Movie Reviews

These are the movies I have reviewed till date -

Movie Review – Aashiqui 2

Directed by Mohit Suri and produced by the Bhatt family, Aashiqui 2 has been in the news since the time it went on floors. Starring Aditya Roy Kapur (Action Replay and Guzzarish) and Shraddha Kapoor (Teen Patti and Luv ka the End) this musical is not really the sequel or remake of the superhit movie of the 1990s – Aashiqui. But instead it aims to relive those Aashiqui moments 23 years down the line. Does it succeed? Does it make you fall in love all over again? Does the music live up to its promise? Let’s see?

Guest Post: Hollywood’s 5 Worst Movie Sequels

Bruce Willis makes a comeback with another ‘Die Hard’ sequel. Though the iconic action sequences of the earlier films are present in this latest sequel, you cannot wonder whether it was necessary to make yet another movie with a tired old formula. Mind you, the box office collection record shows that the producers of the movie are laughing all the way to the bank. There are other examples like the ‘Harry potter’ franchise and the ever green ‘James Bond’ movies which in between them have grossed several billion dollars.

But not all the sequels of an original hit have been as successful. Of course, nobody intentionally wants to make a bad movie but some sequels seem utterly unnecessary and very inept. Here is the list of 5 such movies which suffered from a steep lack of quality from the original movie.

Waisi Wali Khushi – In search of happiness..

Who doesn’t want to be happy? Don’t we search for happiness everywhere? Sometimes we search for happiness in our work while at other times we search for happiness in relationships. Sometimes we search for happiness in what others do while at other times we search for happiness in small pleasures of life. We humans have so many wants which keep increasing day by day and that’s why our search for happiness always keeps continuing.

‘Waisi Wali Khushi’ is a short film which talks about that happiness which Punit Malhotra (Director of ‘I Hate Luv Storys & the upcoming ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’) is searching for. He tells ‘Masha Pour’ his story. He is tired of his hectic 9-6 job day in and day out. And one day he decides to leave for Bangkok to have some fun of his own. Till the day he takes off, he always believes that money is all that which can bring happiness to his life. He is part of the rat race which we all are part of. But then he decides to let go and unwind. He decides that enough is enough and starts living life on his own terms. The rest of the movie deals with how he actually finds his happiness.

To read more log on to – http://aseemrastogi2.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/waisi-wali-khushi-in-search-of-happiness/

Guest Post: Movie Review – Tropic Thunder

Directed by and starring Ben Stiller, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is a parody of what could happen during the making of a ‘Vietnam War’ story. Mr. Stiller plays the action star hero – ‘Tugg Speedman’, who is trying to keep his acting career alive as his previous movies have begun to lose their appeal with the audience. The storyline of this flick is based on a fictional book of the same name, Tropic Thunder. Steve Coogan who plays the role of the director, decides to submerge the spoiled actors into the thickness of the jungle to shoot the film as acting setbacks and budget losses force him to take control of the situation. This parody of film creation easily becomes a memorable one.

Jolly LLB

Directed by Subash Kapoor and starring Boman Irani, Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla and Amrita Rao in lead roles, Jolly LLB is about an engaging court room drama between two lawyers as different as chalk and cheese. The promos which have been on air have managed to evoke quite some interest in the audience. Is it a comedy? Is it a serious court room drama? Let’s check it out.

Movie Review – Kai Po Che

Directed by Abhishek Kapoor and starring Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkumar Yadav, Amit Sadh and Amrita Puri in lead roles, Kai Po Che is the movie adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s novel – “The 3 mistakes of my life”. It has been in the news all through its making and even after the release it has been highly talked about. Does it live upto the expectations? Let’s check it out.

Guest Post: Movie Review of ‘The Chinese Cat’

I love old movies and I also love Netflix streaming. Thankfully, I can have the best of both worlds as Netflix continues to offer up more and more classic films for me to stream to my laptop or game console. One of my favorite classic comedy/mystery series is called Charlie Chan.

The main character in the Charlie Chan movie series is an Asian-American detective from Hawaii played by Sidney Toler. He is like Sherlock Holmes and can solve even the most difficult cases. In the film, ‘The Chinese Cat’, he teams up with his ‘number three son’ ‘Tommy’ (Benson Fong) and the African-American taxi driver ‘Birmingham Brown’ (Mantan Moreland) to solve a six month old murder case and two other mysterious deaths.

Movie Review – Table No 21

Directed by Aditya Datt and starring Paresh Rawal, Rajeev Khandelwal & Tena Desae in lead roles, Table No 21 is among the first releases of the 100th year of Bollywood. It was promoted as an interesting thriller with a difference. What caught you in the promos was Paresh Rawal’s new avatar. So does it work? Let’s check it out.

Movie Review – Talaash

Directed by Reema Kagti and co-written by her along with Zoya Akhtar, ‘Talaash’ marks the return of Aamir Khan after a gap of around 1.5 years. It also stars Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee in lead roles and is a joint collaboration between Farhan Akhtar – Ritesh Sidhwani. So does the Aamir Khan magic continue? Does Rani Mukherjee make comeback after the disastrous ‘Aiyaa’? Let’s check it out.

Guest Blog Post: Movie Review – The Experiment (Das Experiment)

The movie is anything but new as it came out in 2001. But I only saw it a week ago and it left me speechless (at least for one week; now I have my voice again and can’t wait to use it to tell you all about the film).

“Das Experiment” is a German movie by the director Oliver Hirschbiegel, starring the famous Moritz Bleibtreu – if you’ve seen at least a couple of German movies, you’d probably know this actor.

I love movies that start out interestingly and don’t have even one second of unnecessary dialogue, musical intermezzo or photo shoots which don’t add something of value to the atmosphere or plot. “The Experiment” is one such flick.

Movie Review – Chakravyuh

Prakash Jha has never shied away from making socially relevant movies which awaken the audience. Whether they are hits or misses, he is never afraid of moving towards uncharted territory. His accomplished repertoire of works includes movies like Gangaajal, Apaharan, Raajneeti and Aarakshan to name a few. And now he’s back yet again with Chakravyuh. Does it work? Let’s check it out.

Movie Review – Bourne Legacy

Directed by Tony Gilroy and starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton in lead roles, Bourne Legacy is the fourth installment in the ‘Bourne’ film series based on Robert Ludlum’s ‘Jason Bourne’ novels. Just like the previous three installments, this one is just ‘inspired’ by the novels rather than a total remake. Let’s see how does it fare without Matt Damon aka. ‘Jason Bourne’.

Movie Review – The Avengers

Scripted and directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers is the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The flick has been in the news for over two years for its action, special effects and the galaxy of stars like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel Jackson etc. Does it work?

Guest Post: The Hunger Games makes You Hungry for More

Late in March, the first installment of the much anticipated ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy finally made its way to the big screen, earning a whopping $364.9 million dollars globally to date.

As an avid fan of the books, I was a bit hesitant about going to see the flick during the opening weekend, partly because I was scared I would get smashed by a swarm of teens but mostly because I thought I’d be disappointed in the movie adaptation. So I waited. I didn’t read other reviews because I didn’t want another critic’s opinion swaying my own.

This weekend I finally made my way to the theater and I am more than delighted to say that it wasn’t disappointing at all, although I feel I would’ve enjoyed much more if I hadn’t read the books first.

Movie Review – Paan Singh Tomar

With movies like ‘Haasil’, ‘Shagird’, ‘Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster’ among his works, director Tigmanshu Dhulia has created quite a space for himself in Bollywood. With ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ he takes his legacy forward. Long in the works, this is the story of the forgotten steeplechase runner who became a dreaded dacoit in Chambal after the authorities betrayed him.

Being a biopic, the story begins from the time ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ (Irrfan Khan) joins the armed forces. Coming from Madhya Pradesh, where he had seen his uncles turn into rebels, he himself has brushes with his seniors. When they realize that he would be more adept at concentrating his energies in athletics they send him to the Army Sports Center. From there his journey begins to stardom. Winning medal after medal in steeplechase at national and international levels, he becomes a hero. But closer at home, problems like land grabbing by his cousins force him to leave the army. With no help from the police as well as the government, he finally takes up arms and builds up his own gang in Chambal.

Movie Review – London Paris New York

This looks to be a season for rom-coms. Directed by a first timer – Anu Menon and starring Ali Zafar and Aditi Rao Hydari in lead roles, London Paris New York (LPNY) didn’t really sound attractive on paper. But its fresh trailers and fresh pairing coupled with the romantic feel of the three cities managed to capture the attention of the public. Does it live up to the expectations?

Movie Review – Ek Main Aur Ek Tu

Starring the unlikely pair of Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor and directed and produced by Shakun Batra and Dharma Productions respectively, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu (EMAET) is said to be inspired by “What happens in Vegas” (A Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher flick). With its witty trailers, sweet songs and a relatively fresh pair, the earliest indications of the movie seemed pretty good. Did it live up to the expectations?

Rahul Kapoor (Imran) has lived his entire life trying to please his parents (Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak Shah) in every possible way from chewing his food 32 times to adjusting his hair as perfectly as they wanted. But when he suddenly loses his job as an architect in Las Vegas, he doesn’t have the courage to tell them that he has failed. By a quirk of fate, he meets Riana Briganza (Kareena), a witty hairstylist and over the next 14 days his life changes forever.

Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is the sequel to the 2009 flick “Sherlock Holmes” again directed by Guy Ritchie. Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson reprise their roles. The flick is inspired by Conan Doyle’s short story “The Final Problem.” So does the sequel work? Do the two of them do justice to their roles and to Holmes’s aura? Read on to know more.

Movie Review – Mission: Impossible 4 (Ghost Protocol)
Tom Cruise is back to reprise his role as Ethan Hunt in the 4th installment of the Mission Impossible series after a hiatus of 5 years. He began the 1st installment way back in 1996 when he was just 34 but even today he still seems fighting fit. So does this movie have in it to rock the box office like the earlier parts? Lets see.

Movie Review – Real Steel
Starring Hugh Jackman in the lead, Real Steel is a flick based on a 1956 short story “Steel” by Richard Matheson. A boxing robot theme interspersed with human emotions seems to be an interesting concept. Does it bring the two together successfully? Lets see.

Movie Review – Bodyguard (Hindi)
Bodyguard starring Salman and Kareena in lead roles was one of the most awaited movies of recent times. Awaited not because of its content. But more because of the fact that it stars the “Rajnikanth of Bollywood” Salman Khan who had 3 back to back hits in Wanted, Dabangg and Ready. Interestingly all have been South remakes and this one is no different. It seems the director Siddique has built his career on remakes having made this first in Malayalam and then in Tamil. And now he has come up with the Hindi version. Another director is in the process of launching the Telugu version. I am sure all of you must be wondering if a movie is made in 4 languages, it would be a sure shot hit, ain’t it?

Movie Review – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
With stars and big names like Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin, song trailers that keep reminding you of a certain flick called Dil Chahta Hai (DCH) a decade back, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) was one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the year. Does it succeed in its attempt to tell a beautiful story? Does it touch the emotional chord of the audience? Let’s find out!

Movie Review – Double Dhamaal
Were you wondering where the four – Javed Jaffery, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsh and Ashish Chaudhary were lost all the while? Did you miss their gags and fun moments which made you smile and laugh in equal measure in “Dhamaal”? They are back along with Sanjay Dutt in Double Dhamaal to tickle your funny bones. This is what the trailer of “Double Dhamaal” promised to all and sundry. But does it love up to its promise?

Movie Review: Game
“Game” was one of the movies released on 1st April 2011 after a gap of more than a month for the movie industry. It was a gap not because Bollywood suddenly stopped making movies. But instead they realised that it would have been foolhardy to release anything during this period because of the World Cup. Considering that India were the eventual champions, their decision was vindicated. So now lets get back to the movie.

Movie Review: Tanu Weds Manu
Tanu weds Manu (TWM) is direct by Anand L Rai (of Thoda Life Thodi Magic and Strangers fame or shall I say infame ) and has the unusual pairing of Kangana Ranaut and Madhavan in the lead. With some interesting and catchy promos, the unique pairing, Kangana’s fresh appeal where she smiles and dances unlike her usual ‘drugged’ roles and the Sadi Galli soundtrack, TWM has kept pretty good pace with its promotions.

Movie Review – 7 Khoon Maaf
Before going for the movie version of Ruskin Bond’s “Susanna’s 7 husbands”, I was really skeptical about watching such a flick in the theater. From Omkara to Maqbool to Makdee to 7 Khoon Maaf, most of Vishal Bharadwaj’s movies seem to be very dark and more to do with some weird characters or so I feel. But nonethless my friends convinced me to finally sit for the 2.5 hour show.

Movie Review – 127 hours
A movie which gives you a completely surreal experience about life. A movie which almost entirely runs on one particular scene. A movie which has only a single character at its heart. A movie which concentrates on driving your attention more through the background score, the hero talking to himself and splendid cinematography. A movie which you can see from beginning to end with eyes shut out of fear and thankfulness to god that you weren’t Aron Rolston. 127 hours directed by Danny Boyle has all this and more included in its 1.5 hours running time.

Movie Review – No One Killed Jessica
11 years have passed since Jessica Lall was murdered in cold blood at a Delhi pub cum restaurant called Tamarind Nights in a party organized by famous socialite Bina Ramani. 4 years have passed since Manu Sharma and others were acquitted and then re-trialled to be finally convicted. Less than a year has passed since his punishment has been converted into life imprisonment despite Ram Jethmalani’s (a lawyer who fights only for the big and corrupt) vehement protests. Links of an interview of his with Karan Thapar in Devil’s Advocate and Sagharika Ghose in CNN IBN are given here for the benefit of those who don’t know much about the case.

Movie Review – Band Bajaa Baraat
Ever thought that this Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh starrer could earn more than Rs 15 crores in less than a week? Ever wondered if the Yash Chopra stable could come back after a series of flops? Even I didn’t! But Band Bajaa Baraat is doing such amazing business that everyone in the industry is left shell shocked. So what’s so special about it? I for one never thought of going to the theater to watch it and so sat down to check out its camera print today morning.

Movie Review – The Social Network
The Social Network has been one of the most keenly awaited movies of recent times not only because its supposed to be the “TRUE” story of Facebook but also because of its tagline – “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies”.

The important characters include: -

# Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg
# Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin
# Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker
# Rooney Mara as Erica Albright
# Armie Hammer as Cameron Winklevoss/Tyler Winklevoss. Josh Pence acted as a body double for Hammer.
# Max Minghella as Divya Narendra
# Rashida Jones as Marylin Delpy
# Joseph Mazzello as Dustin Moskovitz

Movie Review “Crook – Its Good to be Bad”
“Crook – Its Good to be Bad” is a movie starring Emraan Hashmi and newcomer Neha Sharma (acted in two Telugu movies before) directed by Mohit Suri. It had been heavily publicized as a movie based on the racial attacks against Indians in Australia in 2009. With the racial attacks affecting a number of Indian students across Melbourne and much of Victoria, it was only a matter of time before Bollywood readied itself to make a movie on this issue. And who better than Bhatt to make this right? WRONG!

Movie Review – Endhiran / Robot
Any movie from the Rajnikant stable is bound to create frenzy not only in South India but also other places across the world from Singapore via the Gulf to the USA. But then Endhiran / Robot made at a budget of more than 200 crores spanning locations ranging from Kathipara Junction in Chennai to Machu Picchu in South America is no ordinary movie. Release in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi across 2000 screens worldwide, Robot is India’s widest release in terms of number of countries / theaters ever. It released in countries as far as Sweden (An Indian movie released for the first time on the very first day). There are also plans of dubbing it in Japanese.

Movie Review – Anjaana Anjaani
Anjaana Anjaani is the new offering of Siddharth Anand (Salaam Namaste, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Bachna Ae Haseeno fame). The movie is entirely based on two characters. Now some of you may wonder what’s so great in this. Yeah it may not be anything special. But its another sign of the coming of age of Bollywood cinema. And interestingly there is one more thing which strikes me when I see the slogan of the film “The greatest love stories are between strangers.” What do they mean by it? Any double meaning thoughts huh ?

Movie Review – Dabangg
The fight between the good and the bad!

Loads of action!

Mother – son and half – brother and step – father relationships!

Songs every few minutes in the narrative!

The story starting with the hero as a kid and in matter of few minutes becoming more than 21 yrs old!

Dabangg has all this more and more packed in its running time of over 2 hours and 15 minutes. It for sure is been there, seen that kind of stuff. But then for Salman fans, its a treat to watch nonetheless.

Movie Review – Inidhu Inidhu

The Tamil remake of Happy Days, “Inidhu Inidhu” finally released on 20th August. Since not many of my friends know Tamil, I was in a huge dilemma on whom to watch the movie with. Finally to my luck, my childhood friend with whom I grew up in Tamil Nadu was in the city. So I watched this movie with this friend of mine. Watching this movie was a spontaneous decision. Both of us wanted to watch a Tamil movie and this seemed the perfect one.

Movie Review – I Hate Luv Storys
I Hate Luv Storys (IHLS) stars Sonam Kapoor and Imran Khan. It is directed by Punit Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar. This is the first time both these actors are working in a Karan Johar production. The movie is especially important for Sonam who flopped miserably in Saawariya and Delhi 6 in terms of looks as well as her acting. Imran had a good start with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na but came back to earth when Kidnap bombed.

Movie Review – Rajneeti
Rajneeti is one of the biggest movies of our times in terms of the number of stars (or so called stars ) it has. They cast includes Ajay Devgan, Manoj Bajpai, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar, Nasseruddin Shah (in a blink and a miss role), Katrina Kaif and many others. It is directed by Prakash Jha of Apharan, Gangaajal fame. So you can be sure that this movie is gonna be up there in the list of hard hitting realistic movies!

Movie Review – Kites
First things first! This movie is probably a first attempt by a Bollywood director to directly target his movie to an international audience. I mean common having a special international version in English (dont understand what does that mean as the Hindi version is itself 60-70% English and Spanish) with the so called “steamy scenes”, and also a realise in 35 new countries where Hindi movies have never been before and also entering the US Top 10 is definitely big stuff!!! Or is it?

Movie Review – Love Sex Dhokha (LSD)
First things first, Love Sex Dhokha (LSD) is an experimental movie and an amazing sign about the progressive times our Bollywood movie industry is going through. When one saunters into the theater, he/she doesn’t know what to expect and what not to. This fact coupled with hearing/reading either completely positive or completely negative reviews about the movie and just seeing 8 people in the movie hall (me included) made me seriously wonder as to how the movie would pan out.

Movie Review – 3 Idiots
At the outset I would like to make one thing clear to the readers – I am a hard core fan of Chetan Bhagat…So those of you who wouldn’t like to hear any negativity against anyone who has maligned him in the last few days or months or whatever please stop here itself!!!

First of all I would like to thank Mr Chetan Bhagat for giving us a novel called “Five Point Someone (FPS)” which everyone in the present generation would surely identify with! Chetan, You made India read like never before and I sincerely salute you for that!

Movie Review – Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani
Raj Kumar Santoshi has come up with a romantic comedy for just the 2nd time in his career. When Andaz Apna Apna came way back in 1994, it was a big box office failure despite the presence of big stars like Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Karishma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon. But over the years with its reruns on television, it has acquired a cult-like status among the people. In the midst of all this, he has come up with at times hard-hitting, at times woman oriented and many times very violent movies like Ghayal, Ghatak, Damini, China Gate, Lajja, Khakee to name a few.