Raanjhanaa (2013) [16/50]

Language: Hindi

Cast: Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub

Story: Story of a regular boy/man’s unyielding love and the lady’s unalterable indifference set in Banaras with an earthy and relatable sincerity.

Screenplay and direction: The direction is outstanding and aside for a little drag after interval the screenplay is terrific too.

Performances: Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja aka Dhanush is incredible, his talent and charm are both tremendous. Sonam Kapoor unlike all her other movies was not a complete disappointment and fairs rather well. Abhay Deol has a cameo and he is good. Swara Bhaskar and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub are both marvelous and delightful.

Interesting: I like the way Kundan (Dhanush) drops his scooter all the time without taking the time to park it.

USP: Relatable, Down to earth, interesting, fun, different. Dhanush.

Downside: Some parts drag, some songs are not too engaging, and Movie lacks layers.

Verdict: The movie gets you from the word go. The intensity and humor are both dealt with sufficient importance and realism. The lead actor gained a fan in me today. I will overlook the flaws such as the tedious bits as Dhanush pulls off a great performance. The end and some plot twists make it far from cliché. I love the way lead actress’s character is written, very realist I might add. The music is well placed and delightful. Dhanush’s Hindi doesn’t affect his performance one bit. The camaraderie between the three friends is nice. The movie leaves you satisfied. Watch it 7/10.

Premium Rush (2012) [6/50]

Language: English

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Michael Shannon, Jamie Chung

Story: A day in the life of a Manhattan bike messenger, who likes living on the edge and has to deliver a package while a cop hounds him across the city for it.

Screenplay and direction: The direction is excellent and the screenplay is great too but some people might not like the constant back and forth in time. I liked it.

Performances: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, aside from being cute is a good actor too. Michael Shannon was not as good, so average performance. Jamie Chung was awful. Rest of the cast was good enough.

Interesting: Christopher Place’s character is interesting and I absolutely loved his scenes.

USP: Fast paced, different, no time to get bored, funny in parts. Chase sequences and stunts are pretty good.

Downside: One is preached to about bicycles being the way to go. Bicycle messengers act like they risk their life like marines or army, pathetic! The plot is not very strong and seems to be circulating towards the end.

Verdict: The plot has some lose ends to tie and characters are not well thought out. The bike messenger life may not be as glamorous as its made to look like :P. Apart from the last 10 mins the movie was pretty good. It started from the word go and the chase sequences were good. The stunts were entertaining. The last 10 mins are below average, the story takes a turn for the worse. Something that was fun till then becomes mundane and so quickly. The movie overall was sufficiently exciting and very well paced so I give it a 6/10.

Go Goa Gone (2013) [5/50]

Language: Hindi, Hinglish

Cast: Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Anand Tiwari, Puja Gupta and Saif Ali Khan,

Story: Three friends, two stoners and one nerd attend a rave party at Goa where a new drug turns the living into zombies; the story revolves around the adventures that follow.

Screenplay and direction: Raj Nidimoru & Krishna DK do good as directors but the screenplay can be a bit mundane.

Performances: Kunal Khemu and Vir Das are good; Anand Tiwari was my favourite, acts well and seems to be the only one sufficiently scared in the wake of the horror; Puja Gupta delivers a mediocre performance. Saif Ali Khan brings in the silly, his performance is average and like most Khans in Bollywood he is insincere in his role, thank god his is a cameo.

Interesting: Almost immediately after the characters are done preaching about the ill effects of drug use and going all moral of the story on the unsuspecting audiences the movie cuts to the likable song “babaji ki booti” irony much!

USP: Funny, relatable characters, day to day lingo, catchy music.  

Downside:Puja Gupta keeps lecturing Saif Ali Khan and that’s just absurd. The movie turns into a statutory warning by GOI preaching drugs are bad.  I will kill the next person who asks me not to smoke or do drugs then some awareness videos about the side effects of preaching can be made.

Verdict: This movie is not to be taken seriously, questions like why aren’t they baffled or scared?? and who does that? Is “at some point she was an item” considered respectful now a days ? Why is Soha Ali Khan smiling at us for 5-6 seconds?  are not to be asked. Watch laugh and enjoy. I can say that it’s not a tedious watch even though in the second half the story seems to be circulating in the cat mouse chase way. I rate it 7/10.

Ted (2012) [3/50]

Language: English

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane (voice of Ted)

Story: The story revolves around a guy (Mark) in his 30s, his girlfriend and his teddy bear (who came to life as a result of his childhood wish), and how they try to make the situation work for everybody.

Screenplay and direction: Direction is good, I might be biased towards Seth Macfarlane as it’s his first real people project (not animation); the screenplay is interesting given the story.

Performances: Seth MacFarlane is a powerhouse of talent, the creator of shows such as American dad, Cleveland show and of coarse Family guy (where he does voiceovers for four different characters) and the writer of all time favorites like Dexter’s lab and Johnny Bravo with many more accolades under his wing. His sense of humor borders on offensive and can be distasteful, but as the Ted’s voice he is exceptional and helps you see the character in a different light. Mila Kunis is good. After having seen Mark Wahlberg as a badass in so many movies its difficult to see him as a loser everyday guy, his performance however is quite convincing.

Interesting: It was interesting to see Mark Whalberg in such a regular guy role.

A lot of 1980s reference which is a miss to me.

One has got to love all the Tom Skerritt references, hilarious.

USP: Macfarlane kind of humor has its own audience, time-pass, funny.

Downside: Lacks focus and sense in most parts.  

Verdict: The story never turns into anything interesting; it’s a lot of good elements but with not much direction. I think for me the issue of climax remains, a typical Hollywood climax where you are left disappointed. The humor is passable. With some finishing touches the movie had a better chance. As far as the humor is considered, it gets quite bizarre at times but all in all it’s watchable.  Its not a kid’s movie obviously, just because there is a teddy bare please don’t watch it with kids, Overall a 5/10 for me.

The Five-Year Engagement (2012) [2/50]

Language: English

Cast: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie

    
Story: This is a Romcom, a classic feel good have a laugh movie.

The story revolves around a couple who get engaged but aren’t able to tie the knot due to unforeseen circumstances that keep postponing the date for ½ a decade. The twist and turns in their lives while they try to make the relationship work forms the crux of the story.

Screenplay and direction: Direction is good but the screenplay dragged. The editing is not crisp.

Performances: Jason Segel is made for Romcoms. I can watch him in the worst of movies, he was as usual good. Emily Blunt was okay, she doesn’t evoke empathy.  The support cast does a good job. Comedian Kevin hart could be used better. Alison Brie was very good.

Interesting: Vaneeths’s date: “who are you texting?”

  Vaneetha: “I’m texting myself, I’m very drunk and I want to remember this later”

Note to self ;)

USP: Sweet, charming, time-pass, funny.

Downside: cumbersome watch, unnecessarily long, lacks the wit and humor expected from Jason Segal movies.

Verdict: The movie has its good parts and mindless humor which I would give a green light, had it not been so painfully long. So it’s a 5/10 for me.

Looper (2012) [1/50]

Language: English

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Pierce Gagnon.

Story: this is a futuristic story set in 2044 and deals with the future of time travel in the year 2074.

Joe is a hired killer or looper who kills people sent from the future by the mafia, till they send his future self as a target to close the loop and have him retire. There are some people in 2044 that are TK (telekinetic) and can move objects without touching. Story is basically of Joe’s future self returning and the chase that follows.

Needless to say that as in any sci-fi there are a lot of assumptions to be made.

Screenplay and direction: sleek and entertaining

Performances: every single performance, even from the support cast is very good with the exception of Emily blunt, I like her usually but in this movie she was average. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is making some good career decisions.

Interesting: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis who are both playing the same character Joe from different time periods, are so different that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is right handed while Bruce Willis is left handed.

USP: original, entertaining, action sequences were good, interesting, good performances, the violence is not too gross and I would call it well done.

Downside: climax is a bit of a disappointment. What could have been great is only average. The movie lacks humor; Joe from the future is a bit funny the other characters are very far from being funny or witty, but I think that depends on personal taste.{spoiler alert} What I didn’t get was if the disposal of bodies was the only reason people were sent back in time why is it that 2074 mafia didn’t kill and then send the bodies why send them alive, and why must a person close his own loop?! 

Verdict: I was looking for entertainment and I found it. This movie is interesting and fast paced. I say watch it. 7/10

Aah!! so here is something... 50 movie reviews in 50 days.

The good news is that no one really reads my blog. Why is that good news you ask, my imaginary reader. It is so because I don’t have an immediate task at hand right now, which means I do not have exams coming up, hence I deiced to watch a movie or two.

This movie watching business makes me feel a bit useless, even though I love watching all sorts of movies, after it ends and I go back to normal life I am left feeling a bit empty.

I think this is due to the fact that I am living through the longest most painful gestation period of my life and feel a bit worthless at the moment. So to mix things up and enjoy movies guilt-free I have decided to blog about the movies I watch. One can call the aforementioned activity movie review. The reason I am reluctant in using that term is because I have read my reviews and they aren’t very good, they might be apt but not an interesting read. Thus, if I blog about the movies I will get a chance to work on my writing style and get rid of the worthlessness I feel post movie watching.

Anything to be successful has to have a goal, so let’s make one, a small one. How is this! 50 movies in 50 days, so 50 reviews. We start today (i.e.) may 15^th 2013, so this should last for the next 49 days which would end on July 4^th 2013.

The movies won’t be of a specific genre or time or even language. Just movies and what I thought.

Awesome, a task for me to do. This should be fun, for me I mean, I’m the one who gets to watch the movies, and as for you my imaginary pitiable reader who has to sit through my reviews/blog posts, good luck.