Elinor (Emma Thompson), mother of Merida (Kelly McDonald) of the Clan DunBrock, in the matter of a suitor for Merida. Little does Elinor know that Merida is a girl of her own mind, and the latter promptly rendezvous-es with a witch who gives Merida the means to transform her mother into a large black bear. The rest of the movie is a hilarious race against time to reverse the spell linor before the second sunrise (at which time the said spell becomes permanent), even while several clans - none too fond of bears - hunt the mother of the clan, in a glorious misunderstanding. Brave is one for the children from the inimitable Pixar, while not too juvenile to not have appeal for the parents

13/20

Wild Child

Rose (Emily Blunt) and her charming, thieving ways, tame the redoubtable Viktor (Bill Nighy), hired assassin with many scalps to his credit. When Rose pulls off a sale of a fake painting to one Ferguson (Rupert Everett), the latter hires Viktor to take her out – the assassin way, of course. Hilarious escapades with an ensemble cast in tow ensue, and the ending is not quite what the hired hitman’s doting mother Louisa (Eileen Atkins) might have liked. Quite amusing, the Wild Target and pursuer herein are fairly evenly matched

11.5/20

The Hopping Prince

 

 

 

“See something you like?”, asks the captive Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) coyly, as she hides the dagger that can reverse time, from our protagonist, the adoptive Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal). Very spunky and a little flirty, Tamina however does not steal the show from Prince Dastan, who pulls off the near-impossible – exposes a great treachery wrought upon his adoptive father King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), defeats the king’s treacherous sons Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell), and becomes the new regent of the kingdom. With no little help from the eponymous acrobatic skills of the Prince of Persia (The Sands of Time) and a little timely intervention from the dagger than can reverse time. Quite entertaining, and never a dull moment, this one went by almost unnoticed

 

12/20

Far Above the Misty Mountains Cold

 

Today, after a decade and then some some, a troop of all-too-familiar dwarves entered my house. Led by a wizard, of course. With them, I left the comforts of the Shire, and embarked on an adventure. Where, every turn of the page, in years bygone, had brought new experiences to cherish. We headed out, saw off trolls that had strayed afar, got much-needed albeit much despised help in Rivendell. We headed out from there, to repossess our Kingdom from Smaug. Again we saw off goblins and orcs, with a little help this time from the Eagles. And thus, with The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey – we are on our way. To a trilogy that is – however strangely – lagging LOTR – but so far, and as one has grown to expect, equally fascinating, overwhelming, and quite peerless in the world of movies. The unlikely combination of JRR Tolkein and Peter Jackson have created an alternate reality for me, something that I cannot quite put in the words of a bland little movie review

17.5/20

Recall, Run

Post World War III, the great oppressor of history – the United Federation of Britain (UFB) lords it over the Colony (loosely, today’s Australia) – and the latter send a daily retinue of workers to the former through a subterranean transport system referred to as the Fall. Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), a nondescript worker from the Colony with an inexplicably stunning wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale), decides to go deeper into his mind to find an escape from daily monotony and a distraction from disturbing dreams that could well be memories. Quaid enters virtual reality – through Total Recall – as a secret agent. And here is where Quaid’s life blurs between fiction and reality – and even love interest Melina (Jessica Biel) and access to none other than Matthias (Bill Nighy) – the kingpin of the Resistance – could well be elements in a very elaborate virtual reality experience. Unlike its predecessor 22 years ago, this edition Total Recall leaves the viewer in some doubt as to fiction and reality, even as the action is as immersive as it could possibly be

13.5/20

Sick, telling

The one word that leaps to mind while thinking of Criminal Minds (TV Series) is “disturbing”. And you need look no further than just a couple of episodes of this successful TV Series to figure out why. Perhaps the written word will not suffice, but here is my take. Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), with second-in-command David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) leads a highly qualified team constituting profilers with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia, to solve crimes involving serial killings – usually of a violent, degenerate, and large-scale nature – in locations all over USA. Aiding them is the wonder woman Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), a genius at drawing associations between seemingly unconnected events, with the aid of a little technology. Executed with thoroughness, that does not flag between episodes – and I saw dozens – Criminal Minds is a must-watch – if, of course, you want to stomach it

15.5/20

Action Unlimited

Do we really need to get into the script here? The irrepressible Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) with his equally irrepressible one-liners. Captain America (Chris Evans) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) shoulder to shoulder in their fight against evil – well, at least till and when the Hulk is is one of his moods. The irrepressible Thor (Chris Helmsworth) and the gorgeous Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) round off the superhero set. The mission – to stop Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in his tracks as he hunts for the Tesseract – a source of great and dangerous power. Never a dull moment (would have been a travesty with this cast), and an all-out commercial entertainer, The Avengers, needless to say, was a resounding success of 2012

13/20

In a puff of smoke

… Like much of the weed in the movie, goes my respect for Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. How could two Hollywood A-listers be caught dead in a movie like Ted? Here is an apology for a movie that I could tolerate for all of 33 minutes. So, John (Mark Wahlberg) was a lonely boy, and a shooting star grants him the wish of a lifetime – a talking – and soon-to-be-celebrity teddy bear (Seth McFarlane) for company. Novelty and a quality relationship fade with time, however. As John grapples with a dead-end job, the neither-here-nor-there relationship with Lori (Mila Kunis) that is on for all of four years, and the viewer is treated to more hash and hookers, and outright grossness, I decided it was time to can the movie and trash it here. No matter how it ends, jokes about Parkinson’s are not my idea of humor – in any form

7/20

Hotel Zing

Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) has made the perfect fortress - Hotel Transylvania - as a hideaway for darling daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) to protect her from the much-hated humans. Hotel Transylvania is a home away from home for many monsters, seeking refuge and safety from the world of humans. Enter Johnny (Adam Samberg), an intrepid backpacker (human, of course), who stumbles upon the hotel, and, after the first few bouts of surprise, completely settles in with the monster crowd. And with none more so than with Mavis - and the two start feeling the much-elusive zing in no time. What will it take for Count Dracula and the monster brood to leave the past behind, and to bless the unlikely relationship? Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky of the unforgettable Dexter's Laboratory fame, Hotel Transylvania is a fast-paced animation flick that will endear adults and children alike with its well-developed monster cast

15.5/20

Once more into the Fray…

 

 

In times when one’s existence in the real world is troubled, one watches a movie like The Grey. Simplicity itself. Ottway (Liam Neeson) leads six survivors of a plane crash – a rough and tough oil drilling crew – across the wilderness of Alaska towards possible safety. One by one, the grey wolves pick on them, decimating their numbers, apparently unmitigated by little heroic acts of bravery. So does man trump wolf or vice versa? The Grey simply suggests that it perhaps does not matter – “Once more into the fray. Into the last good fight I'll ever know. Live and die on this day. Live and die on this day” – authored by none other than the director of the movie (Joe Carnahan). Yes, live and die on this day. Based on the novel “Ghost Walker” by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers, The Grey is a stunning movie, elemental and stark. Like life at present – stark and elemental, and live and die on this day ergo, the rest of one's life

 

14.5/20

Naxalites for Dummies

Whoever knew that the life and times of Naxalites could be summarized in such stirring simplicity? Adil (Arjun Rampal) and Kabir (Bobby Deol) are inseparable friends - Adil being a police officer who is posted to Nandighat to bring a Maoist uprising under control. Lo and behold - Kabir, upon the request of Adil, nearly effortlessly infiltrates the Maoists and successfully provies intelligence that allows the Indian police to gain an upper hand in the conflict. Unsurprisingly, Kabir is not only moved by the stark reality of the marginal existence of the Naxalites, he is also besotted by one Naxal woman - Juhi (Anjali Patil). Inevitably, the paths of Adil and Kabir diverge, and move inexorably towards a climactic end. With one of the most unbelievably inane dialogues ever uttered in cinema, Rhea (Esha Gupta) also makes her presence felt ("Sorry Kabir"). Prakash Jha could have blazed a trail - Chakravyuh is at best ridden with holes. And that too on such a burning issue. Tch

9/20

One for the Soul

If Crash and Babel tried to - and, to much commercial and critical acclaim, did succeed in doing - work the theme of interconnected lives, Cloud Atlas takes it more than a step further, in interconnecting lives through different times in history. So it is that we find that an act of kindness in the South Pacific circa 1850, a musical piece (Cloud Atlas) conceived and composed by a penurious musical genius, an incident involving nuclear safety in the 1970s, the strange events in the life of a spurned publisher in England circa 2012, a clone's coming of age in Neo Seoul in 2144, and eventually the search and discovery of a better life beyond a bleak post-apocalyptic future - are not just intertwined - in a way, they are sequential. Directors Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer must be commended for holding it all together in an intelligible and emotionally charged movie. Quite moving, if not quite deep, Cloud Atlas is definitely worth a watch

14.5/20

Lost and Found

For me, Life of Pi was a yo-yo between overt romanticization of vignettes of Indian life and times by a non-Indian author, and a movie that has some seriously profound insights in spite of the same. The quaintness of a zoo in Pondicherry, finding religion, the mystique of Indian dance, the uprooting of a family owing to economic circumstances - all had an overtly lyrical, if not particularly original - aura. Then, suddenly, we find Piscine Molitor Patel aka Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) - a castaway in the middle of the Pacific ocean - with all his beliefs called into question. Is there a point to overt faith? Can a human and a large carnivore be (to borrow from Star Wars) symbionts? Where does a man who has lost everything find hope, and the will to move on with one's life? Somewhat if not profoundly moving, Life of Pi is about how we are shaped by our bouquet of experiences, and how, from those experiences, one can draw upon great reserves of strength

13.5/20

Phew!

And so The Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn II - brings the series to a close - mercifully. While I do not even profess to understand what the series was all about, it seemed to me that the whole point of this movie was a confrontation between vampires and - you guessed it - more vampires - on a frozen lake. As to what the confrontation is all about - Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) are protecting their child - Renesmee Cullen (Mackenzie Foy) - from the Volturi. Outnumbered but in a tightly knit unit, the remarkable powers of the small resistance are put to a reasonably arduous test. But - nothing extreme. This, you see, is a patchwork romance and beyond a stunningly handsome/ beautiful cast, I suppose the rest is peripheral

9/20