The Idea that clicked

Persistence wins. Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) a man of many outlandish ideas out in the Midwest, finds his way forward through monetizing the idea of Mac (John Carroll Lynch) and Dick McDonald (Nick Offerman) - to make burgers fries and cola in a quik service format for the family - and the end of the drive-in culture. The Founder is a detailed biography of Ray and is as much about his ambition as his persistence and luck. To quote:  https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/calvincool414555.html

Maximum Burn

Deepwater Horizon is the true story of the blowout of a BP-led oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, largely on account of BP officials glossing over safety procedures. Mike (Mark Wahlberg) and chief safely officer James (Kurt Russell) are the central characters herein - voices of courage under duress, and of resistance of laissez faire corporate practices exemplified by the likes of BP liaison Donald (John Malkovitch). Superbly executed and clinical in its explanation of the sequence and the science behind it all, with characters that connect even as they play succint roles

15.5/20

Dsney's Polynesia Romp

Moana of Motunui (Aulii Cravalho) needs to capture the eccentric demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and restore the heart of Te Fiti. For that she must step out of her comfort zone and face many dangers as she for the first time in decades ventures far beyond her reef. Moana is one of the better animated movies in a while, with the Polynesian pseudo-mythology adding a noveau dimension throughout

14/20

Lively battle

Surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) finds herself on an offbeat beach in Mexico. Whats starts off as an innocuous surfing session becomes a game of cat and mouse with a great white shark, shifting from whale carcasses to rocky outcrops to buoys, somehow surviving the shark and the high tide. The Shallows is a one-person movie and quite well executed at that

15.5/20

Checkmating Circumstance

With all the milk of human goodness as only Disney can serve up, but not missing out on much by the way of realism, Queen of Katwe traces the path of Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) and her mother Nakku (Lupita Nyongo) as the former finds through the game of chess a way out of poverty and self-discovery. An intense movie with much ups and downs that mercifully avoids unrealistic victories

15/20

The Linguist

Here is the rarest of rare opportunities for linguist Louise (Amy Adams) to show her consummate skills in interpreting cephalopod alien language. With some assistance from Ian (Jeremmy Renner), army physicist, Louise gets going on the path to preventing global catastrophe, finding love, and perhaps seeing the future. Somewhere down the line Arrival loses the script in terms of delivering a true emotional connect, Perhaps it is a lot less overwhelming than critics are currently making of it. In a genre that is increasingly taking off, this is no The Martian nor Interstellar

13.5/20

Whos the Zombie?

It is difficult to make a zombie movie (Train to Busan) that helps us understand ourselves and our inner zombie. Perhaps the detached father Seok Woo (Yoo Gong), the doting daughter Soo an (Soo an Kim), a pregnant woman, a baseball team and young love therein - a great foundation for emotional overtones perhaps - but near flawlessly executed even as the pace of the movie remains relentless. This is the missing Asian zombie movie - intertwined with family values and societal goodness and liberal doses of black and white. Remarkably well executed

16/20

Game over

A MOOC called Nerve shows V (Emma Roberts) the quintessential millenial all about love, breaking free, new money, the beginning and the end of catfights, and a healthy dose of idealism. Fast paced enough to overlook some patchy storyline, the story would resonate with younger folk and those that seek the meaning behind the deeper interconnection of people and their phones and the dark web and hackers and of thrill seeking behavior. Rush stuff

13.5/20

Forests, Friends and Foes

In this faithful-to-Kipling adaptation, The Jungle Book shows the true color (in the anthropomorphic animals) of the denizens of the forest. The friendly and collaborative bears and panthers, need to face up to the manipulative monkeys and the power-hungry tiger. Highest grossing movie (and that includes Hindi movies) for the year till date

16/20

Edge of Learning

The greatest of mathematical talents – S Ramanujan (Dev Patel) – needs the greatest of mentors – Hardy (Jeremy Irons) to have his supreme mathematical talent showcased to an extraordinarily talented and skeptical Cambridge fraternity. The genius and intuitive nature of Ramanujan’s approach coupled with the insistence of mathematical rigor by Hardy leads to much lasting and formal success. The Man who Knew Infinity is an unmissable movie and left me emotionally involved

17/20

We the Children

We the children continue to enjoy the great Kung Fu Panda series and give Kung Fu Panda 3 a resounding thumbs up. From saving multifarious species, Po’s attention this time around is dedicated to saving his own kith and kin. A great entertainer

15.5/20

DC has answered

You need to be called Martha for all of Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to save the world from Lex Luther (Jesse Eisenberg) and Kryptonian forces far beyond the capability of Earthly powers to fight. Batman vs Superman – Dawn of Justice begins with the dark overtones that we love in the Batman franchise, but degenerates into the relentless sfx and fighting sequences that typify the franchise. Incoherent entertainment

13.5/20

Eye on Horror

In war, as Eye in the Sky quotes at the outset, truth is the first casualty. In order to stop an Al Shabab suicide bomber, a little girl may have to lose her life – symbolic of all collateral damage in the course of war. Focusing in on the morality play and bureaucracy around a single drone strike, Eye in the Sky breaks it down into an easily understandable situation – do we go for the greatest good for the greatest number even when we perpetrate an act of terror ourselves? Reasonably thought-provoking

13.5/20

Hopping victory

It is a time when all animals – predator and prey – have learnt to live in perfect harmony. Or have they? Rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) passes up a carrot farming future for her true calling – being in the Zootopia police force. What begins as a less-than-promising career punching parking tickets soon takes an interesting turn as Judy Hopps’ relentless burrowing unearths more than what Zootopia has bargained for. Even if animals find peace among themselves, I guess they are not discarding human nature anytime soon

15.5/20

Racing spirit

Great innuendo on the title “Race”. Great execution by Disney – the studio, like Jesse Owens (Stephan James), cuts no corners on its way to four gold medals. Simplistic to a fault, because the underlying story itself is so shockingly compelling/ inspiring. Kudos all round

15.5/20

Joy to watch

Another JLaw stunner. Could have been called Determination. Theatrics do not detract from magnitude of core achievement of the one and only Joy (Jennifer Lawrence), succeeding against all odds with bringing the most basic of inventions to market, against all the retrograde forces of doubting family and marketeers, and ruthless competition in the course of business. A must-watch

16/20

Asterix the Mansions of the Gods

14/20. Bookmarked for review later

The Finest Hours

With overtones of barely believable dramatics, and depictions of natural disaster that would put an alien planet to shame, The Finest Hours, it must me remembered, comes from the Disney stable. And Disney shows – as always – how the impossible is achieved with true panache. Bernie (Chris Pine) seeks to resurrect his rather patchy coast guarding history with heroics beyond all belief, that we are told closely approximate true events.

13/20

Half past Dead

Deadpool has a decibel of trash talk that most Indian viewers will not empathize with. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is the average Joe, falls in love with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and very soon after the idyllic existence is shattered – he has terminal cancer and must undergo a transmogrification to superhero to justify his existence. And that leads to a face-off with the evil scientist Francis aka Ajax (Ed Skrein) – entertaining, and the hackneyed action interspersed with the dark humor is definitely a shade badass, but not quite a stuff-of-legends-franchise-creator for me

13.5/20

Shootout

Its pretty simple. Private security and ex-Marine Jake Carter (Mike The Miz Mizanin) needs to protect whistleblower Olivia Liv Tanis (Melissa Roxburgh) against the relentless attacks of one Simon Vogel (Josh Blacker), and perhaps one or more insiders from the Department of Justice. Marine 4: Moving Target is popcorn stuff, the sound of gunfire is one unrelenting rat-tat-rat through the length of the movie

12/20