Katniss Marketing

In the buildup to the last installment, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is literally paraded by the rebel factions hidden in District 13. Led by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), Katniss becomes a thoroughly marketed symbol of hope for all the Districts breaking out in rebellion, with the highlight being a particularly rousing speech in District 8 post the bombing of a hospital. In the backdrop plays out the impending confrontation of Katniss with President Snow (Donald Sutherland), and the release of her boyfriend Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) with some complicated side-effects. Clearly a bridge-ing movie, The Hunger Games – Mockingjay – Part 1 preserves continuity, but has little new to offer

13.5/20

No Child’s Play

The Lego Movie does some extraordinary execution of the story of a child’s imagination. There is the simple guy – Emmet (Chris Pratt) – a construction worker whom no one notices. Emmet gets thrown into a chain of events that need him to become the Special – to find the Piece of Resistance and stop the Kragle, a weapon unleashed by Lord Business – and save the various realms of Lego world. With more than one innuendo, all of which unravel by the end of the movie, this one has more positive surprises than the "average" adult would think at the outset

14/20

Girl on Fire

If you ignore the sheer murder of elements of ancient history – the pomp and splendor of the gladiatorial arena adorned by tributes in lycra, the hackneyed morality tale meets teen romance storyline, and the hangover of a tepid first part, The Hunger Games – Catching Fire is actually a (gasp!) taut well-narrated story. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) find themselves reluctant ambassadors for the Capital and President Snow (Donald Sutherland), and their ambivalence and potential to cause disruption is well-noted. Enter the latest edition of the games, and this time it is the 75^th edition and a kill-or-be-killed across previous winners. What the movie obviously lacks in a meaningful storyline, it makes up in some pretty cutting edge cinematography. Worth a watch and will not test your patience at all

14/20

No Hunger

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) offers herself as a tribute to save her sister Primrose (Willow Shields) - and the Girl on Fire makes up in spunk what she lacks in battle training. As her personality manages to curry favor - albeit grudging - with Sponsors - Katniss steps into The Hunger Games - well rated, but perhaps with not the best of odds. Was skeptical at entry about a film adaptation of a teen novel, but was a good watch till the interval, i.e., the anticipatory build-up to the games. Not so the Hunger Games themselves. Contrived and brutal, and not quite Death Race, the movie version is a decent adaptation of a story about children slaughtering each other – and that, unfortunately, in the end reckoning, is rather tasteless

10/20

Falling off, Falling Apart

Standing on a ledge in the Roosevelt Hotel and ostensibly about to plunge to his death, Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is a man hellbent on making a point. While the New York mob, hungry for entertainment, periodically cheers on, and the press collect their sound-bytes, Nick – a man wrongfully charged for a crime that he did not commit – is directing brother Joey (Jamie Cassidy) and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) to commit the very crime for which he was wrongfully imprisoned in the first place. Included in the cast of characters is negotiator Lydia (Elizabeth Banks) and her efforts at making sense of it all even as she tries to put her past track record behind, and businessman David Englander (Ed Harris), the man who was instrumental in sending Nick to prison in the first instance. Movies like Man on A Ledge only serve to show that actors of the caliber of Sam Worthington can hold a movie together in spite of a mediocre storyline

12/20

Better than a Life of Despair..

Deadbeat professor John Brennan (Russell Crowe) steps out for dinner with wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks), where the latter has a face-off with her boss. The next thing he knows – the boss is found murdered, and all the evidence points to his wife. Facing life imprisonment with stoic acceptance, Lara has not reckoned with the resourcefulness of her husband. After failing with lawyers and the right side of the law, John obsesses with getting Lara out of prison – and the country – by any means possible. The next few months are a blur of delirious effort, the horror of near-misses coupled with near-penury, and finally - when something is required by The Next Three Days, a breakthrough. But breaking out of prison is one matter – will the couple be able to re-unite with their child and find their way out of the United States? The extraordinary movie slows towards the middle to let the viewer soak in the consequences upon a family of justice denied, and then switches to a dramatic conclusion. Paul Haggis of Crash, Million Dollar Baby and Casino Royale fame pulls off an extraordinary movie –the extent of improbability of the escape cannot be better captured than by the quote from Don Quixote used in the movie – “'If we choose to exist in our own reality, are we insane? And if we are, isn't that better than a life of despair?'”. And Russell Crowe on his part shows all of the quiet resolve that made the likes of Cinderella Man and A Beautiful Mind such extraordinary movies

16.5/20

What Were You Thinking?

W captures the disastrous second stint of George W Bush and the decisions, especially Iraq, that near term history finds difficult to understand. With the highest office in the world, statements of being misled or gullible or plain misinformed are a sorry excuse for taking a country into an utterly pointless war and ignoring a worsening domestic reality. Bush Jr comes across as the quintessential regular guy - authoritarian father who held him in little esteem, a depraved youth of dates and alcohol, the natural abilities shining through through a Harvard MBA, the seemingly effortless journey to the highest office in the land and then all the flaws of character leading to the inevitable. This movie is Oliver Stone's search for why a President was the way he was. Engaging but narrow in its scope

11.5/20