Wish you a Wonderful New Year

King - A nice Comedy

 

Aaah what a movie. Its a true telugu movie with all the required masala for a typical Telugu movie. As usual, the movie doesn't have a strong story but makes you laugh and laugh till the end. The whole first half of the movie is absolute comedy and the humor is not weird. Its pretty good. The later part tries to bring in some story which mimics Om Shanti Om. Suddenly we realize that its not. If one expects some exciting story out of it, they are up for a considerable disappointment.

However if I have to rate the movie for comedy I would give ten out of ten. (Comedy: 10/10)

My Overall Rating: 3.0/5

My Verbal Rating: Good to watch once, Nice timepass

Vinayakudu

One sentence: One of the worst movies I ever saw

A movie without a story, without a concept without even basics of a movie is Vinayakudu. I could not comprehend the intentions of either the director or the story writer. The movie circles around a man who is as hefty as an elephant and another lady who looks good. The dialogues were so vulgar and the movie was an absolute waste of time and money (i.e. more money as TIME is MONEY).

The movie pictured that one can use their sex appeal to grow up the ladder in today's organizations. It also pictured that there are women who use anything and everything just to see themselves prosperous. While walking out I heard many people attributing it to IT and software engineers. I explained to few that real software engineers are slogging in their companies from dusk to dawn and they hardly have time to take care of their own. The movie has only spread negative energy out.

I am sorry, but I am unable to write anymore about this mess. Given a chance I wish to give a tight slap to the director, story writer and the unworthy producer.

My rating is 0/5
My verbal rating is Pathetic

Slumdog "Indian" Millionare

An IMDB rating of 8.5, IMDB Top 153/250; 17 wins & 13 Nominations; within 4 months of its release Slumdog Millionare’s Success speaks for itself; and it doesn’t need the credentials of a small time amateur part-timer critic like me.

Not sure if I should call myself lucky, cause I managed to “download” a DVD Rip of the movie via torrents, much before its scheduled theater release in India.

The rags-to-riches story of an Indian Street-kid who relives through his childhood as a contestant of the TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati & is accused of cheating through his way to winning the jackpot; A plot inspired by scores of Indian bollywood movies where the protagonist is in pursuit of true love; absolutely and bluntly ignoring his ordinary destiny.

A storyline set in India inspired from an Indian Novel with in the backdrop of an Indian game show; an Indian slum-dweller, his Indian Girlfriend; I frantically try to find out the international connection to Slumdog Millionaire; with the exception of the Direction and Production Crew; I failed to find any.

The movie is scheduled to hit India sooner or later; and soon there would be debates about whether this movie is the representation/face of India to the international audiences; alongside movies like Lagaan, Swadesh, Taarein Zameen Par & Chak De. However Slumdog unlike other movies is not the creative brains of “Indians” and neither depicts Indian Culture/Morals nor Patriotism imbibed into it.

The Director Danny Boyle was absolutely spot on with his homework; about the Bombay Slums, Indian Callcenters & the Indian Cops; his efforts are commendable along with the actors, have surely left an impression.

The reasons to as why the movie received such world-wide acceptance is beyond my analytical and intellectual skills to comprehend; the only possible reason being the English Transcript & the abstract representation of India as a third-world country; the slums, the poverty, child abuse, flesh trade, human trafficking.

This movie has won the hearts of people worldwide, and might receive the same kind of acceptance in India, however, if at all it qualifies as a true representation of Indian Cinema; only time will tell.

For People in Developed countries: 8/10

For People in third-world countries: 7/10

Three Idiots of Bollywood? An Aamir Khan's take on the three Khans

A good read for bollywood gossip lovers. Read this article by yahoo.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

 

Yeah one doesn't move much as there is no excitement no adventure, to be true there is nothing in this movie. Expectations were high, keeping something like Independence day. The movie only tries to convey that no one realizes their mistake until they face the adverse affects of their deeds. 

Its so annoying to say, however there is nothing more than this I can write here, as the movie didn't have anything to watch or narrate.

My Rating: 1.5/5

My Rating Verbally: Dont waste money on this.

Tip: If you have a lot of free time and you get to see it for free then you may watch it once.

Burn After Seeing.....

BURN AFTER READING

C.I.A, headquarters Langley, Virginia, that’s a name you get to hear from almost all the action/adventure/mystery genre of movies, Burn after reading steals a similar plot revolving around a CIA official & stolen classified information (I find it ridiculously funny every time I see a movie based on America’s undisputed intelligence organization – The CIA’s integrity being compromised). However ironically this movie is classified as a comedy, which I strongly feel that even by American standard dumb humor is no where funny, the movie has quite a good amount of glints of wit & humor, unfortunately/fortunately not enough to be called a comedy.

A half retard CIA analyst who’s wife sleeps with a treasurer(George Clooney) who goes on to have another simultaneous affair with a sex-starved-appearance-conscious female gym employee (who constantly has been fancied upon by her superior at the gym); manages to discover that his own wife has been cheating on him.

(confusing ? well don’t bother reading it again)

The plot might sound like an ordinary everyday anecdote picked up from any one of the millions of American everyday life. (may be I would apologize later for being so judgmental) however this movie works for two reason, firstly a story line which doesn’t seem too impressive to start off, but the suspense element cleverly twirled into the rest of the nonsense (the infidelity, the sex machine, the morons who work in the gym) and the excessive use of the four lettered words f*** & sh**; secondly the star cast including George Clooney Brad Pitt.

Surprisingly the IMDB rating says 7.6 (considering the heavy American influence on the voting). However for Indian Audiences this would be a 6/10 .

Golmaal Returns – Returns for the Good ?

Golmaal Returns the much awaited comedy of the year has come back for the good in contrary to most reviews rubbing it off as unnecessary. Firstly this is no sequel (inspite of few references to the first part) and secondly you cannot expect much from a mindless comedy.

Going back to Golmaal(2006), was the beginning of the mindless comedy genre of films which was followed by half a dozen imitations (Dhamaal, Dhol, Crazy 4) some mediocre and some forgettable, none of them creating the same magic as Golmaal.

What separated Golmaal from the rest was the star cast; If Ajay Devagan; Arshad Warsi, Tushar Kapoor & Sharman Joshi were not enough, Kareena, Amrita, Celina & Anjana ended the drought of women on screen in Golmaal Returns; which was for more soothing to watch unlike the first part.

The refreshing change was Shreyas Talpade who essayed his way into the character of Laxman Prasad (played by Sharman Joshi in part 1) with his dialogue delivery & timing not to forget him reciting a few Tamil/Telugu song/dialogue in his Marathi vernacular accent; almost made us forget Sharman Joshi.

Not to forget Tushaar Kapoor’s verbally impaired character abusing in English and Marathi and yet managed to dodge the censor guys. (Shaque (suspicion) !! what the fuck ?)

Gays & Saas-bahu (read Ekta Kapoor) & cross-dressing have become integral part of Bollywood comedy off late, however this one does evoke laughter than most others, the mockery of Bhansali’s Black (from the part I) continues … and now Saawariya hasn’t been spared either, thanks to humorous mockery of Gulabji’s character (played by Rani Mukharjee in the original); Also OSO, Tashan & Apne also receiving their fair share of mockery.

All the characters from the Part 1 lose considerable amount of screen space to accommodate the girls, because of which Arshad and Viral Hirjee couldn’t quite manage to do justice to the their characters. All the girls were quite ok, with monotonous dumbness & soap crazy performances.

All in all, quite humorous movie, inspite of bollywood reaching the saturation level when it comes to comedy. The murder mystery plot (which is overshadowed by the comedy and brings in no sort of curiosity) not worth mentioning here & the insane climax being the only low points of the movie, this is worth a watch if you are fan of bollywood comedy.

Rating 3 out of 5

Fashion – Show stopper ? Show Stripper ?

Much awaited Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion managed to hit theaters; It is sometimes difficult to pass judgments on some movies, Fashion is one of them.

Drugs…Smoking…Infidelity…CastingCouch….Extra Marital affairs. Wardrobe Malfunction…Gays… !! Bhandarkar has left no stone unturned when it comes this one, inspite of all this the entire movie runs at a flat pace. Fashion as expected seems to be a continuation of Page3, Traffic Signal & Corporate of course with the Fashion Industry as Backdrop.

Considering the fact that, there were loads of expectations from this movie (esp from Bhandarkar fans), he quite manages to create another of his cliché movies, definitely not exceeding the expectations, but just quite meeting them.

The first half begins on a good note, but the film focuses a little too much on a single character (unlike other Bhandarkar Movies where several parallel plots running simultaneously) Meghna Mathur - played by Priyanka who has been the most over exposed face in Bollywood this year. (doesn’t help the cause either) on the other hand Kangna Rawat (playing a character partially inspired by Geetanjali Nagpal) takes off from where she left in Gangster & Woh Lamhe. (Impressive but nothing new)

The second half is a tad too long and gets predictable with the run-of-the-mill storyline, rags-to-riches…success going to head…the realization…the come back..& and happy ending (not quite)

Madhur Bhandakar may NOT have been at his ruthless best when it comes to the Fashion Industry, but unfortunately this movie had more Gays than Men. (Gay Characters on Screen is no longer funny, but this bunch of them were surely irritating)

All in all, the efforts of Priyanka & Kangana were laudable, with Chitranshi (chak-de fame) wasted in a character, alongside fine performances by Mugdha Godse & Arbaz Khan. This surely is a Bhadarkar Movie.

The extravagant fashion sets & models & the background music & the screenplay has almost set the screen on fire, however the same cannot be said about the plot and the actors.

I would recommend this if you are a die hard fan of Bhandarkar, Even if you are not, May be you should watch it, just keep the off-beat reality cinema alive. It makes me all the more curious to wait and see for how long will Madhur carry on this and at the same time keep the audiences interested.

Box Office Verdict: Average

As a Madhur Bhandarkar Fan – 2 out of 5 rating
For someone who hasn’t watched his earlier movies. 2 ½ out of 5

Where should we go for reviews???

There was time when I used to check for reviews on some US sites for Hollywood movies. Recently I realized their version of the story is certainly not the way we would think of. Movies which excite us a lot here may not always excite the US or UK countrymen. Thus, even if you are checking for a Hollywood movie review try it on some Indian sites.

One I would suggest is mine :-)

Body of Lies ... A story of Espionage and Terrorism in the Middle East

It is the story of a CIA agent who tries to penetrate the network of a mastermind terrorist, suspected to be operating from the Middle East. The plot has a lot to offer... Intelligence, politics, excitement and entertainment.

Agent Ferris (DiCaprio) has a boss who always looks over his shoulder from a satellite... and never once leaves a chance to mess up his mission. Still, Ferris succeeds in running a mission at a global level, with the help of an intelligence head in Jordan, Hani Salaam(Mark Strong). The story also has a touch of romance, the love story between Ferris and a local Jordanian nurse.

Body of lies has a great story and many surprises, all of which were well executed. It is a well shot thriller with a realistic plot, involving current events and political view points. The film always keeps your attention and never once drags to boredom. The performances of DiCaprio and Mark Strong are simply awesome.

I feel it is a must watch movie. I would give it a rating of 4.5/5.

Which DTH provider is better in India???

Are you similarly confused??? I was too. First the players in the market (as far as I know)

Airtel
Dish TV
Reliance Big TV
Sun Direct
Tata Sky

Now the pros and cons.

Hint: Kindly click on the picture above for a clear view.

Its been a trend that whatever Reliance came up with, has some or the other glitch in it. It looks attractive at the start, may be. Tata Sky would certainly be a NO-NO. If I were you I would be trying Airtel.

Good Luck

Hijack ... Thats what the movie does to you

Unexceptionably Horrible. That's what would be my first word if some one asks me how is the movie.

The director tried to make a medley of all the English movies, (Hollywood movies based on Hijacks) and forgot that first of all our people cannot act in Hollywood style. The foremost important thing he missed was his capability of creating such a movie is ZERO.

The big nonsense of the movie were the main cast, specially Esha Deol. Its time Esha spares the stardom and resigns.

My rating would be ...

Rating: 0.5/5
Verbal Rating: You will regret watching it

Hello…. Please Avoid this Call !!

The much anticipated movie “Hello” a copybook adaptation of the Chetan Bhagat “One night at the Call Center” has nothing NEW to offer to the audiences. It’s easy to jump the gun and blame the sloppy screenplay & direction. However considering the fact that page-by-page adaptation of a entire novel into a 2 hour movie is really tricky, I would refrain myself from making harsh comments.

It’s easy to start picking a lot of illogical plots in the movie, Honestly a Novel released in 2005 based on a plot in 2001, released in 2008, the story is way past its sell-by date.

Considering the length of the movie, the director had too little time to get to focus on the bonding of characters, unfortunately because of which you cannot relate to the story. (as compared to the Novel) Salman & Katrina failed to add any sort of charm to the movie. Neither could Sharman Joshi; whose comic timing was missing for most part of the movie, with the exception of a couple of scenes.

This is for sure not a Theater Watch, unless you have more problems in life than the problems of all the characters in the movie put together.

I would be a little generous and give this movie a 1.5 out of 5 rating.

Drive Masti ... Read this.

Watch this video

This guy was driving through the main streets of Paris, over speeding the limits and jumping all signals. Also read this ...

What was on Mr.Bhansali's mind?

Watching Saawariya, I was wondering what exactly was Mr.Bhansali trying to show??? Before I say anything further, one clarificaiton, I may not be as intelligent or aesthetic minded as Sanjay, however I am that Aam Aadmi who play a role in a film's success or flop.

Expectations were high, not just about the director but also about the debutants. 30 minutes of movie is more than enough for anyone with ordinary mind to get frustrated.
Decorating aesthetically a palace can be understood, but painting a pool of mud is crazy. Paiting slums, mud pools, broken doors what not??? name anything its painted, so where is the naturality?

The exact problem with this movie was that there was no precise concept behind it. To comment in an ugly way, one should say that Ranbir paid a lot money to the director and asked him to make his debut into the Bollywood.

After seeing the movie, I thought, if I ever encountered Sanjay Leela Bhansali I would ask, dude what do directors like you think? You have a producer doesn't mean you make anything and everything. With a lot of expectations on you all we get is a little loss of money and a huge loss of time and as a bonus some headache.

God help the aam aadmi, whose main entertainment sources are movies.

Asta Chamma

Ashta Chamma - Telugu Movie

The recent good Telugu movie we saw was Ashta Chamma. All new star cast with very few exceptions. Of course the kernel point of a Telugu movie wasn't missing. Wondering what is that??? - "Stupid Concept"

The entire story runs around the word Mahesh, derived from Tollywood superstar MaheshBabu. However the story composition, the village atmosphere the star cast and especially the comedy just make it a very good movie to watch, of course not more than twice.

My Rating: 3.5-4/5
Ratings in Words: Very good

Kidnap

Kidnap - The movie

I always read the Times of India reviews on movies before I watch a movie. This guy rated KIDNAP as 3.5 (out of 5) which was they have even given to JaaneTuYaJaaneNa. Expecting a good movie I booked tickets for my entire family. Now lets dive into details

Just like any other stupid South Indian movie, it starts of with a song. The song has nothing to watch or listen to except if you want the voluptuous body of Minissha Lamba. Once the song is over the next scene just throws a shock of life. Minissha Lamba calls out "Mom" and there you see ... Vidya Malvade. What a joke. Vidya looks far better and dynamic than Lamba.

Very frustrated with her mother's stand on her father, Minissha goes for a swim, in a two piece bikini and suddenly gets kidnapped, by none other than our hero, Imran Khan.

From here its a stupid story, on which one should not waste neither time nor money.

My rating: 1.5/5
Rating in words: Stupid movie

Why this blog???

This is my fourth blog and this was a pending process since long. Since long, every time I went to a movie and all the movie gave me was nothing but frustration, I felt like I need to inform the world that this movie sucks.

Strong feeling which led me to write

1. The amount of time we invest in booking for a movie
2. The amount of time we invest in driving to theater, especially in cities like Bangalore
3. The movie duration
4. The M factor, of course
5. The headache finally

Thus I am going to write my views and also post links to important reviews etc on all the movies I watch.

And also a little bit on entertainment ...

Keep reading. Thanks for visiting.